A mobile communication system includes a plurality of eNBs that perform radio communication with an UE and an MCE that controls the eNBs. The MCE indicates an MBSFN subframe (MCE) serving as radio resources that transmit a reference signal for power measurement to the UE less frequently than normal to the eNB, the eNB, in addition to the MBSFN subframe (MCE) indicated by the MCE, designates the MBSFN subframe (eNB) serving as the radio resources that transmit a reference signal to the UE less frequently than normal, and in the MBSFN subframe (MCE) and the MBSFN subframe (eNB) the reference signal is transmitted to the UE. In this manner, the reference signal for measuring a power can be transmitted less frequently than normal, and a power consumption of the infrastructure can be reduced.

Commercial service of W-CDMA (Wideband Code division Multiple Access) system among so-called third-generation communication systems has been offered in Japan since 2001. In addition, HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) service for achieving higher-speed data transmission using a downlink has been offered by adding a channel for packet transmission (HS-DSCH: High Speed-Downlink Shared Channel) to the downlink (dedicated data channel, dedicated control channel). Further, in order to increase the speed of data transmission in an uplink direction, service of an HSUPA (High Speed Uplink Packet Access) system has been offered. W-CDMA is a communication system defined by the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) that is the standards organization regarding the mobile communication system, where the specifications of Release 8 version are produced.
Further, 3GPP is studying new communication systems referred to as "long term evolution (LTE)" regarding radio areas and "system architecture evolution (SAE)" regarding the overall system configuration including a core network (merely referred to as network as well) as communication systems independent of W-CDMA. In the LTE, an access scheme, a radio channel configuration and a protocol are totally different from those of the current W-CDMA (HSDPA/HSUPA). For example, as to the access scheme, code division multiple access is used in the W-CDMA, whereas in the LTE, OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) is used in a downlink direction and SC-FDMA (Single Career Frequency Division Multiple Access) is used in an uplink direction. In addition, the bandwidth is 5 MHz in the W-CDMA, while in the LTE, the bandwidth can be selected from 1.4 MHz, 3 MHz, 5 MHz, 10 MHz, 15 MHz and 20 MHz for each base station. Further, differently from the W-CDMA, circuit switching is not provided but a packet communication system is only provided in the LTE.
The LTE is defined as a radio access network independent of the W-CDMA network because its communication system is configured with a new core network different from a core network (GPRS) of the W-CDMA. Therefore, for differentiation from the W-CDMA communication system, a base station that communicates with a user equipment (UE) and a radio network controller that transmits/receives control data and user data to/from a plurality of base stations are referred to as an eNB (E-UTRAN NodeB) and an EPC (Evolved Packet Core) (also referred to as access gateway (aGW: Access Gateway)), respectively, in the LTE communication system. Unicast service and E-MBMS service (Evolved Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service) are provided in this LTE communication system. The E-MBMS service is broadcast multimedia service, which is merely referred to as MBMS in some cases. Bulk broadcast contents such as news, weather forecast and mobile broadcast are transmitted to a plurality of user equipments. This is also referred to as point to multipoint service.
Non-Patent Document 1 describes the current decisions by 3GPP regarding an overall architecture in the LTE system. The overall architecture (Chapter 4.6.1 of Non-Patent Document 1) is described with reference to FIG. 1. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of the LTE communication system. With reference to FIG. 1, the E-UTRAN (Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access) is composed of one or a plurality of base stations 102, provided that a control protocol (for example, RRC (Radio Resource Management)) and a user plane (for example, PDCP: Packet Data Convergence Protocol, RLC: Radio Link Control, MAC: Medium Access Control, and PHY: Physical Layer) for a user equipment 101 are terminated in the base station 102. The base stations 102 perform scheduling and transmission of paging signal (also referred to as paging messages) notified from an MME 103 (Mobility Management Entity). The base stations 102 are connected to each other by means of an X2 interface. In addition, the base stations 102 are connected to an EPC (Evolved Packet Core) by means of an S1 interface, more specifically, connected to the MME 103 (Mobility Management Entity) by means of an S1_MME interface and connected to an S-GW 104 (Serving Gateway) by means of an S1_U interface. The MME 103 distributes the paging signaling to multiple or a single base station 102. In addition, the MME 103 performs mobility control of an idle state. When the user equipment is in the idle state and an active state, the MME 103 manages a list of tracking areas. The S-GW 104 transmits/receives user data to/from one or a plurality of base stations 102. The S-GW 104 serves as a local mobility anchor point in handover between base stations. Moreover, there is provided a P-GW (PDN Gateway), which performs per-user packet filtering and UE-ID address allocation.
The control protocol RRC between the user equipment 101 and the base station 102 performs broadcast, paging, RRC connection management and the like. The states of the base station and the user equipment in RRC are classified into RRC_Idle and RRC_CONNECTED. In RRC_IDLE, PLMN (Public Land Mobile Network) selection, system information (SI) broadcast, paging, cell reselection, mobility and the like are performed. In RRC_CONNECTED, the user equipment has RRC connection, is capable of transmitting/receiving data to/from a network, and performs, for example, handover (HO) and measurement of a neighbor cell. RRC_IDLE is also merely referred to as IDLE or an idle state. RRC_CONNECTED is also merely referred to as CONNECTED.
The current decisions by 3GPP regarding the frame configuration in the LTE system are described in Non-Patent Document 1 (Chapter 5). Description is given with reference to FIG. 2. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of a radio frame used in the LTE communication system. With reference to FIG. 2, one radio frame is 10 ms. The radio frame is divided into ten equally sized subframes. The subframe is divided into two equally sized slots. The first and sixth subframes contain a downlink synchronization signal (SS) per each radio frame. The synchronization signals are classified into a primary synchronization signal (P-SS) and a secondary synchronization signal (S-SS). Multiplexing of channels for multimedia broadcast multicast service single frequency network (MBSFN) and for non-MBSFN is performed on a per-subframe basis. MBSFN Transmission is a simulcast transmission technique realized by simultaneous transmission of the same waveforms from a plurality of cells. MBSFN transmission from a plurality of cells in an MBSFN area appears as one transmission by a user equipment. MBSFN is a network that supports the MBSFN transmission. Hereinafter, a subframe for MBSFN transmission is referred to as an MBSFN subframe. Non-Patent Document 2 describes a signaling example when MBSFN subframes are allocated. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of the MBSFN frame. With reference to FIG. 3, the MBSFN subframes are allocated for each MBSFN frame. The MBSFN frame is repeated in a radio Frame Allocation Period. An MBSFN subframe is a subframe allocated for MBSFN in a radio frame defined by the radio frame allocation period and a radio Frame Allocation Offset, and is a subframe to transmit multimedia data. A radio frame that satisfies the following equation (1) is a radio frame including the MBSFN subframe.SFN Mod radioFrameAllocationPeriod=radioFrameAllocationOffset  Equation (1)Allocation of the MBSFN subframe is performed by 6 bits. The leftmost bit defines MBSFN allocation of a second (#1) subframe. A second bit defines MBSFN allocation of a third subframe (#2), a third bit defines MBSFN allocation of a fourth subframe (#3), a fourth bit defines MBSFN allocation of a seventh subframe (#6), a fifth bit defines MBSFN allocation of an eighth subframe (#7), and a sixth bit defines MBSFN allocation of an ninth subframe (#8). When the bit shows "1", it is shown that a corresponding subframe is allocated for MBSFN.
Non-Patent Document 1 describes the current decisions by 3GPP regarding the channel configuration in the LTE system. It is assumed that the same channel configuration is used in a CSG cell (Closed Subscriber Group cell) as that of a non-CSG cell. A physical channel (Chapter 5 of Non-Patent Document 1) is described with reference to FIG. 4. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating physical channels used in the LTE communication system. With reference to FIG. 4, a physical broadcast channel (PBCH) 401 is a downlink channel transmitted from the base station 102 to the user equipment 101. A BCH transport block is mapped to four subframes within a 40 ms interval. There is no explicit signaling indicating 40 ms timing. A physical control format indicator channel (PCFICH) 402 is transmitted from the base station 102 to the user equipment 101. The PCFICH notifies the number of OFDM symbols used for PDCCHs from the base station 102 to the user equipment 101. The PCFICH is transmitted in each subframe. A physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) 403 is a downlink channel transmitted from the base station 102 to the user equipment 101. The PDCCH notifies the resource allocation, HARQ information related to DL-SCH (downlink shared channel that is one of the transport channels shown in FIG. 5) and the PCH (paging channel that is one of the transport channels shown in FIG. 5). The PDCCH carries an uplink scheduling grant. The PDCCH carries ACK/Nack that is a response signal to uplink transmission. The PDCCH is also referred to as an L1/L2 control signal as well. A physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) 404 is a downlink channel transmitted from the base station 102 to the user equipment 101. A DL-SCH (downlink shared channel) that is a transport channel and a PCH that is a transport channel are mapped to the PDSCH. A physical multicast channel (PMCH) 405 is a downlink channel transmitted from the base station 102 to the user equipment 101. A multicast channel (MCH) that is a transport channel is mapped to the PMCH.
A physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) 406 is an uplink channel transmitted from the user equipment 101 to the base station 102. The PUCCH carries ACK/Nack that is a response signal to downlink transmission. The PUCCH carries a channel quality indicator (CQI) report. The CQI is quality information indicating the quality of received data or channel quality. In addition, the PUCCH carries a scheduling request (SR). A physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) 407 is an uplink channel transmitted from the user equipment 101 to the base station 102. A UL-SCH (uplink shared channel that is one of the transport channels shown in FIG. 5) is mapped to the PUSCH. A physical hybrid ARQ indicator channel (PHICH) 408 is a downlink channel transmitted from the base station 102 to the user equipment 101. The PHICH carries ACK/Nack that is a response to uplink transmission. A physical random access channel (PRACH) 409 is an uplink channel transmitted from the user equipment 101 to the base station 102. The PRACH carries a random access preamble.
A downlink reference signal is a known symbol serving as a mobile communication system. The physical layer measurement objects of a user equipment include, for example, reference symbol received power (RSRP).
The transport channel (Chapter 5 of Non-Patent Document 1) is described with reference to FIG. 5. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating transport channels used in the LTE communication system. Part [A] of FIG. 5 shows mapping between a downlink transport channel and a downlink physical channel. Part [B] of FIG. 5 shows mapping between an uplink transport channel and an uplink physical channel. A broadcast channel (BCH) is broadcast to the entire base station (cell) regarding the downlink transport channel. The BCH is mapped to the physical broadcast channel (PBCH). Retransmission control according to a HARQ (Hybrid ARQ) is applied to a downlink shared channel (DL-SCH). Broadcast to the entire base station (cell) is enabled. The DL-SCH supports dynamic or semi-static resource allocation. The semi-static resource allocation is also referred to as persistent scheduling. The DL-SCH supports DRX (Discontinuous reception) of a user equipment for enabling the user equipment to save power. The DL-SCH is mapped to the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH). The paging channel (PCH) supports DRX of the user equipment for enabling the user equipment to save power. Broadcast to the entire base station (cell) is required. The PCH is mapped to a physical resource such as the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) that can be used dynamically for traffic or a physical resource such as the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) of the other control channel. The multicast channel (MCH) is used for broadcast to the entire base station (cell). The MCH supports SFN combining of MBMS service (MTCH and MCCH) in multi-cell transmission. The MCH supports semi-static resource allocation. The MCH is mapped to the PMCH.
Retransmission control according to an HARQ (Hybrid ARQ) is applied to an uplink shared channel (UL-SCH). The DL-SCH supports dynamic or semi-static resource allocation. The UL-SCH is mapped to the physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH). A random access channel (RACH) shown in part [B] of FIG. 5 is limited to control information. There is a collision risk. The RACH is mapped to the physical random access channel (PRACH).
The HARQ is described. The HARQ is the technique for improving the communication quality of a channel by combination of automatic repeat request and forward error correction. The HARQ has an advantage that error correction functions effectively by retransmission even for a channel whose communication quality changes. In particular, it is also possible to achieve further quality improvement in retransmission through combination of the reception results of the first transmission and the reception results of the retransmission. An example of the retransmission method is described. In a case where the receiver fails to successfully decode the received data (in a case where a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) error occurs (CRC=NG)), the receiver transmits "Nack" to the transmitter. The transmitter that has received "Nack" retransmits the data. In a case where the receiver successfully decodes the received data (in a case where a CRC error does not occur (CRC=OK)), the receiver transmits "AcK" to the transmitter. The transmitter that has received "Ack" transmits the next data. Examples of the HARQ system include "chase combining". In chase combining, the same data sequence is transmitted in the first transmission and retransmission, which is the system for improving gains by combining the data sequence of the first transmission and the data sequence of the retransmission in retransmission. This is based on the idea that correct data is partially included even if the data of the first transmission contains an error, and highly accurate data transmission is enabled by combining the correct portions of the first transmission data and the retransmission data. Another example of the HARQ system is IR (incremental redundancy). The IR is aimed to increase redundancy, where a parity bit is transmitted in retransmission to increase the redundancy by combining the first transmission and retransmission, to thereby improve the quality by an error correction function.
A logical channel (Chapter 6 of Non-Patent Document 1) is described with reference to FIG. 6. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating logical channels used in an LTE communication system. Part [A] of FIG. 6 shows mapping between a downlink logical channel and a downlink transport channel. Part [B] of FIG. 6 shows mapping between an uplink logical channel and an uplink transport channel. A broadcast control channel (BCCH) is a downlink channel for broadcast system control information. The BCCH that is a logical channel is mapped to the broadcast channel (BCH) or downlink shared channel (DL-SCH) that is a transport channel. A paging control channel (PCCH) is a downlink channel for transmitting paging signals. The PCCH is used when the network does not know the cell location of a user equipment. The PCCH that is a logical channel is mapped to the paging channel (PCH) that is a transport channel. A common control channel (CCCH) is a channel for transmission control information between user equipments and a base station. The CCCH is used in a case where the user equipments have no RRC connection with the network. In downlink, the CCCH is mapped to the downlink shared channel (DL-SCH) that is a transport channel. In uplink, the CCCH is mapped to the uplink shared channel uplink shared channel (UL-SCH) that is a transport channel.
A multicast control channel (MCCH) is a downlink channel for point-to-multipoint transmission. The MCCH is a channel used for transmission of MBMS control information for one or several MTCHs from a network to a user equipment. The MCCH is a channel used only by a user equipment during reception of the MBMS. The MCCH is mapped to the downlink shared channel (DL-SCH) or multicast channel (MCH) that is a transport channel. A dedicated control channel (DCCH) is a channel that transmits dedicated control information between a user equipment and a network. The DCCH is mapped to the uplink shared channel (UL-SCH) in uplink and mapped to the downlink shared channel (DL-SCH) in downlink. A dedicated traffic channel (DTCH) is a point-to-point communication channel for transmission of user information to a dedicated user equipment. The DTCH exists in uplink as well as downlink. The DTCH is mapped to the uplink shared channel (UL-SCH) in uplink and mapped to the downlink shared channel (DL-SCH) in downlink. A multicast traffic channel (MTCH) is a downlink channel for traffic data transmission from a network to a user equipment. The MTCH is a channel used only by a user equipment during reception of the MBMS. The MTCH is mapped to the downlink shared channel (DL-SCH) or multicast channel (MCH).
GCI represents a global cell identity. In the LTE and UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunication System), a CSG cell (Closed Subscriber Group cell) is introduced. The CSG is described below (Chapter 3.1 of Non-Patent Document 3). The CSG (Closed Subscriber Group) is a cell in which subscribers who are allowed to use are specified by an operator (cell for specific subscribers). The specific subscribers are allowed to make access one or more E-UTRAN cells of a PLMN (public land mobile network). One or more E-UTRAN cells in which the specific subscribers are allowed to make access are referred to as "CSG cell(s)". Note that access is limited in the PLMN. The CSG cell is part of the PLMN that broadcasts a specific CSG identity (CSG ID, CSG-ID). The authorized members of the subscriber group who have registered in advance access the CSG cells using the CSG-ID that is the access permission information.
The CSG-ID is broadcast by the CSG cell or cells. A plurality of CSG-IDs exist in a mobile communication system. The CSG-IDs are used by user equipments (UEs) for making access from CSG-related members easier. The locations of user equipments are traced based on an area composed of one or more cells. The locations are traced for enabling tracing of the locations of user equipments and calling (calling of user equipments) even in an idle state. An area for tracing locations of user equipments is referred to as a tracking area. A CSG whitelist is a list stored in the USIM (Universal Subscriber Identity Module) in which all CSG IDs of the CSG cells to which the subscribers belong are recorded. The CSG whitelist is also referred to as an allowed CSG ID list in some cases.
A "suitable cell" is described below (Chapter 4. 3 of Non-Patent Document 3). The "suitable cell" is a cell on which a UE camps (Camp ON) to obtain normal service. Such a cell satisfies a condition in which (1) the cell is part of a selected PLMN, a registered PLMN, or a PLMN of "Equivalent PLMN list", (2) the cell further satisfies the following conditions by the latest information provided by an NAS (non-access stratum), and (a) the cell is not a barred cell. (b) The cell is not part of an "LAs barred for roaming" list, but part of at least one tracking area (TA). In this case, the cell must fulfill the (1), (c) the cell satisfies a cell selection criteria, (d) the cell, that is specified as a CSG cell by system information (SI) is part of a "CSG whitelist" of the UE (included in the CSG whitelist of the UE).
An "acceptable cell" is described below (Chapter 4.3 of Non-Patent Document 3). This is the cell on which a UE camps to obtain limited service (emergency calls). Such a cell shall fulfill all the following requirements. That is, the minimum required set for initiating an emergency call in an E-UTRAN network are as follows. (1) the cell is not a barred cell. (2) the cell shall fulfill the cell selection criteria.
Camping on a cell represents the state where a UE has completed the cell selection/reselection process and the UE has selected a cell for monitoring the system information and paging information.
3GPP is studying base stations referred to as Home-NodeB (Home-NB, HNB) and Home-eNodeB (Home-eNB, HeNB). HNB/HeNB is a base station for, for example, household, corporation or commercial access service in UTRAN/E-UTRAN. Non-Patent Document 4 discloses three different modes of the access to the HeNB and HNB. Those are an open access mode, a closed access mode and a hybrid access mode. The respective modes have the following characteristics. In the open access mode, the HeNB and HNB are operated as a normal cell of a normal operator. In the closed access mode, the HeNB and HNB are operated as a CSG cell. The CSG cell is a cell where only CSG members are allowed access. In the hybrid access mode, non-CSG members are allowed to access at the same time. In other words, a cell in the hybrid access mode (also referred to as hybrid cell) is the cell that supports both the open access mode and the closed access mode.
In 3GPP, as Release 10, the standards of "long term evolution advanced" (LTE-A) are being established (Non-Patent Document 6 and Non-Patent Document 7).
In the LTE-A system, it is examined that a relay (relay node (RN)) is supported to obtain a high communication speed, a high throughput at cell edge, a new coverage area and the like. The relay node is wirelessly connected to a radio access network through a donor cell (donor eNB or DeNB). Within the range of the donor cell, a link from an NW to a relay node shares the same frequency band as that of a link from a network to a UE. In this case, the UE of Release 8 can also be connected to the donor cell. A link between a donor cell and a relay node is referred to as a backhaul link, and a link between a relay node and a UE is referred to as an access link.
As a backhaul link multiplexing method in FDD, transmission from a DeNB to an RN is performed in a downlink (DL) frequency band, transmission from an RN to a DeNB is an uplink (UL) frequency band. As a resource splitting method in a relay, a link from a DeNB to an RN and a link from an RN to a UE are time-multiplexed in one frequency band, and a link from an RN to a DeNB and a link from a UE to an RN are time-multiplexed in one frequency band. In this manner, in the relay, transmission of the relay can be prevented from interfering with reception of its own relay.

Communication system, base station and mobile terminal


A low noise amplifier is provided for the receiver of a wireless communications system. The amplifier incorporates an image rejection function by incorporating a notch filter formed by an inductor and capacitor connected at a node between two active elements of the amplifier. The amplifier also incorporates a gain control function by adding a further active element connected to, on one hand, a node between the inductor and capacitor and, on the other hand, a voltage supply. A gain control signal is connected to the control input of the further active element has an input connected to a feedback lead of the receiver to provide the gain control.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an amplifier for use in a wireless communication system, and in particular to a low noise amplifier for use in a radio frequency receiver.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the explosive growth in the commercial wireless telecommunications market, a greater need is seen for lower cost and more highly integrated telecommunications equipment. Integrated semiconductor devices provide the possibility of meeting both needs. For example, silicon based devices may provide the necessary characteristics to address a wide range of applications. CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) technology is becoming feasible for high frequency analog applications that were traditionally built with more expensive technologies such as bipolar devices. Sub-micrometer CMOS technologies now exhibit sufficient performance for RF (Radio Frequency) applications in a few gigahertz ranges. However, using a standard CMOS technology, the design of amplifiers for use at high frequencies requires more detailed considerations than those for use at low frequencies.
In FIG. 1 is shown a super-heterodyne architecture of the type that is widely used in modem wireless communications handsets. The receiver includes an antenna 10 having an output connected to a radio frequency (RF) filter 11. The filter output is connected to a low noise amplifier 12 that in turn is connected to an image filter 13. The image filter 13 output is fed to a mixer 14 which has a second input connected to a local oscillator (LO) signal 15. The output of the mixer 14 is provided to an intermediate frequency (IF) filter 16. The output of the IF filter is used in the communications system in a way that is well known.
This architecture is capable of providing high reliability and stable performance in mobile communications. In super-heterodyne receivers, the image frequency presents a problem because the image frequency is superimposed on the desired signal. In order to solve this problem and provide removal, or rejection, of the image frequency signal, the super-heterodyne receiver front-end can consist of any of several topologies. Especially useful approaches are the use of an image rejection filter component in a Hartley architecture or a Weaver architecture.
Modem radio frequency receivers are often provided on a semiconductor chip to provide the advantages of lower cost, greater compactness and reduced power consumption. The chip is indicated in FIG. 1 by the solid line 18 enclosing the low noise amplifier 12, local oscillator 15, mixer 14 and IF filter 16. Currently, most of the commercially available radio frequency receivers use off-chip passive bandpass filters, such as ceramic or surface acoustic wave (SAW) filters, because the off-chip filters provide the most robust solution to the image rejection problem. As has been well known for years, surface acoustic wave bandpass filters have a number of advantages, for example, no power consumption, no linearity degradation, and extraordinarily high quality factor. However, the high cost and large size of such separate bandpass filters make these filters less attractive for use in the next generation receivers. The conventional receiver system of FIG. 1 uses an external filter for image rejection. Specifically, the RF filter 11 and image filter 13 are provided as external components to the chip 18.
The current, off-chip passive filters, such as surface acoustic wave filters or ceramic filters, are used for image frequency rejection, but these bulky filters are the major impediment to raising the level of integration of the radio frequency circuit since they cannot be easily integrated. Systems using these filters have a relatively high cost and large size. Therefore, to decrease the circuit size, monolithic integration of the filter with the other electrical devices of the receiver circuit is being researched.
In applications for use at frequencies below 3 GHz, monolithic circuits are provided using an image rejection mixer for phase cancellation to satisfy an image rejection specification of better than 41 dB. Practical systems require higher values of image rejection. As such, it would be desirable to combine an on-chip image filter with an integrated image reject mixer to obtain a very high on-chip image rejection.
When a wide range of signal powers is received by an antenna in a wireless communications system, the system requires the addition of a variable gain stage. The variable gain function is generally provided in later stages in the radio receiver system. For example, in FIG. 2 is provided a variable gain amplifier 17 at the output of the IF filter 16. The variable gain amplifier includes a control lead 18, as is well known, for controlling the output gain of the variable gain stage to compensate for changes in the power of the received signal.
If the variable gain function is provided at the early stages in the system such as using a low noise amplifier (LNA) 12 a such as shown in FIG. 2, then the gain variation is being made in the presence of minimum power signals and the signal-to-noise ratio increases. If instead the gain control is provided later in the receiver system while in the presence of maximum power signals, the last stage of the receiver is not saturated. Furthermore, with such gain controllable low noise amplifiers (LNA), the target dynamic range of the VGA (Variable Gain Amplifier) 20 tends to be degraded.
A low noise amplifier (LNA) is used in the RF receiver in a wireless communication application to obtain the necessary power gain and decreasing the noise factor (NF). Conventional low noise amplifiers have high power consumption at radio frequencies to satisfy the required power gain and to provide the characteristics necessary in an RF receiver application. The conventional LNA uses a one unit common source amplifier structure as shown in FIG. 3 configured as a cascode amplifier.
In particular, the amplifier circuit of FIG. 3 includes a first FET 45 connected with a gate inductor 46 at its gate lead, through which is fed the input signal of the amplifier circuit. The source of the FET 45 is connected through a source inductor 47 to ground. The drain of the FET 45 is connected to a source of a second FET 43 at a node 44. The drain of the second FET 43 is connected through a drain inductor 41 to the supply voltage VDD. A bias voltage Vbias is connected at the gate of the second FET 43. A capacitor 42 is connected to the drain of the second FET 43 as well to provide the output signal for the amplifier through the capacitor.
Operationally, in FIG. 3 in order to achieve low noise and to provide power matching at the same time, the source inductor 47, also denoted Ls in the drawing, is used. When an inductor having a high quality factor is used for this source degeneration function, the result is that the amplifier has good noise performance. The bonding wire to the chip has been used as the inductor for source degeneration, and its length is selected by considering a minimum size at for the chip layout and for bonding. The drain inductor 41, also denoted Ld, the source inductor 47 and the gate inductor 46, also denoted Lg in the drawing, as well as the capacitor 42, also denoted C1, are external elements. The gate inductor 46 and the source inductor 47 are used for matching input impedance, and the drain inductor 41 and capacitor  42 are used for matching output impedance. The bias signal Vbias is supplied to the gate of the transistor 43, also denoted M2 on the drawing. The elements within the dashed line are on the chip. In this structure, the signal is amplified by the gain of the cascode structure of the two transistors 45 and 43.
Amplifiers of this type are used in wireless communications. Wireless communications systems have exhibited remarkable growth over the past decade. Wireless voice and data applications are being enabled by rapidly emerging wireless technologies, such as cellular telephony, personal communications systems and wireless local area network (WLANs), to name a few. Digital modulation techniques, miniaturization of transceivers due to advances in monolithic integrated circuit design and the development of high frequency, microwave and millimeter wave RF systems in both the licensed and unlicensed bands have all contributed to improving the quality and bandwidth capacity of these systems and to reducing the size and costs of the components.
The LNA (Low Noise Amplifier) is a critical front end component of a wireless receiver. As noted above, its function is to take the relatively weak signal received at the antenna and, after filtering of the signal, amplify it with maximum power transfer and with a minimum of added noise for further processing (referred to as down conversion, etc.). The maximum power transfer is achieved by designing the LNA to have an input impedance that matches a characteristic input impedance of the antenna, which is commonly 50 ohms. Thus, a true concurrent LNA, as a critical front end component of a concurrent receiver, must be capable of (1) matching the characteristic input impedance of the received signal at the antenna at the respective frequency band; (2) simultaneously amplifying the received signal(s); and (3) accomplishing the above with minimum added electrical noise.

Low noise amplifier for wireless communications


A printer for processing a variable data printing (VDP) job includes a control unit. The control unit causes a printer unit to perform test printing of a part of a plurality of records included in a VDP job determined as a test print job. After the part of the record is printed, the control unit accepts a print instruction for records which are not printed. In response to the accepted print instruction, the control unit causes the printer unit to print the records that are not printed by the test printing.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus which can perform test printing to output only apart of image data included in a print job and subsequently print the rest of the image data, a method for controlling the image forming apparatus, and a program.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, copying apparatuses have a function referred to as test copy. Test copy includes initially outputting only a part of a copy job that includes a plurality of number of copies, and visually checking the output to see whether job settings such as a staple position and image processing settings are as intended. If the job settings are proper, the rest of the copies are output subsequently. Image forming apparatuses including printers and multifunction peripherals have a function referred to as test printing, which includes executing only a part of a print job and executing the rest later.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-299936 discusses a technique for performing test printing on a sheet different from one specified by a job.
Recent image forming apparatuses have improved in processing speed, and become capable of mass page printing such as variable data printing (VDP) and transaction printing. For example, a VDP job produces outputs customized to respective customers to whom the output prints are delivered. A single VDP job includes a large number of pages, and typically, the number of copies of the job is one.
Test printing that can be carried out by the conventional technology includes initially printing a part of a plurality of copies, checking the output, and subsequently printing the rest. In other words, the conventional technology implements test printing when printing a plurality of copies. It is therefore difficult to perform test printing on a VDP job, which is typically a single-copy output.

Image forming apparatus, method of controlling image forming apparatus, and storage medium


Computers are provided with a totally ordered, durable shared log. Shared storage is used and can be directly accessed by the computers over a network. Append-log operations are made atomic in the face of failures by committing provisional append ordering information onto a log. The log may comprise multiple flash packages or non-volatile memory devices, referred to as segments, although any shared storage device(s) may be used. Each log record is a multi-page stripe, where each page of a stripe is written to a different segment. Fault-tolerant protocol variants append stripes to the log, such that stripes are totally ordered in the log and each stripe is written atomically.

Computer data storage refers to components, devices, and/or recording media used to retain digital data for periods of time. Various types of computer data storage exist, including memory devices (e.g., semiconductor storage), such as random access memory (RAM) devices and read only memory (ROM) devices, and mass storage devices, such as optical discs and magnetic storage (hard disks, magnetic tapes, etc.), and further types of storage.
A particular computer data storage implementation may be associated with a single computer or may be shared by multiple computers. For instance, a computer system that includes multiple computers may share a large persistent data store (e.g., a logical service) that is accessible over a storage network. The persistent data store may include a large number of independent storage units, including an array of hard disk drives and/or flash memory devices or other types of computer data storage. Data may be stored in the data store in various ways. For instance, in one current technique for storing data, multipage units of data may be stored in a data store in the form of "stripes." A set of storage units that is used to store data stripes may be referred to as a "stripeset." Stripesets that store data in the form of stripes enable relatively high performance and high availability of access to stored data.
Allowing multiple computers to independently write stripes to a stripeset can be difficult to manage, however. For example, total ordering and consistency are difficult to guarantee.

Totally ordered log on appendable storage


An erodable abrasive granule comprising a plurality of first abrasive grains bonded together by a first binder to form an erodable base agglomerate and at least a partial coating of second abrasive grains bonded to the periphery of the base agglomerate by means of a second binder. These abrasive granules can be incorporated into a wide variety of abrasive articles such as grinding wheels, coated abrasives, and non-woven abrasives.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an abrasive granule, and, in particular, one which comprises an agglomerate having individual abrasive grains coated on the periphery thereof.
2. Discussion of the Art
Conventional coated abrasives typically consist of a single layer of abrasive grain adhered to a backing. It has been found that only up to about 15% of the grains in the layer are actually utilized in removing any of the workpiece. It follows then that about 85% of the grains in the layer are wasted. Furthermore, the backing, one of the more expensive components of the coated abrasive, must also be disposed of before the end of its useful life.
To overcome this problem of waste, many attempts have been made to distribute the abrasive grains on the backing in such a manner so that a higher percentage of abrasive grains can be utilized, thus leading to extended life of the abrasive product. The extended life further leads to fewer belt or disc changes by the operators, thereby saving time and reducing labor costs. It is apparent that merely depositing a thick layer of abrasive grains on the backing will not solve the problem, because the grains lying below the topmost grains are not likely to be used.
The prior art describes several attempts to distribute abrasive grains in a coated abrasive in such a way as to prolong the life of the product. U.S. Pat. No. Re. 29,808 (Wagner) describes a grinding material comprising a multiplicity of hollow bodies whose walls contain abrasive grains and a bonding means for bonding the abrasive grains to each other at the wall surface, whereby during grinding a multiplicity of fresh abrasive grains become continuously available at the grinding surface wherein the grinding action of the grinding surface depends exclusively on the size of the abrasive grains.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,311,489 (Kressner); 4,652,275 (Bloecher et al.) and 4,799,939 (Bloecher et al.) teach erodable agglomerates which consist of a plurality of abrasive grains bound together by an inorganic or resinous binder. The agglomerates gradually wear down during grinding by successive removal of dulled abrasive grains from the agglomerates.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,364,746 (Bitzer et al.) describes an abrasive article consisting a plurality of different types of erodable agglomerates. Each agglomerate type exhibits substantially different structural strength qualities, and therefore different abilities to sustain abrading forces. The use of these different agglomerate types results in a uniform cutting depth, a uniform rate of wear and a longer life.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,542,058 (Riedesel) discloses a coated abrasive having a first layer of resilient particles bonded to a backing and a second layer of abrasive grains coated over the resilient particles. The resilient particles can be cork, vulcanized rubber or other natural and synthetic compressible and resilient materials.
Although the products outlined in the above mentioned patents are useful, even greater utilization of abrasive grains in abrasive articles is desired by industry.

Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company


A TV tuner consisting of a least one low-noise amplifier, one mixer and one variable-gain amplifier plus two band-pass filters, the first of which is placed after low-noise amplifier and before the mixer, and the second of which is placed after mixer and before variable-gain amplifier. The filters are on-chip active devices equipped with on-chip frequency- and Q-tuning systems. The first band-pass filter is a real filter, such that its frequency response is symmetrical for positive and negative frequencies. The second band-pass filter is a complex filter, such that its frequency response has transmission for positive frequencies, but blocks negative frequencies. The low-noise amplifier includes gain control. The mixer is a complex-mixer consisting of two identical mixers driven by two local oscillator signals in quadrature.

Currently, terrestrial tuners are built as hybrid devices using limited number of small ICs, metal shield can and external discrete components such as manually tuned coils and varactors. Significant progress has been made in integration of cable tuners. Most of these devices are integrated on one chip with two external ceramic or surface-acoustic wave (SAW) filters and a few several other discrete components.
A reason for the slow progress in integration of a terrestrial TV tuner is the extremely demanding environment of off-the-air reception. The main problem is high power, out of band interferers such as cellular phone services that are close enough to the TV band. Another source of interference is high power in-band TV signals from other TV broadcast stations that the tuner is not presently tuned to. This problem is often referred to as near-far station problem. The two remaining design challenges are the required high image rejection ratio, IRR>65 dB and the required overall low noise figure, NF<8 dB of the tuner for different gain settings.
All these requirements can be met separately. However, their simultaneous meeting poses a substantial challenge for a fully integrated receiver. The existing dual-conversion cable-tuner architectures are not suitable for the implementation of a fully integrated terrestrial tuner for three reasons. They do not include any pre-filtering at RF, and therefore for the terrestrial application the low-noise amplifier (LNA) and mixer are overloaded such that their linearity requirements are difficult to meet. Next, double conversion systems are prone to excessive power consumption while attempting to meet the stringent intermodulation specs such as CTB, CSO and X-MOD. Furthermore, near-far station problem causes the severe noise and distortion degradation. Finally, their image rejection, typically in the 50-60 dB range, is not sufficient for terrestrial application.

Fully integrated terrestrial TV tuner architecture


The present invention discloses a fuel backward flow-preventing device for use in an automotive vehicle of the present invention, comprising: a fuel filler and a fuel tank; a guide member connected to an inside portion of the fuel filler and having a plurality of slits and a plurality of passages; a floater member having projections slidably combined to the slits and ascending according to a fuel volume to block the passages; and a coupling means for connecting the inside portion of the fuel filler to the guide member lengthwise.

(1). Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fuel backward flow-preventing device for use in an automotive vehicle. More particularly, it relates to a fuel backward flow-preventing device for preventing an injected fuel from being expelled back due to the rise of a pressure in a fuel tank at the time of completing the supply of the fuel.
(2). Description of the Prior Art
A fuel tank installed in an automotive vehicle is generally disposed on a lower part of the vehicle, and an inlet of a fuel filler is connected to a filler hose to supply the fuel at a position higher than the fuel tank. The fuel that passes through the inlet flows into the fuel tank at too fast a rate, and the pressure of the air present in the fuel tank is increased by overfilling the fuel tank.
The rise of the pressure inside the fuel tank may cause "burping"; a condition whereby small portions of the fuel are expelled back through the filler tube and inlet of the fuel filler.
A method for preventing the "burping" at the time of the supply of the fuel is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,822,054.

Fuel backward flow-preventing device for use in an automotive vehicle


Implementations of the disclosure provide systems and methods for receiving, by a processing device, a request for an application image. A sequence of commands associated with the application image and a value of a parameter associated with the sequence of commands is received. Responsive to determining that the sequence of commands has been previously executed with the value of the parameter, the processing device retrieves, from a cache, a result of executing the sequence with the value of the parameter. The application image is built using the first result of executing the sequence.

Containerization is an operating system level virtualization environment for running multiple isolated system containers on a single host machine. It is an alternative to full machine virtualization that involves encapsulating a process into a container with its own operating environment. Some containerization technologies allow each container to run on the "bare metal" of a host machine while also being able to access a shared instance of a host operating system.

Command result caching for building application container images


A computer-implemented method for determining a quality of driving of a vehicle is presented. Information indicating at least one driving condition may be received from at least one driving condition information indicating device. The at least one driving condition may be different from each of a plurality of driving metrics, and may affect a relationship between the quality of driving and at least one of the plurality of driving metrics. Information indicating the at least one driving metric may be received. At least one indication of the quality of driving of the vehicle may be determined based on the information indicating the at least one driving metric and the received information from the at least one driving condition information indicating device. The at least one indication of the quality of driving may be provided to at least one of the driver, a driving instructor, or an insurance provider.

A driver and/or a driving instructor may assess driving of a vehicle during a driving trip by visually checking the speedometer reading of the vehicle. However, this type of check may be difficult for the driving instructor to perform from a passenger seat. Additionally, this type of check and other conventional techniques for assessing driving of a vehicle provide a limited amount of information regarding the driving of the vehicle.
Furthermore, checking the speedometer of the vehicle during driving only provides information regarding a particular speed at a particular time. Other conventional techniques for assessing driving of a vehicle also provide minimal flexibility in the ways in which information regarding the driving of the vehicle may be provided.

System and method for determining a quality of driving of a vehicle

STATE FARM MUTUAL AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE COMPANY


The present disclosure provides a soft pastille containing turmeric extract as an active ingredient. The pastille is prepared using at least one gelling agent and at least one plasticizer in combination with pharmaceutically acceptable excipients, wherein the ratio of the gelling agent to the plasticizer is in a range of 1:2.5 to 1:3.3.

Among the various routes of drug administration, an oral route remains the preferred route for the administration of therapeutic agents due to low cost, ease of administration and high level of patient compliance. However, hepatic first pass metabolism and drug degradation within a gastrointestinal (GI) tract significantly prohibits an oral administration of certain classes of drugs. Consequently, other absorptive mucosae are being considered as potential sites for drug administration including the mucosal linings of the nasal, rectal, vaginal, ocular, and oral cavity. These transmucosal routes of drug delivery offer distinct advantages over a peroral administration for systemic drug delivery, such as possible bypass of the first pass effect and avoidance of pre-systemic elimination within the GI tract.
However, drug delivery through an oral cavity is considered to be a promising alternative, due to its unique physiological features and high patient compliance. Various dosage forms like solutions, lozenges, pastilles, chewing gums, sprays, patches, films, hydrogels, hollow fibres and microspheres are available for drug delivery through the oral cavity.
The majority of the commercially available formulations for drug delivery through the oral cavity are solid dosage forms such as lozenges and pastilles.
Lozenges and pastilles are solid preparations that are intended to dissolve or disintegrate slowly in the mouth. They contain one or more medicaments usually in a flavored and sweetened base. These are most often used for localized effects in the mouth but can also be used for systemic effect if the drug is well absorbed through the buccal lining. The drugs which can be successfully delivered to the site of its action through this route include analgesics, anesthetics, antiseptics, antimicrobials, antitussives, anti-nausants, antacids and decongestants.
However, high sugar content is a major drawback associated with lozenges and pastilles prepared by conventional methods. Further, lozenges get break down into pieces followed by accidental swallowing which in turn results in excessive transfer of active ingredient in GI tract. Furthermore, it is not comfortable for a patient to keep a hard product like lozenges in the buccal cavity for a prolonged period.
Curcumin is diarylheptanoid and principal curcuminoid of the popular Indian spice turmeric (Curcuma longa). The other two curcuminoids are desmethoxycurcumin and bis-desmethoxycurcumin. The curcuminoids are natural phenols that are responsible for the yellow color of turmeric. Curcumin is insoluble in water and is impermeable through the cell membrane. Traditionally, curcumin is commonly utilized in many therapeutic remedies, either alone or in conjunction with other natural substances. Accumulated evidence indicates that curcumin is associated with a great variety of pharmacological activities, such as anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant activities.
Curcumin acts by way of modulating multiple molecular targets, cell signaling proteins, cell cycle proteins, cytokines and chemokines, enzymes, receptors and cell surface adhesion molecules. It is known that the potential health benefits of curcumin are limited by its poor solubility, low absorption from the gut, rapid metabolism and rapid systemic elimination.
The major portion of ingested curcumin is excreted through the feces un-metabolized whereas the small portion which is absorbed is extensively converted to its water-soluble metabolites, glucuronides and sulfates. Microbial metabolism of curcumin yields dihydrocurcumin, and tetrahydrocurcumin through NADPH dependent reduction. Curcumin and its reduced metabolites are conjugated with monoglucuronide via beta-glucuronidase, a monosulfate via sulfatase enzymes and a mixed sulfate/glucuronide, resulting in curcumin-glucuronoside, dihydocurcumin glucuronoside, tetrahydrocurcumin glucuronoside or corresponding monosulfate and mixed sulfate/glucuronoside. Different formulations have been tried in recent past to improve the absorption of curcumin including nanocrystals, emulsions, liposomes, self-assemblies and nanogels.
Curcumin is suggested as a potent anti-microbial agent however, inadequate emphasis has been given on the development of a dosage form, containing curcumin as an active ingredient having anti-inflammatory activity. Further, available oral dosage forms containing curcumin do not produce desired local and/or systemic action.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a palatable, clinically efficacious, well-tolerable and long-acting soft pastille containing curcumin as an active ingredient.

Turmeric extract containing soft pastilles


An encoder. The encoder includes an analog-to-digital (A/D) converter that receives an analog signal. The A/D converter downconverts and digitizes the analog signal without analog mixing of the analog signal. The encoder also includes a resampler that is coupled to the A/D converter. The resampler receives the digital signal and converts the downconverted digital signal to an output signal at a data rate independent of a data rate of the digitized analog signal.

The present invention relates generally to the field of telecommunications and, in particular, to an intermediate frequency video encoder used in conjunction with telecommunication transmission systems.
Currently, one type of system for the transmission of a signal includes the use of fiberoptics due to the high speed and long distance transmission capability of such a system. For one such system, signals (e.g., a video signal) having different data rates are modulated onto an intermediate frequency (IF) carrier and then digitized and formatted to a fixed data rate and transmitted over digital fiberoptic transmission lines.
Different encoders have been designed to digitize and format fixed data rate signals for transmission over the fiberoptic transmission lines. The design of such encoders involve the downconverting and digitizing of a bandpass input signal. Currently one approach in the design of such encoders has included analog mixing of the input signal prior to the analog to digital (A/D) conversion. Disadvantageously, this approach requires a relatively large amount of analog circuitry to precede the A/D conversion. Accordingly, any modification in the input signal, the sampling rate and/or input signal passbands of the encoder, or other design modifications translates into a significant amount of redesign of the analog circuitry. In other words, this type of approach is not very extensible due to the requirement of a redesign of the analog circuitry when there are modifications in the input signal or design of such an encoder.
A second approach to the design of such encoders has relied on undersampling followed by a fixed rate decimation of the A/D output data signal. The decimation process reduces the data rate of this A/D output data signal; however, this reduction is such that the input/output ratio of the data signals of the encoder must be integer-based. This approach has traditionally been used for the downconversion and digitization of narrowband (i.e., less than 500 kiloHertz (kHz)) bandpass signals. Disadvantageously, because of the requirement that the input/output ratio be integer-based, this approach is limited to working for certain discrete passbands.
For the reasons stated above, and for other reasons stated below which will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the present specification, there is a need in the art for an intermediate frequency encoder that has a higher performance and minimal analog circuitry as well as one that outputs a signal at a fixed data rate for input signals having a wide range of data rates and frequency spectrums.
The above mentioned problems with communication systems and other problems are addressed by the present invention and which will be understood by reading and studying the following specification. An encoder and a method for encoding that can be used in conjunction with communications systems is described. In particular, embodiments of such an encoder can be incorporated into fiberoptic communication systems wherein the encoder digitizes and formats an analog signal for transmission across fiberoptic transmission lines. The input signals to such systems are analog signals having both narrowband (i.e., less than 500 kHz) and wideband (greater than 500 kHz) bandpass signals. Further, embodiments of the encoder allow for extensibility as a relatively minimum amount of analog circuitry is incorporated in the design of such encoders. Accordingly, the majority of the signal processing and formatting of the signal is performed digitally.
In particular, an illustrative embodiment of the present invention includes an encoder. The encoder includes an analog-to-digital (A/D) converter that receives an analog signal. The A/D converter lowers the frequency spectrum of the analog signal. Additionally, the A/D converter digitizes the analog signal. The encoder also includes a resampler that is coupled to the A/D converter. The resampler receives the digital signal and converts the digital signal to an output signal. Further, the data rate of the output signal is independent of the data rate of the sampled analog signal.

Architecture for intermediate frequency encoder


A circuit card assembly such as an Ethernet card may comprise at least three ports disposed along a longitudinal axis of a faceplate wherein each port is orientated in a different direction with respect to an adjacent port. The ports may include an orientator configured to align a plug in a predetermined direction with respect to the port. The orientators may be disposed in a different direction with respect to a plug orientator of an adjacent port. Additionally, the mechanical connector of a first port may be partially supported by an adjacent port and, as a result, the spacing between adjacent ports may be minimized.

Many computer and electronics systems include removable and/or replaceable circuit boards. Such removable circuit boards may, for example, be in the form of computer blades, cards, etc. A typical removable circuit board or add-in card may include an Ethernet card having a faceplate coupled to a printed circuit board as well as connections (for example, mechanical and/or electrical connections) to allow the card to interact with other circuitry and/or systems (not shown) disposed within computer or electronic system. A port or jack (for example, an RJ45 jack/port) may be secured to the faceplate using a mechanical fastener and acts as a physical interface between the card and another device (typically a cable such as, but not limited to, twisted pair type cables).
A single card may include multiple RJ45 jacks which are generally oriented in the same direction such that all of the notched regions or pins of the RJ45 jacks are all arranged in the same direction. Unfortunately, this arrangement may make it difficult to identify a specific cable plug and/or RJ45 jack from others on the multi-port card. Additionally, the mechanical connector(s for each RJ45 jack may require a minimum amount of space between adjacent RJ45 jacks to provide support for the mechanical connector(s) thus the maximum number of RJ45 jacks that can be placed on a faceplate may be limited. Moreover, the number of RJ45 jacks that can be fit on a faceplate may be further reduced in order for the card to comply with applicable IEEE specifications such as, but not limited to, IEEE 802.3 Ethernet.
Accordingly, there exists a need for an improved multi-port card that obviates or reduces some of these drawbacks. It is important to note that the present disclosure is not intended to be limited to a system or method which must satisfy one or more of any stated objects or features of the invention. It is also important to note that the present disclosure is not limited to the preferred, exemplary, or primary embodiment(s) described herein. Modifications and substitutions by one of ordinary skill in the art are considered to be within the scope of the present disclosure, which is not to be limited except by the following claims.


A system for the alternative charging of at least one sack filling machine and/or of at least one truck with pourable material, which is stored in a plurality of silos, which are firmly braced by columns, whereby each of the truck and the sack filling machine can be moved under desired silo outlets, and whereby, following the filling of the sacks, the sacks can be transported from the filling system over a totally or partially traversible intermediate conveyor to one of several conveyor belts. The intermediate conveyor, assigned to at least one filling machine, is designed as a traversible elevator at least over some regions. When in the working position, the discharge end of the conveyor corresponds with one of the conveyor belts, arranged above the required passage height necessary to move the sack filling machine or the truck.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a system for the alternative charging of at least one sack filling machine and/or of at least one truck with pourable material.
2. Description of the Related Art
Such systems already exist in the prior art. The construction of a prior art system is described with reference to FIG. 3 and FIG. 4. FIG. 3 is a top view and FIG. 4 is a sectional side view of a corresponding system.
The system 10 exhibits a plurality of silos 14, which are firmly braced by columns 12, in order to receive pourable material. Below the silos 14 there are traversible sack filling machines 16, which can be moved under the outlets of specified silos, in order to receive the bulk material and then to fill sacks by the conventional method. The sacks 18, filled by the sack filling machines, are carried away by means of conveyor belts. To this end, there are two conveyor belts 20, 22, which run parallel over the entire length of the silos, which are arranged side by side.
Said belts run perpendicularly toward the conveyor belts 24, receiving the sacks 20. The conveyor belts 20 and 22 receive the sacks, filled by the sack filling machines, by means of intermediate conveyors 26, 28, which are arranged perpendicularly to the conveyor belts 20 and 22 and can be moved over the length of the conveyor belts 20 and 22, and conveyed to the conveyor belts 20 and 22. As can be inferred from FIG. 4, the conveyor belts 20, 22, 24, 26 and 28 are arranged on a level with the discharge station of the sack filling machine. Optionally trucks may also be filled by means of the silos. To this end, the trucks 32 have their own drive-through level 30, which is especially designed for trucks, below the level, at which the sack filling machines can be moved. The trucks 32 are filled by means of appropriate pipelines 34, which may or may not be secured by means of moveable frames 36, as illustrated in FIG. 4.
The prior art system has the drawback that it is three stories high and is, therefore, very large. The top floor level exhibits the fixed silos; on the center floor level the sack filling machines can be moved; and on the bottom floor level the trucks can drive in. Moreover, the sack filling machines on the center level cannot always be moved the shortest distance to the desired silo outlet, since the corresponding conveyor belts are in the way here.


A communication system includes a first wireless station and a second wireless station. A communication management resource establishes a first wireless communication link between the first wireless station and a mobile communication device. The communication management resource receives notification of a second wireless communication link between the second wireless station and the mobile communication device. In response to impairment of (such as loss bandwidth over) the second wireless communication link and its ability to convey wireless communications, the communication management resource (such as associated with the first wireless base station) adjusts usage of the first wireless communication link to support the second wireless communication link.

Conventional wireless networks typically include one or more wireless base stations that provide mobile communication devices access to a remote network such as the Internet. One type of base station is a so-called CBSD (Citizen Broadband Radio Service Device). Such a device uses a wireless channel allocated from a CBRS (Citizens Band Radio Service) to support communications with one or more mobile communication devices.
Typically, one or more wireless channels is allocated to a base station by a SAS (Spectrum Access System) to support communications with one or more mobile communication devices or customer premises equipment. For example, a base station can be configured to communicate with the SAS to receive notification of one or more wireless channels allocated for use.
Subsequent to wireless channel allocation, the wireless base station communicates so-called heartbeat request messages to the spectrum access system in order to continue use of the allocated one or more wireless channels. For example, the customer premises equipment is able to continue using the allocated wireless channel if the SAS communicates a heartbeat response to the customer premises equipment.
In certain instances, the one or more allocated channels in conventional wireless systems may be partitioned to include multiple timeslots used by respective wireless stations to communicate in a respective wireless network environment.

Dual wireless connection mode, control, and bandwidth adjustment