An electrode water circulation pump and a plurality of air and water cooling radiators are provided in an electrode water cooling and circulation passage line which is for feeding and draining a prescribed quantity of electrode water so that the temperature and amount of the electrode water in the water rheostat are kept constant. A spray nozzle unit and a motor coupled with a fan are provided in the face of the rear of the body of each of the radiators so that the motor is located behind the spray nozzle unit. The front of the body of each of the radiators is covered with a hood having a steam release port in the top of the hood.

The present invention relates to an electrode water circulation and processing system and a hooded radiator for a water rheostat for measuring or testing the output characteristics of a power supply such as an electricity generator and an inverter.
As shown in FIG. 1, a conventional water rheostat A created by the present inventor comprises a base electrode 1 shaped as a bottomed cylinder and containing a prescribed amount of electrode water W which is circulated through the electrode, a main electrode 5 shaped as a cylinder and vertically extending through an electrically insulating support 3 vertically extending through the center of the bottom 1a of the base electrode 1, and an electrically insulating cylinder 7 covering the main electrode and vertically slidable to adjust the length of the uncovered portion of the main electrode 5. A water drain hole 2 is provided in an appropriate portion of the bottom 1a of the base electrode 1. A power cable 4 for a power supply not shown in FIG. 1 is connected to the lower end of the main electrode 5, which is located outside the electrically insulating support 3. A water feed port 6 is provided in the upper portion of the electrically insulating cylinder 7 so that the cooled water W is fed through the port 6.
A plurality of such water rheostats A are provided though not all of them are shown in FIG. 1, so that the main electrodes 5 of the rheostats A are connected to the single or three phases of the power supply, and the base electrodes 1 of the rheostats A are connected to each other through a earth cable 8 and grounded. If the number of the phases of the power supply is three, the water rheostats A are Y-connected to each other. The water feed port 6 and the water drain hole 2 in each of the rheostats A communicate with an electrode water cooling and processing unit B shown in FIG. 1 and disclosed in the Japanese Patent Laid-open Nos. 123287/1987 and 124474/1987.
The electrode water cooling and processing unit B functions so that the warmed water W drained from the water rheostat A is cooled and sent again to the rheostat A. The unit B comprises a radiator 9, a spray pipe 10 for spraying water to the rear of the radiator 9, a fan 11 for blowing air from behind the spray pipe 10, a duct 12 by which the air blown to the radiator 9 by the fan 11 and flowing to the front of the radiator 9 is guided so that the air is dispersed upward, a recovered water tank 13 provided under the radiator 9 to recover the water sprayed from the spray pipe 10 to the radiator 9 and falling therefrom, and a storage tank 14 storing the electrode water W which is circulated through the water rheostat A and the radiator 9.
The cooling and processing unit B has a pure water filling passage line 20, an electrode water cooling and circulation passage line 22, a flushing return passage line 24, and a sprayed water feed passage line 27 among the radiator 9, the spray pipe 10, the recovered water tank 13 and the storage tank 14. The pure water filling passage line 20 functions so that the electrode water W in the storage tank 14 is pumped up by a pure water pump 16 through a water feed pipe 15 extending down into the storage tank 14 and is processed through filters 17 and 18 and a water purifier 19 which heightens the purity of the water. The electrode water cooling and circulation passage line 22 functions so that the electrode water W is received from the pure water filing passage line 20 to the feed portion 22a of the electrode water cooling and circulation passage line 22 and fed to the water rheostat A, and the warmed water drained from the rheostat A is sent to the lower inlet port 9a of the radiator 9 by an electrode water circulation pump 21 provided in the electrode water cooling and circulation passage line 22. The flushing return passage line 24 functions so that the electrode water W dividedly sent out from the drain portion 22b of the electrode water cooling and circulation passage line 22 upstream to the lower inlet port 9a of the radiator 9 is returned to the pure water filling passage line 20 by the pure water pump 16 while being cooled through a cooling coil 23. The sprayed water feed passage line 27 functions so that the water is pumped up, by a spray pump 25, through one of the water feed pipe 15 and a suction pipe 26 extending down into the recovered water tank 13 and is sent to the spray pipe 10. The cooling and processing unit B includes changeover valves 28, 29 and 30 connected to the passage lines 20, 22, 24 and 27.
A fan motor 31, speed controllers 32, 33 and 34 made of inverters to regulate the speeds of the fan motor 31, the pure water pump 16 and the spray pump 25, and a cooling coil 35 are provided further, as shown in FIG. 1.
Shown at C in FIG. 1 is an automatic control unit for vertically moving the electrically insulating cylinder 7. The automatic control unit C comprises a measuring instrument 36 which measures at least one of the electric power and electrical current supplied through the power cable 4 and sends out a measured value signal S1 corresponding to the electric power or the electrical current, a controller 37 which receives the signal S1 and sends out a control signal S2 resulting from the comparison of the signal S1 with a preset value, and an operating unit 38 which recieves the control signal S2 to move up the electrically insulating cylinder 7.
The water rheostats A, the electrode water cooling and processing unit B, the automatic control unit C and so forth can be installed on the cargo bed of an autotruck or the like so as to be rapidly conveyed. The storage tank 14 may be substituted by a pool.
The operation of the electrode water cooling and processing unit B is described in detail from now on. The purified water is sent to the feed portion 22a of the electrode water cooling and circulation passage line 22 through the water feed pipe 15 and the pure water filling passage line 20 and filled into the water rheostat A through the water feed port 6, as shown by full-line arrows in FIG. 1. At that time, the water is pumped up from the storage tank 14 by the pure water pump 16 so that the water flows through the pump 16 and the cooling coil 35 and is removed of sand and the like by the filter 17 and of chlorine by the filter 18 before the water enters into the water purifier 19. Although the electric conductivity of the water entering into the water purifier 19 is about 200 .mu.s/cm, the conductivity is decreased to about 1 .mu.s/cm by the purifier 19. If the electric conductivity of the water rises due to the dissolution of an impurity into the water as a result of the initial rotation of the electrode water pump 21, the water is drained and then subjected to the above-described processing and filling again. Since the maximum operating temperature of the water purifier 19 is 40.degree. C., the cooling coils 23 and 35 are used to keep the temperature of the water not higher than 40.degree. C. After the pure water filling passage line 20 is closed by the changeover valves 29 and 30, the electrode water circulation pump 21 is put into action so that the electrode water W is circulated through the electrode water cooling and circulation passage line 22, as shown by dotted-line arrows in FIG. 1. At the same time, the spray pump 25 is put into action so that the water in the storage tank 14 is pumped up through the water feed pipe 15 and fed to the spray pipe 10 through the sprayed water feed passage line 27 as shown by dotted-line arrows in FIG. 1, and is then sprayed from the spray pipe 10 to the radiator 9 as shown by dotted lines in FIG. 1. The fan motor 31 is also put into action to rotate the fan 11 to blow the air from behind the radiator 9, As the electrode water W flows through the water rheostat A, the water acts as an electric resistor so that it consumes electric power and is warmed thereby. The warmed water W is sent to the radiator 9 so that the water is cooled by the sprayed water while the warmed water flows through the radiator 9. The sprayed water is evaporated on the surface of the radiator 9 by the heat of the warmed water W flowing through the radiator, and is then sent out by the air blown from behind the radiator 9 by the fan 11, so that the evaporated water and the air are diffused upward along the guide plates 12a of the duct 12 in front of the radiator 9 as shown by dotted lines in FIG. 1. The electrode water W thus cooled by the radiator 9 flows out therefrom through the outlet port 9b thereof and is then fed again to the water rheostat A through the feed portion 22a of the electrode water cooling and circulation passage line 22. Some sprayed water, which is sprayed to the radiator 9 to cool the warmed water W therein but is not evaporated by the heat thereof, clings to the duct 12 and gravitationally falls therefrom so that the fallen water is recovered into the recovered water tank 13. When the water in the tank 13 has risen to the vicinity of the maximum level, the changeover valve 28 is switched so that the water is pumped up by the spray pump 25 through the suction pipe 26 and sent to the spray pipe 10. The recovered water tank 13 and the storage tank 14 may be connected to each other so as to dispense with the changeover valve 28 and the suction pipe 26.
If the electric conductivity of the electrode water W is to be decreased during the operation of the water rheostat A under a high voltage, the changeover valves 29 and 30 are switched so that the water shown by two-dot chain line arrows in FIG. 1 is circulated through the flushing return passage line 24, the pure water filling passage line 20 and the electrode water cooling and circulation passage line 22. At that time, the electrode water W is drained from the water rheostat A by the electrode water circulation pump 21, sent to the cooling coil 35 through the other cooling coil 23 by the pure water pump 16 and returned to the water rheostat A through the filters 17 and 18 and the water purifier 19, so that the water is removed of extraneous substances, chlorine and so forth, thus decreasing the electric conductivity of the water.
If the water rheostat A is to be put in operation at a heavy electrical current under a low voltage, a salt for electric conduction is dissolved in the electrode water W to make the electric conductivity thereof higher than that, 200 .mu.s/cm, of ordinary tape water, and the electrode water W is circulated through the rheostat A and the electrode water cooling and circulation passage line 22.
An electrode water temperature control unit D comprises a temperature measuring instrument 39, a temperature comparator 40, the speed controllers 32 and 34, the operating unit 38, an alarm 41, and a safety circuit breaker 42. The temperature measuring instrument 39 is provided at the lower inlet port 9a of the radiator 9 connected to the end of the drain portion 22b of the electrode water cooling and circulation passage line 22, and measures the temperature of the electrode water W flowing through the lower inlet port 9a, so that the instrument 39 sends out a measured values signal S3. The temperature comparator 40 receives the measured value signal S3, and sends out a control signal S4 resulting from the comparison of the measured value signal S3 with a preset value. If the control signal S4 has exceeded a preset allowable maximum temperature value, the comparator 40 sends out an emergency signal S5. The speed controllers 32 and 34 are made of the inverters to receive the control signal S4 to regulate the driving of the motor of the spray pump 25 and that of the motor 31 of the fan 11. When operating unit 38 has received the emergency signal S5, the unit 38 disengages a clutch not shown in FIG. 1. When the alarm 41 has received the emergency signal S5, the alarm makes a warning sound. At that time, the safety circuit breaker 42 provided in the half-way portion of the power cable 4 disconnects the power supply and the water rheostat A from each other.
The automatic control unit C and the electrode water temperature control unit D are included in a conventional electrode water circulation and processing system X for the water rheostat A so as to take safety measures against abnormalities.
If the electrode water circulation pump 21 has stopped or the driving capacity thereof has sharply fallen during the operation of the water rheostat A so that the flow rate of the electrode water W from the pump 21 has drastically decreased, the circulated quantity of the water becomes zero or reduced to result in a sharp rise in the temperature of the water in the base electrode 1 to boil the water into overflowing. This phenomenon is very dangerous. Since there is a lag time until the temperature measuring instrument 39 detects the sharp rise in the temperature of the electrode water W, arc discharge .alpha. occurs between the base electrode 1 and the main electrode 5 during the lag time. Until a short-circuit overcurrent due to the arc discharge is detected by the measuring instrument 36, the electrically insulating cylinder 7 is not moved down to completely cover the main electrode 5 to insulate it. For these reasons, moving down the cylinder 7 to insulate the main electrode 5 is likely to be too late to avoid a danger resulting from the occurrence of the arc .alpha..
Let us suppose now that vertical electrode plates P1 and P2 face each other in parallel in a fixed amount of water L in the water rheostat A', as shown in FIG. 2. When a voltage E applied to the electrode plates P1 and P2 is increased to a certain value, discharge takes place between them. If the electrode plates P1 and P2 were infinitely-extensive flat plates parallel with each other, the discharge would be most unlikely to take place between them. However, such infinitely-extensive flat plates do not exist in reality. The potential V on the surface of the electrode plate is expressed as follows: ##EQU1## In the equation, K, Q and r denote a coefficient, the amount of electric charge and the radius of curvature of the electrode plate, respectively. Since the electrode plate is flat, the radius r of curvature is infinitely large. However, the potential V on the corner .theta. of the electrode plate is equal to that in the case of r.apprxeq.O. The potential V in the case of r.apprxeq.O is infinitely high as understood from the above equation. Therefore, the discharge is most likely to take place on the corner of the electrode plate. The corner of each of the electrode plates can be eliminated by shaping the plate as a sphere or a cylinder. For such purpose, the main electrode 5 is composed of an upper and a lower hemispherical end portions 5a and 5b and an intermediate cylindrical portion 5c, as shown in FIG. 3. Since the radius of curvature of the base electrode 1 shaped as a bottomed cylinder and located outside the main electrode 5 is larger than that of the main electrode 5, the potential on the base electrode 1 is lower than that on the main electrode 5.
The discharge in the water W between the main electrode 5 and the base electrode 1 in the water rheostat A takes place due to a bubble generated by the local heating of the surface of the main electrode 5. When the bubble is generated between the electrodes 1 and 5, the area of the substantial mutual facing of the electrodes fluctuates. Since the movement of the bubble is irregular, the electric resistance between the electrodes 1 and 5 irregularly changes so that dielectric breakdown occurs. The only means for preventing and removing the bubble is cooling and cleaning the surface of the main electrode 5 with an uniform rapid flow of water.
A conventional water rheostat of such kind was invented by the present inventor and disclosed in Japanese patent application no. 251652/1987. After that, the form and constitution of the main electrode unit 43 of the water rheostat A was modified as shown in FIG. 4. FIG. 4 shows an electrically insulating support 3, a main electrode 5 on the support 3, an electrode connection rod 44, the bottom 1a of a base electrode 1 shaped as a bottomed cylinder, a fixed block 45 secured to the bottom 1a of a base electrode 1 by screws 46, and an annular seal 47 for preventing electrode water from leaking. The bottom 5a of the main electrode 5 is made flat in order to stably support the electrode 5 on the support 3. The bottom 5a is provided with a curved chamfer 5b at the periphery of the bottom 5a. Since the radius of curvature of the curved chamfer 5b is so small that when the temperature of the electrode water has risen to 65.degree. C., a bubble is generated on the curved chamfer 5b and arc discharge takes place at the bubble. For that reason, the maximum electric power applicable to the electrodes 1 and 5 is 650 kw. Because of the arc discharge, the electric power output across the electrodes 1 and 5 is likely to fluctuate so as to hinder proper measurement in a load test, reduce mechanical capacity and cause a burnout accident.
Since the conventional electrode water circulation and processing system X has only the radiator 9, the spray pipe 10, the fan 11 and the duct 2 for cooling the electrode water W, the cooling capacity of the system X is relatively low. However, if the radiator 9 is made larger in size to increase the cooling capacity of the system X, the radiator 9 occupies a larger space and the cost of equipment and running of the system X are augmented. For that reason, the output characteristics of the power supply cannot be measured at a heavy current under a high voltage with the use of the system X.

Electrode water circulation and processing system and hooded radiator for water rheostat


A method is disclosed, comprising obtaining, by a first apparatus, a first identifier associated with the first apparatus, wherein the first identifier is different from a second identifier associated with the first apparatus, providing, by the first apparatus, at least one message to at least one further apparatus of at least one further apparatus, wherein each of the at least one message comprises a key information of the first apparatus and is associated with the first identifier associated with the first apparatus, and determining, by the first apparatus, a session key of a communication session associated with the first apparatus and the at least one further apparatus, based on at least one message received, by the first apparatus, provided by at least one further apparatus of the at least one further apparatus, wherein each of the at least one message comprises a key information of the respective further apparatus and is associated with a first identifier associated with the respective further apparatus.

Recent demands on wireless and mobile communications motivate exploring new technologies to improve network performance in terms of overall throughput, spectrum utilization, energy consumption and so on. Meanwhile, the appearance of new commercial services such as location-based services and content sharing services encourage us to explore new paradigms to meet user demands. Device-to-Device (D2D) communications were proposed as one of the promising technologies for communications in the vicinity, which is supposed to play as a key role in the next generation mobile communication networks and wireless systems (i.e., 5G).
D2D communications refer to a type of technology that enables devices in the vicinity to communicate directly with each other under the control of existing network infrastructures such as Access Point (AP), Base Station (BS) and Core Networks (CN). It has shown great potential in improving communication capability, reducing communication delay and power dissipation, as well as fostering multifarious new applications and services. As a promising technology, D2D communications have drawn considerable attention in academia, industry and standard organizations in recent years. In academia, D2D communications were regarded as an underlay of LTE-Advanced network to improve communication performance. Many researchers have paid their attention on application scenarios, communication mode selection, resource allocation, power control and interference control. In industry, D2D communication-based application developments are active. For example, Qualcomm is developing a D2D communication sub-system in cellular networks, known as FlashLinQ, to make the communications among proximity devices possible. It is expected to complement traditional cellular networking based services and serve as a scalable platform for new types of applications, such as advertising, content sharing, and secure mobile payments. At the same time, the standardization work on D2D communications is on-going in standardization communities. The Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) is one of them. In 3GPP, D2D communication is defined as Proximity-Based Services (ProSe). Many technical issues are under discussion in the aspects of the feasibility study of the ProSe in LTE-A, system architecture and network entity functions, as well as extensive use case exploration. The above issues and more will be discussed and standardized over the next few years. Moreover, the studies on radio, service and other aspects are underway and will appear in future standardization.
In spite of the significant benefits, new application scenarios and system architecture expose D2D communications into unique security threats. Whether we can provide a secure and guaranteed D2D communication system is essential for the success of D2D services. One basic but significant open security issue is to establish a secure communication channel between a number of D2D devices.

Privacy preserving authentication and key agreement protocol for apparatus-to-apparatus communication


An editorial and stationery article, such as a diary, exercise-book, book, magazine, newspaper, file-holder, etc., having particular ergonomic features, characterized in that it has a structure that can be opened as a book, with sheets or pages of quadrilateral shape, with the back or spine side oblique to the upper and lower sides, so that in the open position at least the lower sides converge towards the opening central axis, with convergence according to the obliquity angle of the spine side with respect to said upper and lower sides, so as to have a substantially user-enveloping configuration.

The present invention relates to an editorial and stationery article, such as, e.g., a diary, exercise-book, register, book, magazine, newspaper, file-holder, address-book, etc.
Object of the invention is enabling, during the use, that is, in the active conformation, a better harmony with the physiological functionality of the human anatomical structure with respect to the already known above mentioned articles, both while reading and writing, in harmony with the natural movements peculiar to the human body and to the morphological human features, thus enabling a field of vision having an arched shape while reading as well as while writing when the object is used for writing, so as to reduce the motility of the wrist and of the thumb-forefinger pliers which support the writing instrument, and to better suit the wrist articulation, thus rendering the writing movements easier and more natural, and reducing the visual and muscular stresses of the user during said uses, with respect to the normally and traditionally imposed body positions while using articles of the above mentioned kind.
Another object is further reducing stressing events and to be in greater harmony and sintony with the physiological functionality of the human anatomical structure, also during the non-use passive conformations, such as for example a better ease of handling and seizing it while walking, while moving or transporting the product, or while standing, or while placing the product from the archives or taking it from the suitable holding and filing structures, such as bookcases, shelvings, etc.
A further object is providing a practical, simple, functional and advantageous solution, both for manufacture and ease of use.
These objects are achieved by the invention by providing an editorial and stationery article, such as a diary, exercise-book, book, magazine, newspaper, file-holder, etc., having particular ergonomic features, characterized in that it has a structure that can be opened as a book, with sheets or pages of quadrilateral shape, with the back or spine side oblique to the upper and lower sides, so that in the open position at least the lower sides converge towards the opening central axis, with convergence according to the obliquity angle of the spine side with respect to said upper and lower sides, so as to have a substantially user-enveloping configuration.

Editorial or stationery article, such as diary, exercise-book, book, magazine, newspaper, file-holder, etc., having special ergonomic features


A stabilizer circuit for a high-voltage discharge lamp is provided. The stabilizer comprises an electromagnetic interference (EMI) filter; a rectifying unit; a power factor correction (PFC) circuit; a buck converter; a commutator; an igniter; a high-voltage discharge lamp; a current detector; a voltage detector; an igniter voltage controller for receiving the voltage output from the igniter and controlling the voltage when abnormality in the high-voltage discharge lamp occurs.

Generally, a stabilizer for turning on a high-voltage discharge lamp has a structure in which a copper wire is wound around a silicon steel sheet. The lamp has great power dissipation of the silicon steel sheet core and the copper wire because it uses a frequency of 50 or 60 Hz. In addition, the lamp has great weight and volume, which makes it difficult to dispose and treat.
To solve these problems, several types of electronic stabilizers using semiconductor have been recently developed. All such stabilizers, however, may cause electromagnetic interference with peripheral devices or electric shock accident.
A related art stabilizer circuit for a high-voltage discharge lamp to solve such problems is shown in FIG. 1. Referring to FIG. 1, a buck converter 10 includes a transistor TR1, a Zener diode Z1, capacitors C6 and C7, diodes D1, D2 and D3, a voltage control logic IC2, and a transformer L1.
The buck converter 10 converts a 380V DC voltage to an AC voltage, boosts the AC voltage, and converts the boosted AC voltage to a DC voltage. The system reference voltage generator 12 includes resistors R23, R24 and R25 and a Zener diode Z3. The system reference voltage generator 12 generates a set reference voltage Vref.
A commutator 14 includes a pulse width modulation controller IC3, capacitors C13, C14, C15 and C16, resistors R26 and R27, and transistors TR2, TR3, TR4 and TR5. The commutator 14 receives the converted DC voltage from the buck converter 10 and controls to supply constant current to an igniter 16. The igniter 16 includes a capacitor C2, a diode D2, a coil L2, a transformer L3, Zener diodes Z4, Z5, Z6 and Z7. The igniter 16 receives the voltage from the commutator 14 and generates a high voltage to apply the high voltage to a high-voltage discharge lamp 18.
The high-voltage discharge lamp 18 is turned on by the high voltage generated by the igniter 16. A current detector 20 detects an amount of current using resistors R1, R2 and R3 when the high voltage is fed back from the igniter 16. A voltage detector 22 detects the voltage outputted from the buck converter 10 using resistors R6 and R7.
A watchdog timer 24 includes resistors R12, R13, R14, and R15, capacitors C5 and C8, a transistor TR6, and an operational amplifier OP1. The watchdog timer 24 compares the detected voltage with the reference voltage generated by the reference voltage generator 12 and outputs a pulse for sensing abnormality in the high voltage at set time intervals.
A current and voltage error sensor 26 includes resistors R4, R5, R10, R11, R17, R18 and R19, capacitors C9, C10 and C11, a Zener diode Z2, and a voltage and current control logic IC1. The current and voltage error sensor 26 receives the current value detected by the current detector 20, the voltage value detected by the voltage detector 22 and the pulse signal output from the watchdog timer 24 to sense voltage and current error states.
An igniter voltage controller 28 includes resistors R20, R21 and R22, a capacitor C12, and an operational amplifier OP2. The igniter voltage controller 28 controls the application of a constant voltage to the igniter 16. The conventional stabilizer circuit for the high-voltage discharge lamp described above is available in capacity of 70 to 140 W. However, in high capacity exceeding for example 250 W, current increases, damaging the voltage control logic IC2 of the buck converter 10.

Stabilizer circuit for high-voltage discharge lamp


A device may receive information that identifies a first task to be processed, may determine a performance metric value indicative of a behavior of a processor while processing a second task, and may assign, based on the performance metric value, the first task to a bin for processing the first task, the bin including a set of processors that operate based on a power characteristic.

A data center is a facility used to house computer systems, such as servers, and associated components, such as telecommunications and storage systems. A data center may contain a set of routers and switches that transport traffic between the servers and to or from computers outside of the data center. A data center may be used to run applications that handle various computer related aspects of a business and/or store data of an organization or multiple organizations.

Semi-static power and performance optimization of data centers


A method for identifying a boot stage of a BIOS of a computer device is provided. A control terminal receives screen information data indicative of a current BIOS screen image of the computer device, acquires current screen information based on the screen information data, acquires feature vector based on the current screen information, uses an image classification model to classify the current information into a screen category, and generates boot stage information indicative of a boot stage corresponding to the screen category.

When a testing personnel intends to configure setting of a BIOS executed by a computer when the computer is powered on, the testing personnel has to know what the current boot stage is in order to perform the corresponding setup procedure. Conventionally, the testing personnel needs to pay attention to the information that is shown in the images displayed on a screen of the computer in order to know the current boot stage from the information. Such operation is not effective in terms of time and the use of manpower.

Method for identifying a boot stage of bios from a screen image


Incorporating the PWM function with the power saving means develops the PWM controller in which the switching frequency is decreased in response to the decrease of the load. Further, the current-driven design minimizes the circuitry and reduces the cost of the PWM controller. Since most of the control signals are operated in current mode, the die size of integrated circuit of the PWM controller is greatly reduced. An off-time modulator is provided for power saving in which the discharge current of the oscillator is modulated. Keeping the maximum on-time of the PWM signal as a constant and increasing the off-time of the PWM signal extends the switching period in light load conditions. The off-time modulation is the function of a feedback current, which is derived from the feedback loop. An array of current operation is designed to generate the feedback voltage for the PWM control and meanwhile produces a modulated discharge current for power saving. A minimum discharge current is limited to prevent the switching frequency from flowing into the audio-band. Moreover, the minimum discharge current is switched on/off in response to the state of the supply voltage in which the minimum discharge current is disabled when the supply voltage is high, and enabled once the supply voltage is lower than a threshold voltage; thereby preventing insufficient power from being supplied from the auxiliary bias winding for the PWM controller.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a switching mode power supply and more specifically relates to the pulse width modulation (PWM) of the switching mode power supply.
2. Background of the Invention
The PWM is a traditional technology used in switching power supplies for regulating outputs. Due to the restriction of environmental regulations, the power supply design for computers and other electrical products are required in order to equip the power management function to save energy. One of the major concerns of the power management is to save power in light load and no load conditions.
FIG. 1 shows a general switching power supply, in which a PWM controller 100 is used to control and regulate the output of the power supply. When the line voltage VIN is applied to the power supply, a capacitor 220 connected to a supply voltage pin VCC of the PWM controller 100 will be charged via a resistor 210. Once the supply voltage VCC in the VCC pin of the PWM controller reaches a start-threshold voltage, the PWM controller 100 will be turned-on and start to operate. After that, the auxiliary bias winding of the transformer 400 will supply the power for the PWM controller 100 through a rectifier 230. If the supply voltage VCC is lower than a stop-threshold voltage due to insufficient power from the auxiliary bias winding, the PWM controller 100 could be turned-off. A resistor 240connected in series with a switching transistor 300 is used to convert the switching current of the transformer 400 into a sense voltage VS, which is compared with a feedback signal VFB to achieve the current mode PWM control. The feedback voltage VFB is derived from the output of an optical-coupler 250. The input of the optical coupler 250 is connected to the output of the power supply VO through a resistor 290 and a zener diode 280 to form the feedback loop. The feedback voltage VFB controls the on-time (TON) of the PWM signal and regulates the output of the power supply.
The power consumption is a major concern for switching mode power supplies. Various losses such as the transformer core loss, the transistor and the rectifier switching losses, and the snubber loss, are directly proportional to the switching frequency F. The switching period T is the reciprocal of the switching frequency F. Increasing the switching period will reduce the power loss, however a maximum on-time (TON(max)) of the switching signal is required to be restricted to prevent saturating magnetic components such as inductors and transformers.
In order to increase the regulator efficiency, some methods such as varying the switching frequency and entering the xe2x80x9cpulse-skippingxe2x80x9d mode according to load conditions have been disclosed. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,100,675, xe2x80x9cSWITCHING REGULATOR CAPABLE OF INCREASING REGULATOR EFFICIENCY UNDER LIGHT LOADxe2x80x9d disclosed an oscillation frequency control circuit capable of varying an oscillation frequency of the oscillator circuit in response to load conditions. Another method is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,366,070 B1, xe2x80x9cSWITCHING VOLTAGE REGULATOR WITH DUAL MODULATION CONTROL SCHEMExe2x80x9d, which disclosed the regulator employs three operation modes which operate at constant switching frequency for heavy load conditions, use dual modulation control scheme for moderate load conditions and enter xe2x80x9cpulse-skippingxe2x80x9d for light load conditions. The disadvantage of foregoing prior arts are: (1) Varying the switching frequency without the limitation of maximum on-time may result in saturation of magnetic components and cause over-stress damage to switching devices such as transistors and rectifiers. (2) The modulation of switching frequency is only controlled by load conditions and is not correlated with the supply voltage. As the switching frequency is reduced too low for saving more power in light load and no load conditions, the auxiliary bias winding of the transformer or inductor might be unable to provide sufficient power for the PWM controller. Thus, to correlate the frequency modulation with both load conditions and the supply voltage is absolutely needed. (3) In light load and no load conditions, the switching frequency might decrease and fall into the audio band. If the magnetic components are not well impregnated, the audio band switching frequency might generate acoustic noises.
To prevent above shortcomings of prior arts, there exists a need for a better apparatus with less acoustic noises to Improve the efficiency and save the power consumption in light load and no load conditions.
According to the present Invention, a current-driven PWM controller is implemented by incorporating the PWM function with the power saving means in which the switching frequency is decreased In response to the decrease of the load. Furthermore, a current-driven technique is mainly used to minimize the circuitry and reduce the cost of the PWM controller. Operating most of the control signals in current mode greatly reduces the die size of the Integrated PWM controller circuit. An off-time modulator is provided for power saving which results in keeping constant the maximum on-time of the PWM signal and increasing the off-time of the PWM signal. Thus, the switching period in light load conditions is extended. The off-time modulation is designed as the function of a feedback current that is derived from the feedback loop and represents the load condition.
Accordingly, the off-time modulator comprises: a reference voltage associated with a first resistor which generates a first constant current and a second constant current. The first constant current subtracts a current mirrored from the feedback current and generates a first differential current. A first output current mirrored from the first differential current produces a feedback voltage through a second resistor. The feedback voltage is further used for the PWM control and generates the PWM signal. The second constant current subtracts another current mirrored from the feedback current and generates a second differential current for the purpose of the off-time modulation. A second output current mirrored from the second differential current is clamped below a maximum value that controls a minimum off-time for high load conditions. A minimum discharge current is further mirrored from the reference current. The minimum discharge current determines a maximum off-time for the switching signal. Additionally, the minimum value of the minimum discharge current is limited to prevent the switching frequency from falling into the audio band.
The input of a control circuit is connected to the supply voltage. The output of the control circuit is used to turn on/off the minimum discharge current in response to the state of the supply voltage. The minimum discharge current is disabled when the supply voltage is high. The minimum discharge current and the switching of the PWM signal are enabled once the supply voltage is lower than the threshold voltage. Therefore, an Insufficient power supplied from the auxiliary bias winding is avoided for the PWM controller.
Advantageously, the current-driven off-time modulation improves the efficiency and saves the power consumption of the power supply in light load and no load conditions. Meanwhile, the acoustic noise is reduced. The magnetic devices are prevented from saturation. Furthermore, due to the current-driven design, the complexity and cost of the controller circuit are both reduced.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detail description are exemplary and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.

Current-driven PWM controller having a power saving means


A casing system for laying electric supply conductors and, if desired, signal conductors along the outer surfaces of walls comprises pre-fabricated, unitary, permanently closed casing sections of a variety of fixed lengths with built-in conductors. Each casing section is provided with a number of built-in access modules permitting the mounting of installation components, such as wall sockets, and the establishment of electrical connection between these and the built-in conductors without interfering with the integrity of the casing sections. The system further comprises sliding cover sections for covering the gaps between adjacent casing sections and between casing sections and corner and end sections also belonging to the system. Standard lengths of casing sections, corner sections, and sections, and sliding cover sections are so selected thay any length of wall can be covered by the system without cutting or otherwise interfering with the casing sections as manufactured.

Such casing systems are known in a multitude of variations and are being used to an increasing extent instead of or supplementary to the more traditional forms of fixed electric supply systems in buildings, such as insulated wires drawn through embedded or exposed metal or plastics tubes, or special installation cables for outward mounting on walls and the like.
The utility of casing systems of the kind referred to depends very much on the amount of work, and particularly skilled work, required for mounting the casing system on one or more walls of a room in a neat manner, for wiring the casing system and for mounting and connecting up installation components, such as wall sockets or other electrical connectors, in selected positions, and also on the flexibility in selecting such positions, and on the safety against abusive and hazardous tampering by non-skilled persons.

Casing system for the laying of electrical supply conductors


A computer system with an augmented reality display renders one or more virtual training elements in a real world environment. Cameras analyze the local real-world environment to produce a detailed terrain map which is used to more accurately locate the virtual training elements. The cameras also track the movement of the trainee by recognizing terrain features and deriving such movement based on changes from one scan to the next, and potentially based on GPS and inertial management unit data. A centralized computer system correlates terrain maps from a plurality of trainees and defines real-world locations for virtual training elements, then transmitting the virtual training elements to the plurality of trainees.

Military training is cost prohibitive and sometimes dangerous. It takes an enormous amount of resources in personnel and equipment, as well as access to representative sites in order to most accurately reproduce real-world battlefield scenarios. To improve safety and reduce costs, various levels of simulation are employed; however, simulated training solutions substitute a virtual environment for real-world environments. This limitation introduces a reduction in training effectiveness, as operating in a virtual environment is considerably different as compared to navigating a physically tangible environment.
Current simulation solutions allow one or more live trainees to train using simulated equipment within a virtual environment, but trainee interaction with these virtual environments is restricted and not physically correlated to a real environment. Furthermore, virtual environment databases take time and resources to build and can realistically only contain a limited amount of detail, authenticity, and locations. Oftentimes, a suitable real environment is available if not trying to accommodate a large number of other resources. Consequently, there is a need for training solutions that simulate costly personnel and equipment in a real-world environment.

Simulation and training with virtual participants in a real-world environment


A cushion heated convectively using a positive temperature coefficient of resistance type resistive heating element, includes a mattress pad, seat or the like with a bottom surface secured around its perimeter to an air permeable top surface, forming a plenum and containing tubular spacer material or other air flow structure therein. The plenum is connected to a power unit housing a blower, a heating module and a controller unit. The heating module includes a PTC type heating element. A remote control is provided, and a foldable antenna attachable to the convective unit facilitates wireless communication with the controller unit. The user resting atop the cushion controls the blower and heating module to deliver air of a desired temperature and quantity to the cushion and through the top surface.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to temperature controlled mattress pads, seats or other cushions, and more particularly to such a cushion that is heated by a positive temperature coefficient (PTC) element and ventilated as well.
2. Description of the Related Art
Resistance wires oftentimes with PTC resistive elements are the conventional way of heating a cushion by conduction. This suffers from certain disadvantages, however, including that the electrical conductors are located within the cushion itself. Over time, the wires, carbon fiber strips or the like being subject to repeated weight loads and mechanical stresses may become physically damaged causing sparks from short circuits, and an occasional fire. Voltages as low as 6V can produce noticeable sparking, even at current levels in the 1-200 milliamp range.
Insulation is commonly used in the prior art, not only to limit peak heating at the conductor but also to spread the heating effect out (or average it) over the surface to be heated. The disadvantage here is that it takes longer to reach an adequate heating level, because of the drop in heating efficiency caused by the insulation. The overall efficiency of the heating apparatus is compromised as the insulation slows the heating of the outer surface of the cushion.
Other problems with the prior art heated cushions include operator errors in sewing the wire into the cushion leading to warranty claims. When wire mats are used they are generally not air permeable, preventing the ventilating of the seat as proposed herein by Applicant. Further, the wires rarely cover the entire seat, for example the side bolsters are usually non-heated. Finally, the wires in the seats may be incompatible with vehicle occupancy detectors, e.g. various air-bag and seat belt sensors.
Additionally, resistance heated type, prior art mattress pads don't offer cooling or ventilation. This is a major disadvantage in many parts of the world where the population lacks means such that air-conditioning is unavailable and a substantial portion of the year relaxing or sleeping is uncomfortable due to very warm ambient air conditions.
3. Objects of the Invention
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to construct a temperature-controlled cushion that is heated without the conventional resistance wires or PTC resistive elements in conductive mode within the cushion itself.
It is a further object of the present invention to construct such a cushion while minimizing the use of insulation or eliminating its use altogether.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide such a cushion that also includes a ventilated mode.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide such a cushion that includes convenient controls for the user.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide such a cushion that is simple and relatively inexpensive to manufacture.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide an accompanying power unit that is quiet and compact and located outside the cushion.
These and other objects of the present invention will become apparent upon reference to the following detailed description and accompanying drawings.

Convective cushion with positive coefficient of resistance heating mode


This disclosure relates compositions comprising upconverting core-shell nanocrystals and photoactive compositions and methods using these compositions to modify treat myopia and other ocular conditions. In some cases, the methods use near infrared irradiation to adjust the refractive power of light adjustable intraocular lenses.

A light adjustable lens is an optical device whose refractive properties can be changed after its fabrication and insertion into a human eye. Light adjustable lenses can have a refraction modulating composition dispersed in a polymer matrix. After the lens has been implanted into the eye and refractive stabilization has occurred, the preexisting optical aberrations or those induced by the surgical procedure are measured. In order to correct these optical aberrations (e.g., spherical power, astigmatism, spherical aberration, etc.), a corresponding amount of UV-Vis radiation is applied to the light adjustable lens, which alters the optical properties of the lens either through changes in its shape, its index of refraction, or both. Following one or several irradiations in which portions of the lens have been exposed to selectively and spatially modify the refractive power, the entire lens is irradiated to "lock in" the modified lens.
Prior work describes the use of UV irradiation (320-400 nm) for post-operative power adjustment of light adjustable lenses. For example, a Helium Cadmium (HeCd) laser operating at 325 nm and a mercury (Hg) arc lamp spectrally filtered for the emission lines at 334 and 365 nm have been used for modifying the refractive power of light adjustable lenses. Additionally, the prior work also mentions tripled frequency laser diode pumped solid state YAG laser operating at 355 nm, an argon ion laser operating in between 350-360 nm, a deuterium discharge lamp, and broad band xenon:mercury lamps operating with any narrow band spectral filter are useful sources for conducting UV irradiation tests on light adjustable materials and lenses.
However, there are potential safety issues related to each of these sources. Coherent sources (e.g., lasers) are narrowly focused and have high irradiances that can cause permanent damage to retinal tissues. In addition, such sources must be rasterized across the lens requiring complex control of the beam and increased cost. Extended or more diffuse, incoherent sources such as arc lamps offer a more attractive solution from the standpoint of economic (cost and availability) and safety concerns (coherent vs. non-coherent) but they must be attenuated by as much as a factor of 1000 for use in irradiating the light adjustable lenses. Thus, improper use of the lamp, mechanical, or electrical failure could result in applying high irradiances and radiant exposures to the ocular structures causing damage. Taken together, there remains a need in the art for methods to modify the lens so as to increase the achieved power change, reduce the dose required for lock-in, and improve the retinal safety profile of the procedure.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,895,467 discloses the use of upconverting nanocrystals for use in intraocular lenses. While this use provides substantial benefits, there still remains room for improvement. For example, while single crystal upcconverting nanoparticles described therein to emit at wavelenths suitable for activating the photoinitiators described therein, these emissions tend to be weak, resulting in low quantum yields. The present disclosure addresses these and other concerns.

Light adjustable intraocular lenses using upconverting core-shell nanoparticles and near infrared (NIR) light


A chart parser is disclosed which incorporates rule and observation probabilities with stochastic unification grammars. The parser operates frame synchronously to provide top-down hypotheses and to incorporate observation probabilities as they become available. Because the language model produces multiple explanations of the speech data between frames, the prediction and combination of rules may create cycles in a graph representing the best scores. Score calculation includes the detection of these cycles and propagation of the best scores to the next frame. The algorithm creates no more states than a nonprobilistic chart parser, and remains linear for regular grammars and cubic in the worst case for CFGs. The parser allows a direct integration of statistical speech information and linguistic constraints within the same language model, while the language model permits a generalization of HMM-type models. The efficiency of the parser makes it applicable to multiple levels of a spoken language system (e.g., sentence, word, phoneme, and phone levels).

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to spoken language interfaces, and more particularly to a spoken language processor containing a chart parser that incorporates rule and observation 10 probabilities with stochastic unification grammars.
2. Description of the Related Art
It has been the goal of recent research to make machine understanding of spoken language possible through a tight coupling between speech and natural language systems. The difficulty posed by this coupling lies in trying to integrate statistical speech information with natural language grammars. Furthermore, speech systems have come to rely heavily on grammar constraints to accurately recognize connected speech.
Language modeling has become an essential element in high performance, speaker-independent, continuous speech systems. Until recently, speech recognition systems have primarily used Finite State Automatons (FSAs) as the language model. These models offer efficient processing, easily accommodate observation probabilities, and permit simple training techniques to produce transition probabilities. Attempts to model spoken language with FSAs have resulted in stochastic language models such as bigrams and trigrams. These models provide good recognition results when perplexity can be minimized, but preclude any direct support for spoken language systems by eliminating the semantic level.
Language models have traditionally proven valuable in natural language systems, but only during the past decade have computationally-oriented, declarative grammar formalisms become widely available. These formalisms, generally known as unification grammars, offer great flexibility with respect to processing for both parsing and generation. Unification grammars have allowed the close integration of syntax, semantics, and pragmatics. These grammars are especially significant for spoken language systems because syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic constraints must be applied simultaneously during processing. Discourse and domain contraints can then limit the number of hypotheses to consider at lower levels, thereby greatly improving performance.
Several efforts have been made to combine Context-Free Grammars (CFGs) and unification grammars (UGs) with statistical acoustic information. Loosely coupled systems, such as bottom-up systems or word lattice parsers, have produced nominal results, primarily due to time alignment problems. Top-down constraints from CFG's have been integrated with speech using the Cocke-Younger-Kasami (CYK) algorithm, but this algorithm has bad average time complexity (cubic). This complexity becomes especially detrimental with frame synchronous parsing where the number of input hypotheses under consideration is typically large. For example, a person's average speech input is 4-5 seconds long, which corresponds to 400-500 frames. When cubed, those 400-500 frames yield 64,000,000-125,000,000 processing steps to recognize an input.
The first algorithm that had N.sup.3 time complexity was the CYK algorithm. With natural language systems, N is traditionally words; however with speech systems, N is equal to frames, which are the fundamental time units used in speech recognition. The algorithm was significant in that it provided a time synchronous algorithm for speech recognition which improved accuracy because the processor did not have to be concerned about how the words fit together. The CYK algorithm is very simple in that it resembles matrix multiplication. Unfortunately it always takes N.sup.3 time, rather than linear time, even when processing a regular grammar. Additionally, the CYK algorithm is exhaustive; it systematically expands everything whether it will be needed or not. Such an algorithm uses a great deal of processing time and memory space.
Earley's algorithm (J. Earley, `An Efficient Context-Free Parsing Algorithm`,Comm. of the ACM, Vol. 13, No. 2, Feb. 1970, pp. 94-102) is one of the most efficient parsing algorithms for written sentence input and can operate in linear time for regular grammars. It was one of the first parsing methods that used a central data structure, known as a chart, for storing all intermediate results during the parsing process of a sentence. Subsequently chart parsers were widely used in natural language systems for written input.
Due to the variability and ambiguity of a spoken input signal, modified algorithms were created to improve on Earley's algorithm and to adapt it to spoken language recognition. An example of such a modified algorithm is shown in A. Paeseler, `Modification of Earley's Algorithm for Speech Recognition`, Proc. of NATO ASI, Bad Windsheim, 1987. Paeseler's algorithm combines probabilities in context-free grammars based on Earley's algorithm but it does not do so optimally due to certain defects in the algorithm. One such defect involves the calculation of probabilities. For context-free grammars, a nonterminal symbol may rewrite to another nonterminal symbol without having to go through a terminal symbol. Probabilities can therefore occur from many directions in the grammar. In order to progress in the parsing of the input, those subsequent symbols must also be expanded. But in order to expand those subsequent symbols, according to Paeseler's algorithm, the best probability must be known, otherwise if a better probability appears, the parsing must be redone. This means potentially an exponential amount of work, which is highly undesirable.

Chart parser for stochastic unification grammar


The color of an LED-based lamp can be tuned to a desired color or color temperature. The lamp can include two or more independently addressable groups of LEDs associated with different colors or color temperatures and a total-internal-reflection (TIR) color-mixing lens to produce light of a uniform color by mixing the light from the different groups of LEDs. The color of the output light is tuned by controllably dividing an input current among the groups of LEDs. Tuning can be performed once, e.g., during manufacture, and the lamp does not require active feedback components for maintaining color temperature.

The present invention relates in general to lamps based on light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and in particular to procedures for tuning the color of light produced by lamps that include multiple LEDs.
With the incandescent light bulb producing more heat than light, the world is eager for more efficient sources of artificial light. LEDs are a promising technology and are already widely deployed for specific purposes, such as traffic signals and flashlights. However, the development of LED-based lamps for general illumination has run into various difficulties. Among these is the difficulty of mass-producing lamps that provide a consistent color temperature.
As is known in the art, not all white light is the same. The quality of white light can be characterized by a color temperature, which ranges from the warm (slightly reddish or yellowish) glow of standard tungsten-filament light bulbs to the cool (bluish) starkness of fluorescent lights. Given existing processes for LED manufacture, mass-producing white LEDs with a consistent color temperature has proven to be a challenge.
Various solutions have been tried. For example, white LEDs can be binned according to color temperature and the LEDs for a particular lamp can be selected from the desired bin. However, the human eye is sensitive enough to color-temperature variation that a large number of bins is required, with the yield in any particular bin being relatively low.
Another solution relies on mixing different colors of light to produce a desired temperature. For example, an LED lamp can include a number of white LEDs plus some red LEDs. The brightness of the red LEDs can be increased to warm the light to the desired color temperature. Such lamps generally require an active feedback mechanism to maintain the color temperature, in part because the LEDs used are not stable in their color characteristics over time. The active feedback mechanism requires a sensor to detect the light being produced, an analyzer to determine whether the light is at the desired color, and an adjustment mechanism to adjust the relative brightness of the white and red LEDs as needed to maintain the desired color. These feedback-loop elements can be a weak point in the system; for example, if the light sensor drifts over time (as most do), so will the color of the light. In addition, incorporating active feedback components into a lamp drives up the cost of manufacturing (and operating) the lamp.

Tuning of emitter with multiple LEDs to a single color bin


An article is coated with a multi-layer decorative and protective coating having the appearance of stainless steel. The coating comprises a polymer basecoat layer on the surface of said article and vapor deposited at relatively low pressure on the polymer layer a protective and decorative color layer comprised of the reaction products of refractory metal or refractory metal alloy, nitrogen and oxygen wherein the nitrogen and oxygen content of the reaction products are each from about 4 to about 32 atomic percent with the nitrogen content being at least about 3 atomic percent.

This invention relates to articles, particularly brass articles, coated with a multi-layered decorative and protective coating having the appearance or color of stainless steel.
It is currently the practice with various brass articles such as faucets, faucet escutcheons, door knobs, door handles, door escutcheons and the like to first buff and polish the surface of the article to a high gloss and to then apply a protective organic coating, such as one comprised of acrylics, urethanes, epoxies and the like, onto this polished surface. This system has the drawback that the buffing and polishing operation, particularly if the article is of a complex shape, is labor intensive. Also, the known organic coatings are not always as durable as desired, and are susceptible to attack by acids. It would, therefore, be quite advantageous if brass articles, or indeed other articles, either plastic, ceramic, or metallic, could be provided with a coating which provided the article with a decorative appearance as well as providing wear resistance, abrasion resistance and corrosion resistance. It is known in the art that a multi-layered coating can be applied to an article which provides a decorative appearance as well as providing wear resistance, abrasion resistance and corrosion resistance. This multi-layer coating includes a decorative and protective color layer of a refractory metal nitride such as a zirconium nitride or a titanium nitride. This color layer, when it is zirconium nitride, provides a brass color, and when it is titanium nitride provides a gold color.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,922,478; 6,033,790 and 5,654,108, inter alia, describe a coating which provides an article with a decorative color, such as polished brass, and also provides wear resistance, abrasion resistance and corrosion resistance. It would be very advantageous if a coating could be provided which provided substantially the same properties as the coatings containing zirconium nitride or titanium nitride but instead of being brass colored or gold colored was stainless steel colored. The present invention provides such a coating.
The present invention is directed to an article such as a plastic, ceramic or metallic article having a decorative and protective multi-layer coating deposited on at least a portion of its surface. More particularly, it is directed to an article or substrate, particularly a metallic article such as aluminum, brass or zinc, having deposited on its surface multiple superposed layers of certain specific types of materials. The coating is decorative and also provides corrosion resistance, wear resistance and abrasion resistance. The coating provides the appearance of stainless steel, i.e. has a stainless steel color tone. Thus, an article surface having the coating thereon simulates a stainless steel surface.
The article first has deposited on its surface a polymeric basecoat layer. On top of the polymeric basecoat layer is then deposited, by vapor deposition such as physical vapor deposition, one or more vapor deposited layers. More particularly, a first layer deposited directly on the surface of the substrate is comprised of a polymeric material. Over the polymeric layer is vapor deposited at relatively low pressure a protective and decorative color layer comprised of the reaction products of a refractory metal or refractory metal alloy, nitrogen and oxygen, wherein the oxygen and nitrogen content are low, i.e., substoichiometric. The total oxygen and nitrogen content of the reaction products of refractory metal, nitrogen and oxygen or reaction products of refractory metal alloy, nitrogen and oxygen is from about 4 to about 32 atomic percent with a nitrogen content of at least about 3 atomic percent, preferably between about 5 to about 28 atomic percent with a nitrogen content of at least about 4 atomic percent. The protective color layer is deposited at relatively low pressures in the vacuum coating chamber. These relatively low pressures are generally below about 8 millitorr, preferably below about 5 millitorr, and more preferably below about 3 millitorr. This low pressure deposition provides a protective color layer exhibiting improved mechanical properties, particularly improved abrasion resistance, and improved corrosion resistance.
The slightly nitrided and oxidized color layer is mainly comprised of amorphous metallic refractory metal with textured metal nitride phase. For example, zirconium nitride oriented in (111) plane and smaller than 50 nm in grain size, or metallic zirconium oriented in (112) plane and smaller than 80 nm, depending on the proportion of oxygen in total gas flow. Such types of structures are produced at relatively low processing pressures, ranging from 1 to 5 millitorr. The color of the coating can be adjusted slightly bluish or yellowish by increasing or decreasing the oxygen to nitrogen ratio.

Low pressure coated article with polymeric basecoat having the appearance of stainless steel


A wireless keyboard base includes a base, a wireless keyboard and a plurality of magnets. The base has a groove to accommodate an edge of an electronic device. The wireless keyboard is disposed on the base and has a wireless communication module to exchange information data with the electronic device. The plurality of magnets are disposed within the groove to magnetically attract the edge of the electronic device.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a computer input device. More particularly, the present invention relates to a keyboard, which is capable of wireless communicating with a matched electronic device.
2. Description of Related Art
Several Apple electronic devices, e.g. I-Phone or I-Pod, in the market have a touch-control display screen as their only input devices. These electronic devices are often equipped with a larger-size screen (compared with a conventional mobile phone), but not equipped with a keyboard as an input device. However, the keyboard is an input interface that most users got used to since the computer is invented. How to permit a user to use a keyboard to input data into these electronic devices, e.g. I-Phone or I-Pod, with touch-control display screen as their only input devices.

Wireless keyboard base and portable electronic device


A golf cart cushion is utilized in association with a golf cart, wherein the cushion includes a medial transverse seam defining aligned pockets, wherein each pocket includes a perimeter opening at each end to receive slidably therewithin a cushion insert. Each pocket includes a hook and loop fastener closure surface in surrounding relationship relative to each opening. Each cushion includes a matrix of coil springs therewithin. The cushion is formed of an air permeable fluid absorbent fabric. A modification of the cushion insert includes an insert opening with an insert opening hook and loop fastener surface to effect selective closure and opening of the opening of the insert, where the opening of the insert receives a selective number of tubular spring members to permit selective firmness relative to the cushion insert.. The tubular members each include hook and loop fastener side surfaces to permit engagement and securement of the insert members together within the cushion insert.

1. Field of the Invention
The field of invention relates to cushions, and more particularly pertains to a new and improved golf cart vent cushion wherein the same is securable to an associated golf cart to enhance comfort in the use of the golf cart.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In a typical game of golf, players traverse the golf course in a self-propelled golf cart. Cushioning of such golf cart vehicles is desirable and even necessary to enhance ease of comfort of participants in the game. Inasmuch as cushioning is typically selective from one individual to the other, it is desirable to provide a cushioning member that accommodates such adjustment and variation within a cushion, and particularly cushions utilized in association with a golf cart. Prior art cushion structure may be found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,804,462 to Kobayashi wherein a ventilated seat structure is positionable upon an automotive seat, wherein a mesh framework includes a generally bow-shaped support within the framework to provide integrity to the framework of the seat.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,143,916 to Trotman, et al. sets forth a ventilating seat cushion defining a grid in the form of a sheet of resilient plastic material having a plurality of protuberances arranged in columns and rows to support the body in a spaced relationship to an underlying surface.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,722,955 to Trotman sets forth a ventilating structure wherein a cover sheet is formed with molded and recess portions defining a decorative pattern of the cover sheet to effect support and comfort in use of the organization.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,840,923 to Bos sets forth a ventilating cover or mat wherein a number of polygonal elements are secured together in offset rows to effect channels and columns to communicate ventilation through the organization.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,940,183 to Seltzer et al sets forth a seat panel formed with "T" shaped sections oriented in parallel rows and columns to effect rigidity of the organization in use, as well as permitting ventilation therethrough.
As such, it may be appreciated that there continues to be a need for a new and improved golf cart cushion wherein the same addresses both the problems of ease of use in association with a golf cart as well as effectiveness in construction to provide comfort to users thereof and in this respect, the present invention substantially fulfills this need.


A seed envelope includes an aperture covered by a transparent sheet. The aperture is particularly spaced from the bottom and two sides of the envelope. The aperture allows the purchaser to view the seeds which fill at least a portion of the seed envelope. In order to incorporate the transparent sheet, the envelope must be filled from the top, away from the transparent sheet and aperture.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to seed envelopes, most particularly to new seed envelopes which include an aperture covered by a transparent sheet.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the past, people have used boxes or envelopes with windows in them to display a variety of products. Many of the windows have covered substantially all of the box. These patents include U.S. Pat. Nos. D.47,228; D.87,489; D.94,588; D.123,512; D.189,997; and D.294,124. Others have used smaller windows in a variety of locations covering a variety of portions of the container. These include U.S. Pat. Nos. D.260,081; D.261,861; D.290,582; and 4,890,761. However, these various designs are unsuitable for use in creating a seed envelope to package seeds. The seed envelope is in general smaller than many of the prior art designs which would not be suitable for viewing seed.
Some patents have discussed the packaging of seeds and bulbs. These include U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,094,405; 4,168,002; and 5,158,809. However, the only one of these patents which shows the use of the seed package for allowing a person to view the seed is U.S. Pat. No. 4,168,002. This patent shows a blister pack which allows a user to see multiple types of seeds in a package. However, for the majority of seeds that are sold, such a design is not necessary. The purpose of the particular design shown in the ""002 patent is to enable a user to cut open the bottom of the blister pack to allow easy distribution of the seeds and also to allow someone to see the seeds. However, the seeds which are placed in the blister packs are coated with a material which will cause each seed to be a different color such that it is easier for a user to use the seeds. For most applications, this is unnecessary and unwanted.
It is standard in the industry to have a seed envelope which has printing on it. The printing is often a picture of a fully-grown plant which has been grown from the seed that is within the envelope. The printing defines the top and the bottom of the seed envelope. The industry standard is to seal the envelope by folding a sheet and sealing the top and the side of the envelope. The bottom is left open and the seeds are inserted into the envelope through the bottom in order to leave the top with a better, cleaner seal for the customer to open. Such practices are not practical if one desires to use an aperture in the envelope with a transparent sheet in front of it for viewing seed displayed in a display rack because this conventional practice would damage or destroy the transparent sheet.
While it is desirable to have a seed packet which allows a user to see the seeds, the structures shown in the prior art patents are unsuitable. What is needed is a simplified envelope of a size and shape similar to typical seed envelopes which customers are accustomed to but which also allows a user to see the seed that he or she is getting prior to purchasing or opening the seed envelope. The envelope should be about the size of the standard seed envelope, i.e. about 8 cm by 12 cm. This size is necessary in order for the envelope to fit on the standard seed envelope rack. In addition, the window in the seed envelope must be placed in a position on the face of the envelope and be of such a size as to allow a potential purchaser to see the seed within the seed envelope while still having sufficient structural stability to withstand the filling procedure.
Because it was discovered that purchasers desired to see the seed they were purchasing prior to purchase, structural changes were needed in the envelope.
Ideally, the seed envelope is made of a folded sheet. Folding the sheet defines the front face and the back face of the envelope. The front face includes an aperture which is covered by a transparent sheet. The aperture is closer to the bottom of the envelope than the top of the envelope. A first side and a second side of the envelope extend from the top to the bottom opposite each other. The aperture is spaced between about xc2xd cm and 2 cm from the bottom and between about xc2xd cm and 8 cm from each of the two sides. A seed envelope should be of the standard size, its height being the measure of distance between the top and the bottom and is between about 9 cm and 15 cm. The width of the envelope is the distance between its first side and second side and is between about 6 cm and about 10 cm. In any case the distance from the first side to the second side should always be less than the distance between the top and the bottom.
The transparent sheet is critical in that it must be strong enough to withstand battering or puncture by the seeds which fill the seed envelope. The tensile strength of the transparent sheet must be great enough to withstand puncture. The thickness of the transparent sheet should be about xc2xd mils. It is important that the envelope as a whole be strong enough to withstand the insertion of the seed. If a seed envelope including an aperture and transparent sheet is filled from the bottom, i.e., nearer the aperture and transparent sheet, the transparent sheet will rupture and spill seed during filling. Thus, the envelope should be filled from the top rather than the standard bottom filling.
The seed envelope need not be filled the entire way with seeds and as a rule seed envelopes are not filled entirely with seeds. Instead, the seed envelope should be filled with seeds such that the seeds are visible through the transparent sheet and aperture.

Seed envelope and method of packaging seed


A portable container having a hinged lid and an electric lighting assembly mounted to the body of the container. The lighting assembly is located external to the interior storage compartment of the container when the lid is in the closed position. The lighting assembly includes an electric lamp for illuminating the interior of the container when the lid is in the open position and an electric lamp for illuminating the path of the person carrying the container when the lid is in the closed position.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to tackle boxes having a box section consisting four exterior walls, a bottom, folding trays, an openable cover, and a handle for carrying the tackle box. More specifically, it relates to multipurpose-type fishing tackle boxes with interior illumination and with a flashlight for lighting the path of a person carrying the tackle box.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In many cases, the fisher person engage in fishing before dawn or after sunset. For matters of safety as well as convenience, it is typical that the fisher person has a reliable source of light for making their way to their fishing location and to aid them in preparing their fishing gear. Whether it be for navigating their way to their fishing location or preparing their fishing gear once they get there, this generally does not leave a free hand to hold a flashlight or other type of illumination. For example, while making their way to their fishing spot, they will often times be carrying at least a tackle box and a fishing rod. And when preparing their gear at their fishing spot, adequate light is required for them to rummage through their tackle box in search of items such as hooks, sinkers, bobbers, lures, knives and other items. With many sharp and dangerous items present in the tackle box, it is readily apparent that it would be quite hazardous to rummage through the tackle box in the dark. Additionally, when attaching a hook, sinker, or lure to the line, both hands are generally required for threading the line through a small eyelet and tying off the line securely.
Tackle boxes with interior illumination, integral and modular flashlights, and a combination thereof are well-known in the art. At least four United States patents have addressed the problem of interior illumination of tackle boxes and/or the problem of utilizing a flashlight in conjunction with carrying a tackle box. U.S. Pat. No. 2,751,489 to Cole, issued in June of 1956, discloses a tackle box with battery-powered interior illumination and navigational lighting. Cole describes a tackle box with a battery power supply in the handle of the tackle box, interior illumination provided by lamps within the tackle box, and navigational lighting provided by a separate light which can be held in the hand or attached to the handle of the tackle box.
Kurek, U.S. Pat. No. 2,765,576, discloses a translucent tackle box having interior illumination. In a preferred embodiment, interior illumination is provided by a light source which illuminates the tackle box by virtue of the tackle box being translucent, and therefore enabling the light to pass through the walls of the tackle box.
McPhaul, U.S. Pat. No. 4,697,379, discloses a tackle box having an integral flashlight and interior-illuminating lights. In a preferred embodiment, the flashlight consists of a lamp, parabolic reflector, and a lens mounted in the body of the tackle box while the interior illumination is provided by a lamp in the body of the tackle box and another lamp on the underside of the lid. Power is provided to the lamps from a battery located in the body of the tackle box via an electrical circuit consisting of connectors, conductors, and switches.
Moore, U.S. Pat. No. 4,841,661, discloses a `Fisherman's Combination Chest` which includes a cavity in which a removable flashlight is seated and held in place by a manually releasable latch acting between the body of the chest and the flashlight.
Although each of these patents address the problem of interior illumination of tackle boxes and/or the problem of utilizing a flashlight in conjunction with carrying a tackle box, in each case, there exists one or more significant disadvantages with the structures disclosed in relation to the invention of this disclosure. The primary disadvantage with the structures disclosed by Cole, Kurek, and McPhaul is that there is significant circuitry required as well as numerous individual components. In each of these cases, the remote location of the power supply with respect to the lamps which provide interior illumination and/or exterior illumination (flashlight) requires a wiring harness having a number of conductors and connectors to carry the electrical energy from the battery to the lamps. As the number of components increases, so does the manufacturing and assembly costs and the potential for failure. The conductors and connectors are very prone to failure due to corrosion and the conductors are additionally prone to short circuiting by sharp objects such as hooks and knives. In regards to the patent of Kurek, the invention disclosed is also differentiated from the invention of Kurek as it includes an external light for lighting the path of the person carrying the tackle box. The invention disclosed by Moore is differentiated from the invention of this disclosure by the fact that it does not include any inherent capability for conveniently and reliably lighting the interior of the tackle box without the use of at least one hand. Another key advantage of this invention over that of the prior art is that the space within the tackle box is not occupied by the lighting components, thereby providing more space for fishing equipment.


A process for making a thyristor device protected against breakover firing is to generate in the semiconductor body (1) of the thyristor an area (A) which has a lower breakdown voltage than the rest of the semiconductor body. This area is protected by suitable measures when the thyristor is overloaded. The invention features a process in which the area (A) of the semiconductor body (1) is irradiated locally with protons, with the proton energy being measured in such a manner that the maximum of the defect density and doping generated by the proton irradiation lies between the PN junction (15) of the first base region (9) and the second base region (10) and the half thickness of the second base region (10), and the semiconductor body (1) is subsequently heat-treated.

The present invention relates to a process for manufacturing a thyristor in a semiconductor body, which contains an area which has a lower breakdown voltage than the rest of the semiconductor body, and it relates, more particularly to a thyristor whose semiconductor body has at least a first major surface containing a control electrode, a second major surface and a first base region with an adjacent second base region.
These types of processes are known, for example, from German Patent document No. DE-OS 23 00 754 and serve to permit a controllable breakover firing of the thyristor in this area at the predetermined lower breakdown voltage. In that document, the area which has a lower breakdown voltage than the rest of the semiconductor body of the thyristor is manufactured, for example, by making the second base region thinner in this area than it is outside this area.
In German patent document No. DE-OS 23 46 205, a method is disclosed for forming the area with the lower breakthrough voltage in the semiconductor body by specially selecting as starting materials for the semiconductor body semiconductor disks which have a clearly defined area with a lower specific resistance. Semiconductor disks of this kind can be manufactured, for example, by a special silicon drawing process.
Another possibility for forming an area at the edge of the semiconductor body which has a lower breakdown voltage than the rest of the semiconductor body might consist in making the edge profile of the semiconductor body with a negative angle.
These familiar processes have the disadvantage that they often provide an unsatisfactory yield.

Process for manufacturing a thyristor with proton irradiation


The present disclosure relates to the field of display technologies, and provides a display panel and a driving method thereof, and a display device. The display panel includes: an ultrasonic echo acquisition circuit and a light emitting circuit. The acquisition circuit includes a first circuit and an ultrasonic wave receiving sensor, wherein the first circuit has a first node coupled to the ultrasonic wave receiving sensor, a second node and a third node coupled to a scan signal terminal, a fourth node and a fifth node coupled to a control signal terminal, and a sixth node being an output terminal. The light emitting circuit includes a second circuit and a light emitting diode.

Fingerprint recognition technology is an important direction for the development of display panels and modules. Currently, common implementation methods are capacitive sensing, optical detection, pressure sensing, and ultrasonic detection and the like. The ultrasonic detection method has received more and more attention due to its advantages of no contact, no occlusion, and high precision.
The above information disclosed in the Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the present disclosure, and thus it may include information that does not constitute a prior art known to those of ordinary skill in the art.

Display panel and driving method therefor, and display apparatus


A malleable plate is provided with a cover of resilient cushioning material for insertion between the user's upper and lower teeth. The plate may be of a perforate nature with an extension for securement to a base adapted for attachment to a hand held vibrator. The plate is deformed by the user's bite to effect positive securement to the teeth.

The present invention pertains generally to prophylactic dental devices.
The occurrence of pyorrhea appears to be increasing amongst the populace of the United States and other highly developed countries. A suspected cause of the increase in pyorrhea is the reduction of meat in the diet to avoid cholesterol in the blood. While the reduction of the amount of meat consumed by the public may have beneficial results in this regard, the teeth become more susceptible to pyorrhea by reason of the absence of loads imparted to the teeth during the chewing of meat. Not unusual is the loss of teeth by middle aged persons due to pyorrhea which could be avoided, to a large extent, by exercising of the teeth in a manner simulating chewing.
In the prior art are various devices generally intended to enable exercising of the teeth by subjecting same to loads or forces resulting from a biting action or horizontally directed loads applied from an external, mechanical source. U.S. Pat. No. 4,185,817 discloses a device of monolithic pliant construction which permits exercising of the teeth by a biting action. The device in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,586,499 and 1,953,088 permit exercising of the teeth by the application of horizontally directed forces to a resilient mouthpiece.


A support device on the sea-bed for legs of a self-elevating oil-rig platform are characterized in that it comprises an individual and independent shoe (3) intended to be fixed on the lower end of the leg (2) and fitted with a detachable and adjustable locking means (20), for fitting rigidly on the said lower end of the leg (2) .

The present invention relates to self-elevating platforms for oil-drilling and relates more particularly to production-drilling platforms for production operations at sea. Self-elevating platforms for carrying out drilling at sea were used until recently for depths less than 100 m.
However, to increase the field of application of this type of platform, some constructors are putting forward concepts which relate to standard architecture of self-elevating platforms in order to reach depths greater than 100 to 110 m. This results in a considerable increase in the leg and body dimensions and of the displacement for towing.
In this case, lattice type legs result, or which the distance between the members can be greater than 20 m.
The increase in the leg dimensions results in a considerable increase in weight, in a higher position of the center of gravity when towed, and therefore in a loss of stability as well as greater hauling forces when being towed.
Over and above the economic aspect, this makes difficult the moving of such a platform from one drilling site to another.
Drilling operators prefer to work with self-elevating platforms, which are "fixed" platforms when in the elevated drilling position on their legs, rather than with semi-submersible platforms which are mobile platforms.
This is why other constructors propose to move the boundary of use of the self-elevating platforms up to depths of 130/150 m and beyond, by placing an individual and independent raising block between the leg of the platform and the sea-bed in order to increase the installation depth of the platform.
However, a self-elevating platform does not work at the maximum depth that it can reach and a platform designed for a depth of 130/150 m is often used at depths which are less than this.
In this type of platform, the ends of the legs have feet for resting on the blocks which are no longer adapted for resting directly on the sea-bed.

Sea-bed support device for the legs of a self-elevating oil-rig platform


Various adaptive apparatus and systems for automated handling of components such as composite plies are provided. In one embodiment, a ply manipulation tool module is provided that comprises a first shuttle including a first gripper and a first clamping element, and a second shuttle including a second gripper and a second clamping element. The first and second shuttles move with respect to one another along a path to position the first and second grippers to grip a ply and to position the first and second clamping elements outside the ply. In a particular embodiment, the ply manipulation tool module includes a lead screw and nut assemblies, the nut assemblies moving along the lead screw to position one or more grippers for gripping components. Ply manipulation tool assemblies comprising at least two modules also are provided.

Composite materials are more commonly being used for fabrication of a wide variety of components. For example, carbon fiber composites have high strength and a low weight, making carbon fiber composites attractive for use in aviation applications that require these functionalities. As another example, ceramic matrix composite (CMC) materials can withstand relatively extreme temperatures; accordingly, there is particular interest in replacing components within a combustion gas flow path of a gas turbine engine with components made from CMC materials. Many composite materials, such as carbon fiber and CMC materials, are formed into plies of the composite material, and the composite plies may be laid up to form a preform component that may then undergo various processing cycles to arrive at a component formed from the composite material.
Typically, composite components formed from plies of the composite material comprise many composite plies. Each ply is cut from a sheet of the composite material, and then the cut composite plies are laid up to form one or more ply stacks that form the component preform. Often, the cut plies are manually removed from the sheet and manually placed in a ply storage area or manually stacked. Thus, the handling and forming of composite preforms is a time consuming and labor intensive process, which increases the cost of the part.
Automating the removal and storage or stacking of the preform process could reduce the part cost and cycle time, as well as reduce employee health concerns from the repetitive nature of ply removal and handling. However, several barriers must be overcome to automate the process of removing composite plies from the sheet of composite material and moving the plies either to a ply storage area or for stacking. For example, to maximize material usage and minimize material waste, a variety of ply shapes and sizes are nested within the composite sheet and then cut prior to removal. Therefore, an automated apparatus for removing the composite plies must be able to adapt to a variety of ply shapes. Also, the automated apparatus must be able to remove the composite ply from the nested plies without displacing the skeleton or remaining composite sheet material. As another example, for large composite plies, the automated apparatus must be able to maintain tension on a ply as it is removed and moved to prevent damaging the ply as it is removed or moved.
Accordingly, an automated ply manipulation apparatus would be desirable. For example, a ply manipulation end effector for a robotic arm would be beneficial. In particular, a ply manipulation apparatus with features for automatically adjusting a position of grippers used to pick up a ply would be useful. Additionally, a modular ply manipulation tool for adapting to a plurality of ply shapes and/or sizes would be helpful.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Adaptive apparatus and system for automated handling of components


A circuit for converting from an input serial pulse code modulated (PCM) digital signal to an output pulse width modulated (PWM) digital signal for driving a switching audio amplifier requiring a pulse width modulated input signal, the circuit comprising a sample rate converter receiving the input serial PCM digital signal at a first sampling frequency and converting the input serial PCM digital signal to a second serial PCM digital signal at a second frequency if the first sampling frequency is lower than the second frequency, a digital filter stage for up-sampling the second serial PCM digital signal to a third frequency and converting the second serial PCM digital signal to a parallel digital signal, a volume control stage receiving the parallel digital signal and generating a volume adjusted parallel digital signal in accordance with a digital volume command control signal, a digital cross-point estimator stage for calculating a cross-point between the volume adjusted parallel digital signal and a digital ramp signal and generating a parallel digital signal representing a desired pulse width modulation of the switching audio amplifier, a quantizing stage for quantizing the parallel digital signal representing the desired pulse width modulation into a quantized parallel digital signal representing the pulse width modulation to be applied to the switching audio amplifier; and a PWM generation stage for converting the quantized parallel digital signal into a PWM signal for driving the switching audio amplifier.

The present invention relates to a digital conversion circuit for converting from one form of digital modulation(Pulse Code Modulation) to Pulse Width Modulation. In particular, the invention relates to a digital integrated circuit for the control of switching circuits, and in particular, Class D audio amplifiers. A function of the integrated circuit is to accept a digitally encoded audio signal (in the PCM (Pulse Code Modulation) format) and produce a Pulse Width Modulated (PWM) signal, which is used to control a Class D audio amplifier.
Audio amplifiers are power converters that convert the input DC to a desired output AC signal. This output AC signal is then applied to loudspeakers, which in turn produce the desired sound. In order to obtain a good quality sound reproduction, the audio amplifier is required to have a low total harmonic distortion (THD) of the output AC signal throughout the output power range.
Traditionally, class A,B and AB linear amplifiers have been used as audio amplifiers. Presently, Class D switch-mode amplifiers are increasingly replacing the conventional class A and class B amplifiers because they have the advantages of being more efficient and smaller. Recently, different chips which drive class D audio amplifiers have been released by companies like Tripath Technology, Texas Instruments, and Cirrus Logic in the United States; Philips and STMicroelectronics (partnering with ApogeeDDX) in Europe; and Mitsubishi and Sanyo (partnering with Bang & Olufsen) in Japan. Examples include the Mitsubishi M65817A FP, Crystal CS44210 and Texas Instruments TAS5010 or chips. Class D switch-mode amplifiers include both half-bridge and full-bridge switch-mode converter architectures.

Method and apparatus for converting PCM to PWM