A method of radio resource allocation in a wireless communication system includes allocating radio resource to a plurality of logical channels according to a grant, and allowing the plurality of logical channels to use the remaining grant when the grant remains and the plurality of logical channels having data available for transmission cannot perform resource allocation anymore.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of radio resource allocation and related communication apparatus, and more particularly, to a method for avoiding radio resource waste in a wireless communication system and related communication apparatus.
2. Description of the Prior Art
According to Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol specification defined by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), MAC layer, a lower layer of a Radio Link Control (RLC) layer, supports functions of mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing, de-multiplexing, logical channel prioritization, transport format selection, and so on. The MAC layer exchanges RLC PDUs (Protocol Data Units), namely MAC SDUs (Service Data Units), with the RLC layer via logic channels and exchanges MAC PDUs with a physical layer via transport channels, such as an uplink shared channel (UL-SCH) or a downlink shared channel (DL-SCH).
In the MAC layer, a logical channel prioritization procedure is applied when a new transmission is performed. Each logical channel is given a Prioritized Bit Rate (PBR), which is a rate like X bytes/s or Y bits/s. The logical channel prioritization procedure ensures that all the logical channels are served in a decreasing priority order up to their configured PBR.
In a word, the logical channel prioritization procedure of the MAC layer is that the logical channels transmit data to the MAC layer in a TTI according to a priority, so the data with higher priority could be transmitted early.
Further illustrate the logical channel prioritization procedure, to clearly explain resource allocation and data transmission process. When a user equipment (UE) performs uplink transmission, network of the wireless communication system allocates a grant to UE, for providing radio resource. The grant is a largest data amount allowed UE to transmit. Then, the Radio Resource Control (RRC) layer of the UE gives each logical channel a priority and a PBR, to allocate resource to each logical channel according to the decreasing priority order. The largest resource amount allocated to each logical channel cannot exceed PBR.
In addition, the prior art provides a PBR token bucket framework for calculating allowed resource amount of the plurality of logical channels. The PBR token bucket framework uses a PBR token bucket parameter and a PBR token rate. The PBR token bucket parameter is used for indicating the resource amount allowed the logical channels to use, and the PBR token rate is used for indicating the number of bytes added to the PBR token bucket parameter of the logical channel at every TTI.
At every TTI, UE executes PBR token bucket framework, including adding the PBR token rate to the PBR token bucket parameter, for increasing allowed resource amount for the logical channels, allocating resource to the logical channels with the PBR token bucket parameter larger than zero according to the decreasing priority order, and decreasing the PBR token bucket parameter and the grant according to the resource amount allocated to the logical channels.
In the prior art, when the allowed resource amount of the logical channel is insufficient (namely the PBR token bucket parameter of the logical channel is smaller than the data amount), the logical channel just can be allocated the same resource amount with the resource amount which can be used for the logical channel. Meanwhile, the PBR token bucket parameter is decreased to be zero (namely there is no resource can be used for the logical channel), so the logical channel cannot be allocated resource anymore. Therefore, if all the logical chancels having data available for transmission cannot perform resource allocation anymore, these logical channels cannot transmit data even the grant remains, which causes radio resource waste.
Note that, the RRC layer further gives each logical channel corresponding to a Guarantee Bit Rate (GBR) bearer a Maximum Bit Rate (MBR), which is a rate like X bytes/s or Y bits/s. MBR is given according different QoS services; for example, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service is a transmission by the GBR bearer.
Take the RRC layer gives each logical channel a PBR, MBR and priority as an example. According to the configured PBR, the logical channels perform resource allocation according to the decreasing priority order. Then, if the grant remains, according to the configured MBR, the logical channels perform resource allocation according to the decreasing priority order. After that, the logical channels still having data available for transmission cannot perform resource allocation anymore even if the grant remains, causing waste of radio resource.
In addition, in the prior art, besides utilizing PBR token bucket framework for calculating the allowed resource amount of each logical channel, the MBR token bucket framework is utilized for calculating allowed resource amount of the logical channels also. The MBR token bucket framework uses a MBR token bucket parameter and a MBR token rate. The MBR token bucket parameter is used for indicating the resource amount allowed the logical channels to use, and the MBR token rate is used for indicating the number of bytes added to the MBR token bucket parameter of the logical channel at every TTI.
In the prior art, UE initiates the PBR token bucket framework, and then initiates the MBR token bucket framework at every TTI. The PBR token bucket framework has been described above, so the detailed description is omitted herein. After that, UE performs the PBR token bucket framework, including adding the MBR token rate to the MBR token bucket parameter, if the grant for UE remains and logical channels still have data available for transmission, allocating resource to the logical channels with the MBR token bucket parameter larger than zero (namely added MBR token rate) according to the decreasing priority order, and decrease the MBR token bucket parameter and the grant according to the allocated resource amount. After that, the logical channels still having data available for transmission cannot perform resource allocation anymore even if the grant remains, causing radio resource waste.
As can be seen form above, after UE performs MBR token bucket framework, the logical channel prioritization procedure of the prior art does not disclose the operating method, which causes the logical channels to be incapable of allocating resource even if the grant remains. In addition, when a logical channel does not have allowed resource amount (namely the MBR token bucket parameter is zero), the logical channels cannot perform resource allocation anymore even if the grant for UE remains, causing the radio resource waste.
Therefore, in the prior art, after UE performs PBR and MBR token bucket framework, the logical channels still having data available for transmission cannot perform resource allocation anymore even if the grant remains. Since the logical channels cannot perform resource allocation, the logical channels cannot transmit data, causing resource waste. In addition, if the allowed resource amount of the logical channels is smaller than the data amount, since the logical channels need more resource for transmitting data, the data will be transmitted in different TTI. Therefore, the uplink transmission for the PDUs is delayed and affecting efficiency of the wireless communication system.

Method of radio resource allocation and related communication apparatus


A chip includes a receiving, a transmission, a control, and a switch circuit. The receiving circuit is operated at a first voltage and receives a first data. The transmission circuit is operated at the first voltage. Under general mode, the control circuit is operated at a second voltage and generates a second data to the transmission circuit according to the first data. The control circuit includes a first clock source configured to provide a first clock under general mode. The control circuit is operated according to the first clock. Under general mode, the switch circuit is operated at the first voltage, and controls the second voltage to pause the second voltage supplying to the control circuit to enter sleep mode. Under sleep mode, the switch circuit controls the supply of the second voltage to the control circuit according to the first data to return to general mode.

In current technologies, many input/output (I/O) devices use only one transmission protocol to communicate with each other due to cost considerations; therefore, additional front chips are generally used to apply transmission protocol conversions or expand the number of I/O ports depending on the application of the system. However, the application of a large number of front chips tends to increase the overall power consumption of the system, which has become an urgent issue to be solved in this field.


When a first elapse time Δt3 from time point t1 of stop of a transport motor reaches a first specified time S1, a registration roller electromagnetic clutch is engaged. At time point t2 at which the first elapse time Δt3 reaches 50 ms, normal rotation of the transport motor is started. At time point t3 at which a second elapse time Δt4 from the time point t2 reaches a second specified time S2 (a given length of time), a reverse roller electromagnetic clutch is switched from an engaged state to a disengaged state, rendering reverse rollers and sheet discharge rollers freely rotatable. At subsequent time point t4, a coil of a solenoid is de-energized, to separate the reverse rollers from each other.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a reversing sheet transport apparatus capable of reversing the side of a sheet of paper and an image forming apparatus including such a reversing sheet transport apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the above type of reversing sheet transport apparatus, transport of a sheet of paper by registration rollers is started after an edge of the sheet is hit against the registration rollers that are at a temporary stop and aligned. In the case of reversing the side of the sheet, reverse rollers are once stopped and then rotated in the reverse direction midway through the transport of the sheet by the reverse rollers, to transport the sheet back to the registration rollers through a reverse transport path by the reverse rollers. An edge of the sheet is hit again against the registration rollers that are at a temporary stop, and then the sheet is transported again by the registration rollers.
For example, in JP 2002-60095A, switch-back rollers (corresponding to the reverse rollers) are rotated in the reverse direction midway through the transport of an original by the switch-back rollers, to transport the original to the registration rollers through a return path (corresponding to the reverse transport path) by the switch-back rollers. An edge of the original is hit again against the registration rollers that are at a temporary stop, and then the original is transported again by the registration rollers, thereby revering the side of the original.
Such a reversing sheet transport apparatus is provided with an electromagnetic clutch that conveys or shuts off the rotation of a motor to the registration rollers, and the registration rollers are temporarily stopped by disengaging the electromagnetic clutch.
In some reversing sheet transport apparatuses, both the registration rollers and the reverse rollers are rotated by a single motor. In this case, in order to reverse the side of a sheet of paper, the rotation of the motor is reversed to rotate the reverse rollers in the reverse direction, to allow the reverse rollers to send the sheet back to the registration rollers through the reverse transport path. Thereafter, the motor is rotated normally, to allow the registration rollers to transport the sheet again. However, at the time of start of re-transport of the sheet by the registration rollers, the sheet still partly lies on the reverse rollers. Therefore, when the motor is rotated normally to allow both the reverse rollers and the registration rollers to rotate in the same direction, the sheet is pulled back by the reverse rollers with an edge of the sheet separating from the registration rollers. To address this problem, another electromagnetic clutch is provided to permit or block conveyance of the rotation of the motor to the reverse rollers, and the electromagnetic clutch for the reverse rollers is disengaged (when the reverse rotation of the motor is stopped, for example) to render the reverse rollers freely rotatable temporarily.
However, when a sheet of paper is thick and rigid, the reverse rollers tend to drag the sheet when the electromagnetic clutch for the reverse rollers is disengaged. Therefore, the sheet is pushed back toward the reverse rollers due to the elastic force of the sheet that has hit against the registration rollers and bent. This results in separation of the edge of the sheet from the registration rollers in a short period of time before the registration rollers restart transport of the sheet, causing jamming.
In JP 2002-60095A mentioned above, in which a motor for switch-back rollers is provided in addition to the motor for the registration rollers, it is unnecessary to provide an electromagnetic clutch for the switch-back rollers separately. However, the provision of two exclusive motors increases the scale of the apparatus and complicates the apparatus, increasing the cost of the apparatus.

Reversing sheet transport apparatus and image forming apparatus including reversing sheet transport apparatus


A pharmaceutical composition and a method of inhibiting human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is disclosed which comprises administering to an HIV infected patient a synergistic combination of 3'-azido-3'-deoxythymidine (AZT) and N-butyl deoxynojirimycin (N-butyl DNJ) in an amount which achieves antiviral efficacy.

This invention relates to a pharmaceutical composition and method of inhibiting human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and, more particularly, to a synergistic combination of the N-butyl derivative of 1,5-dideoxy-1,5-imino-D-glucitol (deoxynojirimycin) and 3'-azido-3'-deoxythymidine (AZT) in amount which achieves antiviral efficacy, having potential use for the treatment of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and AIDS related complex (ARC).
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome, which only a few years ago was a medical curiosity, is now a serious disease. As a consequence, a great effort is being made to develop drugs and vaccines to combat AIDS. The AIDS virus, first identified in 1983, has been described by several names and has the capacity to replicate within cells of the immune system and thereby lead to a profound destruction of T4. T-cells (or CD4.sup.+ cells). See, e.g., Gallo et al., Science 224, 500-03 (1984), and Popovic et al., Ibid., 497-500 (1984).
This virus, which has been established to be a retrovirus, had been known as lymphadenopathy-associated virus (LAV) or AIDS-related virus (ARV). Two distinct AIDS viruses, HIV-1 and HIV-2, have been described. HIV-1 is the virus originally identified in 1983 by Montagnier and co-workers at the Pasteur Institute in Paris [Ann. Virol. Inst. Pasteur 135 E, 119-134 (1984)], while HIV-2 was more recently isolated by Montagnier and his coworkers in 1986 [Nature 326, 662 (1987)]. As used herein, HIV is meant to refer to these viruses in a generic sense.
Although the molecular biology of AIDS is beginning to be unraveled and defined, much more needs to be learned and understood about this disease. In the meantime, numerous approaches are being investigated in the search for potential anti-AIDS drugs and vaccines. Development of an AIDS vaccine is hampered by lack of understanding of mechanisms of protective immunity against HIV, the magnitude of genetic variation of the virus, and the lack of effective animal models for HIV infection. See, for example, Koff and Hoth, Science 241, 426-432 (1988).
One approach to designing drugs or VaCcines for treating human beings infected by HIV depends on the knowledge molecular biologists have acquired on the replicative life cycle of the virus as it enters and infects a host cell, replicates, and goes on to infect other cells. Within the replicative cycle of HIV there are certain virus-specific steps which are potential targets for antiviral therapy. Hirsch et al., Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 31, 839-43 (1987).
The first drug to be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for treatment of AIDS was zidovudine, better known under its former name azidothymidine (AZT). Chemically, this drug is 3'-azido-3'-deoxythymidine, and has the following structure: ##STR1##
AZT is converted by cellular kinases to a triphosphate form which is a strong competitive inhibitor of HIV reverse transcriptase, thus interfering with an early stage in HIV replication.
This drug was originally selected as a potential weapon against AIDS because it was shown to inhibit replication of the virus in vitro. Such tests are virtually the only practical method of initially screening and testing potential anti-AIDS drugs.
Although AZT is now used clinically, a serious drawback of AZT is its toxic side-effects. Indeed, the FDA required package insert for Retrovir.RTM., the commercially available pharmaceutical composition containing AZT as the active ingredient, warns of hematologic toxicity including granulocytopenia and severe anemia requiring transfusions. Thus, the search for better anti-AIDS drugs continues.
More recently, certain glucosidase inhibitors have been tested for activity against the AIDS virus. Because the envelope glycoproteins of HIV are heavily glycosylated, compounds that interfere with co- and postranslational processing of glycoprotein gp120 and the transmembrane glycoprotein gp41 may prevent viral entry into a cell. Karpas et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 85, 9229-9233 (1988). These compounds interfere, or interrupt a different stage in the HIV replicative process than AZT.
Three such compounds suggested as potential anti-AIDS drugs are castanospermine, 1-deoxynojirimycin (DNJ) and 2,5-dihydroxymethyl-3,4-dihydroxy-pyrrolidine (DMDP). See, e.g., Sunkara et al., Biochem. Bioohvs. Res. Commun. 148(1), 206-210 (1987); Tyms et al., Lancet, Oct. 31, 1987, pp. 1025-1026; Walker et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 84, 8120-8124 (1987); and Gruters et al., Nature 330, 74-77 (1987).
Thus, castanospermine, which is an alkaloid isolated from the seeds of Australian chestnut tree, has been found to interfere with normal glycosylation of HIV virions, thereby altering the envelope glycoprotein and preventing entry of HIV into target cells. However, since castanospermine is in limited supply due to its natural source, it is extremely expensive, and therefore not a realistic candidate for a drug urgently required on a large scale. Additionally, castanospermine has demonstrated cytotoxicity at dose levels of 0.70 mg/ml. Karpas et al., Proc. Nat'l. Acad. Sci. USA 85, 9229-9233 (1988).
In PCT Inter. Appln. WO 87/03903, published July 2, 1987, the N-methyl derivative of deoxynojirimycin (DNJ) also was disclosed as having activity against HIV ostensibly based on its glucosidase I inhibitory activity. However, it was subsequently shown by Fleet et al., FEBS Lett 237, 128-132 (1988), that not all glucosidase I inhibitors are effective inhibitors of HIV. Therefore, some other mechanism may be responsible for HIV inhibitory activity.
The N-butyl derivative of deoxynojirimycin (N-butyl DNJ) has been found to have enhanced inhibitory activity against the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) at non-toxic concentrations compared to that exhibited by the corresponding N-methyl and N-ethyl derivatives.
N-butyl DNJ has the following chemical structure: ##STR2## In order to indicate stereoisomerism, solid and dotted lines show bonds directed above or below, respectively, the plane of the paper.
N-butyl DNJ uniquely reduces the virus titer by over five logs at non-cytotoxic concentrations whereas the N-methyl- and N-ethyl-deoxynojirimycin derivatives cause only a two to four log-order of reduction in the yield of infectious HIV. As such, the N-butyl derivative has significant potential use for the treatment of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), and phase I clinical trials of this agent have recently been announced.
Despite the above noted advances made in drug therapy for HIV infected individuals, it is believed that effective non-toxic therapy directed against HIV may require a chemotherapeutic approach which involves the use of combination therapies. Such an approach has not been widely employed in anti-HIV therapy, but has been successful in the treatment of a variety of bacterial and fungal infections, as well as in cancer chemotherapy. Combinations of anti-HIV therapies which include agents that attack the HIV replicative cycle at multiple sites offer several advantages, particularly if favorable drug interactions occur.
When two agents are combined, they may have one of three types of activity against HIV replication in vitro, as established by the Combination Index (CI) discussed hereinafter.
1. Additive effect: Two drugs are said to be additive when the activity of the drugs in combination is equal to the sum (or a partial sum) of their independent activities when studied separately.
2. Synergism: The combined effect of a synergistic pair of agents is greater than the sum of their independent activities when measured separately.
3. Antagonism: If two drugs are antagonistic, the activity of the combination is less than the sum of their independent effects when measured alone.
The goals of combination therapy should include the ability to target different sites in the HIV replicative cycle, and to affect viral replication in a broad range of cell types. Also, the agents should not display additive toxicity in combination. The benefits of combination therapy include potentially additive or synergistic interactions in vitro, which may allow the use of individual drugs below their toxic concentrations. Also, combination therapy may prevent the emergence of drug-resistant HIV mutants.
Studies combining various known anti-HIV agents have already been conducted. For example, combinations of either AZT or 2',3'-dideoxycytidine and recombinant alpha-A interferon have been shown to inhibit HIV synergistically in vitro. Hartshorn et al., Antimicrob. Ag. Chemother. 31, 168-72 (1987); Vogt et al., J. Infect. Dis. 158, 378-85 (1988). Other combinations, such as AZT plus acyclovir have shown synergism. Mitsuya et al. in S. Broder (ed.) AIDS, Modern Concepts and Therapeutic Challenges, Marcel Dekker, Inc., N.Y. However, other tested drug combinations such as AZT and ribavirin (1,.beta.-D-ribofuranosyl-11-1,2-triazole-3-carboxamide) have been shown to be antagonistic in vitro. Vogt et al., Science 23, 1376-79 (1987).

Pharmaceutical composition and method of inhibiting virus


A pressure switch comprises a first dielectric sheet having a first and second surface; and has two half circuits carried on the first surface of said first dielectric sheet. A second dielectric sheet overlies the first dielectric sheet. The second dielectric sheet has a plurality of switch closures carried thereon and facing the first dielectric sheet. The switch closures are normally spaced from the half circuits on the first dielectric sheet, and are deflectable into contact with the half circuits under an externally applied force.

The present invention relates generally to patient monitoring devices, and more particularly, to improvements in sensor pads for use with patient monitoring systems for notifying medical personnel and caregivers in the event a patient or ward leaves a bed or chair unattended.
Patient monitoring devices are employed in hospitals and nursing homes, and the like to alert staff if a patient or ward gets out of bed or a chair unattended, (or falls out of bed or chair), or in the case of a infant, is removed from a crib by a unauthorized person. Referring to FIG. 1, a typical patient monitoring system includes a controller 10 adapted to receive a signal from a detecting pad 12 which typically is hard wired to controller 10 through line 14. Controller 10 typically includes a power switch and a display 16, and typically includes a visual and audible alarm 18. Alternatively, sensor pad 12 maybe battery powered, and include a built in radio transmitter for sending a signal to controller 10.
Referring to FIG. 2, sensor pad 12 typically comprises a pressure pad or membrane switch type sensor comprising a pair of flexible dielectric sheets or membranes 20, 22 joined to one another at their periphery 24 by an adhesive or by thermal welding. Formed inwardly of periphery 4 on facing surfaces of sheets 20 and 22 are conductor strips 26 and 28 respectfully. Conductor strips 26 and 28 typically are formed of screen printed carbon or the like and together form the two poles of a membrane or pressure switch which is normally xe2x80x9copenxe2x80x9d, and which completes a circuit when subjected to sufficient pressure. Pad 12 also may include a pressure sensitive adhesive 30 and release sheet 32 on the back thereof so that the pad maybe fixed in place on a mattress or chair pad. Sensor pads in accordance with the foregoing are available commercially from several sources including Secure Care Products, Inc. of Concord N.H.
The present invention provides an improvement in sensor pads of the like above discussed. More particularly, the present invention provides a sensor pad in which open circuit patterns are printed on one surface of a first dielectric sheet, while a plurality of switch closures are printed on the surface of a second dielectric sheet facing the first sheet. The second dielectric sheet includes a plurality of raised areas or pods on which the switch closures are printed. The switches are in a normally open position, and are closed by pressure from the weight of a patient.
Still are the features and advantages the present invention will be seen from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

Sensor pads for patient monitoring devices


A rechargeable charger that includes a rechargeable battery and charging control circuitry for controlling a charging of at least one portable rechargeable device. The charging control circuitry is configured such that charging is automatically and periodically interrupted after reaching a charged state. During a charging phase energy is transferred from the rechargeable battery to the portable rechargeable device via interface circuitry until gauging circuitry indicates that a threshold value has been reached upon which a pause phase is entered where charging of the portable rechargeable device from the rechargeable battery is suspended. In the pause phase a timer is started, and when the timer has elapsed, the charging phase is started again. As a result, phases of charging the portable rechargeable device and phases of switching off the charging alternate.

It is noted that citation or identification of any document in this application is not an admission that such document is available as prior art to the present invention.
Rechargeable mobile electronic devices are widely used. Recently, rechargeable wireless earphones or earbuds have become popular that comprise a radio receiver for receiving audio data, an amplifier and a transducer for reproducing the audio data and a rechargeable battery for supplying power to the radio receiver, the amplifier and the transducer. Various types of charging cases for charging the wireless earphones are known.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 9,502,913 B2 discloses a transport and/or storage container for rechargeable wireless earphones that has an integrated charging function and a rechargeable battery. When the wireless earphones are inserted, they (i.e., their rechargeable batteries) may be charged using energy from the container's rechargeable battery unit when the container is not coupled to an electrical energy source. On the other hand, both the wireless earphones and the container's rechargeable battery unit are charged when the container is coupled to an electrical energy source. The container's rechargeable battery unit has a much higher storage capacity than the wireless earphones' rechargeable batteries, so that the wireless earphones may be recharged several times without connecting the container to an electrical energy source, before the container's rechargeable battery unit needs to be recharged. Commonly, the wireless earphones are charged as soon and as long as they are placed in the container.
Generally, it is desirable to achieve a long recharging cycle or standby time, that is, a long time between a charging and the next recharging being required. This applies to both, the wireless earphones' rechargeable batteries and the container's rechargeable battery unit. However, since the container is also for transport and/or storage, users tend to put their wireless earphones into the container whenever they do not wear them. As batteries always have a certain degree of self-discharge, common charging devices either provide a float voltage to the wireless earphones' rechargeable batteries for keeping them in the fully charged state, or the charging device continuously monitors the voltage of the wireless earphones' rechargeable batteries and initiates some re-charging as soon as the charging state decreases. In both cases energy is drawn from the container's rechargeable battery unit for performing the respective procedure. Although only a small amount of energy is lost by performing these procedures, it still is notably more energy than the energy that is lost by self-discharge. Sometimes the wireless earphones are left in the container for days or weeks. In this case, there is a high risk of both the wireless earphones' rechargeable batteries and the container's rechargeable battery unit running empty.

Rechargeable charger for rechargeable devices, and method for charging rechargeable devices


Systems and methods for managing and utilizing competencies of employees of an organization are provided. The system comprises a processor and a memory coupled to the processor. The memory comprises a Role Managing Module (RMM) configured to define a set of roles in a database. Each role of the set of roles indicates a functional job in the organization. The RMM is further configured to assign an expected maturity level in a set of knowledge dimensions to each role in the set of roles. The set of knowledge dimensions comprises at least one of a Solution Dimension, a Technology Dimension, a Process Dimension, and an Organization Dimension. The system further comprises a planning module configured to create a career progression plan based on the set of roles. The system further comprises an analysis module configured to cater to organizational requirements of managing employee competencies.

Efficient utilization of employees in an organization is one of the most important keys for success of the organization. Significant challenges exist for those organizations that do not efficiently and effectively manage employee utilization and development. Presently, a lot of organizations with several thousand employees face the daunting task of managing competencies or skill set of the employees. For example, consider an Information Technology (IT) organization with thousands of employees across the globe with multi-disciplinary skill-set and cross-organizational distribution. With such a large employee base, it is imperative that the IT organization avails right competencies with right expertise-level at right time and at right location to fulfill organizational goals. To achieve this objective, the IT organization may resort to one or more measures, such as realigning the competencies possessed by the employees, relocating the employees with desired competencies to required locations, and cross-training the employees in order to achieve competencies that are needed for the fulfillment of the organizational goals. However, managing the training and deployment of such a large number of employees with multi-disciplinary skill-set and cross-organizational distribution is quite a daunting task.
Further, due to rapid changes that occur in the technology landscape and its applicability to address customer's needs, competencies of employees have to be regularly upgraded so that the employees can meet the ever-evolving customer expectations. For regular upgrade of competencies of several thousand employees, in accordance with organizational goals, there is a growing demand for Competency Management Tools.
In addition to meeting business requirements, Competency Management Tools can also help in career planning and employee retention. Specifically, in a fast changing competitive landscape, organizations are at the risk of losing core business capabilities and, subsequently, competitive advantage due to high employee attrition rates. Studies have shown that even employees reporting high satisfaction with workload, work environment and base salary are seven times more likely to consider changing employers when few opportunities for career growth exist. The American Society of Training and Development (ASTD) estimates that the cost to replace a professional is estimated to be 150% of the professionals annual salary, and the costs include the time required to find a replacement, recruiting fees, vacancy costs, productivity losses, and training.

Role-aligned competency and learning management system


An image processing apparatus according to the present invention performs rendering logic sequence determination, rendering region determination, and transparency conversion determination, and, if conversion to a transparent object is determined to be necessary, performs pattern conversion to convert a target pattern into a transparent object.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus, an image processing method, and a computer-readable recording medium. More particularly, the present invention relates to an image processing apparatus which restrains interference between a pattern and dithering, an image processing method, and a computer-readable recording medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
In printing a document or image data by an image processing apparatus such as a printer, bitmap data corresponding to the document or image data is used. Such an image processing apparatus performs gradation expression through dithering. However, there has been a problem that, when dithering is applied to data at a minute pattern portion such as a checkerboard pattern in a document or an image, an output result is disrupted by interference between the pattern and dithering.
In recent years, with the improvement in performance of information processing apparatuses such as personal computers, functions of applications have been diversified increasing the use of transparent expressions in addition to patterns and filling expressions. However, at the time of printing, even an object transparently expressed on an application may be transparently expressed in a pseudo way by using a pattern in some cases because of a restriction on an interface between a computer and a printer unit. Therefore, in recent years, there has been a trend toward increasing use of print data including a pattern, and accordingly interference between the pattern and dithering has become a serious problem.
There is a technique for digitally correcting print data to correct misalignment caused by bends and inclinations of a laser beam in a printer unit including a laser scanner. This technique eliminates a process for optically adjusting a laser scanner unit. This technique has a problem that interference between a pattern and dithering disturbs digital correction resulting in color unevenness.
In digital correction, in consideration of bends and inclinations of the laser beam, print data (bitmap image) is corrected by shifting in a subscanning direction on a pixel basis in advance by an amount of distortion in an image produced by bends and inclinations of the laser beam.
Further, to reduce a level difference produced by misalignment at a boundary, interpolation processing is applied for correction under pixel. In this correction processing, interpolation is performed at a portion where a level difference is influential (visually noticeable), such as a character and line, and not performed at a portion where a level difference is not influential (visually unnoticeable) since interpolation will cause uneven density. In this way, the processing determines whether or not interpolation is to be performed depending on the type of image data.
However, when an image including interference between a pattern and dithering is used to determine a character, a line, and a gradation image, a change in density is emphasized by the interference and accordingly an image portion that should originally be determined to be a gradation image may be incorrectly determined as a character or a line. As a result, interpolation processing performed based on the incorrect result of determination may cause color (density) unevenness at a gradation image portion.
A technique discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-23960 analyzes a rendering command included in print data and, when filling with a pattern is specified, converts the relevant command into multi-value data to enable filling with an even density. In particular, data is expressed by an average gradation when filling with an overwrite pattern is specified and by transmittance when filling with a mask pattern is specified. This prevents interference between the pattern and dithering.
The above described conventional method, however, converts data into an average gradation or transmittance when filling with a pattern is specified. With this method, the following two different checkerboard patterns are converted into an average gradation or transmittance. One is a checkerboard pattern composed of minute ON and OFF dots preferably intended to be converted into an average gradation or transmittance, and the other is a checkerboard pattern composed of large ON and OFF dots to some extent not intended to be converted thereinto. In this case, although interference does not occur, an image in a print result may be visually different from what is intended by a user.
Further, since a pattern to be transparently expressed in a pseudo way is expressed with a combination of specific rendering commands, a pattern to be transparently expressed in a pseudo way can be determined by analyzing each rendering command. However, in the determination based only on the combination of rendering commands, there may be a situation that even a pattern other than ones transparently expressed in a pseudo way will be incorrectly determined to be a pattern to be transparently expressed in a pseudo way. Therefore, a pattern that should not originally be converted into a transparent expression may be unnecessarily converted thereinto.

Image processing apparatus, method, and computer program product for conversion of rendering commands into transparent object


Wireless receiver for receiving a plurality of co-existing wireless signals respectively from different positioning systems, includes an analog frontend and an analog-to-digital converting unit. The analog frontend is arranged to convert bands of the co-existing wireless signals into a plurality of corresponding intermediate bands by a local frequency and to provide an intermediate signal including the intermediate bands. The analog-to-digital converting unit is coupled to the analog frontend, and is arranged to convert the intermediate signal to a digital signal, wherein an operation band of the analog-to-digital converting unit covers the plurality of intermediate bands.

Wireless positioning system, such as satellite positioning system, enables a receiver to locate its own position by referring to a plurality of transmitters, e.g., satellites, of the wireless positioning system. Each of the transmitters broadcasts unique data and/or messages carried in a wireless signal. The data/messages of a transmitter are related to location of the transmitter, also allow the receiver to determine a distance from the receiver to the transmitter. As the receiver receives the wireless signals from multiple transmitters, the receiver distinguishes data of each transmitter, calculates a relative distance from the receiver to each transmitter according to the data, and finally resolves position of the receiver itself according to relative distances respectively from the multiple transmitters; a position information can then be provided to reflect position of the receiver itself.

Wireless receiver applicable to multiple coexisting positioning systems


A floating body device for suppressing vibration of enclosure includes a floating body surrounding the enclosure and an excitation device which can excite the floating body to float up and down. The excitation device includes a tether connected to the floating body to prevent the floating body from falling off from the enclosure. When the floating body floats up and down, an airflow boundary layer on an outer wall of a tower can be destroyed, and a cause of vortex-induced vibration can be directly suppressed. In addition, a change of an aerodynamic configuration is obtained. The up and down floating of the floating body disrupts both upper and lower sections of a nearby flow field, thus weakening a combined action thereof, thereby preventing the vortex induced vibration of the tower.

Reference is made to FIG. 1-1, which is a schematic view showing the configuration of a wind power generation equipment.
The base of the wind power generation equipment is a tower 10, which functions to carry and enclose the entire system. Taking the tower 10 having a circular cross-section as an example, the tower 10 may be a steel cylinder or a combination of a steel cylinder and a concrete cylinder. The tower 10 carries a nacelle 30, an electric generator, and a rotor 20 of the wind power generation equipment. A wind turbine generator system including the tower 10, the rotor 20, the nacelle 30 and the electric generator performs the task of obtaining the wind energy and converting the wind energy into electric energy. The converted electric energy is transmitted via a power transmission cable 40 or a power transmission busbar, the power transmission cable 40 shown in the figure is led out from the nacelle 30 and is position-limited by a cable retaining ring at a top of the tower 10, the cable retaining ring is fixed on the cable retaining ring fixing plate 50, and then the power transmission cable 40 passes a saddle bracket 60 and hangs down along an inner wall of the tower 10 to a converter cabinet 70. A lower end of the tower 10 is further provided with a tower door 80.
The converted electric energy is controlled by a switch cabinet of the wind power generator system, and is transmitted, by means of the power transmission cable 40 or the power transmission busbar, to a converter (in the converter cabinet 70) which performs electric power conversion task, and then, after being processed by the converter, the electric energy that can meet the grid connection rules can be obtained. Therefore, it can be said that the tower 10 of the wind power generation equipment is a tower pole of wind power generation, and mainly plays a supporting role in the wind power generation equipment.
In addition, the tower 10 carries structural wind loads generated by the nacelle 30, the rotor 20 and the electric generator, or downwind and crosswind vibrations induced by the structural wind loads, i.e., wind-induced structural vibration issue.
Reference is made to FIG. 1-2, which is a schematic view showing hoisting of the tower in sections.
Currently, the tower 10 is usually installed in sections. As shown in FIG. 1-2, from bottom to top, a first tower section 11, a second tower section 12, a third tower section 13, a fourth tower section 14 and a fifth tower section 15 are sequentially arranged. In an installation process of the wind power generation equipment, the first tower section 11 is installed on a foundation base 90 of the tower 10 first, then other tower sections are hoisted section by section, and after the tower sections are connected to each other, a top (the fifth tower section 15 in FIG. 1-2) of the tower 10 is connected to a yaw system of the nacelle 30, the nacelle 30 is butted to the electric generator, and then the electric generator (or a gearbox) is butted to the rotor 20.
A specific hoisting process is described as follows:
before hoisting the tower 10, first cleaning a foundation ring of the foundation base 90 connected to the first tower section 11, placing multiple bolts (for example, 120 bolts) at an inner ring of the foundation ring after oiling threads of the multiple bolts, and at the same time hoisting a control cabinet of the wind power generation equipment into the foundation ring;
installing a hoisting tool on an upper end of the first tower section 11, where a main crane undertakes hoisting the upper end of the first tower section 11, and installing a hoisting tool on a lower end of the first tower section 11 at the same time, where an auxiliary crane of the tower undertakes hoisting; the two cranes hoisting at the same time, in a case that a height of the first tower section 11 is greater than a maximum diameter of the first tower section 11, the main crane hoists the upper end of the first tower section 11, and the auxiliary crane stops; after the first tower section 1 is hoisted to a position vertical to the ground, moving the auxiliary crane away and demounting the hoisting tool at the lower end of the first tower section 11;
after connecting a flange face of the first tower section 11, mounting the bolts from bottom to top, tightening nuts with an electric wrench after mounting the nuts, the nuts are tightened for at least 3 times (after hoisting procedures of the entire wind power generation equipment are finished, using a torque wrench to tighten the nuts for tower connection to achieve a required torque value);
hoisting processes of the rest tower sections are the same as the first tower section 11, and after finishing hoisting an uppermost tower section, preparing to hoist the nacelle.
The above installation procedures of butting and connecting are carried out under conditions of unpredictable local winds in a small area environment of a wind power plant. Therefore, during the hoisting and installation processes, gusts of varying strength or continuous small winds are often encountered. As described above, these gusts or continuous winds may induce vibrations of the tower, destroying the stability of the enclosure, endangering the safety of people and equipment on the scene, and delaying the installation period. For example, after the fourth tower section 14 is hoisted, the fourth tower section 14 vibrates, resulting in that the fifth tower section 15 cannot be aligned with the fourth tower section 14, and the tightened bolts may even break under the action of vibration, thereby endangering the safety.
At present, it is clearly stipulated by the engineering safety requirements of hoisting processes in the wind power industry that, when a wind speed is greater than 6 m/s, the hoisting of a vane assembly is prohibited; when the wind speed is greater than 8 m/s, the hoisting of the nacelle is prohibited; and when the wind speed is greater than 10 m/s, the hoisting of the tower is prohibited. It can be seen that the on-site hoisting schedule and installation period are obviously limited by the wind conditions in the local area. For the construction of the wind power plant in high-altitude and high mountain areas, the installation period is more apt to be affected.
References are made to FIGS. 2 to 3-6. FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing the structure of a tower having a certain vibration suppressing function; FIGS. 3-1 to 3-6 are schematic views showing the relationships between cylindrical vortex shedding (surrounding flow detachment) and six intervals of Reynolds number respectively. From FIG. 3-1 to FIG. 3-6, the six intervals of Reynolds number (Re) are respectively, Re<5, 5<Re<15, 40<Re<50, 150<Re<3×105, 3×105<Re<3×106, Re>3×106.
According to different patterns of airflow flowing around structures of objects, the structures are sorted into blunt bodies and floating bodies such as aircraft wings or sails.
In the case that Re<5, the fluid flow may adhere to an entire surface of a cylindrical body, that is, the flow is not separated.
In the case that 5<Re<40, the flow is still symmetrical, but flow separation occurs, two symmetrically arranged stable vortices are formed at a leeward side, and the vortices are elongated outward as Reynolds number increases, resulting in deformation.
In the case that 40<Re<150, starting from that Reynolds number Re=40, the vortices may alternately shed from a tail portion of the surface of the cylindrical body, and flow into a fluid near the back of the cylindrical body to form a shear layer; the unstable shear layer soon rolls into vortexes to flow downstream, to form Karman vortex street, that is, the vortex-induced vibration. At this time, the vortex shedding is regular and periodic.
In the case that 150<Re<300, which corresponds to a period of transition from laminar flow to turbulent flow, during this period, the periodic vortex shedding is covered by irregular turbulence flow.
In the case that 300<Re<3×105, which is called a subcritical region, awake flow of the cylindrical body after falling off appears mainly as a turbulent wake flow, and the vortex shedding begins to be irregular. The period of a vortex shedding frequency can be roughly determined, but a disturbing force when the vortices are shedding is random rather than symmetrical.
In the case that 3×105<Re<3×106, which is called a supercritical region, a vortex shedding point moves backward, the vortex street cannot be identified, and a completely aperiodic vortex is formed.
In the case that 3×106<Re, which is called a trans-critical region, a wake flow behind the cylindrical body is very turbulent, however, a regular vortex shedding also appears.
When uniform airflow passes (sweeps, flows around) a blunt body (cylindrical body), the periodic vortex shedding behind a cross section of the cylindrical body may generate a periodically varying force, that is, a vortex-induced force, on a structure (a contact face on a surface of the tower). A lower end of the tower structure around which the airflow flows and the foundation base under the ground constitute a single free end vibration system (that is, the upper end of the tower is submerged in the airflow, and a lowermost end of the tower is fixed on the foundation base). When the vortex shedding frequency is consistent with a certain order natural vibration frequency of the tower structure, the periodic vortex-induced force (unbalanced force) on the surface of the tower may cause a vortex-induced resonance response of the tower system structure.
The condition that the vortex shedding frequency is equal to the natural frequency of the vibration system of the tower of a structural system and the base thereof can be satisfied only at a certain wind speed. However, the vibration system of the tower and the base thereof which has a natural frequency may generate some feedback on the vortex shedding, so that the vortex shedding frequency can be "captured" by the vibration frequency of the vibration system of the tower and the base thereof within a certain wind speed range, and the vortex shedding frequency may not change with the changing of the wind speed within this wind speed range. This phenomenon is called locking, and the locking may expand the wind speed range within which the vortex-induced resonance of the tower structure occurs.
The height of the tower of a modern large-scale megawatt-level wind turbine generator system can reach 60 m to 100 m. The top of the tower 10 is mounted with main components such as a main frame, a sub-frame, a wheel hub and blades (i.e., the rotor 20) and the like. When the wind turbine generator system is in operation, the tower 10 not only bears the loads of both the gravities of the components at the top of the tower 10 and the dynamic load generated by the rotation of the rotor, but also is impacted by the natural wind, including downwind and crosswind impacting forms. A bending moment and a force are applied on the tower when the wind blows the rotor to rotate, and the bending moment and the force generated in downwind direction are the main reasons for the damage of the tower 10. The turbulence generated when the wind flows around the tower 10 also causes a lateral vibration leading to the resonance damage of the tower 10.
When the wind blows across the tower 10, pairs of anti-symmetric vortices alternately arranged and having opposite rotation directions are generated at left and right sides of the wake flow, that is, the Karman vortices. The vortices shed from the tower 10 at a certain frequency, so that a transverse vibration perpendicular to the wind direction of the tower 10 occurs, which is also called a wind-induced lateral vibration, i.e., the vortex-induced vibration. When the vortex shedding frequency is close to the natural frequency of the tower, the tower 10 is apt to generate resonance, thus being destroyed.
Referring to FIG. 3, a spiral wire 10a (or a spiral plate) is wound around an outer wall of the tower 10 to suppress vortex shedding on the surface of the tower 10. The spiral wire 10a (or the spiral plate) has different lateral vibration suppression effects when being arranged at different screw pitches. The increase of the height of the spiral wire 10a is beneficial for damaging a period of vortex street releasing, thus the generation and release of the vortex street are more irregular, which is beneficial for suppressing the vortex-induced vibration. And meanwhile, the noise and the resistance generated in front and at the back of the tower gradually increase, and a pitching vibration amplitude along the wind direction is increased.
The above technical solution has the following technical problem:
The wind speed of the airflow changes, and on condition that the characteristic parameters (screw pitch, height) of the spiral wire 10a (or the spiral plate) are processed to change depending on the wind speed of the airflow, the corresponding manufacturing cost and maintenance cost may be significantly increased.
In view of this, a technical issue to be addressed by those skilled in the art is to improve the situation that the installation of the wind power generation equipment is restricted by the regional wind condition.

Floating body device for suppressing vibration of tower

BEIJING GOLDWIND SCIENCE & CREATION WINDPOWER EQUIPMENT CO., LTD.


An apparatus for simulating a tactile interface with the relative position of the probe of a cantilever-based force measurement instrument, such as an atomic force microscope, molecular force probe or profilometer, or the force between the probe and a sample. The device can be easily incorporated into existing control electronics for such instruments or can be incorporated into a relatively small and simple hand-held device to be used with such instruments.

The present invention relates generally to devices that provide a tactile interface with the relative position of the probe of a cantilever-based force measurement instrument, such as an atomic force microscope, molecular force probe or profilometer, or the force between the probe and a sample.
Cantilever-based force measurement instruments are now commonly used to make measurements with micro-newton to pico-newton resolution on a variety of samples, including single molecules. In many cases it is advantageous to provide feedback to the operator as to the relative position of the probe of the cantilever or the force between the probe and the sample. This has been accomplished a number of ways, including the use of visual and audio signals.
It has also been accomplished through tactile feedback where a force or torque is applied to a control mechanism that is related to another signal, such as the deflection of the cantilever probe. There are a number of such haptic devices that already exist for the control of cantilever-based force measurement instruments including a joystick developed by Hermann Gaub of the University of Munich and a joystick based on commercially available force feedback joysticks developed at MDT-NT, a Russian nanotechnology company. The three-dimensional haptic interface marketed by 3rd Tech in North Carolina goes even further by extending the force feedback to three dimensions.
It is desirable to have a tactile feedback device that is simple and that could be easily incorporated into existing control electronics or that could be incorporated into a relatively small and simple hand-held device. We have developed a force feedback knob. In this device, a parameter, such as the voltage applied by the instrument's piezo or the setpoint or desired position of the instrument's closed loop positioner, is varied by rotating the knob. A variable torque is applied to the knob to provide tactile feedback to the operator regarding the value of an appropriate parameter, such as the deflection of the cantilever probe.

Tactile force and/or position feedback for cantilever-based force measurement instruments


A communication system may include an equalizing device for DC-offset mitigation. The system includes: an input analog-to-digital converter configured to receive an input signal and produce a digital signal from the input signal; and a DC-offset estimation device coupled with the input analog-to-digital converter. The DC-offset estimation device is configured to produce a quantized DC-offset estimate from the digital signal. And the input analog-to-digital converter is configured to receive the quantized DC-offset estimate and to adjust a DC offset of the digital signal.

In the field of communication and signal processing, DC (direct current) offset signifies at least the offset in the DC component of a signal. Although some DC offsets may be introduced intentionally for various purposes, other DC offsets may be undesired results occurred during transmission or signal processing. For example, DC offsets may be introduced during signal processing at a WLAN (wireless local area network) receiver, which may connect a computing device with a network via an access point.
Without limiting the scope of the invention, we describe below the signal processing of a WLAN receiver to illustrate an example of DC offset. Generally, a WLAN receiver may down-convert a radio frequency ("RF") signal to an intermediate frequency ("IF") signal, and then down-convert the IF signal to baseband ("BB") signal. Such receiver structure is also known as super-heterodyne, which may require an additional IF surface-acoustic-wave ("SAW") filter. To eliminate the IF stage, a direct conversion receiver may directly down-convert an RF signal to a BB signal. This receiver structure may achieve cost reduction by avoiding IF components, such as a SAW filter. However, undesirable, and sometimes significant, direct current (DC) offset may be introduced by a local oscillator and associated leakage.
Undesirable DC offset may affect the quality of processed signals and impact signal transmissions, such as signal transmissions through a wireless receiver.
Therefore, there is a need for a method or a device that reduces or mitigates DC offset, including DC offset in a direct conversion WLAN receiver.

Device and method for providing DC-offset estimation


A concealable water shooter is provided and consists of a sealable reservoir for holding water therein removably attached to an upper arm of a person. A housing is carried on a forearm and into a palm of a hand of the person so that it can be hidden from view when covered by a sleeve of a garment worn by the person. A pump in the housing is fluidly connected between the reservoir and a nozzle in the housing. An electronic system in the housing, controllable by a finger of the person, electrically operates the pump so that some of the water will exit through the nozzle and can spray onto another unsuspecting person.

1. Field of the Invention
The instant invention relates generally to water guns and more specifically it relates to a concealable water shooter.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Numerous water guns have been provided in prior art that are adapted to be visibly held in the hand to shoot water therefrom. While these units may be suitable for the particular purpose to which they address, they would not be as suitable for the purposes of the present invention as heretofore described.


A data storage device includes a phase-change storage layer and an array of nanotubes as electron sources.

The present invention relates generally to electron sources. The present invention also relates to data storage devices.
For decades researchers have been working to increase storage density and reduce storage cost of data storage devices such as magnetic hard-drives, optical drives, and semiconductor random access memory. However, increasing the storage density is becoming increasingly difficult because conventional technologies appear to be approaching fundamental limits on storage density. For instance, information storage based on conventional magnetic recording is rapidly approaching fundamental physical limits such as the superparamagnetic limit, below which magnetic bits are not stable at room temperature.
Storage devices that do not face these fundamental limits are being researched. An example of such an information storage device is described in Gibson et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,557,596. The device includes multiple electron sources having electron emission surfaces that are proximate a storage medium. During write operations, the electron sources bombard the storage medium with relatively high intensity electron beams. During read operations, the electron sources bombard the storage medium with relatively low intensity electron beams.
Size of storage bits in such a device may be reduced by decreasing the electron beam diameter. Reducing the storage bit size increases storage density and capacity, and it decreases storage cost.
"Spindt" emitters could be used for generating focused electron beams in such a device. A Spindt emitter has a conical shape and emits an electron beam at the tip of its cone. The cone tip is made as sharp as possible to reduce operating voltage and achieve a small electron beam diameter.
However, certain problems arise with Spindt emitters. One problem is that the Spindt emitters are sensitive to impact. The tips of the Spindt emitters are only a few nanometers from the storage medium. If a tip makes contact with the storage medium, it could be damaged. Another problem is directionality of the electron beams emitted from the Spindt emitters. Sometimes an electron beam can come off the side of the cone rather than the tip. Yet another problem is a loss of material from the tips due to energy being greater than the workfunction. The loss of material reduces the effectiveness of the tips.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Data storage device including nanotube electron sources

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


The invention relates to a charging station with a charging contact device (20) and an accumulator-operated flashlight (10) with charging contacts (14, 15), arranged transverse to the flashlight longitudinal axis and insulated with respect to one another, on the flashlight housing casing, which, when the accumulators are being recharged, bear electrically conductively against charging contact points (28, 29) of the charging contact device (20). According to the invention the charging station is characterised in that each of the two charging contacts (14, 15) extends on the flashlight housing over a circular arc of <180°, in that the charging contact device (20) has a base body (21) with a contact face (25) and two side bodies (23, 24) with faces on which charging contact points (28, 29) are arranged, and in that the side bodies (23, 24) each contain a magnet (27), the magnetic force field of which is able to fix the positioning of the flashlight (10) in a stable and functionally reliable manner when the accumulators are being recharged.

Battery-operated flashlights are indispensable in the event of a power failure or in the absence of a fixed network connection. The active operating life of a flashlight is limited by the battery capacity. A substantial improvement in the operating life was achieved by the use of light-emitting diodes instead of the incandescent lamp, because the LED power consumption is much lower.
In the case of frequent usage it makes sense to use rechargeable batteries (accumulators). One possibility known according to the prior art consists in removing the batteries whose capacity has been exhausted from the flashlight and inserting these rechargeable batteries into a separate battery-charging device and leaving them there until the maximum charging capacity is attained. During this time, the flashlight cannot be used or must be operated by means of another battery set or another battery. In many devices operated by rechargeable batteries, in particular mobile telephones, the battery can remain in the device during recharging if this device has a plug contact, via which the device is connectable to a charging device connected to a stationary power source.
Furthermore, charging stations are known. In DE 297 21 015 U1 the charging station has a mounting for a battery-operated manual device into or onto which the manual device can be placed, as well as a power unit plug, which can be connected electrically conductively to the manual device arranged in the mounting by means of electrical contacts. The manual device is to be fixable in different angular positions to the insertion or positioning direction on the mounting, wherein electrical contacts are associated with these positions.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,092,580 B1 a charging station for a flashlight is described in which the flashlight can be plugged detachably into a holding device via a clamping mechanism. This charging station has the disadvantage, however, that manual devices that have to be removed from the charging station quickly first have to be disconnected from it. If this has to happen quickly in a professional sphere of use, e.g. in the case of the police or fire brigade, there is a risk that existing plug connections may be slightly damaged.
EP 2 216 871 therefore proposes a charging station with a charging contact device and with a battery-operated flashlight in which the flashlight has a contact device and at least partly a ferromagnetic material. The charging contact device has a magnet, which can be brought into operative connection with the ferromagnetic material such that the charging contact device of the charging station and the contact device of the flashlight can be brought correspondingly into contact. The charging station is arranged on a mounting such that the flashlight is held in a perpendicularly arranged mounting by the magnet in the charging state. Such a charging station presupposes an attachment of the mounting to the wall in a vertical position, however, which is not always the case. Locally flexible use of such a charging station is not possible. Another disadvantage of the charging station consists in the fact that the holding force must be applied solely by a magnet, and must be great enough to bear the weight of the flashlight. Knocking the flashlight accidentally can therefore lead to the light becoming detached from the mounting and falling to the floor.
In DE 10 2014 113 932 A1 a charging station with a battery-operated electric flashlight is described, wherein the charging station comprises a charging cradle and a charging contact device and at least two charging contacts, which are connected electrically conductively to other electronics. The charging contacts project like a pin over the surface of the charging cradle. The flashlight describes an end face, arranged in which are an electrical actuating element, which projects above the end face, and a contact device, which have at least two electrical contact faces, wherein the contact faces are arranged around the electrical actuating element in an annular and axially symmetrical orientation and insulated by an insulating element. The flashlight can be placed by its end face detachably into the charging station, wherein the charging contact device of the charging station and the contact device of the flashlight can be brought into corresponding contact by this, but a distance is maintained between the end face of the flashlight and the surface of the charging radiator that is greater than the projection of the actuating element above the end face. With this device also the flashlight must be inserted vertically. In addition, the charging contacts must be spring-loaded to guarantee sufficient contact closure, which is indispensable for recharging.
In DE 20 2016 103 327 U1 a flashlight with charging station is proposed in which a number of charging contacts are to be arranged spaced at a distance from one another on the housing outer casing, so that the contacting of the charging contacts takes place transversely to the housing longitudinal direction. For mechanical holding a clamp mounting based on spring force is used in which the flashlight is held at two points, namely close to the head and close to the foot in the charging station.


Prefetching data using a piecemeal list prefetching method. This is achieved by various means, including building a plurality of data pages, sorting the plurality of data pages into sequential data pages and a list of non-sequential pages, prefetching the sequential data pages using a first prefetching technique, and prefetching the non-sequential list of data pages using a second prefetching technique.

1. Field
Embodiments of the invention are generally related to prefetching data. And more specifically, embodiments are related to techniques for prefetching data in different ways based on whether the data is sequential or non-sequential.
2. Description of the Related Art
Prefetching generally refers to loading data in anticipation of a subsequent need for the data. Prefetching is commonly used in a variety of different contexts. For instance, computer processors may prefetch instructions, whereas web browsers may prefetch links on the current webpage. As another example, database software applications may prefetch data pages to a data buffer in anticipation of a need for the data pages. In this way, database applications may avoid synchronous I/O, since synchronous I/O may lead to an inefficient use of processor resources and may result in the appearance of sluggish performance (if, for example, the application is stuck waiting on the I/O operation to complete).

International Business Machines Corporation


A wireless terminal of a wireless communication system, the wireless communication system including a wireless base station and one or more wireless terminals, the wireless terminal includes: a radio communication circuit configured to perform wireless communication with the wireless base station; and a controller configured to allocate a part of an allocation amount of a wireless resource indicated in uplink grant to transmission of a status report of a transmission buffer when the uplink grant is received from the wireless base station, and uplink data stored in the transmission buffer is transmitted by using the radio communication circuit.

In recent years, in a wireless communication system (also referred to as a mobile communication system) such as a mobile phone system (cellular system), a next generation wireless communication technique for achieving higher speed and larger capacity of wireless communication has been discussed. For example, the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) that is a standardization organization has already developed a specification for a communication standard called Long Term Evolution (LTE) or a communication standard called LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) based on the wireless communication technique of LTE, and continuously has performed work for expansion of the function thereof. For example, standardization of a fifth generation mobile communication system (also referred to as a 5G system) for realizing operation scenarios or contents of technical requirements presented by International Telecommunication Union Radio communications sector (ITU-R) has been under discussion.
In the wireless communication system, in order to assist a wireless base station (also referred to as a base station) in scheduling a wireless resource with higher efficiency, for example, a wireless terminal (also referred to as a terminal, a user terminal, or a mobile station) transmits uplink (also referred to as UL) scheduling information, for example, a buffer status report (also referred to as a BSR) for the wireless terminal, to the wireless base station. The transmission of a buffer status report for a wireless terminal is also referred to as a BSR, and, for example, information based on an amount of data staying in a transmission buffer of the wireless terminal is transmitted.
From the viewpoint of transmission efficiency of a BSR, the wireless terminal converts an amount of data staying in the transmission buffer (also referred to as a buffer) into an index value (also referred to as a BSR index) quantized on a predetermined granularity, and thus compresses an information amount. Thus, the wireless terminal and the wireless base station are provided with a buffer status report table (also referred to as a BSR index table). In the BSR index table, a range (for example, a range from 0 to 3000 kbytes) from a lower limit value of the transmission buffer to an upper limit value thereof is divided into a plurality of small ranges, and an index of each small range corresponds to a single range of a data amount (also referred to as a buffer size) in the buffer.
The wireless terminal specifies an index value (also referred to as a BSR index, a BSR index value, or a BSR value) associated with a small range corresponding to a data amount (also referred to as a buffer size, data available for transmission, or a data volume) in the buffer according to the BSR index table, and transmits a BSR including the BSR index. The wireless base station receives the BSR from the wireless terminal, may recognize which wireless terminal requires to what extent of wireless resource, and may thus perform appropriate scheduling. The wireless terminal may positively request the wireless base station to allocate a wireless resource.
A trigger to transmit a BSR from the wireless terminal is generated, for example, according to a cycle designated by setting information transmitted from the wireless base station. The wireless base station estimates a buffer size of the wireless terminal based on a BSR from the wireless terminal, and updates the estimated amount of the buffer size of the wireless terminal based on an amount of a wireless resource allocated in scheduling. A trigger to transmit a BSR from the wireless terminal may be generated according to factors other than a cycle designated by setting information transmitted from the wireless base station. For example, when an uplink signal packet is generated, even in a case where a length of padding bits included in the packet is a predetermined length or more, the wireless terminal tries to transmit a BSR to the wireless base station.
Examples of the related art include PTL 1: Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2016-042726, NPL 1: 3GPP TS 36.211 V14. 2.0 (2017-03), NPL 2: 3GPP TS 36.212 V14. 2.0 (2017-03), NPL 3: 3GPP TS 36.213 V14. 2.0 (2017-03), NPL 4: 3GPP TS 36.300 V14. 2.0 (2017-03), NPL 5: 3GPP TS 36.321 V14. 2.0 (2017-03), NPL 6: 3GPP TS 36.322 V14. 0.0 (2017-03), NPL 7: 3GPP TS 36.323 V14. 2.0 (2017-03), NPL 8: 3GPP TS 36.331 V14. 2.0 (2017-03), NPL 9: 3GPP TS 36.413 V14. 2.0 (2017-03), NPL 10: 3GPP TS 36.423 V14. 2.0 (2017-03), NPL 11: 3GPP TS 36.425 V14. 0.0 (2017-03), NPL 12: 3GPP TR 38.801 V14. 0.0 (2017-03), NPL 13: 3GPP TR 38.802 V14. 0.0 (2017-03), NPL 14: 3GPP TR 38.803 V14. 0.0 (2017-03), NPL 15: 3GPP TR 38.804 V14. 0.0 (2017-03), NPL 16: 3GPP TR 38.900 V14. 2.0 (2016-12), NPL 17: 3GPP TR 38.912 V14. 0.0 (2017-03), and NPL 18: 3GPP TR 38.913 V14. 0.0 (2017-03).

Wireless terminal, wireless base station, wireless communication system, and wireless communication method


Various optoelectronic modules are described and include one or more optoelectronic devices. Each optoelectronic module includes one or more optoelectronic devices. Sidewalls laterally surround each optoelectronic device and can be in direct contact with sides of the optoelectronic device or, in some cases, with an overmold surrounding the optoelectronic device. The sidewalls can be composed, for example, of a vacuum injected material that is non-transparent to light emitted by or detectable by the optoelectronic device. The module also includes a passive optical element. Depending on the implementation, the passive optical element can be on a cover for the module, directly on a top surface of the optoelectronic device, or on an overmold surrounding the optoelectronic device. Methods of fabricating such modules are described as well, and can facilitate manufacturing the modules using wafer-level processes.

Smartphones and other devices sometimes include miniaturized optoelectronic modules such as light modules, sensors or cameras. Light modules can include a light emitting element such as a light emitting diode (LED), an infra-red (IR) LED, an organic LED (OLED), an infra-red (IR) laser or a vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) that emits light through a lens to outside the device. Other modules can include a light detecting element. For example, CMOS and CCD image sensors can be used in primary or front facing cameras. Likewise, proximity sensors and ambient light sensors can include a light sensing element such as a photodiode. The light emitting and light detecting modules as well as cameras can be used in various combinations. Thus, for example, a light module such as a flash module can be used in combination with a camera that has an imaging sensor. Light emitting modules in combination with light detecting modules also can be used for other applications such as gesture recognition or IR illumination.
One challenge when integrating an optoelectronic module into a device such as a smartphone is how to reduce light leakage from the light source in the light module, or how to prevent incoming stray light from impinging, for example, in the case of sensors or cameras. Although various techniques can be used to achieve these features, it can be difficult to do so in a manner than results in very compact modules, which can be particularly important for smart phones and other devices in which space is at a premium.

Compact opto-electronic modules and fabrication methods for such modules


A solar-powered hanging lantern includes an interchangeable shade. The article comprises a housing having an upper surface with a solar cell and a lower surface with a light source. A rechargeable battery and electronics within the housing charge the battery using the solar cell and illuminate the light source when ambient light falls to a predetermined level. The housing includes a cylindrical sidewall with a diameter and a peripheral rim extending outwardly form the cylindrical sidewall. A shade is provided having an upper, generally cylindrical opening slightly larger than the diameter of the housing, the shade being installed onto and over the housing such that the cylindrical opening rests on the peripheral rim, with an elastomeric ring being placed onto and over the housing to maintain the shade in position. The ring may be an O-ring and/or may include an inner groove to receive the opening of the shade.

FIG. 1 is a drawing of a prior art illuminated hanging lantern 100 with a paper or plastic shade 102. The shade 102 is collapsible, with a helical embedded wire 118 typically included to maintain its shape when expanded to a generally spherical shape. For illumination, the configuration includes a body 104 having a solar cell 106 and a light source such as LED 108. The electronics to transfer electrical power from the solar panel to the LED are contained in the body 104, which hangs via hook 110. The solar cell 106 or optional photocell may be used to detect lower ambient light levels so that the lantern only becomes illuminated at dusk. Some designs include a metal retaining wire 116 to keep the shade expanded. The shade 102 has an upper, peripheral round hole that is trapped by an upper rim 112 of body 104 and a lower retaining ring 114. The ring 114 is either screwed or glued in position such that shade 102 cannot be removed. As such, the shade 102 is not interchangeable if it becomes soiled or damaged.

Hanging lantern with removeable, interchangeable shades


Techniques are presented for establishing context awareness during first negotiation of secure key exchange. These techniques may be embodied as a method, apparatus or instructions in a computer-readable storage media. At a first network device, a message is received from a second network device as part of an initial exchange of information of a secure key exchange, the message containing information indicating one or more secure key exchange policies acceptable to the second network device and defining one or more associated security parameters. The message further contains context-specific information identifying a context of the second network device. The first network device selects a secure key exchange policy for communicating with the second network device based upon the context-specific information and sends a response message to the second network device containing the selected secure key exchange policy. If the context was understood, the response message also includes context-specific information.

In cloud-based environments, resources are frequently shared between multiple clients, creating a multi-tenant environment. As each client has the capacity to create and establish one or more security policies for negotiating access into cloud-based environments, it is important to ensure that individual policies are respected, and in particular, that conflicts between policies do not occur.
During establishment of an IPsec session, an initiator and a responder exchange a series of messages in order to negotiate selection of various security parameters and perform authentication. In protocols such as Internet Key Exchange (IKE) or Internet Key Exchange version 2 (IKEv2), security parameters are selected during first exchange of messages. However, the identity of the initiator is not known by the responder during this first exchange, and therefore, the proper security policy may not be selected by the responder.

Context awareness during first negotiation of secure key exchange


A pilot flame or burner apparatus for supporting a flame provided by a gaseous fuel and air mixture which is induced to flow to a flame nozzle by an eductor into which gaseous fuel is ejected and mixed with combustion air to flow through a fuel-air mixing chamber to the nozzle. Combustion air enters the eductor by way of an opening formed by a shroud and a heat exchanger member disposed concentrically around the flame nozzle and the flame supported thereby so as to preheat the air to minimize the formation of ice at the eductor inlet. Generally horizontal and vertically disposed embodiments of the apparatus are useful as flare pilots for flaring gases in oil and gas production and refining operations. The combustion air inlet may be arranged to face the same direction as the flame nozzle to minimize the effect of wind blowing against the nozzle. One embodiment of the apparatus includes a T-shaped baffle for containing and deflecting the pilot flame and minimizing the induction of combustion gases with the inlet combustion air.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to a frost-free, wind-resistant pilot flame or burner apparatus particularly useful as a pilot flame for a gas flare for oil and gas production and refining operations.
2. Background
In the production and refining of oil and gas, certain operations require the burning or "flaring" of excess gases as an adjunct necessity. Gas flares and associated pilot flame devices which are exposed to atmospheric conditions may suffer from weather conditions which will generate the accumulation of ice on the flare pilot apparatus due to expansion of the pilot flame combustion air and the subsequent condensation and freezing of the air entrained water vapor. Conventional flare pilot devices are also subject to being extinguished by certain wind conditions. The present invention provides an improved flame support device or flare pilot which overcomes some of the deficiencies of prior art apparatuses including those mentioned above.


Electronic door stop devices, an electronic door stop remote broadcast device, and a visual lockdown notification and alert device are disclosed. The electronic door stop devices include a sound-activated remote release electronic door stop that automatically detects a particular sound and releases a propped open door and a silent broadcast signal-activated electronic door stop that provides automatic closing of propped open doors, by both silent broadcast signal and particular sound detection. The electronic door stop remote broadcast device broadcasts a wireless data signal to multiple silent broadcast signal-activated electronic door stops to automatically and concurrently release any doors propped open by the silent broadcast signal-activated electronic door stops. The visual lockdown notification and alert device flashes an LED visual alert in silent mode or sound-activated.

Embodiments of the invention described in this specification relate generally to door stops, and more particularly, to a visual lockdown notification and alert device that provides visual notification of lockdown in silent mode or by sound activation, an electronic door stop remote broadcast device, a silent broadcast signal-activated electronic door stop, and a sound-activated remote release electronic door stop.
As part of a fire-rated assembly, a door needs to remain shut during a fire to provide integrity in impeding fire and smoke passage. However, people often like to have doors left open or propped open. Thus, when desired, a door is propped open by means of any object that impedes the swing of the door (e.g., door stop, etc.). This presents a problem in terms of fire safety and other emergency situations because leaving the door open during an emergency event allows access to other rooms/areas. In particular, propping a door open allows fire and smoke to access other rooms/areas during a fire and allows intruders access to other rooms/areas during an intruder emergency.
While a person may be able to distinguish the sound of a fire alarm or other alarm and take appropriate action (closing the propped open door to prevent further access), there is no guarantee such a person will be anywhere near such a propped open door in time to close it. Furthermore, expecting a person to close any/all propped open doors limits and/or delays other important and significant actions that should reasonably be performed.
Also, there are some people who cannot hear as well as others and may not realize an alarm is sounding. In other cases, visual notifications and alerts can provide a notification to people that a lockdown scenario is underway without alerting a perpetrator of the lockdown.
Therefore, what is needed is a remote detection device that gets mounted on a propped open door or elsewhere in the vicinity of a door, such that a receiver of the remote detection device can detect an alarm and release the door automatically to achieve closure for fire integrity and intruder prevention, which includes separate channel detection for "silent-release" operation on a broadcast basis as may be triggered by an electronic door stop remote broadcast device, and a visual lockdown notification and alert device.

Visual lockdown notification and alert device, electronic door stop remote broadcast device, silent broadcast signal-activated electronic door stop, and sound-activated remote release electronic door stop


Polycarbonates incorporating terminal carbonate groups derived from ester-substituted activated carbonates, for example terminal methyl salicyl carbonate (TMSC) derived from the use of BMSC as the activated carbonate in a transesterification process, have unfavorable properties with respect to color, hydrolytic stability and thermal stability, particularly when the polycarbonate containing such end groups is molded. The number of activated carbonate end groups formed during the melt transesterification formation of polycarbonate can be reduced, however, without sacrificing the benefits of using an activated diaryl carbonate, and without requiring a separate reaction or additional additives by reacting a dihydroxy compound with an activated diaryl carbonate in the presence of an esterification catalyst to produce a polycarbonate, wherein the molar ratio of activated diaryl carbonate to dihydroxy compound is less than 1 when expressed to at least three decimal places, for example 0.996 or less.

The present invention relates to polycarbonates and to a method of preparing same.
Polycarbonates are generally produced through one of two types of processes: an interfacial process or a melt transesterification process. In the melt transesterification process, dihydroxy compounds such as biphenol A are reacted with a carbonic acid diesters. For many purposes, the carbonic acid diester may be a diaryl carbonate such as diphenyl carbonate.
It is also known to use the melt transesterification process with activated diaryl carbonates. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,323,668 describes a polycarbonate transesterification process comprising reacting (ortho-alkoxycarbonylaryl)carbonates and a dihydric phenol under transesterification reaction conditions. In the specific examples, U.S. Pat. No. 4,323,668 makes uses of bis-methylsalicylcarbonate (BMSC) as the diaryl carbonate. Use of activated diaryl carbonates is also described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,420,512, U.S. Pat. No. 6,506,871, U.S. Pat. No. 6,548,623, U.S. Pat. No. 6,790,929, U.S. Pat. No. 6,518,391, US 2003/0139529, and US 2003/0149223. When these activated carbonates are used, internal residues and end-caps derived from the activated diaryl carbonate are incorporated into the final polymer. See, US patent Publication No. 20030050427 and 20030149223.

Polycarbonates and method of preparing same


Embodiments provide solutions to reduce power utilization (either at individual cable modems or in the overall network) in future cable modem networks. Particularly, embodiments seek to reduce power utilization at individual cable modems and in the overall network, by allocating upstream frequency bands and/or transmission modulation schemes among cable modems while accounting for cable loss experienced by individual upstream cable modem transmissions. According to embodiments, frequency spectrum and modulation scheme allocation techniques are provided to optimize power utilization and enable lower upstream transmission power by cable modems while maintaining similar signal strength of received signals or lower signal strength with reduced SNR requirements using lower capacity modulation at the headend.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to high speed data networks over hybrid fiber coaxial (HFC) cable plant.
2. Background Art
It is envisioned that in future cable networks the frequency spectrum for upstream communications will be expanded into higher frequency bands (e.g., over 1 GHz, but even extensions to 200 MHz are significant compared to current practice topping out at 42 MHz in North America and 65 MHz in Europe). As such, signal attenuation due to cable loss will become significant for upstream communication in the higher frequency bands, and will also cause signals at the headend to have widely varying signal strengths as signals will experience different cable attenuations depending generally on the length of cabling between the cable modem and the first upstream amplifier, the type(s) of cabling (traversed to the first amplifier), and the frequency bands over which the signals are transmitted.
Existing solutions typically deal with similar problems by having the cable modems use as much transmission power as needed to achieve a desired received signal strength at the headend, without regard to cable length (between the cable modem and first upstream amplifier) or cable type(s) or frequency assignment. Thus, conventional solutions are highly sub-optimal in terms of power utilization.
There is a need for frequency spectrum and modulation scheme allocation techniques that optimize power utilization and enable similar upstream transmission power by cable modems and signal-to-noise (SNR) ratio at the headend.
The present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Generally, the drawing in which an element first appears is typically indicated by the leftmost digit(s) in the corresponding reference number.

Frequency spectrum and modulation scheme allocation for high speed data networks