An angular velocity sensor includes a substrate; a first vibrator supported on the substrate by a first support beam, such as to be vibratable in a direction parallel to the substrate; a second vibrator supported by a second support beam parallel to the first vibrator, such as to be vibratable in a direction orthogonal to the vibrating direction of the first vibrator; a vibration generator for vibrating the first vibrator parallel to the substrate; an angular velocity detector for detecting the amount of displacement of the second vibrator due to an angular velocity; and a vibration-state monitor provided between the substrate and the first vibrator for monitoring the amount of displacement of the first vibrator when it is vibrated by the vibration detector.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an angular velocity sensor suitable for detecting the angular velocity of a rotating body and the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
A first known angular velocity sensor (such as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 5-312576) includes a substrate, a first vibrator supported on the substrate by a first support beam and vibratable in parallel to the substrate, a second vibrator supported by a second support beam parallel to the first vibrator and vibratable in a direction orthogonal to the vibrating direction of said first vibrator, vibration generating means for vibrating the first vibrator parallel to said substrate, and angular velocity detecting means for detecting the amount of displacement of said second vibrator as an angular velocity.
This conventional angular velocity sensor has three orthogonal axes, an X-axis, a Y-axis and a Z-axis. When an angular velocity around the X-axis direction is applied to the sensor, while a constant vibration is applied to, for example, the X-axis, the second vibrator is displaced in the Y-axis direction by a Coriolis force. Then, the angular velocity detecting means detects the displacement in the Y-axis direction of the second vibrator by the Coriolis force as variations of piezoelectric resistance, electrostatic capacitance and the like, and thereby the angular velocity is detected.
Further, a second conventional angular velocity sensor is known which includes a sensor, a movable part provided on a substrate by a support beam so as to be displaceable in the X-axis direction and in the Y-axis direction, vibration generating means for vibrating the movable part in the X-axis direction, angular velocity detecting means for, when an angular velocity around the Z-axis is applied while the movable part is vibrated in the X-axis direction, detecting the displacement of the movable part by a Coriolis force in the Y-axis direction, and displacement detecting means for detecting the amount of displacement when the movable part is displaced in the X-direction by the vibration generating means. An example of such a conventional angular velocity sensor is disclosed in European patent Publication No. EP0862048A2.
In the second conventional angular velocity sensor, the displacement detecting means includes electrodes provided between the movable part and the substrate, and the amount of displacement when the movable part is displaced in the X-axis direction is detected as a variation of electrostatic capacitance between these electrodes. Therefore, since the second conventional angular velocity sensor detects the displacement of the movable part in the Y-axis direction using the angular velocity detecting means, and detects the vibration of the movable part in the X-axis direction using the displacement detecting means, it is possible to detect a driving state when the movable part vibrates in the X-axis direction and then it is possible to control the vibration generating means to maintain a constant amplitude and to vibrate the movable part in the X-direction in a resonant state. As a result, since it is possible to vibrate the movable part in a resonant state, it is possible to detect a stable output (amount of displacement) of the movable part in the Y-axis direction.
In the first conventional angular velocity sensor disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 5-312576, it is possible to detect a stable output in the Y-axis direction when the frequency of vibration is always in a resonant state and the amplitude is constant while the first vibrator vibrates in the X-axis direction. However, in practice, when the first vibrator vibrates, the frequency and the amplitude vary due to deterioration over time, manufacturing errors and the like. In this case, there is a problem in that the output of the second vibrator becomes unstable and the detection sensitivity of the angular velocity deteriorates substantially.
The second conventional angular velocity sensor disclosed in European Patent Publication No. EP 0862048A2 detects the amplitude of the movable part in the X-axis direction by the displacement detecting means and controls the vibration generating means so that the amplitude becomes constant.
However, in the second conventional angular velocity sensor, the displacement detecting means is the electrode provided between the movable part and the substrate. However, the movable part is displaceable in two axial directions; therefore, a situation arises in which the electrodes of the displacement detecting means positioned approximately in parallel are inclined in accordance with the displacement of the movable part. Therefore, since the electrostatic capacitance between the electrodes provided between the movable part and the substrate varies by this inclination of the electrodes, there is a problem in that the displacement of the movable part in the X-axis direction can not be detected accurately.
Accordingly, the object of the present invention is to provide an angular velocity sensor which is capable of accurately detecting a vibration state by the vibration generating means and capable of always vibrating the first vibrator at a constant amplitude.
To achieve the foregoing and other objects, the present invention provides an angular velocity sensor including a substrate, a first vibrator supported by a first support beam on said substrate and arranged such as to be vibratable parallel to the substrate, a second vibrator supported by a second support beam parallel to said first vibrator and arranged such as to be vibratable in a direction orthogonal to the vibrating direction of said first vibrator, vibration generating means for vibrating the first vibrator parallel to said substrate, and angular velocity detecting means for detecting the amount of displacement of the second vibrator as an angular velocity.
In accordance with a first aspect of the invention, monitor means is provided between the substrate and the first vibrator for monitoring the amount of displacement of said first vibrator when it is vibrated by the vibration generating means.
With this configuration, when a driving signal is input into the vibration generating means from the outside, the first vibrator and the second vibrator vibrate parallel to the substrate, and when an angular velocity is applied around an axis orthogonal to the substrate in this state, the second vibrator is displaced parallel to the substrate and in a direction orthogonal to the vibration direction due to a Coriolis force.
In this case, the angular velocity detecting means detects a displacement in a direction orthogonal to the vibration direction generated in the second vibrator due to the Coriolis force when an angular velocity is applied around an axis orthogonal to the substrate while the first vibrator and the second vibrator vibrate parallel to the substrate. Also, the vibration-state monitor means detects the displacement of the first vibrator vibrating parallel to the substrate due to the vibration generating means.
With this configuration, the vibration of the second vibrator can be detected by the angular velocity detecting means and the vibration of the first vibrator can be detected independently of the angular velocity by the vibration state monitor, therefore, it is possible to always maintain a constant amplitude of the first vibrator.
According to a second aspect of the invention, the angular velocity detecting means comprises a detection fixed side electrode provided on the substrate and a detection movable side electrode provided for the second vibrator opposite to the detection fixed side electrode, and the vibration-state monitor means comprises a monitor fixed side electrode provided on the substrate and a monitor movable side electrode provided for the first vibrator opposite to the monitor fixed side electrode.
With this configuration, the angular velocity detecting means can detect the displacement in the orthogonal direction of the second vibrator as an electrostatic capacitance between the detection fixed side electrode and the detection movable side electrode. Also, the vibration-state monitor means can detect the displacement of the first vibration in the parallel direction as the electrostatic capacitance between the monitor fixed side electrode and the monitor movable side electrode.
According to a third aspect of the invention, the monitor fixed side electrode of the vibration-state monitor means is integrated with the detection fixed side electrode of the angular velocity detecting means.
With this configuration, a detection signal detected by the angular velocity detecting means and a monitor signal monitored by the vibration-state monitor means can be output from either the detection fixed side electrode or the monitor fixed side electrode. Then, the monitor fixed side electrode of the vibration state monitor means is integrated with the detection fixed side electrode; therefore, it is possible to make the angular velocity sensor smaller than a case in which these are separated.
According to a fourth aspect of the invention, the first support beam is positioned between said substrate and the first vibrator and is provided to support said first vibrator so as to be displaceable in one axial direction (in the X-axis direction) and the second support beam is positioned between the first vibrator and the second vibrator and provided to support the second vibrator so as to be displaceable in a direction orthogonal (in the Y-axis direction) to said one axial direction.
With this configuration, the first support beam supports the first vibrator to be displaceable in the X-axis direction while restricting the first vibrator from being displaced in the Y-axis direction. Also, since the second support beam supports the second vibrator to be displaceable in the Y-axis direction with respect to the first vibrator, the second vibrator is displaced in the X-axis direction together with the first vibrator and is also displaced in the Y-axis direction. Therefore, when an angular velocity around the Z-axis orthogonal to the X-axis and the Y-axis is applied in a state in which the first vibrator and the second vibrator vibrate in the X-axis direction, the second vibrator is displaced in the Y-axis direction due to a Coriolis force; however, the first vibrator is restricted to be displaced in the Y-axis direction. As a result, the vibration-state monitor means provided between the first vibrator and the substrate can detect only the displacement of the first vibrator in the X-axis direction and, therefore, the vibration state of the first vibrator can be detected accurately without being affected by angular velocity or the like.
For the purpose of illustrating the invention, there is shown in the drawings several forms which are presently preferred, it being understood, however, that the invention is not limited to the precise arrangements and instrumentalities shown.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of the invention which refers to the accompanying drawings.


A solid electrolyte ion source has an emitting tip which is small enough to concentrate an elecric field from an extraction plate and thereby significantly increase the extracted current density compared to prior solid electrolyte sources. The source is heated to a temperature sufficient to induce a thermionic ion emission from the tip. The ion emission can be varied independent of the extraction field by varying the degree of heating, thereby preserving a constant focused ion beam spot size during changes of beam brightness. The tip preferably has a radius in the approximate range of 1-10 microns. The source can be used for ion-microprobe surface analysis and micro-circuit fabrication applications previously unavailable with solid electrolyte sources.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to high brightness ion sources for focused ion beams, and more particularly to high brightness solid state ion sources formed from a solid electrolyte material.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various types of ion sources have been developed for use in focused ion beam (FIB) systems. FIBs have been used in a number of different applications, such as the fabrication of advanced semiconductor microcircuits and ion-microprobe analysis of surfaces. The principal types of ion sources developed thus far may be classified as (1) gas field ionization sources; (2) liquid metal sources; (3) plasma sources; and (4) solid electrolyte sources.

High brightness solid electrolyte ion source


A percussion adapter that is driven to generate a percussive axial motion on a wellbore structure. One percussion adapter includes a drive connection to mechanically convert rotational drive to axially directed percussive motion. Another percussion adapter employs a valve that creates back pressure causing axially directed percussive motion. A wellbore tubular connection transitions torque to resist back off when left hand or right hand torque is applied.

The application of a percussive force to a wellbore structure may be of interest. For example, if one could add a percussive force to the drill bit while drilling a wellbore, it is believed that the rate of drilling penetration could be significantly increased, the required weight on bit could be significantly reduced and torque required to turn the drill bit could be significantly reduced. A "percussionized" drill bit should be an efficient drilling tool.
Many previous attempts at developing percussion adapters have focused on hydraulically driven devices. These devices use the flow of drilling fluid to drive pistons with a percussion adapter to create an axially directed percussive effect at the drill bit.
A common problem experienced in down hole operations relates to the effect of torque on tubular connections. This problem may be exaggerated when torque is generated in the operation of a tool down hole.

Wellbore percussion adapter and tubular connection


A method for transmitting and receiving signals in a wireless communication system supporting a carrier aggregation of a plurality of component carriers is described. A base station transmits first information indicating a maximum number of resource blocks available for a first type mobile station, and transmits second information indicating an extended number of resource blocks available for a second type mobile station. The first type mobile station does not support the carrier aggregation and the second type mobile station supports the carrier aggregation. The extended number of resource blocks include at least one resource block allocated between each component carrier and a guard band. A mobile station receives the first and second information.

Generally, a currently ongoing LTE-A system supports carrier aggregation (CA) as a means for increasing spectrum efficiency and throughput. In this carrier aggregation, a bandwidth is extended by aggregating a plurality of carriers to raise a data rate.
Multicarrier indicates the whole frequency bands used by a base station. And, a component carrier means an element carrier that constructs the multicarrier. In particular, a plurality of component carriers construct the multicarrier via the carrier aggregation.
In a general frequency division duplex (FDD) wireless communication system, data transceiving is performed via one downlink band and one corresponding uplink band. In the carrier aggregation applied wireless communication, a bandwidth is configured by aggregating a plurality of component carriers to support large and various uplink/downlink bandwidths. For instance, in LTE-A system, 5 component carriers of maximum bandwidth 20 MHz are aggregated to support uplink/downlink (UL/DL) bandwidth of 100 MHz.
Regarding the carrier aggregation (hereinafter abbreviated CA), there are continuous CA and non-continuous CA. In the continuous CA, component carriers continuously exist on a frequency axis. In the non-continuous CA, component carriers discontinuously exist on a frequency axis by being spaced apart from each other.
In the following description, a method of transmitting channel bandwidth information according to a related art is explained. FIG. 1 is a diagram for transmission bandwidth configuration of LTE system.
First of all, in the LTE system, a system bandwidth supports 1.25 MHz up to maximum 20 MHz. In case that the system bandwidth is 20 MHz, the number of maximum available resource blocks (RB) is 100 in consideration of interference between adjacent channels, transmission power leakage to an adjacent band and the like.
Referring to FIG. 1, if a channel bandwidth is 20 MHz, a transmission block configuration includes 100 resource blocks. And, active resource blocks means the resource blocks actually used by a mobile station among available resource blocks.
In the LTE system, a base station indicates a downlink channel bandwidth as the number of maximum available resource blocks via master information block (hereinafter abbreviated MIB) of PBCH.
FIG. 2 is a diagram of a master information block according to a related art.
Referring to FIG. 2, a variable d1-bandwidth indicates a channel bandwidth and the d1-bandwidth can be set to a value corresponding to one of n6, n15, n25, n50, n75 and n100. In the LTE system, if a system bandwidth is 1.4 MHz, the number of maximum available resource blocks is 6. If a system bandwidth is 3 MHz, the number of maximum available resource blocks is 15. If a system bandwidth is 5 MHz, the number of maximum available resource blocks is 25. If a system bandwidth is 10 MHz, the number of maximum available resource blocks is 50. If a system bandwidth is 15 MHz, the number of maximum available resource blocks is 75. If a system bandwidth is 20 MHz, the number of maximum available resource blocks is 100. Hence, according to a related art, a base station is able to indicate a channel bandwidth by informing a mobile station of the number of available resource blocks.
In case that the LTE-A system uses the continuous carrier aggregation, it is able to reduce a band unused between a guard interval belonging to a component carrier and the component carrier. When each of the component carriers has a bandwidth of 20 MHz, 108 resource blocks for each of the component carriers are usable for data transmission.
Therefore, n108 should be added as a value available for the d1-bandwidth. Yet, if the value available for the d1-bandwidth is increased, it causes a problem that backward compatibility is not maintained. In particular, on condition that: the continuous carrier aggregation is applied; a bandwidth of the component carrier is 20 MHz; and the LTE mobile station and the LTE-A mobile station coexist in the same cell, if a base station transmits n108 as a value of the d1-bandwidth, the LTE mobile station is unable to interpret the value. If the base station transmits n100 as a value of the d1-bandwidth, the LTE-A mobile station is unable to use 8 resource blocks.

Method of transmitting and receiving channel bandwidth information in a wireless communication system


A method includes providing a workpiece with at least one surface having an anodized aluminum coating and a trivalent chromium sealant. The at least one surface of the workpiece is submerged in a post-treatment sealant solution for 0.5 to 20 minutes. The sealant composition consists essentially of a corrosion inhibitor formulation, a water soluble polymer, an organic complexing agent, and an oxidant. The corrosion inhibitor formulation is formulated from at least one anodic corrosion inhibitor compound, at least one cathodic corrosion inhibitor compound, or a combination thereof. A concentration of each of the corrosion inhibitor formulation, the water soluble polymer, the organic complexing agent, and the oxidant is each in a range of 1-50 mM.

The disclosed subject matter relates generally to anodized aluminum coatings, and more specifically to sealing and protecting anodized aluminum coatings.
Anodized aluminum coatings, used in a number of industries and applications, have a very thin barrier layer under a more porous main coating structure. To improve corrosion resistance of the coating and substrate, anodized aluminum coatings are often sealed. Conventionally, hexavalent chromium (Hex-Cr) compounds have been used to seal anodized aluminum coatings and improve corrosion resistance. However, Hex-Cr sealants are toxic and carcinogenic and thus are being phased out in favor of more environmentally- and health-friendly compounds.
One common substitute for Hex-Cr includes variants on trivalent chrome process (TCP) sealing. Effective sealing, particularly for TCP sealants requires deep sealant penetration and homogeneous distribution within the anodized coating. A panel with a commercially available trivalent sealing technology can provide reasonable sealing which often can pass the minimum 336 hr neutral salt fog chamber (ASTM B117) test requirement. However, the process still needs to be controlled very strictly according to published procedures to provide suitable opportunity for sealing and yet, the results are often mixed for very thin anodized coatings (<500 mg/ft2). Among other factors, shortening the processing time reduces penetration and effectiveness for each conventional TCP sealing technology.

Two-step sealing of anodized aluminum coatings


Grafted polyethylene polymers and copolymers are reactively extruded to achieve enhanced rheological properties. The utilization of an oligomeric or polymeric wax in the reactive extrusion process with functionalized agents, results in improved rheological characteristics of the grafted polymer.

Polyolefins are commonly modified by reactive extrusion. The modification is often desirable in order to facilitate the blending of the generally incompatible polyolefins with other polymers. Reactive extrusion functionalizes the polyolefins and thus is a method typically employed to overcome their incompatibility issue with other polymers. Most polyolefins, such as polypropylene, upon grafting have desirable functional rheological properties that permit secondary manipulation or formation of a desired end product. However, the rheological properties of polyethylene or polyethylene copolymers generally change to a less desirable state. One characteristic of grafted polyethylene polymers and copolymers is that their melt flow index decreases upon grafting when compared to the polymer in the ungrafted state.


Described are techniques that use an autonomous mobile unmanned machine that includes at least one sensor device suitable to verify an alarm condition. Upon assertion of an alarm condition message asserted as a result of a potential alarm condition existing within a facility, the machine receives a location of the alarm condition and is programmed with a route from a current location of the autonomous mobile unmanned machine to the location of the alarm condition. The at least one sensor device carried by the autonomous mobile unmanned machine collects sensor data at least at the location of the alarm condition and the machine sends to a system a message pertaining to status of the alarm condition.

This description relates to operation of systems in conjunction with autonomous mobile unmanned machines.
Commercial and industrial premises contain systems of various types that often require monitoring or maintenance. One example of such systems are security systems that can include fire/smoke detection, intrusion, surveillance, access control systems, etc. Conventionally, those that were manned by humans that regularly traversed a facility checking in at guard stations and making observations. Surveillance systems progressed to include closed circuit television monitoring, and more recently integrated systems have been developed to include video cameras installed at strategic locations in a facility. These video cameras are in communication with a centralized remote monitoring facility and operators at the facility visually sweep the facility from the monitoring center. These tours are scripted and timed at a user request. Upon discovery of suspicious activity, the operator can engage in a custom designed response plan.
Surveillance solutions have been discussed with respect to the use of autonomous mobile unmanned machines such as unmanned aerial vehicles, commonly referred to as drones, as discussed in US-2016-0116914-A1 "Drone Tours In Security Systems" or in US-2016-0107749-A1 "Fixed Drone Visualization In Security Systems." Other approaches to surveillance suggest the use of robots of various types. Another example of an autonomous mobile unmanned machine is an autonomous cleaning robot.

Building bots interfacing with intrusion detection systems


A method for designing a heat-resistant mutant enzyme, the method including the step of reducing a distance between the α4 helix and the α6 helix in a protein three-dimensional structure to become smaller than that of a wild type enzyme through deletion, replacement, addition, or insertion of one or several amino acids in the amino acid sequence of the wild type enzyme with respect to tyrosine-dependent short-chain dehydrogenase/reductase.

The present application relates to a method for designing a heat-resistant tyrosine-dependent short-chain dehydrogenase/reductase and a heat-resistant tyrosine-dependent short-chain dehydrogenase/reductase. In particular, the present application relates to, for example, a method for obtaining a heat-resistant mutant tyrosine-dependent short-chain dehydrogenase/reductase by changing a protein structure.
Enzymes are in vivo catalysts which facilitate many reactions related to life support under a moderate condition in a living body smoothly. The enzymes undergo metabolic turnover in the living body, and are produced in the living body as necessary, so as to perform catalytic functions.
At present, technologies to use the enzymes outside the living body have become commercially practical or have been studied toward commercialization. The technologies to use the enzymes have been developed in various technical fields, for example, production of useful materials, production of energy-related materials, measurement or analysis, environmental conservation, and medical care. In relatively recent years, technologies related to an enzyme cell which is one type of fuel cells (refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-71559, for example), an enzyme electrode, an enzyme sensor (a sensor to measure chemical materials through the use of enzyme reactions), and the like have also been proposed.
Regarding the technology of fuel cell, developments proceed from fuel cells in the related art, in which combustible materials, e.g., methanol and hydrogen, are used as fuels, to fuel cells in which compounds, e.g., glucose, with a higher level of safety are used as fuels. However, metal catalysts, e.g., platinum, effectively act on highly reactive compounds, e.g., methanol and hydrogen, having relatively simple structures, whereas the catalyst efficiencies of metal catalysts are very low with respect to compounds, e.g., glucose, exhibiting a low level of danger or toxicity and having low reactivity. Consequently, as described above, enzyme cells, in which enzymes are used as catalysts, have been proposed. The enzymes have high catalytic performance, exhibit excellent substrate specificity and stereoselectivity and, therefore, efficiently catalyze reactions of compounds, e.g., glucose, having low reactivity, so that a safe fuel cell can be realized by incorporating the enzyme in a electrode of a fuel cell.
In the case where the enzyme is used outside the living body, it is important that the activity of the enzyme is high and the enzyme reaction rate is high. Furthermore, it is also necessary that the stability against changes in environment is high and the durability of the activity is high. However, the chemical body of the enzyme is a protein and, therefore, there are problems in that denaturation due to heat, pH, or the like occurs easily, and the stability outside the living body is low as compared with the other chemical catalysts, e.g., metal catalysts. In order to address the problems, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2007-143493 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2008-48703 disclose a mutant enzyme (diaphorase), wherein the levels of the activity and the heat resistance are raised to at least predetermined levels by changing artificially a base sequence of a gene coding a protein, so as to produce a mutant protein.

Method for designing heat-resistant tyrosine-dependent short-chain dehydrogenase/reductase and heat-resistant tyrosine-dependent short-chain dehydrogenase/reductase


A method for determining a number of colors in a digital image includes receiving a digital image and determining a total number of pixels in the digital image. A proportion of the total number of pixels is selected as having an infrequent color and a respective color for each one of a first portion of the pixels is determined. The respective colors are analyzed to determine whether the respective colors include greater than or equal to the selected proportion infrequent color. If the respective colors include greater than or equal to the selected proportion of infrequent colors then a first subsequent process is selected. If the respective colors include less than the selected proportion of pixels having the infrequent color then a second subsequent process is selected. A system for determining a number of colors in a digital image is also described.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to analyzing digital images, and more particularly, to methods and systems for determining the various colors included in a digital image.
2. Description of the Related Art
Digital images are used extensively for many purposes. Digital images offer many advantages over photographic images because digital images can easily be electronically indexed, archived, retrieved and distributed, among many other uses. As a result of the many uses, digital images are often transferred across all types of communication networks.
Digital images are typically relatively large-sized data files. Due to the frequent distribution of digital images, many different approaches have been used to increase the efficiency with which the relatively large file sizes can be distributed. Some of the approaches have focused on compressing the digital image using various compression schemes.
The process of compressing a digital image requires the digital image to be analyzed to determine the type of digital image. For example, digital images can be classified according to the number of colors included in the digital image. A digital image with fewer colors can be more easily compressed than can an image having a greater number of colors. Therefore, a first compression scheme may be optimized for compressing a digital image with a relatively few colors (e.g., less than about 16 colors) whereas a second compression scheme may be optimized for digital images having many colors (e.g., more than about 16 colors or 256 or more colors). The first compression scheme would generally operate faster than the second compression scheme and therefore would be more efficient to use if the digital image has few colors.
However, each individual pixel of the digital image must be analyzed to determine the respective color of each of the pixels. The color of each of the pixels must be determined to determine the actual number of colors included in the digital image. Once the entire digital image has been analyzed, then the most efficient compression scheme can be selected.
As a result, the typical digital image compression process requires each and every one of the pixels in the digital image to be processed twice. First, each and every one of the pixels must be analyzed to determine the appropriate compression scheme. Then, each and every one of the pixels must again be processed by the selected compression scheme. As a result, the process of selecting the compression scheme and compressing the digital image can require a relatively extended processing time. This extended processing time can therefore delay the use (e.g., distribution, retrieval, storing, etc.) of the digital image.
Another approach is to process the digital image through each one of multiple compression schemes and then select the compression scheme that yielded the most efficient results. However, this approach can easily consume even more time and processing resources than analyzing each pixel of the digital image.
Still another approach is to select a compression scheme that is ideal for a worst-case scenario (i.e., where the maximum number of colors are present in the digital image). However, under this approach, the single selected compression scheme is not the most efficient because many of the digital images will have fewer than the maximum number of colors. In view of the foregoing, there is a need for a more efficient system and method for selecting and applying an appropriate compression scheme to a digital image.

System and method for a heuristics-based approach for determining a number of colors in an image


The present invention provides systems, methods and computer program-product for calculating and storing time and distance information in an economical and efficient manner. The time and distance information may be used in the development of traversable networks for the delivery and retrieval of items from multiple locations in a timely and efficient manner.

When routing delivery vehicles between a large number of delivery locations, current routing and scheduling systems often utilize stored time and distance data in conjunction with routing and scheduling algorithms to create routes. Calculating the shortest path between each location within a delivery region is often an expensive and time consuming process, with the task becoming exceedingly more difficult as the delivery area expands. In fact, performing shortest path calculations between a large number of delivery locations or over an extended area of land is often beyond the processing and memory capabilities of some computers. For those computers that do possess the capacity to perform such calculations, the process is still entails a time consuming process. Accordingly, improved logistics systems are needed that calculate and store time and distance data in a more economical and efficient format.

Systems and methods for routing and scheduling visits to delivery locations


A ceramic material for use as a cutting tool in the high speed machining of high temperature alloys and cast irons is provided with a composition of beta prime sialon (Si.sub.6-z Al.sub.z O.sub.z N.sub.8-2 ; where 1<Z<3) and intergranular phase. The material has high wear resistance and reliability when used in the high speed machining of high temperature alloys at speeds of 300 to 1500 surface feet per minute.

The present invention relates to sialon compositions, especially those that are used as cutting tools for the machining of metallic materials.
Cutting tools with high wear resistance and reliability are critical to improving productivity in the high speed machining of high temperature alloys. High temperature alloys (or superalloys) are generally classified as having poor machinability. Consequently, they are machined at speeds that are typically only 10 to 20 percent of those used for steel when using cemented carbide tools. High temperature alloy machining speeds can be significantly increased, however, by employing silicon nitride, sialon (U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,711,644; 3,991,166; 4,818,635) or silicon carbide whisker reinforced alumina tools (U.S. Pat. Nos. Re. 45,196; 4,789,277 and 4,961,757). Of these, the silicon carbide whisker reinforced alumina tools provide the highest wear resistance but are the most expensive due to the high cost of silicon carbide whiskers, and the fabrication technique required to manufacture these tools, i.e. hot pressing (as opposed to cold pressing and then sintering). Ceramic cutting tools containing sialon typically include beta prime sialon (Si.sub.6-Z Al.sub.Z O.sub.Z N.sub.8-Z) and intergranular phases, or beta prime plus alpha prime sialon [(Si,Al).sub.12 M.sub.X (O,N).sub.16 where X is between 0.1 and 2 and M can be Li, Ca, Mg, Hf, Zr, Ce, Y, Sc or other lanthanides] and intergranular phases. The value of Z for beta prime sialon may be greater than zero but less than 4.2; however, all commercial grades of sialon based (i.e., containing 50 v/o or more sialon) cutting tools have had Z values significantly below 1.0 since it is believed that the toughness of sialons deteriorates as the value of Z increases.
Black ceramics (Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 +TiC) and some white ceramics (Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 and Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 +ZrO.sub.2) also show excellent wear resistance in these applications, but suffer from poor reliability.
Therefore, there is a need for an economical ceramic tool material with a combination of high wear resistance and toughness in high speed machining of high temperature alloys. Similarly, there is also a need for an economical ceramic material with a combination of high wear resistance and toughness in the machining of cast irons, hardened cast irons and hardened steels.

High Z sialon and cutting tools made therefrom and method of using


Systems and methods are provided for monitoring and controlling one or more environmental conditions of a building. The method comprises obtaining feedback from a first sensor at a first location within the building and feedback from a second sensor at a second location within the building. The method further comprises combining the feedback from the first sensor with the feedback from the second sensor in a weighted manner to generate a combined feedback, wherein a weight of the feedback from the first sensor relative to a weight of the feedback from the second sensor is based on a time of day. The method finally comprises operating HVAC equipment to drive the combined feedback toward a setpoint for the building.

The present disclosure relates generally to building management systems. The present disclosure relates more particularly to systems and methods for controlling a building using a single-zone climate conditioning system to affect a space in a multi-zoned manner.
A building management system (BMS) is, in general, a system of devices configured to control, monitor, and manage equipment in or around a building or building area. A BMS can include a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system, a security system, a lighting system, a fire alerting system, another system that is capable of managing building functions or devices, or any combination thereof. BMS devices may be installed in any environment (e.g., an indoor area or an outdoor area) and the environment may include any number of buildings, spaces, zones, rooms, or areas. A BMS may include a variety of devices (e.g., HVAC devices, controllers, chillers, fans, sensors, etc.) configured to facilitate monitoring and controlling the building space. Throughout the disclosure, such devices are referred to as BMS devices or building equipment.
In some BMS systems, such as in a residential system, the BMS is set to operate as a single zoned system. Thus, there is often times one set of building equipment to control the environmental conditions of the entire residence via the HVAC system. It may be desirable to modulate the setpoints of the HVAC system throughout the day based on factors such as time of day, building occupancy, etc., in order to provide maximum comfort and efficiency to the user. However, these factors may differ based on the particular room and location within the residency, but due to the single-zone system, the various rooms are unable to be controlled individually. The advantages of a multi-zoned system is that different zones may have setpoints that have different ideal temporal variation, and may be controlled individually. However, the cost of converting a single-zone system to a multi-zone system in order to control the zones individually can be substantial. Thus, it would be advantageous to have the benefits of a multi-zone system without the expense. Additionally, it would be advantageous to have systems and methods for using a single-zone climate conditioning system to affect space in a multi-zoned manner.

Systems and methods for controlling a single-zone climate conditioning system in a multi-zoned manner


Apparatus and method for communication in non-terrestrial networks are disclosed. A set of Doppler shift curves for different distances to one or more satellite orbits is obtained. Measurements of satellite transmission are performed to obtain estimate of instantaneous Doppler shift of the transmission, the measurements including a timestamp. A Doppler shift curve corresponding to the measurements is calculated. A time offset on the selected curve is determined utilising the timestamps of the measurements, the time offset indicating the position of the Doppler shift of the apparatus on the curve. The Doppler shift of the satellite transmission is determined utilising the selected curve and the time offset.

Wireless communication systems are under constant development. In additional to traditional cellular communication, non-terrestrial networks may be utilised in communication especially where coverage of land-based access nodes is poor. Designing communication utilising both cellular and non-terrestrial networks is challenging due to different propagation environments.
In non-terrestrial communication, satellites are used to create cells for terminal devices. One of the issues that must be taken into account in such communication is Doppler shift, which is due to the high speed of the satellites.

Doppler compensation in non-terrestrial networks


A method for detecting and isolating an actual fault in a fuel delivery system having a fuel pump and a fuel pump motor, includes monitoring fuel pressure, pump current, and pump voltage. Each of a plurality of fault triggers are designated as one of flagged and un-flagged based on at least one of the fuel pressure, the pump current and the pump voltage. The actual fault in the fuel delivery system is isolated from a plurality of possible faults when a condition respective to one of the possible faults is satisfied based on at least one of the plurality of fault triggers designated as flagged and un-flagged.

The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure. Accordingly, such statements are not intended to constitute an admission of prior art.
The supply of fuel to an internal combustion engine in a consistent and reliable manner is desirable. A typical vehicle fuel system includes a fuel pump which is submerged in a fuel tank. A fuel filter and a pressure regulator may be positioned on the respective intake and outlet sides of the fuel pump. Filtered fuel is thus delivered to a fuel rail, where it is ultimately injected into the engine cylinders. An Electronic Returnless Fuel System (ERFS) includes a sealed fuel tank and lacks a dedicated fuel return line. These and other features of the ERFS help to minimize vehicle emissions.
Conventional diagnostic techniques for a vehicle fuel system typically rely on knowledge of a prior fault condition. For example, a maintenance technician may determine by direct testing and/or review of a recorded diagnostic code that the fuel pump requires repair or replacement. This reactive diagnosis may not occur until vehicle performance has already been compromised. Information determined during on-board operation of the ERFS may assist in determining a root cause of such a fault.

Fault isolation in electronic returnless fuel system


A modular area washlight illumination system and method for operating are providing that comprises an intelligent light module group that has: one or more light modules, each of which comprises a plurality of discrete illumination sources; a power supply; and an intelligent module group controller comprising: a) circuitry that controls the illumination levels of the illumination sources; and b) an interface for receiving and sending information. The system further comprises a system controller that comprises: a) an attendant control panel serving as a user interface; and b) a system controller interface that is connected to the module group controller interface.

Washlights are used to provide lighting accents generally via indirect lighting (i.e., an area is illuminated primarily by light from the illumination source that is reflected off of another surface). For vehicles in general, and specifically here for aircraft, washlights can be used to create various moods, particularly when colored lighting is used.
Advances in light emitting diode (LED) technology has made them an ideal source of light where low-powered lighting solutions are desirable, which is particularly true in aircraft in which power availability is limited. However, with known systems, a degree of sophistication is lacking with regard to the full range of control that is possible with the use of LEDs and light sources having similar properties.

Aircraft LED washlight system and method for controlling same


An apparatus for hot gas spray deposition of coatings on products in the form of bodies of revolution has a chamber accommodating a base which supports a headstock having a spindle and a tailstock having a revolving center coaxial with the spindle, and a spray gun mounted on a guide member for movement, the revolving center of the tailstock having a power actuator for axially moving the product towards the headstock, and the base having rollers for supporting the moving product, each roller having a means for its vertical movement and a rotatable shield for screening a surface of the roller from sprayed material.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to equipment for applying coatings to surfaces of products, and more specifically, it deals with apparatuses for hot gas spray deposition of coatings on products in the form of bodies of revolution.
2. Description of the Related Art
Known in the art is an apparatus for applying coatings to products in the form of bodies of revolution (SU, A, No. 761023), comprising a chamber, a pair of means for rotating the product having drive rollers engageable with the product surface, transfer rollers for axially moving the product, and a spray gun. One of the means for rotating the product is mounted for movement axially along the product. Each means for rotating the product has an individual power actuator for lifting the product in the form of a hydraulic cylinder, and the transfer rollers are provided with a rotation drive. The apparatus is designed for the deposition of coatings on large-size products and in particular, on large-diameter pipes which must be installed at a coating station using special handling means.
A product having its surface preliminarily prepared for coating application is placed on the transfer rollers, the drive of the transfer rollers is switched on, and the rollers move the product towards a stationary means for rotating the product and stop. Subsequently the other means for rotating the product are moved in the same direction and stopped in the zone of the rear end of the product. The power actuators are then turned on for lifting the product which is raised from the transfer rollers, the drives of the product rotation means are then switched on, and a coating is applied to the product surface.
Since the product is rotated on the rollers of the means for rotating the product during coating deposition, a layer of coating cannot be applied to that part of the surface of the product which engages the rollers during rotation. The stationary transfer rollers are in the spray gun zone and under it during coating deposition so that a layer of coating is also applied to their surface, the coating being applied only to that part of the working surface of the roller that faces towards the spray gun. This results in local enlargements being formed on the working surface of the transfer rollers to lower reliability thereof in operation. During the axial movement of the product along the transfer rollers the surface of the product is impaired after preparation for application of the coating. As preparation for application of a hot gas spray coating involves imparting roughness to the surface with a pre-set height of crests and also elimination of grease films on the surface, the movement of the product on the transfer rollers results in the removal of the crests of the roughness and in the reappearance of grease spots on the products surface. This negatively affects quality of deposition of a hot gas spray coating on the surface.
It should also be noted that the provision of a pair of hydraulic power actuators for lifting the product and a drive for rotating the transfer rollers makes the apparatus rather complicated.
Known in the art is an apparatus for a hot gas spray deposition of coatings on products in the form of bodies of revolution WSP manufactured by PLASMA TECHNIK AG.
The apparatus comprises a chamber in which there is a base supporting a headstock having a spindle and a tailstock having a revolving center coaxial with the spindle, and a spray gun mounted for movement on the base. The tailstock is mounted for movement axially along the spindle. The revolving center of the tailstock has a manual drive for bringing it towards a center hole of the end face of a product and for retaining its axial position.
The product is manually installed in the head stock spindle, the revolving center is then inserted into the center hole of the rear end face of the product, and this axial position of the revolving center is retained. The spindle rotation drive is switched on, and the spray gun moving along a guide member applies coating to the rotating product.
The prior art apparatus has limited production capabilities as a product of up to 20 kg only can be manually installed. If products weighing more than 20 kg or products that cannot be manually installed are installed on this apparatus their surface prepared for coating application may be impaired so as to result in impaired quality of coating.

Apparatus for hot gas spray deposition of coatings on products in the form of bodies of revolution

ulitsa Oktyabrskoi Revoljutsii, 25, kv. I6


Electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) of a system-on-a-chip (SoC) is enhanced by encoding at least a subset of control signals before the control signals are transmitted over a bus (e.g., a bus internal to a SoC) from a controller to an embedded nonvolatile memory (NVM). The error-detection code used causes an EMC event to introduce errors into the transmitted codewords with relatively high probability. In response to an error being detected in the transmitted codeword, a set of safeguarding operations are performed to prevent the data stored in the NVM from being uncontrollably changed.

The present invention relates embedded nonvolatile memory (eNVM) and, more particularly, to protecting data stored in eNVM from corruption due to an electromagnetic-compatibility (EMC) event, such as electromagnetic interference (EMI), electrostatic discharge (ESD), and the like.
The term "electromagnetic compatibility" (EMC) refers to the ability of electrical equipment in general and electrical circuits in particular not to behave unacceptably when subjected to various types of interference, including EMI, ESD, and other electromagnetic disturbances. For example, certain EMC measures can be taken to address susceptibility and/or immunity issues in an integrated circuit (IC), with the general purpose being protection of the IC from disruption and/or breakdown due to an EMC event. Example EMC measures may include customized control of operating regimes, circuit-design constraints and/or features, EMC testing, EMI shielding, etc.
Embedded nonvolatile memory (eNVM) is an important IC component that adds flexibility to electronic products and helps to shorten time to market. For example, eNVMs are widely used in a variety of microcontroller applications in automotive, mobility, and security markets due to the eNVM's ability to support relatively high system speed via fast code access, in-system and/or on-board re-programmability of code and data storage, relatively low power consumption, and real-time controllability of the IC functions. However, a known problem with some eNVM designs is that a moderately strong EMC event may be capable of toggling certain critical eNVM control signals in a manner that causes the data or program stored in the eNVM to be uncontrollably changed, e.g., erased or randomly reprogrammed. In most cases, such uncontrollable changes precipitate a complete breakdown in the operation of the corresponding system-on-a-chip (SoC). In some systems, such as a moving vehicle, such a breakdown can be extremely dangerous, as it can compromise the safety of the occupants.

Protecting embedded nonvolatile memory from interference


A movable terminal and a coaxial connector have greatly improved durability and have outstanding contact/connection reliability, and are included in a communication apparatus. A coaxial connector includes a two-split synthetic resin case having a lower insulating case and an upper insulating case, a metal fixed terminal, a movable terminal, and an external terminal. The movable terminal having a spring movable function includes a movable contact portion with which the fixed terminal makes contact, a fixed portion fit in the upper and lower insulating cases, and a lead portion bent in an L-shape. The movable contact portion has a frame-shaped portion, a spring movable portion upwardly curved in an arcuate shape, and a contact portion provided at the approximate center of the spring movable portion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to movable terminals, coaxial connectors, and communication apparatuses incorporating the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, mobile communication apparatuses such as mobile phones, incorporate surface-mount-type coaxial connectors having signal-path switching functions. In such a coaxial connector, a resin case, a fixed terminal, and a movable terminal having spring properties are integrally insert-molded.
As shown in FIG. 12, a conventional movable terminal 155 includes a movable portion 151 having a spring function and a lead portion 152 bent in a substantially U-shaped configuration connected to the movable portion 151. The movable portion 151 includes an arm 151a extending to right and left side portions from the lead portion 152, two spring supporting portions 151b provided at the ends of the arm 151a, a spring movable portion 151c extending parallel to the arms 151a such that the portion 151c straddles the spring supporting portions 151b, and a contact portion 151d protruding from the spring movable portion 151c. Both ends of the spring movable portion 151c are supported and fixed by the spring supporting portions 151b. The central portion of the spring movable portion 151c is curved in an arcuate shape to expand upwardly. With the force exerted by the spring property of the arcuate shaped spring mechanism, the contact portion 151d abuts against the lower surface of a contact portion 141 of a fixed terminal 140, and thereby the fixed terminal 140 makes contact with the movable terminal 155 to connect each other.
However, the conventional movable terminal 155 includes only one arm 151a and only two bent portions A and B. As a result, when the conventional movable terminal 155 is repeatedly pressed into contact with the central contact of the counterpart coaxial connector, plastic deformation of the movable terminal 155 occurs, thereby deteriorating the spring property. That is, after removing the counterpart coaxial connector, the fixed terminal 140 and the movable terminal 155 do not make firm contact, and therefore the connection therebetween is inadequate. In some cases, both terminals 140 and 155 do not make contact.
To overcome the above-described problems with the prior art, preferred embodiments of the present invention provide a movable terminal and a coaxial connector which are durable and which have excellent contact/connection reliability, and a communication apparatus incorporating the same.
Preferred embodiments of the present invention provide a movable terminal including a frame-shaped portion, a spring movable portion having both ends supported by the frame-shaped portion and having a displaceable central spring portion, and a contact portion integrally provided with the spring movable portion and making contact with a fixed terminal such that the contact portion is connected to the fixed terminal, in which two arms arranged substantially parallel to the spring movable portion of the frame-shaped portion are bent such that the spring movable portion is curved in an arcuate shape.
Preferably, the contact portion is provided above the arcuate shaped spring movable portion.
Other preferred embodiments of the present invention provide a coaxial connector including an insulating case having a cavity in which an approximately central contact of a counterpart coaxial connector is inserted, the movable terminal disposed in the cavity of the insulating case such that the movable terminal protrudes in a direction substantially perpendicular to a direction in which the approximately central contact is inserted, a fixed terminal disposed in the cavity of the insulating case to make contact with a contact portion of the movable terminal such that the fixed terminal is connected to the contact portion, and an external terminal disposed on the outside of the insulating case to electrically connect an external conductor of the counterpart coaxial connector, in which the contact portion of the movable terminal and the fixed terminal are separate from each other and make contact with one another to connect each other in accordance with the installation and removal of the counterpart coaxial connector.
Since the frame-shaped portion has outstanding mechanical strength, the plastic deformation of the movable terminal does not occur when the movable terminal is repeatedly pressed into contact with the approximately central contact of the counterpart coaxial connector. As a result, the deterioration of spring property is prevented. Moreover, the spring movable portion is curved in the arcuate shape by bending a flat plate instead of by plastic deformation. Thus, plastic deformation is unlikely to occur.
In addition, other preferred embodiments of the present invention provides a communication apparatus incorporating the above coaxial connector, thereby having high reliability.

Movable terminal, coaxial connector, and communication apparatus incorporating the same


A display driver includes a symbology generator having an electronic architecture optimized for symbology display, along with an interface to a microdisplay. The interface is configured to operatively couple the symbology generator to the microdisplay, to support a display of symbol objects on the microdisplay. The symbology generator may be a one-bit symbology generator configured to provide bi-level pixel data representing symbology to the microdisplay. The symbology generator may be configured to provide video information to the microdisplay in addition to the bi-level pixel data. The symbology generator may be further configured to coordinate the bi-level pixel data with the video information. The coordination may include various types of blending of the symbology data and the video data, or a hybrid mode where symbology data is applied to one set of pixels of the microdisplay, and video data is applied to another set of pixels of the microdisplay.

Symbology display systems allow for various symbols to be overlaid (i.e., superimposed) on a primary display image. Examples of direct view applications that may use symbology display systems include automotive head-up displays, avionics head-up displays, consumer eyewear products, medical microscope systems, and weapon sight systems, among others.
Electronic symbology display systems often require a substantial amount of power to operate. Further, such symbology display systems may be quite large, and have significant interface complexity. The power, size and/or interface complexity of such systems may limit their feasibility for use in certain applications.

Low power symbology generator and display driver


A transmitting apparatus, receiving apparatus, communication system, and a signal processing method for each apply a suitable modulation method and transmission path estimation method in accordance with the characteristics of the transmission information and capable of improving the transmission efficiency. At the transmission side, the method of estimation of the transmission path and the modulation method are selected in accordance with an attribute of the data to be transmitted, for example, the size of a packet to be transmitted, the transmission data is mapped by the selected modulation method, the signal is processed in accordance with the transmission path estimation method, and a transmission signal is created by increase fast Fourier transform processing and transmitted. At the reception side, the received signal is fast Fourier transformed, the transmission path is estimated by the transmission path estimation method selected at the transmission side, the received signal is corrected in accordance with the result, and the received data is reproduced in accordance with the modulation method. Therefore, it is possible to always adopt the optimum transmission method in accordance with the attribute of the transmission data etc. and possible to realize an improvement of a transmission efficiency and an enhancement of the quality of communication.

The present invention relates to a transmitting apparatus and a receiving apparatus of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) modulated signals, a communication system comprising a transmitting apparatus and a receiving apparatus, and further a signal processing method in each of the transmitting apparatus, receiving apparatus, and the communication system.
As a system of transmitting multiplexed channels using multi-carrier communication, a digital audio broadcasting (DAB) system has already been put into practical use in Europe. In the DAB system, OFDM is used as the modulation method. In a broadcasting system using the OFDM modulation method, a plurality of orthogonal sub-carriers modulated by quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) or quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) or another data modulation method are multiplexed to produce an OFDM modulated signal. By providing a guard interval which is made by recurring part of an effective symbol waveform in a valid symbol period of the OFDM signal, the influence of multi-path error (ghost wave) in a radio wave transmission of a ground wave can be reduced. Namely, by making the guard interval longer than the expected delay time of the ghost wave, ghost interference can be easily removed at the reception side.
FIG. 22 and FIG. 23 show an example of a wireless communication system using the OFDM modulation method, in which FIG. 22 shows a configuration of a transmitting apparatus using the OFDM modulation method, and FIG. 23 shows the configuration of a receiving apparatus for receiving an OFDM modulated signal.
As shown in FIG. 22, a transmitting apparatus using the OFDM modulation method is configured by a channel encoder 101, a time interleave circuit 102, a symbol mapping circuit 103, a multiplex circuit (MUX) 104, a frequency interleave circuit 105, a differential modulation circuit 106, an inverse fast Fourier transform circuit (IFFT) 107, and a transmitter (Tx) 108. The channel encoder 101 encodes an input data bit train (bit stream) DBSM of an M-th channel. Note that the related encoding includes, for example, error correction and encoding. The order of the encoded data train is switched at random on the time axis by the time interleave circuit 102. Time interleaving is a method for coping with so-called burst noise, that is, a large amount of noise generated in a transmission path concentrated in a certain constant time band. Time interleaving is carried out with respect to a data series to be transmitted on the transmission side, while deinterleaving is carried out on the reception side to return the received data series to the original order. For this reason, when burst noise is generated, the influence of the noise is dispersed in the transmission signal and complete interruption of data transmission can be prevented.
The time interleaved data is mapped by the symbol mapping circuit 103 with respect to each sub-carrier in accordance with a predetermined data modulation method. Note that the data modulation method used for the mapping may be of various types such as the QPSK, 8PSK, and the 16QAM. Typically QPSK is used in DAB. The symbol mapping circuit 104 creates a symbol stream corresponding to the input data series.
The mapped symbol stream consisting of the M channels is input together with the symbol streams of other channels created by similar processing to the multiplex circuit 104. Only inputs DBS 1 and DBS 2 are shown. The stream is then multiplexed by the multiplex circuit 104. As the simplest example, the multiplex circuit 104 can realize multiplexing by simply connecting the symbol streams of the plurality of channels in series. The multiplexed symbol streams are rearranged by the frequency interleave circuit 105, and the differential modulation circuit 106 differentially modulates each symbol with the respective symbol transmitted one modulation period before.
The differentially modulated symbol streams are converted to parallel data by a serial/parallel conversion circuit, not shown. This parallel data becomes the modulated data in each sub-carrier and can be regarded as a vector of a spectrum on a frequency axis. The modulated data is transformed to a transmission signal on the time axis by the inverse fast Fourier transform circuit 107, modulated to a high transmission frequency by the transmitter 108, and radiated to space via an antenna 109.
On the reception side, reverse processing to that on the transmission side is carried out to demodulate the received OFDM modulated wave and thereby to reproduce the original information data streams. As shown in FIG. 23, the receiving apparatus is configured by a channel decoder 111, a time deinterleave circuit 112, a bit extraction circuit 113, a channel selection circuit 114, a frequency deinterleave circuit 115, a differential demodulation circuit 116, a fast Fourier transform circuit (FFT) 117, and a receiver (Rx) 118. The receiver 118 receives a signal of an intended frequency band in the high frequency reception signal excited at a reception antenna 119. The received signal is converted to a baseband signal by frequency conversion. The baseband signal is Fourier transformed by the fast Fourier transform circuit 117. As a result, the received symbols corresponding to the modulated data of the sub-carriers on the frequency axis are found.
Each received symbol fluctuates in phase due to the influence of, for example, fading in the transmission path, therefore the transmission path is estimated by using the phase difference from each symbol received one modulation period before as a phase value of the received signal using each symbol received one modulation time before as a reference. The means for finding the phase of the received signal by this transmission path estimation is generally referred to as differential demodulation. The differential demodulation is carried out in the differential demodulation circuit 116. The thus extracted received symbols carrying information modulated in the phase component are returned to the original order of symbols by the frequency deinterleave circuit 115, then the symbol stream of the intended channel is extracted by the channel selection circuit 114.
The output channel stream from the channel selection circuit 114 is input to the bit extraction circuit 113. The bit extraction circuit 113 digitally demodulates the symbols of each sub-carrier to extract, for example, the received encoded bit stream for the QPSK modulated symbols. The time deinterleave circuit 112 returns the received encoded bit stream to the arrangement of the encoded bit stream of the original order by the time deinterleaving in the frame. Further, this is decoded for correcting errors by the channel decoder 111, whereby the information bit stream of the intended channel is obtained.
In a communication system comprising such a transmitting and receiving apparatus, the arrangement of symbols to be transmitted and received by the frequency axis and the time axis can be expressed as shown in FIG. 24. FIG. 24 shows the state of the symbols in the sub-carriers arranged on the frequency axis being differentially modulated with the symbols transmitted one modulation time before at the related frequency. This differential modulation is not closed in the channel. The differential modulation is carried out with the symbols of other channels.
In a communication system for transmitting multiplexed channels using the OFDM modulation method as previously proposed, the symbols of the intended channel are extracted after the transmission path is estimated for all channels together. Further, the symbols of the other channels are also necessary for extracting one channel worth of information, so by employing such a data structure isolation between channels is not possible in the modulation method and the transmission path estimation method. Since the above-mentioned DAB system is a broadcasting system and each channel is usually transmitting a signal constantly, isolation between channels in the modulation method and the transmission path estimation method has been considered.
Where handling packet transmission traffic, however, the channels are not always constantly transmitting and receiving signals, therefore with the above system configuration, modulation and demodulation become impossible, so it becomes necessary to perform the modulation and demodulation and the transmission path estimation in a closed state for every channels, that is, for every packet. Further, in general packet transmission traffic, the amount of the information to be transmitted at one time the amount of information per packet largely fluctuates from several tens of bytes to about several tens of kilobytes, for example. When handling such traffic, if modulation and demodulation are carried out by the known method the following disadvantages occur.
When differential phase modulation is applied as in the DAB system, the symbols transmitted one modulation period before are utilized as reference symbols for estimating the transmission path, therefore even in a case where desiring to transmit information which can be handled by the number of symbols in one modulation period, the transmission and the reception of two modulation periods worth of symbols including the reference become necessary. This is clearly wasteful from the viewpoint of the effective utilization of the transmission path bandwidth. In such a case, it is advisable to apply another method of estimation of the transmission path.
On the other hand, when considering the case where it is desired to transmit and receive a large volume of information, it is generally known that if the transmission path is estimated by the differential modulation used in the communication system described above, the required Eb/No, where Eb: energy per bit received by the receiving apparatus, No: received noise, Eb/No is the value expressing an S/N ratio per bit of the received data on the reception side, deteriorates by about 3 dB in comparison with the case where the estimation of the transmission path is carried out perfectly. When desiring to transmit and receive a large volume of information, transmitting symbols for estimating the transmission path in addition to the symbols modulated in accordance with information, precisely estimating the transmission path, and demodulating gives a lower total required Eb/No and enables signal transmission with a better efficiency. In this case, since transmission of the symbols for estimating the transmission path becomes necessary, the bandwidth is excessively used, but when the amount of the information to be transmitted is sufficiently large in comparison with the symbols for estimating the transmission path, resources are not wastefully used from the viewpoint of the required Eb/No. Further, if the encoding rate is raised by the amount of the lowering of the required Eb/No in order to provide exactly the bandwidth for the transmission of the symbols for the estimation of the transmission path, the bandwidth will not be excessively used.
In this way, for example, where information is transmitted in a burst-like manner and the amount of information to be transmitted per time fluctuates in a large dynamic range, as in packet transmission traffic, isolation is desirably taken in the modulation method and the transmission path estimation method for every channel. Further, preferably a different transmission path estimation method is used for every series of transmission information. The communication system of the prior art, however, has not given sufficient consideration to this.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Transmitting apparatus, receiving apparatus, communication system, transmission method, reception method, and communication method


The method and apparatus operates in a video recorder and playback unit to identify selected broadcast segments, such as commercial advertisements, of a television signal in real-time for the purpose of either suspending recording or advancing playback of the television signal during each unwanted segment. A signature pattern associated with each segment of the television signal is detected and compared to stored signature patterns representative of selected segments such as commercial advertisement segments. If the signature pattern matches one of the stored signature patterns, the segment is thereby immediately identified as being one of the selected segments and is processed in real-time to control operation of the video recorder/player. If the signature pattern of the segment does not match any of the stored signature patterns, the segment is analyzed to determine whether the segment is nevertheless a selected segment and, if so, its signature pattern is stored along with the stored signature patterns.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to television signal processing systems and in particular to television signal processing systems for detecting selected segments of a television signal such as commercial advertisement segments.
2. Description of Related Art
It has long been a desire of many television viewers to have a system which automatically detects selected segments of a television signal such as commercial advertisements or other unwanted broadcast segments in real-time during a television broadcast for the purposes of, for example, muting the audio portion of the television broadcast during the unwanted broadcast material or controlling a video recorder to skip the unwanted broadcast material during recording or playback of the television broadcast. Although a wide variety of techniques have been developed for detecting selected segments of television signals, heretofore there have been no sufficiently effective and economical systems that automatically operate in real-time for muting the television signal during the selected segments, for controlling a video recorder to skip selected segments, or for similar purposes.
Examples of broadcast segment detection systems include systems for detecting commercial advertisements during the playback of a television program on a video cassette recorder (VCR) for the purpose of controlling the VCR to skip or scan over the commercial advertisements during playback such that a viewer may watch the recorded television program without significant commercial advertisement interruptions. One particularly effective system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,333,091 entitled "Method and Apparatus for Controlling a Videotape Player to Automatically Scan Past Recorded Commercial Messages" and sold under the trademark "Commercial Advance." With the system of U.S. Pat. No. 5,333,091, an automatic editing device is coupled between a conventional VCR and a conventional television set. As a broadcast program is recorded on a videotape by the VCR, the editing device detects and records the timing and duration of selected events, such as black frames combined with low audio, that separate segments of the broadcast and creates a time-based map of the selected events. After the recording is completed, the editing device analyzes the time-based map and determines therefrom which segments are commercial advertisement segments and which are program segments. The editing device then records control signals on the videotape prior to and following the commercial advertisement segments. Upon playback, the control signals control the VCR to fast-scan over the commercial advertisement segments so that the recorded broadcast can be viewed substantially without interruption. Related techniques are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,455,630 and in PCT application PCT/US94/00223 published as WO 94/16442.
Although the systems of U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,333,091 and 5,455,630 and PCT application PCT/US94/00223 are very effective in skipping over commercial advertisements and other unwanted broadcast material during the playback of a recorded broadcast program on a videotape, the systems do not operate in real-time during a received broadcast.
Other examples of broadcast segment detection systems include systems for detecting commercial advertisements during the recording of a television program on a VCR for the purposes of controlling the VCR to skip the commercial advertisements during recording such that a viewer may later watch the recorded television program without any commercial advertisement interruptions whatsoever. An example is a system described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,602,297 entitled "System for Editing Commercial Messages from Recorded Television Broadcasts" which stores and delays the output of a received broadcast signal to a VCR until it can determine whether the delayed portion of the broadcast signal includes commercial advertisements. To this end, the system detects commercial advertisements or groups of commercial advertisements within the delayed portion by detecting amplitude drops in the broadcast signal and determining whether time intervals between the amplitude drops correspond to normal durations of commercial advertisements or groups of commercial advertisements. The system then outputs only those portions of the delayed signal to the VCR that do not correspond to commercial advertisements of groups of commercial advertisements. Hence, the broadcast signal is recorded without commercial advertisements for future playback. However, the system does not operate in real-time to detect commercial advertisements within a received broadcast signal. Rather the system instead requires that the received broadcast signal be temporarily stored and delayed. Commercial advertisements may each be one minute or perhaps more in length thereby requiring a significant amount of storage for temporarily storing portions of the broadcast signal and thereby requiring a system which is not sufficiently economical for most purposes.
Other examples of systems for detecting commercial advertisements during the recording of a television program are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,750,052 entitled "Apparatus and Method for Automatically Deleting Selected Program Intervals from Recorded Television Broadcasts" and U.S. Pat. No. 4,782,401 entitled "Editing Method and Apparatus for Commercials During Video Recording", both of which also operate to detect commercial advertisements based upon intervals occurring between amplitude drops or other fades in a received broadcast signal. Rather than storing and deleting the received signals prior to output to a VCR, however, the systems of U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,750,052 and 4,782,401 record the signals on a videotape using a VCR and control the VCR to rewind at the end of each commercial advertisement or group of advertisements such that further program signals are recorded over the commercial advertisements. As with the previously described system, the systems of U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,750,052 and 4,782,401 do not operate in real-time and are not sufficiently economical for most purposes.
Moreover, none of the aforementioned systems for detecting broadcast segments during the recording of a television program operate in real-time for the purpose of, for example, muting the audio during commercial advertisements or other broadcast segments.
Still other examples of broadcast segment detection systems include systems for detecting commercial advertisements in broadcast television signals for the purposes of verifying that selected commercial advertisements are being broadcast on the proper days and at the proper times. Examples include U.S. Pat. No. 5,504,518 entitled "Method and System for Recognition of Broadcast Segments" wherein stored digitized segments of broadcast signals are processed by an expert system to determine whether any particular segment corresponds to a selected segment of interest, such as a selected commercial advertisement. Segments that cannot be identified by the expert system, such as new or otherwise unknown segments, are routed to a human operator for verifying that the segment represents a commercial advertisement rather than a portion of a television program. Selected segment information such as the date and time of broadcast of the segments of interest are recorded and tabulated in a report for use by, for example, broadcast advertisers for verifying that the selected segments were broadcast on the proper dates and at the proper times. As part of its analysis of the segments, the expert system compares broadcast signatures with a database of signatures. A variety of techniques are described for defining and detecting signatures. The expert system also considers various cues including the lengths and relative groupings of segments and the intervals there between. No real-time analysis appears to be performed by the expert system or by the human operator.
Another system for commercial advertisement broadcast verification is described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 1-174192, of Sony Corporation, entitled "Television Signal Processing Unit" wherein an entire days worth of broadcast programs are recorded on videotape. The recorded broadcasts are analyzed to identify commercial advertisement segments by intervals therebetween as detected by luminance signal considerations. The commercial advertisements, and only the commercial advertisements, are then output and recorded on a second videotape. The second videotape thereby contains a day's worth of commercial advertisements in extracted form that may be viewed by a human operator for broadcast verification purposes. Again, no real-time detection of commercial advertisements is performed.
Examples of systems for detecting broadcast segments, such as commercial advertisement segments, which have some real-time detection capability include U.S. Pat. No. 4,420,769 entitled "Device for the Automatic Editing, at the Receiver, of Unwanted Program Material from Broadcast Electrical Signals" and U.S. Pat. No. 4,750,213 entitled "Method and System for Editing Unwanted Program Material from Broadcast Signals". U.S. Pat. No. 4,420,769 describes a system wherein a human operator identifies program segments to be eliminated from a broadcast signal causing a digital code word or signature for the segment to be stored in memory. Subsequently, if the same segment is encountered, the system automatically compares digitized portions of the received signal with the stored signatures to recognize the segment and then to blank out or otherwise eliminate the segment in real-time. One significant problem with this system is that a human operator must first detect program segments to be eliminated. Also, a significant amount of data processing is required to establish and compare the signatures in a reliable manner. U.S. Pat. No. 4,750,213, by the same inventor, sets forth improvements intended, in part, to reduce the processing time required. The system of U.S. Pat. No. 4,750,213 also includes a delay or other storage device for allowing a received signal to be delayed until a determination can be made by the human operator as to whether a particular segment of the received signal should be eliminated. If so, the received, delayed signal is output with the selected segment blanked out or otherwise eliminated. Although U.S. Pat. No. 4,750,213 may represent an improvement over U.S. Pat. No. 4,420,769, it shares the disadvantage that a human operator must detect program segments to be eliminated.
Another example of a system which has some real-time detection capability is U.S. Pat. No. 5,151,788 entitled "Method and Apparatus for Identifying and Eliminating Specific Material from Video Signals" wherein commercial advertisement broadcast segments are distinguished from program segments by the relative level of "activity" within the beginning of each segment. If the activity level is high, the segment is presumed to be a commercial advertisement. The system detects the amount of activity within the first few seconds of a segment following a blank frame and operates to mute or otherwise eliminate the remaining portions of the segment if the detected activity level is representative of a commercial advertisement. The system may control a VCR to stop recording for the remainder of the segment. The patent describes that the optimum time period during which the activity level should be detected is 8 seconds. One disadvantage of the system is that the detection of commercial advertisements based upon an activity level is likely to be unreliable for many broadcasts and, even when the system does correctly detect a commercial advertisement, that detection does not occur until 8 seconds into the commercial advertisement.
Other references that relate to systems for detecting selected segments of a broadcast signal such as commercial advertisement segments of a television signal are described in the following references: U.S. Pat. No. 3,919,479 entitled "Broadcast Signal Identification System"; U.S. Pat. No. 4,229,765 entitled "Remote Audio and Brightness Control System for a Television"; U.S. Pat. No. 4,230,990 entitled "Broadcast Program Identification Method and System"; U.S. Pat. No. 4,259,689 entitled "Television Advertising Editing System"; U.S. Pat. No. 4,333,110 entitled "Television Editing System"; U.S. Pat. No. 4,390,904 entitled "Automatic Circuit and Method for Editing Commercial Messages from Television Signals"; U.S. Pat. No. 4,667,466 entitled "Broadcast Program Identification Method and Apparatus"; U.S. Pat. No. 4,697,209 entitled "Methods and Apparatus for Automatically Identifying Programs Viewed or Recorded"; U.S. Pat. No. 4,739,398 entitled "Method, Apparatus and System for Recognizing Broadcast Segments"; U.S. Pat. No. 4,752,834 entitled "Reciprocating Recording Method and Apparatus for Controlling a Video Recorder so as to Edit Commercial Messages from a Recorded Television Signal"; U.S. Pat. No. 5,019,899 entitled "Electronic Data Encoding and Recognition System" and European Patent Application Publication No. 0161512 entitled "Program Identification System".
Hence various techniques have been developed for detecting selected broadcast segments such as commercial advertisements within a television signal. None of the techniques described above, however, are effective for reliably and automatically detecting broadcast segments in real-time without the need of a human operator. Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a simple, inexpensive system which reliably detects selected segments of a broadcast signal without requiring a human operator and wherein, either immediately or after some period of time, all or most selected segments can be detected in real-time.

Method and apparatus for controlling a video recorder/player to selectively alter a video signal


An ear-worn electronic device includes a right ear device comprising a first processor and a left ear device comprising a second processor communicatively coupled to the first processor. A physiologic sensor module comprises one or more physiologic sensors configured to sense at least one physiologic parameter from a wearer. A motion sensor module comprises one or more sensors configured to sense movement of the wearer. The first and second processors are coupled to the physiologic and motion sensor modules. The first and second processors are configured to produce a three-dimensional virtual sound environment comprising relaxing sounds, generate verbal instructions within the three-dimensional virtual sound environment that guide the wearer through a predetermined mental exercise that promotes wearer relaxation, and generate verbal commentary that assesses wearer compliance with the predetermined mental exercise in response to one or both of the sensed movement and the at least one physiologic parameter.

Mental exercises, such as meditation, are difficult to perform by persons given their busy working schedules and lack of convenient spaces. When performing a mental exercise in a place not originally designed for that purpose, there are often plenty of potentially distracting events and important events that can interfere with the proper execution of the mental exercise. Generally, a trained instructor is needed to successfully guide persons through a mental exercise. Access to such trained instructors involves expense and inconvenience of having to travel to meet personally with an instructor. Typically, trained instructors only make use of external factors (subjective measures) to evaluate a person's performance during a session involving mental exercises over time and provide recommendations without access to mental and physiological factors (objective measures). Even when these factors are accessed, such access requires the use of equipment that is distracting and intrusive to the mental exercise.

Ear-worn electronic device for conducting and monitoring mental exercises


A walk-aiding wheeled frame comprises base tubes, handle tubes, and fastening devices. The connecting portions of the base tube and the handle tube are polygonal in their cross sections. The base tube is provided with a locking slot. The fastening device comprises a pressing baffle capable of being driven to move by a wrench, and a hexagonal fastening tube provided with a locking baffle corresponding in location to the locking slot of the base tube. The handle tube and the base tube are fastened securely in an end-to-end manner by means of the pressing baffle, which is driven by the wrench to move inwards, and of the locking baffle. Such method of fastening the base tube and the handle tube ensures that the handle tube does not become loosely attached, thereby safeguarding the user of the walk-aiding wheeled frame.

The present invention relates to a device used by a crippled parson as an aid in walking, and more particularly to improved structures of expandable handles of a walk-aiding wheeled frame. The present invention makes use of Hexagonal tubes in place of round tubes of the prior art which are vulnerable to becoming loose. In addition, the present invention makes use of an improved clamping means, which is disposed at the junction between an inner tube and an outer tube so as to take a fast hold of the inner and the outer tubes.
The FIG. 1 shows a walk-aiding wheeled frame of the prior art, which is used as an aid in walking by an old person who is crippled or a patient who is recuperating. Such prior art device is provided with a bottom frame 10 to which two handles 11 are attached. Each of the two handles 11 serves as a guard or support to be held by the hand of a user of the device. The handles 11 are expandable and can be adjusted upwards or downwards as desired to suit the need of a user in respect of the user's height. Each of the handles 11 is composed of an inner round tube 12 fitted into an outer round tube 13 which is provided with a fastening slot 131 and a fastening ring 14, as shown in FIG. 2. The fastening ring 14 is fitted over the outer round tube 13, which is in turn fitted over the inner round tube 12. The fastening ring 14 is used to keep a tight Hold on the outer round tube 13 and the inner round tube 12. The prior art handles 11 described above have the following shortcomings:
(1). The method, by which the inner round tube 12 and the outer round tube 13 are fastened together, is defective in design in that the inner round tube 12 is vulnerable to becoming loose as a result of the handle 11 being exerted upon by a force of the hand of the user holding the handle 11. The inner round tube 12 is therefore prone to turn, thereby causing the user of the device to become so panicked as to trip. PA1 (2). It takes a great deal of physical strength to tighten or unfasten the fastening ring 14 of the prior art, as shown in FIG. 2. Such fastening ring of a poor design is a physical burden to a crippled person who uses the device. PA1 (3). The prior art fastening means includes a fastening ring 14, which is used to clamp the outer round tube 13 which in turn takes a hold of the inner round tube 12. In other words, the inner round tube 12 is fastened in an indirect manner by the fastening ring 14. Such fastening method is unreliable and should be therefore improved. PA1 (4). The prior art wheeled frame is provided with hand grips 15, which are of a circular construction and are so dimensioned as to fit over the inner round tubes 12. The vulnerability of such hand grips 15 to becoming loose and thus to turning is substantially increased. Consequently, a user of such a prior art device is subjected to an accident.

Expandable handles of walk-aiding wheeled frame


Methods and systems for a distributed transmission line multiplexer for a multi-core multi-mode voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) may comprise a plurality of voltage controlled oscillators (VCOs) arranged adjacent to each other, where each of the plurality of VCOs are operable to generate an output signal at a configurable frequency, an impedance matching circuit comprising a respective driver and impedance matching elements coupled to each of the plurality of VCOs, and an output device coupled to the impedance matching circuit. The impedance matching elements may include capacitors and inductors. Between each adjacent pair of the respective drivers coupled to each of the plurality of VCOs, the impedance matching elements may include two inductors coupled in series between the drivers and a capacitor coupled to ground and to a common node between the two inductors. Impedance values of the capacitors and inductors may be configurable. The impedance matching elements may include a resistor coupled to a bias voltage VDD and to a common node with a capacitor that is coupled to ground, where the common node is coupled to one of the inductors. The output device may include a prescaler that is an integer or fractional frequency-N divider, or a buffer. The respective drivers coupled to each of the plurality of VCOs may be configured to provide a constant output power no matter which of said plurality of VCOs is enabled.

Existing methods and systems for voltage-controlled-oscillator (VCO) can introduce disturbances and/or handle such disturbances in an inefficient manner. In this regard, communication via wireless and/or wired connections may comprise reception and/or transmission of radio frequency (RF) signals. For example, communication devices may transmit and/or receive RF signals carrying exchanged data, with the RF signals being configured in accordance with corresponding wired and/or wireless protocols or standards. Accordingly, signal processing (e.g., of RF signals) must be performed during wireless and/or wired communications to enable proper exchange of information. Example signal processing operations may comprise filtering, amplification, up-conversion/down-conversion of baseband signals, modulation/demodulation, analog-to-digital conversions and digital-to-analog conversions, encoding/decoding, and/or encryption/decryption.
Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional and traditional approaches will become apparent to one of skill in the art, through comparison of such approaches with some aspects of the present method and apparatus set forth in the remainder of this disclosure with reference to the drawings.

Method and system for a distributed transmission line multiplexer for a multi-core multi-mode voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO)