When an alarm condition relating to a performance goal of a storage system is detected, a storage management system invokes an N-step lookahead engine for simulating operation of the storage system when there are multiple actions that could be taken by the storage system for eliminating the alarm condition. The N-step lookahead engine generates N possible system states based on a current state of the storage system. The N possible states are based on a cost model of each of the multiple actions. Each cost model is based on an action, a behavior implication of the action, a resource implication of the action and a transient cost of the action. An action is selected that generates a system state that optimizes the stability, a prerequisite and a transient cost of invoking the selected action.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to storage systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system and a method for managing a storage system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Policy-based management has been advocated as a panacea that will allow storage administrators to manage larger amounts of storage than are currently managed. For a policy-based management approach, system administrators specify high level policies (goals) with respect to performance, reliability, security, backup, restore, etc., and the storage management software uses a rule engine to automatically convert the high-level policies into low-level storage actions. As implemented, the responsibility of storage management has accordingly been transferred from system administrators to storage-management software providers. Storage management software providers must deal with complexity associated due to the presence of a large number of heterogeneous devices, business rules, users and storage management actions. Software providers also must ensure that their management software is general enough to handle changing workloads and system configurations, that is, not "brittle."
In complex storage environments, when a particular high-level goal is not being satisfied, there are potentially multiple storage management actions that can be taken for rectifying the problem. For a given system state, there can potentially be multiple rules that are applicable. Currently, rule-based systems handle such situations in an ad-hoc fashion by randomly selecting one of the available rules. It is not easy for the reasoning engine to a priori prioritize which particular storage management action to choose because each storage management action has complex side-affects that could potentially take the system into, for example, a thrashing mode or into sub-optimal states. Further, each respective action has a different cost associated with its invocation that must also be taken into account. A close analogy to this situation would be a chess match in which potential consequences of a particular move are not clear until many moves later. Consequently, chess players try to mentally analyze many moves ahead without actually making any moves.
N-step look-ahead algorithms are in use in Artificial Intelligence (AI) game theory domains, such as chess and checkers. N-step look-ahead algorithms are also in use in disk I/O scheduling and CPU instruction scheduling domains. Similarly, monitoring of real systems to create what-if analysis is currently being used in the database domain. Research relating to N-step look-ahead algorithms can be divided into three categories: (1) application domains of N-step lookahead; (2) monitoring information to create system models; and (3) N-step lookahead in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and planning.
In the category of application domains research, N-step lookahead implementations have domain-specific semantics for modeling and reasoning the actions within a system. For instance, traditional buffer management algorithms that minimize the number of I/O disk accesses for optimizing prefetching and caching in parallel I/O systems are substantially suboptimal in a parallel I/O system in which multiple I/Os proceed simultaneously. See, for example, M. Kallahalla et al., "Optimal prefetching and caching for parallel I/O systems," In ACM Symposium on Parallel Architectures and Algorithms, pp. 219-228, 2001, which discloses an online algorithm with a global L-block lookahead that gives the buffer management algorithm a lookahead consisting of L distinct requests.
In S. J. Beaty, "Lookahead scheduling," ACM SIGMICRO Volume 23, Issue 1-2 (December 1992), a lookahead scheduling technique, the Data Dependence DAG (DDD), is disclosed for executing instructions. Additionally, according to Beaty, lookahead combined with other scheduling techniques can increase the likelihood of generating correct schedules.
Simulation in distributed systems is dependent on detection of model-inherent concurrency, which is related to the prediction of the future behavior of each logical simulation process. See, for example, J. W. Janneck, "Generalizing lookahead-behavior prediction in distributed simulation," In Proceedings of the twelfth workshop on Parallel and distributed simulation, pp. 12-19, 1998, which discloses a generalization of traditional approaches for behavior prediction using a lookahead algorithm.
For lookahead scheduling in disks, see, for example, T. Yeh et al., "Competitive analysis of on-line disk scheduling," Theory of Computing Systems, Vol. 31, pp. 491-506, 1998, which analyzes the problem of an on-line disk scheduling in which a look ahead at the next k variables that are to be read can be performed and from that knowledge, the order in which to read the variables from the disk can be selected for minimizing the seek start-up time.
In the category of monitoring information to create system models; M. Selter et al., "Self-Monitoring and Self-Adapting Operating Systems," In Proceedings of the Sixth Workshop on Hot Topics in Operating Systems, May 1997, discloses Vino, a self-monitoring and self-adapting operating system that performs continuous monitoring of operating system activity to construct a database of performance statistics. The data is classified appropriately and off-line analysis is performed for constructing a characterization of the system under normal behavior and for detecting anomalous behavior. The component adaptations are all predetermined, fixed implementations.
In the domain of databases, approaches such as SMART and AutoAdmin use query optimizers that can reason about the "what if" scenarios for automated index selection in databases. For the SMART implementation, see, for example, G. M. Lohman et al., "DB2 Advisor: An optimizer Smart Enough to Recommend Its Own Indexes," Proceedings, 16th IEEE Conference on Data Engineering, San Diego, Calif., 2000. For AutoAdmin, see, for example, S. Chaudhuri et al., "AutoAdmin 'What-if' Index Analysis Utility," Proceedings ACM SIGMOD Conference, Seattle 1998, pp. 367-378. The SMART system is continuously monitored and the performance of each query recorded. The optimizer uses past history to create the cost model for the operations in the query, which is then used to refine the execution plans.
In the category of AI and Planning theory, the concept of lookahead has been used extensively in game-theory, which is the science of strategy, and attempts to determine mathematically and logically the actions that "players" should take to secure the best outcomes for themselves in a wide array of"games." The games studied range from chess to child rearing and from tennis to takeovers. But the games all share the common feature of interdependence. That is, the outcome for each participant depends upon the choices (strategies) of all. Deep Blue, for example, was built to examine 200 million possible moves per second and to look ahead as many as fourteen turns of play (considering all the permutations of the adversary moves). The lookahead algorithm is combined with search algorithms, such as A*, Simulated Annealing, Hill-climbing, and Forward pruning. See, for example, P. Norvig, Paradigms of AI Programming: Case Studies in Common Lisp, 1991, and H. -D. Bocker et al., "Interactive Problem Solving Using Log."
Planning theory is generally referred to in the context of robotics, artificial intelligence, and control theory. Within robotics, the focus is on designing algorithms that generate useful motions by processing complicated geometric models. Within artificial intelligence, the focus is on designing systems that use decision-theoretic models compute appropriate actions. Within control theory, the focus of the presentation is on algorithms that numerically compute feasible trajectories or even optimal feedback control laws. There are multiple approaches for lookahead in each of these domains. Interesting techniques for mapping lookahead algorithms in game theory as search heuristics in planning algorithms are described in E. J, Sandewall, "A Planning Problem Solver Based on Look-Ahead in Stochastic Game Trees," Journal of the ACM (JACM), Volume 16, Issue 3, July 1969.
Consequently, what is needed is a technique for managing a storage system that, in response to an alarm condition, selects an action that optimizes the stability of a storage system, a prerequisite of the storage system and a transient cost of invoking the selected action.

Model and system for reasoning with N-step lookahead in policy-based system management

International Business Machines Corporation


A method includes, in a receiver, receiving a Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) signal over a first plurality of partially-dependent communication channels that have a finite mutual dependence. Second channel responses are estimated in the receiver, for a second plurality of independent communication channels, which are derived from the partially-dependent communication channels and which have no mutual dependence. First channel responses are calculated for the first plurality of the partially-dependent communication channels, based on the second channel responses of the independent communication channels.

Various types of wireless communication systems use Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) schemes, in which a transmitter and a receiver communicate over multiple communication channels between multiple transmit and receive antennas. MIMO techniques are used, for example, in Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), Long-Term Evolution (LTE) and LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) networks.
The description above is presented as a general overview of related art in this field and should not be construed as an admission that any of the information it contains constitutes prior art against the present patent application.


According to one embodiment, a magnetic disk device includes a magnetic disk, a magnetic head, a heater a control section. When making the magnetic head carry out the seek operation from the first position to the second position, the control section starts application of a first voltage to the heater while the seek operation is carried out and, after application of the first voltage, makes the voltage to be applied to the heater a second voltage greater than the first voltage before the magnetic head is positioned to the second position and write of data is started by the magnetic head.

In a magnetic disk device, a technique of applying a voltage to a heater before write is started is known.
When the operation of applying a voltage to the heater to thereby warm the element section is not carried out sufficiently, the write condition becomes worse, and hence the bit error rate of the first sector of the written sectors becomes deteriorated and this becomes a primary factor in the occurrence of a weak write error. Here, when the time for sufficiently warm the element section in order to stabilize the write operation at the time of data write is defined as the preheat time, by prolonging the preheat time, the magnetic disk device can carry out stable write, and bit error rate can be prevented from becoming deteriorated. On the other hand, by prolonging the preheat time, the write performance of the magnetic disk device is deteriorated. As described above, it can be said that the stable write and write performance are in the tradeoff relationship. In particular, when a seek operation of the magnetic head is carried out concomitantly with the preheat, the seek time is added to the preheat time, and hence the deterioration in the write performance of the magnetic disk device becomes conspicuous.
Thus, it is conceivable that preheat is started while the seek operation is still carried out. However, in recent years, the preheat time has become longer, and thus the need to start warming (applying a voltage to the heater element) the element section in the state where the seek velocity is higher than ever before has arisen. When a voltage is applied to the heater element in a state where the seek velocity is high as described above, the gap (levitation amount) between the magnetic head and recording surface of the magnetic disk varies. For example, in the magnetic disk device, during write of data, the magnetic head is temporarily brought into contact with the recording surface of the magnetic disk, and is thereafter levitated by a predetermined amount, whereby control of adjusting the amount (gap) of levitation from the recording surface is carried out. During such control, when a voltage is applied to the heater in the state where the seek velocity is high, the levitation amount of the magnetic head becomes less than the required amount, and a risk of the magnetic head coming into contact with the recording surface of the magnetic disk arises.
Embodiments described herein aim to provide a magnetic disk device and voltage application method of the magnetic disk device capable of suppressing the variation in the levitation amount and improving the condition at the time of a start of write even when a voltage is applied to the heater element during a seek operation of the magnetic head.

Magnetic disk device and voltage application method of magnetic disk device

TOSHIBA ELECTRONIC DEVICES & STORAGE CORPORATION


A plasma display panel (PDP), and more particularly, an apparatus for discharging the PDP with a time-lag by a horizontal line, thus reducing instantaneous power consumption, and a method thereof, are provided. The apparatus for discharging the PDP with the time-lag includes a signal processor for separating a vertical synchronous signal of a horizontal line from a received video signal and delaying the vertical synchronous signal of the horizontal line in order to delay the discharge time of a next horizontal line, a data controller for generating a discharge pulse for discharging pixels of the horizontal line according to the vertical synchronous signal, and a discharge pulse for discharging pixels of the next horizontal line according to the delayed vertical synchronous signal, and a displayer for discharging the horizontal line and the next horizontal line by the discharge pulses with the time-lag and displaying the horizontal lines. According to the present invention, it is possible to use a large screen at home since it is possible to reduce instantaneous power consumption by discharging the PDP with the time-lag by the horizontal line.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a plasma display panel (PDP), and more particularly, to an apparatus and method thereof for discharging a PDP display with a time-lag thereby reducing the instantaneous power consumption.
2. Description of the Related Art
Plasma displays have emerged as one of the dominant flat-panel display technologies. PDPs used for personal computers have proven to be small, light, and highly efficient. The term PDP refers to an electronic display device in which neon light emitted by applying a voltage between positive and negative electrodes while a gas such as Ne+Ar or Ne+Xe is filled in a hermetically sealed space between a front glass and rear glass partition. PDP displays have been successfully used over a very wide range of products. For example, PDPs have been used for factory automation (FA), ticket vending machines, and as an oil gauge in a gas station.
FIG. 1 shows the structure of the sub field and the television field of a plasma display panel.
Each of the pixels comprising an image should be discharged in order to display the image on the PDP. Conventional PDP displays simultaneously discharge all of the pixels comprising the display. High power on the order of 200 W (in the case of a 42 inch screen) should be applied to the panel in order to simultaneously discharge all of the pixels.
In accordance with conventional technology, one field of a television screen includes eight sub fields in order to show the brightness of an image displayed on the screen. As shown in FIG. 1, one sub field is comprised of a blank period, an erase period, an address period, and a sustain period. The respective pixels which constitute the screen display are simultaneously discharged, thus consuming significant power during the sustain period in which an image is substantially displayed on the PDP.

Apparatus for discharging plasma display panel with time-lag and method thereof


An image information reading apparatus comprises a glass plate for supporting an original sheet, a light source unit for illuminating an original sheet placed on the glass plate, a scanner adapted to read image information from the original sheet upon receiving a transmitted light beam from the original sheet, and a drive mechanism for moving the scanner along the original sheet. The light source unit includes a planar light source which is wide enough to substantially uniformly illuminate the whole region of the original sheet to be read by means of the scanner.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image information reading apparatus which can be used in a copying machine, a facsimile, a printer, etc., and which reads image information off an original sheet by utilizing at least transmitted light.
2. Description of the Related Art
An image information reading apparatus is known, as is used in a copying machine or the like, which comprises an original table. This apparatus has a scanner which includes a photoelectric conversion element. An exposure light beam is shone onto an original sheet placed on the original table, and is then either transmitted via or reflected by the original sheet. The photoelectric conversion elements converts this light beam into an electrical signal. The signal, i.e., a desired image signal, is supplied to a host computer or the like.
The apparatus further comprises a control circuit and a drive means of the conventional type. The control circuit controls the drive means. Under the control of the control circuit, the drive means moves the scanner back and forth along the surface of the original table, to scan the original sheet with a light beam.
Conventional information reading apparatuses may be classified into two types; those which read information off original sheets by means of reflected light, and those which do so by means of transmitted light.
Recently, an improved image information reading apparatus has been developed which can read information off original sheets by means of both reflected light and transmitted light. This apparatus comprises a housing, a glass plate mounted on the top of the housing, for supporting the original sheet, a scanner located within the housing, and a light source unit located above the glass plate. The scanner has a photoelectric conversion element and a light source for emitting light which is to be reflected by the original sheet placed on the glass plate. The light source unit has a light source for emitting light which is to be transmitted through the original sheet.
The scanner and the light source of the light source unit oppose, with the glass plate interposed between them. To read information off the original sheet by means of transmitted light, the light source of the light source unit must be moved in synchronism with the scanner, in the same direction at the same speed as the scanner. Hence, the apparatus requires two drive means, one for the scanner and the other for the light source of the light source unit, as well as a drive means for the scanner. Either drive means necessarily must includes a timing belt, a plurality of pulleys, a motor, a speed reducer, etc. Further, the apparatus requires a circuit for controlling both drive means, thereby to drive the scanner and the light source of the light source unit in synchronism. The apparatus is naturally more complex than the apparatus which reads information off an original sheet by means of reflected light or transmitted light. Particularly, the electrical circuit of the apparatus is complicated. It takes a long time to assemble the apparatus, inevitably raising the manufacture cost of the apparatus. Furthermore, the apparatus requires rather a high maintenance cost.


Apparatus and methods for performing a hybrid automatic repeat request, HARQ, process are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method in a wireless device for transmission of redundancy versions in a HARQ process includes determining, by the wireless device, a redundancy version, RV, for transmission by the wireless device, the RV being based at least on a coding rate and performing a transmission according to the determined RV. In one embodiment, a method in a network node is provided including receiving, from a wireless device, a transmission corresponding to a redundancy version, RV, the RV being based at least on a coding rate.

The third generation partnership project (3GPP) work on "Licensed-Assisted Access" (LAA) intends to allow long term evolution (LTE) equipment to also operate in the unlicensed radio spectrum. Candidate bands for LTE operation in the unlicensed spectrum may include 5 GHz, 3.5 GHz, etc. The unlicensed spectrum can be used as a complement to the licensed spectrum or may allow completely standalone operation.
For the case of unlicensed spectrum used as a complement to the licensed spectrum, devices connect in the licensed spectrum (primary cell or PCell) and use carrier aggregation to benefit from additional transmission capacity in the unlicensed spectrum (secondary cell or SCell). The carrier aggregation (CA) framework enables aggregation of two or more carriers with the condition that at least one carrier (or frequency channel) is in the licensed spectrum and at least one carrier is in the unlicensed spectrum. In the standalone (or completely unlicensed spectrum) mode of operation, one or more carriers may be selected solely in the unlicensed spectrum.
Regulatory requirements, however, may not permit transmissions in the unlicensed spectrum without prior channel sensing, transmission power limitations or imposed maximum channel occupancy time. Since the unlicensed spectrum may be shared with other radios of similar or dissimilar wireless technologies, a so called listen-before-talk (LBT) method may be applied. LBT involves sensing the medium for a pre-defined minimum amount of time and backing off if the channel is busy. Due to the centralized coordination and dependency of terminal devices on the base-station (e.g., eNB, gNB) for channel access in LTE operation and imposed LBT regulations, LTE uplink (UL), i.e., from the wireless device to the network node such as the base station, performance may be especially hampered. UL transmission is becoming more and more important with user-centric applications and the need for pushing data to the cloud.
Today, the unlicensed 5 GHz spectrum is mainly used by equipment implementing the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) standard. This standard is known under its marketing brand "Wi-Fi" and allows completely standalone operation in the unlicensed spectrum. Unlike the case in LTE, Wi-Fi terminals can asynchronously access the medium and thus show better uplink (UL) performance characteristics, especially in congested network conditions.
LTE uses orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) in the downlink and discrete Fourier transform (DFT)-spread OFDM (also referred to as single-carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA)) in the uplink. The basic LTE downlink physical resource can thus be seen as a time-frequency grid as illustrated, for example, in FIG. 1 where each resource element corresponds to one OFDM subcarrier during one OFDM symbol interval. The uplink subframe may have the same subcarrier spacing as the downlink and the same number of SC-FDMA symbols in the time domain as OFDM symbols in the downlink.
In the time domain, LTE downlink transmissions may be organized into radio frames of 10 ms, each radio frame consisting of ten equally-sized subframes of length Tsubframe=1 ms as shown, for example, in FIG. 1. Each subframe comprises two slots of duration 0.5 ms each, and the slot numbering within a frame ranges from 0 to 19. For normal cyclic prefix, one subframe consists of 14 OFDM symbols. The duration of each symbol is approximately 71.4 μs.
Furthermore, the resource allocation in LTE is typically described in terms of resource blocks, where a resource block may correspond to one slot (e.g., 0.5 ms) in the time domain and 12 contiguous subcarriers in the frequency domain. A pair of two adjacent resource blocks in time direction (e.g., 1.0 ms) may be known as a resource block pair. Resource blocks are numbered in the frequency domain, starting with 0 from one end of the system bandwidth.
Downlink transmissions may be dynamically scheduled, i.e., in each subframe the base station transmits control information about which terminals data is transmitted to and upon which resource blocks the data is transmitted, in the current downlink subframe. This control signaling is typically transmitted in the first 1, 2, 3 or 4 OFDM symbols in each subframe and the number n=1, 2, 3 or 4 is known as the Control Format Indicator (CFI). The downlink subframe may also contain common reference symbols, which are known to the receiver and are used for coherent demodulation of, e.g., the control information. A downlink system with CFI=3 OFDM symbols as control is illustrated in FIG. 3, as an example. The reference symbols shown in FIG. 3 are the cell specific reference symbols (CRS) and are used to support multiple functions including fine time and frequency synchronization and channel estimation for certain transmission modes.
Uplink transmissions may be dynamically scheduled, i.e., in each downlink subframe the base station transmits control information about which terminals should transmit data to, for example, the evolved node B (eNB) base station in subsequent subframes, and upon which resource blocks the data is transmitted. The uplink resource grid may be comprised of data and uplink control information in the physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), uplink control information in the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), and various reference signals such as demodulation reference signals (DMRS) and sounding reference signals (SRS). DMRS are used for coherent demodulation of PUSCH and PUCCH data, whereas SRS is not associated with any data or control information but is generally used to estimate the uplink channel quality for purposes of frequency-selective scheduling. An example uplink subframe is shown in FIG. 4. Note that UL DMRS and SRS may be time-multiplexed into the UL subframe, and SRS may always be transmitted in the last symbol of a normal UL subframe. The PUSCH DMRS may be transmitted once every slot for subframes with normal cyclic prefix, and can be located in the fourth and eleventh single carrier (SC)-FDMA symbols.
From LTE Rel-11 onwards, downlink (DL), i.e., from the network node to the wireless device, or UL resource assignments can also be scheduled on the enhanced Physical Downlink Control Channel (EPDCCH). For Rel-8 to Rel-10 only the Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) is available. Resource grants are wireless device-specific and may be indicated by scrambling the downlink control information (DCI) Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) with the wireless device-specific cell-radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI). A unique C-RNTI may be assigned by a cell to every wireless device associated with it, and can take values in the range 0001-FFF3 in hexadecimal format. A wireless device uses the same C-RNTI on all serving cells. An uplink subframe is shown in FIG. 4.
LTE Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) Operations
In LTE system, HARQ protocol is used to enhance transmission reliability. When an initial transmission is not received correctly by the receiver, the receiver stores the received signal in a soft buffer and signals to the transmitter of such unsuccessful transmission as illustrated in FIG. 5, as an example. The transmitter can then retransmit the information (referred to as the transport block in LTE specifications) using the same channel coded bits or different channel coded bits. The receiver can then combine the retransmission signal with that stored in the soft buffer. Such combining of signals greatly enhances the reliability of the transmission.
In the LTE system, the data transmission may be protected by a rate 1/3 turbo code. To simplify signaling and operation complexity, a conceptual model referred to as the circular buffer can be used in the LTE HARQ operations. This circular buffer model is illustrated in FIG. 6, as an example, for the case of single spatial layer transmission. The buffer consists of 32 columns of systematic bits followed by 64 columns of parity bits generated by the turbo encoder. The number of rows depends on the size of the code block to be transmitted. For example, the number of rows equals 193 when the code block size is 6144 bits.
To simplify the signaling of what bits are transmitted to the receiver, four redundancy versions are defined. Each redundancy version (RV) may be defined as the bits that can be read out of the circular buffer column-by-column starting from the head of a specific column in the circular buffer. The starting points of the four redundancy versions RV=0, 1, 2 and 3 are the heads of column #2, #26, #50 and #74 (note the numbering of columns starts from 0). For a transmission using a specific redundancy version, the transmitter reads the bits starting from the start of the redundancy version until the necessary amount of bits are obtained. If the reading reaches the end of the buffer and still more bits are needed, the reading of bits then resumes from the beginning of the buffer.
In the case of multi-spatial layer transmission, two transport blocks are transmitted in LTE. For the downlink, the circular buffer size is cut in half by discarding part of the parity bits. More specifically, the circular buffer model is illustrated in FIG. 7, as an example, for the case of multi-spatial layer transmission. In this case, the buffer consists of 32 columns of systematic bits followed by 16 columns of parity bits generated by the turbo encoder. The starting points of the four redundancy versions RV=0, 1, 2 and 3 are the heads of column #2, #14, #26 and #38 (note the numbering of columns starts from 0).
It can be appreciated by one skilled in the art that it is generally advantageous to perform retransmission that carries more bits that have not been transmitted in previous transmission attempts. For instance, in a so-called Chase combining protocol, the transmitter sends initial transmission using RV=0 and resends subsequent retransmissions also using RV=0. Such a simple HARQ protocol mostly provides benefits from combining the signal energy from the transmissions resulting in, for example, a 3 dB gain for 2 transmissions and 4.8 dB for 3 transmissions. On the other hand, in a so-called incremental redundancy protocol, the transmitter picks a redundancy version (RV) that shares at least a number of bits as the redundancy version that was used in the initial transmissions. This HARQ protocol provides both an energy gain and additional coding gains. Using the highest rate transmission using 256 quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) as an example, 8.4 dB gain can be obtained after 2 transmissions and 11.3 dB gain can be obtained after 3 transmissions.
Rel-14 Semi Persistent Scheduling (SPS)
With semi persistent scheduling the signaling delay-overhead imparting dynamic scheduling in LTE is overcome. While dynamically scheduling in LTE, the wireless device should be granted with UL radio resources, which it must request as part of the scheduling request (SR) procedure, in integrated services digital network (ISDN) user adaptation (IUA), a long lasting grant for uplink resources is provided by the base station even before UL data becomes available in the wireless device. The grant indicates recurring resources that the wireless device may use, if data becomes available, but does not mandate the wireless device to do a padding transmission, in case no UL data is available. This way the UL access latency is reduced, while wireless device power consumption and uplink interference is not increased.
The basic concept is illustrated in FIG. 8. To speed up small data transmissions in UL (e.g. transmission control protocol (TCP) acknowledgements (ACKs)), wireless devices are configured with an SPS grant, i.e., a small recurring UL resource. While no data is available, the wireless device is in an inactive phase, i.e. does not use the granted resources. Once data becomes available, it can instantly (i.e. on the next available SPS resource) transmit the data, ensuring a low latency. If the base station realizes, e.g. based on a received buffer status request (BSR) that larger amounts of UL data are available, the base station would provide the wireless device with dynamic grants of a larger resource allocation. This would be considered the active phase.
Within the 3GPP Rel-14 work item, enhanced version of SPS was standardized. Thereby, more frequent occurrences of SPS subframes have been introduced, i.e. shorter periods of down to 1 ms are configurable, and the mandate to send padding if no data is available has been removed. It had been further specified that reception of the provided SPS grant (or release) is to be confirmed by the wireless device with a medium access control (MAC) control element. This way the base station is sure that the wireless device is configured with SPS (or released of SPS). Further, non-adaptive retransmissions in SPS are enabled on SPS-resources. In fact, non-adaptive retransmissions are prioritized over sending newly available data. (Note that previously on SPS resources, only new transmissions were done).
For the base station, SPS comes with the following complexities: when an uplink transmission is skipped by the wireless device, the base station does not necessarily know of the skip or is unable to identify if the wireless device skipped the transmission or if the transmission had failed. One proposal to solve this dilemma is by having the base station always sending a non-acknowledgment (NACK) on the physical HARQ indicator channel (PHICH) in these cases. The wireless device would, if it had sent data previously, attempt a retransmission; otherwise ignore the NACK. This way, the wireless device data cannot be mistakenly considered as having acknowledged (ACKed), in which case the HARQ buffer for the retransmission may be overridden by a new data transmission. Furthermore, HARQ retransmissions can be configured with a fixed redundancy version, which is helpful for the base station, since it might have missed the first transmission and thus might not be able to decode a subsequent retransmission with an unexpected redundancy version.
Licensed-Assisted Access (LAA) to Unlicensed Spectrum Using LTE
Up to now, the spectrum used by LTE is generally dedicated to LTE. This has the advantage that the LTE system does not need to care about the coexistence issue and the spectrum efficiency can be maximized. However, the spectrum allocated to LTE is limited and cannot meet the ever increasing demand for larger throughput from applications and services. Therefore, Rel-13 LAA extended LTE to exploit unlicensed spectrum in addition to licensed spectrum, see for example 3GPP TS 36.300 V14.3.0 (2017 Jun. 23). Unlicensed spectrum can, by definition, be simultaneously used by multiple different technologies. Therefore, LTE needs to consider the coexistence issue with other systems such as IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi). Operating LTE in the same manner in unlicensed spectrum as in licensed spectrum can seriously degrade the performance of Wi-Fi as Wi-Fi will not transmit once it detects the channel is occupied.
Furthermore, one way to utilize the unlicensed spectrum reliably is to transmit essential control signals and channels on a licensed carrier. That is, as shown in FIG. 9, for example, a wireless device is connected to a PCell in the licensed band and one or more SCells in the unlicensed band. In this application we denote a secondary cell in unlicensed spectrum as licensed-assisted access secondary cell (LAA SCell). In the case of standalone operation as in MulteFire, for example, no licensed cell is available for uplink control signal transmissions.
LAA HARQ Design
In the LAA study item Asynchronous HARQ is recommended for LAA UL physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH). That means UL retransmissions may not only occur one round trip time (RTT) (e.g. n+8) after the initial transmission, but rather at any point in time. This is considered beneficial in particular when retransmissions are blocked and postponed due to LBT. When introducing asynchronous HARQ, the wireless device should therefore assume that all transmitted UL HARQ processes were successful (set local status to acknowledged (ACK)). The wireless device performs a HARQ retransmission for a HARQ process only upon reception of a corresponding UL grant (new data indicator (NDI) not toggled) from the base station.
MulteFire HARQ Design
Downlink HARQ
After reception of the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH)/enhanced PDCCH (EPDCCH) and associated physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) in subframe 'n', the wireless device may have the associated HARQ feedback ready for transmission in subframe 'n+4'. The wireless device may transmit any pending HARQ feedback at the earliest possible uplink transmission opportunity following the 'n+4' constraint. The uplink transmission opportunity is defined according to either MulteFire (MF)-sPUCCH or MF-ePUCCH resources being available for the wireless device. When transmitting the HARQ feedback associated to the PDSCH, the wireless device may collect pending feedback. The pending HARQ feedback may potentially include feedback for several downlink transmissions. The pending HARQ feedback may be collected in a bitmap with an implicit association between the index in the bitmap and the HARQ process identification (ID). The size of this bitmap is configurable by the base station. The maximum number of HARQ processes for DL operation is 16. When signaled in the MF-ePUCCH/sPUCCH bitmap, the default status of a HARQ-ID packet is NACK unless there is an ACK available to be sent.
Uplink HARQ
MF adopts asynchronous UL HARQ operation as introduced in LTE Rel-13 for enhanced machine type communications (eMTC). There is no support for non-adaptive HARQ operation, and the wireless device may ignore any information content on the PHICH resources with respect to HARQ operation. The PHICH resources are maintained as part of the downlink transmission resources, but the information content is reserved for future use. Any uplink transmission (new transmission or retransmission) is scheduled through UL grant through PDCCH/EPDCCH.
Unscheduled Uplink for LAA/MulteFire
For the LTE UL channel access, both wireless device and base station need to perform LBT operations corresponding to the scheduling request, scheduling grant and data transmission phases. In contrast, Wi-Fi terminals only need to perform LBT once in the UL data transmission phase. Moreover, Wi-Fi terminals can asynchronously send data compared to the synchronized LTE system. Thus, Wi-Fi terminals have a natural advantage over LTE terminals in UL data transmission, and show superior performance in collocated deployment scenarios as seen in some simulation studies. Overall, study results show that Wi-Fi has a better uplink performance than LTE particularly in low-load or less congested network conditions. As the network congestion or load is increased, the LTE channel access mechanism (time division multiple access (TDMA) type) becomes more efficient, but Wi-Fi uplink performance is still superior.
Both MulteFire and 3GPP are discussing the support of unscheduled UL, also known as autonomous UL or grant-less UL, on unlicensed cells. For 3GPP, the autonomous UL functionality can be achieved by using the existing LTE Rel-14 SPS feature with some additional enhancements. This way, the wireless device can autonomously transmit the PUSCH without a dynamic UL grant and therefore UL latency can be lower by reducing the control signaling related to scheduling that precede every UL transmission. It has been shown that autonomous UL LAA performs significantly better than scheduled UL at low load due to the reduced signaling overhead. In addition, it coexists fairly with coexisting Wi-Fi network.
In scheduled mode, the UL access is controlled by the base station and is indicated to the wireless device via dynamic UL grant including time frequency resources, modulation and coding scheme (MCS), HARQ process ID, new data indicator (NDI), RV, etc. The wireless device then attempts to access the channel for the time for which the grant is valid and once LBT succeeds, the wireless device sends UL following the configuration indicated in UL grant. Then, the base station detects and decodes the uplink signal. However, the situation is not straight forward in unscheduled mode. In unscheduled mode, the base station does not know when to expect the UL transmission, as the wireless device autonomously sends the uplink transmission without a dynamic UL grant. Therefore, additional UL control signaling is required to avoid any ambiguity and support efficient autonomous UL operation.
MulteFire has agreed to introduce new uplink control information (UCI) (G-UCI) including following information:
HARQ processes;
Explicit C-RNTI wireless device identification (ID) is contained in the G-UCI;
NDI, RV is contained in the G-UCI;
Mean channel open time (MCOT) related information is contained in the G-UCI;                The base station determines whether to share or not,        Remaining MCOT up to 10 states,        1 bit flag to indicate the ending grant-less uplink (GUL) subframe, and                    For future study (FFS): other states to indicate the ending of GUL, then drop 1 bit flag;
MCS is not contained in G-UCI; and
No A-CSI (Channel State Information), HARQ ACK/NACK in the GUL PUSCH
The G-uplink control information (G-UCI) physical channel can reuse the MF1.0 rate matching for ACK/NACK and channel state information (CSI), and is transmitted in every GUL subframe and scrambled with cell specific pre-defined value.
Unscheduled UL HARQ Design
One issue when autonomous UL (AUL) based on SPS feature is supported is the UL HARQ design. When SPS is activated, the base station proactively sends NACK on PHICH for the SPS resource until UL data has been decoded. The SPS HARQ design is based on synchronous UL HARQ. The data reception and the feedback transmission have a fixed time relation of 4 subframes. This design might work if the feedback is sent on the primary licensed carrier that is always available. Nevertheless, with the intention of overbooking the resources on the LAA unlicensed carrier, it is not clear how PHICH collisions can be avoided. On the other hand, the same design is not applicable for unlicensed carrier: first, the PHICH is not available on LAA secondary cells; second, the process highly utilizes the unlicensed channel; and third, this kind of synchronous behaviour with fixed timing between data transmission and feedback reception cannot be deployed on the unlicensed channel due to uncertainty of channel availability.
Alternatively, when transmitting the HARQ feedback associated to the autonomous PUSCH, the base station may collect pending feedback. The pending HARQ feedback may potentially include feedback for several uplink transmissions. The pending HARQ feedback may be collected in a bitmap with an implicit association between the index in the bitmap and the HARQ process ID (for instance: 0 to indicate NACK, 1 to indicate ACK). The bitmap may also encompass the UL HARQ processes configured on multiple UL cells. A new downlink control information (DCI) (A-DCI) on ePDCCH is introduced to send the bit map.
In release 14 SPS, HARQ retransmissions can be configured with a fixed redundancy version, since it might have missed the first transmission and thus might not be able to decode a subsequent retransmission with an unexpected redundancy version.

Redundancy versions in a hybrid automatic repeat request, HARQ process


A powered device includes a power supply input, a diode bridge, and a power loss detector. The power supply input is responsive to an external power source. The diode bridge has an input to receive at least one power supply input. The power loss detector includes an input responsive to the power supply input. The power loss detector is adapted to detect a power loss event and to initiate a power shutdown. In one embodiment, the powered device includes a load circuit to receive a power supply voltage from the diode bridge. The load circuit is responsive to the power loss detector to perform a power shutdown operation.

In general, power over Ethernet (PoE) refers to a technique for delivering power via Ethernet cabling to a powered device, which is an electronic device adapted to derive power from the Ethernet cabling and which is outlined in IEEE Std 802.3™-2005 clause 33. PoE eliminates the need for a separate power source for powered devices, simplifying installation. Powered devices may include voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) telephones, wireless routers, security devices, field devices to monitor process control parameters, data processors, and the like.
An unexpected loss of power to a powered device may cause loss of data, loss of a device's state, and so on. Moreover, an unexpected power loss event may cause problems with associated software. An unexpected loss of power may occur, for example, when an Ethernet cable is disconnected from the powered device. To perform a controlled shutdown (e.g. to allow time for storing a machine state and to initiate a controlled shutdown of associated circuitry), sufficient time to execute such processes is needed after detection of a power loss event.
The IEEE Std 802.3™-2005 standard specifies that a powered device should include an input filter capacitor of less than 120 nF and greater than 50 nF, and that an input power supply ripple at the input of an Ethernet cable to the powered device (at an RJ-45 input, for example), and at a switching frequency of 350 kHz, should be less than 100 mV. This input filter capacitor introduces a capacitive time constant that produces a voltage decay in response to a power loss event. The input filter capacitor initially discharges to provide a filtered voltage supply with a relatively linear decreasing slope, which may be difficult to detect relative to other types of power fluctuations. Even when a power source has been removed, the filter capacitor may prevent powered circuitry coupled in parallel with the capacitor from experiencing immediate power loss, since the capacitor discharges like a battery. Therefore, there is a need for enhanced power loss detection in powered electronic devices.

System and method of detection of power loss in powered ethernet devices


High performance grains dryer fed by a heat generating source through hot air stabilizers linked to the drying column and the dryer tower, which is constituted by a series of parallel ducts, between which passes the downstream vertical now of grains, unevenly set in oblique alignment and fed so that each duct that operates as hot air entry presents laterally adjacent ducts that operate as used air exit, causing the appearance of air lows crossed to the right, crossed to the left, concurrent and countercurrent, the adopted air flows varying along the drying tower, decreasing along the same, while the perimeter walls of the dryer are equipped with particles separators that generate air flow to the dryer and separate the particles expelled by the drying process, re-conducting them to the burning in the furnace through return ducts. The drying tower is assembled on a hydraulic discharge mechanism, which controls the speed of the grains inside the dryer, releasing the grains in short cycles, eliminating self-classification and providing a uniform discharge of the product, the bottom presenting windows for the reversion of the air flow at the grains discharge.

The technological sector in which is inserted the present invention is the equipments sector for receiving, drying and storage of grains, and which refers, more specifically to a high performance dryer, adequate for the drying of a multiplicity of grains, such as soy beans, wheat, corn, beans, rice, sunflower grains, barley, canola, and others. This dryer conjugates in its drying tower the three air flow principles adopted in drying processes (concurrent, counter current, and crossed), besides presenting different air flow values from the top to the bottom of the tower, taking into consideration the grains' nature and their behavior during the drying in order to obtain the maximum efficiency in the process, also incorporating means for homogenization in the grains loading box, hydraulic discharge, and hot air homogenization.
The grains' drying after their harvesting and before the storage is needed due to the characteristic changes of highly hydrated products in large quantities, such as the glycides oxidation or respiration, intracellular fermentations, bacteria and fungi development, and all the resulting noxious effects.
The purpose of drying is the partial separation of a liquid (generally water), from the solid matter (grain alimentary substance), this target being reached by the water movement due to the water vapor partial pressure difference between the surface of the grains to be dried (which should be higher) and the air that involves the same (whose water vapor pressure should be lower). Water evaporates initially on the grain surface, and later the evaporation takes place inside the product. It is important to highlight that the water participates actively in the grain formation, and, therefore, it is found under different forms in this one. There are water molecules linked chemically to the components of the grain matter, which are not solvent, and which cannot be taken out by drying; however, there is also liquid water under osmotic tension, which is solvent and that retains different dissolved substances, being taken out in large part by drying (but not completely). This constitution of the grains must be considered in the drying process in order not to cause serious damage to them.
Drying can be natural, by exposing the wet product to the Sun, or can be artificial, performed in a dryer in which the product is submitted to the action of a heated air current. The heated air forced convection through the grains layer is possible because the product is granulated and not compact, and also presents a determined porosity coefficient. In this process the air performs a double role, of heat transporter fluid and of vapor transporter fluid.
The artificial drying allows to decrease rapidly the water content of agricultural products harvested wet, and avoid the undesirable alterations previously mentioned, by making use of three different techniques: drying with concurrent flow, in which the air and the product advance parallel and in the same direction in the dryer; drying with countercurrent flow, in which the air and the product advance parallel and in opposite directions, and, at last: drying with crossed flow, in which the product and the air move in perpendicular directions, principle used in the majority of grain dryers. Each of these flow types will have a different effect on the product to be dried. There are not any dryers known that combine these principles in only one equipment.
The drying performance of a grains mass crossed by a heated air current depends of the simultaneous occurrence of heat transfer to the grains, and of the water transfer from the grains to the air. The drying intensity factors increase with the air speed, and decrease with the thickness of the grains layer; in other words, they depend of the specific air flow, expressed in cubic meters of air per cubic meters of grains per time unit. The air temperature and the way how this is heated also influence the performance.
The dryer conception has direct result on the final result, and there may occur breakages and splitting of the grains after drying, or darkening phenomena of the same, in accordance with the process dynamics performed by the dryer. In particular, the last water quantities to be withdrawn from the grains to obtain the desired final humidity are the most critical, for being those of the highest demand from the energetic point of view, and the ones that could cause the greatest damage to the grains under the point of view of quality, inconvenient at the end of the drying, which can be maximized in accordance with the dryer's operation mode.
As relevant documents, for the present order, are mentioned previous deposits of the same demander, for being complementary and integrated in the screen dryer. The "hot air stabilizer", object of the patent process PI0508803-6, which executes the air volume and temperature balance between the heat source exit and the drying column and provides the uniform and efficient feeding along this one, eliminating the temperature gradients. The "solid particles separator", object of the order PI0207246-7, which generates the air for to the dryer and simultaneously makes the separation of the pellicles and particles expelled by the drying process, re-conducting them to the burning in the furnace.


A method for operating a domestic appliance to reduce consumption of one or more operating resources includes receiving data about a temporal cost profile of the operating resources, having a first time interval with low costs and a second time interval with high costs, comparing a operating time period with the first time interval and determining a point in time for starting operation as a function of a result of the comparison, when the operating time period is longer than the first time interval, determining a temporal program segment with a higher consumption than other program segments based on a temporal consumption profile that describes consumption as a function of time during operation, and determining the point in time for starting the operation such that the program segment with the higher consumption falls within the first time interval.

The invention relates to a method for operating a domestic appliance. For at least one operating resource data containing information about a temporal cost profile of the operating resource is received, comprising at least a first time interval with low costs and a second time interval with high costs for the operating resource. A time period of operation of the domestic appliance is compared with the first time interval, in which the costs of the operating resource are low. A time point for the start of operation is determined as a function of the result of said comparison. The invention also relates to a control facility for operating a domestic appliance, which is configured to implement such a method. Finally the invention relates to a domestic appliance having such a control facility.
It is normal for households to have a number of domestic appliances running at the same time, for example a washing machine, dishwasher, tumble dryer and refrigeration appliance. If the domestic appliances run through the respective programs without taking account of the other domestic appliances, a maximum permissible power consumption in the household or in a larger electricity system segment can be exceeded or load peaks can be generated which overload the electricity supply system. This happens for example when high power consumers in different domestic appliances are activated at the same time. Such high power consumers can be for example a heater, an electric motor and a compressor.
So-called intelligent power supply systems or smart grids provide a remedy for uneven load distribution. Such intelligent power supply systems therefore ensure even load distribution in a specified electricity system segment, whether by means of corresponding control commands to electrical appliances or by transmitting information about the temporal profile of energy prices. Energy suppliers are or will be required to offer transparent and flexible tariffs. A domestic appliance can therefore receive data—for example by way of the internet—containing information about the temporal profile of prices for electrical energy (or a different operating resource), in other words information about a temporal cost profile for electrical energy. The domestic appliance can use such information so that for example operation of the domestic appliance is only initiated at a time point when the costs of electrical energy are at their lowest. Such an intelligent procedure can not only relieve the load on the power supply system at certain times of day but it can also reduce costs.
The present invention is based essentially on the subject matter according to publication US 2003/0178894 A1. This document describes a method for controlling the power consumption of an electrical domestic appliance. The domestic appliance receives data containing information about the temporal distribution of the costs of electrical energy. This temporal distribution includes both a time interval with low energy costs and a time interval with high energy costs. Operation of the domestic appliance can only be started when the instantaneous or current time point lies within the low cost time interval. The duration of this time interval is also compared with the time period of operation. Operation is only started on condition that the time period of operation is shorter than the duration of the cited time interval. The method described in the document US 2003/0178894 A1 therefore has the disadvantage that there may be situations in which the time period of operation of the domestic appliance is longer than the duration of the low cost energy time interval. In such instances operation of the domestic appliance cannot be initiated and the domestic appliance does not carry out its actual function.
A washing machine is known from the publication DE 10 2005 055 648 A1, which is configured to prepare hot water. The washing machine contains a water storage unit, which is connected to an external water supply. A control unit controls a process for preparing hot water and communicates with an external unit, which supplies information about energy costs for operation of the washing machine. The process for preparing hot water is activated as a function of the information supplied, specifically when energy costs for operating the washing machine are at their lowest during the course of the day.
An appliance system comprising a plurality of intercommunicating domestic appliances is known from the publication EP 0 727 668 A1. The domestic appliances communicate with one another by way of a communication bus. An overall power consumed by the domestic appliances is measured by a measuring device. The measuring device sends data by way of the communication bus containing information about the current overall power in each instance. Each domestic appliance can tap the same data at the communication bus and set its own power consumption taking into account the information contained in the data. The domestic appliances compare the momentary overall power in each instance with a predetermined limit value. If the overall power exceeds the predetermined limit value, the domestic appliances reduce their power consumption.
In the subject matter according to publication DE 44 46 883 A1 an operator is assisted with the operation of a washing machine in that a distinctive signal is output when a predetermined temperature setting—e.g. 95° C.—is selected. Such a signal informs the operator that the washing process uses a great deal of energy when the selected temperature setting is applied.
A measuring and display device which can be used to measure the power consumption of a domestic appliance is known from the publication GB 2 416 852 A. The measuring and display device comprises a screen, on which the instantaneous power consumption of the domestic appliance is displayed in each instance. The costs of the electrical energy consumed can also be displayed on the screen. The measuring and display device can interrupt operation of the domestic appliance by decoupling the domestic appliance from a supply system when energy costs exceed a predetermined threshold. The measuring and display device can also be integrated in a domestic appliance, specifically in a plug-type facility of the domestic appliance.
The publication US 2008/0015742 A1 describes a system consisting of a plurality of domestic appliances. An apparatus is assigned to each domestic appliance, which serves to generate appliance-specific state data for the respective domestic appliance. Each domestic appliance therefore generates its own state data and transmits said state data to the other domestic appliances. Each domestic appliance also receives the state data of the other domestic appliances. The apparatus processes such state data of its own domestic appliance and the received state data; it then decides—independently of other domestic appliances—whether or not its own domestic appliance is to be brought into operation. The state data includes for example information about the quantity of electrical energy required.
It is known from the publication DE 697 28 496 T2 that the energy consumption of a domestic appliance can be displayed by means of a display facility. Energy consumption can be predicted and displayed on a screen. During a wash process of the washing machine the momentary power consumption in each instance or a total energy consumption of the washing machine is also displayed.
WO 2005/059454 describes a method for defrosting a refrigerator at low cost. With this method information about a low tariff time interval is received from the supplier. It is checked whether an impending defrost operation can be displaced within a tolerance range so that the defrost operation starts in the low tariff time interval. If this is not possible, the defrost operation is still started without consideration of the instantaneously applicable tariff.

Method and apparatus for operating a domestic appliance and domestic appliance


Drive unit for a vibrating spiral conveyor, consisting of a base part, with which an opposed-action part and a fastening part, the motion of which is coupled with that of a pot, are connected flexibly, the former over several first leaf spring elements and the latter over several second leaf spring elements, it being possible to bring the opposed-action part and the fastening part into an opposite, oscillating, torsionally vibrating movement about a central axis of rotation, characterized in that the leaf spring elements (10, 11) are disposed in such a manner that their central transverse axis (M), which is perpendicular to the longitudinal axis, intersects a leaf spring element (10, 11) essentially in the center with respect to its length and extends parallel to the lateral surfaces of the spring, is disposed essentially radially to the axis of rotation (D).

The invention relates to a drive unit for a vibrating spiral conveyor, consisting of a base part, with which an opposed-action part and a fastening part, the motion of which is coupled with that of a pot, are connected flexibly, the former over several first leaf spring elements and the latter over several second leaf spring elements, it being possible to bring the opposed-action part and the fastening part into an opposite, torsionally vibrating movement about a central axis of rotation.
Vibrating, spiral conveyors serve to convey and, optionally, orient small components, which are brought, as a disordered quantity, into the conveyor pot. At the inner surface of the conveyor pot, a peripheral conveyor helix is provided, along which the smallest components are moved forwards by micro-throws during the operation, during which the pot vibrates at a high frequency. A vibrating spiral conveyor with a drive unit of the type in question here is known, for example, from EP 0 644 134 B1. The drive unit, described there, has a base part, over which it and, with it, the vibrating spiral conveyor are fastened to a machine table or a machine frame, rubber buffers being interposed. During operation, parts, vibrating opposite to one another, are connected over appropriate leaf spring elements with the base part, namely, on the one hand, an opposed-action part, which is connected flexibly with the base part over several first leaf spring elements, and, on the other, a fastening part, which is coupled flexibly over several second leaf spring elements with the base part. The opposite movements of the parts is brought about by a drive device, acting between them, as a rule, an electromagnetic drive device with a magnetic core, which is fastened especially at the opposed-action part, and a magnet armature, which is disposed at the fastening part.
The possibility of moving both parts relative to one another and relative to the base is ensured, as described, over the respective leaf spring elements. For drive units of the type in question, the leaf spring elements are disposed distributed about the central axis of rotation. Admittedly, by this construction, appreciable damping of interfering vibrations, introduced into the base part and passed on by the latter to the machine frame, can be achieved because of the equalization of vibrational forces due to the oppositely vibrating masses. However, during prolonged operation and, with that, fatigue loading of the leaf spring elements, damage to the leaf spring elements up to breakage of the springs has resulted from the stress on the springs. Frequently, in spite of the similar construction of the drive units and of the assembled vibrating spiral conveyors, a uniform vibrating behavior could not be observed. This means that there is a relative large scatter in the vibrating behavior of the individual units. Finally, the conveying speeds of vibrating spiral conveyors of similar construction were frequently also different.
The invention is therefore based on the problem of indicating a drive unit, which is an improvement by comparison and permits a reliable and homogeneous vibrating behavior.


A catheter includes an elongate catheter body having an outer surface with a non-uniform contour and including a plurality of maximum surface elevation points and a plurality of minimum surface elevation points defining a non-uniform elevation profile relative to a longitudinal axis of the catheter body. The outer surface further includes a fluid transfer interface which includes the plurality of minimum surface elevation points and a plurality of porous surface areas, and a tissue contact interface which includes the plurality of maximum surface elevation points and a plurality of nonporous surface areas. The tissue contact interface inhibits external occlusion of the fluid transfer interface during transferring fluid between a fluid lumen defined by the elongate catheter body, and an intraluminal space such as an intravascular space within a patient.

Percutaneous access to the cardiovascular system is used to diagnose, evaluate, and treat a variety of conditions. A typical procedure involves passing a wire guide through an opening in a patient's skin to a vascular structure such as a vein or artery. The wire guide can then be passed through the cardiovascular system to a location of interest within the patient. Once the wire guide has been appropriately positioned, a catheter may be guided by the wire guide to a location where a procedure is to be performed. Angioplasty, imaging, and the placement of stents, grafts, filters and other devices, are common procedures which are performed according to variations of the above general technique. It is also common to use percutaneous access for the placement of catheters which deliver fluid at an intraluminal treatment site. Devices known as infusion catheters are commonly used to deliver a therapeutic treatment fluid such as a thrombolytic agent to a clot or other undesired tissue within a vein or artery. A wide variety of infusion catheter designs are known and commercially available. One general class of infusion catheters utilizes a longitudinally extending lumen which connects a supply of therapeutic fluid located outside of the patient with an intraluminal space by way of ports communicating between the lumen and the intraluminal space.
A typical infusion procedure involves leaving an infusion catheter within a patient for a period of time while treatment fluid flows from the fluid supply into the infusion catheter, and thenceforth into the intraluminal space. A variety of factors can influence how long the infusion procedure lasts. The size of the vascular structure which includes the treatment site, the type of treatment fluid such as a type of lytic agent, geometry and/or age of a clot or other intravascular material, and still other factors such as the distance fluid must travel from the fluid supply to the treatment site, can all affect the selection and administration of a particular infusion procedure. Decisions regarding the selection and administration of a particular infusion procedure are generally made by the attending clinician, and may be updated as the procedure progresses. In any event, there can be a relatively wide range in infusion procedure duration, volume of fluid infused, infusion technique such as pulsed or continuous flow and the particular type of infusion catheter used. In some instances fluid may be infused, often at a relatively high infusion pressure, for a relatively short period of time, for example less than one hour. In other cases, the total infusion time may be five, six or even twelve hours or greater, and infusion may take place intermittently or more or less continuously at a range of different infusion pressures, from relatively low to relatively high.
While various practices have been successful for years, there remains room for improvement. Basic assumptions exist about the operation and behavior of infusion catheters while resident in a vein or artery. For example, it is often assumed that all portions of an infusion length of an infusion catheter will predictably, reliably and uniformly infuse fluid into an intraluminal treatment site throughout the entire course of an infusion procedure. These basic assumptions may not always be valid, however, particularly for procedures using relatively low infusion pressures and prolonged residency of an infusion catheter in a vein or artery.

Catheter, fluid conveying method, and percutaneous procedure


A focusing method having depth-of-field adaptability and aperture adaptability is provided. The method is applied to an image capture unit. A plurality of first images are captured in an image capture window according to a plurality of objects for obtaining a plurality of distances between the plurality objects and the image capture unit. Thereby, a focus distance of the image capture unit is given. Then, according to a maximum value and a minimum vale of the plurality of distances, the first aperture is adjusted to a second aperture, so that the image capture unit can acquire a complete depth of field by means of the second aperture and the focus distance. Accordingly, the preferred focus distance and depth of field satisfying the requirements for theme or special depth of field can be acquired. In addition, image capturing can be performed for a shorter exposure time.

In recent years, due to the advancement in image capturing and display techniques, people's requirement for image quality has become higher and higher; and associated applications for the image capturing and display techniques have been more and more widely performed. The camera function almost has been a necessary function in modern mobile devices such as smartphones, tablet computers and so on. Optical focusing for imaging in development and design of a camera is a crucial part. The automatically focusing system of a camera was under much attention extensively since early days. The development of the key techniques in the automatically focusing system always has been one of the emphases in research and development for camera manufacturers. Nonetheless, most focusing systems of image capturing apparatuses often can focus on a single object only. Even though modern digital cameras provide the multi-target auto-focusing function for focusing multiple objects at different distances concurrently, the acquired image cannot present effect of shallow depth-of-field accurately in the interested region for a user.
In general, a lens can concentrate the light from a fixed distance only. Images departing from the fixed distance will blur gradually. Nonetheless, within a certain range, the degree of image blur is imperceptible. This range is so-called the depth of field (DOF), which means the range of clear imaging for human eyes. The DOF of imaging is usually determined by the distance between the object and the camera lens, the focus distance of the camera, and the aperture value of the lens. As the aperture value of the lens is increased (namely, the aperture is shrunk), the DOF of imaging is increased; as the aperture value of the lens is decreased (namely, the aperture is enlarged), the DOF of imaging is decreased. In addition, change of the DOF is also made by different lens positions during photographing.
Normally, no matter professional cameras, such as digital single-lens reflex cameras, or consumer cameras, such as general entry-level digital cameras, the built-in optical focusing systems will only focus objects at a specific distance under a given DOF condition.
The influence of this limitation on the focusing operation for scenes having only one single object is less significant. However, for scenes having a plurality of objects located at different distances, there will be problems of choosing the focusing location for the objects and of the overall image clarity for the optical focusing system. Modern camera systems mostly adopt the so-called intelligent focusing method, by which image analysis tools are used for detecting the interested region in a frame and then the focusing location is set to this region.
Nonetheless, this intelligent focusing method cannot solve the focusing problem for a plurality of scene regions covering different DOFs concurrently. Thereby, the aperture should be adjusted smaller (namely, the aperture value should be increased) manually for obtaining a large focusing region. Consequently, it is not guaranteed that modern cameras can adjust automatically to the most appropriate aperture while photographing a plurality of objects for focusing the respective theme regions in the image concurrently as well as highlighting the subject in the scene by using the shallow-DOF effect. Besides, modern cameras cannot acquire the largest aperture satisfying the above criteria to photograph in order to reduce the exposure time while capturing images. Thereby, given a smaller aperture, the exposure time is extended, which increases the influence of object movement or camera shaking on capturing images.
In order to satisfy simultaneously the requirements of the effect of highlighting the photographing subject using a shallow DOF, focusing multiple objects at different distances, and using the largest aperture for image capturing while complying with the above criteria, the present invention provides an adaptive focusing method for solving the problems described above.


Methods and kits are described for testing for the presence or absence of any fungus in a sample. Examples of fungi that can be detected include, but are not limited to, those belonging to the genera Candida, Aspergillus and Pneumocystis. The methods include obtaining a sample suspected of containing fungal nucleic acid, including at least one universal region of fungal nucleic acid, and testing for the presence or absence in the sample of the at least one universal region of fungal nucleic acid. Samples may be biological or non-biological.

Fungal infections are a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in a variety of severely ill patients. For instance, fungi are able to cause superficial and often fatal disseminated infections in immunocompromised patients. Systemic fungal infections cause approximately 25% of infection-related deaths in leukaemics and 5-10% of deaths in patients undergoing lung, pancreas or liver transplantation. Acquired fungal sepsis is also known to occur in up to 13% of very low birth-weight infants.
Members of the Candida genus are responsible for most of the fungal infections in humans. They are the fourth most common cause of nosocomial bloodstream infections. However, other fungal species are also responsible for infections in humans. The members of the Aspergillus genus are the second most common cause of fungal infections behind the members of the Candida genus. However, other genera, including Malassezia, Trichosporon, Fusarium, Acremonium, Rhizopus, Mucor and Absidia, can be responsible for disseminated infections in humans.
The impact of a fungal infection is often exacerbated by a failure to rapidly diagnose and effectively treat the infection. Numerous studies have shown that a delay in appropriate therapy is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. At present, clinical methods of detecting the presence of a fungus in a patient are unreliable and time consuming. For instance, the detection of fungal infections is usually carried out by blood culture, which takes up to 1 to 2 days to perform and often provides false negative results. In addition, some fungi, such as members of the Pneumocystis genus, cannot be cultured easily.
The lack of rapid diagnostic tests for particular fungal species is one of the major impediments to successful management of infected patients. Different species of fungus, even in the same genus, vary in their susceptibilities to the common anti-fungal agents. Some species even display resistance to some agents. The identification of the specific fungal species causing an infection can be even more time consuming that simply detecting the presence of a fungus and this can often further delay effective treatment of the infection.
It is also important that various non-biological samples, such as surgical fluids and drinking water, are known to be fungus free. However, there is currently a lack of rapid tests for the presence of a fungus or for particular fungal genera or species in non-biological samples.

RUTGERS, THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW JERSEY


A wall-mounted, recessed pet feeding system includes a base that can be installed in a wall stud cavity at a predetermined height above a floor. The pet feeding system further includes a pair of pet bowls which interlock into the base to prevent spilling while also enabling easy removal for cleaning and filling.

Millions of Americans keep pets. But caring for a pet is a time-consuming, demanding task that requires a pet owner to continually feed, groom, and clean up after their animal friends. Common pets such as cats and dogs usually receive their food and water from bowls that are resting on the floor. While this works well in many situations, bowls are prone to being tripped over and their contents spilled by adults or children walking by. In addition, such pet bowls must be frequently moved when vacuuming or sweeping and they can take up a relatively large amount of floor space, which may be in short supply in smaller homes. Finally, placing pet bowls on the floor forces pets to bend their head all the way down to eat or drink, which may be uncomfortable or even unhealthy, especially for large pets.
Accordingly, there exists a need for better pet feeding system that eliminates tripping and spilling of pet bowls while also saving floor space. Beneficially such as system would enable a pet to eat and drink from an elevated position that suits the pet's size and shape. Even more beneficially such a system would be easily installed using a minimum of common hand tools.

Wall-mounted recessed pet feeding system


The locking mechanism described herein is for use in an enclosure, which is part of a product delivery system. The locking mechanism uses existing locks and latches, and configures them using linkages into a mechanism that is not currently available. The mechanism has a latch that holds the door of the enclosure closed. This latch stays in a normally unlocked state until deliberate acts are taken to lock the latch. When a delivery is made, the delivery person opens the unlocked door, makes the delivery, and then closes the door and turns the rotary latch counter clockwise until it latches in the locked position. There are three independent and distinct ways to unlock the mechanism: (1) a key can be used to unlock the mechanism; (2) a combination lock can be used to unlock the mechanism; or (3) an emergency release paddle, for child safety is located on the lower back cover of the lock, and can be pushed to unlock the mechanism. If children were playing around the enclosure and one child was locked in the enclosure by another, the child in the enclosure need only to push the paddle to release the lock, and then push the door open. Once unlocked either by the key, the combination, or the release paddle the latch will remain unlocked. The combination of the lock can only be changed by use of the key lock.

Not Applicable.
1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to locking mechanisms, and more particularly, but not necessarily entirely, to a lockable receptacle used for two-party delivery and retrieval of packages and other tangible items delivered by third party couriers using any one of three variations to unlock the receptacle, a three digit combination lock assembly, a key operated lock assembly and a quick release emergency paddle assembly.
2. Description of Related Art
Locking assemblies typically use key type locks or combination type locks. Previous patents have some of the same components but are not configured in the same manner, and they are not designed to be mounted on a single thickness metal door panel. U.S. Pat. No. 5,237,842 (granted Aug. 24, 1993 to Rasch et al.) discloses a key and combination lock for luggage. This locking system is designed for securing together two relatively moveable parts of a piece of luggage and the locking assembly requires the key and combination to be used together instead of one or the other as in the present design. Once locked this system does not allow the latch to be inserted, which would not allow the door on the present invention to be closed. U.S. Pat. No. 4,694,670 (granted Sep. 22, 1987 to Jang) discloses a combined key and combination lock, where the locking system is designed for ea conventional personnel door. The key and combination locks are on opposite sides of the personnel door and the lock is a dead bolt style lock, which does not allow the door to be closed after enabling the lock, which is disadvantageous. U.S. Pat. No. 4,637,237 (granted Jan. 20, 1987 to Witkoski et al.) discloses a door locking system designed to be used on a personnel door, where the lock is always enabled, and the combination lock is a push button style. Thus when the door is closed, it is defaulted to be locked without any manipulation on the part of the user. Therefore, the door is always in the locked position, which is not advantageous for a third party delivery.
With the increase in product deliveries to the home and to businesses, there remains a problem of securing the delivery if no one is available to accept the product or other item being delivered. The present locking mechanism is designed to allow both the lock to be manually enabled, and to allow multiple means of unlocking the mechanism.
The prior art is thus characterized by several disadvantages that are addressed by the present invention. The present invention minimizes, and in some aspects eliminates, the above-mentioned failures, and other problems, by utilizing the methods and structural features described herein.
This locking mechanism is presently designed to work on an enclosure that provides a secure place to accept delivery and pickup of products. The mechanism is designed to allow unlocking via key, combination lock, or emergency release paddle on the back of the locking mechanism. The locking mechanism is used in two ways: first, to deliver products to the enclosure, and second to retrieve items from the secured enclosure. The locking mechanism uses existing locks and latches, then mounts and configures them using linkages into a mechanism that is not commercially available.
The mechanism is designed to be in an unlocked condition until manually locked. When a delivery is made, the delivery person places a package in the enclosure, closes the door and then turns the rotary latch counter clockwise to secure the compartment. This enables the locking mechanism.
There are three independent and distinct ways to unlock the mechanism: (1) a key can be used to unlock the mechanism; (2) a combination lock can be used to unlock the mechanism; or (3) an emergency release paddle, for child safety is located on the lower back cover of the lock, and can be pushed to unlock the mechanism. Once unlocked by use of the key, the combination lock, or the emergency release paddle the latch will remain unlocked, and the door can be opened to access the compartment, until the rotary latch is manually rotated in the counter clockwise direction and locked again.
The combination lock has three-digits, and the combination can only be changed by inputting the correct combination code, inserting the key into the lock, turning and holding the key in the clockwise direction, and inputting a new combination.


Combined cycle power plants and related methods are disclosed here. In the plants, a mediating thermal energy storage unit is used to store waste or residual thermal energy recovered from a heat engine employing a top thermodynamic cycle of the combined cycle power plant, so that the stored residual thermal energy may be used as an energy source in a bottom thermodynamic cycle of the power plant. In the combined cycle power plants described here, the heat engine employing a top cycle may comprise a Brayton cycle heat engine and the heat engine employing the bottom thermodynamic cycle may be a Rankine cycle heat engine.

Well known are thermal power plants that combine Brayton cycle and Rankine cycle systems and in which heat recovered from exhausted Brayton cycle fluid is employed in a Heat Recovery Steam Generator ("HRSG") to generate or augment the generation of steam for expansion in the Rankine cycle system. These known combined cycle systems combining two thermodynamic cycles in sequence can provide for greater operating efficiency and/or faster start-up than single cycle systems.


An arrangement for mounting a sensor at a fixed position with respect to a target is provided. The arrangement includes a housing for the sensor. A mount is provided spaced away from target having a bore. A fastener is provided for insertion into the bore. Fastener has a shank with a tapered portion. A looped bracket is provided having an eyelet for encircling the housing. The bracket has two opposite ends that are at least partially overlapping having generally aligned holes for reception of the shank. One of the bracket ends has a wedge tab. Upon insertion of the shank into the bore the wedge tab is contacted by the tapered portion of the shank to cause the bracket eyelet to close to capture the housing.

The present invention relates to an arrangement and bracket for holding a sensor such as a magnetic sensor in a fixed position with respect to a target.
Magnetic sensors operate on the principle of detecting magnetic flux density modulation caused by the movement of an appropriately configured target (or targets). The magnetic sensor must be affixed very close to the target since its sensitivity decreases very rapidly with the size of the air gap between the target and the magnetic sensor. In most automotive applications, for example, the air gaps are on the order of 0.3 to 1.75 mm. Over such a range of air gaps, the sensor output signal decreases more than ten times. The signal attenuation at large air gaps makes the sensor operation more prone to noise induced failures as well as less accurate in detecting the elements of the target as it spins in relation to the magnetic sensor. Both of these factors are often unacceptable in critical engine control and diagnostic applications.
However, in the majority of production cases, the stack-up of tolerances of the many different components randomly influence the net size of the air gap, which consequently precludes achieving, at each assembly, a precisely predetermined air gap by mere assembly of the parts. As a result, because of the random variations caused by accumulation of tolerances, mere assembly of the parts risks damaging interference between the magnetic sensor and target on the one hand, and inaccurate readings associated with too large an air gap on the other hand. To lessen all the tolerances so that mere assembly assures, at each assembly, the optimum air gap is physically unrealistic and involves inordinate costs associated with manufacturing such precise parts.
The majority of magnetic sensors used in automotive applications involve non-adjustable air gap placement, wherein the stack-up of tolerances causes deviation from the optimal air gap. For example, a rigid bracket is affixed to the body of a magnetic sensor. The magnetic sensor is placed into a sensor port in the engine block, and the bracket is bolted, via a bolt hole in the bracket, to a threaded mounting hole in a mounting surface of the engine block. When the bracket is bolted, the length of the sensor body from the sensor port surface to the sensor tip determines the air gap with respect to the target, which air gap is affected by the stack-up of tolerances. Even though subject to tolerance related placement inaccuracy, this structural mounting methodology is used widely because of the simplicity of the hardware, and ease of assembly and service.
In situations where air gap variation cannot be tolerated, the air gap is preset during magnetic sensor installation by means of an adjustable bracket, often referred to as a xe2x80x9cside mountxe2x80x9d bracket. The adjustability of side mount brackets resides in a bolt slot which allows for the bracket to be adjusted along the slot elongation relative to the threaded mounting hole of the mounting surface.
In one form of operation of a side mount bracket, the sensor body is placed into the sensor port of the engine block such that the sensor tip is allowed to touch the surface of the target, and then it is withdrawn a distance equal to the predetermined optimum air gap. This method is more time consuming and is error prone.
In the prior art, it is known to precisely adjust the air gap using a threaded sensor body and threaded sensor port. This structure is generally used exclusively with magnetic sensors having a single sensing element and having sensing capability unaffected by sensor rotation around its longitudinal axis. In this approach, the sensor tip is brought into touching engagement with the target, and then the sensor body is rotated a predetermined angular amount, wherein the pitch angle of the threads raises the tip a distance equal to the optimum air gap. However, most automotive magnetic sensors contain more than one sensing element and are designed to operate at only one particular angular setting around the sensor axis. Consequently, a threaded sensor body would need to be adjusted in whole revolution steps (i.e., 360 degrees) and air gap adjustment would then be in steps of the thread pitch. While the use of a sufficiently small pitch may render the air gap setting resolution adequate, many sensors are precluded from rotation due to geometrical interferences.
To overcome the above-noted deficiencies, a sensor bracket or system of Stevenson, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,176,636 has been brought forth. Stevenson, et al. has a two-component bracket and drive washer combination which provides secure holding of a magnetic sensor while automatically setting an optimal air gap. Stevenson, et al. has a main bracket component having an aperture and a drive wall at one end of the aperture. A sensor body is connected to the main bracket component and is allowed to touch a target. A reaction bracket has a reaction wall in the aperture opposite the drive wall and is restrained from moving. A drive washer is provided with teeth having a pitch whereby as the washer is pressed between the drive and reaction walls along a transverse axis. The main bracket component is forced to move along a longitudinal axis, thereby moving the sensor body in relation to the target an amount precisely equal to a desired air gap. It is desirable to provide an arrangement for holding a sensor in a fixed position which is less expensive than that provided in Stevenson, et al. and wherein the bracket can possibly fabricated from a stamped sheet metal.
The present invention brings forth an arrangement for mounting a sensor at a fixed position with respect to a target. The arrangement includes a housing for a sensor. The arrangement also includes a mount spaced away from the target having a bore. A fastener is provided for insertion into the bore. The fastener has a shank with a tapered portion and also a head. A loop bracket is provided having an eyelet for encircling the housing. The bracket has at least partially overlapping opposite ends which have generally aligned holes for reception of the fastener shank. One of the brackets has a wedge tab. Upon insertion of the fastener shank into the bracket the wedge tab of the bracket makes contact with the tapered portion causing the bracket eyelet to close and capture the housing.
The present invention will now be explained by example with reference to the accompanying drawings.


Methods, systems, and products are disclosed for recording a navigational sequence. A selection is received to record the navigational sequence to a destination web page. A browser application requests a sequence of uniform resource locators and downloads the destination web page. The browser application records the sequence of uniform resource locators. Another selection is received that stops recording the navigational sequence.

Exemplary embodiments generally relate to data processing and to computers and, more particularly, to database structures for information retrieval, to computer-to-computer data modifying, and to presentation processing of documents.
Navigating websites can be difficult. When people want to share content available from a website, many people email one or more instances of a uniform resource locator (or "URL"). These uniform resource locators identify a network location of shared content. Many readers, for example, may have emailed a uniform resource locator to a recipient, thus allowing the recipient to download pictures, news, and other content of interest. Unfortunately, though, some web locations (and perhaps even intermediate steps along the way to a web location) are not directly reachable by simply clicking or selecting a corresponding uniform resource locator, so users have difficulty sharing the content. Some web locations, for example, link to a programming "script" that takes over a browser and navigates to a final website destination. Other web locations may require authentication at a portal website before navigating to the final website destination. For web locations like these, users may find it difficult to determine the uniform resource locators that must be navigated to reach the final website destination. Users may thus benefit from new concepts that allow sharing of website content without requiring adherence to a complicated, unknown, or even inaccurate list of uniform resource locators and manual navigation instructions (e.g., "click on the course name, enter your login credentials on the resulting page, then click on the course name, . . . ").

Methods, systems, and products for recording browser navigations