An arrangement continuously and non-destructively monitors a conveyor system having a continuous conveyor belt with a carrying-side cover plate and a running-side cover plate, each made of a polymeric material with elastic properties. The arrangement further includes drums wherein the above-mentioned components form, in conjunction with the conveyor belt, a material-conveying top strand (A) and a material-conveying or material-free bottom strand (B). A conductor loop packet with continuous conductor loops is embedded in the conveyor belt. An electronic slit protection system contactlessly detects damage to the conveyor belt. The slit protection system is an electrical system including an interrogation station and a slit monitoring station and is connected to a central controller which controls the entire conveyor system. The arrangement is equipped, as part of a conductor loop packet, with sequential conductor loops and a sequential slit protection system.

In relation to the structure of a conveyor belt, reference is made in particular to the following patent literature:
DE 25 20 943 A1DE 38 01 120 A1DE 25 32 190 A1U.S. Pat. No. 5,460,261DE 44 36 042 A1U.S. Pat. No. 5,609,242EP 0 336 385 A1WO 2008/034483 A1
The carrying-side cover plate and the running-side cover plate normally each comprise a rubber mixture containing a rubber component or a rubber component blend, a wetting agent or a wetting system, comprising a wetting agent and an accelerator, and also normally further mixing ingredients, in particular a filler and/or a processing aid and/or an aging prevention aid and/or a plasticizer and/or other additives (for example, fibers, colored pigments). The relevant rubber basis is in particular:    natural rubber (NR)    butadiene rubber (BR)    chloroprene rubber (CR)    styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR)    nitrile rubber (NBR)    butyl rubber (IIR)    ethylene-propylene rubber (EPM)    ethylene-propylene-diene rubber (EPDM)    SBR/NR blend    SBR/BR blend    NR/BR blend
Of particular importance hitherto has been CR, which is distinguished by high resistance to flames, weathering and aging, in particular for conveyor belts with use in underground mining. Furthermore, NR and the aforementioned blends (DE 10 2009 043 904 A1) have gained greater importance in open-cast mining.
As a result of the vulcanization of a rubber mixture of the aforementioned type, the conveyor belt acquires the required elastic properties.
The embedded tension members used which run in the longitudinal direction of the conveyor belt are cords made of steel or aramid, cords made of steel being of particular importance. In particular, in conjunction with steel cord conveyor belts, for the purpose of slit protection, an embedded transverse reinforcement made of synthetic cords, for example of polyamide, is additionally used (WO 2008/034483 A1). The tension members can also be a two-dimensional textile structure, in particular a single-layer or multilayer fabric, for example, a polyester-polyamide fabric.
Normally, the guidance of a conveyor belt in a conveyor system is carried out in open form, specifically within the context of a hollowed carrier roller frame.
In the last 20 years, however, the closed conveyor system using a tubular conveyor belt has also been developed further. The system components in the closed conveyor system, in addition to the drums (drive drum, reversing drum), carrier rollers and carrying frames, are normally also correction rollers and a hold-down roller when the conveyor belt is closed. In this connection, reference is made in particular to the following patent literature:
DE 36 06 129 A1DE 10 2009 003 552 A1DE 36 12 765 A1EP 0 336 385 A1U.S. Pat. No. 5,460,261
Further components of a conveyor system can be a supply chute, discharge chute, deflection drums and chute seals made of a polymer material.
When they are charged with the conveyed material, for example ores, conveyor belts are highly stressed. As a result, damage to the carrying-side cover plate of the conveyor belt often occurs, specifically in the form of cuts, material break-outs or other damage. These are critical to the service life of the conveyor belt and must therefore be detected as early as possible. Wear phenomena as a result of abrasion can also occur in the running-side cover plate with contact with the drums and carrier rollers and possibly with further roller components which are mentioned above. Furthermore, in the case of a steel cord conveyor belt, the running-side cover plate can be slit by the steel cords under extreme loadings, the synthetic cord transverse reinforcement already mentioned offering adequate slit protection—although not always. Finally, the tension members can also be damaged during continuous operation, which can have a detrimental effect on the pulling power of a conveyor belt.
In addition to regular visual inspection, there are various systems for monitoring the condition of the conveyor belt during the operation of a conveyor system. An outline of the relevant prior art is set forth below:    (a) The documents DE 44 44 264 C1, DE 197 15 703 B1, US 2012/0012444, U.S. Pat. No. 6,781,515, U.S. Pat. No. 7,178,663 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,621,727 describe an approach in which the conveyor belts are provided with conductor loops at regular intervals, the damage to which can be detected by electro-inductive measuring methods. Transponders can also be employed instead of the conductor loops or in combination with the latter. The significant conductor loop technology and the problems associated therewith will be discussed in more detail at another point.    (b) DE 195 39 980 A1 and EP 0 787 669 B1 describe a monitoring device using monitoring elements and identification elements which are incorporated into the conveyor belt transversely with respect to the conveying direction and which, as they are led past stationary reading devices, report both the condition and also the position. However, this monitoring concept is very complicated to implement.    (c) U.S. Pat. No. 6,356,201 presents a system for monitoring a layer subjected to wear. For instance, a ferromagnetic layer is embedded in the carrying-side cover plate and/or running-side cover plate and shields the signal from a transporter located underneath unless this layer has been damaged. This monitoring concept is also very complicated and can be applied only to specifically equipped conveyor belts.    (d) Monitoring the condition of the steel cords in conveyor belts is carried out by means of an inductive field that is led past externally (DE 199 21 224 A1) or by means of a magnetic field (DE 10 2006 036 668 A1). The disadvantage is that only damage to the steel cord structures can be registered hereby.    (e) When monitoring the damage to the carrying-side cover plate and/or running-side cover plate, use is made of opto-electronic systems, in particular in the form of a line or surface camera. In this connection, reference can be made in particular to the following patent publications:
DE 24 13 543 A1DE 101 29 091 A1DE 42 40 094 A1DE 101 40 920 A1U.S. Pat. No. 6,702,103EP 1 187 781 B1U.S. Pat. No. 6,831,566U.S. Pat. No. 7,259,854US 2003/000808WO 2008/031648 A1
The comprehensive development work documented above underlines the increasing importance of this monitoring device. In addition to the great technical effort, however, this monitoring concept depends on a conveyor belt surface without significant contamination. For this reason, the opto-electronic system is additionally provided with an air-purge apparatus, but this indicates the limits of the efficiency.    (f) Also known is an apparatus for the non-destructive inspection of a conveyor belt via high-energy rays, in particular x-rays, reference being made in particular to the following patent publications in this connection:
DE 35 17 314 A1JP 04158208 A (Patent Abstracts of Japan)U.S. Pat. No. 8,149,989JP 2000292371 A (Patent Abstracts of Japan)
The disadvantage is that, in the case of such rays, the monitoring system has to be integrated into a housing on safety grounds, which likewise indicates the limits of the efficiency.
Furthermore, in the case of this monitoring device, it is primarily the interior of a conveyor belt, in particular the embedded steel cords, that is registered.
The monitoring of a conveyor belt by means of a slit protection system using the conductor loops already mentioned has gained particular importance; in the following text, the previous slit protection technology will now be discussed in more detail.
A conductor loop or conductor loop packet is a packet which comprises one or more endlessly connected (short-circuited) loops (contours) of any desired form, for example in the form of a meander, rectilinear, rectangular or in the form of a figure 8. The contours can be produced from various materials and constructional elements, for example from a steel cord, a conductive textile thread or a conductive polymer. They are embedded in the polymer packet of the conveyor belt. The conductor loop or the conductor loop packet can be vulcanized into the cover plate of a conveyor belt on the carrying side and/or running side during the production of a conveyor belt or else subsequently, specifically normally at a distance of 50 to 200 m. A conductor loop functions in accordance with the principle of electromagnetic induction. With regard to conductor loop technology and the conductor loop form, reference is made in particular to the following patent publications:
DE 38 11 533 A1DE 199 02 508 A1DE 39 27 746 A1DE 101 00 249 A1DE 40 12 906 A1U.S. Pat. No. 4,621,727DE 40 13 764 A1U.S. Pat. No. 7,178,663DE 40 14 475 A1US 2012/0012444
In the following two published applications, the conductor loop packet is described in particularly detailed form by using frequently used conductor loop forms:
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,621,727, the conductor loop is formed in the shape of a figure 8, specifically within the context of multiple turns.
In U.S. Pat. No. 7,178,663, a conductor loop packet is presented which comprises a first conductor loop. A second conductor loop is arranged inside this first conductor loop. If appropriate, a third conductor loop can be incorporated inside this second conductor loop.
The slit protection system is an electrical system which comprises at least one interrogation station, in particular in the form of a transmitter/receiver pair, at least one slit monitoring station, for example in the form of a scanner, and normally additionally at least one proximity initiator and/or at least one transponder, and functions in accordance with the principle described below.
During the operation of the conveying system, the conductor loops are interrogated by an interrogation station by means of a combination of a transmitter and a receiver and a slit monitoring station. When a conductor loop passes the interrogation station, an electromagnetic signal is transmitted from the transmitter to the receiver by means of an intact contour or contours. The transmitter generates an alternating magnetic field, which generates a current in the conductive short-circuited contours of a conductor loop. This current in turn generates a magnetic field, which is registered by the receiver, that is to say in accordance with the principle of electromagnetic induction. If the conveyor belt is slit in the conveying direction and thus the contour or contours of the conductor loop has or have been destroyed, no signal is transmitted from the transmitter to the receiver. The slit monitoring system sends a signal to the central controller of the conveyor system, in this case the conveyor belt being stopped. As a result, the extent of the damage also remains limited. The position of conductor loops is determined absolutely, irrespective of the conveyor belt speed and the conveyor belt running direction, and relative to the adjacent conductor loops with the aid of at least one proximity initiator which, for example, is located on a drum. There are also solutions for position determination on the basis of at least one transponder. The slit protection system is connected to the central controller of a conveyor system, which controls the entire conveyor system.
The main task of each conductor loop slit protection system consists primarily in stopping a conveyor system if a longitudinal slit or a great amount of conveyor belt damage in the conveying direction arises. Limited conveyor belt notches or perforations must not be the cause of, as a result, a damaged conductor loop becoming a reason for stopping a conveyor system.
Since the contours in a commercially available conductor loop packet, for example following the teaching according to U.S. Pat. No. 4,621,727 and U.S. Pat. No. 7,178,663, are located very close to one another, there is the danger that all the contours of the entire conductor loop package can fail as a result of a single local damage event. Consequently, in the case of such a packet construction, undesired plant stoppages and time losses are to be feared by the conveyor system operator.

Arrangement for monitoring a conveyor system to detect damage to the conveyor belt thereof


A method for producing a composite material. The method includes the steps of producing an initial dry preform, formed from unidirectional continuous dry fibers, applying non-woven filaments to a first main face of the dry preform, and needling the filaments with a needling device. The needling device includes a plurality of needles, each provided with at least one notch, so that filaments are driven by the needles and arranged in a direction substantially perpendicular to the continuous fibers of the dry perform. The method includes the further step of impregnating the dry preform with an impregnation polymer, the impregnation polymer constituting the matrix of the composite material part.

There are known methods of producing a part of polymer matrix composite material, comprising a step of producing an initial dry preform, and a step of impregnating the dry preform with an impregnation polymer, for example by injection and/or infusion, to form a composite material part, the impregnation polymer constituting the polymer matrix of the composite material part.
The dry preforms are conventionally made manually from fabrics formed by weaving continuous unidirectional dry fibers, or from multiaxial fabrics or NCF (Non Crimp Fabric) fabrics comprising several superimposed plies of continuous unidirectional fibers held together by stitching. These preforms have a high manufacturing cost, and the wastage rates during the production of parts from such prefabricated fabrics are significant.
In order to automate the operation and to limit the wastage rate, it has been proposed to produce dry preforms by automatic lay up of continuous unidirectional fibers, the resulting preforms comprising several superimposed plies of continuous unidirectional fibers. The fibers can for example be applied contact application, by means of a roller, by a fiber placement process, each ply being formed by laying up on a mold of one or more joined bands, each formed of one or more flat fibers, ribbon type, such as carbon fibers consisting of a multitude of carbon threads or filaments. The dry preforms comprise a small amount of binder, generally less than 5%, to maintain the cohesion of the preform. However, this type of preform obtained by laying up superimposed plies may have insufficient permeability and cohesion between fibers to allow rapid and satisfactory impregnation, especially in the case of impregnation by RTM (Resin Transfer Molding) injection at high pressure and high temperature.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Process for producing composite material parts by impregnating a specific preform


The present disclosure provides messenger RNAs (mRNAs) having chemical and/or structural modifications, including RNA elements and/or modified nucleotides, which provide a desired translational regulatory activity to the mRNA.

Messenger RNA (mRNA) designed to encode and transiently express a pharmacologically active protein or peptide product is the quintessence of a novel class of mRNA-based therapeutics. Administration of a synthetic and/or in vitro-generated mRNA that structurally resembles natural mRNA can result in the controlled production of therapeutic proteins or peptides via the endogenous and constitutively-active translation machinery (e.g. ribosomes) that exists within the patient's own cells. In recent years, the development and use of mRNA as a therapeutic agent has demonstrated potential for treatment of numerous diseases and for the development of novel approaches in regenerative medicine and vaccination (Sahin et al., (2014) Nat Rev Drug Discov 13(10):759-780).
It is recognized that the control and regulation of mRNA translation is an important development component in order for this class of drugs to establish the desired therapeutic effect. Within the field of mRNA therapeutics, there exists a need to develop mRNA with improved therapeutic effect.

Modified messenger RNA comprising functional RNA elements


A drilling machine for drilling large drill holes in rock, especially underground, comprises a support, a rotary drilling drive longitudinally displaceable on the support in a drilling direction and provided with a reducing transmission and drive motors. The reducing transmission including a planetary transmission which is transmissively and selectively connectable with two of the drive motors as a superposed transmission.

The present invention relates to a drilling machine for drilling large drilling holes in rock, especially to be used underground. More particularly, it relates to a drilling machine which is provided with a rotary drilling drive having a reducing transmission and drive motors longitudinally displaceable on supports.
A drilling machine of the above mentioned general type is disclosed, for example, in the German document DE-AS 2,114,651 and also in the U.S. Pat. No. 3,330,164. In both drilling machines their drive motors with pinions cooperate with a common transmission gear and can be turned on and turned off as hydraulic motors hydraulically and when needed mechanically, for example, by claw couplings. Thereby the torque transmitted to the common transmission gear and its number of revolutions can be varied. However, such a multi-motor drive for drilling machines of the above mentioned type can be used only to a limited extent, since the effect of the rotary speed limit is very limited for hydraulic motors in the idle running. The parallel circuit in FIG. 6 of the German document DE-AS 2,114,651 provides the action of the respective switched off hydraulic motor as a pump, and it must be provided with a free running, that is however not well known and at high rotary speed can lead to cavitation problems. The further proposed coupling mechanical elements are structurally and operationally expensive, therefore experts skilled in the art have been very restrained in carrying such expenses in practice. Since furthermore with such drives the total drive energy must be hydraulically transmitted, one or several space consuming, heavy and expensive hydraulic aggregates are required. Such a multi-motor drive therefore has no significant advantage in view of the required hydraulic station.
Transmission-amplification drilling devices will find further utilization, especially the device in accordance with the German reference DE-PS 3,445,492 designed for relatively lighter drilling machines. Its drive output must be however significantly increased, and thereby with the known drive art very large and expensive hydraulic stations as compared with the drilling machine are needed.

Drilling machine for drilling large drilling holes in rock, particularly underground

Turmag Turbo-Maschinen-AG Nusse & Grafer


The present invention relates to a data processing apparatus capable of obtaining high-quality sound, etc. A tap generation section 121 generate a prediction tap from synthesized speech data for 40 samples in a subframe of subject data of interest within the synthesized speech data such that speech coded data coded by a CELP method, and synthesized speech data in which a position in the past from a subject subframe by a lag indicated by an L code located in that subject subframe is a starting point. Then, a prediction section 125 decodes high-quality sound data by performing a predetermined prediction computation by using the prediction tap and a tap coefficient stored in a coefficient memory 124. The present invention can be applied to mobile phones for transmitting and receiving speech.

FIGS. 1 and 2 show the configuration of an example of a conventional mobile phone.
In this mobile phone, a transmission process of coding speech into a predetermined code by a CELP method and transmitting the codes, and a receiving process of receiving codes transmitted from other mobile phones and decoding the codes into speech are performed. FIG. 1 shows a transmission section for performing the transmission process, and FIG. 2 shows a receiving section for performing the receiving process.
In the transmission section shown in FIG. 1, speech produced from a user is input to a microphone 1, whereby the speech is converted into an speech signal as an electrical signal, and the signal is supplied to an A/D (Analog/Digital) conversion section 2. The A/D conversion section 2 samples an analog speech signal from the microphone 1, for example, at a sampling frequency of 8 kHz, etc., so that the analog speech signal undergoes A/D conversion from an analog signal into a digital speech signal. Furthermore, the A/D conversion section 2 performs quantization of the signal with a predetermined number of bits and supplies the signal to an arithmetic unit 3 and an LPC (Linear Prediction Coefficient) analysis section 4.
The LPC analysis section 4 assumes a length, for example, of 160 samples of an speech signal from the A/D conversion section 2 to be one frame, divides that frame into subframes every 40 samples, and performs LPC analysis for each subframe in order to determine linear predictive coefficients α1, α2, . . . , αp of the P order. Then, the LPC analysis section 4 assumes a vector in which these linear predictive coefficient αp (p=1, 2, . . . , P) of the P order are elements, as a speech feature vector, to a vector quantization section 5.
The vector quantization section 5 stores a codebook in which a code vector having linear predictive coefficients as elements corresponds to codes, performs vector quantization on a feature vector α from the LPC analysis section 4 on the basis of the codebook, and supplies the codes (hereinafter referred to as an "A_code" as appropriate) obtained as a result of the vector quantization to a code determination section 15.
Furthermore, the vector quantization section 5 supplies linear predictive coefficients α1′, α2′, . . . , αp′, which are elements forming a code vector α′ corresponding to the A_code, to a speech synthesis filter 6.
The speech synthesis filter 6 is, for example, an IIR (Infinite Impulse Response) type digital filter, which assumes a linear predictive coefficient αp′ (p=1, 2, . . . , P) from the vector quantization section 5 to be a tap coefficient of the IIR filter and assumes a residual signal e supplied from an arithmetic unit 14 to be an input signal, to perform speech synthesis.
More specifically, LPC analysis performed by the LPC analysis section 4 is such that, for the (sample value) sn of the speech signal at the current time n and past P sample values sn−1, sn−2, . . . , sn−p adjacent to the above sample value, a linear combination represented by the following equation holds:sn+α1sn−1+α2sn−2+ . . . +αpsn−p=en  (1)and when linear prediction of a prediction value (linear prediction value) sn′ of the sample value sn at the current time n is performed using the past P sample values Sn−1, sn−2, . . . , sn−p on the basis of the following equation:sn′=−(α1sn−1+α2sn−2+ . . . +αpsn−p)  (2)a linear predictive coefficient αp that minimizes the square error between the actual sample value sn and the linear prediction value sn′ is determined.
Here, in equation (1), {en} ( . . . , en−1, en, en+1, . . . ) are probability variables, which are uncorrelated with each other, in which the average value is 0 and the variance is a predetermined value σ2.
Based on equation (1), the sample value sn can be expressed by the following equation:sn=en−(α1sn−1+α2sn−2+ . . . +αpsn−p)  (3)When this is subjected to Z-transformation, the following equation is obtained:S=E/(1+α1z−1+α2z−2+ . . . +αpz−p)  (4)where, in equation (4), S and E represent Z-transformation of sn and en in equation (3), respectively.
Here, based on equations (1) and (2), en can be expressed by the following equation:en=sn−sn′  (5)and this is called the "residual signal" between the actual sample value sn and the linear prediction value sn′.
Therefore, based on equation (4), the speech signal sn can be determined by assuming the linear predictive coefficient αp to be a tap coefficient of the IIR filter and by assuming the residual signal en to be an input signal of the IIR filter.
Therefore, as described above, the speech synthesis filter 6 assumes the linear predictive coefficient αp′ from the vector quantization section 5 to be a tap coefficient, assumes the residual signal e supplied from the arithmetic unit 14 to be an input signal, and computes equation (4) in order to determine an speech signal (synthesized speech data) ss.
In the speech synthesis filter 6, a linear predictive coefficient αp′ as a code vector corresponding to the code obtained as a result of the vector quantization is used instead of the linear predictive coefficient αp obtained as a result of the LPC analysis by the LPC analysis section 4. As a result, basically, the synthesized speech signal output from the speech synthesis filter 6 does not become the same as the speech signal output from the A/D conversion section 2.
The synthesized speech data ss output from the speech synthesis filter 6 is supplied to the arithmetic unit 3. The arithmetic unit 3 subtracts an speech signal s output by the A/D conversion section 2 from the synthesized speech data ss from the speech synthesis filter 6 (subtracts the sample of the speech data s corresponding to that sample from each sample of the synthesized speech data ss), and supplies the subtracted value to a square-error computation section 7. The A/D conversion section 7 computes the sum of squares (sum of squares of the subtracted value of each sample value of the k-th subframe) of the subtracted value from the arithmetic unit 3 and supplies the resulting square error to a least-square error determination section 8.
The least-square error determination section 8 has stored therein an L code (L_code) as a code indicating a long-term prediction lag, a G code (G_code) as a code indicating a gain, and an I code (I_code) as a code indicating a codeword (excitation codebook) in such a manner as to correspond to the square error output from the square-error computation section 7, and outputs the L_code, the G code, and the L code corresponding to the square error output from the square-error computation section 7. The L code is supplied to an adaptive codebook storage section 9. The G code is supplied to a gain decoder 10. The I code is supplied to an excitation-codebook storage section 11. Furthermore, the L code, the G code, and the I code are also supplied to the code determination section 15.
The adaptive codebook storage section 9 has stored therein an adaptive codebook in which, for example, a 7-bit L code corresponds to a predetermined delay time (lag). The adaptive codebook storage section 9 delays the residual signal e supplied from the arithmetic unit 14 by a delay time (a long-term prediction lag) corresponding to the L code supplied from the least-square error determination section 8 and outputs the signal to an arithmetic unit 12.
Here, since the adaptive codebook storage section 9 delays the residual signal e by a time corresponding to the L code and outputs the signal, the output signal becomes a signal close to a period signal in which the delay time is a period. This signal becomes mainly a driving signal for generating synthesized speech of voiced sound in speech synthesis using linear predictive coefficients. Therefore, the L code conceptually represents a pitch period of speech. According to the standards of CELP, the L code takes an integer value in the range 20 to 146.
A gain decoder 10 has stored therein a table in which the G code corresponds to predetermined gains β and γ, and outputs gains β and γ corresponding to the G code supplied from the least-square error determination section 8. The gains β and γ are supplied to the arithmetic units 12 and 13, respectively. Here, the gain β is what is commonly called a long-term filter status output gain, and the gain γ is what is commonly called an excitation codebook gain.
The excitation-codebook storage section 11 has stored therein an excitation codebook in which, for example, a 9-bit I code corresponds to a predetermined excitation signal, and outputs, to the arithmetic unit 13, the excitation signal which corresponds to the I code supplied from the least-square error determination section 8.
Here, the excitation signal stored in the excitation codebook is, for example, a signal close to white noise, and becomes mainly a driving signal for generating synthesized speech of unvoiced sound in the speech synthesis using linear predictive coefficients.
The arithmetic unit 12 multiplies the output signal of the adaptive codebook storage section 9 with the gain β output from the gain decoder 10 and supplies the multiplied value 1 to the arithmetic unit 14. The arithmetic unit 13 multiplies the output signal of the excited codebook storage section 11 with the gain γ output from the gain decoder 10 and supplies the multiplied value n to the arithmetic unit 14. The arithmetic unit 14 adds together the multiplied value 1 from the arithmetic unit 12 with the multiplied value n from the arithmetic unit 13, and supplies the added value as the residual signal e to the speech synthesis filter 6 and the adaptive codebook storage section 9.
In the speech synthesis filter 6, in the manner described above, the residual signal e supplied from the arithmetic unit 14 is filtered by the IIR filter in which the linear predictive coefficient αp′ supplied from the vector quantization section 5 is a tap coefficient, and the resulting synthesized speech data is supplied to the arithmetic unit 3. Then, in the arithmetic unit 3 and the square-error computation section 7, processes similar to the above-described case are performed, and the resulting square error is supplied to the least-square error determination section 8.
The least-square error determination section 8 determines whether or not the square error from the square-error computation section 7 has become a minimum (local minimum). Then, when the least-square error determination section 8 determines that the square error has not become a minimum, the least-square error determination section 8 outputs the L code, the G code, and the I code corresponding to the square error in the manner described above, and hereafter, the same processes are repeated.
On the other hand, when the least-square error determination section 8 determines that the square error has become a minimum, the least-square error determination section 8 outputs the determination signal to the code determination section 15. The code determination section 15 latches the A code supplied from the vector quantization section 5 and latches the L code, the G code, and the I code in sequence supplied from the least-square error determination section 8. When the determination signal is received from the least-square error determination section 8, the code determination section 15 supplies the A code, the L code, the G code, and the I code, which are latched at this time, to the channel encoder 16. The channel encoder 16 multiplexes the A code, the L code, the G code, and the I code from the code determination section 15 and outputs them as code data. This code data is transmitted via a transmission path.
Based on the above, the code data is coded data having the A code, the L code, the G code, and the I code, which are information used for decoding, in units of subframes.
Here, the A code, the L code, the G code, and the I code are determined for each subframe. However, for example, there is a case in which the A code is sometimes determined for each frame. In this case, to decode the four subframes which form that frame, the same A code is used. However, also, in this case, each of the four subframes which form that one frame can be regarded as having the same A code. In this way, the code data can be regarded as being formed as coded data having the A code, the L code, the G code, and the I code, which are information used for decoding, in units of subframes.
Here, in FIG. 1 (the same applies also in FIGS. 2, 5, 9, 11, 16, 18, and 21, which will be described later), [k] is assigned to each variable so that the variable is an array variable. This k represents the number of subframes, but in the specification, a description thereof is omitted where appropriate.
Next, the code data transmitted from the transmission section of another mobile phone in the above-described manner is received by a channel decoder 21 of the receiving section shown in FIG. 2. The channel decoder 21 separates the L code, the G code, the I code; and the A code from the code data, and supplies each of them to an adaptive codebook storage section 22, a gain decoder 23, an excitation codebook storage section 24, and a filter coefficient decoder 25.
The adaptive codebook storage section 22, the gain decoder 23, the excitation codebook storage section 24, and arithmetic units 26 to 28 are formed similarly to the adaptive codebook storage section 9, the gain decoder 10, the excited codebook storage section 11, and the arithmetic units 12 to 14 of FIG. 1, respectively. As a result of the same processes as in the case described with reference to FIG. 1 being performed, the L code, the G code, and the I code are decoded into the residual signal e. This residual signal e is provided as an input signal to a speech synthesis filter 29.
The filter coefficient decoder 25 has stored therein the same codebook as that stored in the vector quantization section 5 of FIG. 1, so that the A code is decoded into a linear predictive coefficient αp′ and this is supplied to the speech synthesis filter 29.
The speech synthesis filter 29 is formed similarly to the speech synthesis filter 6 of FIG. 1. The speech synthesis filter 29 assumes the linear predictive coefficient αp′ from the filter coefficient decoder 25 to be a tap coefficient, assumes the residual signal e supplied from an arithmetic unit 28 to be an input signal, and computes equation (4), thereby generating synthesized speech data when the square error is determined to be a minimum in the least-square error determination section 8 of FIG. 1. This synthesized speech data is supplied to a D/A (Digital/Analog) conversion section 30. The D/A conversion section 30 subjects the synthesized speech data from the speech synthesis filter 29 to D/A conversion from a digital signal into an analog signal, and supplies the analog signal to a speaker 31, whereby the analog signal is output.
In the code data, when the A codes are arranged in frame units rather than in subframe units, in the receiving section of FIG. 2, linear predictive coefficients corresponding to the A codes arranged in that frame can be used to decode all four subframes which form the frame. In addition, interpolation is performed on each subframe by using the linear predictive coefficients corresponding to the A code of the adjacent frame, and the linear predictive coefficients obtained as a result of the interpolation can be used to decode each subframe.
As described above, in the transmission section of the mobile phone, since the residual signal and linear predictive coefficients, as an input signal provided to the speech synthesis filter 29 of the receiving section, are coded and then transmitted, in the receiving section, the codes are decoded into a residual signal and linear predictive coefficients. However, since the decoded residual signal and linear predictive coefficients (hereinafter referred to as "decoded residual signal and decoded linear predictive coefficients", respectively, as appropriate) contain errors such as quantization errors, these do not match the residual signal and the linear predictive coefficients obtained by performing LPC analysis on speech.
For this reason, the synthesized speech data output from the speech synthesis filter 29 of the receiving section becomes deteriorated sound quality in which distortion, etc., is contained.

Speech decoding apparatus and method using prediction and class taps


A method of determining the prevailing atmospheric air pressure in a pressure-controlled injection system wherein the intake manifold pressure (Ps), measured when a predetermined load condition of the engine has been detected, is multiplied by a predetermined, preferably speed-dependent factor (K) to provide a value representative of the atmospheric air pressure (Po).

The present invention relates to a method for determining atmospheric air pressure in pressure-controlled fuel injection systems.
In vehicle engines having pressure-controlled fuel injection systems, i.e. systems in which the basic measured variable of the system is the intake manifold pressure, the exhaust back-pressure, which is dependent upon the prevailing atmospheric air pressure, influence the residual quantity of gas remaining in the engine cylinders during the exhaust cycle and hence the volume of fresh gas that can enter the cylinder on the next induction stroke. This has the result that, as the atmospheric air pressure decreases, the mixture in the cylinders of the engine becomes leaner. For example, when the engine is idling, the mixture becomes leaner, typically by approximately 4.5% per 1,000 m. altitude. In order for this error to be corrected, it is necessary to provide some means of determining the prevailing atmospheric air pressure.
A measure of the prevailing atmospheric air pressure can be obtained using the pressure value measured by the conventional intake manifold pressure sensor when the engine speed is still zero or extremely low, e.g. cranking speed. However, since the atmospheric pressure changes with the altitude at which the vehicle is operating, a measure of atmospheric pressure made initially by measuring the intake manifold pressure at start up of the engine requires correction to take account of a changing altitude of operation of the vehicle.

Method for determining atmospheric air pressure in pressure-controlled fuel injection systems


A component-embedded substrate includes an electrically insulating base (11) of resin, an electric or electronic embedded component (8) and a dummy embedded component (7) both embedded in the insulating base (11), a conductor pattern (18) formed on at least one side of the insulating base (11) and connected directly to or indirectly via a connection layer (6) to the embedded component (8) and the dummy embedded component (7), and a mark (10) formed on a surface of the dummy embedded component (7) and used as a reference when the conductor pattern (18) is formed, whereby positional accuracy of the conductor pattern (18) relative to the embedded component (8) can be improved.

There have been known component-embedded substrates having electric or electronic components embedded therein (see Patent Document 1, for example). A component-embedded substrate as typified by the one disclosed in Patent Document 1 is fabricated by laminating an electrically insulating base such as a prepreg on a component, and then partly removing an outside electrically conductive layer by etching or the like, to form a conductor pattern. When the pattern is to be formed, however, difficulty arises in aligning the pattern with the terminals of the component. Thus, using an electrically conductive substance such as copper, a mark is formed on a core substrate, which is an insulating base with a hole permitting the component to be inserted therein, and the core substrate is subjected to lamination along with the component. The buried mark is detected by means of X rays to form a through hole passing through the mark, and a conductor pattern is formed using the through hole as a reference, to improve the positional accuracy of the conductor pattern. However, forming a mark on the core substrate requires the same amount of labor as forming an ordinary conductor pattern, and also an additional process needs to be performed for that purpose.
There has also been known a method in which a hole is formed beforehand in an electrically conductive layer such as a copper foil, a solder resist is formed using the hole as a reference, X-ray hole cutting is performed following lamination by using the hole as a reference, a guide hole is formed using the X rays-cut hole as a reference, and a conductor pattern is formed using the guide hole as a reference, to improve positional accuracy. This method, however, involves multiple processes performed using different holes as reference positions, and actual positional accuracy is low. In practice, moreover, the resin of prepreg flows into the hole formed in the conductive layer, making it difficult to fabricate a satisfactory substrate.

Component-embedded substrate, and method of manufacturing the component-embedded substrate


The present invention describes a phased array transmitter and a method for beamforming. The phased array transmitter comprises a plurality of transmitting branches configured for up-converting an IF signal to an RF signal with a desired RF phase shift. Each transmitting branch is configured for phase shifting the IF signal with a first phase shift and the LO signal with a second phase shift such that the combined first and second phase shift is the desired RF phase shift of the transmitting branch.

Transmit beamforming is a technique for forming directional antenna patterns in a multi-antenna system. Transmit beamforming in a phased array transmitter is accomplished by introducing phase shifts in each transmitting branch such that the output signals produce a wavefront in a certain direction.
FIG. 1A depicts a known implementation of a phased array transmitter 100. The input IF-A signal is fed to a splitter 110-A which splits the signal into a plurality of input IF signals IF-1A, IF-2A, IF-NA. The input IF signals are passed on to a plurality of transmitting branches 120-1, 120-2, 120-N, each comprising a phase shifter 121-1A, 121-2A, 121-NA for phase shifting the IF signal and a mixer 123-1, 123-2, 123-N for up-converting the phase-shifted IF signal to radio frequency, RF. In each transmitting branch, the up-converted signal RF-1, RF-2, RF-N is passed through a band-pass filter 124-1, 124-2, 124-N before being emitted from an antenna element 130-1, 130-2, 130-N.
The above implementation has the advantage of relatively simple phase shifting at an intermediate frequency (or alternatively at baseband). Moreover, a multi-channel application requires that each transmitting branch has its own up-converting mixer. A multi-channel implementation of the same phased array transmitter is shown in FIG. 1B. The multi-channel phased array transmitter 100′ is identical to 100, with the addition of at least one other channel IF-B. The additional channel has a separate splitter 110-B and phase shifters 121-1B, 121-2B, 121-NB. A combiner 125-1, 125-2, 125-N combines the two phase shifted signals before the signal is up-converted to RF. The mixer 123-1, 123-2, 123-N mixes the LO and IF signals in order to provide an output RF signal.
The wanted RF output of the mixer may, for example, be RF=LO+IF, but the output will also comprise unwanted spurious signals at any frequency n*IF+m*LO where n and m are any integer not equal to one. A disadvantage of the phased array transmitters of FIGS. 1A and 1B is that the band-pass filters 124-1, 124-2, 124-N will not be able to suppress unwanted frequency components efficiently due to space constraints. Passive filtering is space consuming and becomes troublesome in high frequency applications where each channel has a specific area to use defined by the carrier frequency. For antenna arrays operating at high microwave frequencies (e.g. above 20 GHz) there is no possibility to have bulky filters behind each antenna element since these must be spaced no more than half a wavelength apart. Another problem is that for higher carrier frequencies the relative frequency difference between LO and RF frequencies decreases. This makes filter design even more troublesome when it comes to tolerances losses and even material variations. Hence, band-pass filtering alone will not be sufficient to achieve suppression of the unwanted spurious signals.
The capacity of a communication system using the phased array transmitters described above will be limited by the interference from the unwanted spurious signals, mainly LO and LO-IF. Hence, in order to increase capacity further the problem of interference from unwanted spurious signals needs to be solved. Currently there exist no efficient implementations that remedy this problem. Hence, there is a need for an improved phased array transmitter that provides suppression, or at least control, of the unwanted spurious signals.

Method and transmitter for transmit beamforming in a wireless communication system


A system for monitoring field conditions during the performance of an agricultural operation by an agricultural machine may generally include a support arm configured to be coupled to and extend from an agricultural machine such that, when the agricultural machine makes a pass across a field along a given swath, a portion of the support arm extends across or is positioned over at least a portion of an adjacent swath within the field. The system may also include a sensor provided in association with the support arm, with the sensor being configured to detect a parameter indicative of a field condition associated with the adjacent swath. In addition, the system may include a controller communicatively coupled to the sensor, with the controller being configured to monitor the field condition based on sensor data received from the sensor.

Agricultural implements, such as planter, seeders, tillage implements, and/or the like, are typically configured to perform an agricultural operation within a field, such as a planting/seeding operation, a tillage operation, and/or the like. When performing such agricultural operations, it is desirable to be able to adjust the operation of the implement to account for variations in the field conditions that could potentially impact the effectiveness and/or efficiency of the operation. In this regard, sensor systems have been developed that allow a given field condition to be detected along the portion of the field across which the implement is currently traveling. Adjustments to the operation of the implement may then be made based on the detected field condition.
However, since such conventional sensor systems are only configured detect field conditions associated with the current portion of the field being traversed by the implement, any adjustments made to the operation of the implement are inherently reactive. As such, conventional systems are unable to respond adequately to sudden or immediate changes in the field condition being detected, which can lead to undesirable results associated with the effectiveness and/or efficiency of the corresponding agricultural operation.
Accordingly, a system and method for monitoring field conditions associated with an adjacent swath within a field as an agricultural machine makes a pass across the field during the performance of an agricultural operation to allow predictive or pre-emptive operational adjustments to be made when making a subsequent pass across the field along the adjacent swath would be welcomed in the technology.

System and method for monitoring field conditions of an adjacent swath within a field


Systems and methods may implement a multi-factor authentication process utilizing, among other things, a value known by a user and an item in the user's possession. In one example, the method may include authenticating a user via a first method utilizing input received from the user, authenticating the user via a second method utilizing a device associated with the user, and authenticating the user via a third method utilizing a security token.

1. Technical Field
Embodiments generally relate to authentication processes. More particularly, embodiments relate to implementing a multi-factor authentication process utilizing, among other things, a value known by a user and an item in the user's possession.
2. Discussion
In some instances, an authentication process may allow a user to gain access to a user device by utilizing a value known by a user (e.g., a password). In other instances, the user device may utilize an integrated security component (e.g., a smartcard, a one-time password token) to prevent unauthorized access. In either case, the user device may be vulnerable to an insider attack by a rogue user impersonating a proper user.


A trash bin for a kitchen cabinet door, having a lid which is constantly spring biased to opened position. The lid has a central upwardly projecting plank, outwardly tapering thicknesswise for slidingly engaging the lower edge of the lintel of the cabinet front wall opening, whereby the lid causes opening of the door. By using a conventional push releasable latch on the door, the door and bin lid will automatically open, by simply pushing the outer face of the closed door, e.g. with a foot. Thus, it is not necessary to use a hand either for opening the door or the lid.

Trash bins are often conveniently secured to the inner face of an access door of a kitchen sink cabinet, for releasable engagement into the cabinet compartment under the sink. It is useful to have a trash bin the lid of which can be automatically opened and closed as the door is opened and closed. This of course more quickly frees one hand of the user for positioning trash within the bin. Such automatic lid-operating devices have been known for some time.
For instance, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,311,835 to Charles M. Johnson, lid 8 is hinged at 11 to trash bin 7 and biased in open position by a spring 13 interconnecting the rear wall of the bin with an upper section of the hinge 11. Bin 7 is anchored to the door 3 of a cabinet defining an opening 2 in which door 3 swings to close the compartment 4 in the cabinet. A spring bar 15 is connected to the top of lid 8 and comes in frictional contact with the front upper board 7 of the cabinet when the door 3 is closed, whereby the lid is closed against the bias of spring 13.
In this patent to Johnson, as shown in FIG. 1, the large angle (about 45.degree.) made between lid bar 15 and the plane passing through the bottom edge of top board 17, which is necessary since that blade 15 is straight and parallel to lid 8, does mean that one will need to use relatively substantial force to close the lid, and that the initial closing effort is much larger than that of the final closing. Also, the spring 13 cannot be used to also open the door.
A drawback in existing trash bins is that one always needs to have at least one free hand to grip the access door of the kitchen sink cabinet, in order to pull open same when access to the trash bin is required. This is not advantageous, in that it occasionally happens that both hands are required to carry the garbage load to the trash bin, and thus said load must be put on the ground or on the kitchen counter before opening the door.


An approach is provided for generating multi-channel video. A media platform segments a plurality of media items into one or more media segments based on a plurality of viewpoints of at least one event. The media platform then generates a plurality of media channels for respective one or more plurality of viewpoints. The plurality of media channels compiles the one or more media segments that depict the respective one or more of the plurality of viewpoints. The media platform then compiles the plurality of media channels into a multi-channel media item.

Service providers and device manufacturers (e.g., wireless, cellular, etc.) are continually challenged to deliver value and convenience to consumers by, for example, providing compelling network services. Important differentiators in the industry are application and network services that offer users entertainment (e.g., media) and location services. In particular, media sharing services allow for distribution of content to other users of the media sharing services. Traditionally, the content distributed on such media sharing services is uploaded by one or more users. Interesting transformations of the content can be utilized to improve user experience. By way of example, extensive research and development has led to the creation of high-fidelity multi-channel audio presentations (e.g., surround sound). However, similar developments have not yet been applied to video largely due to technical challenges and limitations that exist for enabling such transformations. Therefore, service providers and device manufacturers face significant technical challenges in providing a service that allows consumers to experience full-fidelity multi-channel video presentations.

Method and apparatus for generating multi-channel video


A tonneau cover frame for a pickup truck bed includes a cross-car rail bracket with a predetermined gap for receiving a cross-car bow in a plurality of configurations. The cross-car bow is movable laterally within the cross-car rail bracket to allow for a single cross-car bow in a variety of locations within the tonneau cover frame.

The present disclosure relates generally to a tonneau cover frame for a vehicle bed and more particularly to an adjustable cross-rail bracket for a tonneau cover frame capable of accommodating both square and non-square pickup truck beds.
Pickup trucks are used to haul various items, such as business merchandise, camping equipment, and furniture. It is sometimes necessary to transport this cargo under cover (e.g., to protect against theft or inclement weather), while still allowing for large cargo that extends upwardly past the side rails of the pickup. Furthermore, pickup truck beds can be prone to reduced fuel economy when uncovered due to drag created by the tailgate and airflow through the open truck bed. Accordingly, it is known to employ a removable tonneau cover over a pickup truck bed in order to protect bed contents (e.g., from inclement weather and/or theft) and to reduce vehicle drag for improved fuel economy.
In the prior art, pickup truck beds have been covered by a tonneau-type cover either attached to the sidewalls of the truck bed or secured to a portion of the vehicle cab. Exemplary tonneau covers are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,636,893 entitled "Folding Hard Panel Tonneau Cover With Rail Attachment" which issued to Wheatley et al. on Jun. 10, 1997; U.S. Pat. No. 7,021,693 entitled "Pickup Bed Cover" which issued to Keller on Apr. 4, 2006; and U.S. Pat. No. 7,188,888 entitled "Tonneau System Latch" which issued to Wheatley et al. on Mar. 13, 2007. These patents are incorporated by reference herein. The tonneau covers described in these patents fail to include any mechanism or device for arranging cross-car bows within a cross-car rail system when the bed is non-square.
In accordance with the present invention, a pickup truck bed tonneau cover frame is provided. In another aspect, the pickup truck bed tonneau cover frame has a cross-car rail bracket with a predetermined gap for receiving a cross-car bow in a plurality of configurations. In another aspect, the cross-car bow is movable laterally within the cross-car rail bracket to allow for a single cross-car bow in a variety of locations within the tonneau cover frame.
The present tonneau cover frame and its assembly onto a pickup truck bed are advantageous over prior truck bed tonneau covers. For example, the present device and method advantageously reduce the number of parts needed for alternate designs. Notably, different vehicle bed lengths and shapes can be accommodated with the same tooling. Additional advantages and features of the present invention will be found in the following description and accompanying claims, as well as in the appended drawings.
Corresponding reference numerals indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views of the drawings.

Tonneau cover frame for a pickup truck bed

Specialty Vehicle Acquisition Corporation


To provide an electrode for an organic device which can realize a hole injection function and/or an electron injection function from a totally different point of view from metal donor doping. A composite material in which conductive particles of a particulate conductive inorganic compound (the diameter is 1 (nm) to 100 (nm), preferably, 1 (nm) to 20 (nm)) are dispersed in one or plural kinds of organic compounds 101 is layered on a surface of an organic layer 110 of an organic device where an electrode is to be formed to form an electrode for an organic device 100. As to the thus formed electrode, since the densely dispersed conductive particles 102 have large specific surface area, interaction between the conductive particles 102 and the organic compound 101 realizes a function of a donor or an acceptor. Besides, since adhesion with the organic layer 110 is high for the existence of the matrix of the organic compound 101, the electrode is suitable for an organic device.

Since an electrode of an organic device serves as a contact point where an organic compound which indicates a function of the device is connected with an inorganic compound such as a wiring, the electrode is very important and various refinements are applied. For example, as an electron injection electrode of an organic EL element, a technology of doping a metal such as an alkali metal having low work function is effective (See Patent Literature 1). As to the technology, a metal is made to serve as a donor, and the metal and an organic compound composes a charge-transfer complex; thus, electron injection properties are improved. Accordingly, the ratio of the metal and the organic compound is supposed to be optimum at about 1:1 in molar ratio (See Non-patent Literature 1).
[Patent document 1] Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-270171
[Non-patent Literature] Applied Physics letters, "Bright Organic Electroluminescent Devices Having Metal-Doped Electron-Injecting Layer" America, Institute of Physics, November 1998, Vol. 70, No. 2, pp. 152-154, J. Kido et al.
An electrode for an organic device described above is manufactured by a method in which an organic compound and a metal are respectively evaporated by resistance heating, and mixed and deposited in the gas phase (what is called a co-evaporation method). On this occasion, the ratio of the organic compound and the metal is monitored with crystal oscillator to be monitored by weight. In general, most of organic compounds used for the organic device have molecular weight of more than hundreds (for example, the molecular weight of Alq used in the Non-patent Literature 1 is 459). Meanwhile, atomic weight of metal is extremely small compared to that (for example, the atomic weight of Li is 7). Accordingly, in the case where the ratio of the metal and the organic compound is about 1:1, the ratio of the metal by weight is very low.
Hence, in the case of forming an electrode for an organic device so that a metal and an organic compound compose a charge transfer complex, it has been difficult to manufacture a stable and uniform device because of bad controllability of the deposition rate of the metal. Further, in particular, most of semiconducting or conductive inorganic compounds (semiconducting/conductive oxide and the like) other than metal has low vapor pressure and are difficult to evaporate by resistance heating; therefore, an electrode for an organic device in which those are mixed with the organic compound could not be formed.

Electrode device for organic device, electronic device having electrode device for organic device, and method of forming electrode device for organic device

Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.


According to the process for producing a glass substrate for an information-recording medium of the present invention, a glass plate 10 is roughly polished by a polishing machine 1 using a polishing liquid 7 containing a polishing agent containing cerium oxide as a main component in the rough polishing step, followed by cleaning so as to adjust the amount of cerium oxide on the surface of the glass plate to be 0.125 ng/cm2 or less. The glass plate after rough polishing is thereafter finely polished with a polishing agent containing colloidal silica in the fine polishing step.

Hard disks are required to have high capacity and to be produced with reduced cost. Under such circumstances, glass substrates are required to have high smoothness and cleanliness as well as to have high productivity. In order to achieve high smoothness, a method is known in which a colloidal silica polishing agent is used for a final polishing step. As a means to improve the productivity at the same time, Patent Document 1, for example, discloses a polishing machine in which polishing liquid containing colloidal silica is circulated.    Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2008-246645

Process for producing glass substrate for information recording medium


Provided is a method for producing a film-coated metal plate, comprising the steps of: (1) pre-heating and soaking a metal plate; (2) laminating a film on the metal plate, with a deflector roller configured to be movable in a horizontal direction to adjust an angle α between the metal plate and a vertical direction; (3) cooling the metal plate; (4) compressing the metal plate to dry it; (5) reheating and post-processing the metal plate. A device for producing a film-coated metal plate is also provided, which comprises: an induction heating apparatus, a deflector roller (4) configured to be movable in a horizontal direction to adjust an angle α between the metal plate and a vertical direction, a thin film guide roller (6), a film-coating roller (7), a cooling apparatus (9), a compressing and drying roller (12), a reheating apparatus (14) and an air cooling apparatus (15).

Metallic packaging materials (e.g. tin plates, chrome plates, etc) have the advantages of good barrier property, high strength, exquisite prints and the like, and can be used to package foods and drinks. Food or drink cans made of metallic packaging materials can realize a long shelf life without addition of any preservative, and can preserve the original quality and flavor of the foods or drinks to the largest extent.
Metallic packaging materials need to be used in conjunction with coatings to manufacture cans. For example, in a process of making a three-piece can, a resin coating is applied to a metal plate surface to form a film, and then the can is formed. In a process of making a two-piece can, stamping and shaping are carried out first, and then the resulting can body is coated by spraying or printing. In an operation of coating a metal plate, high-temperature baking needs to be performed several times. Hence, a large amount of energy is consumed, and a problem of solvent volatilization comes into being, which will cause certain environmental pollution. For example, existing methods for producing metal cans for packaging foods mainly involve coating a metal plate surface several times before forming a can or a lid. This kind of production methods entails use of a lot of organic solvent-containing coatings in the course of printing or coating metal plates. Thus, a large volume of the solvents will be volatilized when the coatings are baked to form films, and environmental pollution will be incurred easily. The coating process generally needs to be performed several times, and thus a great deal of energy will be consumed. Additionally, some types of coatings employ solvents comprising Biphenol A. After the coatings are dried, it's inevitable that a minor amount of Biphenol A will remain in film layers, thereby subjecting food safety to potential risk. Therefore, the environmental unfriendliness problem of traditional printing and coating in the abovementioned production becomes increasingly prominent as social development imposes more and more rigid requirements on environmental protection.
Polyester film (PET), which is non-toxic and odorless, and possesses good heat resistance, corrosion resistance and machinability, has already been widely used in the field of food and drink packaging. A combined use of polyester film and metallic material may take full advantages of these two materials. Generally, a polyester film is laminated intimately on a surface of a metal plate by hot melt lamination or gluing to form a film-laminated metal plate. The use of a film-laminated metal plate for manufacturing cans not only ensures the good properties of food or drink cans in use, but also omits a major part of the coating and baking procedure in the manufacture of cans by way of coating a metal plate. Thus, the production flow is shortened, the investment in energy and equipment is saved, and the production is more environmentally friendly. As a result, there is a potential to replace traditional coated metal plates with film-laminated metal plates.
A Chinese patent literature having a publication number of CN1168651, a publication date of Dec. 24, 1997 and a title of METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING LAMINATE BOARD discloses a method and an apparatus for laminating a thermoplastic resin film on a metal plate. According to this method, after a metal plate is heated, a thermoplastic resin film is laminated on at least one of the surfaces of the metal plate by pressing between a pair of laminate rolls. After the heated metal plate and the resin film are pressed and laminated in a vertical direction by passing through the laminate rolls, the laminate plate is pushed aside by a deflector roll in a transverse direction so as to bias the travelling direction towards one of the laminate rolls, such that the film-laminated metal plate forms a contacting angle with this laminate roll. Therefore, the thickness of the melted layer of the film in this direction can be adjusted. Because the cooling effect of the laminate rolls on the metal plate is notable, the temperature of the film-laminated metal plate decreases rapidly during contacting with the laminate rolls. If the lamination process continues after the film-laminated metal plate leaves the gap between the laminate rolls, the temperature of the film-laminated metal plate will continue to decrease quickly, and propagation of the melted layer will tend to stop shortly. Therefore, it's actually difficult for this method to achieve adjustment of the melted layer thickness in a wide range as stated therein.
Another Chinese patent literature having a publication number of CN102514342B, a publication date of Aug. 6, 2014 and a title of FILM LAMINATING APPARATUS AND FILM LAMINATING METHOD discloses a film laminating method and a film laminating apparatus for hot laminating a film on a metal plate, wherein α method for quenching a film-laminated metal plate is mentioned, wherein a quenching unit comprises an air cooling device and a water cooling tank arranged sequentially in a direction along which the film-laminated metal plate is conveyed. A cooling rate of 70-80° C./s can be achieved. For some packaging applications where property requirements are rigorous, metal plates need to be cooled to room temperature in a very short period of time after film lamination is finished. Restricted by the air cooling manner, generally, this patent can hardly achieve a higher cooling rate in a short period of time. Therefore, the product properties are restricted.

Method and apparatus for producing film-coated metal plate


A method and a device are provided for individually adapting the saddle of a two-wheeled vehicle, especially bicycle saddles. The local pressing pressure of the buttocks of a test subject is measured on a adapting device (1) with a measuring saddle (2) and a pressure-measuring device (4) arranged on or in the seat surface at individual points or over a large area and in a localizing manner and evaluated. The two-wheeled vehicle saddle (8) is specifically adapted to the shape of the individual buttocks corresponding to the measuring results and is additionally cushioned where the contact pressure is higher.

It is known from DE-A 195 32 227 that a bicycle saddle can be individually adapted to the shape of the user's buttocks. This is done here by means of a saddle material that can change its shape, e.g., by means of a flexible saddle cover that can be filled with a material that can change its shape. The cover may be filled with air or a fine granular, flowable filling material. The cover itself consists of a flexible material.
A self-adapting bicycle saddle is known from DE-A 36 25 210. The saddle is filled here with a moldable mass, which is at first flexible and flowable and automatically adapts itself to the shape of the buttocks as a result. The material is said to subsequently solidify and retain its adapted shape as a result.
Another such individual bicycle saddle is known from DE-A 43 27 234. The saddle is said to use parts or inserts that are molded or foamed individually according to the anatomic conditions.
The problem of these prior-art adaptable saddles is that the filling material used is not well suited for the requirements imposed on a bicycle saddle during continuous operation. Thus, the prior-art adapted vehicle saddles cannot satisfy all demands.
A pressure-measuring device for seat shells or seat backs, in which an image of the body shape of a person can be determined with a pressure sensor each by means of mobile measuring strips and stored electronically, is known from DE-A 43 24 457. Based on the results of the measurements, a conventional seat or optionally also a wheelchair for elderly people can be correspondingly adapted. DE-A 41 31 257 shows a similar device, which operates with sensors in the form of capillary tubes.
A seat testing stamp and a process for the quantitative determination of the pressure comfort of a seat pad, with which standardized vehicle seats can be checked and classified with respect to their pressure comfort, are known from DE-A 196 01 971 and DE-A 196 01 974. The seat testing stamp represents here the standard shape of a human body. The purpose of this technique is to make it possible to manufacture vehicle seats that offer maximum comfort for as many different human body shapes as possible.
DE-A 41 31 257, DE-C 36 34 855 and DE-A 199 10 194 pertain to measuring set-ups for measuring forces or pressures. For example, it can be determined based on these measuring results whether a person is located on a vehicle seat and how much he weighs in order to make it possible subsequently to activate and especially trigger an air bag or another part of the vehicle correspondingly.

Method for individually adapting the saddle of a two-wheel vehicle


An anti-reflection device for a VDT has an anti-reflection film for minimizing the amount of light reflecting on the surface of the screen of a CRT display and at least two frames, including an inner frame in which the anti-reflection film is stretched and an outer frame encircling the inner frame and attached to a display frame formed around the screen of the CRT display. The inner frame is supported for rotation about a non-horizontal axis and can be fixed at a desired angular position, thereby enabling the angle of the surface of the anti-reflection film to be adjusted to minimize reflection.

This invention relates to an anti-reflection device for a VDT (visual display terminal) which is attached to a CRT display frame.
FIGS. 1 and 2 show the construction of a conventional anti-reflection device for a VDT in plan and in section. The VDT anti-reflection device 15 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 is used to limit reflection of incident light 11 from a light source (not shown). The amount of reflected light 12 reflecting from a glass screen surface 10 of a CRT (cathode ray tube) display is about 4.25% of the amount of incident light 11. Reflected light is the greatest cause of fatigue on a VDT operator's eyes, which is a considerable problem in offices. To minimize the amount of reflected light 12, a VDT anti-reflection device 15 is attached to a frame 9 of the CRT display screen 10. However, a certain amount of light 12a is also reflected from the surface of an anti-reflection film 6, and it is impossible to change the direction of this reflected light 12a since, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the frame 14 in which the anti-reflection film 6 of the VDT anti-reflection device 15 is stretched is fixed to the frame 9 of the CRT display by adhesive tape 8. As shown in FIG. 2, the screen 10 of the CRT display is inclined at about 10.degree. so that it faces slightly upwards. The light 11a emitted by the light source (not shown) and reflected as light 12a by the anti-reflection film 6 therefore tends to travel toward the eye 13 of the VDT operator. Other anti-reflection techniques are known, including a multi-coating method in which a glass plate on which an anti-reflection film is formed by vapor deposition is attached to the screen surface of the CRT display with a transparent resin, a sand blast method in which irregularities are formed in the screen surface of the CRT display by blowing sand against the surface, and a direct etching method in which irregularities are formed by blowing hydrofluoric acid against the screen surface of the CRT display. All of these methods employ direct processing of the screen of the CRT display. Such surface processing reduces the transparency of the screen while failing to completely eliminate reflection.
The above-discribed conventional VDT anti-reflection device 15 has the additional problem that light 12a reflected from the anti-reflection film 6 is directly visible depending upon the disposition of the CRT display and the light source. Also, none of the multi-coating methods, sand blast methods or direct etching methods can change the direction of the reflected light 12 from the screen 10 of the CRT display.


The vehicular driving shaft is oriented and conveyed vertically around to plural assembling stations where component parts of a first joint unit are assembled to a lower end of the shaft whereupon the shaft is reversed and the component parts of the second joint unit are thereafter assembled to the now lower other end of the shaft. Plural carriers hold the shaft vertically as they are driven intermittently to plural stations, each station having an appropriate assembling device, the stations being grouped to first assemble the first joint unit and then to assemble the second.

This invention relates to a method of, and an apparatus for, assembling a vehicular driving shaft in which a universal joint unit such as a bell type or tripod constant velocity joint or the like is attached to each of both ends of the driving shaft.
It has been usual heretofore with a conventional driving shaft assembly line of this kind, as disclosed in the Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication Tokkashio 61-284333, that a driving shaft held in its lateral laydown posture is sent intermittently to each of plurality of assembling stations. Component parts of a joint unit are assembled to the shaft at each of the assembling stations by means of an assembling device provided on one side of each of the assembling stations.
In the assembly line of this kind, some of the component parts of the first joint unit which are to be attached to one end of the driving shaft are attached to that one end at one of the assembling stations and thereafter some of the component parts of the second joint unit which are to be attached to the other end of the shaft are attached to that other end at the next assembling station. Then, the remainder of the component parts of the first joint unit and those of the second joint unit are attached alternately to the one end and to the other end, respectively.
In the foregoing assembly line, the driving shaft which is a long-sized article is conveyed along the assembly line while in a lateral laydown posture, so that a conveying line or passage therefor has to be made wider and thus requires much space. In addition, when a component part which is relatively heavy is attached to one end of the driving shaft, the shaft becomes asymmetrical in weight (balance) and this makes it difficult to convey the shaft in its balanced posture. Therefore, a first object of the present invention is to solve these problems including the space requirement and the unbalanced posture of the shaft during conveying thereof so that the conveying line space may be reduced and the driving shaft can be conveyed in a balanced posture.
In each assembling station of the prior assembly line, a backup unit for centering a driving shaft and holding it in the centered position is provided to face the end of the shaft other than that to which component parts of the joint unit are being attached. However, in the above-described assembly line in which some of the component parts of the first and the second joint units are attached alternately to each of both ends of the driving shaft in one round of the assembling and some others in next round of the assembling, if one of the first and the second joint units, say, the second one, is changed to a different type, it becomes necessary to change not only the specification of each assembling device for the second joint unit provided at each assembling station but also the specification of a backup unit provided at each assembling station for the first joint unit in order to have it adapted for the corresponding component parts of the second joint unit assembled at the preceding assembling station, so that it takes more time and work to carry out the change. A solution to this problem is the second object to be attained by the present invention.

Method of assembling a vehicular driving shaft


A medical instrument configured to be inserted into a body cavity comprises a body comprises a first probe at a first end, the first probe comprising a first cylindrical portion with a first outer circumferential surface of a first diameter; a first circumferential edge at a distal end of the first probe; a first distal lip projecting outwardly from the first outer circumferential surface beyond the first circumferential edge and extending for at least a part of a circumference of the first circumferential edge; and a first marker lip projecting outwardly from the first outer circumferential surface and extending for at least a part of a circumference of the first outer circumferential surface; wherein the first distal lip is positioned distal to the first marker lip; and wherein the body comprises a hollow cavity to enable a second medical instrument to pass therethrough.

1. Field
The present disclosure relates to a general uterine manipulator and system which may be used in general surgery, gynaecological or non-surgical procedures.
2. Description
The present inventor has invented numerous medical instruments which are currently in use in surgical and non-surgical procedures. One such instrument is described in International publication no. WO 2008/074054 which is used in various procedures including total laparoscopic hysterectomy. The instrument described in this publication comprises a tube provided with an integral funnel at one end and through which a uterine cannula can be inserted. Both the tube and the cannula are provided with longitudinal slots or cut outs that aid in visualising the rotational position of a distal end of the instrument when inserted into the vagina and also aid in gripping of the instrument.
The success and efficacy of the above described and other instruments developed by the present inventor together with the need for improved and more versatile instruments have led to the present disclosure.


An electric double layer capacitor (EDLC) includes an electric double layer cell and first and second external electrodes. The electric double layer cell includes a separator and at least one first polarizable electrode and at least one second polarizable electrode. The first and second external electrodes are formed at first and second side surfaces of the electric double layer cell facing each other, respectively. The first polarizable electrode includes a first current collection layer and a first active material layer formed on either surface of the first current collection layer facing the separator and the second polarizable electrode includes a second current collection layer and a second active material layer formed on either surface of the second current collection layer facing the separator.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electric double layer capacitor (EDLC), and more particularly, to an EDLC which has high energy density and ultra low equivalent series resistance (ESR) characteristics, while having a chip structure in which the thickness is easily controlled, and a method of manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
In various electronic products such as information communication devices, a stable energy supply is considered to be an important element. In general, such a function is performed by a capacitor. That is, the capacitor serves to store electricity in a circuit provided in various electronic products such as information communication devices and then discharge the electricity, thereby stabilizing the flow of electricity in the circuit.
A general capacitor has a short charge and discharge time, a long lifespan, and high output density. However, since the general capacitor has low energy density, there is a limitation in using the capacitor as a storage device. To overcome such a limitation, a new category of capacitors such as an EDLC have been recently developed, which have a short charge and discharge time and high output density. Much attention is being paid to such capacitors as a next generation energy device together with secondary cells.
The EDLC is an energy storage device using a pair of charge layers (electrode layers) having a different polarity. The EDLC may perform continuous electric charge and discharge and has higher energy efficiency and output and greater durability and stability than general other more general capacitors.
A basic structure of the EDLC includes a polarizable electrode, an electrolyte, and a separator. The polarizable electrode has an active material layer and a current collection body, the active material layer having a relatively large surface area like a porous electrode. The operational principle of the EDLC is an electro-chemical mechanism in which electricity is generated when a voltage of several volts is applied to both ends of a unit cell electrode such that ions in the electrolyte move along an electric field to be adsorbed by electrode surface.
EDLCs which are currently commonly used may be roughly classified into two types, that is, a wound structure and a coin-shaped structure.
The wound-structure EDLC is manufactured by winding a current collection body and an insulating paper serving as a separator together in a circular shape, the current collection body being coated with an active material layer such as activated carbon. The coin-shaped EDLC is manufactured by punching an activated carbon electrode and an insulating paper to insert into a coin-shaped metal case.
Such structures according to the related art should implement high energy density and low ESR. That is, a large area is required in order to obtain high energy density. However, a process of implementing the large area is complicated, and separate external terminals are connected to collect currents into unit cells. Therefore, resistance inevitably increases, making it difficult to implement low ESR characteristics.


An apparatus for controlling access to a pipeline includes a plurality of command queues including a first subset of the plurality of command queues being assigned processes the commands of first command type, a second subset of the plurality of command queues being assigned to process commands of the second command type, and a third subset of the plurality of the command queues not being assigned to either the first subset or the second subset. The apparatus also includes an input controller configured to receive requests having the first command type and the second command type and assign requests having the first command type to command queues in the first subset until all command queues in the first subset are filled and then assign requests having the first command type to command queues in the third subset.

This invention relates generally to processing within a computing environment, and more particularly to computing systems having a multilevel cache hierarchy.
In computers, a cache is a component that improves performance by transparently storing data such that future requests for that data can be served faster. The data that is stored within a cache might be values that have been computed earlier or duplicates of original values that are stored elsewhere (e.g. main memory). If requested data is contained in the cache (cache hit), this request can be served by simply reading the cache, which is comparably faster. Otherwise (cache miss), the data has to be recomputed or fetched from its original storage location, which is comparably slower.
The operation of cache operations in a shared cache are controlled by a cache controller. The cache controller may include a shared pipeline that processes individual requests. A pipeline may be considered as a set of data processing elements connected in series, so that the output of one element is the input of the next one. An instruction pipeline may be used in a computing device to increase instruction throughput (the number of instructions that can be executed in a unit of time). The fundamental idea is to split the processing of a computer instruction into a series of independent steps, with storage at the end of each step. This allows the computer's control circuitry to issue instructions at the processing rate of the slowest step, which is much faster than the time needed to perform all steps at once. The term pipeline refers to the fact that each step is carrying data at once (like water), and each step is connected to the next (like the links of a pipe.)
Every new generation of high performance computer systems bring with them a substantial increase in overall system capacity. This capacity increase brings with it the need for additional resources to process commands through the cache controller. Every command processed in the cache controller requires the use of one or more command queues. These queues are typically task specific, capable of handling only a limited subset of the possible commands processed by the cache controller. The cache controller therefore has many varieties of queues, each dedicated to processing a subset of the commands sent to the cache.
Physical constraints limit the total number of command queues that may exist in the cache controller. This limits the number of each type of command queues in the cache controller. Bursts of commands that require the use of the same queues will end up stalling due to resource availability while large numbers of other queues remain idle. This slows down the processing of these bursts of commands and is an inefficient utilization of resources.

Management of multipurpose command queues in a multilevel cache hierarchy

International Business Machines Corporation


Control is performed so that a current value gradually shifts, corresponding to a sensor value. More specifically, when a predicted value of a remaining toner amount is calculated, processing for correcting a consumed toner amount corresponding to the sensor value is performed for a consumed toner amount.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, a control method, and a storage medium.
Description of the Related Art
An image forming apparatus performs image formation on a sheet using a recording material such as toner. Generally, the recording material is contained in a containing unit such as a cartridge. Some image forming apparatuses detect a remaining amount of a recording material remaining in a containing unit and display its value on a display unit such as a user interface (UI).
Conventionally, a sensor has been provided in some image forming apparatuses which directly displays a value detected as a remaining amount of a recording material. Due to cost sensors may be used that cannot make an accurate detection until the remaining amount is reduced to some extent. In this case, the sensor detects the remaining amount of the recording material in discrete units, for example, 100%, 20%, and 0%. As a result, the remaining amount of the recording material is discretely displayed, for example, 100%, 20%, and 0% also on a display unit.
On the other hand, there is a technique for continuously displaying a remaining amount of a recording material in a display unit while using a sensor for discretely detecting the remaining amount (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-343621). When an image is formed, a predicted value of a remaining toner amount is calculated based on a dot count value of raster data, and is displayed as a current value of a remaining toner amount. When a sensor value of the remaining toner amount is acquired from the sensor, the current value is updated with the sensor value.
When the sensor value is acquired, a user may be confused when display of the remaining toner amount transitions if a difference between the current value and the sensor value is large. If the sensor value is smaller than the current value, for example, the user may wonder why the remaining toner amount has rapidly decreased, although only a small amount of toner has been consumed when the current value is updated with the sensor value. Conversely, if the sensor value is larger than the current value, the user may wonder why the remaining toner amount stands still for a while, despite toner being consumed, if the current value is not updated until the sensor value overtakes the current value.

Image forming apparatus, control method, and storage medium


A host digital terminal HDT performs backbone functions to a subscriber access network, while the network side of the HDT is connected to many data transfer networks and the other side of the HDT is connected to many optical network units ONUs. The HDT performs mutual interactions to many units by the ATM cell switching or by the STM cross connections, while the units perform predetermined functions, such as ANIU, HNIU, HIU, and HTIU. Therefore, the HDT overcomes capacity limits according to mutual interactions among the units through the conventional common bus.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a host digital terminal HDT, and more particularly, to a host digital terminal capable of transmitting large amounts of data, switching many units among the units to make the units mutually interact, wherein each one of the units performs a predetermined function respectively.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, according to a variety of the class and explosive increases of the demands of data communication services, subscribers accustomed to the data transmission of low and middle speeds, such as voice data transmission, have become to request a wide area network WAN capable of providing a high-speed digital data transmission service, such as multimedia data transmissions.
Therefore, many technologies are developed to provide such a high speed digital data service. Two standards capable of providing a high-speed digital data transmission service among the developed technologies are a fiber to the curb FTTC technology and a fiber to the home FTTH technology.
The FTTC technology is applied when optical fiber cables are installed from the public network to the front door of each home of the subscribers. In this case, the curbs are located in each of the densely inhabited districts of the subscribers respectively, and optical transmissions are performed through the optical fiber cables from a switching apparatus in the public network to the curbs. Moreover, data is transmitted through conventional telephone lines from the curb to each of the corresponding subscribers.
On the other hand, the FTTH technology sets the curb in each home of the subscribers, respectively.
A Fiber Loop Carrier FLC system connects a subscriber access network to a token-ring or a star topology, so that the subscriber access network embody such as FTTC or FTTH technology efficiently.
FIG. 1 is a schematic network configuration illustrating such a conventional FLC system.
The conventional FLC system, as shown in FIG. 1, includes a host digital terminal HDT 10 and many optical network units ONU 20. The HDT 10 is installed within a Central Office CO (not shown) that is a control manager of the subscriber access network. Further, many of the ONUs 20 connected to the HDT 10 in a star topology are installed within each of the subscribers, such as the curbs in each home and company.
In this case, the HDT 10, connected to a public switched telephone network PSTN 2 and an asynchronous transfer mode ATM 1 through optical fiber cables, transmits a normal telephone data, an internet data, and an interactive video data from the PSTN 2 or the ATM 1 to each of the ONUs 20 through optical fiber cables. Moreover, the HDT 10 inversely transmits those data from each of the ONUs 20 to the PSTN 2 or the ATM 1.
Each of the ONUs 20 makes the optical data signal transmitted from the HDT 10 to be inverse-multiplexed to provide a high-speed asynchronous transfer channel, having a transmission speed upward of 16˜24 Kbps (kilobits per second) and downward transmission speed of 1.5˜6 Mbps or 2˜8 Mbps (megabits per second) in the case of E1 (European digital line interface), for each of the subscribers 30. In this case, each of the ONUs 20 utilizes twisted pair transmission lines for transmitting those data to each of the subscribers 30.
As described in the above statements, the HDT 10 has a role of backbone networks to the subscriber access network for connecting the PSTN 2 and the ATM 1 to the ONU 20.
As shown in FIG. 2, the conventional HDT 10 includes a network interface unit NIU 12, an optical transfer unit OTU 13, a main control unit MCU 11, and a common bus 14 within a shelf.
The NIU 12 interfaces with the ATM and PSTN 1 and 2, and many of the OTUs 13 interface with the corresponding ONUs 20. Additionally, the MCU 11 controls all of the data flows, such as mutual interactions among those units or operations and maintenance for ATM cells, while all of those units are mutually interacted through a common bus 14.
Further, two NIUs 12 are installed in a shelf Each of the NIUs 12, including 4 ports of a synchronous transfer module level 1 STM-1, receives 4 STM-1 signals having a transfer rate of 155.52 Mbps in each signal from the ATM 1, and translates the overhead included in the STM-1, or vice versa. Sequentially, after extracting data of the ATM cells, the NIU 12 sends the extracted ATM data to the common bus 14, or vice versa.
On the other hand, 8 OTUs 13 are installed in a shelf, and an OTU 13 is connected to two ONUs 20. Therefore, the HDT 10 equips 16 ONUs 20.
The OTU 13 receives the ATM cell data transmitted from the common bus 14, and converts the received ATM data to an optical signal of synchronous transfer module level 4 STM-4 having a transfer rate of 622.08 Mbps to transmit the ATM data to the corresponding ONU 20, or vice versa.
In summary, the conventional HDT 10, includes the NIU 12 having 4 STM-1 ports, for sending STM-1 signals to the ATM and PSTN 1 and 2 and for receiving the STM-1 signals from the ATM and PSTN 1 and 2, and 8 OTUs 13, wherein each of the OTUs 13 can connect to 2 ONUs 20. Additionally, the NTU 12 and the OTUs 13 interact with each other through the common bus 14.
However, the conventional HDT 10 has some difficulties in receiving additional requirements of the subscribers for a high speed data service, such as WAN or a multimedia based service, and exponential increases of the subscribers
First of all, sending and receiving the ATM cell data among the units 11˜13 in the conventional HDT 10, as shown in FIG. 2, are performed through the common bus 14. Therefore, the above described problems set limits in treating data traffics, and make it difficult to allow large transmissions of the data.
For example, when lots of ports in each of the units 11˜13 simultaneously request data transmissions of the ATM cells to the common bus 14, redundant data of the ATM cells are all mixed up to make the data collided mutually. To overcome the above mentioned problems, the common bus 14 having a large capacity can be applied. However, it is not efficient in view of an economic aspect, etc.
Therefore, an interactive service based on multimedia data of large capacity, such as a video conference, a video medical examination and treatment, and a video on demand VoD, is hardly provided to the many subscribers.
Secondly, it is difficult to establish an economic system expandable to accept additional subscribers due to the lack of capacity.
Furthermore, when a star topology is applied for embodying the FTTH easily by expanding many of the star nodes, such as an ATM passive optical network PON, or many ONUs 20 are applied for connecting many subscribers expansively, it is required that there be a backbone network for supporting the topology and lots of ONU 20 perfectly. However, the conventional HDT 10 hardly satisfies such requirements.