Node, computer software and method for preventing an external party (114) to map an identity of a network cell (122) of a telecommunication network (112 or 120) with a corresponding geographical location of the network cell (122). The method includes receiving at a base station (200) of the telecommunication network (112 or 120) system information from a radio network controller (203) of the telecommunication network (112 or 120); extracting, at the base station (200), the identity of the network cell (122) from the received system information; changing, at the base station (200), the identity or one of multiple parts of the identity of the network cell (122); and sending the changed identity or the one of multiple parts of the identity to a user terminal (80).

Mobile phones and services on mobile handsets (as used herein the terms "mobile handsets" and "mobile terminals" also refer to embedded devices in, e.g., PCs, laptops, vehicles, etc.) have had a remarkable evolution over the last few decades. When 3GPP (third generation partnership project) standardized Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) and later Third Generation (3G) during the late 80's and 90's, circuit switched telephony and later Short Message Service (SMS) were pretty much the only services available. Recently, mobile handsets and their networks have evolved to powerful devices capable of running local application and browser based services, connected to a network providing a bandwidth high enough for TV and interactive multimedia. With the increasing bandwidth, and corresponding need to provide a feasible technical platform and transport technology for multimedia services, packet switched networks using Internet Protocol (IP) as the fundamental technology is becoming the dominating platform for mobile services.
With the increasing bandwidth, advanced mobile handset and IP connectivity, functionality that earlier has been implemented as tightly integrated functionality in the operator's network with thin clients (i.e., clients having handsets with poor processing and memory storage capabilities that use control channels for communication with the network), is today also available for applications located in the IP domain in the operators network or even outside the operators network, for the relatively thicker client (i.e., clients having handsets with competitive processing capabilities and large memory storage). As the thicker clients' communications with a server in the network often requires (i) information about the network and/or (2) native functionality existing in the handset to function correctly, there are interfaces and protocols which provide this type of information. The functionality and information is to a large extent what is often referred to as the control plane, while the communication between a client on the handset and a server in the network based on packet based technology (typically IP) usually is referred to as the user plane.
The user plane and control plane architecture of a handset 80 is discussed with regard to FIG. 1, which is disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/346,066, entitled "Abstraction Function for Mobile Handsets," to J. Bolin et al, the entire content of which is incorporated herein by reference. FIG. 1 illustrates a conceptual view of a typical mobile handset 80. Therein, a bottom layer 100 represents the control plane, which provides the core functionality of the mobile handset 80, e.g., communications with the mobile phone via control signalling used to manage the connection, mobility and also some of the basic services (e.g., call control and SMS). On top of the control layer 100 may be the operating system OS 102, which manages the phone's functionality and provides the interface to functionality for applications and clients in the user plane 104. Clients and/or applications 106, such as browsers, calendar and games, are examples of services implemented in the user plane 104, on top of the operating system 102.
The mobile phones may also include a Java Virtual Machine (JVM) 110. The JVM 110 may run on top of the operating system 102 and enables Java based applications to run on the handset 80. There are various JVMs which are adapted for platforms with different computing capacity and characteristics. One common JVM for mobile handsets is known as the Java Micro Edition, J2ME. J2ME provides a number of application programming interfaces (APIs) for application developers to use when developing applications for mobile handsets.
Thus, the J2ME environment is advantageous for those developers that are not associated with a certain operator but intend to deploy applications on handsets subscribing to a certain operator. The exemplary embodiments describe how to allow these developers to access the sensitive information from the control plane when the operator has a relationship with the developers and how to deny other developers and/or operators to access the information in the control plane when these later developers and/or operators are not authorized to access that data. Java may be used, for example, to reduce the amount of customization of applications associated with different handset models, since the Java APIs used for different handset models are relatively similar to one another. Other OS may be used instead of JVM as discussed later.
As mentioned earlier, the user plane 104 is disposed above the operating system 102 and Java 110. The user plane 104 may include one or more applications and/or clients 106. One difference between a client and an application may be that an application provides a service to the user while the client may perform a function for the network and not a direct service to the user, i.e., the client has a low level functionality to the user. These applications and clients 106 may use the communication channels of the user plane for exchanging data with the operator's network or with third parties. Such communication channels may be General Packet Radio Services (GPRS) and TCP/IP. These channels may be used to communicate with application and content servers 112, inside the operator's network (control domain) or servers 114, which are outside the operator's domain (e.g., Internet servers).
Applications 106 may access information and functionality in the handset 80 either via the operating system 102 or Java 110. Additionally or alternately, a natively installed client 106, such as the OMA (Open Mobile Alliance) SUPL (Secure User Plane Location) client, may be provided in the user plane to access information in the control plane. Thus, an application or client 106 in the handset 80 can extract, via APIs in the operation system (OS) 102 and Java 110, but also by using native clients such as the OMA SUPL 106, information from the control plane or invoke functionality and send this to servers 114 outside the operator's network 112.
There are a number of reasons why the user plane/control plane architecture is being supported by most actors in the business. One is that third parties will start to develop applications and, just as in the case with Internet, this will be helpful to the expected success of future systems. Another is that IP provides a technology platform where it is cheaper to deploy functionality. This is to a large extent due to economy of scale, as technology also used by the IT industry is cheaper than traditional telecom technology.
However, the existing interfaces expose the native functionality and network information in such systems to the third parties without offering the operator of the network a capability to selectively provide that information to desired third parties, i.e., parties that are entitled to receive that information. In other words, the existing interfaces could not offer the network's operator the possibility to selectively decide which third party to access the network information and/or the native functionality. This selectivity may be decided, for example, based on a license agreement between the third party and the network's operator.
For example, the OS typically provides information regarding most of what is available in the handset. Symbian, Nokia Series 60, Windows Mobile and Linux are examples of OSs that provides interfaces for services and information in the control plane. Examples of such services and information include Call Control, SMS/MMS service, as well as network information such as the base station ID that a mobile terminal is currently attached to, neighbour list and active/passive set. In addition to the interfaces provided by the OS, Java (J2ME) also provides a wide set of standardized interfaces which enable a Java application to obtain access to the services and information associated with mobile terminals.
Since implementing services as user plane based services, rather than control plane based services, typically results in lower investment cost and shorter time to market, OMA have standardized service enablers based on user plane signaling. One example of this is user plane based positioning standardized in OMA Secure User Plane Location (SUPL). In SUPL a SUPL client in the terminal accesses network information and positioning capability. The client may communicate with a SUPL Server using IP and a provisioned IP address. As a consequence of the application in the user plane being able to freely access the network information in the conventional terminals, it is possible for a third party to monitor and create mappings of the network topology to the geographical position of the terminals, i.e., outside of the network owner's technical and economical domain.
Thus, when information such as the Cell-ID is available to applications in the user plane, other actors than the operator can monitor and register the information and use it to compete with the operator, for example, to gain business advantages. One example of such competitive use is that of independent actors (not related or in a relationship with the operator) providing user positioning services and statistics, using the operator's infrastructure. Another competitive use is that of competing operators monitoring and keeping registers of competing operator's network infrastructure for business intelligence. In addition to these commercial examples, there are also some countries in which the information, such as cell planes, is supposed to be kept secret due to national security reasons. As the information as such, e.g. the Cell-ID, often is used in a large number of nodes and systems in the operators network (e.g. access and routing control, user management and charging etc.), this information should be properly controlled by the operator to be available to the permitted services and/or clients and also to the equipment within the network.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide devices, systems and methods that avoid the afore-described problems and drawbacks.

Methods and systems for obscuring network topologies


A sound monitoring system includes an identification card holder and a central processing and monitoring system in wireless communication with the identification card holder. The identification card holder is wearable on a body of a user, and includes a microphone for receiving sound and a visual sound indicator for displaying a noise level of the sound received through the microphone. The central processing and monitoring system processes sound data received from the identification card holder and transmits the processed sound data back to the identification card holder for display of the noise level represented by the processed sound data.

Recently, significant attention has focused on the hospital environment due to multiple factors, ranging from hospital ratings to patient satisfaction. Hospital noise levels have especially been a focus. One aspect of noise complaints usually focuses on staff members simply being too loud. For example, this occurs when healthcare workers congregate at nursing stations, typically occurring at night, thus causing disruption in patient sleep patterns. Increased noise levels impact the healing process and have been shown to result in worse patient outcomes. Frequently, healthcare workers shout to their colleagues on the medical ward, unaware of the noise they emit and oblivious to the impact on patients. People feel uncomfortable notifying their coworkers that they are simply talking too loud.
Hospitals have been given star ratings that rank the hospitals on a variety of properties, with each section carrying equal weight. The quiet environment of the hospital is deemed so important that it has its own section. Due to elevated noise levels impacting patient healing, along with hospitals striving for high star ratings, novel and innovative ways to address this situation are desired.

Personal sound meter and broadcasting/reporting system


A control system for a hybrid vehicle prevents a voltage across an electric energy storage device from dropping excessively when the electric energy storage device is discharged with a generator/motor operating as an electric motor, for thereby effectively utilizing electric energy stored in the electric energy storage device as much as possible to operate the generator/motor as the electric motor. The control system also prevents the voltage across the electric energy storage device from rising excessively when the electric energy storage device is charged with the generator/motor operating as an electric generator, for thereby charging the electric energy storage device with electric energy generated by the generator/motor as much as possible while protecting the electric energy storage device. The control system controls operation of the generator/motor to keep a charging and discharging current of the electric energy storage device at a level equal to or smaller than a limiting value determined depending on the amount of electric energy stored in electric energy storage device and the temperature thereof when the generator/motor operates as the electric generator or motor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a control system for controlling a parallel hybrid vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
Parallel hybrid vehicles comprise an engine as a main propulsive source of a vehicle, a generator/motor capable of operating as both an electric generator and an electric motor, and an electric energy storage device such as a battery, a capacitor, or the like for supplying electric energy to and receiving electric energy from the generator/motor. For accelerating the vehicle, the electric energy storage device supplies the generator/motor with electric energy to operate the generator/motor as an electric motor to generate an assistive mechanical output to assist in the output of the engine, i.e., vehicle propulsion forces. For decelerating the vehicle, the generator/motor is operated as an electric motor by the kinetic energy of the vehicle for regenerating electric energy, and the regenerated electric energy is supplied to charge the electric energy storage device.
The voltage occurring between the positive and negative terminals of the electric energy storage device varies due to the internal resistance of the electric energy storage device when the electric energy storage device is discharged or charged. For example, when the electric energy storage device is discharged, i.e., the electric energy storage device supplies stored electric energy to the generator/motor, with the generator/motor operating as the electric motor, the voltage across the electric energy storage device becomes lower than the voltage in a steady state, i.e., the open voltage, of the electric energy storage device due to the internal resistance thereof. When the electric energy storage device is charged with the generator/motor operating as the electric generator, the voltage across the electric energy storage device becomes higher than the voltage in the steady state, i.e., the open voltage, of the electric energy storage device due to the internal resistance thereof. If the electric energy storage device comprises an electric double-layer capacitor, for example, then since the internal resistance thereof is relatively high, the above tendency manifests itself. A reduction in the voltage across the electric energy storage device when the electric energy storage device is discharged, or an increase in the voltage across the electric energy storage device when the electric energy storage device is charged, is greater as the current flowing through the electric energy storage device is greater.
On hybrid vehicles, the assistive output generated by the generator/motor operating as the electric motor and the quantity of electric energy generated by the generator/motor operating as the electric generator are determined depending on operating states of the vehicle, such as the vehicle speed. In this case, a discharging current or a charging current of the electric energy storage device may be relatively large.
If the current (discharging current) flowing through the electric energy storage device becomes large when the electric energy storage device is discharged with the generator/motor operating as the electric motor, then the voltage across the electric energy storage device greatly drops due to the internal resistance of the electric energy storage device, tending to make it difficult for the generator/motor to operate properly as the electric motor.
If the current (charging current) flowing through the electric energy storage device becomes large when the electric energy storage device is charged with the generator/motor operating as the electric generator, then the voltage across the electric energy storage device greatly rises due to the internal resistance of the electric energy storage device, resulting in the application of an excessive voltage to the electric energy storage device, which then tends to deteriorate soon.
It has been attempted to monitor the voltage across the electric energy storage device while the hybrid vehicle is in operation. When the monitored voltage across the electric energy storage device drops below a given lower limit voltage, the supply of electric energy from the electric energy storage device to the generator/motor is stopped to stop operating the generator/motor as the electric motor. When the monitored voltage across the electric energy storage device rises above a given upper limit voltage, the charging of the electric energy storage device with the generator/motor operating as the electric generator is stopped to protect the electric energy storage device.
As described above, when the electric energy storage device is discharged, the voltage across the electric energy storage device drops due to the internal resistance thereof. Therefore, even if the electric energy storage device stores an amount of electric energy large enough to operate the generator/motor as the electric motor, the voltage across the electric energy storage device is liable to drop below the lower limit voltage for thereby stopping operating the generator/motor as the electric motor. When this situation occurs, it is impossible to effectively utilize the electric energy stored by the electric energy storage device.
Conversely, when the electric energy storage device is charged by electric energy generated by the generator/motor, the voltage across the electric energy storage device rises due to the internal resistance thereof. Therefore, when generator/motor generates electric energy upon deceleration of the vehicle, the voltage across the electric energy storage device is liable to rise above the upper limit voltage for thereby stopping operating the generator/motor as the electric generator for regenerating electric energy. When this happens, it is impossible to effectively recover the kinetic energy of the vehicle in the electric energy storage device.


Two access gateways are informed about each other's presence and identity, in order to establish a data path between them, thereby shortening the overall data path of data packets exchanged between two mobile nodes (MN), that are located in different networks. In particular, each access gateway is provided with the other gateway's address and additionally with the other MN's address for forwarding by the access gateway those data packets destined to the other MN to the other access gateway. A combination of Session Initiation Protocol messages (Invite and Ringing) and route optimization messages are used, so as to confer the information on the gateway's ID and MN's address to the gateways.

Communications systems evolve more and more towards an Internet Protocol (IP)-based network. They typically consist of many interconnected networks, in which speech and data is transmitted from one terminal to another terminal in pieces, so-called packets. IP packets are routed to the destination by routers in a connection-less manner. Therefore, packets comprise IP header and payload information, whereby the header comprises among other things source and destination IP address.
For scalability reasons, an IP network uses a hierarchical addressing scheme. Hence, an IP address does not only identify the corresponding terminal, but additionally contains location information about this terminal. With additional information provided by routing protocols, routers in the network are able to identify the next router towards a specific destination.
When a terminal powers on, it configures an IP address that is based on the IP address prefix of the access network. If a terminal is mobile, a so-called mobile node (MN), and moves between subnets with different IP prefix addresses, it must change its IP address to a topological correct address due to the hierarchical addressing scheme. However, since connections on higher-layers such as TCP connections are defined with the IP addresses (and ports) of the communicating nodes, the connection to the active IP sessions breaks if one of the nodes changes its IP address, e.g. due to movement.
Mobile IPv6 (MIPv6)
Mobile IPv6—also denoted MIPv6—(see D. Johnson, C. Perkins, J. Arkko, "Mobility Support in IPv6", IETF RFC 3775, June 2004, available at http://www.ieff.org and incorporated herein by reference) is an IP-based mobility protocol that enables mobile nodes to move between subnets in a manner transparent for higher layers and applications, i.e. without breaking higher-layer connections. That is, the mobile nodes remain reachable while moving around in the IPv6 internet network. The main principle of MIPv6 is that a mobile node is always identified by its Home Address (HoA), regardless of its topological location in the internet, while a Care-of Address (CoA) of the mobile node provides information about the current topological location of the mobile node.
In more detail, a mobile node has two IP addresses configured: a Care-of Address and a Home Address. The mobile node's higher layers use the Home Address for communication with the communication partner (destination terminal), from now on called Correspondent Node (CN). This address does not change and serves the purpose of identification of the mobile node. Topologically, it belongs to the Home Network (FIN) of the mobile node. In contrast, the Care-of Address changes on every movement resulting in a subnet change and is used as the locator for the routing infrastructure. Topologically, it belongs to the network the mobile node is currently visiting. One out of a set of Home Agents (HA) located on the home link maintains a mapping of the mobile node's Care-of Address to mobile node's Home Address and redirects incoming traffic for the mobile node to its current location. Reasons for deploying a set of home agents instead of a single home agent may be redundancy and load balancing.
Mobile IPv6 currently defines two modes of operation: bi-directional tunneling (FIG. 1) and route optimization (FIG. 2). Using bi-directional tunneling, data packets sent by the correspondent node 101 and addressed to the home address of the mobile node 102 are 25 intercepted by the home agent 111 in the home network 110 and tunneled to the Care-of Address of the mobile node 102, which is anchored at the foreign network 120. Data packets sent by the mobile node 102 are reverse tunneled to the home agent 111, which decapsulates the packets and sends them to the correspondent node 101. Reverse tunneling means that packets are transmitted by the mobile node via an additional reverse tunnel (to complement the "normal" one) that starts at the mobile node and terminates at the home agent.
For this operation in MIPv6, only the Home Agent 111 is informed about the Care-of Address of the mobile node 102. Therefore, the mobile node sends Binding Update (BU) 35 messages to the Home Agent. These messages are sent over an IPsec security association, and thus are authenticated and integrity protected. In order for the MN to have IPsec association with the HA, the MN needs to perform bootstrapping a-priori. Bootstrapping is the process of obtaining at least the following information: a home address, a home agent address, and a security association with home agent. This information is needed before the MN registers a CoA with the home agent. The process may last several seconds because several round-trip-times between MN and HA are needed.
A drawback is that if the mobile node is far away from the home network and the correspondent node is close to the mobile node, the communication path is unnecessarily long, resulting in inefficient routing and high packet delays.
The route optimization mode (see FIG. 2) can prevent the inefficiency of the bi-directional tunneling mode by utilizing the direct path between correspondent node and mobile node. When using route optimization, the mobile node sends binding update messages to the correspondent node, which then is able to directly send data packets to the mobile node (a type 2 routing header is used to send the packets destined to the mobile node's home address on the direct path to the mobile node's care-of address). Of course, the correspondent node has to implement Mobile IPv6 route optimization support.
More specifically, in order to perform route optimization, the mobile nodes and correspondent nodes exchange signaling messages, being part of the Mobility Header protocol, which is an extension header used by mobile nodes, correspondent nodes and home agents in all messaging related to the creation and management of bindings. With respect to route optimization, 4 message types are specified in the mobility header protocol.
FIG. 3 depicts the signaling flow performed for RO in MIPv6. The protection of Binding Updates sent to correspondent nodes does not require the configuration of security associations or the existence of an authentication infrastructure between the mobile nodes and correspondent nodes. Instead, a method called the Return Routability (RR) Procedure is used to assure that the right mobile node is sending the message.
The Return Routability Procedure enables the correspondent node to obtain some reasonable assurance that the mobile node is in fact addressable at its claimed Care-of 35 Address as well as at its home address. Only with this assurance is the correspondent node able to accept Binding Updates from the mobile node which would then instruct the correspondent node to direct that mobile node's data traffic to its claimed Care-of Address.
This is done by testing whether packets addressed to the two claimed addresses are routed to the mobile node. The mobile node can pass the test only if it is able to supply proof that it received certain data (the "keygen tokens") which the correspondent node sends to those addresses. These data are combined by the mobile node into a binding management key. The integrity and authenticity of the Binding Updates messages to correspondent nodes is protected by using the binding management key.
The MN sends two messages to the CN, each however over a different route. One message—Home Test Init (HoTi) message—is sent to the HA over the MIP IP-in-IP tunnel (not depicted in FIG. 3), which in turn forwards the message to the CN. A mobile node sends a Home Test Init message to the correspondent node (via the home agent) 15 to acquire the home keygen token. As apparent from FIG. 3 the message comprises the home init cookie that the CN must return later, and conveys the home address of the MN to the CN. The other message—Care-of Test Init (CoTi)—is sent directly to the CN in order to obtain the care-of keygen token. The CoTi message informs the CN about the current Care-of Address of the MN, and comprises the care-of-init cookie. If the CN also uses MIPv6, the HoTi and CoTi messages are transmitted via the HA of the CN to the CN.
After receiving the HoTi and CoTi messages, the CN sends two messages back to the MN again over different routes. The Home Test (HoT) message is sent to the MN's HoA, 25 i.e. to the HA, in response to the HoTi message. The HA then forwards the message to the MN over the MIPv6 tunnel. Accordingly, the Care-of Test (CoT) message is sent directly to the MN. Both messages HoT and CoT respectively contain "home keygen token" and "care-of keygen token", respectively along with the home init cookie and the care-of-init cookie received from the previous HoTi and CoTi messages. Both tokens are based on CN's currently active secret key, nonces, and home or care-of address (respectively).
After the HoT and CoT messages arrive at the MN, the MN uses the keygen tokens and generates a binding management key from the tokens received with the HoT and CoT 35 messages. After the mobile node has created the binding management key, it can supply a verifiable Binding Update to the correspondent node. After receiving the Binding Update message, the CN can update its binding cache with the binding of MN's HoA and CoA. The Binding Update message is acknowledged with a Binding Acknowledge message. The exchange of HoTi-HoT and CoTi-CoT messages is used by the CN to verify the HoA-CoA mapping without pre-arranged security association.
Thus, MIPv6 allows to optimize the route between the CN and the MN by allowing a mapping in the CN of the HoA and CoA of the MN, so that the CN can communicate directly with the MN.
Proxy MIPv6 (PMIPv6)
Mobile IP is categorized as host-based (or client-based) mobility management, since the mobility-related signalling is between the host (or client) and the HA. Hence, it is sometimes called Client Mobile IP (CMIP). Another approach, targeting the IP mobility management in limited geographical regions, is managed by the network and therefore is 15 transparent to the MN. This approach is referred as network-based, localized IP mobility.
One main characteristic of network-based mobility is that the access network entities are appropriately configured to detect the MN movement and to exchange information about the current location of the MN, so that the MN does not need to be involved in the mobility process.
Therefore, the mobility-related signaling over the wireless interface is 20 avoided. Other advantages of the network-based mobility management are less packet overhead over the air, since no MIPv6 encapsulation is needed, and mobility support for simple IP nodes (i.e., non-MIP-capable nodes). The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) organisation is working on such an approach for localized mobility management based on the Mobile IP protocol. Since a network entity is acting as a proxy on behalf of the MN, the protocol is called Proxy Mobile IP (PMIP). There is a variant for IPv6 called PMIPv6 and a variant for IPv4 called PMIPv4. Most of the embodiments of this invention assume PMIPv6 as protocol for network-based mobility management, but the invention is not limited to PMIPv6. It may also be applicable to other network-based mobility management protocols such as PMIPv4.
To provide mobility support to any IPv6 host within a restricted and topologically localized portion of the network and without requiring the participation of the host, proxy mobile IP (PMIP) introduces a new logical entity called Mobile Access Gateway (MAG) which is the proxy mobility agent in the network which manages the mobility related signaling for a mobile node that is attached to its access link. It is the entity responsible for tracking the mobile node's attachment to the link and for signaling the mobile node's local mobility anchor. The MAG is usually co-located with the access router (AR) and performs Mobile IPv6 signaling message on behalf of mobile node, e.g. can send BU messages on behalf of a MN. These BU messages are marked with a flag, so that they can be identified as 5 Proxy BU (PBU) messages. Furthermore, PBU messages may contain a Network Access Identifier (NAI) option, a home prefix option, and a timestamp option. The NAI option contains the NAI, which has the form of "username@realm" and which is used to identify a MN. The home prefix option contains the HoA or home prefix of the MN. In the so-called per-MN-prefix addressing model, every MN has a unique home prefix and the MN's global IP address(es) is configured based on this prefix. The unique home prefix can be used in the PBU messages instead of a HoA. The timestamp option contains the time the PBU has been sent by the MAG and is used by the HA to identify the freshness of the PBU messages. The sequence number value of the PBU message is ignored by the HA.
A Local Mobility Anchor (LMA) is the home agent for the mobile node in the Proxy Mobile IPv6 domain. It is the topological anchor point for the mobile node's home prefix and is the entity that manages the mobile node's reachability state. It is important to understand that the LMA has the functional capabilities of a home agent as defined in Mobile IPv6 base specification and with the additional required capabilities for supporting Proxy Mobile IPv6.
When a MN attaches to a new MAG, it authenticates with the network using the EAP framework and an EAP method such as EAP-AKA. The MAG typically acts as pass-through authenticator and forwards the EAP packets to the AAA server/infrastructure related to the MN. The MN uses a NAI as identifier. If the network authentication is 25 successful, the MAG obtains the MN's profile from the AAA server including the MN's home prefix. The MAG then sends a PBU to the HA and announces the home prefix to the MN. After the MN authenticates with the AR, it starts the IP configuration, i.e. it configures a link-local (LL) IP address, performs Duplicate Address Detection (DAD) for the LL address by sending a Neighbour Solicitation (NS) message to the solicited-node multicast address of the LL address to be checked. If the procedure is successful, the MN sends Router Solicitation (RS) message to all-routers via a corresponding multicast address and waits for receiving a Router Advertisement (RA). The AR/MAG responds with unicast RA including the MN's home prefix.
After configuring a global IP address, the MN is IP reachable and can use the IP address as long as it moves within the PMIP domain. An exemplary signalling flow for PMIPv6 during initial attachment procedure, as described above, is shown in FIG. 4.
FIG. 5 depicts one exemplary scenario, in which two mobile nodes, MN1 and MN2, are located in visited networks (VN) and want to start a communication session between each other. MIPv6 tunnels exist between the mobile nodes MN1/MN2 and their corresponding home agents, HA1/HA2 in the home networks HN1 and HN2. For illustration purposes, the MIPv6 tunnels between MN1 and HA1 and between MN2 and HA2 are omitted from FIG. 5.
In both VNs a PMIPv6 service is offered to the MNs, i.e. the MN1 keeps the same Care-of-Address (CoA) while it moves within the VN1. MN1 is connected to MAG1 and registered at LMA in VN1. Correspondingly, MN2 is connected to MAG2 and registered at LMA2 in VN2. Again, the PMIPv6 tunnels between the MAG1 and LMA1 and between MAG2 and LMA2 are not illustrated in FIG. 5 so as to enhance its overview.
Since the data path between MN1 and MN2 traverses the home networks (solid line in FIG. 5), the end-to-end delay of the data packets is significant. If MN1 performs MIPv6 20 route optimization, the resulting data path would be the dotted line traversing from LMA1 (in VN1) to HA2 (HN2) and further to LMA2/MAG2 in VN2, since data packets from MN2 are directly transmitted to the MN1's CoA, which is anchored at LMA1. A further optimization would be, if the MN2 also performs MIPv6-RO, which would result in the data path denoted by the dashed line going directly between LMA1 (in VN1) and LMA2 (in VN2), without traversing any of the HNs, HN1 and HN2.
The described scenario can be mapped to the System Architecture Evolution (SAE) work item standardized in 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). Using SAE terms, the interfaces MN1-HA1 and MN2-HA2 can be described as S2c interfaces.
Another example scenario is depicted in FIG. 6. In this scenario there are no changes regarding MN1. MIPv6 is used to connect MN1 to HA1 in HN1, and PMIPv6 is offered to MN1 in the visited network VN1. However, unlike FIG. 5, MN2 is connected via PMIPv6 from the visited network VN2 to the home network HN2; no MIPv6 is used for MN2. A PMIP tunnel is setup between the MAG2 in VN2 and LMA2 in HN2, which is however omitted for illustration purposes.
Having such a scenario, the PMIPv6 service is offered to the MN2 in both HN2 and VN2, which means that the MN2 keeps the same IP address while moving between HN2 and VN2. The data path without any RO is denoted by solid line. The dashed line shows the data path if MN1 would perform MIPv6 RO. MN2 cannot of course perform an MIPv6 route optimization.
As apparent from FIGS. 5 and 6, the data path between the mobile nodes, MN1 and MN2, is not optimal, even after respective MIPv6 ROs are performed by both MNs. Similar problems are also present in other scenarios, such as when MN2 is stationary, i.e. MN2 has no mobility management service.

Information exchange between gateways for route optimization with network-based mobility management


Disclosed is a method and corresponding apparatus for enhanced scheduling of resources based on use of carrier aggregation. The method involves determining that (i) an individual UE is being served with carrier aggregation or with greater than a threshold amount of frequency and (ii) a processor load of the base station is greater than a threshold load. The method then involves, responsive to the determining that the individual UE is being served with carrier aggregation or with greater than a threshold amount of frequency and that the processor load of the base station is greater than the threshold load, causing the base station to allocate an extent of resources to the individual UE without using FSS.

Unless otherwise indicated herein, the materials described in this section are not prior art to the claims and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
In a typical cellular wireless communication system, the air interface between a base station and served user equipment devices (UEs) may define a downlink (or "forward link") for carrying communications from the base station to the UEs and an uplink (or "reverse link") for carrying communications from the UEs to the base station. In various implementations, these links may be defined on one or more carrier frequencies or blocks of frequencies. Furthermore, on each link, various channels may be defined through techniques such as time division multiplexing, code division multiplexing, and/or frequency division multiplexing.
In one implementation, the downlink and uplink may each be divided over time into a continuum of timeslots for carrying communications between the base station and the UEs. UEs may be arranged to transmit data, such as bearer traffic (e.g., user data) and control signaling (e.g., access requests and the like), to the base station in such timeslots on the uplink, and the base station may be arranged to transmit data, such as bearer data and control signaling (e.g., paging and other overhead messages) to the UEs in such timeslots on the downlink. Further the base station or associated equipment may dynamically schedule transmissions of data in particular timeslots, and the base station and UEs may transmit according to that schedule.
In practice, a UE may, from time to time, determine its channel quality based on downlink air interface quality (e.g., downlink reference signal strength) and one or more other factors (e.g., the UE's specific antenna structure and receiver capability) and transmit to the base station a channel quality indicator (CQI) indicating the UE's determined channel quality. The base station may then determine from the reported CQI a particular modulation and coding scheme (MCS) to use for communication with the UE, and the base station may allocate air interface resources and schedule transmissions of data accordingly.
Some air interface protocols support both wideband and sub-band CQI reporting. With wideband CQI reporting, a single CQI value may represent an effective signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR), for example, as observed by the UE over an entire channel bandwidth. While a channel-wide CQI value may reveal an overall channel quality, a channel-wide CQI value also masks variations in SINR across the channel that may be present due to frequency selective fading (deviation of the attenuation affecting a signal which varies with frequency) and/or inter-cell interference (interference from an adjacent base station that is communicating with other UEs).
On the other hand, with sub-band CQI reporting, a UE may be arranged to evaluate the reference signal in particular sub-bands of the channel bandwidth, and to provide the base station with a sub-band CQI report specifying CQI values respectively for various sub-bands. Such sub-band CQI reports, which are of a finer frequency granularity than channel-wide CQI reports, allow the base station to engage in frequency selective scheduling (FSS), whereby a base station schedules transmissions of data with the goal of allocating to each UE the resources that the base station estimates will be received with the best SINR by the UE.
Furthermore, to aid the base station in scheduling and allocating resources for transmission of data on the uplink, the base station may be arranged to evaluate the uplink channel quality. In order to facilitate this evaluation, UEs may be configured to periodically transmit to the base station an uplink control signal, such as a sounding reference signal (SRS). The reception quality of the uplink control signal may then be used by the base station to help evaluate uplink channel quality. For instance, evaluating the reception quality of the uplink control signal in the frequency domain may allow the base station to engage in FSS of the uplink resources. By way of example, the base station may allocate for use by a UE the particular resources that the base station estimates being able to receive with the best reception quality from the UE.
Additionally, the base station may be configured to engage in carrier aggregation. In wireless communication systems that support carrier aggregation, multiple carrier frequencies from either contiguous frequency bands or non-contiguous frequency bands can be aggregated to increase the bandwidth available to a UE. By way of example, according to the Long Term Evolution (LTE) Advanced air interface protocol, the maximum bandwidth for a data transaction between a base station and a UE using a single carrier frequency is 20 MHz. A base station may increase the maximum available bandwidth by engaging in carrier aggregation. For instance, the base station may increase the number of resource blocks provided to a UE by aggregating up to five carrier frequencies, and consequently increasing the maximum bandwidth to up to 100 MHz. Each aggregated carrier frequency is referred to as a component carrier.

Enhanced scheduling of resources based on use of carrier aggregation


A lighting control apparatus for a motor vehicle, the motor vehicle having an electrical power supply, an ignition switch, lights, a lighting control switch for illuminating the lights, a wiper device, and a wiper control switch for actuating the wiper device, the lighting control apparatus automatically illuminating the lights whenever the wiper device is actuated, the lighting control apparatus including a photosensitive element electrically connected in series between the electrical power supply and the lights, the photosensitive element being illuminated by ambient light, the photosensitive element having a first substantially conductive state whenever the intensity of the ambient light is below a first threshold value, the photosensitive element additionally having a second substantially nonconductive state whenever the intensity of the ambient light exceeds a second threshold value, a shutter member movable between a first position substantially shielding the photosensitive element from the ambient light and a second position substantially exposing the photosensitive element to the ambient light, and a movement mechanism for moving the shutter member to the first position substantially shielding the photosensitive element from the ambient light whenever the wiper control switch actuates the wiper device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of motor vehicle safety devices, most particularly devices that are designed to automatically illuminate the headlights of a motor vehicle during rain.
2. Description of the Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 5,120,981 relates to a switching system for automatically turning on the headlights of a motor vehicle when the windshield wiper is turned on, the switching system including either relays or digital logic to perform the switching function.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,030,884 relates to a daytime running light circuit for a motor vehicle that illuminates the headlights at reduced intensity when the vehicle is operating and the headlight switch is in an off position.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,027,001 relates to an automatic system for activating vehicle headlights upon the actuation of a windshield wiper, wherein the wipers are automatically activated when moisture is sensed on the windshield, the wiping cycle being stopped when the windshield is no longer wet and the headlights remaining on for a short time thereafter.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,985,660 relates to circuitry for automatically turning on vehicle lights whenever the wipers are turned on, the circuitry including a double-pole single-throw relay switch positioned between the ignition switch and the light switch.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,968,895 relates to a laminated glass windshield that includes a photosensitive element which is buried in a plastic interlayer between two exterior glass sheets, and an electric circuit for use with the photosensitive element for automatically turning on and off the lights of a motor vehicle whenever the ambient light crosses a threshold level.

Motor vehicle headlight activation apparatus for inclement weather conditions


A system (and method) for use with a cooler having a plurality of interior, opposed vertical channels comprises a cutting board and a cutting board holding assembly. The cutting board holding assembly comprises a first vertical side wall coupled to and positioned opposite a second vertical side wall, the first and second side walls defining a receptacle configured to receive the cutting board. Further, the first and second side walls are configured to slidingly engage two opposed vertical channels of a cooler.

The invention relates generally to ice chests/coolers typically used for picnics, tailgating, fishing, and other outdoor activities. More specifically, the invention relates to a cutting board assembly that provides for the storage of a cutting board while keeping a divider in place during use of the cutting board. Coolers are known in the art and typically comprise an insulated compartment to keep items cool and all items placed in the cooler are typically intermixed.


Images and voice data of conference call participants are transmitted to user terminals to permit video conference calling. Mobile terminals receive moving images of only the current speaker to permit easy recognition of the visual image on the relatively small display terminal of the mobile user. A multipoint controller distributes two types of distribution streaming data, first and second distribution streaming data. The first distribution streaming data are constituted of moving images transmitted from all of user terminals. The second distribution streaming data contain only the moving image from the user terminal of the current speaker, among the user terminals. The first distribution streaming data are used as distribution information for user terminals such as a personal computer or a video conference-dedicated terminal, while the second distribution streaming data are used as distribution information for mobile user terminals such as a mobile telephone and a PDA.

1. Field
The present invention relates to a data transmission device and a data transmission method to be used for carrying out data transmission to and from each of a plurality of user terminals in order to perform video conferencing.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, because of progress in network and information technologies, deployment of video conferencing systems (also referred to as TV conferencing systems) are coming into practical use. A video conferencing system is used for connecting a plurality of user terminals to one another so that image information and voice information are sent and received among the plurality of user terminals.
A known exemplary video conferencing system operates to receive and redistribute images from and to all participants of the conference (see, for example, JP-A-10-126757).
In the system described in JP-A-10-126757, a picture including images (moving or static) of N conference participants is displayed on a display of each of the terminals. Further, in order to reduce a quantity of data to be transferred, only a speaker is displayed by way of a dynamic or moving image while the rest of the conference participants are displayed by way of static images.
Recently, along with the prevalence of mobile terminals such as mobile phones and PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants), there is an increasing demand for a system which enables participation in the video conference from remote locations.
However, the size of the display (and most importantly, the display resolution) of the mobile terminals such as the mobile phone and the PDA is very small as compared with the size and resolution of personal computers and video conference-dedicated terminals. Therefore, when the images of all the conference participants are displayed on the display of the mobile terminal, the visibility of each of the images of the conference participants is considerably deteriorated.

Video conference data transmission device and data transmission method adapted for small display of mobile terminals


An output buffer circuit for a semiconductor device, capable of uniformly maintaining an output level regardless of an increase of a variable supply voltage VCC and improving an output speed, which includes a constant voltage generation circuit receiving the variable VCC and generating a constant voltage at a predetermined level, an inverter outputting data signals in accordance with the constant voltage outputted from the constant voltage generation circuit and first and second clock signals, a clock signal generation unit generating a third clock signal having a predetermined interval in accordance with the first clock signal and the data signals outputted from the inverter, and a pull-up transistor pulling up the output data signals of a high level at a predetermined level in accordance with the third clock signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an output buffer circuit for a semiconductor device, and in particular to an output buffer circuit capable of improving an output speed.
2. Description of the Conventional Art
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a conventional output buffer circuit including an output control circuit 10, and inverters 11, 12, each of which is composed of a plurality of NMOS transistors.
The operation of the conventional output buffer circuit will now be described.
When the inverters 11, 12 respectively receive clock signals NU1, NU2 of a high level and clock signals ND1, ND2 of a low level, which are outputted from the output control circuit 10, the inverters 11, 12 output data signals at a high level, and when the inverters 11, 12 respectively receive clock signals NU1, NU2 at a low level and clock signals ND1, ND2 at a high level, the inverters 11, 12 output data signals at a low level.
Here, the clock signals NU1, NU2 for outputting the data signals at the high level have different roles from each other.
That is, the clock signal NU1 is applied to obtaining prompt data output, and the clock signal NU2, a delayed signal compared with the clock signal NU1, serves as a signal which maintains output of a data signal at a high level, and improves the output speed by reducing the instantaneous peak current I.sub.PC, which is generated when the output is at a high level, as shown in FIG. 2, and therefore for reducing noise due to the peak current I.sub.PC.
The conventional output buffer circuit maintains the high level data output which is the high level at a VCC-Vth level by employing pull-up NMOS transistors NM1, NM2, thereby reducing the amount by which the data out is charged at the high level and reducing the noise generated when the data output is transited from the high level to the low level.
However, in the conventional output buffer circuit, the output level is limited to the VCC-Vth level due to using the NMOS transistors. Therefore, when the VCC level is increased by .DELTA.v, the output level is also increased by .DELTA.V. In result, the output level is increased in accordance with an increase in VCC, thus increasing the noise and therefore slowing down the output speed.

Output buffer circuit for semiconductor device

Hyundai Electronics Industries Co., Ltd.


An image forming apparatus reduces the wait time before completion of an image stabilization process executed for preparation for image formation while ensuring image quality. In the image forming apparatus, image formation is performed using developers having four colors respectively (yellow, magenta, cyan, and black). The image forming apparatus has a monochrome mode in which only black color is used, a full color mode in which four colors are used and an automatic color selection (ACS) mode in which one of the monochrome mode and the full color mode is selected by automatically recognizing image data and image formation is carried out in the selected mode. One of the monochrome mode, the full color mode, and the ACS mode is set to a default mode upon turning on the image forming apparatus. The image stabilization process is then executed based on the default mode.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and an image stabilization processing method, which are capable of forming monochrome or color images using an electrophotographic printing method, and more particularly to an image forming apparatus and an image stabilization processing method, which are applicable to copying machines, printers, facsimile machines, and multi-function machines provided with a copying function, a printing function, and a facsimile function.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, color copying machines and color printers (color machines) installed in company offices and the like, for printing out color documents have been potentially in great demand, but the machine prices and running costs thereof are so high that they cannot be readily or freely used like monochrome copying machines or monochrome printers (monochrome machines). This is also because most business documents are printed out in monochrome and therefore the demand for color printing of business documents has been low, so that there have been few color copying machines and color printers which are provided by manufacturers at low machine prices and with low running costs, and yet profitable enough for the manufacturers in spite of the low user demand for color printing output.
However, in recent years, there have been developed color copying machines and color printers for office use which have realized substantially the same machine prices and running costs as those of the monochrome machines and therefore permit users to feel free to carry out color printout in offices, thereby promoting a shift to color printing. With this development, color machines are replacing conventional monochrome machines in offices.
Under the circumstances, a technique has been proposed in which calibration processing for density correction is executed on four color toner images necessary for color image formation, when the power of the color machine is turned on (see e.g. Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2003-167394).
On the other hand, a control method for multi-function machines has been also proposed in which upon power-on of the machine, if the initial setup screen has been set to a facsimile mode screen, an image stabilization process for correction of image processing parameters is not executed but executed after printing is performed (see e.g. Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2002-44309). This control method is based on the concept that even with multi-function machines, facsimile printing is generally carried out in monochrome, and therefore image quality is not particularly affected even if the image stabilization process is not executed immediately after the start of the machine, which is initially set to a facsimile mode.
However, in the case of color machines including the color machine described above, calibration processing for density correction needs to be executed on the four color toner images necessary for color image formation. In general, the calibration processing is often executed immediately after power-on as described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2003-167394. For this reason, adjustment time immediately after power-on becomes much longer in color machines than in monochrome machines. In addition, the color machines make preparations for color output even when only monochrome output is intended to be used, so that users are kept waiting due to adjustment for unnecessary color output.
Further, when color machines employ a two-component developing method using toner and carrier, toner density markedly changes depending on the environment. For this reason, immediately after the first power-on in the morning, or immediately after return from a power-saving mode, when environmental changes are most likely to occur, a plurality of processes, such as toner density measurement and density gradation correction, are necessitated, which tends to increase time required for processing executed during a wait.
The control method described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2002-44309 has been proposed as a solution to the problem that adjustment time immediately after power-on is longer in color machines than in monochrome machines.
In this case, however, even if the initial setup screen has been set to the facsimile mode screen, and facsimile printing is to be performed in monochrome, when the environment has largely changed after the previous image stabilization process, degradation of image quality can occur, which necessitates resetting of image processing parameters. Further, a user can switch the facsimile mode screen to the copy mode screen for color printout, and hence color printout can be performed without execution of the image stabilization process. In such a case, image quality cannot be ensured.

Image forming apparatus and image stabilization processing method


To protect cooks, who work alternately in hot and cold rooms, from catching colds, to prevent clothing from slipping during work, to allow clothes to be donned simply and easily, and to preserve a well-groomed appearance, the clothing consists of trousers (8) and a jacket (1), which together form an overall or a jump suit. A zip fastener (7) extends from the fly (8') of the trousers up to the collar of the jacket (1). The clothing is associated with an apron (11) with fiat strip fastener parts (9') and a neck band (13) with a tie knot (14).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to clothing, in particular for cooks, formed as a combination of and including a pair of trousers and a jacket.
2. Brief Description of the Background of the Invention Including Prior Art
Traditional clothing for cooks comprises in general several separate parts, such as a jacket with a button closure, a pair of trousers with suspenders or with a belt, and an apron. The buttoning of the jacket is often cumbersome and the frequent insertion of tile buttons into the receiving slits of the jackets stretches and enlarges the receiving slits prematurely. This can result in an undesired opening of the jacket and can endanger the wearer of the jacket or make the wearer uncomfortable.
The conventional, coordinated aprons are tied by strings on or above the level of the hips of the wearer or, respectively, of the cook. The relatively weak strings are however easily ripped due to frequent use and are in many cases completely torn from the apron after some use of the apron.
Based on the repeatedly occurring bending motion during work, the conventional clothing pieces for cooks become loose, the desired property of a tight fit on the human body is lost, and the air access obtains free rein to the undergarments or the body of the person. This can result in health hazards in cases where the wearer of such conventional clothing moves from hot work places into cooled rooms, in particular into freezer chambers where e.g. temperatures below -18.degree. C. are present.


Disclosed is an adhesive for packaging materials being in a form of an aqueous dispersion including an acid-modified polyolefin resin containing a (meth)acrylic acid ester component, polyvinyl alcohol and an aqueous medium, wherein the content of polyvinyl alcohol is 0.1 to 10 parts by mass in relation to 100 parts by mass of the acid-modified polyolefin resin. Also disclosed is a packaging material using the adhesive wherein a barrier layer, an adhesive layer formed of a coating film obtained from the adhesive, and a sealant layer are laminated in this order.

As packaging materials, packaging materials in which a polyolefin-based resin film is laminated as a sealant layer on a barrier layer made of, for example, aluminum foil are frequently used. In general, the sealant layer is laminated on the barrier layer, through the intermediary of an adhesive layer (also referred to as, for example, a primer or an anchor coat).
However, when by using such packaging materials, a highly-irritating content such as a substance having volatility such as menthol or naphthalene, a content containing a fragrance component or a medicinal component, or a secondary battery containing a solid organic electrolyte is packaged, during storage of the package, such a substance or such a component affects the adhesive layer between the barrier layer and the sealant layer, and hence, the adhesion strength between the barrier layer and the sealant layer is disadvantageously degraded with time, or both layers peel off from each other (delamination).
Accordingly, in order to solve such problems as described above, JP11-254595A, JP2001-322221A and JP2008-127042A have proposed techniques for improving in the packaging materials the resistance against the contents in the packages. Here, "the resistance against the content" means the performance to suppress the degradation of the adhesion strength between the barrier layer and the sealant layer during the storage of the content. Hereinafter, this performance may foe referred to as "the content resistance."
In order to solve such problems as described above, the applicant of the present application has proposed, in JP2008-120062A, a method in which a specific adhesive layer is formed by applying an aqueous dispersion having a specific composition to a barrier layer and by drying the applied aqueous dispersion, and a sealant layer is laminated through the intermediary of the specific adhesive layer.

Adhesive for packaging materials, and packaging material


Determining a compensated phase matrix for a multi-stimulus demodulation process is provided. A first drive line of a multi-stimulus sensing system is selected, and a stimulation signal is transmitted on the selected drive line. A channel gain resulting from the stimulation signal is measured from a received sense signal resulting from the stimulation signal. The measured channel gain is compared with a known channel gain to obtain an individual phase compensation for the selected drive line. A compensated phase matrix is formed of the individual phase compensation values for multiple drive lines.

Many types of input devices are presently available for performing operations in a computing system, such as buttons or keys, mice, trackballs, joysticks, touch sensor panels, touch screens and the like. Touch screens, in particular, are becoming increasingly popular because of their ease and versatility of operation as well as their declining price. Touch screens can include a touch sensor panel, which can be a clear panel with a touch-sensitive surface, and a display device such as a liquid crystal display (LCD) that can be positioned partially or fully behind the panel so that the touch-sensitive surface can cover at least a portion of the viewable area of the display device. Touch screens can allow a user to perform various functions by touching the touch sensor panel using a finger, stylus or other object at a location dictated by a user interface (UI) being displayed by the display device. In general, touch screens can recognize a touch event and the position of the touch event on the touch sensor panel, and the computing system can then interpret the touch event in accordance with the display appearing at the time of the touch event, and thereafter can perform one or more actions based on the touch event.
Mutual capacitance touch sensor panels can be formed from a matrix of drive and sense lines of a substantially transparent conductive material such as Indium Tim Oxide (ITO), often arranged in rows and columns in horizontal and vertical directions on a substantially transparent substrate. Drive signals can be transmitted through the drive lines, resulting in signal capacitances at the crossover points (sensing pixels) of the drive lines and the sense lines. The signal capacitances can be determined from sense signals that are generated in the sense lines due to the drive signals. In some touch sensor panel systems, multiple drive lines are stimulated simultaneously to generate composite sense signals in the sense lines. While these systems offer some advantages, conventional multi-stim systems can cause difficulties. For example, in a typical multi-stim system, different drive lines can introduce different phase delays in the sense signals of a sense channel, which can result in reduced efficiency in processing the sense signals.

Phase compensation for multi-stimulus controller


Feed information is acquired from a server using a URL designated from a user of a PC. The feed information is compared with a print condition designated by the user of the PC, to acquire document information that matches the print condition. Out of a plurality of image forming apparatuses registered for users, the image forming apparatus capable of performing printing is selected. Preview of document information acquired according to print setting set in the image forming apparatus is generated. Feed information having the generated preview and information relating to the image forming apparatus capable of performing printing added thereto are transmitted to the PC.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printing control apparatus for managing a plurality of image forming apparatuses, a printing control method, and a program.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a system for managing an image forming apparatus, a shift to thin client has also been accelerated in an office environment to enhance internal control and security and reduce personal computer (PC) management cost. The shift to thin client has progressed such that web services for performing processing on the side of a server have been provided one after another.
One of their service forms is a web portal. The web portal can aggregate various services and display the aggregated services on one screen. Each service managed and displayed by the portal is referred to as a portlet.
By the portlet, news, an electronic mail, document management and print services, and so on can be provided.
Each of functions is serviced so that a plurality of services can be used on one screen at the same time on a web browser. However, the services do not cooperate corporate with one another because they are independent services.
Therefore, there is no means for immediately printing a document provided by a document management service. A user is to select, out of printers in the print service, the printer currently usable and give a print instruction to perform printing.
In order to solve this problem, means for an image forming apparatus to confirm updating of a document on a document management service and perform printing has been proposed (e.g., Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-317169).
When the image forming apparatus confirms updating of the document on the document management service and performs printing, however, the printing is always performed only in the image forming apparatus. Therefore, printing may not be performed, depending on a status of the image forming apparatus. Thus, convenience is not improved.

Printing control apparatus, control method, and storage medium


This application provides a photographing method and a control device, and relate to the field of communications. The photographing method comprises: a shutter triggering step of triggering a virtual shutter according to a first input instruction of a user; an information recording step of recording photographing related information at a moment of triggering the virtual shutter; a request sending step of sending a photo obtaining request to a server, where the photo obtaining request comprises the photographing related information; and a photo obtaining step of receiving at least one photo provided by the server according to the photo obtaining request. The photographing method and the control device provide convenience for a user to photograph and obtain an interested photo from a photo library, so as to improve user experience.

With popularization of single-lens reflex cameras, pocket cameras, and smartphones and tablet computers with a video shooting function, more persons enjoy pleasures of photographing and 'selfie' shots.
During a selfie, a person usually places a camera at a predetermined location, and then completes the selfie by using a delayed photographing function of the camera. However, this selfie manner usually encounters a problem of an undesirable camera shooting angle. For example, the location which may be provided for placing the camera is insufficiently high.
A public camera, such as a security monitoring camera or a transportation monitoring camera, is generally disposed at a good shooting location, and shoots a person or an object within a shooting visual field thereof at a fixed shooting frequency. However, today there is no effective way of obtaining a photo in which a user is interested from a public camera.


A mobile commerce system and components thereof are provided in which multiple wireless mobile communications devices (mobile devices) (1) each has a unique electronic identification and processing circuit (2) capable of encrypting data utilizing an encryption key and a first software application providing connectivity to commercial webpage servers (4) for purposes that include the conduct of selected transactions involving a payment for goods or services. Each mobile device is independently enabled to conduct financial transactions in real time by communication with a financial institution. Each mobile device further has a second software application termed mobile payment application adapted to interact with the first application to receive data as to a payment required to conclude a transaction conducted by way of a commercial webpage server. The mobile payment application initiates an instruction to the financial institution to make a payment to a payee designated by way of such data wherein the instruction is encrypted utilizing the unique electronic identification and processing circuit.

Applicant believes that there is considerable potential in the mobile commerce field in spite of the ever increasing activity reported. One factor that restrains additional growth of this market sector appears to be the security of electronic payments made for goods and services purchased on-line. In particular, credit card or debit card information inputted into the mobile communications device, typically a cellular telephone, is typically transmitted in an un-encrypted form simply because encryption keys that would need to be shared between the communications device and payment engine in order to encrypt and to decrypt the relevant data cannot be provided in practice.
This being so, a typical mobile commerce transaction developed on a mobile device is illustrated in FIG. 1. In such an application multiple mobile devices, in this instance cellular telephones (A), are provided wherein communication is enabled via a wireless network (B) with selected webpage servers (C) of multiple suppliers, such as online stores or booking applications. In order to complete a transaction it is often required to perform a payment and these applications need to connect to payment systems to facilitate the actual payment by transmitting the payment details to a backend server to perform the actual payment.
A mobile application would normally transmit the relevant data that typically includes credit or debit card or other financial account data to the webpage server or its associated payment engine using a secure TCP/IP protocol (e.g. HTTPS).
However, in most cases this level of security is not really sufficient. Each of the e-commerce stores needs to develop code to integrate to a payment engine or a financial switch (D) to perform the payment that is ultimately only finalised when the relevant banking institution (E) has cleared the transaction typically in accumulated batches of transactions.
Such applications are typically complicated pieces of development, but it is obviously necessary to ensure the integrity of the application. Every application on the mobile device that needs to capture payment will require the same functionality to capture the payment details, securely transmit the data to a backend system and then to integrate and pass these details to a payment engine or financial switch to perform the transaction. This is a substantial duplication of code both on the mobile device and the backend server. Of course, it is to be remembered that mobile devices have a limited amount of electronic capacity for processing and storing data.
Furthermore, payment details from online stores ultimately go through a financial switch (e.g. Visa or Mastercard etc). These transactions enter the switch in the country of the online store and not the country of the user making the payment. As a result these transactions are normally not conducted in real time and are processed batchwise.
A typical mobile commerce system would thus gather the payment information from the user and then submit this data to a backend server that then connects to a payments engine. This requires that the mobile commerce provider has online connectivity to the payment engine and has implemented the often tricky interface to the payment engine.
The general difficulties have led to the creation of various payment organisations often referred to as financial cyber mediaries, probably the most well-known of which is the E-BAY™ owned organisation known as PAYPAL™, an e-mail based payment system in which payment is collected by the payment organisation and subsequently paid over to the recipient.
Various other efforts have been made to enhance the security of electronic payments and in recent times a cellular telephone based payment system by the name of MOBILLCASH™ has been introduced that avoids the problem by adding payments to the actual cell phone account. However, this solution may well be unacceptable to cellular telephone service providers in that their responsibility of securing payments of their accounts is substantially increased and the addition of service functions outside of the provision of a telephone service may not be acceptable.
Payment for goods or services purchased over the Internet therefore represents a serious technical problem that existing solutions have not been able to overcome to a satisfactory extent and in a satisfactorily secure manner.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


An electronic device having a heat radiating body, a metal substrate, a heat generating component, and a non-heat-generating component is disclosed. The metal substrate is fixed to the heat radiating body with heat conductive oil arranged between the metal substrate and the heat radiating body. The heat generating component and the non-heat-generating component are mounted on the metal substrate. A gap that permits the heat conductive oil to enter the gap is defined between the metal substrate and the heat radiating body. The gap is arranged at a position corresponding to the non-heat-generating component or a position corresponding to a portion between the heat generating component and the non-heat-generating component.

The present invention relates to an electronic device formed by fixing a substrate, on which a heat generating component and a non-heat-generating component are mounted, to a heat radiating body.
An electronic device having a substrate secured to a heat radiating body such as an aluminum block or heat sink is known. A heat generating component and a non-heat-generating component are mounted on the substrate. A thus configured electronic device efficiently radiates heat from the heat generating component. For example, a heat generating component mounted on a substrate used in a vehicle generates a relatively great amount of heat. In this case, a metal substrate exhibiting improved heat radiating performance is employed for the substrate.
FIGS. 7A and 7B show an example of an electronic device having a highly heat radiating metal substrate. Specifically, a metal substrate 51 has an aluminum core 52 and an insulating layer 53 formed of resin, which is provided on the core 52. A circuit pattern (not shown) of copper (Cu) is formed on the insulating layer 53. Heat generating components 54 and non-heat-generating components 55 are mounted on the circuit pattern. The metal substrate 51 is fixed to a seat 57 of a heat radiating body (a box-like body) 56 formed of aluminum by means of, for example, three screws 58. In such fixing, a small gap is formed between the backside of the metal substrate 51 and the seat 57. The gap is filled with a silicone grease 59, thus ensuring heat radiation from the heat generating components 54.
In an electronic device described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2004-221111, referring to FIGS. 8A and 8B, a heat generating component 63 having a metal substrate 62, on which a heat generating element 61 is mounted, is fixed to a heat radiating body 65 by means of bolts 66 through an oil compound 64. A groove 67 is defined in a securing surface of the heat generating component 63 that faces the heat radiating body 65. The securing surface is divided into a plurality of sections by the groove 67. The oil compound 64 is applied onto one of these sections of the securing surface located in the proximity of a position immediately below the heat generating element 61. In correspondence with the groove 67, an optimal application range of the oil compound 64 is determined. Further, the groove 67 prevents excessive oil compound 64 from flowing to the outside of the heat generating component 63. This improves the appearance of the electronic device and facilitates application of the oil compound 64.
Recently, use of lead-free solder has been promoted in mounting of chip components (non-heat-generating components). However, compared to lead-containing eutectic solder, the lead-free solder exhibits low ductility and is fragile. Therefore, if a non-heat-generating component is mounted on a substrate using lead-free solder, soldered joint portions are easily influenced by stress.
In the device of FIGS. 7A and 7B, the backside of the metal substrate 51 and the surface of the seat 57 are not flat but uneven. Therefore, when the metal substrate 51 is simply fixed to the seat 57, the metal substrate 51 contacts the seat 57 through projecting portions. This reduces the contact area between the metal substrate 51 and the seat 57, decreasing heat conductivity. To solve this problem, the silicone grease 59 (heat conductive oil) is applied between the metal substrate 51 and the seat 57. However, if the metal substrate 51 is fixed to the seat 57 by means of the screws 58 with the silicone grease 59 arranged between the metal substrate 51 and the seat 57, the silicone grease 59 causes deformation of the metal substrate 51, applying stress to the non-heat-generating components 55 mounted on the metal substrate 51. Particularly, in a thermal shock test, it was demonstrated that a great stress act on the soldered joint portion of each of the non-heat-generating components 55. Specifically, the stress does not cause a crack in a soldered joint portion between the metal substrate 51 and the seat 57 that are fixed together using eutectic solder. However, a crack and a resulting rupture are easily generated by the stress in a soldered joint portion of the metal substrate 51 and the seat 57 that are fixed together using lead-free solder.
As described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2004-221111, the groove 67 defined in the securing surface of the heat generating component 63 prevents excessive oil compound 64 from flowing to the outside of the heat generating component 63. Nonetheless, the technique does not describe or suggest a countermeasure to prevent a crack in the soldered joint portions of each non-heat-generating component mounted on the metal substrate, which is caused by the stress produced through warpage of the metal substrate.


A pulse width modulator PWM circuit and a corresponding method are presented. The PWM circuit receives a control signal and a clock signal. The PWM circuit generates an output signal based on the control signal and the clock signal. The output signal has a first or second signal value. The PWM circuit has a delay circuit to generate, by delaying the clock signal by a delay period, a first enable signal for setting the output signal to the first signal value. The PWM circuit has a ramp generator to generate a ramp signal based on the clock signal. The PWM circuit has a comparator to generate, by comparing the control signal with the ramp signal, a second enable signal for setting the output signal to the second signal value. By delaying the clock signal by the delay period, a minimum on-time of the output signal may be reduced.

Pulse width modulation is frequently used to control the switching behaviour of one or more pass devices of a switched-mode power supply. By comparing a control signal with a saw-tooth-shaped signal, the signal value of the control signal is translated into a corresponding time interval during which one of the SMPS's pass devices is closed (i.e. turned on). The time interval during which the pass device is closed is denoted as on-time of the pass device, and the time interval during which the pass device is open is denoted as off-time of the pass device. The ratio between the on-time and the off-time may be denoted as duty-cycle of the pass device. The control signal itself is usually generated with the help of a feedback loop, and depends (directly or indirectly) on a voltage or current at the output of the SMPS.
One drawback of conventional PWM circuits is caused by the delay of the comparator used to perform the comparison between the control signal and the saw-tooth-shaped signal. As a consequence, the detection of the moment when the control signal crosses the ramp of the saw-tooth-shaped signal may be substantially delayed, and the pass device may be turned off too late. In other words, the delay of the comparator may cause an increased minimum on-time of the pass device, an increased minimum duty-cycle, and ultimately an increased minimum output voltage of the SMPS.

Pulse width modulation circuit with reduced minimum on-time


A wireless receiver for receiving signals from an interference-limited transmitter in an interference-limited system comprising at least one transmit antenna, wherein the signals comprise a plurality of symbols. The receiver comprises a plurality of receive antennas and collection circuitry for collecting a plurality of signal samples with at least one symbol and interference effects. The receiver also comprises suppression circuitry, accumulation circuitry, circuitry for providing estimates of a group of bits, error detection circuitry and circuitry for requesting the transmitter to transmit a retransmission of a packet in response to detecting an error.

The present embodiments relate to wireless communications systems and, more particularly, to interference-limited wireless communication systems with packet retransmission in response to detected packet error.
Wireless communications are prevalent in business, personal, and other applications, and as a result the technology for such communications continues to advance in various areas. One such advancement includes the use of spread spectrum communications, including that of code division multiple access ("CDMA") and wideband code division multiple access ("WCDMA") cellular communications. In such communications, a user station (e.g., a hand held cellular phone) communicates with a base station, where typically the base station corresponds to a "cell." CDMA communications are by way of transmitting symbols from a transmitter to a receiver, and the symbols are modulated using a spreading code which consists of a series of binary pulses. The code runs at a higher rate than the symbol rate and determines the actual transmission bandwidth. Another wireless standard involves time division multiple access ("TDMA") apparatus, which also communicate symbols and are used by way of example in cellular systems. TDMA communications are transmitted as a group of packets in a time period, where the time period is divided into slots (i.e., packets) so that multiple receivers may each access meaningful information during a different part of that time period. In other words, in a group of TDMA receivers, each receiver is designated a slot in the time period, and that slot repeats for each group of successive packets transmitted to the receiver. Accordingly, each receiver is able to identify the information intended for it by synchronizing to the group of packets and then deciphering the time slot corresponding to the given receiver. Given the preceding, CDMA transmissions are receiver-distinguished in response to codes, while TDMA transmissions are receiver-distinguished in response to orthogonal time slots.
In certain prior art packet communication systems as detailed later, packet retransmission is often requested when a received packet is detected to be in error. This scheme is often referred to as automatic retransmission request ("ARQ"), and ARQ is intended to reduce or eliminate the effects of packet error, as is often desirable in systems where packet reliability is of high importance such as in multimedia applications. Typically, ARQ is achieved by including some type of error check in each transmitted packet, such as a cyclic redundancy code ("CRC") at the end of a packet and that relates to the data in the packet. When the packet is received, the receiver decodes the packet and, hence, also the CRC code, further determining from the code whether the packet was received without errors. The receiver also has a wireless feedback communication link to the transmitter, and in connection with ARQ there is often an acknowledgment feedback signal along this link such as in the form of one of two complementary signals designated ACK and NACK. If, from the CRC (or alternate code/method), the receiver detects no errors in a given packet, then the receiver returns an ACK signal to the transmitter, whereas if the receiver does detect an error in a given packet, then the receiver returns a NACK signal to the transmitter. In response to the NACK, the transmitter retransmits the packet corresponding to the NACK, that is, that packet for which an error was detected. This retransmission may take place several times for a same packet, where typically there is a limit on the number of retransmissions, after which the packet is deemed unusable by receiver and as a result the packet is discarded.
Another technology that relates in part to ARQ, and that is also used in certain prior art packet communication systems as detailed later, is referred to as hybrid ARQ ("HARQ"), where HARQ differs from ARQ in that HARQ recognizes that error-containing packets may still provide some useful data at the receiver. In other words, recall from above that the receiver discards the entire packet under ARQ if, after repeated retransmissions, an error free packet is not received. In contrast, HARQ systems attempt to extract some or all of the data from packets that have been deemed to include errors. There are various types of HARQ systems known in the art. One example of a HARQ system is known as Chase combining. In a Chase combining system, the receiver performs some coherent combining on multiple received packets that are received as re-transmissions of an originally-transmitted packet. Another example of a HARQ system is known as an incremental redundancy system. In an incremental redundancy system, the data bits in each retransmitted packet are the same; however, different encoding bits are used for each different retransmission. Further, the receiver is made aware of the different encoding schemes and, thus, it attempts to decode each different packet it receives representing a retransmission in view of the encoding bits anticipated to be applied to that packet. The results of each such decode are then combined in an effort to accurately predict the packet data.
Having introduced ARQ and HARQ systems, note that the above introduction also states that such systems are used in certain prior art packet communication systems; in this regard, the present inventors have observed that those systems as studied in the literature have been confined to additive white Gaussian noise ("AWGN") or typical fading channels. Such systems typically provide a transmitter with a single transmit antenna and a receiver with a single receive antenna and, thus, the channel between them may be static wherein noise is the primary variance, or in the case of the fading channel there may be additional diversity due to the fading characteristics. Thus, heretofore, HARQ has only been implemented in these types of systems.
More recently there have been developments into wireless communications systems that provide additional types of signal diversity and that are often more practical, but these same systems are interference-limited. In other words, due to the transmitter and/or receiver structure, multiple symbols share the same channel between the transmitter and receiver and, hence, interference is introduced between different symbols communicated from the transmitter to the receiver. As a result, the receiver requires functionality to suppress the interference. Such systems are included in many forms. As one example of an interference-limited system, there are high data rate multiple antenna systems such as multiple-input multiple-output ("MIMO") systems. In MIMO systems, each transmit antenna transmits a distinct and respective data stream; the symbols in each stream therefore interfere with the symbols in the other stream(s), that is, there is spatial interference since different transmit antennas are used to transmit different data streams. As another example of an interference-limited system, there is the above-introduced TDMA systems. In TDMA systems, there are frequency selective channels with long impulse responses; this causes so-called intersymbol interference ("ISI"), and typically equalizers are used to mitigate the ISI. As yet another example of an interference-limited system, there is the above-introduced CDMA systems. In CDMA, one type of multipath interference effect is multiuser interference ("MUI"). Moreover, since CDMA implements orthogonal symbol streams, often the orthogonality reduces ISI to a negligible value and, as a result, often a less complex receiver structure may be implemented in a CDMA system. However, there is often required a lowering of the spreading factor, that is, the number of modulating chips per transmitted symbol; this spreading factor reduction also reduces the benefit of orthogonality and consequently increases the concern for ISI even in CDMA systems. Still other examples of interference-limited systems can be ascertained by one skilled in the art, including any combination such as MIMO TDMA or MIMO CDMA.
Given the preceding, the present inventors further recognize that while HARQ systems have heretofore been described relative to systems without interference, no provision has been made for implementing HARQ into an interference-limited system. In view of the preceding, therefore, the preferred embodiments address the drawback of the limited application of prior art HARQ systems to systems that are not interference limited; further, such prior art systems, while permitting HARQ and thereby obtaining the benefit of increased packet reliability, suffer from a lack of speed or throughput as compared to interference-limited systems. As such, the present embodiments endeavor to provide various preferred embodiments representing a combination of HARQ (or a comparable methodology) with interference-limited systems, as detailed below.

Wireless system with hybrid automatic retransmission request in interference-limited communications