A tracking error detector receives laser light that is irradiated onto tracks on a disc surface and that is reflected from the tracks by using a light-receiving device having divided portions, binarizes signals output from the light-receiving device having divided portions in accordance with the amount of tracking error by using a signal processing circuit including a binarization circuit, and outputs a tracking error signal for tracking control on the basis of a phase difference between the binarized signals. The tracking error detector includes an inter-signal amplitude difference adjustment circuit for determining an amplitude difference between signals output from the light-receiving device, for adjusting the amplitude difference between the signals, the amplitude difference being binarized by the signal processing circuit, for equalizing the phase offset of each of the signals, and for suppressing the phase offset with respect to the tracking error signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a tracking error detector in an optical recording and playback disc apparatus compliant with recording media including, for example, an optical disc and a magneto-optical disc.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an optical recording and playback disc apparatus of the related art, such as a DVD-ROM, as a tracking servo circuit system for irradiating laser light onto a pit sequence with high accuracy, the differential phase detector (hereinafter referred to as a "DPD") system is known. In this DPD system, when laser light reflected from a disc surface is received by a light-receiving device having divided portions, a phase difference occurs between signals output from the divided portions in accordance with the amount of tracking error, and by feeding back the phase difference information, tracking control is performed.
A tracking error detection circuit (hereinafter referred to as a "DPD circuit") block of this DPD system serves to read the phase difference information, convert it into an analog amount (for example, a voltage value), and pass it to a digital signal processor (DSP) at a subsequent stage.
The block diagram of the basic configuration of the DPD circuit block is shown in FIG. 1.
As shown in FIG. 1, at a stage prior to the DPD circuit block, there is a light-receiving device 101, such as a photodiode, having four divided portions, which receives laser light reflected from a disc surface, and each portion outputs a data waveform recorded on the disc surface.
The DPD circuit block includes: gain control amplifiers 102a, 102b, 102c, and 102d for amplifying or deamplifying a signal amplitude to an appropriate level when the signal waveforms are very small or large due to variations in the quality of photodiodes and discs; equalizer circuits 103a, 103b, 103, and 103d for accentuating high frequencies of high-frequency signal components contained in a data waveform sequence; high-pass filters 104a, 104b, 104c, and 104d for removing low-frequency components, such as DC offset, from the signal; comparators 105a, 105b, 105c, and 105d for binarizing an analog signal; phase difference detectors 106a and 106b for detecting a phase difference between binarized signals and outputting a signal corresponding to the detected phase difference; an addition circuit 107 for adding together the detection result waveforms; and a low-pass filter 108 for integrating the addition result.
In the example shown in FIG. 1, the signals output from the light-receiving device 101 having four divided portions are in phase between photodiode elements A and C and between photodiode elements B and D. Therefore, there are two systems: one in which a phase difference is detected between the photodiode elements A and B and between the photodiode elements C and D, and these are added together before the low-pass filter 108; and the other in which the signal output from each of the photodiode elements is added in advance like the photodiode device A+the photodiode device D, and the photodiode device B+the photodiode device C, and the phase difference between them is detected.
FIG. 1 shows an example of the former case. The configuration of the circuit for detecting the phase difference between the photodiode elements A and B is basically the same as the configuration of the circuit for detecting the phase difference between the photodiode elements C and D. Therefore, hereinafter, a description is given of the circuit for detecting the phase difference between the photodiode elements A and B. Of course, if the photodiode elements A and B are replaced with the photodiode elements C and D, this also can be applied as a circuit for detecting the phase difference between the photodiode elements C and D.
It is expected that, in the future, as the optical disc reading speed reaches higher multiples and optical discs of the next generation are introduced, the band of a signal that is input will increasingly shift toward a higher-frequency range. In this DPD circuit, in particular, in a DPD circuit formed by a MOS transistor whose speed is slower than a bipolar transistor and whose transconductance Gm is small, the input signal band exceeds the usage band of individual circuits. As a result, the phase characteristics of the circuit become a problem.
Here, how the phase characteristics become a problem is described in detail.
For example, in the comparators 105a and 105b of FIG. 1, that is, in high-gain comparators, it is necessary to output a waveform having a sharp through rate in order to make detection in the phase difference detector 106a at a subsequent stage easier. As stated above, since the transconductance Gm of the MOS transistor is smaller than that of the bipolar transistor, in order to obtain a high gain for realizing a sharp through rate, a configuration in which multi-stage amplifiers are cascade-connected becomes necessary.
FIG. 2 is an illustration showing the operation of a comparator having a configuration in which multi-stage amplifiers are cascade-connected.
As shown in FIG. 2, the input analog signal is gradually clipped at the level of the power-supply voltage while the analog signal passes through these multi-stage amplifiers, and it finally changes to a digital binary signal. In the signal whose amplitude is clipped, distortion occurs, and harmonic components of the original signal frequency components occur. Naturally, in each amplifier, a definite band exists, and there is a demand for an amplifier at a final stage to have a performance capable of enabling the output signal to fully swing to the power-supply voltage level. Consequently, it is necessary to use an inverter circuit for the final stage, etc. Therefore, in general, as the signal passes through the stage number of the multi-stage amplifiers, the region in which the group delay takes a fixed value becomes narrower.
FIG. 3 shows the group delay characteristic in each amplifier output of a comparator having a configuration in which the multi-stage amplifiers are cascade-connected.
If signal components equivalent to or more than those of the band at which the group delay variations start are input, an amount of delay time that differs depending on the frequency components occurs in the output signal. Then, in the amplifier output waveform in which fundamental wave components having a different amount of delay for each frequency and harmonic components that occur due to the distortion are combined, a phase shift that is difficult to predict occurs. The highest range of the input signal when, for example, a DVD is read at 8×reading speed is approximately 35 MHz; and in the 3rd output group delay characteristics of FIG. 3, the range enters a range where the variations have already occurred.
This phase shift poses a significant problem for the DPD circuit block when a large amplitude difference (4 to 5 times as large in the worst case) occurs between two signals for which a phase comparison is to be performed, such as when a variation occurs in the relative positional relationship between an objective lens and a photodiode.
FIG. 4 is an illustration showing a problem when a large amplitude difference occurs between two signals for which a phase comparison is to be performed.
That is, in the comparators 105a and 105b in which amplifiers are formed at many stages, in the example of part (b) of FIG. 4 in which, for example, an input amplitude is comparatively large, when the signal passes through the amplifier at the first stage, the waveform is already clipped at the power-supply voltage, and distortion occurs, thereby generating a phase shift. Then, as the signal passes through the amplifiers at the second stage, the third stage, etc., the phase shift is accumulated. Next, in the example of part (a) of FIG. 4 in which the input amplitude is comparatively small, the waveform is not clipped at the first stage, and neither distortion nor a phase shift occurs. Then, if the waveform is eventually clipped by the amplifier output at the second stage and a phase shift occurs, naturally, the final amount of accumulation of the phase shift becomes smaller than on the large amplitude signal input side in part (b) of FIG. 4.
As a system in which such a DPD system that receives laser light reflected from a disc surface by using a light-receiving device having divided portions and performs tracking control by using the fact that a phase difference occurs between signals output from the divided device in accordance with the amount of tracking error, there is a known system in which characteristics of low-frequency passing means for outputting a tracking error signal in response to a different control operation are switched to improve the accuracy of tracking servo control (refer to, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 10-162381).


A printing apparatus which performs printing by ejecting liquid onto a printing medium includes a gas flow generating section that generates a gas flow to collect and exhaust liquid not used for printing, and a gas-liquid separation cyclone that swirls the gas flow so that the liquid is centrifugally separated from a gas which moves along the gas flow, wherein the gas flow generating section exhausts the gas along the gas flow after the liquid is separated from the gas by the gas-liquid separation cyclone.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a technique to collect liquid not used for printing in a printing apparatus that performs printing by ejecting liquid onto a printing media.
2. Related Art
JP-A-2007-160871 describes a suction means that collects ink mist generated in an ink jet recording apparatus by using a suction fan. The suction means collects a gas which contains ink mist through a suction port that opens toward the interior of the apparatus by using a suction fan. Further, the suction means performs gas-liquid separation to separate ink from the collected gas, and then exhausts a clean gas from which ink has been removed to the outside of the apparatus.
Further, JP-A-2007-160871 describes that a filter is used to perform gas-liquid separation. Specifically, the filter is disposed between the suction port and the suction fan such that a gas is suctioned through the suction port and passes through the filter. In so doing, ink contained in the gas which passes through the filter is captured by the filter, thereby performing gas-liquid separation.
In a configuration to perform gas-liquid separation by using a filter, the liquid captured by the filter is gradually accumulated on the filter. This leads to filter clogging and decreases the efficiency of gas-liquid separation. Accordingly, the filter needs to be replaced as appropriate. However, such replacement of the filter may increase the burden of an operator.


A knee walker includes a steering column rotatably attached to a forward portion of a frame, wherein the steering column includes a steering pulley rotatable about a vertically disposed axis of rotation. Two wheel assemblies are rotatably carried by the frame and have a pulley for rotating each assembly about a vertical axis. The axis of rotation of each wheel assembly is offset aft the steering column axis. A belt links rotation of the steering column to rotation of the wheel assemblies and in combination with the offset causes the belt to extend around at least half a circumference of each pulley for enhancing frictional contact. A shield guards each pulley. Mating alignment disks for aligning each assembly are provided to permit wheel alignment without affecting the belt tension. A third wheel assembly optionally extends from the column.

As is well known in the art, in situations where an individual has damaged or had a surgical procedure on an ankle or foot, it is preferred medically to keep weight off the foot or ankle while recuperating. Traditionally, this has been achieved by the use of wheelchairs or crutches. However, wheelchairs can be undesirable for many reasons such as access. Also, not everyone is able to use crutches due to the possibility of weakness or inconvenience. Accordingly, a device known as a knee walker has been developed to support the injured leg while providing stability such that the individual may still move around on their own. By way of example, known knee walkers are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,867,188; 5,800,317; 7,311,319; 7,780,180 and US Patent Application Publication US 2012/0280467. While many knee walkers have appeared in the market place, there remain problems such as an inability to effectively steer the knee walker, especially on uneven terrain, and instability. Accordingly, it is desirable to have an improved knee walker.

Knee walker having enhanced steering and stability


A method for converting a value for the partial pressure of oxygen (pO.sub.2) in blood at a measurement temperature to a corresponding value at a reference temperature (37.degree. C.). A value for pO.sub.2 is determined by measurements made in a patient's blood stream using a phosphorescent compound that is sensitive to the concentration of oxygen. The phosphorescent compound is illuminated with a short pulse of light, causing it to produce a phosphorescent emission having a rate of decay that varies as the function of the partial pressure of oxygen in the blood surrounding the phosphorescent compound. A detector produces an electrical signal corresponding to the intensity of the phosphorescent emission, and the electrical signal is converted to a corresponding digital value for input to a microcomputer. Also supplied to the microcomputer in digital form is a signal indicative of the temperature at the measurement site where the phosphorescent compound is disposed. The microcomputer determines the phosphorescent decay rate and from that value, determines the pO.sub.2 at the measurement site for the temperature at which the measurement was made. An initial estimate of a corresponding value for pO.sub.2 at the reference temperature is made as a function of the measurement temperature and the pO.sub.2 at that temperature. A more accurate estimate of pO.sub.2 at the reference temperature is iteratively determined by successively evaluating an expression that is a function of the initial measurement and a previous more accurate estimate. If the measurement temperature is less than the reference temperature, the current more accurate estimate is replaced by the average of the previous two estimates. A final more accurate estimate representing the value for pO.sub.2 at the reference temperature is then displayed.

In conventional blood gas analysis machines, a sample of blood withdrawn from a patient is heated to a reference temperature of 37.degree. C. before the partial pressure of oxygen (pO.sub.2) is determined. Over time, the medical community has thus developed a preference for reporting all pO.sub.2 measurements referenced to 37.degree. C. However, when pO.sub.2 is measured in vivo instead of in a blood gas analyzer, the measurement is often made at a substantially different temperature even though 37.degree. C. is normal body temperature. For example, during certain surgical procedures, it is necessary to lower the patient's body temperature by as much as 20.degree. C., thereby depressing metabolic activity. If the pO.sub.2 measurement is made while the patient's body is chilled, the result is very different than a corresponding measurement made at 37.degree. C. An anesthesiologist controlling the administration of oxygen and other gases to the patient typically prefers to record the pO.sub.2 at the accepted reference temperature of 37.degree. C. rather than the lower measurement. Moreover, the anesthesiologist may prefer to base decisions concerning the patient's condition on pO.sub.2 data referenced to 37.degree. C. When making such decisions during a critical operation, the anesthesiologist may not have time to draw a sample of blood for analysis in a blood gas analyzer at the reference temperature. An in vivo, real time determination of pO.sub.2 is sometimes essential, even if carried out at a different measurement temperature than the desired 37.degree. C. reference.
Conversion between a pO.sub.2 measurement at one temperature to that at another temperature is not a trivial task. The solubility of oxygen in blood as a function of temperature is determined by a non-algebraic combination of transcendental functions. As a result, it is not possible to analytically solve a simple equation to convert a pO.sub.2 measurement at a substantially different temperature to a corresponding value at the desired reference temperature of 37.degree. C. In the past, medical personnel have been forced to manually convert a measured value for pO.sub.2 to the 37.degree. C. reference temperature using a nomogram or by interpolating values from a look-up table. Neither of these techniques are particularly desirable when speed in determining the data is essential; furthermore, any human errors in the conversion process can have potentially life-threatening consequences.
The complex relationship between temperature and pO.sub.2 is evident from the equation that has been developed in the prior art to convert from a pO.sub.2 measurement made at 37.degree. C. to a different temperature. This equation is reported by R. A. Ashwood, G. Kost, and M. Kenny in "Temperature Correction of Blood-Gas and pH Measurements," Clinical Chemistry, Vol. 29, 11:1877-1885, 1983 and by J. W. Severinghaus in "Simple, Accurate Equations for Human Blood O.sub.2 Dissociation Computations," American Journal of Physiology, Vol. 46, 3:599-602. The equation in both of these references is as follows: ##EQU1## where pO.sub.2PT is the predicted partial pressure of oxygen at a temperature T that is different than the reference temperature, and pO.sub.2REF is the measured partial pressure of oxygen at the reference temperature (37.degree. C.). One might assume that equation 1 could simply be rearranged to determine pO.sub.2 at the reference temperature from the pO.sub.2 measured at a temperature different than the reference temperature, i.e., as follows: ##EQU2## where pO.sub.2M is the partial pressure of oxygen measured at the temperature T. However, Equation 2 produces erroneous results due to the nature of the mathematical relationship between measurement temperature and pO.sub.2. In the above-noted paper, Severinghaus recognized the difficulty of calculating pO.sub.2 at 37.degree. C. based on measurements made at other temperatures. On page 600 of the Journal, he suggests that, "[t]o begin with some other temperature, one may estimate a trial 37.degree. C. pO.sub.2 using the factors 6%/.degree.C. if pO.sub.2 <100, and 6 Torr/.degree.C. above 100 Torr, and proceed iteratively in Eq. (3)." (Equation 3 in the reference is equivalent to Equation 1, above.) What Severinghaus intended by this statement is not entirely clear, because he did not present any example of how the iterative process is carried out nor any support for its efficacy in producing an accurate result.
Accordingly, a method is required for quickly determining the pO.sub.2 of a patient's blood at the reference temperature, based on a measurement made at another temperature. The method should be automatically carried out to avoid human error and must be implemented quickly (in real time) to make the results of an in vivo measurement of pO.sub.2 at the patient's temperature immediately available as a corresponding value at the reference temperature during critical medical procedures.


A system described herein may provide a technique for identifying User Equipment (“UEs”) associated with relevant users, such as “personal” UEs associated with first responders, based on the occurrence of an event, notifying the UEs of the event, and modifying radio access network (“RAN”) parameters such that the identified UEs are provided with priority access. Further, such modifications may be temporary (e.g., reverted after the event has occurred). In this manner, personal UEs associated with relevant users may be dynamically provided priority access in situations where such access may be beneficial, without needing to permanently provide the priority access to such UEs.

Radio access networks ("RANs"), such as Fifth Generation ("5G") networks, Long-Term Evolution ("LTE") networks, or other types of wireless networks, may have finite radio frequency ("RF") resources available via which wireless communications may be sent and/or received to and/or from User Equipment ("UEs"), such as mobile telephones, Internet of Things ("IoT") devices, and/or other types of devices. Some RANs may dedicate sets of RF resources in the time and/or frequency domains (e.g., Physical Resource Blocks ("PRBs")) to certain UEs or groups of UEs (e.g., UEs associated with first responder agencies, UEs associated with universities, etc.), and/or for certain types of traffic or applications (e.g., voice traffic, streaming traffic, etc.).

Systems and methods for dynamic event-based resource allocation in a radio access network


A handover method and apparatus for a mobile terminal using location information in a network of heterogeneous systems are provided. The handover method uses service area map information provided by a location service server in a mobile communication network in which at least one or more heterogeneous wireless network systems are connected through a predetermined network and, includes: receiving service area map information transmitted from the location service server; the mobile terminal determining whether or not the location of the mobile terminal is within the service area map; and if it is determined that the mobile terminal is within the service area map, the wireless terminal selecting an accessible wireless network system and then activating a unit for communicating with a base station of the selected wireless network system. According to the method, a battery consumption problem that occurs by activating all modems when a wireless terminal, which is connected to a predetermined mobile communication system in an environment where a plurality of heterogeneous systems are overlapping each other, is searching for candidate systems in order to perform handover to a heterogeneous network, can be solved. Also, a problem where finding a candidate system is time-consuming can be solved.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method by which a multi mode mobile terminal (hereinafter referred to as a "wireless terminal") that can access at least one or more of heterogeneous mobile communication systems detects a candidate system that can be accessed from a current location and performs handover, and a location service server (LCS) therefor. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method of providing and obtaining information by a multi mode terminal, an operation method of a location service server, and an apparatus therefor, by which battery consumption, which occurs when a wireless terminal that can access a plurality of mobile communication systems activates multi-standard modems in the wireless terminal in order to detect candidate systems when performing handover between heterogeneous networks, can be prevented, and a time taken for detecting candidate systems can be reduced.
2. Description of the Related Art
In beyond 3rd generation (B3G) and 4th generation (4G) mobile communication structures, one of the most important research topics is to implement seamless connection in an optimum system with respect to the current environment of a service subscriber through interoperation when services areas of mobile communication systems having different characteristics are overlapping each other.
For this handover between heterogeneous networks, a wireless terminal needs to detect a candidate system in addition to a system to which the wireless terminal is currently connected.
The methods of detecting candidate systems by a wireless terminal can be divided roughly into two methods. The first method detects a candidate system by activating all modems in the wireless terminal or activating the modems periodically. The second method detects a candidate system with respect to the location of a wireless terminal or a wireless access base station.
In the first method, candidate systems are detected continuously by activating continuously all multi-standard modems in a wireless terminal. However, in this case, the battery consumption of the wireless terminal increases because all modems are activated.
In another case of the first method, candidate systems are detected by activating and inactivating multi-standard modems in the wireless terminal periodically. In this case, the battery consumption can be reduced (though the battery consumption problem still exists), but there still is a problem in that the time taken for detecting candidate systems increases because modems are periodically activated and/or inactivated.
In particular, if the wireless terminal is a software defined radio (SDR)-based terminal, instead of using the multi-standard modems, one modem is reconfigured by software to perform mode conversion and any conventional technologies falling within the first method cannot be used basically. Accordingly, a method by which an SDR terminal can detect a candidate system is needed.
In the second method of detecting a candidate system, the location of a wireless terminal has to be estimated. This can be done by Cell-ID, enhanced observed time difference (E-OTD), observed timed difference of arrival (OTDOA), and assisted global positioning system (A-GPS, hereinafter referred to as "GPS").
Generally the distance between a wireless terminal and a wireless access base station is estimated by using a location tracking technology, and a candidate system is selected based on the distance. More specifically, if a wireless terminal is located within a theoretical service area of a predetermined wireless access base station, that is, if the distance between the wireless terminal and the wireless access base station is small, the wireless terminal selects the corresponding system as a candidate system.
Theoretically, assuming that there are no obstacles in a propagation environment, a higher signal intensity can be obtained by decreasing the distance between a terminal among a plurality of mobile communication terminals and the wireless access base station. However, in an area having many elements in the propagation environment, such as a city center, the accuracy of estimating a signal intensity with respect to the distance between the terminal and the wireless access base station is not guaranteed. Accordingly, in the city central area where service areas of mobile communication systems having different characteristics are overlapping each other, there is a problem in that selection of a candidate system with respect to the distance between a terminal and a wireless access base station may not be reliable.

Handover method and apparatus for mobile terminal using location information in heterogeneous system network

Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute


In various aspects, provided herein are systems, methods and computer-program products for delivering content objects over the Internet from a content delivery network to end-user systems. The systems, methods and products described herein optionally utilize one or more techniques for reducing the delay associated with obtaining non-cached content objects from their respective origin servers, including by re-using existing open connections, by making use of a TCP hand-off technique and by transmitting updates to system digests simultaneous with the exchange of keepalive signals between servers.

Content delivery networks (CDNs) have a geographically distributed network of points of presence (POPs) such that one is likely to be close to an end user. A request for content is matched to a nearby POP using routing, domain name service (DNS) diversion, redirection, Anycast and/or other techniques. An edge server in the POP generally serves the content from a cache of the edge server, a host within the CDN or an origin server depending on where the content is located. For content that is missing from the CDN, the request to the origin server can be costly in terms of quality of service (QoS). There remains a further need for improving the QoS associated with caching and delivery of content that is missing from the CDN.

Connection digest for accelerating web traffic


A nanowire device and a method of forming a nanowire device that is poised for pick up and transfer to a receiving substrate are described. In an embodiment, the nanowire device includes a base layer and a plurality of nanowires on and protruding away from a first surface of the base layer. An encapsulation material laterally surrounds the plurality of nanowires in the nanowire device, such that the nanowires are embedded within the encapsulation material.

Field
The present invention relates to nanowire devices. More particularly embodiments of the present invention relate to nanowire LED devices.
Background Information
Light emitting diodes (LEDs) are increasingly being considered as a replacement technology for existing light sources. For example, LEDs are found in signage, traffic signals, automotive tail lights, mobile electronics displays, and televisions. Various benefits of LEDs compared to traditional lighting sources may include increased efficiency, longer lifespan, variable emission spectra, and the ability to be integrated with various form factors.
Conventional planar-type semiconductor-based LEDs are generally patterned from layers grown across a wafer surface. More particularly, planar-type semiconductor-based LEDs include one or more semiconductor-based active layers sandwiched between thicker semiconductor-based cladding layers. More recently bottom-up approaches have been used to form nanowire LED structures that may offer several advantages to the planar-type LEDs, including lower dislocation density, greater light extraction efficiency, and a larger active region surface area relative to substrate surface area.
In one implementation illustrated in FIG. 1 a bulk LED substrate 100 includes a buffer layer 110 grown on a growth substrate 102. A patterned mask layer 112 (e.g. a nitride layer, such as silicon nitride masking layer) is then formed on a surface of the buffer layer 110 to define the bottom interface area for growth of the nanowire cores 114 using a suitable growth technique such as chemical beam epitaxy or vapor phase epitaxy. Thus, the bottom-up formation of each nanowire core 114 may be accomplished using the crystallographic orientation of the underlying buffer layer 110 without the required use of a particle or catalyst, and the width and pitch of the nanowire cores 116 can be defined by lithographic patterning of mask layer 112.
Epitaxial growth conditions for the nanowire cores may be controlled for vertical growth direction. Once the determined height is achieved, epitaxial growth conditions are changed to create a core-shell structure with the active layer 116 and doped shell 118 around the nanowire cores 114. Alternatively, nanowires can be formed using a similar technique using vertical growth conditions for the active layer and both cladding layers resulting in a sandwiched configuration similar to the planar-type LEDs rather than a core-shell structure.
Devices implementing arrays of nanowires are typically packaged in two manners. One includes leaving the array of nanowires on the original growth substrate such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,396,696 and U.S Publication No. 2011/0240959. In such implementations, the buffer layer functions as an electric current transporter layer to which a bottom electrode is formed, and a common top electrode is formed over the array of nanowires. Another implementation includes flip chip packaging the arrays of nanowires onto a receiving substrate using solder bumps then removing the growth substrate as described in U.S Publication Nos. 2011/0309382 and 2011/0254034.


A method and apparatus for remotely monitoring properties of gases and plasmas, and surface and sub-surface properties of materials, is disclosed. A laser beam is focused at a desired region within a gas, plasma, or material (e.g., solid or liquid) to be analyzed, generating an ionized sample region or a localized, enhanced free carrier region. A beam of microwave radiation is directed toward the ionized sample region or the free carrier region, and the microwave radiation is scattered. The scattered microwave radiation is received by a microwave receiver, and is processed by a microwave detection system to determine properties of the gas, plasma, or material, including surface and sub-surface properties.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the determination of properties of objects. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for detecting properties of gases and plasmas, as well as surface and sub-surface properties of materials.
2. Related Art
In aerospace engineering and other disciplines, it is often important to remotely monitor and determine properties of gases and plasmas, as well as surface and sub-surface properties of materials. For example, it is often desirable to remotely identify species of gases and plasmas, as well as to measure selected state populations, velocities, rotational and vibrational temperatures, thermodynamic properties, and nonequilibrium conditions which may exist in such gases and plasmas. Further, the ability to remotely determine properties of gases and plasmas is especially useful in studying hypersonic flows immediately behind a shock, in a wake, or in a boundary layer region where complex velocity fields exist and where nonequilibrium states and chemical reactions may be occurring. The ability to detect surface and sub-surface properties of materials is especially useful in medical imaging and semiconductor processing applications.
Resonant, Enhanced, MultiPhoton Ionization (REMPI) is a known, ultra-high sensitivity probing technique for detecting low concentrations of molecular species in gases. In REMPI, a single, tunable laser is used to ionize a region within a gas, and properties of the ionized region are analyzed. REMPI is an effective spectroscopic tool because the multiphoton ionization cross-section is strongly enhanced by resonant intermediate states. This enhancement can be due to single photon or multiphoton resonances. As a laser is tuned through these resonances, the ionization yield reflects the spectrum of the resonances, thereby providing an indication of molecular species in a gas.
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the REMPI technique. The (n+m) REMPI process can be characterized by the absorption of n photons to a resonant state followed by the absorption of m additional photons to ionization, Thus, a first type of REMPI excitation process, which is referred to as a (1+1) process, is characterized by a single photon resonance (i.e., a single photon exciting from the ground state of an atom or molecule to one or more intermediate states) followed by a single photon exciting the atom or molecule from that intermediate state to above an ionization threshold. A second type of REMPI excitation process, which is referred to as a (2+1) process, is characterized by a two photon resonance (i.e., two photons exciting from a ground state to one or more intermediate states) and a single photon exciting to above an ionization threshold. Additional REMPI processes, including 3+1, 4+1, etc. are possible. A third type of REMPI excitation process, which is referred to as a (2+2) process, is characterized by a two photon resonance followed by two photons exciting to above an ionization threshold. Additional REMPI processes with multiple photons required for ionization are also possible. In each of these cases, the photon resonance energy and the energy required for ionization can be analyzed to determine properties of the gas or plasma under study. The selection of which of these (n+m) REMPI excitation processes to use depends on the particular molecule and the available source laser. Usually, the intermediate state is in the ultraviolet portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, so the 1+1 process requires a tunable ultraviolet laser, but higher order processes such as the 2+1 and 2+2 processes may be achieved using a visible or near ultraviolet source.
In conventional REMPI applications, low pressure gases are used and ionization is measured using electrodes or wire probes. A direct current (DC) potential sweeps charges out of the ionized region, which generates a pulse of current through a detector system when the REMPI-generated ionization occurs. REMPI has also been applied at higher pressures using small probe detectors and in flames using the conductivity of the flame, which is in contact with two electrodes. However, conventional REMPI applications are limited because of the need to sweep the charges out of the ionized region to facilitate detection. Further, electrodes or wire probes must be in physical contact with the ionized region, thereby preventing remote measurement and detection of properties of gases and plasmas.
A number of techniques have been developed for the measurement of velocities of gas flows. Velocity is a fundamental transport parameter in a gas flow, and its measurement is of primary importance both for characterizing the flow and for validating predictive models of the flow. Often, it is the velocity in a specific location that is of most importance, such as the velocity close to a surface, behind a shock, or in the wake of an airfoil. Laser Doppler Velocimetry (LDV) and Particle Imaging Velocimetry (PIV) are known techniques for measuring flow velocities. However, both limited by a random arrival of particles at a location of interest. In addition, these methods suffer from particle "slip" in high speed flows and near surfaces, where the particle density may be particularly low.
Flow tagging approaches have also been developed, based on vibrational excitation of oxygen, creation of NO, and other approaches. However, these approaches are not effective in high temperature environments where vibrationally-excited molecules are already present and/or radical chemical species may already be present. Velocity measurement by laser breakdown has been used, but it introduces large perturbations into the flow, and tracking of the breakdown by shadowgraph or schlieren limits this approach to flows with low complexity and simple geometries.
Temperature measurements in a high-speed flow and in combusting environments are always difficult to perform. For instance, intrusive probes perturb the flow or the combustion process. As a result, various non-perturbative approaches have been developed, including Laser Induced Fluorescence (LIF), Rayleigh scattering, and Coherent Anti Stokes Raman Scattering (CARS). However, each of these approaches has limitations. The LIF methods are subject to quenching errors and cannot easily be applied in air flows since there is no convenient fluorescing species. Rayleigh scattering is subject to interference from background light and relies on knowledge of the species mole fractions. In its most common implementation, a Rayleigh measurement is of a density and so pressure must be known and the ideal gas law used to convert to temperature. CARS measurements are quite complex, and proper fitting of spectral information becomes very difficult for complex gas mixtures.
For measurements of free carrier lifetimes in semiconductors without using contacts, present methods require that the semiconductor be illuminated with a pulsed or amplitude modulated laser to form the free carriers and the transient absorption be measured with a second light source. This method is limited to thin materials so the second light source is not substantially absorbed before passing through the material. It is also limited in signal-to-noise ratios by the requirement that the percentage of light absorbed be significant enough to be detected in the presence of the background shot noise from the illuminating light source. Additionally, for absorption measurements, optical access must be provided on both sides of the semiconductor, so the semiconductor cannot be mounted. The low signal-to-noise ratio requires that the detection process be integrated for long time intervals.
Accordingly, what would be desirable, but has not yet been provided, is a method and apparatus for detecting properties of gases and plasmas, and surface and sub-surface properties of materials, which addresses the foregoing limitations of existing monitoring techniques.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and apparatus for detecting surface and subsurface properties of materials


A system and method for identifying and correcting abnormal oscillometric pressure pulse waves detects oscillometric pressure pulse waves produced by a cardiac muscle of a living subject, identifies abnormal oscillometric pressure pulse waves and corrects the amplitudes of oscillometric pressure pulse waves produced by arrhythmias. Thus, the arrhythmic oscillometric pressure pulse waves may be retained by an oscillometric blood-pressure measurement system for use in determining a living subject's blood pressure. The system and method of this invention preferably identify abnormal oscillometric pressure pulse waves not produced by arrhythmias as artifacts. The oscillometric pressure pulse waves identified as artifacts may then be rejected by an oscillometric blood-pressure measurement system to improve the accuracy of a blood-pressure measurement.

1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to medical diagnostic and monitoring systems. More specifically, this invention is directed to a system and method for accurately monitoring the cardiovascular state and physiologic condition of a living subject.
2. Description of Related Art
Blood-pressure measurement devices are commonly used to diagnose certain ailments, such as arteriosclerosis, and to monitor a living subject's cardiovascular or physiologic state.
A blood-pressure measurement device typically measures the living subject's blood pressure indirectly with the use of a cuff that is wrapped around a portion of the living subject. The cuff applies pressure to the living subject. The living subject's blood pressure is then measured using a well-known oscillometric method, which is based on detecting changes in the amplitude of a heartbeat-synchronous pulse wave as the pressure applied by the cuff is gradually decreased.
The accuracy of this indirect blood-pressure measurement method is dependent upon a number of design factors, such as the size of the cuff relative to the circumference of the appendage that the cuff is wrapped around, the accuracy of the pressure-sensing devices used by the blood-pressure measurement device, and the performance of the algorithm used to calculate the living subject's systolic, diastolic and mean blood pressures.
An indirect blood-pressure measurement using an occlusion cuff typically takes twenty to sixty seconds. An important factor that influences the accuracy of all indirect blood-pressure measurement methods that utilize an occlusion cuff is the assumption that the living subject's blood pressure remains constant during the measurement. However, a living subject's physiologic state can change significantly over the indirect blood-pressure measurement time, particularly if the living subject is a surgical or critical care patient that is suffering from advanced cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, kidney disease or blood loss. The change in the living subject's cardiovascular state may be due to changes in heart rate, cardiac output, vasomotor tone or circulating blood volume.
Changes in the living subject's blood pressure during the blood-pressure measurement will distort the amplitude envelope of the pressure pulses produced in the occlusion cuff as the pressure applied by the cuff passes through the blood-pressure pulse range. The distortion of the amplitude envelope will result in a shifting of the amplitude envelope features associated with the living subject's systolic, diastolic and mean blood pressures. This is particularly true for oscillometric blood-pressure measurement devices that analyze the entire amplitude envelope of the pressure pulses.
If the living subject's blood pressure is changing during the blood-pressure measurement, the time delay between the measurement of the subject's systolic blood pressure and the measurement of the subject's diastolic blood pressure results in an erroneously high measured pulse pressure or an erroneously low measured pulse pressure. As shown in FIG. 1, if the living subject's blood pressure is falling during the blood-pressure measurement, the measured systolic blood pressure S.sub.M is higher than the living subject's true systolic blood pressure S.sub.T when the living subject's measured diastolic blood pressure D.sub.M is measured. As a result, the measured pulse-pressure PPM is greater than the living subject's actual pulse-pressure PP.sub.T. If the living subject's blood pressure is rising during the blood-pressure measurement, the opposite effect occurs. In either case, the erroneous blood pressure values may mislead or confuse a living subject's caregiver.
Another phenomenon that can cause the living subject's blood pressure to change during the blood-pressure measurement is an abnormal heartbeat, commonly referred to as an arrhythmia. Arrhythmias are common in critically ill patients and result when the living subject's heart contracts earlier or later than normal. Arrhythmias can also result when the heart contracts with increased or decreased strength.
Arrhythmias can be produced by a number of abnormalities in the electromyocardial conduction system. The physiologic events that cause arrhythmias originate in the heart rather than the central nervous system.
Arrhythmias can be easily identified in an electrocardiogram by comparing the inter-beat interval time of successive heartbeats and the morphology of the electrocardiogram complex. However, arrhythmias are difficult to identify in other physiologic signals, such as an oscillometric pulse signal. This is because the oscillometric pulse signal is sensitive to environmental noise and motion artifacts, e.g., movement of the living subject during a blood-pressure measurement. Environmental noise or motion artifacts can produce pulses that are similar to the pulses produced by arrhythmias.
Most blood-pressure measurement devices exclude arrhythmias from the oscillometric blood-pressure measurement for two reasons. First, most blood-pressure measurement devices cannot reliably differentiate an arrhythmia from an environmental or motion artifact that should be deleted from the data set. Second, blood-pressure pulses produced by arrhythmias alter oscillometric pulse amplitudes. The altered oscillometric pulse amplitudes distort the amplitude envelope of the pulses used for measuring the living subject's blood-pressure.
In blood-pressure measurement devices that utilize a step-wise deflation cuff, multiple pulses are detected at each cuff pressure level until a non-arrhythmic pulse is detected. This method can lead to excessively long measurement times if the living subject's heart exhibits frequent arrhythmias. In blood-pressure measurement devices that utilize a continuous-deflation cuff, arrhythmic pulses are rejected and extrapolation is used to fill in the missing data point. This method results in a data set with lower resolution and a decrease in the accuracy of the blood-pressure measurement. The effect of arrhythmias on the accuracy of the blood-pressure measurement is dependent upon the relationship of the arrhythmia to the systolic, diastolic and mean blood-pressure detection points.
Other conditions can also result in less accurate or misleading blood-pressure measurements. For example, the ultimate accuracy of an indirect blood-pressure measurement is dependent upon the change in cuff pressure between detected heartbeats. If the living subject's heart rate is very low relative to the cuff's deflation rate, a large change in cuff pressure will occur between heartbeats. This reduces the accuracy of the blood-pressure measurement. In addition, if the living subject is in shock, the living subject's blood-pressure pulses, and the resulting measured oscillometric pulses, are too low for identification of the blood-pressure features in the amplitude envelope of the oscillometric pulses. If the living subject is restless, shivering or otherwise moving, there may be too many motion artifacts to make a blood-pressure measurement.
Most blood-pressure measurement devices make several attempts to measure the living subject's blood pressure before they sound an alarm. In this situation, the monitoring of the living subject's condition is interrupted while a user corrects the problem.

System and method for identifying and correcting abnormal oscillometric pulse waves


Methods for performing minimally invasive heart surgery include accessing a heart of a patient through a first incision on the left thorax of the patient, contacting the heart through the incision with a heart stabilizing device and/or a heart positioning device, introducing at least one coupling device through a second incision on the patient located apart from the first incision, coupling the coupling device with the heart stabilizing device or the heart positioning device, and performing a surgical procedure on the heart. Systems may include a retractor device, a heart stabilizing device, and a coupling device, for enhancing cardiac surgery. Any suitable heart surgery may be performed using methods, devices or systems of the present invention. In one embodiment, a CABG procedure is performed.

Heart disease continues to be the leading cause of death in the United States, with coronary artery disease (CAD) accounting for much of the mortality rate. As such, many interventional techniques have been developed to treat CAD, and surgeries to treat the disease are common. One commonly performed surgery, for example, is coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), in which a graft, often from the internal mammary artery, is used to bypass an occluded coronary artery to supply blood to the heart.
Although CABG procedures are often quite successful, improvements in such procedures are continually being sought, to reduce patient morbidity and mortality and to improve outcomes. For example, a traditional technique for CABG surgery involves creating a large incision through a patient's sternum, as well as stopping the heart and placing the patient on a cardiopulmonary bypass machine. Many other types of heart surgery similarly require large incisions and cardiopulmonary bypass. Both of these components have significant potential for patient morbidity and increase the overall risk of cardiac surgical procedures. Thus, cardiac surgery techniques involving smaller incisions and/or techniques which can be performed on a beating heart have been developed.
Generally, certain drawbacks typically occur when heart surgery is attempted through smaller incisions. It is often difficult for a surgeon to establish adequate visualization of a heart, to be able to manipulate and use surgical instruments on the heart, to stabilize the position of the heart, and/or to move the heart to a more advantageous position through a relatively smaller incision. Basically, a smaller incision which does not allow a surgeon to split the patient's sternum and widely expose the left thoracic cavity may not allow the surgeon to manipulate the heart, perform the surgical procedure, and view the surgical field at the same time. If such inadequate access to the surgical site is compounded with the difficulty of operating on a moving, beating heart, results of a CABG procedure or other heart surgery will often suffer.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to have devices, systems and methods for enhancing the performance of heart surgery. For example, it would be advantageous to enable a surgeon to operate on a heart through a smaller incision than is conventionally used, while stabilizing and/or positioning the heart with one or more devices inserted through separate, minimally invasive incisions. Such methods, devices and systems would ideally be adaptable for either beating heart procedures or procedures on a stopped heart using cardiopulmonary bypass. At least some of these objectives will be met by the present invention.


In some examples, processor(s) of a vehicle may store specified dimensions of a plurality of first objects. The processor(s) may receive a first image from a camera onboard the vehicle, recognize a first object within the image, and determine, based on the first image, a distance to the first object from the camera, and a width and height of the first object. Further, the processor(s) may determine a first measurement error from the determined width of the first object and a specified width of the first object, and a second measurement error from the determined height of the first object and the specified height of the first object. Based on the first and second measurement error, the processor(s) may determine a third measurement error, may determine one or more calibration parameters of the camera based on the determined measurement errors, and may use the calibration parameters for subsequently received images.

Advanced driver assistance systems (ADASs) and self-driving or otherwise autonomous and semi-autonomous vehicle systems automate or otherwise enhance vehicle systems for improved safety, automated driving, and the like. These systems realize improved safety, comfort, fuel economy, and the like. A number of different sensors such as cameras, radar, LIDAR, GPS (Global Positioning System), ultrasonic sensors, etc. are widely used in ADAS and autonomous systems to capture and integrate different sources of information. The environmental information around the vehicle captured by these sensors may be used as input information to a controller to intelligently control a vehicle, for example, by eliminating the chance of collision, reducing the fuel consumption, and increasing the convenience and safety to passengers.
Among various sensors for ADAS systems, vision based sensors, i.e., one or more cameras of vision sensor systems can be generally classified into two categories, monocular and stereo vision. Stereo vision systems allow for distinguishing different points on a certain straight line using displacement between left and right images. Whereas, in monocular visions systems using a mono camera, corresponding points are mapped into one point. Thus, stereo cameras are widely used in ADAS applications, which provides better 3D (three-dimensional) measurement accuracy of an object compared to monocular vision systems and other sensors.

Camera calibration using traffic sign recognition


A method in which a pyridinium derivative such as 1,3-dimethyl-2,3-dihydro-2-oxopyrimidinium chloride is reacted with an acetyl compound such as 4-acetylpyridine, and then the reaction product is reacted with ammonia or an ammonium salt.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method for producing a pyridine derivative which is an important intermediate in the field of medicines, agricultural chemicals, catalytic ligands, combinatorial chemistry, organic electroluminescence elements, charge transport materials, electron transport materials, electrophotographic photo-sensitive materials, dyes, liquid crystals and the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
Methods for producing pyridine ring using an acetyl compound as the material have been developed in recent years. For example, a method has been disclosed in which pyridine ring is constructed under a relatively mild condition with a high yield using a vinamidinium compound obtained by carrying out Vilsmeier reaction of a carboxylic acid derivative (cf. International Publication No. 99/55830 and JP-A-2001-261653, "J. Org. Chem., 4571-4574 (2000)", "J. Org. Chem., 8415-8420 (2000)" and "J. Org. Chem., 4194-4199 (2001)". However, this method has two technical problems. One of them is that since dimethylamine, which is volatile and exerts a serious influence upon environment is generated in a large amount, a special gas collector is required for preventing release of this into the air. Also, the other problem is the high cost, because it is difficult to isolate such a vinamidinium compound as a chloride salt, thus resulting in a low yield as a rule (cf. "Chem. Mater., 676 (1996)", "Collect. Czech. Chem. Commun., 3051 (1961)" and "Collect. Czech. Chem. Commun., 2125 (1965)". As a method for solving this problem, a method in which a vinamidinium compound of hexafluorophosphoric acid (PF6) salt is isolated has been disclosed. However, since hexafluorophosphoric acid (PF6) ion severely corrodes glass, a general purpose rector made of glass cannot be used, there is a problem in that a special cost is required for the treatment of waste water containing fluorine ion.
As a method, which does not use an ionic precursor, a method is also known in which pyridine ring is constructed by an aminoacrolein derivative (cf. abovementioned "J. Org. Chem., 4571-4574 (2000)", "J. Org. Chem., 8415-8420 (2000)" and "J. Org. Chem., 4194-4199 (2001)"). However, this method also has a problem in that dimethylamine is generated by the reaction.
On the other hand, as a method for synthesizing a pyrimidinium salt, a method is known in which it is synthesized from a malonaldehyde compound or a vinamidinium compound and a urea derivative (cf. "J. Chem. Soc. Perkin Trans. 1, 1862-1869 (1977)" and "Liebigs Ann. Chem., 1368-1379 (1986)". However, synthesis from a vinamidinium compound cannot avoid the problem of causing corrosion and bad smell, but rather results in the increase of cost because the number of processes is increased, so that a more inexpensive production method has been in demand.


Control circuitry may identify a media object in a frame of a media asset. Control circuitry may determine a frequency at which the media object occurs in other frames associated with the media asset. Control circuitry may compare the frequency to a threshold, and may determine, based on the comparing, that the frequency equals or exceeds the threshold. Based on determining that the frequency equals or exceeds the threshold, control circuitry may perform a search of a source external to a source of the media asset, where the search comprises searching for an indication that the media object comprises an Easter egg. Control circuitry may determine whether, based on the performing of the search, the indication was found, and, based on determining that the indication was found, execute a function relating to the Easter egg.

Objects with hidden meaning are often placed in media assets, such as television programs or movies. These objects are commonly referred to as "Easter eggs." An example of an Easter Egg is a telephone number in a frame of a media asset, where, if one were to call the telephone number, one would hear the voice of an actor from the media asset.
In order to identify an Easter egg in a media asset, a user must pay very close attention to each frame of the media asset, or consult resources, such as Internet blogs, to be told where to look to find an Easter egg. There is no known system or method for automatically alerting a user of an Easter egg in a given frame of a media asset.

Systems and methods for detecting and acting on easter eggs hidden in media assets


Provided are a method and apparatus rendering three-dimensional (3D) graphic data. The method includes eliminating at least one of a plurality of processes for rendering the three-dimensional (3D) graphic data in consideration of a rendering environment of the 3D graphic data and a state of power of a system rendering the 3D graphic data, generating a rendering function which performs the remaining processes after the at least one process is eliminated and rendering the 3D graphic data using the generated rendering function.

1. Field
One or more embodiments of the present invention relate to a method and apparatus for rendering three-dimensional (3D) graphic data, and a computer-readable recording medium on which a program for executing the method is recorded.
2. Description of the Related Art
Description techniques of three-dimensional (3D) graphic data for displaying a 3D object on a two-dimensional (2D) screen include virtual reality modeling language (VRML), which is a standard technology. 3D graphic data includes geometric information of objects in a 3D space, material information of the objects, and information regarding changes in the geometric and material information over time. For example, geometric information includes information regarding positions of 3D vertexes that form an object and connection information of the 3D vertexes. The material information includes information regarding the texture, transparency and color of the object, the light reflectivity of the surface of the object, and the position and characteristics of a light source.
In order to display a 3D object on a screen using such 3D graphic data, an apparatus is required for parsing read 3D graphic data and converting the parsed 3D graphic data. This apparatus is generally called a 3D graphics rendering engine. The 3D graphics rendering engine includes a parser and a renderer. The parser reads 3D graphic data and parses the meaning of the read 3D graphic data. In other words, the parser identifies, interprets and determines whether the read 3D graphic data indicates geometric information of objects, material information of the objects, or information regarding the superior-subordinate relationship between the objects represented in a scene graph structure. The renderer renders the scene graph parsed by the parser and displays the rendered scene graph on the screen.
Conventional rendering engines render 3D graphic data using a fixed rendering function, that is, software codes to perform a series of processes which include a predetermined process for rendering 3D graphic data, such as texture filtering or anti-aliasing. However, since the conventional rendering engines render all graphic data in the same way using the fixed rendering function and without considering characteristics of the 3D graphic data, they include many codes which perform unnecessary functions. Accordingly, the size of the rendering function becomes unnecessarily large.
In addition, a rendering process for 3D graphic data is a process of calculating depth information as well as color information of each pixel on the screen. Therefore, if the size of the rendering function increases, the amount of required calculation increases, thereby lowering the rendering speed.
In order to solve such a problem, the present applicant has invented a rendering method and apparatus which can prevent the deterioration of image quality and enhance the rendering speed by analyzing characteristics of 3D graphic data and rendering the 3D graphic data using a flexible rendering function generated in consideration of the analyzed characteristics of the 3D graphic data. As an example, a general rendering method and device are discussed in Korean Patent Application No. 10-2005-0009107. There, unnecessary codes are excluded from a rendering operation based on the characteristics of 3D graphic data. Therefore, the amount of calculation required is reduced, which, in turn, increases the rendering speed. However, while such techniques consider the characteristics of data to be rendered, they fail to consider the state of power of a system performing the rendering process.
A function for reproducing 3D graphic data has recently been added to mobile devices such as mobile game players or navigators for vehicles. Since mobile devices run on limited power, power consumed in the rendering process must be reduced in order for the mobile devices to render 3D graphic data, which requires a considerable amount of calculation.

Method, medium and apparatus rendering 3D graphic data


In an integrated circuit package that houses radio-frequency (RF) circuits or components using wafer-level packaging (WLP), an RF-signal transmission structure includes a signal-carrying conductive line positioned between grounded conductive lines to avoid undesirable coupling between the signal-carrying conductive line and other RF circuits or components in the same package.

Transmission lines have been implemented in various radio-frequency (RF) devices for low-loss flow of signals in mobile communication devices and systems. Large-scale integrated circuits with multiple RF components and circuitry have been designed by integrating such RF components and circuitry as well as various other analog and digital components and circuitry on the same die by using wafer-level packaging (WLP) technology. More recently, high-power RF components such as power amplifiers with multiple operating frequencies have been implemented in packages that also house other RF components as well as transmission lines.
In integrated circuit packages that house high-power RF components such as amplifiers and other RF components, it is often desirable to provide low-loss RF signal lines with strong isolation between different signal paths. In a typical integrated RF package manufactured by using WLP technology, a long RF signal line on the order of 1 mm, for example, have been realized by using a single interconnecting wire. While such a single interconnecting wire may exhibit a low insertion loss, it may be modeled as the equivalent circuit of a series inductor, which exhibits the characteristics of a low-pass filter. As such, when a single interconnecting wire is implemented as a long RF signal line, the wire tends to couple strongly to nearby circuit structures, such as active or passive RF components, thus changing the characteristic impedance of the wire unpredictably. Moreover, due to strong coupling between the single interconnecting wire and nearby circuit structures, the single interconnecting wire may place unwanted signals on other circuitry when RF signals pass through the wire. Furthermore, such a single interconnecting wire may create a mismatch to transmission lines on printed circuit boards (PCBs) that connect input and output signals to the integrated circuit package.

Transmission line implementation in wafer-level packaging


Encrypted music information or the like and encryption processing information itself employed for the encrypting is transmitted from a set top box (BX) to a recorder (R) via a serial bus (B) after decoded, and the music information or the like is recorded in a DVD-R (1). Upon this recording, the music information encoded by employing an asynchronous transmission region in the IEEE 1394 standard that is a standard with which the serial bus (B) conforms is transmitted at a high speed. On the other hand, encode processing information encoded by employing an isochronous transmission region in the IEEE 1394 standard is transmitted at a 1-fold speed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technical field of: an information sending apparatus; an information sending method; an information receiving apparatus; an information receiving method; an information transmission system; an information transmission method; and an information recording medium. More particularly, the present invention relates to a technical field of: an information sending apparatus, an information sending method, an information receiving apparatus and an information receiving method capable of sending/receiving encoded information and encode processing information employed for the encoding; an information transmission system including the information sending apparatus or information receiving apparatus; and an information recording medium having a sending control program or a receiving control program recorded therein.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, music information or the like broadcast by employing broadcasting electric waves is received by means of a broadcast receiving set top box, and the received information is recorded in a recording medium such as optical disc by employing an information recording apparatus.
On the other hand, in recent years, in view of advancement of an image compression technique and a high-density recording technique, one movie or the like is distributed via broadcasting electric waves, and the distributed movie is recorded in an information recording medium with its high recording capacity such as DVD (optical disc with its recording capacity higher than a conventional CD (compact disc) by several times) or the like, for example.
In distribution of music information or the like as described above, there is a problem as to how copyrights in the music information or the like are protected. In this respect, conventionally, encoding has been carried out in both over a transmission channel from the set top box to the information recording apparatus and during recording into an information recording medium, and then distribution or recording has been carried out.
In recent years, music information or the like is often transmitted in a transmission mode in conformity to IEEE 1394 Standard (official name is "IEEE std. 1394-1995 IEEE Standard for a High Performance Serial Bus".) between the set top box and the information recording apparatus. In this case, copyright protection has been often carried out between the set top box and the information recording apparatus based on DTCP (Digital Transmission Copy Protection) Standard that is a standard for copyright protection.
In the above DTCP Standard, the music information or the like encoded by employing predetermined encode processing information for encoding is transmitted from the set top box to the information recording apparatus. Further, the encode processing information itself is encoded, and is transmitted from the set top box to the information recording apparatus. The information recording apparatus is arranged to decode the encoded music information by employing encode processing information transmitted.
Conventionally, the encoded music information or the like has been transmitted in accordance with the DTCP Standard by employing the isochronous transmission mode in the IEEE 1394 Standard.
The contents of the above DTCP Standard are disclosed in detail by way of the DTLA ((Digital Transmission Licensing Administrator) over the Internet (URL - - - http://www.dtcp.com).
In the above conventional arrangement, the encoded music information or the like has been transmitted in accordance with the DTCP Standard employing an asynchronous transmission mode in the IEEE 1394 Standard. However, in the current DTLA, a transmission speed in information transmission in accordance with the DTCP Standard is merely allowed to use a speed identical to a reproduction speed of music information or the like after recorded. Thus, there has been a problem that music information or the like encoded by making best use of the characteristics of the IEEE 1394 Standard cannot be transmitted from the set top box to the information recording apparatus at a high speed.
In addition, in the above conventional arrangement, copyrights have been protected during transmission in accordance with the DTCP Standard. However, before encoding based on the DTCP Standard in the set top box and after decoding in an information recording apparatus, there is a possibility that music information or the like is not encoded. Thus, there has been a problem that copyright information is protected insufficiently at each stage.

Information sending method and information sending apparatus, information receiving apparatus and information receiving method, information transmission system and information transmission method, and information recording medium


A packet forwarding method for optimizing packet traffic flow across communications networks and simplifying network management. The invention provides look-up-free and packet-layer-protocol transparent forwarding of multi-protocol packet traffic among Layer-N (N=2 or upper in the ISO OSI model) nodes. The invention enables flexible and efficient packet multicast and anycast capabilities along with real-time dynamic load balancing and fast packet-level traffic protection rerouting. Applications include fast and efficient packet traffic forwarding across administrative domains of Internet, such as an ISP's backbone or an enterprise virtual private network, as well as passing packet traffic over a neutral Internet exchange facility between different administrative domains.

1. Technical Field
The present invention pertains to the field of communications networks, in particular to the field of packet forwarding schemes in digital communications networks.
2. Descriptions of the Related Art
List of acronyms:
ADAdministrative DomainFEVForwarding Enable VectorFITForwarding Instruction TagIFUInterface UnitL1ISO OSI Stack Layer 1L2ISO OSI Stack Layer 2L3ISO OSI Stack Layer 3LERLabel Edge RouterLSRLabel Switch RouterLSEMPLS Label Stack EntryMPLSMulti-Protocol Label Switching, IETF RFC 3032ISPInternet Service ProviderIPInternet Protocol, IPv4: IETF RFC 791, IPv6: IETF FRC 2460PPPPoint-to-Point Protocol, IETF RFC 1661QoSQuality of ServiceTTLTime To Live
The purpose of packet-switching networks, such as the Internet, is to deliver data packets from the source node of a packet to a destination node of the packet, wherein the node means a host, a server, a switch or a router. To be delivered to its proper destination by a packet switching network, a packet needs to include a destination identifier. Out of the nodes addressed within and reachable by certain network domain, a packet may be destined to a particular single node, to a certain set of nodes, or one of a specified set of nodes. Thus the destination identifier of a packet should be considered as a forwarding instruction for the network domain to deliver the packet to a proper set of nodes reachable by the network domain. It further appears that such forwarding instructions of packet have significance only within the network domain interconnecting the set of nodes reachable by it, i.e. the forwarding instruction is said to be local to that network domain.
Typically, the finite number of external interfaces of network domain can be numbered, i.e. addressed with interface identification numbers, so that each interface of the network domain has a unique address i.e. identification number within that domain. As a basic example, assume a network interconnecting one hundred nodes, so that each of the one hundred nodes has a single and dedicated interface to the network. These node-specific interfaces can then be addressed with their related interfaces numbers, which could be e.g. the integers from 1 through 100 (inclusive). Thus, in the event that any of the one hundred nodes needs to send a packet to the node behind the network interface #75, the node specifies number 75 as the domain-scope destination identifier in the forwarding instruction included in the packet header. The network domain will then try to deliver that packet to the node associated with its interface #75. This type of a process of the network delivering a packet to a destination node based on a forwarding instruction is called routing the packet.
The above model of destination identifier-based packet routing (called also switching or forwarding) is generally quite efficient for unicasting, i.e. for delivering a data packet to a single destination specified by its destination identifier, and it is the basic model of the current packet-switched communications protocols, such as IP, FR, ATM or MPLS, all of which use an integer number to identify the network-domain-scope destination for each packet or cell. The unicast destination identifier based forwarding requires the packet-switching nodes to resolve the next-hop destination for each packet using route information databases such as routing, switching or forwarding tables, called collectively as switching-tables, which provide a mapping between the packet destination identifiers and their associated forwarding instructions, wherein a forwarding instruction includes an identification of the egress port (or equal) on which the switch should forward the packet. Naturally, such switching-tables need to be configured and maintained in order for the network to work properly, which process is known to be rather complex especially for networks with a large number of packet-switching nodes.
However, even with their increasing complexity, there are certain serious limitations with the current packet-switching techniques, particularly in the areas of multicasting, anycasting and traffic protection.
Conventionally a packet-switch, when receiving a packet (a 'packet' is used here to refer also a 'cell') on one of its ingress ports, looks up with the destination identifier of the packet from a network management software-configured switching-table the egress port and the egress link identifier configured for the packet. While this process requires configuring and maintaining a switching-table containing forwarding instructions per each destination identifier for each packet-switching node in the network, and even though the packet-switches thus become quite complex, this regular packet-switching method does not allow configuring more than a single egress port and a link identifier in the switching-tables per an ingress link without substantial additional complexity.
Thus, conventional packet-switching is not efficient when a portion of the packets would need to be forwarded to a group of more than one egress ports, or to any suitable egress port out of such defined multi- or anycast group. This in turn requires either multiplying the complexity of conventional packet-switching to support multicast and anycast, thereby limiting the scalability and reducing the cost-efficiency of the switching technology, or replicating a multicast packet multiple times to be send individually i.e. unicast it to each individual destination. For anycast type of traffic, e.g. in case that one out of a group of servers should be contacted, this unicast method typically can not dynamically select the least loaded i.e. currently best responding server, resulting in non-balanced server load patterns, and often poor client performance experience.
Traffic protection re-routing at the packet-level requires a packet to be forwarded at some point in the network between its source and destination nodes to a non-default 'detour' route to avoid an unexpected failure associated with the route it would normally use. With conventional packet switching, such protection re-routing protection involves software based reconfiguration of routing, switching and/or forwarding tables of the nodes in the network between the source and the destination of the packet, which causes non-deterministic and often intolerably long traffic protection restoration completion times, especially in the case of multiple route, switch and forwarding table entries that would need to be reconfigured simultaneously or over a short period of time. It appears that pre-computing a protection route and indicating both the regular and the protection route in the forwarding instructions of the packets, and using a packet-switch-interconnect network that delivers the packet along the appropriate route based on real-time route status, would be needed to provide deterministic, efficient and fast packet-level traffic protection. However, such features are not supported by conventional packet-switching technologies that are based on unicast model and software-configured switching and routing tables.
The fundamental difficulty in providing deterministic end-to-end QoS and optimized efficiency of network resource utilization is that packet traffic in service provider networks consists of a multitude of non-coordinateable individual variable-bandwidth traffic flows across the networks. Thus, unless traffic flows are rate controlled, network congestion can occur, resulting in packets getting delayed or lost before reaching their destinations, in which cases the packets must often be retransmitted, thus resulting in a single packet consuming network capacity (air-time) multiple times, thus further worsening the congestion. On the other hand, rate control defeats the original purpose and efficiency of packet-switching, i.e. to achieve higher data traffic throughput than with static circuit-switching, and in essence, plain standard circuit-switching could be used instead of rate-controlled packet-switching.
To accommodate variable-bit-rate packet traffic flows for constant-bit-rate L1 or L0 transmission, and in particular to provide congestion avoidance and specified QoS parameters, such as bursting tolerance e.g. for rate-controlled traffic, and thereby to reduce packet loss and retransmission rates, packet-switching nodes need to provide packet queuing capability. Packet queuing is conventionally implemented with electrical data storage elements, called buffers, which typically are implemented with RAMs. With rapidly increasing network interface data rate requirements, increasingly large date buffers are needed at packet-switches. Note that if the network system was able respond to a traffic burst, or link congestion or failure in one second (currently a non-realistic target), and that it should be able to buffer traffic for that response time to prevent packet loss, a 10 Gbps switch interface should be able to provide buffering for 10 Gb of data per each of its egress ports (that are subject to congestion). While 10 Gbps packet-switched network interfaces are in use as of writing this, the current maximum available RAM sizes are less than 1 Gb per chip. Furthermore, the maximum data throughput per a RAM chip currently is far below 10 Gbps, approximately at the 1 Gbps range. Thus there is a gap in the required switch interface data rate capacity and the feasible buffering capacity of the order of ten-to-one, which means that the conventional packet queuing techniques based on electrical data storage on RAMs is significantly limiting the maximum switch port data rates for which any type of QoS and congestion control can be provided. Additionally, as the largest available electrical data storage capacity can currently only be implemented using discrete off-chip RAM parts, the conventional packet queuing mechanisms result in complicated and costly switch hardware implementation.
However, at a properly engineered network, i.e. a network that it has an adequate amount of capacity to serve its access interfaces and that it has no single-point-of-global-failure, if a congestion occurs it is typically because a momentary demand for capacity on a certain route or link within the network, such as a server port, exceeds its physical capacity, while there at the same time are under-utilized alternative routes or links within the network. To utilize such alternative routes, that are under-utilized at the moment a packet-switching node makes a packet forwarding decision, the node would need to maintain a corresponding set of alternative next-hop destinations per a single packet forwarding identifier within its switching-table, and have real-time traffic load info for each of that set of alternative routes. These features, however, are not supported by the current unicast-oriented L3 routing or unicast and connection-oriented L2 switching techniques, which state of affairs thus is currently causing-sub-optimal utilization of network resources for dynamic packet traffic.
Furthermore, even if there was no alternative route to bypass a congested egress port of the network domain, in a properly engineered network, during the congestion on that particular overloaded link, there at the same time are under-utilized links, i.e. network fiber capacity having unused bandwidth. Thus, rather than trying to queue the packets destined for the congested link in electrical data buffers on packet switches, it would be more efficient to use the unused fiber bandwidth on non-congested network links as 'optical' buffering capacity. Obviously, a flexible and dynamic alternative routing capability, which is not supported by conventional packet switching techniques, would be necessary to utilize the unused network fiber bandwidth as optical data buffering capacity.
Also, it is worth to notice that most hops between L2 or L3 packet-switches when routing packets from their sources to their destinations are hops between packet switches administered by the same network operator, such as an Internet Service Provider, telecom carrier or a corporate network administrator. The packet-switches within the same network operator's constitute that operator's administrative domain (AD), which is delimited by border routers, such as Border Gateway Protocol (BGP-4) routers currently for IP, and Label Edge Routers (LERs) for MPLS, only through which nodes external traffic can be passed to or from that AD. Regarding the ADs, two points are worth to notice at this stage. First, when a packet arrives to a network operator's domain, the border router through which the packet arrives needs to be able to resolve to which one(s), if any, of the L3 border routers within the AD it should forward the packet to, and therefore there is no need for a single additional L3 packet switch node within the AD in addition to the border routers. Secondly, the domain-internal interfaces of the L3 border routers within the operator's AD can be addressed with completely independent interface identifiers by the administrator of the network domain.
Based on the above two points, it appears that the most straightforward way to perform packet forwarding within an AD would be to use simple connectionless packet switching network, which can be instructed by the border routers using simple, AD-local, packet forwarding instructions, to deliver each packet properly among the border routers of the AD. Such AD-local packet forwarding instruction, called a packet forwarding instruction tag (FIT), could be significantly simpler, yet more flexible for AD-local forwarding, than the currently used forwarding identifiers, such as ATM, MPLS or IP headers, as such AD-local FIT would only need to identify to which ones of the limited number of border gateways of the AD the packet should be delivered. It should be noted that a L2 packet switching network, instead of a static L1 circuit switching network, is preferred for interconnecting the border routers, since a regular L1 circuit switching network with its constant-bit-rate connections of coarse bandwidth granularity, is inefficient for delivery of variable bandwidth packet traffic.
Another common application for L2 switching, besides that of implementing the core of an AD that passed traffic between the border routers of the AD as discussed above, is that of passing packet traffic passing traffic between different ADs, i.e. between borders routers of different ADs. Such network systems over which Internet traffic is being passed between different communications service providers domains are called in the industry as Internet Exchange (IX) facilities or carrier-neutral peering points. In such applications, a semi-permanent L2 addressing and switching system is used to provide a controlled and neutral exchange of traffic between the border routers of different ADs. Again, a common packet switched network system is used to avoid having to build a mesh of dedicated L1 circuits interconnecting each pair of ADs that need to exchange traffic; the L2 switched exchange facility allows an AD to exchange all of its traffic with each other ADs present at the IX using a single share L1 port. Most importantly, the IX facility needs to deliver each packet to exactly that or those of the AD border routers connected by the exchange facility as instructed by the AD border router which passed the packet to the exchange facility. Thus, again, an optimal packet switching network system would deliver the packets between the border routers of the different ADs as indicated the FITs of each packet. Thereby it appears that the same type of a simple FIT-based packet-switching network or switch is optimal for both interconnecting the borders routers of a single AD and for interconnecting the borders routers of different ADs.
Based on the above discussion, there is a need for a new packet-forwarding method, such that efficiently supports multicasting and anycasting with, in addition to unicasting, and that provides dynamic load balancing and reliable and efficient packet-level traffic protection. Such a new packet-forwarding method should further efficiently support packet-forwarding with very high data rate network interfaces, and simplify the network management.

Transparent, look-up-free packet forwarding method for optimizing global network throughput based on real-time route status


A method of generating white noise for use in graphic and image processing, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, includes receiving one or more hash inputs. The hash inputs may be one or more primitive coordinates, one or more texel addresses, a base image, a device identifier, or a user password. The one or more hash inputs are evaluated utilizing a cryptographic hash function. The output of the cryptographic hash function generates one or more white noise samples. The white noise samples may be utilized as texel data. The white noise samples may also be utilized for encrypting images.

Three-dimensional graphics processing is utilized in a number of applications, from electronic games, and movies to computer aided design (CAD). Conventionally, three-dimensional graphics processing includes a multi-step rendering process of transitioning from a database representation of three-dimensional objects to a two-dimensional projection of the object into a display space. The process generally includes setting up a polygon model (e.g., a plurality of primitives) of objects, applying linear transformation to each primitive, culling back facing primitives, clipping the primitives against a view volume, rasterizing the primitives to a pixel coordinate set, shading/lighting the individual pixels using interpolated or incremental shading techniques, and the like. Typically, graphics processors are organized in a pipeline architecture, where each stage is dedicated to performing specific functions. A benefit of the pipeline architecture is that it permits fast, high quality rendering of even complex scenes.
A random number generator may be utilized for graphics and image processing applications. For example, the random number generator may be utilized to generate noise samples for use in texturing processes. The random number generator may be implemented by a thermal noise generator (e.g., thermal resistor) or a software implemented sequential random number generator. A thermal resistor provides a hardware implementable random number generator having a high degree of entropy. However, the thermal resistor does not provide a repeatable random number sequence, which is important for both hardware/software debugging and maintaining rendering consistency in animations.
Software implemented sequential random number generators (e.g., XN=aXN−1+b) are implemented by the central processor unit (e.g., CPU) and provide a random number after a relatively long sequence. The sequential number generation processes is repeatable, but is not readily implementable in hardware. It is appreciated that the input may be determined from the output (e.g., solve for XN−1 given XN). It is also appreciated that random number generators implemented in software are sequential and present a performance bottleneck for parallel computations in pipeline architectures. In addition, typical sequential random number generators (e.g., linear congruential regression equation) are pseudo-random and can significantly bias the resultant statistics.

System and method of generating white noise for use in graphics and image processing


A support for a series of tools, each tool including at least one head and one handle, includes a base; a plurality of housings, each housing being intended to receive and retain the handle; a plurality of means for receiving and retaining a head, each receiving and retaining means being intended to receive and retain the head; the housings and the receiving and retaining means being secured to the base, each housing comprising two partitions, at least one of the partitions including a means for positioning the handle. At least one partition, which is formed integrally with the base, is designed to flex elastically and transversely to allow the handle to overcome the means for positioning the handle.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a support for a set of tools, in particular for spanners or ring spanners, each tool comprising at least one operating head and a handle.
(2) Description of the Related Art
Hand tools are generally marketed as a set of tools which are arranged on a support which is subsequently used in workshops to arrange the set of tools and check the presence of all the tools from the set in the support.
From the patent application U.S. Pat. No. 2,068,308, it is known to produce such a wrench support from sheet steel, the support comprising a base from which extends an element for receiving and retaining tool heads and an element which is formed by housings for tool handles, the element which is formed by housings being separate from the base and being fitted thereto.
However, such a configuration is difficult to implement since it requires cutting, folding and crimping and therefore does not allow a hand tool support to be obtained for a low production cost.