A network provides a method of virtualizing SCSI semantics onto a non-SCSI transport medium. The network includes a plurality of hosts or initiators, a SCSI bus coupled to a plurality of SCSI devices, and a bridge having a non-SCSI front end coupled to the non-SCSI transport medium and a SCSI back end coupled to the SCSI bus. The bridge provides firmware for performing various techniques for virtualizing certain SCSI semantics to ensure support (proper operation) of the plurality of SCSI devices. Examples of SCSI semantics for virtualizing SCSI-2 semantics onto a Fibre Channel interconnect medium (a non-SCSI-2 transport medium) include reserve/release support, unit attention support, the non-tagged command processing support for the initiators. Reserve/release support is virtualized by implementing virtual command responses to the RESERVE and RELEASE SCSI-2 command using a table for storing Fibre Channel world wide names (WWN) and the arbitrated loop address (ALPA) for the plurality of initiators. Virtual unit attention support is achieved by maintaining alist of initiators and status flags to determine when a unit attention condition needs to be sent to a particular initiator. When a combination of tagged and untagged commands is detected which would violate the rules for mixing such commands on the back-end SCSI bus, any command(s) that would result in the rule violation will be held within the bridge until the currently outstanding conflicting commands have completed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to storage support systems for storage area networks and more particularly to a system and method of virtualizing SCSI semantics from a host computer or server onto a non-SCSI transport medium of a storage area network.
2. Description of the Related Art
For the last couple of decades, the number of computer systems has grown exponentially and the capabilities of the average computer system to assimilate and process data has doubled every eighteen months. These two facts have created a spectacular rise in the demand for raw data storage capacity to support the growing capabilities of computers to assimilate and process data. The demand to add more data storage capability to computer networks, service more users, and provide data security in the form of data backup storage has been unrelenting. The trend in recent years has been to provide a separate data storage network, or storage area network (SAN), for storing data for a network of computers.
The primary advantage of a SAN is the ability of a group of computer users to pool their data without using a local area network (LAN) for tasks like transferring data files and providing backup of stored data files. For example, on a LAN when one station on the LAN generates a 500 MB video file, a second station can access the 500 MB video file if the first station simply transfers the read/write permissions for the video data file to the second station. A very large data file that might take hours to transfer on a LAN can be transferred to a SAN in minutes or seconds. The use of a SAN as opposed to a LAN frees valuable bandwidth on the LAN for client applications and provides scalability not found in the more traditional approaches to data storage such as connecting read/write servers directly to the LAN. Other advantages of a SAN configuration over a LAN configuration include computer clustering, topological flexibility, fault tolerance, high availability, and remote management. Because of the clear advantages of a SAN over a LAN, SAN approach to data storage has been implemented with success between a variety of high data access devices like file servers, backup servers, database servers, and shared storage arrays.
The primary storage interface for servers deployed in SAN systems is a parallel Small Computer System Interface (SCSI). While various forms of parallel SCSI's exist, the predominant form of parallel SCSI has been termed SCSI-2. SCSI-2 introduced enhanced SCSI device data transfer methodologies while maintaining the asynchronous transfer of data, instructions, and messages from earlier SCSI implementations.
Due to certain limitations inherent in a parallel SCSI, many designers of network systems are starting to turn from a traditional parallel SCSI to a non-SCSI transport medium such as a Fibre Channel interconnect medium. As computers and peripheral devices have continued to improve in performance capability, the limitations imposed by a parallel SCSI became apparent. Higher performance processors demanded higher throughput of the subsystem used to store data. A Fibre Channel interconnect medium has substantially addressed these concerns. A Fibre Channel interconnect medium has a serial interface which supports increased bandwidth, additional connectivity, longer distance operation, and greater flexibility.
Several topologies are defined for a Fibre Channel interconnect medium including Fabric, point-to-point, and the Arbitrated Loop. The Fabric topology is a switched connection that allows multiple pairs of devices to exchange messages simultaneously, creating a high aggregate bandwidth. The point-to-point topology is probably the simplest, consisting of a single connection between two devices. The most popular topology is the Arbitrated Loop (FC-AL) in which the out-bound cable of one device becomes the in-bound cable for the next, allowing for the connection of up to 126 devices at a time.
All of the topologies share a single coding scheme and framing protocol. A Fibre Channel interconnect medium currently sends information in frames containing a 24-byte header followed by up to 2118 bytes of data. At most, handshaking occurs after the transmission of every frame of data, unlike the synchronous transfer mode in a SCSI protocol in which a `sender` is allowed to perform a fixed number of transfers before the `sender` (target or initiator) stalls waiting for an acknowledgment. Like the traditional parallel bus SCSI protocol, every transaction has an initiator and a target and makes use of the SCSI command set semantics.
Current operating system environments are designed to be able to communicate with SCSI-2 devices attached via the traditional parallel SCSI bus. The SCSI-2 standard is currently in the process of being updated to produce a SCSI-3 standard. One of the key features of SCSI-3 is an attempt to separate the command protocol from dependencies on the physical interconnection medium, thus allowing for SCSI-3 command and data flow over a serial bus such as a Fibre Channel interconnect medium. Current operating system environments, however, have bene unable to handle many aspects of supporting a SCSI-3 device on a non-parallel bus because of the semantic differences between parallel and non-parallel busses. In addition, so far as is known, the notion of `bridging` SCSI-2 servers across a serial bus environment or non-SCSI transport medium to SCSI-2 devices such as tape drives, storage medium changers, printers, scanners, optical memory devices, CD-ROM drives or hard disk drives is not provided for by an established or developing standard.
The first SCSI-3 devices available are likely to be SCSI-3 hard disk drives. Certain other devices which are available as SCSI-2 devices may not be offered as SCSI-3 devices for some time. Since Fibre Channel interconnect medium protocol (SCSI-FCP) is currently a SCSI-3 protocol, the use of Fibre Channel interconnect medium has precluded proper connectivity of SCSI-2 servers-command initiators to target SCSI-2 devices.

Supporting a SCSI device on a non-SCSI transport medium of a network


A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program that causes a computer to execute a process, the process includes classifying a plurality of virtual machines, which are to be mapped to a plurality of physical machines each of which is subjected to a maintenance operation, into groups by referring to correspondence information in which information indicating a desired time zone for executing a maintenance operation of a physical machine is correlated with information indicating a virtual machine such that an overlap time of desired time zones corresponding to the virtual machines in the same group is equal to or longer than a predetermined time; and mapping the groups obtained by the classifying to the physical machines different from each other.

In the related art, there is a cloud system that includes a plurality of physical machines and operates one or more virtual machines which realize a service provided by a user using one of the physical machines. A maintenance operation including patch application, restart, and the like may be executed on the physical machines of the cloud system.
For example, in the related art, there is a technique for requesting correction of a scheduled movement date in a case where a user inputs a scheduled movement date of a virtual host and the scheduled movement date is later than a scheduled maintenance date. In addition, for example, there is a technique for selecting a physical computation device capable of achieving maximum power saving as a movement destination of a virtual computation device to be moved based on a result obtained by determining whether or not a problem occurs in a network for data transmission and data reception to and from an end user and information indicating a movement destination candidate. In addition, for example, there is a technique for extracting idle periods of each virtual computation device and reserving each virtual computation device such that an end time of a reservation period which is set in the idle period of one virtual computation device matches with or overlaps with a start time of a reservation period which is set in the idle period of another virtual computation device.
Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2015-161956, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2014-153897, and International Publication Pamphlet No. WO 2012/025977 are examples of the related art.

Maintenance control method, system control apparatus and storage medium


A magnetic vascular clamp for vascular repair is described. There are two clamp pieces, where each clamp piece forms a partial cylindrical section of an annular cylinder. Each clamp piece has an outer surface and an inner surface, structural ribs arranged across the inner surface from one sectional end to the other, and a pair of magnetic sectional end surfaces connecting the outer surface and the inner surface and having a characteristic magnetic field arrangement. The sectional end surfaces and magnetic field arrangements of each clamp piece cooperate with the sectional end surfaces and magnetic field arrangements of the other clamp piece to form a complete annular cylinder held together by the magnetic field arrangements and enclosing an inner cylinder so as to structurally support damaged vascular tissue therein with minimal fluid leakage.

Blood vessels are the body's equivalents of pipes for circulating blood to where it is needed. These vessels can become damaged or compromised, for example, due to injury-related trauma or during surgical procedures. Vascular clamps are devices that surround damaged vascular tissue to provide structural support while minimizing blood loss while repair surgery is performed.


The invention relates to a plausibility checking method for rapid prototyping devices, in particular for stereolithography devices. In this connection, input data (14) is checked which is present particularly in the form of graphics data and of which every file renders a layer. Every layer comprises a plurality of pixels. The component to be printed in the respective layer is produced based on output data by the rapid prototyping device.

When realizing objects to be printed such as dental restoration parts in stereolithography devices, it is required to initially provide data by means of a CAM software which data is to be fed to the stereolithography device.
The CAM software provides the data with which the stereolithography device produces the object to be printed by 3D printing.
This holds true analogously also for other additive manufacturing devices, in particular of the kind which work layer by layer. Laminated Object Modeling, Multi Jet Modeling, Selective Laser Melting, Selective Laser Sintering, Space Puzzle Molding, Stereolithography, Binder Jetting and all other 3D printing methods are to be stressed particularly.
As the construction is a three-dimensional realization of the shape and as relatively complex objects can also be designed and produced in some cases, it is required in some cases to use structures referred to as support structures. They serve to provide a connection between the zero level, i.e. the printing base, and the object.
Typically, the CAM software produces the support structures automatically.
However, it is possible in many cases to do without support structures such that the cleaning effort is reduced considerably in the later course of the procedure. For this purpose, the object is turned into the optimum virtual construction level for this purpose such that all-over contact with the zero level is provided.
While the data is prepared in the CAM software or possibly already during the CAD design, changes are often made for different reasons which lead to displacement or rotation of objects in the virtual 3D constructional space.
As a consequence, particularly in case of support structure-free constructions, contact between a large and planar exterior surface and the zero level is not or not completely provided anymore frequently.
Although such a rotation does not lead to defective or erroneous data because the data output still renders exactly the object to be printed, it may cause problems in the stereolithography printing process.
Furthermore, there is a risk that during the stereolithography process or another additive manufacturing process, for similar reasons from one slice to the next, i.e. from one layer to the next, new surfaces are created which are not supported by a support structure. Such new surfaces have no connection with the object and therefore cannot be built up by means of stereolithography.
These problems have been known for long in stereolithography as such. To counteract these problems, the CAM software predetermines partially automatically and partially semi-automatically additional support structures even if this would be superfluous in case of a construction without orientation errors.
However, support structures of this type have to be removed later, and sometimes the support structures are at positions at which a particularly good surface would be desired which impedes the applicability of stereolithography strongly.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 10,583,483, 10,576,689, US 2015269290, U.S. Pat. No. 10,571,893 10,496,786, and 10,528,308 are directed to additive manufacturing methods and are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety. In U.S. Pat. No. 10,583,483, it is known that a computer program product can include a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program code portions or instructions embodied therein executable by a processor to perform certain steps.

Plausibility checking method for additive manufacturing methods

Abstract: The input data of two consecutive layers is checked and the sum of all pixels to be exposed is determined for every layer. A signal (22) is output in particular as a warning signal (26) when the pixel sum of a following layer is larger than in the previous layer by a predetermined factor.


To reduce the edge roll off in a semiconductor wafering process, the wafer (110) is subject to a plasma etch with an edge underetch. The edge underetch is achieved by means of a wafer holder (410) that emits gas towards the wafer (e.g. a gas vortex) to draw the wafer towards the holder""s body (460). The plasma impinges on the wafer surface (110.1) opposite to the body. Some of the gas emitted by the holder wraps around the wafer edge and dilutes the etchant near the wafer edge. Consequently, the etch proceeds slower near the edge (the edge is underetched). In some embodiments, the wafer is rotated around an axis (440) passing through the wafer to increase the underetch.

The present invention relates to manufacture of semiconductor wafers (the process known as xe2x80x9cwaferingxe2x80x9d). In particular, the present invention relates to use of plasma etching to improve the wafer""s flatness and the thickness uniformity.
Manufacture of silicon wafers starts with growing a monocrystalline silicon ingot. After initial testing and grinding, the ingot is sawed into slices, and each slice is processed to obtain a uniformly thick wafer with smooth flat surfaces. Typical processing includes:
1. Lapping and grinding of the wafer to remove any saw marks left by the ingot sawing operation. This step also serves to increase the wafer flatness and the thickness uniformity.
2. A wet etch to remove the surface damage caused by the lapping and grinding.
3. After the wet etch, chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) of one or both surfaces or the wafer to produce a highly reflective, scratch and damage free surface suitable for photolithography.
See S. Wolf et al., xe2x80x9cSilicon Processing for the VLSI Eraxe2x80x9d, vol. 1 (xe2x80x9cProcess Technologyxe2x80x9d), 1986, pages 23-26, which are incorporated herein by reference.
While the lapping, the grinding and the wet etch increase the overall flatness and thickness uniformity, these operations introduce non-uniformity near the wafer edges. Silicon is removed faster near the edges, which results in an xe2x80x9cedge roll offxe2x80x9d. See FIG. 1. Wafer 110 is thinner near the edges, with the top surface 110.1 sloping down near the edges. (The edge roll off may also be present at the bottom surface of the wafer, this is not shown in FIG. 1.) If the roll off is high, a longer polishing operation (CMP) will be needed to reduce the roll off to an acceptable value. Since the polishing rate is low, it is desirable to reduce the roll off before the polishing.
FIG. 2 illustrates an alternate processing sequence described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,294,469 issued Sep. 25, 2001 to Kulkarni et al. The ingot is sliced (step 210). Then the wafer is subjected to xe2x80x9cplasma jet etchingxe2x80x9d (step 220) to remove the sub-surface damage caused by the slicing operation. Then a wet etch is performed (xe2x80x9chigh-gloss etchingxe2x80x9d, step 230) to smoothen the wafer. This is followed by xe2x80x9cplasma assisted chemical etchingxe2x80x9d (PACE) at step 240. PACE involves calculating a point-by-point thickness profile of the wafer, and determining the amount of material to be removed at each point of the wafer surface. The calculated amount of material determines the plasma xe2x80x9cdwell timexe2x80x9d at each point of the wafer. Then a plasma etch is performed in an apparatus capable to control the plasma in accordance with the calculated dwell times. See also U.S. Pat. No. 5,254,830 issued Oct. 19, 1993 to Zarowin et al.
This section summarizes some features of the invention. Other features are described in subsequent sections. The invention is defined by the appended claims.
The inventor has observed that the edge roll off can be reduced by a plasma etch if the wafer is held in a particular type of a wafer holder. The plasma etch may or may not be a point-to-point etch, and no point-to-point dwell times are calculated in some embodiments. The wafer holder emits a gas flow (e.g. a vortex of gas) towards the wafer. The gas flow causes a low pressure zone to develop between the holder""s body and the wafer. Due to the low pressure, the wafer is held adjacent to the holder""s body. The plasma impinges on the wafer surface opposite to the surface facing the body. Some of the gas emitted by the holder wraps around the wafer and dilutes the etchant near the edge. Consequently, the etch proceeds slower near the edge (the wafer is underctched near the edge).
In some embodiments, the wafer rotates around an axis passing through the wafer to make the underetch more uniform along the edge.
Other features and advantages of the invention are described below. The invention is defined by the appended claims.

Wafering method comprising a plasma etch with a gas emitting wafer holder


An RF tag having stored therein equipment setting information related to a performance, by an electronic musical instrument, of a given music piece is attached to a music-piece-related information having music-piece-related information of the given music piece presented thereon. Electronic musical instrument includes an information acquisition information that communicates with the RF tag to acquire the equipment setting information from the tag, and an automatic setting section that automatically sets various settings and states of the musical instrument in accordance with the acquired equipment setting information. The musical instrument may further include a trigger section that triggers the acquisition section to acquire the equipment setting information from the RF tag. When the acquisition section has acquired new equipment setting information in response to triggering by the trigger section, states of the electronic musical instrument are set in accordance with the new equipment setting information.

The present invention relates generally to electronic musical instruments capable of performing manual performances responsive to performance operation by human players, automatic performances based on automatic performance data, training performances, etc. More particularly, the present invention relates to an improved electronic musical instrument system arranged to readily set automatic performance data, various functions, such as tone color and effect functions, etc. of an electronic musical instrument on the basis of a musical score, lyrics, etc. of a music piece.
Among various examples of the conventionally-known electronic musical instruments are ones which prestore a plurality of sets of automatic performance data in a memory and can execute an automatic performance on the basis of a selected one of the prestored automatic performance data sets. Such automatic performance data can also be loaded from a disk recording medium or downloaded via a communication network.
Also known are electronic musical instruments which allow users to set various functions of tone color, performance effect, etc. Further, as seen in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Publication No. 2003-208163, there have been known data called "registrations" or "regists" which include data for setting a tone color and effect of a first keyboard (lower keyboard) and data for setting a tone color and effect of a second keyboard (upper keyboard).
In an electronic organ, such registration data are allocated to regist switches provided on an operation panel. In response to operation of any one of the regist switches, the electronic organ is set to a performance style corresponding to the data allocated to the regist switch. There have also been services via which, when automatic performance data are to be delivered from a server via a network, registration data are delivered concurrently with the automatic performance data to allow an electronic musical instrument to utilize the registration.
It has also been known that training or practice on a musical instrument performance can be executed through execution, on an electronic musical instrument, of an automatic performance and a manual performance based on manual operation. In this case, automatic performance data of a music piece to be practiced are set into the electronic musical instrument. Further, among music papers having recorded thereon respective musical numbers or names of music pieces in question and performance-related information, such as registrations, suited for performances of the music pieces are those having barcodes and contents of the registrations added thereto. It has been known to set automatic performance data and make settings of equipment, using such information.
Electronic musical instruments capable of setting various functions, like the one disclosed in the aforementioned No. 2003-208163, can execute a music performance in a wide variety of variations. However, the functions to be set need be made to suit a music piece to be performed, and thus, operation for setting the functions tends to be cumbersome, particularly to a beginner. Furthermore, operation for selecting a particular set of automatic performance data, corresponding to a music piece represented on a music paper, from among a plurality of sets of automatic performance data stored in a memory also tends to be cumbersome. Namely, the conventionally-known electronic musical instruments present the problem that each user has to perform various cumbersome operation for setting various functions and automatic performance data. Further, because each user has to perform such operation while making various considerations and judgments, it has been difficult for beginners to adapt themselves to electronic musical instruments.


A method of making structured microdots (154) for printing plate registration includes forming a first plurality of square spots (156) less than or equal to 11 microns; wherein a first group (157) of the first plurality of square spots is formed in a first pattern (158); and wherein the first pattern is less than or equal to 66 microns and comprises a first microdot.

The flexographic industry has developed over the years from hand carved rubber plates with no expectations of register control between colors, to use of a photopolymer plate 100, shown in FIG. 1, supported by a polymer sheet 101 to provide dimensional stability and allow registration between colors.
Flexographic printing was the least of the print processes in terms of capabilities and the lowest cost compared to the traditional offset, letterpress and rotogravure printing processes used for package printing. Since the introduction of the photopolymer plate making systems, the growth in use of flexography has been significant, becoming the largest printing process used in packaging, and in some regions, like North America gaining over 80 percent of market share.
Throughout the development process, registration systems have steadily improved as the flexographic printing process has improved. The flexographic plate is selectively exposed to ultra violet light and unwanted areas washed away leaving a raised printing surface 103, shown in FIG. 2. Exposed photopolymer 102 with a lower floor level 104 that does not print, is separated by a displacement called the relief height 105, hence flexography is a relief printing process. The vast majority of the flexographic plates manufactured today are in sheet format, and are attached to a printing cylinder or sleeve 107, shown in FIG. 3, in register, using highly engineered double sided sticky back tape 106 with specific adhesion and compressibility properties for best print quality or productivity or both.
The plates 110, shown in FIG. 4, all have some form of register mark 111 and 112 on each side of the plate to allow easier plate to plate registration so that minimal time is spent in registration on press setup and optimum image quality is achieved. Over the years the types of register marks have progressed as mounting systems and methods have advanced. Originally the register marks 111 and 112 shown in FIG. 4, were large cross hairs for register on press. Placing the plates was a highly skilled process and often resulted in mis-register for at least one of the colors.
To enable greater productivity and accuracy, video mounting systems were developed, shown in FIG. 5. Two or more cameras 121, 123, were positioned on a frame 120, relative to a cylinder, for mounting the plate cylinder or sleeve 107, with focal points 122 and 124 on the surface of the cylinder or sleeve. The cameras were adjusted laterally 125 for the first plate and aligned with the plate cylinder or sleeve 107. Mounting tape is applied, and the plate is positioned above the plate cylinder or sleeve, shown in FIG. 6, with minor adjustments 126 to match the register marker 111 and 112, before fixing the cameras 121 and 123 in place. The plate is then affixed to the mounting tape 106 and the plate is imaged. Additional plates are mounted without adjustment of the camera position, as shown in FIG. 7, for accurate plate to plate location.
As demand for flexographic printing process grows, it is moving to process printing, that is, building images and colors out of four (CMYK), six, or seven process colors. It is important for process printing that the colors are in accurate registration to each other. With the printed dots being as small as 10-20 microns, any shift in registration can cause color shifts, image errors, or interference patterns with a negative impact on the final image. This has driven the industry to smaller register marks, shown in FIG. 8, with the large manual cross hairs 130, moving to smaller cross hairs 131 for video mounting, and then microdots 132.
As applications for functional printing develop for very small lines and circuits as small as five microns in width, and the need for accurate layer to layer registration, on printing register, and the mounting of the plates accurately on the print cylinders and sleeves increases, there is a further need for improvement in microdots. The current state of the art is to place 2 or more microdots on each of the plates, 115, 116, shown in FIG. 9, and use video mounting systems to locate and position the plate manually or automatically, shown in FIG. 10, and then fix the plates in place on engineered double sided mounting tape on the sleeve or cylinder.
Current microdots are typically 200-250 microns in size. A recent publication, U.S. Publication No. 2011/0265676, describes a registration system employing a scattered microdot pattern with each dot about 200 microns. Such large dots are objectionable when visible in the printed product. Smaller registration features are desired to ensure invisibility. In the printing of functional materials, such as electronic circuits, component sizes of five microns or less are desirable. When printing multiple layers, registration accuracy must be improved.
Traditionally the size of the microdots in flexo is limited to the size of a separate stand alone dot made of a group of pixels that can be consistently and independently formed on the plate. These are described as the minimum isolated dot size. In the majority of the flexoplate market this is presently between 120 and 250 microns.
Traditional digital flexo imaging technology uses Gaussian lasers, 140, shown in FIG. 11, versus the proposed technology using SQUAREspot imaging 141. The traditional Gaussian imaging produces an error in imaging 142, shown in FIG. 12, that limits the capabilities of imaging and image transfer, unlike the SQUAREspot imaging 143. This invention uses the exact reproduction of the original digital data 150, shown in FIG. 13A, on the thermal imaging layer 151, shown in FIG. 13B, and to the final plate 152, shown in FIG. 13C, as shown in the photograph in 153 in FIG. 14.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


The invention uses the existence of tissue-specific telopeptide lysyl hydroxylases, enzymes that hydroxylate lysine residues of the telopeptides of collagen, and the discovery that collagen molecules cross-linked by hydroxyallysine (derived from telopeptide hydroxylysine) are less susceptible to degradation/turnover than collagen molecules cross-linked by means of allysine (derived from telopeptide lysine) due to a different intrafibrillar packing of said collagen molecules. Further, the invention contemplates that one of the characteristics of collagen in scars and other fibrotic tissues is an increase in hydroxyallysine derived cross-links (making the collagen less susceptible to proteolytic breakdown), that this increase in hydroxyallysine cross-links is due to increased levels of telopeptide lysyl hydroxylase, and that telopeptide lysyl hydroxylase plays an important role in the excessive accumulation of collagen in fibrosis/scarring. Still further, the invention relates to methods using said knowledge for the treatment of fibrosis/scarring by inhibiting telopeptide lysyl hydroxylase activity or inhibiting telopeptide lysyl hydroxylase translation/transcription in order to decrease selectively hydroxyallysine cross-links (leaving the allysine cross-link route intact).

Normal wound healing involves the formation of scars and fibrous tissues. Their structures consist largely of collagen fibrils. Although collagen is required in wound repair, collagen often accumulates in excessive amounts and impairs the normal function of the affected tissue. Such excessive amounts of collagen become an important event in scarring of the skin following burns or other traumatic injury, as well as in fibrosis of the liver, lungs and other organs following injury. Because of the central role of collagen in the pathogenesis of fibrosis, there has been considerable interest in agents capable of inhibiting collagen accumulation in fibrotic diseases. Potential target sites for inhibiting collagen accumulation include transcription of the genes, translation of the mRNAs, and some of the post-translational enzymes involved in the biosynthesis of collagen [G. C. Fuller, 1981, J. Med. Chem., 24: 651-658; M. Trojanowska et al., 1998, J. Mol. Med., 76: 266-274]. Here we will focus our attention to circumvent collagen accumulation in fibrosis by inhibiting cross-link levels. To understand the rationale behind attempts to circumvent collagen accumulation by inhibiting cross-link levels it is necessary to get an insight into the way cross-linking of collagen molecules occurs.
Biosynthesis of collagen is a multistep process, resulting in extensive modification of the molecule (FIG. 1). The different modifications of the molecule are catalyzed by various enzymes with an intra- or extracellular localization [K. Kadler, 1994, Protein Profile, 1: 515-638]. One of the steps in the biosynthesis of collagen is hydroxylation of certain proline residues in the triple helix by prolyl 4-hydroxylase (EC 18.104.22.168) and prolyl 3-hydroxylase (EC 18.104.22.168) as well as hydroxylation of certain lysine residues in the triple helix and telopeptides by lysyl hydroxylase (EC 18.104.22.168). In a next step, hydroxylysine residues in the triple helix can be subjected to glycosylation by glycosyl transferases. Hydroxylation of proline and lysine are essential for a proper functioning of collagen. There is hardly any variation in the level of prolyl hydroxylation within a specific collagen type. In fact, the hydroxylation level of prolyl residues of each fibrillar collagen type is close to a maximum; underhydroxylation of proline residues results in a non-functional molecule with a weakened triple helix that can easily be degraded. In contrast, there are large variations in lysyl hydroxylation within the same collagen type (e.g. type I collagen) between the different tissues. The functional significance of this variation is unknown, but under- and overhydroxylation of lysine residues is associated with several connective tissue disorders, such as Ehlers-Danlos type VI syndrome [A. Ihme et al., 1984, J. Invest. Dermatol., 83: 161-165] and osteogenesis imperfecta [W. G. Cole, 1994, Bone Miner. Res., 8: 167-2041].
Once the collagen molecule is secreted, the propeptides are cleaved off by procollagen N-peptidase (EC 22.214.171.124) and procollagen C-peptidase (EC 188.8.131.52), resulting in a mature molecule consisting of a triple helix with a short telopeptide at both termini. The mature molecules aggregate spontaneously into microfibrils. Further stabilization of the molecules occurs by means of cross-links. Cross-linking is initiated by conversion of specific lysine or hydroxylysine residues of the telopeptides into the aldehydes allysine and hydroxyallysine, respectively, by the enzyme lysyl oxidase (EC 220.127.116.11) [H. M. Kagan, 1994, Path. Res. Pract., 190: 910-919]. The aldehydes subsequently react with lysine or hydroxylysine residues of the triple helix to give characteristic difunctional cross-links. These cross-links eventually mature into tri- or tetra-functional cross-links [D. R. Eyre, 1987, Meth. Enzymol., 144: 115-139; A. J. Bailey et al., 1998, Mech. Ageing Developm., 106: 1-56]. Two related routes for the formation of cross-links have been described, one based on allysine from the telopeptides, the other based on the hydroxyallysine of the telopeptides. Each route results in chemically distinct cross-links. For the nomenclature and origin of some of the most common cross-links we refer to FIG. 2.
Hydroxylation of lysine in the triple helix of collagen occurs exclusively on lysine present in the helical amino acid sequence Gly-X-Lys-Gly; a lysine in the X position is not hydroxylated [K. Kadler, 1994, Protein Profile, 1: 515-638]. The hydroxylated lysine in the telopeptides is embedded in an entirely different amino acid sequence; in view thereof, the existence of another enzyme, whose substrate would be the non-helical telopeptide region, has occasionally been proposed [J. E. Gerriets et al., 1996, Biochim. Biophys. Acta, 1316: 121-131; J. E. Gerriets et al., 1993, J. Biol. Chem., 286: 25553-25560; L. Knott et al, 1997, Biochem. J., 322: 535-542; M. J. Barnes et al., 1974, Biochem. J., 139: 461-468; P. M. Royce and M. J. Barnes, 1985, Biochem. J., 230: 475-480]. However, the circumstantial evidence that an enzyme exists that specifically hydroxylates the telopeptide lysine has mostly been ignored and/or questioned. We will show later on that hydroxylation of telopeptide lysine residues is indeed under separate control from that of helical lysine residues, i.e. hydroxylation of telopeptide lysine and helical lysine is independently and specifically controlled.
Essentially all stages of collagen biosynthesis have been used as targets for the pharmacological control of collagen accumulation in fibrosis, the most important ones being the inhibition of prolyl hydroxylation (e.g. by incorporation of prolyl analogues into the triple helix instead of prolyl) [H. M. Hanauske-Abel, 1991, J. Hepatol., 13 Suppl. 3: S8-S16] and cross-linking. Here we will focus our attention to the inhibition of cross-link formation as a tool to decrease collagen accumulation in fibrotic tissues. Collagen molecules that are not cross-linked are more easily degraded by proteinases [C. A. Vater et al., 1979, Biochem. J., 181: 639-645], thus facilitating the removal of collagen. Two routes have been described to achieve lower cross-link levels: compounds that are able to inhibit lysyl oxidase (so-called lathyrogens, an example being xcex2-aminopropionitrile) and compounds that essentially block aldehydes (such as penicillamine, cysteine, and other analogues) [M. E. Nimni, 1983, Sem. Arthr. Rheum., 13: 1-86]. Both routes result in a decrease of both allysine and hydroxyallysine derived cross-links. The consequence of inhibition of lysyl oxidase is that aldehydes cannot be formed in the telopeptides; as a result, cross-link formation does not take place (FIG. 1-2). Blocking the aldehydes also effectively inhibits cross-link formation, as blocked aldehydes cannot participate in the formation of intramolecular and intermolecular cross-links. Although lathyrogens and compounds that react with aldehydes are potent antifibrotic agents, concentrations needed to display antifibrotic effects have toxic effects, thus limiting its clinical use as antifibrotic drugs. An additional drawback is, that unphysiological collagen is formed, showing inferior biomechanical properties due to the lower cross-link levels. This unphysiological collagen is not only formed by proliferating fibroblasts but also by the cells surrounding the injury, thus impairing the biomechanical quality of healthy tissue as well. In this invention we will describe a method that does not show this drawback: agents can be developed that selectively inhibit the formation of unwanted hydroxyallysine cross-links in collagen of the fibrotic lesions, leaving synthesis of allysine cross-links in the intact tissue and healing wound unaffected.
In yet another approach minoxidil, an agent capable of suppressing fibroblast proliferation and expression of lysyl hydroxylase by fibroblasts, has been proposed as a drug for treating tissue disorders associated with fibroblast hyperproliferation and collagen accumulation (as is the case in fibrosis) [S. Murad and Pinnell, 1987, J. Biol. Chem., 262: 11973-11978; S. Murad et al., 1987, Arch. Biochem. Biophys., 292: 234-238; J. T. Handa et al., 1994, Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci., 35: 463-469; J. T. Handa et al., 1993, Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci., 34: 567-575; S. Murad et al., 1994, Arch. Biochem. Biophys., 308: 42-47]. With respect to the suppression of lysyl hydroxylase, it was suggested that xe2x80x9cThe rationale for this therapeutic approach to fibrosis is based on the consideration that a collagen deficient in hydroxylysine and therefore hydroxylysine-derived crosslinks would be deposited in the extracellular matrix as a nonfunctional protein with increased susceptibility to degradation by collagenase, thus limiting its amount in the fibrotic tissuexe2x80x9d [S. Murad et al., 1994, Arch. Biochem. Biophys., 308: 42-47]. In the context of this and other papers of the same group it is clear that the authors believe that lowering the hydroxylysine levels in the telopeptides results in decreased cross-link levels. The authors specifically stated that minoxidil reduces cross-link levels [J. T. Handa et al., 1994, Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci., 35: 463-469; J. T. Handa et al., 1993, Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci., 34: 567-575; S. Murad et al., 1994, Arch. Biochem. Biophys., 308: 42-47]xe2x80x94despite the lack of any experimental evidence for this statement. Such a statement is not necessarily true and as a matter of fact even unlikely. Firstly, hydroxyallysine-derived cross-links are likely to be replaced by allysine-derived cross-links. Secondly, although minoxidil inhibits mRNA levels of PLOD1 (thereby reducing Hyl levels of the triple helical part of collagen) [e.g. T. Hautala et al., 1992, Biochem. J., 283: 51-54], it has never been shown that minoxidil reduces the lysyl hydroxylation level in the telopeptides: it was at that time believed that lysyl hydroxylase encoded by PLOD1 was capable of hydroxylating the lysine residues in both the triple helix and the telopeptides of collagen molecules, which is not the case. The abbreviation PLOD is derived from procollagen-lysine, 2-oxoglutarate 5-dioxygenase (which is the systematic name of lysyl hydroxylase), the 1 indicates that it is the first discovered PLOD gene.
PLOD1 is the gene that is mutated in Ehlers-Danlos type VI syndrome (EDS-VI) [J. Brickmann et aL, 1998, Arch. Dermatol. Res., 290: 181-186], a disease that is biochemically characterized by a hydroxylysine deficiency of collagen. Close examination of EDS-VI patients revealed that, although collagen type I and III in most tissues are Hyl deficient, collagen type II and V are not [A. Ihme et al., 1984, J. Invest. Dermat., 83: 161-165]. Thus it appears, that collagen-type specific lysyl hydroxylases exist. The presence of such lysyl hydroxylases was also postulated by Risteli et al. [1980, Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., 96: 1778-1784], who found that lysyl hydroxylase of normal fibroblasts preferentially hydroxylated collagen type I, whereas the residual lysyl hydroxylase activity of EDS-VI fibroblasts was preferentially directed towards type IV collagen. In addition, EDS-VI patients show differences in the hydroxylation of collagen type I derived from various tissues: collagen type I from skin and bone are Hyl deficient, whereas collagen type I from tendon, kidney and lung was not [A. Ihme et al., 1984, J. Invest. Dermatol., 83: 161-165]. This indicates the existence of tissue-specific forms of collagen-type specific lysyl hydroxylases.
Recently, two other lysyl hydroxylases have been cloned, PLOD2 (SEQ ID NO. 7-12) and PLOD3 (SEQ ID NO. 13-16), with an overall amino acid sequence identity of 75% and 59% with that of PLOD1 (SEQ ID NO. 1-6), respectively. The three lysyl hydroxylases show a tissue-specific distribution [M. Valtavaara et al., 1997, J. Biol. Chem., 272: 6831-6834; M. Valtavaara et al., 1998, J. Biol. Chem., 273: 12881-12886; K. Passoja et al., 1998, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 95: 10482-10486]. PLOD2 also shows a tissue-specific splice variant [H. N. Yeowell and L. C. Walker, 1999, Matrix Biol., 18: 179-187]. Furthermore, there is some evidence at the DNA level that tissue-specific forms of PLOD1 exist [H. N. Yeowell et aL, 1994, J. Invest. Dermatol., 102: 382-384]. PLOD1-3 have been expressed in a baculovirus expression system; the proteins encoded by the cDNA exhibit activity towards the synthetic peptide containing the helical sequence IKGIKGIKG. Although the specificity of PLOD1-3 towards the different collagen types has so far not been investigated, the relatively low sequence homology indicates differences in the substrate properties of these enzymes.
Interestingly, EDS-VI patients show a normal level of pyridinolines in tissues (e.g. in collagen type I from bone) or a normal excretion level of pyridinolines in urine [B. Steinmann et al, 1995, Am. J. Hum. Genet., 57: 1505-1508]. Pyridinolines are cross-links derived from the hydroxyallysine route (FIG. 2). Thus, despite the deficiency of Hyl in the triple helix, a normal amount of Hyl is present in the telopeptides. This is circumstantial evidence for yet another set of lysyl hydroxylases, for which the term xe2x80x9ctelopeptide lysyl hydroxylasexe2x80x9d has been coined (as opposed to xe2x80x9chelical lysyl hydroxylasexe2x80x9d).
If a telopeptide lysyl hydroxylase indeed exists, one would expect that diseases exist that are characterized by an upregulation or downregulation of telopeptide lysyl hydroxylase, resulting in an increase or decrease of telopeptide hydroxylysine and, consequently, in an increase or decrease of hydroxyallysine-derived cross-links. It is shown herein that the underlying molecular defect of the Bruck syndrome (a heritable connective tissue disease) is the virtual absence of telopeptide hydroxylysine of collagen type I in bone, thus providing for the first time genetic evidence for the presence of telopeptide lysyl hydroxylase. Furthermore, in Bruck syndrome a normal level of telopeptide hydroxylysine of collagen type I in joint ligament is seen, thus providing for the first time genetic evidence that tissue-specific telopeptide lysyl hydroxylases exist. Moreover, it is shown herein that there is a telopeptide lysyl hydroxylase which is located on chromosome 17p12, and that PLOD2 (located on chromosome 3) encodes for a telopeptide lysyl hydroxylase (SEQ ID NO. 7-12). Furthermore, it is shown herein that collagen molecules cross-linked by means of hydroxyallysine cross-links have a different intrafibrillar packing than molecules cross-linked by means of allysine, that telopeptide lysyl hydroxylase is upregulated in scars and other fibrotic tissues and that collagen molecules crosslinked by hydroxyallysine are more resistant toward proteolytic enzymes, explaining at least in part the irreversibility of collagen accumulation in fibrosis. It is an object of the present invention to provide a new method for the prevention of excessive collagen accumulation in wound healing and in other processes in which fibrosis occurs as the final outcome by inhibiting the formation of hydroxyallysine-derived cross-links.
This invention provides a method of treating a fibrotic condition in a mammal suffering from said condition comprising administration to said mammal of an effective amount of a composition that selectively inhibits the activity or production of telopeptide lysyl hydroxylase.
The words xe2x80x9cselectively inhibits the activity or production of telopeptide lysyl hydroxylasexe2x80x9d are used herein in a broad sense, in that they not only cover the actual inhibition of the enzyme as such, but also cover a selective inhibition of the transcription of a telopeptide lysyl hydroxylase gene, selective inhibition of the translation of mRNA derived from a telopeptide lysyl hydroxylase gene, and treatment with (a recombinant gene coding for) a mutated telopeptide lysyl hydroxylase that shows no activity towards telopeptides but that is competitive to endogenous telopeptide lysyl hydroxylase with respect to its natural substrate (collagen telopeptides).
The method of the invention is broadly applicable with mammals of any kind, but in a preferred embodiment said mammal is a human being.
Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent as the description proceeds.

Inhibition of telopeptide lysyl hydroxylase activity or production as anti-fibrotic therapy

Nederlandse Organisatie voor toegepast-natuurwetenschappelijk Onderzoek TNO


In an image generating apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, the reference image selecting unit selects an image as a reference image. The image extracting unit extracts at least one related image related to the reference image. The image generating unit generates a new composite image by using the reference image and the at least one related image according to a layout including a definition of at least one kind of information selected from a group including a background image, the number of images to be used, a size of each image to be used, and positional relation among images to be used. The basic control unit issues an instruction to make the reference image selecting unit select an image being displayed as the reference image and make the image generating unit generate the new composite image based on the reference image.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image generating apparatus, an image generating method and a computer readable recording medium recording a program thereon.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a technique called a collage has been known as a method for making use of images taken by a digital camera.
The collage is a method for generating a new image by designing arrangements such as sizes, positions or angles of a plurality of images and attaching them on a background image, thereby improving visual effect. In general, a user can make and enjoy a collage image or post it on the web to make the public enjoy it.
As an example of technologies relating to the collage, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2006-80632 published on Mar. 23, 2006 discloses a technology for relatively easily generating a composite image by laying out a plurality of images selected by a user.

Image generating apparatus, image generating method and computer readable recording medium for recording program for generating new image from images related to reference image


A broadband wireless access communication system including a serving BS which broadcasts a MOB_NBR-ADV message to an MS is provided. A method for configuring the MOB_NBR-ADV message is also provided, and includes adding a specific field, which represents whether at least one information field constituting the MOB_NBR-ADV message exists, to the MOB_NBR-ADV message, determining if at least one information field is included in the MOB_NBR-ADV message, and determining a bit value of the specific field according to whether at least one information field is included in the MOB_NBR-ADV message.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a broadband wireless access communication system, and more particularly to a system and a method for configuring a neighbor base station advertisement (hereinafter referred to as 'MOB_NBR-ADV') message including neighbor base station information.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a next generation communication system, that is, a 4th generation (hereinafter referred to as '4G') communication system, much research has been undertaken to provide users with services which have various qualities of service (hereinafter referred to as 'QoS') and to support a transmission speed of about 100 Mbps. Particularly, in the current 4G communication system, research is being vigorously pursued to support high-speed services to broadband wireless access (hereinafter referred to as 'BWA') communication systems such as wireless local area network (hereinafter referred to as 'WLAN') communication systems and wireless metropolitan area network (hereinafter referred to as 'WMAN') communication systems by ensuring both mobility and various QoSs. A typical communication system for this purpose is an IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) 802.16 communication system.
The IEEE 802.16 communication system is a communication system which applies an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (hereinafter referred to as 'OFDM')/orthogonal frequency division multiple access (hereinafter referred to as 'OFDMA') scheme in order to support a broadband transmission network to a physical channel of the WMAN system.
A structure of an IEEE 802.16 communication system will now be described with reference to FIG. 1, which schematically illustrates the common IEEE 802.16e communication system.
Referring to FIG. 1, the IEEE 802/16e communication system has a multiple cell structure, for example, it has cells 100 and 150. The IEEE 802.16e communication system also includes a base station (hereinafter referred to as 'BS') 110 controlling the cell 100, a BS 140 controlling the cell 150, and a plurality of mobile stations (hereinafter referred to as 'MS') 111, 113, 130, 151, and 153. Signal transmission/reception between the BSs 110, 140 and the MSs 111, 113, 130, 151, and 153 is implemented using the OFDM/OFDMA scheme. In addition, from among the MSs 111, 113, 130, 151, and 153, the MS 130 exists in a boundary area between the cells 100 and 150, that is, a handover area. Thus, the BS 100 or the BS 150 must be capable of supporting handover of the MS 130.
For example, when the MS 130 moves to an area covered by the cell 150 while it communicates with the BS 110 in the cell 100, and the MS 130 undergoes handover to the BS 140, the MS 130 must conduct a network re-entry procedure with the BS 140. This is because the BS 110 and the BS 140 have different physical layers and different medium access control (hereinafter referred to as 'MAC') layer structures.
If an MS conducts a network re-entry procedure during handover from a serving BS, in which the MS is currently located, to a neighbor BS as stated above, a data service in transmission/reception is interrupted and must newly be started after the MS completes the handover to the neighbor BS. In order to handover to the neighbor BS in this way, the MS must be capable of recognizing neighbor BS information. The neighbor BS information may be recognized by receiving an MOB_NBR-ADV message which each BS periodically broadcasts.
Hereinafter, an MOB-NBR-ADV message format will be described with reference to FIGS. 2A and 2D, which illustrate a format of a common MOB_NBR-ADV message.
Referring to FIGS. 2A and 2D, the MOB_NBR-ADV message is configured of a plurality of information elements (hereinafter referred to as 'IE'), and the IEs are as follows:                Management Message Type: represents the type of a transmitted message:        Operator ID: represents an unique identifier assigned to a operator,        Configuration Change Count: each time message configuration changes, increases by 1 to indicate whether a corresponding message has changed;        Fragmentation Index: represents the number of times that a message is transmitted when the MOB_NBR-ADV message is fragmented and the fragmented messages are separately transmitted;        Total Fragmentation: represents the total number of fragmented messages;        Skip-Optional-Fields Flag: indicates a BS-ID when the BS-ID is omitted in a corresponding message;        N-NEIGHBORS: represents information on how many neighbor BSs are included in a current message; that is, it represents the number of neighbor BSs;        Length: represents information field length according to BS-Ids;        PHY Profile ID: indicates an information ID of a radio channel used in a corresponding BS;        FA Index: indicates an inherent ID representing a frequency allocated to a corresponding BS;        BS EIRP: represents transmission power intensity of a corresponding BS;        Neighbor BS-ID: indicates IDs of neighbor BSs;        Preamble Index: indicates an ID of a preamble to be used in a corresponding sector of a corresponding BS;        HO Process Optimization: dividedly indicates information about indispensable procedures and information about omissible procedures during handover to a corresponding BS;        Scheduling Service Supported: indicates QoS classes supportable by a corresponding BS, from among various QoS classes predefined between BSs;        Available Radio Resource: indicates the degree of availability of radio channel resources of a corresponding BS;        Handoff Neighbor Preference: defines the degree of logical preference when a serving BS controls an MS to handover to a neighbor BS;        DCD Configuration Change Count: indicates the DCD (Downlink Channel Descriptor) information serial number of a corresponding neighbor BS;        UCD Configuration Change Count: indicates the UCD (Uplink Channel Descriptor) information serial number of a corresponding neighbor BS;        Other neighbor information (hereinafter referred to as 'TLV (Type/Length/Value) Encoded Neighbor Information'): represents all information related to a neighbor BS other than the aforementioned information.
Now, the MOB_NBR-ADV message will be described in more detail.
The MS, having received the MOB_NBR-ADV message periodically broadcasted from the serving BS, can acquire scanning information for measuring signal intensities of neighbor BSs. The MS can identify neighbor BSs by using Neighbor BS-ID information included in the MOB_NBR-ADV message, and thus comes to recognize physical frequency band search information, which is necessary for scanning the neighbor BSs, through the Physical Frequency field. In this way, the serving BS periodically broadcasts the MOB_NBR-ADV message to provide information which the MS requires for handover.
Therefore, the conventional MOB_NBR-ADV message includes a lot of information, and its large size is problematic.
Here, the MS may require, or may not necessarily require, the information included in the MOB_NBR-ADV depending on the present circumstances. Also, the MOB_NBR-ADV message is not a message which is transmitted to a specific MS, but is a broadcast message which is repeatedly transmitted to many unspecified MSs in very short cycles. On account of this, bandwidth consumption in a radio channel section is very large. In the end, there is a problem in that radio channel resources are wasted because a network operator must include unnecessary information in the MOB_NBR-ADV message.

System and method for flexibly configuring length of neighbor base station information in broadband wireless access communication system


A hollow animal-shaped structure having an entrance into which a child may crawl to take a nap. The structure may have a swinging door at the entrance, which is located at the mouth or chest of the animal. The structure may have a padded floor for the safety and comfort of the child. The structure may be equipped with an independent source of electrical current to enable its eyes to light up and to enable the animal to play back a recorded sound of that animal.

1) Field of the Invention
The field of this invention is structural sleeping areas for children. More precisely, it is structures shaped like animals for children to use while taking naps.
2) Description of the Related Art
Little children need naps during the day. Little children also like familiar things that are special to them. In the prior art, the child usually took a nap in his or her crib. A crib is inaccessible to the child who wishes to lie down immediately. Napping on a chair or sofa presents the potential hazard of the child turning over during sleep and falling off the piece of furniture. Napping on a traveled floor or carpet is unsanitary. What has been lacking from the prior art is a clean place that the child can access on his or her own and that presents no potential danger allowing falls.

Animal-shaped sleeping area for children


Provided is an ear-hole open type sound reproducing apparatus which can obtain good sound quality over a wide band while adopting a bone conduction system. A first equalizer 303 removes a high range component which is difficult to be reproduced by a vibration speaker 301 and is hard to be conveyed by bone conduction. Then, the vibration speaker 301 outputs the sound over a low range to a middle range by bone conduction sound. By equalizing processing of the first equalizer 303, it is also possible to reduce sound leakage of the high range. On the other hand, a second equalizer 304 removes components over the low range to the middle range. Then, an air conduction speaker 302 outputs high quality sound of the high range component by air conduction sound.

A sound reproducing apparatus (headphones, earphones, or the like) of a bone conduction system, which directly transmits sound to a bone such as a skull, has been known (e.g., see Patent Document 1). The sound reproducing apparatus of the bone conduction system is used by, for example, pressing a vibration speaker against a skull in the vicinities of the temples. The bone transmits the sound as vibration and stimulates the organs of the inner ear such as the cochlea. Then, the cochlea converts the vibration into an electric signal to be conveyed to the brain.
Headphones and earphones of an air conduction system, which have already been widely spread, convert the sound from an air conduction speaker (driver unit) into vibration of air to be conveyed to the ears. Thus, many of the headphones and earphones of the air conduction system are structured to close the ear holes to prevent interference due to the ambient sound and sound leakage to the outside. Therefore, since it is difficult to hear the ambient sound when such headphones or earphones are worn, these headphones or earphones should not be used for safety reasons in a scene where not hearing the ambient sound is troublesome, and the use thereof is restricted by rules or the like in some cases.
On the other hand, since the sound reproducing apparatus of the bone conduction system transmits the sound to the bone, it is unnecessary to close the ear holes, and the sound reproducing apparatus can be configured as an ear-hole open type apparatus. According to the ear-hole open type sound reproducing apparatus, there is an advantage that it is possible to listen to the ambient sound naturally even during wearing or listening and watching. Therefore, it is possible to normally utilize human functions dependent on aural characteristics, such as spatial grasping, danger sensing and grasping of conversation and subtle nuances during conversation. Moreover, since the ear holes are not closed, the sound reproducing apparatus has an appearance that other people may speak to the wearer and does not hinder communication between people. Furthermore, since the sound reproducing apparatus of the bone conduction system is not worn on the ear holes, the sound reproducing apparatus has advantages that it is not affected by individual differences in size and shape of the ears or the like and good wearability can be obtained.
However, a vibration speaker which transmits sound as vibration to the bone has a narrow reproducible frequency band. Thus, the sound reproducing apparatus of the bone conduction system has a problem that it is inferior to the sound reproducing apparatus of the air conduction system in terms of sound quality. In addition, the bone conduction listening sound has a feature that the high frequency components attenuate when propagating through soft tissue with low eigenfrequency, such as cartilage and muscle. Thus, it is difficult for the sound reproducing apparatus of the bone conduction system to reproduce a high frequency range.
The sound reproducing apparatus of the bone conduction system also has a problem of sound leakage due to the vibration generated from the vibration speaker trembling a housing to which the vibration speaker is fixed.


The invention relates to the field of LCDs, and more particularly to a backlight module and an LCD device comprising the backlight module. The backlight module includes a middle frame, a light guide panel, and a light source; the backlight module further includes a shielding structure which is used for preventing the light of the light source from being directly emitted from the gap between the middle frame and the light guide panel; the shielding structure includes a groove arranged in the middle frame, and a convex lug arranged on the light guide panel; the convex lug is arranged in the groove. Because of the existence of the shielding structure, the light cannot be directly emitted onto the optical film from the gap between the middle frame and the light guide panel; thus, the problem of light leakage is solved; therefore, the bright line and facula cannot be generated on the LCD panel, thereby improving the quality of the LCD device.

LCD devices are widely applied in recent years because of the advantages of low power consumption, low manufacturing cost, no radiation, etc. As shown in FIG. 1, an LCD device mainly includes a backlight module 1, and an LCD panel 2; the backlight module 1 here is an edge-light backlight module of a bottom-light type, is a crucial thought for designing LCD devices with narrow frames, and can achieve the aim of the design of the minimum frame of 4.3 mm. Because a light guide panel 11 can generate heat expansion and cold contraction during operation, and has manufacturing tolerance, etc., a certain assembling gap is reserved between the end surface of the light guide panel 11 and a middle frame 12, resulting in light leakage. The light of a light source 3 is directly emitted from the aforementioned gap. Because the light is bright, bright line(s) may be formed at the frame of an LCD panel 2 after the light penetrates through an optical film 13, and local facula may be formed in severe conditions, causing the quality of the LCD device to decline.

Backlight module and LCD device comprising backlight module

Shenzhen China Star Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd.


Loudspeakers and other transducers of the dual-voice-coil/dual-magnetic-gap type can be improved by the addition of one or more annular shorting rings strategically located in the vicinity of the two magnetic gaps. The shorting rings have no effect on a steady state magnetic field but act in opposition to any change in flux density or any displacement of the flux lines such as those that occur under the loading imposed when the voice coils are driven hard with audio frequency current. The location of the shorting rings determines their effect: location close to a voice coil reduces the voice coil inductance, location entirely within the magnetic flux loop centerline favors reduction of second harmonic and higher order even harmonic distortion, a centered location on the flux loop centerline, i.e. centered in the magnetic gap, favors reduction of third harmonic and higher odd order harmonic distortion, while location outside the flux loop as defined by its center line but near the voice coil acts generally to reduce harmonic distortion and reduce the voice coil inductance. Thus a plurality of rings can be strategically deployed at different locations so as to optimally suppress both even and odd order harmonic distortion and to reduce the voice coil inductance.

The present invention relates to the field of electromagnetic transducers and actuators, and more particularly it relates to improvements in loudspeaker drivers of the type having dual voice coils axially located in corresponding dual annular magnetic air gaps on a common axis.
In addressing fundamental design issues of dual-voice-coil dual-magnetic-gap loudspeaker drivers as related to conventional single-voice-coil drivers, the present inventors have found that the dual-voice-coil dual-gap type offers advantages with regard to linearity, efficiency, available voice coil excursion, power compression, heat dissipation and maximum sound pressure output capability. Furthermore they have found that certain benefits of the dual-coil dual-gap approach can be further enhanced by introducing shorting rings in the region of the two magnetic gaps near the voice coils.
Japanese patent 61-137496 to Okada introduces a conductive annular plate in a speaker magnet structure to prevent burning of a voice coil and to prevent an eddy current giving adverse influences to a voice coil current.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,381,483 to Grau discloses a minimal inductance electrodynamic transducer having ferromagnetic shunting rings coated with a highly conductive material to increase the induced current carrying capacity of the transducer.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,830,986 to Yamamuro discloses a MAGNETIC CIRCUIT FOR AN ELECTRO-ACOUSTIC CONVERTER having an air gap formed of a magnetic material laminated with a conductive layer for acting as shorting rings to decrease the inductance of the voice coil.
Japanese patent WO 81/02501 discloses a MAGNETIC CIRCUIT FOR AN ELECTRO-MECHANICAL TRANSDUCER OF A DYNAMIC ELECTRICITY TYPE wherein compensating coils or conductors within the magnetic gaps are supplied with signal current to prevent disturbances in the magnetic field.
Japanese patent 198208 discloses an ELECTROMAGNETIC CONVERTER wherein a magnetic ring is located in the air gap so that it can be moved axially between a circumferential yoke and a center yoke to provide good conversion efficiency by using a hollow disk permanent magnet that is magnetized in different poles at the center and external circumference.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,783,311 to Sato et al discloses a MAGNETIC DEVICE FOR USE IN ACOUSTIC APPARATUS wherein a metallic member in a voice coil gap permits the lines of magnetic force to move substantially in one direction only, for distortion reduction.
Soviet Union patent 587645/SU197801 to Rotshtein for an electromagnetic loudspeaker magnetic circuit disclose a magnetic shunt of soft magnetic material placed over a core pole piece to increase acoustic pressure by decreasing magnetic resistance.
The foregoing patents are confined to conventional loudspeaker driver/actuator construction having only a single gap and a single voice coil.
Patents that disclose dual voice coil dual magnetic gap drivers/actuators include U.S. Pat. No. 4,612,592 to Frandsen, U.S. Pat. No. 5,231,336 to Van Namen, and French patent 1,180,456 to Kritter; however these do not disclose the use of shorting rings.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,914,707 to Kato et al for a BALANCE VEHICULAR SPEAKER SYSTEM suggests attaching a shorting ring to a coil of a dual-coil dual-gap front speaker in a vehicle to decrease the high frequency impedance as an alternative to connecting a resistor in series with a rear speaker, for purposes of making the impedance of the rear speaker higher than that of the front one.
It is a primary object of the present invention to provide improvements in a dual-voice-coil/dual-magnetic-gap type transducer that will reduce harmonic distortion in the acoustic output.
It is a further object of the present invention to implement the aforementioned improvements in a manner that will reduce even order harmonic distortion including particularly second harmonic distortion.
It is a still further object of the present invention to implement the aforementioned improvements in a manner that will reduce odd order distortion including particularly third harmonic distortion.
The above-mentioned objects and have been accomplished and the advantages have been realized by the present invention as applied as an improvement to loudspeakers and other transducers of the dual-voice-coil/dual-magnetic-gap type by the addition of one or more shorting rings of high conductivity metal strategically located in the vicinity of the two magnetic gaps close to the voice coils and secured in place in fixed relationship relative to the main structure of the loudspeaker or transducer.
The shorting rings have no effect on a steady state magnetic field but act in opposition to any change in flux density or any displacement of the flux lines such as those that occur under the loading imposed when the voice coils are driven hard with audio frequency current. The location of the shorting rings determines their effect: location close to a voice coil reduces the voice coil inductance, location entirely within the magnetic flux loop centerline favors reduction of second harmonic and higher order even harmonic distortion, a centered location on the flux loop centerline, i.e. centered in the magnetic gap, favors reduction of third harmonic and higher odd order harmonic distortion, while location outside the flux loop centerline but near the voice coil acts generally to reduce harmonic distortion. Thus a plurality of rings can be differently located so as to optimally suppress both even and odd order harmonic distortion and reduce the voice coil inductance.

Shorting rings in dual-coil dual-gap loudspeaker drivers

Harman International Industries, Incorporated


A water filter includes a porous support characterized by a mean porosity in the range of 20 to 50% and a mean pore size of 2 to 5 μm; and a carbon filter medium membrane disposed thereon which is characterized by a mean particle size of no more than 50 μm and a mean pore size of no more than 7.2 μm.

Water purification via filtration is an issue of considerable interest in several sectors, both private and military. "Nano-filtration" of water to remove gross and large-size contaminants such as particulate matter as well as nanometer size and also smaller contaminants such as bacteria and viruses is now and will in the future be a matter of critical national and international importance, particularly in light of potential vulnerabilities to fixed water supply systems and transportable water purification systems.


Wireless devices, e.g., in a cognitive radio network, discover and use locally available usable spectrum for communication. Beacon signaling facilitates available spectrum discovery, spectrum usage coordination, and device identification. A wireless terminal, which may have entered a new area and powered up, monitors to detect for the presence of beacon signals in a communications band. When the wireless terminal fails to detect a beacon, the wireless terminal assumes that the spectrum is available and transmits its user beacon signal thereby providing notification of its presence in the area to other wireless terminals. The wireless terminal maintains a coordinated timing relationship between its beacon transmit interval and beacon detect interval, which are performed on an ongoing basis. The combination of beacon TX interval and beacon monitoring interval represents a small fraction of total time, allowing for power conservation. The coordinated timing relationship, known to peers, facilitates efficient peer-peer communications session establishment.

Wireless spectrum is an expensive and valuable resource but significant portions of spectrum often go unused. The concept of cognitive radio allows wireless devices to discover and use locally available and usable spectrum for communication. The wireless device should be able to sense its environment, including its location, and then be able to alter its communication parameters, including power and carrier frequency, so as to dynamically reuse available spectrum. A key technical challenge of cognitive radio is to detect the availability of the spectrum in a robust and power efficient manner. For example, when a terminal just powers up or moves into a new area, the terminal may not have knowledge of the communication parameters or even technologies that may be currently used in the vicinity of the geographical area. The detection method has to be robust, e.g., against various uncertainties including the lack of timing and frequency synchronization. Power efficiency has great impact on the battery life of the terminals and is thus another important issue in wireless systems.
In view of the above discussion, it should be appreciated that there is a need for new and improved ways for detecting spectrum availability in a radio network.

Communication methods and apparatus which may be used in the absence or presence of beacon signals


A clipping apparatus includes a base, a support bracket, a positioning member and a rotating arm. The support bracket is located on the base. The support bracket is oblique relative to the base and defines a sliding slot. The positioning member is slidably engaged in the sliding slot. A first end of the rotating arm is pivotably engaged with the base. A second end of the rotating arm, opposite to the first end, is secured to the positioning member. An angle defined between the base and the support bracket is adjustable when the positioning member is slid relative to the base.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to clipping apparatuses, and particularly to a clipping apparatus for an expansion card.
2. Description of Related Art
Expansion cards, such as graphics cards and audio cards, should be tested a plurality of parameters, such as wiring, before shipment. During testing, the expansion cards are positioned on a support bracket and secured to the support bracket by an installation clip. However, it is inconvenient to adjust testing angles of the expansion cards, which make the testing a complicated process.

Hong Fu Jin Precision Industry (WuHan) Co., Ltd.


A hatch assembly for closing an overwing emergency exit opening formed in the body of an aircraft. The hatch (10) includes a plug-type hatch frame (24) and a pair of hinge arms (36) providing swinging movement of the hatch between a closed position and a fully open position that is spaced above and outboard of an opening (12) in the body (14) of an aircraft. Triggering movement of either an internal handle (62) or an external (106) disengages a latch (126) operable when the hatch is in the closed position, thereby placing the hatch in an unlatched condition. Further movement of either handle causes a pair of compression springs (50) coupled to the hinge arms to automatically drive the hatch slightly inward and upward from the closed position to an intermediate lifted position to clear a stop mechanism (32 and 34), and then outward to the open position. Because the components of the hatch are located substantially within the space between an outer skin (18) of the aircraft and an interior cabin liner (20 ), the passenger headroom area and the overhead storage bins (22) are not violated.

Overwing emergency exit systems on existing commercial aircraft normally include a plug-type hatch requiring the operation of a single handle to unlatch the hatch. The hatch must then be manually lifted out of its location in the body structure and either placed inside the aircraft or thrown out through the body opening.
Automatically powered systems for opening doors to the exterior of aircraft are known in the art. For example, see the systems disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,497,462 issued to Hamatani on Feb. 5, 1985, and in U.S. Pat. No. 4,510,714 issued to Kasper et al. on Apr. 16, 1985. However, such systems are not applicable to overwing emergency exit hatches because their powering and linkage mechanisms can intrude into the passenger headroom area or overhead bin storage area. In an overwing emergency exit hatch application, this means the powering and linkage mechanisms must substantially fit within the envelope between the outer skin of the aircraft and the interior cabin liner or storage bins. Additionally, the powering and linkage mechanisms should be configured to allow a standard-sized window to be placed in the central region of the hatch, since uniformity of appearance is greatly desired by aircraft customers.
As a result, there has been a long-felt need for an overwing emergency exit hatch that: automatically opens after being unlatched, thus eliminating manual handling and disposition of the hatch; does not violate passenger headroom or overhead storage bin area; and allows the installation of a standard-sized window. This invention is directed to satisfying this need.

Upward/outward opening, plug-type overwing emergency exit hatch


Two diffraction gratings having the same grate pitch are respectively attached to a semiconductor wafer and a mask to be used in lithography in production of a semiconductor, such that the diffraction gratings are parallel to each other. When first and second frequency lights respectively having different frequencies, are incident, through a light path adjusting system, upon the mask- and wafer-side diffraction gratings in the directions of the first order diffraction angles symmetric with respect to normal-line directions of the diffraction gratings, the frequency lights first orderly diffracted by the diffraction gratings, interfere with each other, thus forming mask- and wafer-side interference lights. An initial phase difference .DELTA..phi.0 between the interference lights, is detected. Then, the light path adjusting system is adjusted to shift the interference lights by the same angle .theta.1 in the same direction, and a later phase difference .DELTA..phi.1 between the interference lights thus shifted, is detected. Based on the relation of .DELTA..phi.1-.DELTA..phi.0=(2.pi.Gtan .theta.1)/(P/2), a mask-wafer gap G is detected with high precision according to the change in phase difference (.DELTA..phi. 1-.DELTA..phi.0). This improves the precision of setting the gap G in a semiconductor production.

The present invention relates to a gap control method and a gap control apparatus suitably used in a light exposure apparatus, in particular an X-ray exposure apparatus, used in the course of production of semiconductor devices.
With a recent demand for higher density and higher operating speed of a large scale integrated circuit (LSI), the miniaturization of elements is required. Finer element s can be formed as the wavelength of light used in photolithography in production of such an LSI, is shorter. In this connection, there is used an X-ray lithography using X-rays as a light source. In mask alignment in such an X-ray lithography, an X-ray mask and a wafer are disposed opposite to each other with a proximity gap of, for example, 20 .mu.m, provided therebetween, and X-rays are irradiated to the wafer such that predetermined parts thereof are exposed to the X-rays. By reducing the gap between the X-ray mask and the wafer, it is expected to produce a finer element. It is therefore required to set, with high precision, the gap between the X-ray mask and the wafer.
As the gap setting method in conventional mask alignment, there is used a method using a lens of double focal points or a lens of single focal point.
In FIG. 7 showing the method using a lens of double focal points, there are shown a lens of double focal points 51, a wafer 52, a wafer mark 53, an X-ray mask 54 and a mask mark 55. First, a first focal point of the lens of double focal points 51 is aligned with the wafer mark 53 on the wafer 52, and a second focal point is then aligned with the mask mark 55 on the X-ray mask 54, thus setting the gap between the wafer 52 and the X-ray mask 54.
FIG. 8 shows another gap setting method, i.e., the method using a lens of single focal point. In FIG. 8, there are shown a lens of single focal point 61, a lens driving system 62 and a drive-amount detecting system 63. First, the focal point of the lens of single focal point 61 is adjusted with a wafer mark 53 on a wafer 52. Then, the lens 61 is driven by the lens driving system 62 such that the focal point of the lens 61 is adjusted with a mask mark 55 on an X-ray mask 54. This drive amount is detected by the drive-amount detecting system 63, thus calculating the gap between the X-ray mask 54 and the wafer 52.
In an X-ray exposure apparatus, the gap between the X-ray mask and the wafer is set in the vicinity of 20 .mu.m, and mask alignment and X-ray exposure are then carried out.
On the other hand, there is known, as a high-precision mask-wafer alignment apparatus, an apparatus of the heterodyne system using so-called heterodyne interference light in which two laser lights respectively having slightly different frequencies, interfere with each other, as disclosed in a publication "Light Technology Contact" (vol. 28, No. 7, 1991, p. 389).
With reference to FIGS. 9 and 10, the following description will discuss the alignment principle in the heterodyne system.
As shown in FIG. 9, when two laser lights respectively having slightly different frequencies f1, f2 are incident upon a diffraction grating b in the respective directions of primary diffraction angles .theta.a, .theta.b which are symmetric with respect to a normal line of the diffraction grating b, the laser lights having the frequencies f1, f2 are primarily diffracted in the normal line of the diffraction grating b and interfere with each other to form a beat signal Ir( t ) . The beat signal Ir(t) is expressed by the following equation: EQU Ir(t)=.vertline.E1(t)+E2(t).vertline..sup.2 =A1.sup.2 +A2.sup.2 A1A.sup.2 .multidot.cos (2.pi..vertline.f1-f2.vertline.t+.phi.1-.phi.2)
wherein A1, A2 are the amplitudes of the laser lights, .phi.1, .phi.2 are the initial phases thereof, and E1(t), E2(t) are the amplitude intensities thereof which are respectively expressed by the following equations: EQU E1(t)=A1.multidot.exp j(2.pi.f1t+.phi.1) EQU E2(t)=A2.multidot.exp j(2.pi.f2t+.phi.2)
When the diffraction grating b is moved from the position shown by a solid line in FIG. 9 to the position shown by a broken line therein (displacement .DELTA.x), changes in light path length of the two laser lights are equal to .DELTA.x sin .theta.a, .DELTA.x sin .theta.b, respectively. Accordingly, a beat signal Ib(t) is expressed by the following equation: EQU Ib(t)=A1.sup.2 +A2.sup.2 +A1A2.multidot.cos {2.pi..vertline.f1-f2.vertline.t+.phi.1-.phi.2+2.pi..DELTA.x/(p/2)}
wherein P is the grate pitch in the diffraction grating.
That is, the phase difference between the beat signals Ir(t) and Ib(t) , is linearly changed in a cycle of the displacement amount P/2 of the diffraction grating b.
The alignment apparatus of the heterodyne system utilizes the principle above-mentioned. As shown in FIG. 10, a first diffraction grating a is attached to a mask m, a second diffraction grating b is attached to a semiconductor wafer w, and the mask m and the wafer w are opposite to each other with a gap G provided therebetween. In such an arrangement, changes in light path length of two laser lights are equal to G(1+cos .theta.a), G(1+cos .theta.b), respectively. When .theta.a is equal to .theta.b, such changes are equal to each other and therefore cancelled by each other. This does not cause the beat signal to be changed in phase. More specifically, even though the gap G is changed, no influence is exerted to positional detection because of the transversely symmetric optical systems.
It is now supposed that the positional shift between the mask m and the wafer w is .DELTA.x. In this case, the positional shift .DELTA.x between the mask and the wafer is detected when a phase difference (.phi.2-.phi.1) is detected according to the following equation (1): EQU .phi.1-.phi.2=2.pi..DELTA.x/(P/2) (1)
At this time, the phase difference (.phi.2-.phi.1) can be detected with precision of about 1.degree. including errors generated in an electric signal processing. As a result, the mask m and the wafer w can be positionally aligned with each other with high precision.
In the mask-wafer positional alignment apparatus using the heterodyne interference system above-mentioned, it is possible to positionally align the mask with the wafer with high precision corresponding to the high resolution of an X-ray exposure apparatus. In the conventional gap setting method mentioned earlier, it is possible to set the gap of about 1 .mu.m or more. However, it is not possible to set the gap of not greater than the focal depth of a lens to be used, and it is difficult to set the focal depth to 1 .mu.m or less. It is therefore difficult to set the gap between the mask and the wafer with high precision required in the X-ray lithography. This disadvantageously fails to sufficiently utilize the improved precision of mask positional alignment.

Gap control apparatus and method utilizing heterodyne signal phase difference detection

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


Oral care compositions and methods for whitening teeth are provided. The oral care composition may include an orally acceptable vehicle, a whitening booster, and a source of hydrogen peroxide. The whitening booster may be dispersed in the orally acceptable vehicle. The whitening booster may include a salt of a monopersulfate, such as an alkali metal salt of the monopersulfate.

Conventional oral care products including whitening agents are often utilized to whiten teeth. For example, conventional oral care products including peroxides, such as hydrogen peroxide, are often utilized to oxidize chromophores bound to surfaces and/or dentin of teeth to thereby whiten the teeth. While oral care products including hydrogen peroxide have proven to be effective for whitening teeth, the utilization of hydrogen peroxide is limiting. For example, increasing concentrations of hydrogen peroxide to improve whitening may often lead to irritation of the teeth and gums. Further, peroxides in oral care products are often highly reactive and prone to decomposition, thereby reducing the whitening efficacy thereof.
What is needed, then, are improved oral care products and whitening compositions thereof, and methods for the same.

Oral care compositions and methods for the same


A radio resource management (RRM) system and method manages radio resources in a wireless network of radio access points (APs). In some embodiments, the channel and/or frequency of radios of the APs are managed based on a prioritization scheme of the radios. In some embodiments, the transmit powers of the radios are managed based on the prioritization scheme. The priorities of the radios is partially based on the priorities of clients connected to the radios. In some embodiments, the RRM system is a centralized controller system. In some embodiments, the RRM system forms a hierarchical network of child and parent nodes. The parent nodes are configured to manage the radios associated with the parent and its child nodes. The parent node with the smallest number of child nodes, which are associated with the selected radio and its neighboring radios, is managing these radios.

1. Field of Art
The disclosure generally relates to the field of wireless radio networks, and in particular, to managing radio channels, radio frequencies and transmit powers in centralized or hierarchical radio networks.
2. Description of the Related Art
In wireless radio networks, e.g., 802.11 WiFi networks, radio resources are generally limited. For example, the radio spectrum of a network is limited to ranges of frequencies and transmit powers. This includes that frequency ranges are divided into sub-ranges (or channels) to ensure a more orderly usage and fixed data bandwidths. In some cases, the channels are grouped together to allow higher data bandwidths by using them simultaneously.
When deploying wireless radio networks, the goal is to achieve the maximum coverage area, maximum bandwidth, and minimum levels of interference among the radios of the network. Types of interferences include interferences from unknown sources, e.g., microwave ovens or cordless phones, interferences from other non Wi-Fi radios using the same network protocol, and interferences from known radios that are part of the wireless radio network.
In home WiFi radio deployments, one or more radios independently scan available radio frequencies at startup, or while running, to determine the optimal frequency/channel and transmit power of operation. A WiFi radio processor then configured the radio with these optimal settings based on the data received during the independent frequency scans. In enterprise WiFi radio deployments, radios send operational data to a centralized controller system, which processes the data from all the radios to determine the optimal frequency/channel and transmit power for each individual radio.
A centralized controller system can receive data on interference, network performance, and analyze which radios are in the range of other radios known to the controller system. The centralized controller system then configures each radio with the determined frequency/channel and transmits power based on the data to improve the bandwidth and reliability of the network.
Several implementations of 802.11 WiFi controllers exist that manage radios through radio access points (APs) that are part of the wireless network. While every implementation attempts to optimize each radio to avoid interference and contention with other AP radios, these implementations do not distinguish between the AP radios when managing radio resources of these radios.
The Figures (FIGS.) and the following description relate to preferred embodiments by way of illustration only. It should be noted that from the following discussion, alternative embodiments of the structures and methods disclosed herein will be readily recognized as viable alternatives that may be employed without departing from the principles of what is claimed.