Methods are provided for operating a medical X-ray device to improve the image quality of an X-ray examination. In one example, the method includes recording at least one first X-ray image of a body region as a mask image; providing a first subsequent image and recording a second X-ray image of the body region, wherein the second X-ray image represents the body region at a later recording time than the first subsequent image; determining a degree of deviation relating to a deviation between the first subsequent image and the second X-ray image; determining an averaging amount in dependence on the degree of deviation; generating a second subsequent image from the second X-ray image or from the first subsequent image together with the second X-ray image, wherein the averaging amount specifies the proportions in which the first subsequent image and the second X-ray image are mixed; and forming an overall image from the mask image and the second subsequent image.

Known from the prior art are methods for performing an X-ray examination, (e.g., fluoroscopy), with which a plurality of X-ray images is recorded in succession in order to detect a temporal change at a body region to be examined. Such a temporal change relates to a movement at the body region. Such a movement may be due to the administration of a contrast agent to a body fluid flowing through the body region. In other words, the contrast agent may be injected in the body region to be examined and a propagation of the contrast agent may be examined using the plurality of X-ray images. To this end, the contrast agent may be selected to be visible in the X-ray images. For example, the contrast agent is injected into a vessel, (e.g., a blood vessel), of the body region. In other words, a vascular tree of the body region may be visualized thereby. Such methods may be summarized under the technical term (digital) subtraction angiography (DSA).
Alternatively, the movement of a medical object, (e.g., a guidewire or a catheter), may be detected by the plurality of X-ray images. For example, a user of the medical X-ray device moves or places the medical object on or in the body region. This process may be monitored by the X-ray examination. Such methods are also known by the technical term "roadmap".
In order to achieve better visibility of the medical object or the contrast agent, in a first phase of the X-ray examination, a so-called mask image may be created in which the body region is detected statically. Herein, advantageously, a static mask image of the body region is created before the movement occurs. Specifically, this first phase or the recording of the mask image may take place before the contrast agent is injected or the medical object is moved to the body region.
In this case, the movement may only take place at the start or after the start of a second phase of the X-ray examination. In this second phase, the movement is visualized by the plurality of successive X-ray images as described above. To enable a better overview of the body region or the movement, respective overall images of the second phase may in each case be formed from one image of the plurality of X-ray images and the mask image. For example, each of the plurality of X-ray images recorded during the second phase are developed together with the mask image to form an overall image. Because the X-ray images of the second phase are recorded after the first X-ray images or the mask image, these are referred to as second X-ray images.
For example, a respective overall image may be formed by subtracting the mask image from a respective one of the second X-ray images. In other words, during the X-ray examination, the mask image may be subtracted from each of the second X-ray images. Subtraction of the mask image enables a static portion of the image information to be removed from the respective second X-ray images thus rendering the movement even more visible.
During the recording of X-ray images, there is the possibility of the occurrence of statistical image noise. This image noise may be described mathematically by a variance. The lower an X-ray dose during the recording of the respective X-ray image, the more significant the image noise or the variance. In particular, the signal-to-noise ratio deteriorates as the dose decreases. Hence, there is a conflict of interest between the highest possible image quality and the lowest possible dose. Herein, it has been found to be advantageous to record a plurality of X-ray images in the first phase and average them arithmetically to form the mask image. In mathematical terms, the variance of the averaged mask image is indirectly proportional to the number of X-ray images used in the averaging.
However, in the second phase of the X-ray examination, averaging using a plurality of X-ray images is not necessarily advisable because, in the event of a movement, the contrast is reduced by the averaging. For example, the movement is averaged out of the second X-ray images. If a respective overall image is now formed from a respective second X-ray image and the mask image, the achievable image quality is limited by the noise of the respective second X-ray image. In the example given, subtraction imaging, with which the mask image is subtracted from the respective second X-ray image, this may be explained mathematically by way of example. In the case of the subtraction of the mask image from the respective second X-ray image, the respective variances of the mask image and the respective second X-ray image are added together. In practice, this means the maximum achievable image quality is limited by the image noise of the second X-ray image, regardless of how well the noise is averaged out of the mask image.

Medical X-ray devices and methods for operating medical X-ray devices


A rotary vane pump is provided that provides an improved fluid replenishment and pressure relief system within a rotary vane pump system. A system, containing a rotary vane pump containing at least one relief cut between the housing and the rotor, functions to relieve fluid pressure normally found between the housing and the rotor. The fluid leaks from areas such as the rotational clearance required between the rotor and an inner wall of the housing. The system includes a reservoir in fluid communication with the relief cut wherein fluid leaks are then retained within the reservoir. A fluid distribution manifold employing a plurality of check valves, each corresponding to a respective chamber within the rotor, provides a controlled fluid feed from the reservoir to the rotor thereby balancing the fluidic pressure existing between the radially innermost ends of the vanes and the radially outermost ends of the vanes.

Early devices varying the displacement of vane pumps involved the deliberate offset of the rotational center of the vane rotor with respect to the geometrical center of the circular outer case. The amount of offset would then control the swept volume of the pump and thereby provide a desired volumetric output for each rotation of the rotor. Several problems with this design limited its use.
First, the pressure unbalance caused by the hydraulic-based force on the radial cross-section of the rotor and vanes at the axis viewed from the radial perspective severely limited the power capability and power density of these pumps and resulted in very heavy, inefficient, and cumbersome devices. Second, the centrifugal force of each vane during high speed rotation caused severe wear of the vane outer edge and the inner surface of the outer containment housing.
Later fixed displacement designs were conceived around the concept of pressure balance in which two geometrically opposed high pressure chambers would cause a cancellation of radial load due to equal and opposed cross-section pressure areas and opposite vector direction which resulted in a zero net force radially on the shaft bearing. The design is referred to as the pressure balanced vane pump or motor. Typical efficiency of these devices is 70 to 85% under rated loading and speed. Still later improvements included changing the chamber shape of pressure balanced vane style devices and involved the use of several types of adjustable inner surfaces of the outer housing for guiding and radially adjusting the vanes as they rotate. One improvement is a continuous band which is flexible and subject to radial deformation so as to cause displacement control of the vanes. However, these flexible bands did not rotate.
One other concern involves the typical fluid losses that occur during normal operation of rotary vane pumps. The fluid generally accumulates in undesirable areas thereby resulting in pressure buildups that may result in rupture of the pump housing and disabling of the entire pump. An improvement targeted toward reducing the fluid loss and thereby improving the overall efficiency and operability of the system would therefore be welcomed.


An example system can include a first antenna having a first orientation, a second antenna having a second orientation and a control system communicating with the first antenna and the second antenna. The control system performs operations which can include determining a pathway of a satellite, comparing the pathway to a first radiation pattern of the first antenna and a second radiation pattern of the second antenna, wherein the first antenna and the second antenna are each positioned such that a first keyhole of the first antenna does not overlap a second keyhole of the second antenna, to yield a comparison and selecting, based on the comparison, one of the first antenna or the second antenna to communicate with the satellite along the pathway.

Satellite communication enables direct communication between a single satellite and a gateway system on earth. The gateway system has a point-to-point or one-to-one communication framework for transmitting and receiving signals with the satellite and is typically used to enable user terminals that are communicating separately with the satellite to gain access to the Internet or other networks. The gateway is a ground station that transmits data to/from the satellite and communicates with a separate network like the Internet. The gateway houses antennas and equipment that convert Radio Frequency (RF) signals to an Internet Protocol (IP) signal for terrestrial connectivity.
The keyhole problem in the context of a gateway refers to the difficulty that antenna systems encounter as they communicate with a satellite as it crosses a zenith position or the point directly above the antenna. The keyhole problem can be addressed through the use of a gimbal on an antenna to physical move the antenna and thus the position of the keyhole. A gimbal is a pivoted support configured with the antenna that allows for the rotation of the antenna about an axis. Two-axis gimbals can be deployed as well.

System and method of providing multiple antennas to track satellite movement


Soft handover of a mobile unit is facilitated on a wireless network from base station to base station. The network can employ multi-channel receivers to receive signals from mobile units within range, including mobile units assigned to neighboring base stations. Information associated with received signals, such as an indication of their signal strength, can be relayed to a central location for assessing whether the mobile unit should be assigned to another base station, and implement reassignment of one or more mobile units based on such assessment. Soft handover reduces dropped calls when the connection from mobile to base station is unexpectedly lost. The second BTS can add a carrier to communicate with the mobile unit and provides the mobile unit with the necessary parameters, such as frequency and time slot data, to complete the handover or the connection can be established through a variety of contingency plans.

A typical mobile network such as a standard Global System for Mobile (GSM) network comprises several base stations, or base transceiver stations (BTS), which communicate in with mobile units, each mobile unit transmitting on a single frequency or carrier and receiving on a separate single frequency or carrier. Clusters of base transceiver stations are controlled by a base station controller (BSC). The BSC assigns frequencies and/or time slots (as well as codes if appropriate) to each connection, minimizing co-channel and adjacent channel interference. The BSC and/or the local BTS monitor the strength of the signal from each mobile unit in contact with a BTS to determine which BTS should be assigned to that mobile. Mobile units can also provide feedback on received signal strength, carrier to noise ratio observed by the mobile unit. This information on the propagation environment is used to balance the communications load and assign each mobile unit to a BTS. The assignment generally includes information to enable the mobile unit to share access to the BTS in the form of a time slot, a frequency or frequencies, a code, or a combination thereof, generally depending on the communications protocol being implemented.
One aspect of mobile communication relates to handover in which the connection for a mobile unit is switched from one BTS to another BTS. Handover may take place between neighboring BTS or from one sector covered by a BTS to another sector of the same BTS. All discussions of handover can be for either case. Hard handover is one type of handover commonly used in systems where multiple users share access by time division multiple access (TDMA) or frequency division multiple access (FDMA). When hard handover occurs, the mobile unit severs all contact with the existing base station and then establishes a session with the new base station. In a GSM network, the mobile unit switches frequencies for both transmit and receive every time slot and also when handoff occurs.
In mobile assisted handoff (MAHO), the mobile unit, which only receives voice or data information during a sub-set of the time slots broadcast by the BTS (one in eight for a GSM voice connection), can sample signals from neighboring base stations during the unused time slots to provide additional information. These signals are power controlled for other users and can fluctuate rapidly. If the mobile is receiving data via GSM Packet Radio Service (GPRS), it may receive data during most of all of the time slots. Handoff may be initiated by the BSC, BTS, or the mobile unit depending on system design. In either case, feedback from the mobile unit is useful in deciding when to initiate handoff.
Hard handover is less desirable than soft handover because the existing connection between a BTS and a mobile unit is completely severed and a completely new connection must be initiated within a constrained amount of time, typically 200 ms in a GSM network. If the system does not perform nominally during the handover period there is a good chance the connection will be dropped. Soft handover has been implemented in wireless systems using code division multiple access (CDMA) that allows neighboring base stations to share frequencies.
Unexpected loss of signal from the mobile to its BTS or from the BTS to the mobile (which can occur separately or together) often results in a dropped call. Current systems using either soft handover, or hard handover in particular, are vulnerable to dropping calls due to unscheduled loss of signal.
Soft handover allows some level of communications to be established between a mobile unit and a new base station prior to the disconnection of the mobile unit from its existing base station. Soft handover is less susceptible to dropped calls and the latency for establishing a connection to the new base station is also reduced. Thus, a method for soft handover is desirable, particularly for GSM and other TDMA and FDMA wireless standards. Having established connectivity in at least one direction with a second BTS enables the system to be much more robust against dropping calls due to sudden loss of signal.
Mobile users may be denied a connection if they attempt to initiate a call where the primary coverage (e.g. strongest signal) is from a BTS that either can not receive a signal from the mobile (note the transmit and receive links are not symmetric) or if the BTS is using all of its assigned frequencies and time slots. Similarly, a mobile user that moves into a new area that nominally has coverage may be dropped if the BTS providing the coverage does not have available capacity to transmit and/or receive. In both these cases other base stations may be in range to communicate with the mobile and a system enabling a mobile to communicate with more than one BTS would enable superior load balancing and deployment of network resources.


A winding device for winding up and unwinding a cable, tube or hose which comprises a cable, tube or hose section which can be wound on and unwound from the outer circumference, a cable, tube or hose section which is guided out of a hub and which does not turn with the rotatable drum and a spiral compensation length in the interstice between the rotating drum and the hub.. The compensation length is supported on a supporting disc comprising an outer supporting ring which turns with the rotatable drum and an inner supporting disc between the outer supporting ring and the hub which does not turn with the rotatable drum. Furthermore, the hub is axially subdivided into two hub parts which can be displaced relative to each other and which can be firmly joined by means of a detachable locking device. When the locking device is open, a hub part linked with a turning spring can be turned relative to the hub part linked with the compensation length of the cable, tube or hose in order to pre-span the spring as desired. The two hub parts are then firmly interlocked by means of the locking device when the desired pre-tension has been set by the corresponding turning position.

Winding devices are very common and useful for winding up and unwinding electrical cables, such as power supply cables. Conventional uses include vacuum cleaners with connection cables that can be pulled out of the housing and which are automatically retracted into the housing of the appliance after use and when a winding stop is released. Another example is a unit for programming robots wherein an electrical cable, whose unwindable end is connected to an operating unit, can be pulled out from a computer-connected operating console far enough to allow the operator to leave the moving range of the robot with the operating unit connected to the cable. The cable leaves the operator enough freedom to move around the robot outside the moving range of the robot.
Winding devices of the type described above either work horizontally with a horizontally arranged cable coil, or vertically with a vertically arranged cable coil. In the former case, the cable coil is supported on a supporting disc device. In the latter case, the cable coil can be held between two vertical supporting discs.
In conventional winding devices of the type described above, the supporting disc revolves with the outer drum so that only the hub remains stationary during winding and unwinding. During unwinding, an increasing proportion of the cable coil is wound around the outer circumference of the stationary hub. During the winding process, an increasing proportion of the cable coil is wound around the inner circumference of the rotatable drum. Whenever the cable is being wound or unwound, the cable coil will be wound either around the hub or the circumference of the rotatable drum. A part of the cable will always be in the transitional area between the cable section wound up on the hub and the cable section wound up on the rotatable drum. Since the entire supporting disc turns with the rotatable drum, friction occurs between the supporting disc and the cable coil, dragging along the cable. In other words, due to friction, the rotating supporting disc tries to entrain the cable it supports. This has a positive effect when the cable is wound up on the drum, as a part of the cable wound on the drum is supported to move with the drum, but has a negative effect on the part of the cable wound on the stationary hub and on the part of the cable in the transitional area between the part of the cable wound on the hub and the part of the cable wound on the rotatable drum. The frictional dragging effect leads to buckling of the cable and the formation of undesirable loops, in particular in the transitional area. Such buckles and loops exert an undesirable mechanical stress on the cable. The loops may even fill the radial area between the part of the cable on the hub and that on the rotatable drum, to such an extent that the winding or unwinding process will be impaired.
There is a need for a device that allows the winding and unwinding of a cable but minimizes the frictional dragging effects, buckling and mechanical stress.

Winding device for winding up and unwinding a tube, cable or hose


A system, method and device for detecting keystroke entries in a field entered by keyboard in connection with an online transaction that may be fraudulent or erroneous. A score can be assigned to a keystroke based upon its distance from another keystroke. The scores of keystrokes in a string can be summed to obtain a string score. The string score can be normalized by dividing the string score by the number of keystrokes summed to obtain the normalized string score. A risk of fraud or error can be determined based upon the value of the normalized string score in comparison to a predetermined value.

Online transactions frequently require a user to enter information using a keyboard or a keyboard-like device (hereinafter collectively referred to as "a keyboard"). An "online transaction" is any communication between an electronic communication location, for example, a website and a user or consumer. The communication can take a variety of forms, e.g., the entry by the consumer of information in a website's survey; an agreement to buy merchandise; a contest, sending a message via e-mail, etc. that is executed in whole or in part via a keyboard and electronically. A more specific example of an online transaction is an agreement to pay in exchange for the shipment of a product, i.e., a consumer's purchase. As used herein, a "product" can be goods and/or services. Another specific example of an online transaction is the completion of an online survey, e.g., the completion of a form provided through a web site over the Internet. The survey may be desired by the web site owner for a variety of reasons, e.g., marketing analysis, generation of a mailing list, effectiveness of marketing/advertising, etc. Sometimes, these surveys offer "rewards" or prizes to one, some or all of the entrants. Yet another example of an online transaction is the entry of personal profile information by a user using an interface device, like a keyboard, provided by a web site over the Internet. A keyboard can include any device used to enter alphanumeric information by a user.
Online transactions include the entry of information through an online form. The form can have certain fields that the user is required to complete. Examples of fields are a name field; an address field; a credit card number field; a credit card expiration date field; etc. When a user enters a survey, a contest, or is registered for a purchase by completing a form, the user may be presumed by a vendor or other online authority to be a legitimate party with which to engage in an online transaction.
A legitimate user engaged in an honest online transaction typically enters information into the required fields by pressing keys at varying locations on the keyboard that correspond to letters and/or numbers corresponding to the user's true name, address, telephone number, credit card number, etc. As used herein, a "keystroke" is a character produced by activating (e.g., depressing) a key of the keyboard. For example, the keystroke "a" results from pressing the "a" key on a keyboard in lowercase mode, while the keystroke "A" results from pressing the "a" key on a keyboard in the uppercase mode (ordinarily achieved by simultaneously depressing the "Shift" key and the "a" key of the keyboard). The "location of a keystroke" is the location of the key that is depressed or activated to generate the keystroke. For example, the location of the keystroke "a" corresponds to the location of the "a" key on a standard keyboard, which is typically next to the "s" key and under the "q" key on a standard QWERTY keyboard. Of course, the present invention can be adopted for other keyboard configurations. Likewise, the distance between keystrokes is deemed to be the shortest distance in keys, whether, vertical, horizontal or diagonal, between the keys that are depressed or activated to produce the keystrokes. This can be measured in any suitable fashion, such as the actual number of intervening spaces between keys or the actual linear distance in millimeters between keys, etc. For example, on a QWERTY keyboard, the distance between the "a" and "s" keystrokes is deemed 1 as there is a single intervening space between those keys. Thus, the distance between the "a" and the "d" keystrokes is deemed, for the purpose of the present invention, 2 keys, since there are two intervening key spaces between those individual keys, etc. The distance between an "f" and a "t" or between an "h" and a "t" is deemed 1, again, because there is one space between those keys of the standard QWERTY keyboard. Alternatively, the linear distance between the "a" and the "s" keystrokes on a QWERTY keyboard is about 2 centimeters; the distance between the "a" and the "d" keystrokes is about 4 centimeters (two spaces); etc. Of course, these concepts can apply to any keyboard, not just a QWERTY keyboard. For example, a cell phone has a keyboard, denominated a keypad with keys that correspond to numbers and letters. On a cell phone keypad, the keystrokes "a", "b" and "c" all correspond to the "2" key, so the distance between those keystrokes is deemed zero. The distance between the "a" and "t" keystrokes can be 2 keys since the number of spaces between those two keys on a keypad numbers 2 or in linear dimension, about 0.8 centimeters (0.4 centimeters per space), etc.
A fraudulent user engaged in a dishonest online transaction is typically interested in filling in the fields required on an online form as quickly as possible. This allows access to information, provides for a fraudulent purchase, or multiple (and thus contrary to the rules) entries into a contest. Since the fraudulent user is not concerned with the accuracy of the information entered into the fields, the keystrokes need not be at substantially different locations on the keyboard.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


Apparatus and methods for a payment instrument are provided. The apparatus may include a primary chip positioned on an outer face of the payment instrument and a power source. The apparatus may include a first supplementary chip, a second supplementary chip, and a third supplementary chip. Each of the first, second and third supplementary chips may be positioned within a thickness of the payment instrument and configured to draw power from the power source.

Currently, a customer who desires to acquire, or replace, a payment instrument needs to place an electronic or in person request for the payment instrument. After submitting the request, there is a wait period during which the payment instrument is fabricated at a remote location and delivered by mail to the customer. Exemplary payment instruments include, but are not limited to, debit cards, credit cards, gift cards, and prepaid cards.
The wait period during which the customer desires, but does not possess, the payment instrument is undesirable. The wait period can result in one or both of customer dissatisfaction and lost revenue.
There is need, therefore, to develop a self-service mechanism by which a customer can print a payment instrument using a 3D printer and subsequently activate the payment instrument using a secure method.

Payment instrument including primary and auxiliary chips


A digital frequency upconversion and downconversion scheme for receivers and transmitters enables high resolution downconversion and upconversion, respectively, with low phase noise. A digital signal processor (DSP) receives temperature measurement information from a temperature transducer associated with a reference oscillator, and also receives channel tuning and other information. The DSP adjusts the signal samples accordingly, without adjusting the operation of the oscillator. Additionally, the inventive filtering scheme, preferably implemented in an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), receives digital filtering coefficient information, digital symbol timing phase control signals, and, in some cases, other information from the DSP. As a result, the scheme enables operation at 1 Hz resolution, with phase noise which is at least 33.5 dB down at 10 Hz in the case of downconversion, and at least 42 dB down at 10 Hz in the case of upconversion.

The present invention relates to a method of and an apparatus for effecting frequency translation at microwave frequencies, and in particular to a frequency translation scheme which works at L-band, using an analog-to-digital sampling scheme which enables elimination of multiple-step mixer/local oscillator circuitry at the front end. The invention contemplates applicability to both reception (downconversion) and transmission (upconversion) at frequencies of 2 GHz or less.
FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of a typical frequency-tunable RF-to-baseband downconverter, employing a triple analog conversion scheme with a quadrature third conversion stage. An L-band filter 102 filters an L-band RF input from a low noise amplifier (LNA). A first amplifier 104 receives the filtered output of the filter 102 and provides an amplified output to a first mixer 106, which also receives an output of a fixed local oscillator (LO) 120. The output of mixer 106 is provided to a first intermediate frequency (IF) filter 108, whose output is provided to a second amplifier 110, which comprises a variable gain amplifier which is driven by an automatic gain control (AGC) signal derived from demodulator 150.
The output of amplifier 110 is provided to a second mixer 112, which also receives an output of a tunable LO 122. The output of mixer 112 is provided to a second IF filter 114, whose output in turn is provided to a third amplifier 116. The output of amplifier is provided to mixers 132, 134. Mixer 132 receives an output of fixed LO 124 which is 90.degree. out of phase (via phase shifter 126) from the LO 124 output which is provided to mixer 134. A high-stability frequency reference oscillator 130 provides reference values to the respective LOs.
The respective outputs of mixers 132, 134 are filtered in baseband filters 136, 138, and converted in respective analog-to-digital (A/D) converters 140, 142. The outputs of A/D converters 140, 142, which are quadrature and in-phase values, respectively, are provided to a digital signal processor (DSP) based demodulator 150, which provides a demodulated output.
Variations employing different numbers of conversion stages also are known. In any event, each such conversion stage requires a mixer, an LO, and a filter to remove the undesired mixer products. A variable gain amplifier, which is placed in one of the stages for gain control, is driven by an AGC signal derived from the demodulator.
As shown in FIG. 1, the second conversion stage uses a tunable LO for channel selection. The third LO is split into its in-phase (I) and quadrature (Q) components. As a result, the final downconversion to baseband is complex, requiring two mixers and two lowpass filters. The I and Q baseband signals each are then sampled by an A/D converter. The resulting complex digital signal is sent to a digital signal processor for subsequent matched filtering, demodulation, carrier recovery, and bit detection.
Typically, each LO is phase-locked to a high-stability crystal frequency reference oscillator 130, as shown, in order to maintain a high degree of frequency tuning accuracy. Implementation of the tunable LO 122 is based on one of three methods:
i) Analog frequency synthesis, in which a signal at the desired frequency is obtained by controlling one or more analog phase locked loop (PLL) circuits. The exact number of loops required depends on the total tuning range, step size, and phase-noise performance. PA1 ii) Direct digital synthesis (DDS), in which the sine (and cosine) waveform at the desired frequency is generated digitally and is converted to an analog signal with a digital-to-analog (D/A) converter. PA1 iii) Hybrid analog PLL/DDS, in which the output of a DDS synthesizer is mixed with the outputs of one or more analog phase locked loops to give some of the advantages of both techniques. PA1 i) The reference oscillator 130 often requires an oven to maintain precise temperature control to minimize frequency drift. For low bit-rate phase shift keying (PSK) or quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) systems, the total frequency error in the downconversion process must be much less than the transmission symbol rate in order to minimize losses in the demodulator matched filter and for the carrier tracking loop to acquire successfully. PA1 ii) Analog frequency synthesizers are difficult to design for low phase noise, especially if a fine step size is required. The PLL loop bandwidth is directly proportional to the synthesizer step size. As the loop bandwidth is decreased, the loop is less able to track the extremely low phase distortion of the crystal reference oscillator accurately. A 1 Hz step size, which is desired, requires a large number of components, increasing system cost. PA1 iii) DDS synthesizers exhibit low phase noise characteristics, but suffer from relatively high levels of spurious emissions. Performance is limited by the resolution and dynamic characteristics of the subsequent D/A converter. The maximum frequency available from a DDS synthesizer currently is limited to below 100 MHz, and thus is unsuitable for operation at L-band. PA1 iv) Hybrid analog/digital synthesizers can achieve very low phase noise and extremely high frequency resolution, but again a large number of components is required. PA1 v) Quadrature sampling requires an LO splitter with a precise 90.degree. phase difference between the two channels. The two mixers, baseband filters, and A/D converters also must have precise phase and gain matching. PA1 vi) The baseband filter must have a constant group delay versus frequency response and minimal passband gain ripple so as to minimize intersymbol interference. Typically, an equalization network is required. PA1 vii) The use of multiple conversion stages requires careful construction techniques in order to avoid interference between stages. The mixers must be laid out so as to maximize the isolation between ports. PA1 viii) The use of several stages of mixing and amplification often creates large DC offsets to the A/D converter. Typically either an analog nulling circuit preceding the A/D converter or a digital nulling algorithm following the A/D converter is required.
A primary disadvantage resulting from the scheme shown in FIG. 1 is the large number of components required. The analog filters often are large, require precise component matching, and are difficult to incorporate into an integrated circuit. Other disadvantages include the following:
Other known approaches include the following.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,737,728, 5,142,553, and 5,172,070 disclose fixed-frequency receive-only schemes which have some of the disadvantageous, space-taking mixer-oscillator structure shown in FIG. 1. The '728 patent does not sample at RF frequencies. The '553 patent refers to an "HF" carrier signal, but is not specific as to the frequency of that signal. Sampling is carried out after two mixing stages which downconvert the signal to an IF frequency.
U.S. 4,884,265 discloses a receive-only scheme operating at frequencies well below L-band.
None of the aforementioned patents discloses an efficient temperature compensation scheme--an essential element in order to minimize frequency drift.
Other conventional techniques include those disclosed in the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,117,541; 4,138,730; 4,241,443; 4,312,062; 4,316,282; 4,636,972; 4,859,960; 4,910,469; and 5,077,531.
It would be desirable to implement a frequency conversion scheme which is tunable to different frequencies, which compensates efficiently for frequency drift without altering the operation of the reference oscillator, and which is applicable not only to reception but also to transmission, particularly at microwave frequencies (2 GHz and below). Such a system should operate at high resolution (preferably 1 Hz), and at low phase noise.

Digital frequency conversion and tuning scheme for microwave radio receivers and transmitters


Methods and systems for an engine controller are described. In one example, the engine controller includes a reference control system and a disturbance rejection control system. The engine controller avoids use of integral feedback in the reference control system, while permitting integral feedback in the disturbance rejection control system, to improve controller response without unduly increasing engine pumping work.

An internal combustion engine may include a turbocharger to improve engine performance. The turbocharger may include a compressor to create boost (e.g., pressurized air). The boost may be complemented by fuel injected to engine cylinders to provide a combustible air-fuel mixture within the engine's cylinders. The boost pressure may be adjusted based on engine speed and engine load. For example, boost pressure may be increased if engine load is increased. The boost pressure may be increased via adjusting a position of vanes or a waste gate. It may be desirable to provide a rapid response to a boost pressure increase request so that turbocharger lag may be reduced; however, a trade-off between boost pressure response and engine pumping work during transient operating conditions may cause engine pumping work to increase. The increased engine pumping work may reduce engine fuel efficiency. One way to control boost pressure is to apply a proportional/integral controller to provide closed loop control of boost pressure. But, a linear control that includes integral feedback on control error may be a suboptimal solution to boost pressure response versus engine pumping work. Therefore, it may be desirable to provide a way of improving boost pressure response without significantly increasing engine pumping work.
The inventors herein have recognized the above-mentioned disadvantages and have developed a method for operating an engine, comprising: adjusting a state of the engine via a reference control system and a disturbance rejection control system, where the reference control system does not include integral feedback and where the disturbance rejection control system includes integral feedback.
By adjusting a state of the engine via a reference control system and a disturbance rejection control system, it may be possible to improve engine response while reducing a decrease in engine efficiency. In particular, the reference control system may not include integral feedback so that operating the engine at sub-optimal conditions may be avoided. In addition, the disturbance rejection control system may include integral feedback so that error between a desired state of a plant and the actual state of the plant may be reduced to zero.
The present description may provide several advantages. In particular, the approach may improve engine response. In addition, the approach may reduce decreases in engine efficiency while improving engine response. Further, the approach compensates for asymmetric pumping work during increases in engine speed and decreases in engine speed.
The above advantages and other advantages, and features of the present description will be readily apparent from the following Detailed Description when taken alone or in connection with the accompanying drawings.
It should be understood that the summary above is provided to introduce in simplified form a selection of concepts that are further described in the detailed description. It is not meant to identify key or essential features of the claimed subject matter, the scope of which is defined uniquely by the claims that follow the detailed description. Furthermore, the claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solve any disadvantages noted above or in any part of this disclosure.

System and method for controlling boost pressure


Methods and apparatus for creating an overall assembly formed from a transparent member and a metal member are disclosed. According to one aspect of the present invention, a method includes positioning a transparent member in a mold configured for insertion molding, and providing a liquid metal into the mold. The method also includes hardening the liquid metal in the mold. Hardening the liquid metal includes binding the metal to the transparent member to create the integral assembly.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to methods and systems for creating integral glass and metal parts.
2. Description of the Related Art
During the manufacture of electronic devices such as cellular telephones, digital music players, and handheld computing devices, transparent components are often held within housings or the like. By way of example, many electronic devices have displays that include glass or plastic windows which are held by a metal housing. Typically, a metal frame or housing is formed, and a glass component or a plastic component is inserted into the formed frame or housing.
In order to properly secure a metal frame and a glass component together, the tolerances associated with the fit between the metal frame and the glass component must be strictly maintained. That is, the tolerance matches between the metal frame and the glass component are maintained such that the glass component may be inserted into the metal frame and held in place. An overall assembly that includes a metal frame and a glass component inserted therein may be held together by a press fit, using adhesive materials, and/or using mechanical structures such as screws. If the tolerance matches between the metal frame and the glass component are not strictly maintained, the integrity of the overall assembly may be compromised. For relatively small assemblies, maintaining critical tolerances between metal frames and glass components such that tolerance mismatches are unlikely to occur may be difficult.
Therefore, what is needed is a method and an apparatus which allows for the tolerances associated with a metal frame and a glass component, or a metal frame and a plastic component, to be substantially relaxed.

Methods and systems for integrally trapping a glass insert in a metal bezel


According to the present invention, a surface of a molding is provided with soft touch feeling by making a sheet for covering a substrate having a soft touch layer adhere to the surface of the molding. A covering film having soft touch feeling can easily be formed even on surfaces of products with unevenness and curves. This sheet for covering a substrate has a soft touch layer formed from a resin composition containing at least one substrate selected from the group consisting of elastic beads and a porous inorganic material, and a urethane resin as its main components. This sheet is placed in a mold and a resin is molded in the mold, whereby a molding having soft touch feeling can be obtained. The sheet for covering a substrate has extensibility and is not likely to be broken during the molding.

In order to provide surfaces for plastic moldings or metallic moldings with matt feeling (for example, suede-like soothing external appearance), suede-like covering coats are generally formed using paints. However, in the case where suede-like covering coats are formed on the surfaces of moldings by using paints, it is required to regulate the viscosity or concentration of the paints, resulting in complicated work. Paints containing organic solvents should be used in a booth, and cause problems related to pollution of the working environment and sanitation. Sued-like materials in a sheet shape for covering a substrate have been proposed as alternatives to paints so as to overcome these problems. For example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2-41243 proposes a suede-like sheet obtained as follows: a bead pigment is added to a vehicle of ionizing radiation curable resin to obtain a lusterless paint, and the matt paint is coated onto a base film with good moldability and cured.
Moreover, an apparatus in which a sheet is decorated while being subjected to injection forming is proposed, for example in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 59-202830.
Furthermore, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 62-251111 proposes a method for producing a product, comprising the steps of: previously placing a thermoplastic sheet in a drag; introducing a resin in the drag; and pressing the resin in the drag with a cope, thereby obtaining a thermoplastic sheet with decoration adhered to the surface of a molding.
A method for producing a molding by using a sheet for forming is also proposed. Examples of the sheet for forming include thermoplastic resin sheets made of vinyl chloride resins, acrylic resins, acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymers and the like. Vacuum forming using these sheets is known, and for example, a method for producing a molded laminate is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 58-12843.
In the case where the surface of a molding is provided with a matt finish by using the above-mentioned suede-like sheets, since a covering film derived from the sheet is made of a resin which is cross-linked by irradiation of an electron beam, the extensibility of the entire sheet is unsatisfactory. For example, when a sheet is adhered to the surface of a substrate having unevenness and curves, the sheet cannot sufficiently be drawn and is sometimes broken. It has been difficult to provide a molding with matt feeling especially for deep drawing.
Since the surface of a molding obtained by using the thermoplastic resin sheet described in the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Publication No. 58-12843 is made of a thermoplastic resin alone, the touch of the molding is hard and the surface of the molding is likely to be scratched. Therefore, the above-mentioned thermoplastic resin sheet is not suitable for producing housings, cases, interior of automobiles, etc. for which soft touch feeling and abrasion resistance are required.

Sheet for covering a substrate and a method for producing a molding using the same


A process for recovering lead oxides from the spent paste of exhausted lead acid batteries. The process provides heating the spent paste with an alkali hydroxide solution at elevated temperatures prior to calcinations. Calcination is at various temperatures so that either lead mono-oxide, lead dioxide or red lead is obtained as the principal product. There is also provided the use of the lead oxide to prepare the paste for positive and negative electrodes or other lead compounds.

Lead acid electrochemical cells which are otherwise known as "lead-acid batteries" are commonly used to store and deliver electrical energy. For example, lead acid electrochemical cells are normally employed in vehicles (e.g. cars, trucks, boats, aircraft, and the like) for ignition, lighting, and other related purposes.
Conventional lead-acid electrochemical cells include electrically-conductive positive and negative current collectors typically manufactured in the form of foraminous (porous) metallic grids which are manufactured from a lead alloy or elemental lead (99.90%-99.990% purity lead) as noted in U.S. Pat. No. 3,951,688. The individual current collectors may be planar (flat) in configuration or spirally-wound. Regardless of form, both the positive and negative current collectors (e.g. grids) are coated with a paste composition that is directly deposited onto both sides of the current collectors during cell production. As a result, positive and negative "plates" are formed from the pasted current collectors. The positive and negative pastes are typically produced from one or more particulate lead-containing compositions which may consist of, for example, lead (Pb) or lead compounds (e.g. oxides such as PbO, PbO2 and/or Pb3O4 "red lead" The selected lead-containing compositions are then combined with a paste "vehicle" (e.g. water) and various other optional ingredients including sulfuric acid. Other additives of interest comprise expander materials as discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,902,532 which include barium sulfate, carbon black, and lignosulfonate. The expander materials are primarily used in connection with the negative paste as discussed further below.
The paste composition positioned on the positive current collector to form the positive plate in an electrochemical cell is typically characterized as the "positive paste", while the paste composition located on the negative current collector to produce the negative plate is known as the "negative paste". Further information regarding these items and other characteristics of battery paste compositions in general are presented in U.S. Pat. No. 4,648,177 which is incorporated herein by reference. Likewise, methods of applying the paste compositions listed above to the positive and negative current collectors are specifically discussed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,894,886; 3,951,688 and 4,050,482 which are also incorporated by reference.
In 1915, in the U.S. Pat. No. 1,148,062, a process is described for the recovery of lead from exhausted batteries. According to this patent, extracted spent battery pastes are transformed into lead oxides by calcinations and desulfurization. However, the oxides produced are not of high purity.
According to the U.S. Pat. No. 4,222,769, an extracted spent battery paste is desulfurized and then transformed into metallic lead by roasting in the presence of a carbon reducing agent.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,769,116, a paste is obtained from exhausted lead-acid batteries and treated with sodium hydroxide to produce a solution of sodium sulfate and a desulfurized paste. Pure metallic lead is further recovered from the desulfurized paste by electrowinning.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,211,818 discloses a process wherein the paste sludge resulting from the exhausted batteries is treated with a solution of ammonium sulfate and the metallic lead constituent is recovered by electrowinning.
International Publication No. WO99/44942 discloses a process of producing lead monoxide from spent lead batteries using fluxing agents and an organic reducer in a calcinations step at a temperature of 400° C.-450° C.
As can be noticed from the brief review, in most of the prior references, the recovered lead from exhausted batteries is in its metallic form and, consequently, has to be further converted to the respective oxides.

Process for recovering lead oxides from exhausted batteries


An organic light emitting display device, including a display panel including red, green, first blue, and second blue sub-pixels, a data drive unit configured to receive an image signal and output data output signals, a de-multiplexer circuit configured to distribute data output signals to the data lines connected to the red, green, and the first blue sub-pixels, in response to receiving a first blue drive selection signal, or to the data lines connected to the red, green, first blue, and the second blue sub-pixels, in response to receiving a mixed drive selection signal, and a control unit configured to process a raw image data into the image signal, provide the image signal to the data drive unit, and provide the first blue drive selection signal or the mixed drive selection signal to the de-multiplexer circuit in a frame unit of the raw image data.

Field
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate to an organic light emitting display device. More particularly, the exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate to an organic light emitting display device with improved display quality.
Discussion of the Background
Flat panel display devices, such as a liquid crystal display device or an organic electroluminescence display device, are replacing cathode ray tube display devices in response to recent demands for a reduced weight and thickness of a monitor, a television, a portable display device, or the like. Since an organic light emitting display device may have a high response speed, a low power consumption, and wide viewing angles characteristics among the flat panel display devices, the organic light emitting display device is may be considered as a next generation flat panel display device.
The organic light emitting display device may include an organic light emitting material corresponding to red, green, and blue light. Such organic light emitting material may degrade as the usage time increases, which may be a factor that determines the useful life of the organic light emitting display device.
In general, among the organic light emitting materials, the useful life of a blue-color organic light emitting material may be relatively short as compared to the organic light emitting materials of other colors. Moreover, among the blue-color organic light emitting materials, a sky blue-color organic light emitting material may have a longer useful life than a deep blue-color organic light emitting material. Since the sky blue-color organic light emitting material may have higher energy efficiency compared to the deep blue-color organic light emitting material, utilizing the sky blue-color organic light emitting material may reduce power consumption of the organic light emitting display device. However, the sky blue-color organic light emitting material may have inferior color reproducibility than the deep blue-color, which may render expressing rich and natural color difficult.
In addition, although the organic light emitting display device using the deep blue-color organic light emitting material may have improved color reproducibility and display quality, there may be a difficulty in improving energy efficiency and useful life of the display device.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the inventive concept, and, therefore, it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.

Organic light emitting display device with first and second blue sub-pixels


Embodiments include a method of fabricating a reduced resistance finFET device comprising providing a fin in a semiconductor substrate. A dummy gate is formed over a portion of the fin such that the dummy gate does not initiate selective epitaxy. A source/drain region is formed on the fin such that the source/drain region directly contacts the dummy gate. The dummy gate is replaced with a replacement metal gate structure that directly contacts the source/drain region. A portion of the fin that includes a portion of the source/drain region is replaced with a contact material.

Field effect transistors (FETs) can be semiconductor devices fabricated on a bulk semiconductor substrate or on a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrate. FET devices generally consist of a source, a drain, a gate, and a channel between the source and drain. The gate is separated from the channel by a thin insulating layer, typically of silicon oxide, called the field or gate oxide. A voltage drop generated by the gate across the oxide layer induces a conducting channel between the source and drain thereby controlling the current flow between the source and the drain. Current integrated circuit designs use complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology that use complementary and symmetrical pairs of p-type and n-type metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs) for logic functions.
The integrated circuit industry is continually reducing the size of the devices, increasing the number of circuits that can be produced on a given substrate or chip. It is also desirable to increase the performance of these circuits, increase the speed, and reduce the power consumption. A three dimensional chip fabrication approach, such as a finFET, has been developed for semiconductor devices. A finFET is a non-planar FET. The "fin" is a narrow, vertical silicon base channel between the source and the drain. The fin is covered by the thin gate oxide and surrounded on two or three sides by an overlying gate structure. The multiple surfaces of the gate, allow for more effective suppression of "off-state" leakage current. The multiple surfaces of the gate also allow enhanced current in the "on" state, also known as drive current. These advantages translate to lower power consumption and enhanced device performance.
Polysilicon has been a preferred material for use as a gate electrode due to its thermal resistive properties and ability to withstand subsequent high temperature processes. Due to the higher resistivity of the polysilicon verses metal materials, a polysilicon gate may operate at much slower speeds than gates made of a metallic material. A further performance enhancement uses a replacement metal gate (RMG). This process removes the original polysilicon gate and replaces it with a metal gate material. A high-k dielectric can also be used as the gate oxide as a part of the RMG process.
Process challenges exist as the dimensions of the devices decrease, some now falling below 20 nm. As the cross-sectional area of the circuits decrease, the electrical resistance increases. The increased electrical resistance can have detrimental effects on the circuit performance.

Reduced resistance finFET device with late spacer self aligned contact

International Business Machines Corporation


Embodiments of an audio-to-video engine are disclosed. In operation, the audio-to-video engine generates facial movement (e.g., a virtual talking head) based on an input speech. The audio-to-video engine receives the input speech and recognizes the input speech as a source feature vector. The audio-to-video engine then determines a Maximum A Posterior (MAP) mixture sequence based on the source feature vector. The MAP mixture sequence may be a function of a refined Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM). The audio-to-video engine may then use the MAP to estimate video feature parameters. The video feature parameters are then interpreted as facial movement. The facial movement may be stored as data to a storage module and/or it may be displayed as video to a display device.

An audio-to-video engine is a software program that generates a video of facial movements (e.g., a virtual talking head) from inputted speech audio. An audio-to-video engine may be useful in multimedia communication applications, such video conferencing, as it generating video in environments where direct video capturing is either not available or places an undesirable burden on the communication network. The audio-to-video engine may also be useful for increasing the intelligibility of speech.
In prior implementations, audio-to-video methods generally apply maximum likelihood estimation (MLE)-based conversion processes to a Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) to estimate video feature vectors given a set of audio feature vectors. However, the MLE-based conversion processes typically include conversion errors since an audiovisual GMM with maximum likelihood on the training data does not necessarily result in converted visual trajectories that have minimized error in human perception.

Minimum converted trajectory error (MCTE) audio-to-video engine


A touch substrate, a touch display panel, a touch display device, and a touch driving method are provided. The touch substrate includes: a base substrate, on which a touch electrode pattern is formed. The touch electrode pattern includes at least one electrode group, and each electrode group includes a driving electrode and a sensing electrode which are arranged in a row along a first direction of the base substrate and insulated from each other. In each electrode group, the driving electrode has a plurality of driving electrode portions coupled to each other, and the sensing electrode has a plurality of sensing electrode blocks. Each driving electrode portion is respectively between two adjacent sensing electrode blocks; and the sensing electrode block has a plurality of sensing electrode regions with different areas.

Touch technologies mainly include a resistive touch technology, a capacitive touch technology, and an infrared optical touch technology. The capacitive touch technology has advantages such as sensitive response, and is therefore widely used in smart phones and tablet computers.
The capacitive touch screens mainly include one glass solution (OGS) touch screens, on-cell touch screens and in-cell touch screens. In the OGS touch screen, a substrate with a touch function is attached to the outside of a display panel. In the on-cell touch screen, a touch electrode pattern with the touch function is formed on a color filter substrate of a display panel. In the in-cell touch screen, a touch electrode pattern with the touch function is formed inside a display panel.

Touch substrate, touch display panel, touch display device and touch driving method

HEFEI XINSHENG OPTOELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


Acquired data about communication interactions is used to form constructs which are indicative of an entity and communities-of-practice within the entity. A construction may be derived from the addressing data associated with the interactions to depict a communication network construct of the organization over time. The construction is selectively decomposed to smaller communications networks indicative of said communities-of-practice.

1. Technical Field
The disclosure relates generally to data mining and knowledge discovery.
2. Description of Related Art
A variety of person-to-person communication forms have been created throughout history. While many forms are still in use today, electronic mail, "e-mail," currently has become a ubiquitous tool in both the business and private sectors of everyday life. The use of e-mail and content of an e-mail message can be analyzed to derive other information not necessarily inherent in the content itself. When applied to e-mail messaging and e-mail content, natural language processing techniques and pattern recognition techniques can be used to derive other, non-inherent, information. For example, within an organization's computer network, based on an analysis of e-mail message header and attachment information, a system administrator may derive reports based on that information rather than the content to determine appropriate uses of e-mail in the network without reading the message content itself. As another example, monitoring and displaying to a user a variety of e-mail usage statistics may provide information that may affect the user's own e-mail usage practices and habits.
Identifying organizational patterns of individuals or other entities has been a focus for data mining and knowledge discovery researchers. An entity, whether formal or informal, that provides opportunities for communication among its members may be threaded by groups of individuals who may have similar goals and a shared understanding of their activities. These "communities-of-practice" may be generally thought of as informal groups of individuals or entities associated due to common interests or a common goal. For example, within a corporation, communities-of-practice may be generally though of as informal networks of collaboration between individuals or departments that naturally grow and coalesce toward achieving corporate goals.
Organizational hierarchy and organizational communities-of practice knowledge is a useful tool for many types of studies. For example, an organization may have an interest in understanding their hierarchy and communities-of-practice communication flow as a way of improving knowledge sharing, communications efficiency, and facilitation of member interactions and collaborations. With respect to businesses, hierarchical constructs—usually in the form of known manner "organization charts"—for the entire organization, for subunits thereof, or for informally related individuals or entities, are often created through extensive and expensive manual labor; the creator must be given access to precise, given data, namely, each employee's name, title, ranking of such a title, and the like. There is a need for data mining and knowledge discovery techniques for reducing such extensive manual labor tasks and improving derivative results.
It is known that a graph can be said to have community structure if it consists of subsets of vertices, or nodes, with many edges, or nodal interconnects, connecting vertices of the same subset but few edges between subsets. See e.g., Girvan, M., & Newman, M. (2002), "Community structure in social and biological networks," Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 99, 8271-8276, incorporated herein by reference, and referred to hereinafter as a "Girvan & Newman model." Partitioning a graph into discrete groupings of nodes can be based on the idea of "betweenness centrality." See e.g., Freeman, L. (1977), "A Set of Measures of Centrality Based on Betweenness," Sociometry 40, 35-41 and referred to hereinafter as "Freeman model;" Wilkinson, D. and Huberman, H. (2002), "A Method for Finding Communities of Related Genes," http://www.hpl.hp.com/shl/papers/communities/index.html, hereinafter referred to as "Wilkinson & Huberman method"; Brandes, U. (2001), "A Faster Algorithm for Betweenness Centrality," Journal of Mathematical Sociology 25 (2): 163-177, referred to hereinafter as the "Brandes algorithm"; and Newman, M. (2001), "Who is the Best Connected Scientist? A study of scientific co-authorship networks," Phys Rev. E64; and Newman, M. (2003), "The structure and function of complex networks," SIAM Review, June 2003. Each of these references is incorporated herein by reference.

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A communication system includes a first radio access apparatus, a second radio access apparatus, and a radio terminal that is enabled to simultaneously communicate with the first radio access apparatus and the second radio access apparatus. The communication system acquires service characteristic information that indicates a characteristic of a service provided to the radio terminal and determines a type of a communication path for downlink user data used for provision of the service to the radio terminal, from among a plurality of types of communication paths, based on the service characteristic information.

NPL 1, which is a 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) standard specification, discloses a communication system illustrated in FIG. 1 as an example of a conventional communication system. The communication system in FIG. 1 includes an MME (Mobility Management Entity) 110, an S/P-GW (Serving/PDN (Packet Data Network) Gateway) 120, an MeNB (Master eNodeB (evolved NodeB)) 131, an SeNB (Secondary eNodeB) 132, and a UE (User Equipment) 140.
The MME 110 is a core network node that manages mobility (e.g., Handover) of the UE 140 and a data communication transmission path referred to as a bearer (e.g., an EPS (Evolved Packet System) bearer, an E-RAB (EUTRAN (Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio-access network) Radio Access Bearer)). The MME 110 is connected to an eNB (the MeNB) via an S1-MME interface and terminates an S1-MME bearer.
The S/P-GW 120 is a core network node that terminates several bearers and serves as a gateway when the UE 140 performs data communication. More accurately, in LTE (Long Term Evolution) and LTE-Advanced (Pro) of the 3GPP, two kinds, which are an S-GW (a Serving gateway) and a P-GW (a PDN gateway), are defined. However, in FIG. 1, for ease of description, an S-GW and a P-GW will be described as a single core network node, which is the S/P-GW 120. An S-GW terminates an S1-U bearer, an S5/S8 bearer, and an E-RAB. In addition, a P-GW terminates an S5/S8 bearer and an EPS bearer.
The MeNB 131 is a main radio access apparatus used when the UE 140 connects to a radio access network. The MeNB 131 communicates control signal(s) (e.g., Radio Resource Control (RRC) Signaling) and user data with the UE 140. More specifically, the MeNB 131 provides the UE 140 with an SRB (a Signaling Radio Bearer) as a Control Plane (C-Plane) in a cell (i.e., a Primary Cell (PCell)) managed by the MeNB 131. In addition, the MeNB 131 provides the UE 140 with a DRB (a Data Radio Bearer) as a User Plane (U-Plane) in the cell (i.e., PCell) or different cell(s) (i.e., a Secondary Cell (SCell(s))) managed by the MeNB 131. The DRB is mapped with the EPS bearer or the E-RAB on a one-to-one basis.
The SeNB 132 is an additional radio access apparatus used when the UE 140 is connected to the radio access network. The SeNB 132 communicates data packets with the UE 140, as needed. More specifically, the SeNB 132 provides the UE 140 with the DRB (the Data Radio Bearer) as a User Plane (U-Plane) in a cell (i.e., a Primary Secondary Cell (PSCell) or a SCell) managed by the SeNB 132.
The MeNB 131 and the SeNB 132 are connected to each other via an X2 interface.
The UE 140 is a radio communication terminal (radio terminal) used when a user performs data communication via a network. More specifically, the UE 140 is connected to a radio access apparatus(s) (i.e., eNB (MeNB, SeNB)) via an Uu interface.
In the communication system in FIG. 1, the UE 140 can establish an RRC (Radio Resource Control) Connection with the MeNB 131 via the SRB and can simultaneously communicate with the MeNB 131 and the SeNB 132 by using radio resources provided in a cell group (a Master Cell Group (MCG)) managed by the MeNB 131 and a cell group (Secondary Cell Group (SCG)) managed by the Secondary eNB (SeNB). Namely, the UE 140 in an RRC Connected state are configured with the MCG and the SCG, and then the UE 140 can perform Dual Connectivity (DC), which is a technology for aggregating the MCG and the SCG. Since a plurality of cells of different eNBs are aggregated, this DC is also referred to as Inter-eNB Carrier Aggregation (CA).
FIG. 2 discloses a radio protocol architecture of the DC of the 3GPP. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the DC of the 3GPP provides an MCG bearer, an SCG bearer, and a Split bearer. Improvement of a throughput of the UE 140 can be expected by selectively using these three types of bearers. The MCG bearer is a type of a bearer which goes through only the MeNB 131. In the MCG bearer, a corresponding S1-U bearer is terminated in the MeNB 131. The SeNB 132 is not involved in U-Plane data transmission over the Uu interface for this bearer type. The SCG bearer is a type of a bearer which goes through only the SeNB 132. In the SCG bearer, the SeNB 132 is logically connected to the S-GW directly via an S1-U bearer. The MeNB 131 is not involved in U-Plane data transmission over the Uu interface for this bearer type. The Split bearer is a bearer in which the MeNB 131 firstly receives downlink traffic and the received traffic is separated and forwarded to the MeNB 131 and the SeNB 132. More specifically, in the Split bearer, the S1-U bearer between the MeNB 131 and the S-GW is terminated by the MeNB 131. Furthermore, PDCP (Packet Data Convergence Protocol) data is forwarded between the MeNB 131 and the SeNB 132 via an X2 interface. Both of the MeNB 131 and the SeNB 132 are involved in U-Plane data transmission over the Uu interface for this bearer type. In the DC, by selectively using an optimum bearer type in view of a radio wave environment (e.g., radio quality) and the like between the UE 140 and each eNB, improvement of a communication speed is expected, as compared with a case in which only a single bearer type is available.
In addition, as described in NPL 1, the 3GPP defines LTE-WLAN Aggregation (LWA) that enables the UE 140 in an RRC Connected state to simultaneously use LTE and WLAN (Wireless Local Access Network) radio resources. FIG. 3 illustrates an example of an LWA communication system. The communication system in FIG. 3 differs from the communication system in FIG. 1 in that the communication system in FIG. 3 includes an eNB 231 and a WT (a WLAN Termination) 232 in place of the MeNB 131 and the SeNB 132. The other nodes may be the same as those in the communication system in FIG. 1.
The eNB 231 is a main radio access apparatus used when the UE 140 connects to a network, as in the MeNB 131 and the SeNB 132. The eNB 231 communicates a control signal (e.g., RRC Signaling) and data packets with the UE 140.
The WT 232 includes a WLAN processing function (an entity) and is a logical node that terminates an Xw interface with the eNB 231 on the WLAN side. The WT 232 may be co-located with an access point (i.e., WLANAP) used when the UE 140 supporting WLAN radio access connects to a WLAN network or may be arranged alone (standalone).
Alternatively, the WLAN processing function (entity) in the WT 232 may be co-located in the eNB 231. In this case, the WT 232 is not an essential constituent element.
The LWA of the 3GPP provides an LTE bearer, a Split LWA bearer, and a Switched LWA bearer as illustrated in FIGS. 4A and 4B. By selectively using these three types of bearers, improvement of a throughput of the UE 140 can be expected. The LTE bearer is a bearer type which goes through the eNB 231 for using radio resources of (LTE-side) of the eNB 231 only. The Split LWA bearer is a bearer type which goes through both of the eNB 231 and the WLAN for using radio resources of both of (the LTE side) of the eNB 231 and the WLAN. While the Switched LWA bearer uses a radio resource of the WLAN only, the Switched LWA bearer is a bearer type which goes through both of the eNB 231 and WLAN.
The Split LWA bearer and the Switched LWA bearer may collectively be referred to as an LWA bearer. In this case, the LWA bearer can be considered as a bearer type which goes through both of the eNB 231 and WLAN for using resources of both of (an LTE side) of the eNB 231 and the WLAN, and use of the radio resource of (an LTE side) of the eNB 231 is not essential.
As in the DC, in the case of the LWA, an optimum bearer type is selectively used in view of a radio wave environment (e.g., radio quality) or the like between the UE 140 and the eNB and WT. Thus, better improvement of a communication speed may be expected, as compared with a case in which only a single bearer type is available.
In addition, the 3GPP has started standardization of the fifth generation mobile communication system (5G) as 3GPP Release 14 (NPL 3). It is assumed that 5G will be realized by a combination of innovative enhancement and evolution based on continuous enhancement/evolution of LTE and LTE-Advanced (Pro) and introduction of a new 5G air interface (new Radio Access Technology (RAT)). The new RAT supports, for example, a frequency band higher than a frequency band (e.g., 6 GHz or less) to which the continuous evolution of LTE/LTE-Advanced is directed. For example, the new RAT supports a centimeter wave band of 10 GHz or more and a millimeter wave band of 30 GHz or more.
In the present description, the fifth generation mobile communication system is also referred to as a Next Generation (NextGen) System (NG System). A new RAT for the NG System is referred to as New Radio (NR), 5G RAT, or NG RAT. A new radio access network (RAN) and a new core network for the NG System are referred to as a New RAN (or an NG RAN) and a NextGen Core (an NG Core), respectively. A radio terminal (User Equipment (UE)) connected to the NG System is referred to as a NextGen UE (NG UE), and a base station (nodeB) included in the New RAN is referred to as an NR NB (nodeB), an NG NB, an NG BS (Base Station), or a gNB (next Generation nodeB).
FIG. 5 illustrates an example of a communication system of the NG System. The communication system in FIG. 5 includes an eEPC (enhanced Evolved Packet Core) node 200, a NextGen Core node 300, an eLTE (enhanced LTE) eNB 331, an NR NB 332, and an NG UE 240.
The term "enhanced" means enhancement and evolution of LTE and LTE-Advanced (Pro) made so that an LTE system realizes interworking with an NG System.
For simplicity, the eEPC node 200 is illustrated as a node that includes an MME, an S-GW, and a P-GW. However, the MME, the S-GW, and the P-GW included in the eEPC node 200 may be located separately.
The NG Core node 300 is a core network node in the NG System and performs processing corresponding to an EPC (e.g. the MME, the S-GW, and the P-GW). In the NG Core node 300, the node corresponding to the MME of the EPC may be referred to as an NG Core CPF (C-Plane Function) node or an MMF (Mobility Management Function) node. Likewise, in the NG Core node 300, the node corresponding to the S-GW and the P-GW of EPC may be referred to as an NG Core UPF (U-Plane Function) node.
The eLTE eNB 331 is a node corresponding to the eNB 231 and has been enhanced to realize interworking with the NG System. The eLTE eNB 331 may be connected to the eEPC node 200 via S1-U and S1-MME interfaces and connected to the NG Core node 300 via NG2 and NG3 interfaces.
The NR NB 332 is a radio base station in the NG System and provides New Radio to the NG UE 240. The NR NB 332 may be connected to the NG Core node 300 via NG2 and NG3 interfaces and connected to the eEPC node 200 via S1-U and S1-MME interfaces.
In addition, the eLTE eNB 331 and the NR NB 332 may be connected to each other via an NX2 or Xn interface.
The NG UE 240 is a node equivalent to the UE 140 and has a capability of communicating with the NR NB 332, etc., via New Radio, in addition to the LTE communication capability.
Regarding the NG System, a method in which the NG System works alone (i.e., standalone) and a method in which the NG System performs interworking with the eLTE have been proposed. Among these methods, the method in which the NG System performs interworking with the eLTE is currently referred to as LTE-NG Tight Interworking. Regarding the LTE-NG Tight Interworking, a DC (Dual Connectivity)-like technology after LTE-Advanced Rel.12 is expected to be adopted, and this DC-like technology may be referred to as "Multi Connectivity". The Multi Connectivity may be considered as an operation mode in which a UE having multiple transceivers is configured to utilise radio resources provided by multiple schedulers located in multiple RAN nodes connected via non-ideal backhauls each other.
Namely, the NG UE 240 can aggregate at least one cell managed by the eLTE eNB 331 as the MeNB and at least one cell managed by the NR NB 332 as the SeNB.
Thus, bearers such as an MCG bearer, an SCG bearer, and a Split bearer in the DC could also be provided in the NG System. In the present description, an NG System bearer corresponding to the Split bearer of the DC after LTE-Advanced Rel.12 will be referred to as an MCG Split bearer. The other bearers will be referred to as the MCG bearer and the SCG bearer, as in the DC. In addition, as illustrated in NPL 4, in the NG System, "SCG Split bearer" may be defined as a new Split bearer. Namely, in the case of the SCG Split bearer, as illustrated in FIG. 6, an S1-U/NG3-U bearer with an S-GW or an NG Core node (e.g., an NG Core UPF node) corresponding to the S-GW is terminated in the NR NB 332 (Secondary NR NB) as an SeNB. And then, PDCP (Packet Data Convergence Protocol) data is forwarded to the eLTE eNB 331 (eLTE MeNB) as the MeNB via the NX2 or Xn interface. Both of the eLTE eNB 331 and the NR NB 332 are involved in a user plane data transmission over a Uu interface for this bearer type.
The above LWA and LTE-NG Tight Interworking are also referred to as Inter-RAT (Carrier) Aggregation, from a view point that carrier aggregation between different RATs is performed.
When each communication system described above is implemented, there is a case in which backhauls 50 to 54 as illustrated in FIG. 7 are arranged among a first core network node 10 such as an MME, a second core network node 20 such as an S/P-GW, a first radio access apparatus 31 such as an MeNB, and a second radio access apparatus 32 such as an SeNB. Generally, these backhauls are configured by connecting a plurality of subnetworks called "domains". A domain is a unit for managing a network and is configured in various ways. For example, a domain is configured based on a region, a kind of a communication medium such as an optical fiber or a microwave, or a vendor providing a communication apparatus included in a network. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 7, a communication system may be divided by backhauls (subnetworks) in a Core Domain, an Aggregation Domain, and an Access Domain. A communication system may include a Metro Domain backhaul (subnetwork) not illustrated. Alternatively, a domain may be configured by a plurality of subdomains.
Various communication technologies, e.g., a wired communication using an optical fiber and a wireless communications using a microwave or a millimeter wave, are used for backhauls. One of these communication technologies has a characteristic, different to each other, about a communication capacity, a delay, reliability, etc. For example, in many cases, a wireless communication generally has a smaller communication capacity than that of a wired communication. In addition, a wireless communication represents a different characteristic, depending on a frequency used. For example, a communication quality of a wireless communication deteriorates more easily due to weather than that of a wired communication, and an impact of the weather differs depending on a frequency band. In addition, a license may be needed for use of a wireless communication, depending on a frequency band. A frequency band that does not require a license for use of a wireless communication can be used more easily than a frequency band that requires a license. However, there is a risk that a frequency band that does not require a license is potentially more susceptible to interference.
As described above, if a communication path (e.g., a bearer) type used for interworking (e.g., DC, LWA, or LTE-NG Tight Interworking) between different radio access apparatuses is selected without considering a characteristic of a backhaul formed when networks having different characteristics coexist, a backhaul that does not satisfy a requirement of a service provided to a radio communication terminal may possibly be used. For example, as described in NPL 2, a future communication system (e.g., the NG system) is expected to accommodate a service having extremely biased communication requirement, such as a delay of 100 msec (milliseconds) or less in RTT (Round Trip Time), a reliability of 99.999%, and the like. To satisfy these extreme requirements, the backhaul characteristic need to be taken into consideration.
In this aspect, PTLs 1 and 2 disclose a technology of selecting a user plane structure (a bearer type) based on a network status in a mobile communication system that performs Dual Connectivity. The network status includes a communication status or a maximum transmission rate between an MeNB and an SeNB, capabilities of the MeNB and the SeNB, a capability of a backhaul line between the MeNB and the SeNB, a communication status between the MeNB and an MME/S-GW, a load on the EPC, a load on the SeNB, and a load on a router.

Communication system, radio-access apparatus, radio communication terminal, and control method therefor


An electronic component (1) and an electronic device (100) comprising one or more such components (1). The electronic component (1) comprises a stack (4) of layers arranged on a flexible substrate (3). Said stack comprises an electrically active part (4a) and a protective layer (11) for protecting the electrically active part against scratches and abrasion. Said electrically active part comprises a bottom electrode layer (5) and a top electrode layer (9) and at least one insulating or semi-insulating layer (7) between said electrodes. The stack further comprises a buffer layer (13), arranged between the top electrode layer (9) and the protective layer (11). The buffer layer (13) is adapted for at least partially absorbing a lateral dimensional change (ΔL) occurring in the protective layer (11) and thus preventing said dimensional change (ΔL) from being transferred to the electrically active part (4a), thereby reducing the risk of short circuit to occur between the electrodes.

Conventionally, electronic components are typically provided on rigid substrates, such as silicon. However, electronics become increasingly used also in non-conventional application areas and new technologies emerge for producing electronics, where use of flexible substrates is desirable or even required. This is for example the case for printed electronics, where use of a flexible substrate may be desirable or even required from manufacturing, application area, and/or cost perspectives.
Printed electronics may replace conventional electronics in case of very simple components, which can be realized less expensive by printing technologies; however, the aim is typically new application areas where conventional electronics are not suitable for technological or cost reasons. Applications for printed electronics involve, for example, tags and labels in which information can be stored. In such applications, and in principle in any electronic device, availability of memory components is crucial.
The present applicant has presented a memory technology that can be realized by printing processes, which e.g. is described in WO2006/135246. The memory is based on a ferroelectric material as the memory substance, in particular a ferroelectric polymeric material. Memory materials of this kind has proven to be rewritable and bistable over prolonged periods of time. Each memory cell is a capacitor-like structure where the memory material is located between a pair of electrodes and where the memory cell is accessed via conductors linking the electrodes to electronic driver or detection circuitry. The latter may e.g. be located on the periphery of the memory array or on a separate module. Depending on the application, memory device may contain from one individual memory cell and up to several millions of cells arranged in matrix arrays. Some basic cell architectures and array arrangements are schematically shown in FIGS. 1a-d. It may be noted that the substrate is not shown, only the electrically active part of the memory cells. Each cell can be viewed upon as a sequence, or stack, of layers arranged on the flexible substrate, the stack involving at least one electrically active part comprising two electrode layers (top and bottom) with a layer of the (insulating) memory material arranged in-between.
When fabricating ferroelectric memory cells of capacitor type it is evidently important to avoid shorts through the memory cells. Shorts are here defined by a conducting or low resistance path, compared to a desired normal situation, from one of the electrodes to the other electrode. The short circuits are detrimental to the memory cell function as they can both hide the data content of a memory cell and also deteriorate the writing of data into the memory device. The problem with shorts is typically greater when the memory material layer between the electrodes is thin. However, the thickness of the memory layer and drive voltage are typically proportional to each other, and in order to meet up with low voltage requirements, there is often no other option than using a thin memory layer. Manufacturing will always lead to some extent of memory cells being short circuited or more prone to be short circuited. It is desirable to reduce the risk of short circuits to occur.
Furthermore, printed electronic devices or components typically need to be protected against external influences, such as physical damage, but it is typically not possible, nor desirable with protection by e.g. encapsulation as in conventional electronics. Instead a desirable type of protection is an outer protective layer terminating the stack and that adds protection by e.g. providing scratch and abrasion resistance and resistance against detrimental environmental influence. A protective layer of this kind can be provided as a global layer covering multiple memory cells, e.g. by completely covering a printed memory device. Such protective layer typically need to be hard and relatively thick, such as in a range of 2-20 micrometers, and it is often suitable and desirable to use a material that can be deposited as layer in a fluid state and then hardened, e.g. by using a UV curable varnish as the protection layer.

Short circuit reduction in an electronic component comprising a stack of layers arranged on a flexible substrate


A battery charging device suitable for a portable electronic device includes a rechargeable battery, a controlling chip, an adjusting transistor, a feedback circuit and a charger with adjustable output. The charger has an external alternating-current power source and provides a changeable voltage to the rechargeable battery of the portable electronic device. The feedback circuit captures a signal of electric quantities of the rechargeable battery and feeds back to the charger to adjust its output voltage and then the charger is controlled to charge the rechargeable battery. The adjustable transistor is used to control the charging of the rechargeable battery to reduce the number of parts of the battery charging device and waste of circuit traces.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a battery charging device, and more specifically, to a battery charging device, which controls a charger to charge a battery as the voltage of the battery changes.
2. Description of the Related Art
By the progress of electronic technology and widespread of electronic communication devices, portable electronic devices, such as notebook computer, PDA(Personal Digital Assistant) and digital cameras, etc., are commonly used. For easy to carry, these electronic devices are developed to become light, thin, short and small. Besides, lightweight and portable, easy to carry, and long time power supply are the requirements for users to choose which to buy. Because the power consumption of the portable electronic devices is pretty high, the battery needs to be charged so as to achieve a long time power supply. Recently, lithium-ion batteries are commonly used. Although light weight and large capacity, lithium-ion batteries do not have a memorizing characteristic. Lithium-ion batteries are continuously charged with a constant voltage.
Please refer to FIG. 4, showing a block diagram of a battery charging device of a conventional portable electronic device. The conventional charging device comprises a portable electronic device. The portable electronic device has a battery 30, a charging unit (Charge IC) 31, a programmable chip 32, and a charger 4. The charger 4 has an external alternating-current power source.
Please keep on referring to FIG. 4. The charging unit 31 is a switching direct-current to direct-current buck unit to supply charging current to the battery 30. However, the programmable chip 32 records data and conditions required for charging the battery 30. The data and conditions are all pre-set. For example, how much voltage and current are needed to charge, which conditions should be met then the battery 30 can be charged, and which power source should be cut off after the battery 30 is full-charged, etc.
When detecting the battery 30 is needed to charge, the programmable chip 32 will send signals to notify the charging unit 31 to charge the battery 30. After that, the programmable chip 32 notifies the charging unit 31 to switch off the charging power source to stop charging.
Although the conventional battery charging device can use the method of detection and determination to control charging of the battery 30, the conventional charging unit 31 cannot work independently, and therefore has to cooperate with the programmable chip 32 to operate such that the constitution components thereof are limited. This kind of assembly needs more components and thus does not have economic effects. Because the voltages between the initial and final stages of charging the battery 30 significantly differ, and the output voltage of the existing external charger is constant and unchangeable, the waste of circuit traces increases to cause instability of the devices and shorten the life.

Battery charging device and method thereof


The present disclosure discloses a safety plug comprising two pins, an insulating housing, a limiting member, and an operating member. The operating member is configured to drive the limiting member to be changed between a position-limited position and an unlocked position. First ends of the two pins extend into the insulating housing, a short-circuit protection circuit is disposed in the insulating housing, and the short-circuit protection circuit is disposed in a path in which the two pins move away from the insulating housing. When the limiting member is in the position-limited position, a limiting fit is defined, and the first ends of the two pins are spaced apart from the short-circuit protection circuit. When the limiting member is in the unlocked position, the limiting fit is released, and the insulating housing is pulled to enable the short-circuit protection circuit to short circuit the two pins.

At present, the energization of electrical equipment has a plugging step of directly inserting a plug into a power supply hole of a power supply socket to electrically connect the electrical equipment to a power supply. The power supply socket is connected to a power supply source and will remain energized. Although this plugging step is easy to perform, manually inserting the plug into the power supply hole may generate an electric arc, which may cause an electric shock. In addition, when the electrical equipment is not in use, the plug is often pulled out from the power supply hole, which will cause the power supply hole to be exposed. When a child inserts his/her finger or a metal rod directly into the power supply hole of the power supply socket, it will cause an electric shock accident and even endanger the child's life, which is a great potential risk. Further, when the plug is manually pulled out, not only is a large force needed, but also an electric arc may be generated, which may cause an electric shock.


An electronic device is disclosed. The electronic device includes a processor and memory in electronic communication with the processor. The memory is programmed with instructions for implementing a method. The method may include receiving an object from a server electronic device. The method may also include receiving a transfer queue from the server electronic device. The transfer queue may include a first client electronic device. The method may also include transmitting the object to the first client electronic device.

Computer and communication technologies continue to advance at a rapid pace. Indeed, computer and communication technologies are involved in many aspects of a person's day. For example, many devices being used today by consumers have a small computer incorporated within the device. These small computers come in varying sizes and degrees of sophistication. These small computers may vary in sophistication from one microcontroller to a fully-functional complete computer system. For example, small computers may be a one-chip computer, such as a microcontroller, a one-board type of computer, such as a controller, a typical desktop computer, such as an IBM-PC compatible, etc.
Computers typically have one or more processors. The processor(s) usually are interconnected to different external inputs and outputs and function to manage the particular computer or device. For example, a processor in a thermostat may be connected to buttons used to select the temperature setting, to the furnace or air conditioner to change the temperature, and to temperature sensors to read and display the current temperature on a display.
Many appliances, devices, etc., include one or more small computers. For example, thermostats, furnaces, air conditioning systems, refrigerators, telephones, typewriters, automobiles, vending machines, and many different types of industrial equipment now typically have small computers, or processors, inside of them. Computer software runs the processors of these computers and tells the processors what to do to carry out certain tasks. For example, the computer software running on a thermostat may cause an air conditioner to stop running when a particular temperature is reached or may cause a heater to turn on when needed.
These types of small computers that are a part of a device, appliance, tool, etc., are often referred to as embedded systems. The term "embedded system" usually refers to computer hardware and software that is part of a larger system. Embedded systems may not have typical input and output devices such as a keyboard, mouse, and/or monitor. Usually, at the heart of each embedded system is one or more processor(s).
With the increased use of electronic devices and embedded systems, and with the increased demands for the exchange of information, more devices are now able to detect surrounding devices and establish electronic communications with these devices. The Bluetooth specification defines one standard whereby devices can communicate with each other through short-range radio signals. Many kinds of devices may benefit from being able to connect to other devices without needing user intervention. For example, printers, personal digital assistants, digital cameras, telephones, laptop computers, video monitors, electronic calendars, desktops, fax machines, keyboards, joysticks, etc., may all become part of a short-range radio system to connect to other devices. By enabling this type of communication, a bridge is provided to existing data networks to form small private ad hoc groupings of connected devices away from fixed network infrastructures. Thus, device networks may be formed on-the-fly as devices discover each other.
However, in a communication system involving electronic devices, inefficiencies may arise that may slow down or otherwise hinder the overall communication of one or more electronic devices. For example, under some circumstances it may be difficult to transmit an object (e.g., a file, document, image, program, etc.) from one device to many other devices. Thus, benefits may be realized if communications by electronic devices were enhanced with additional systems and methods for providing more effective communication techniques.

Systems and methods for object distribution in a communication system