A method of generating protocol data units in a radio link control layer, which is set to an unacknowledged mode or an acknowledged mode, is disclosed. After producing a payload unit by segmenting and/or concatenating one or more service data units received from a higher layer, a protocol data unit including a sequence number corresponding to the payload unit and a protocol data unit including the payload unit itself are generated and transmitted separately to a media access control layer through a pair of different channels. Therefore, the PDUs having the sequence number can be transmitted in a low rate in order to reduce the its error rate, and the other PDUs having data can be transmitted in a higher rate to increase the data processing rate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a next generation mobile communication system, and more particularly, to a method of generating protocol data units in a split mode of a radio link control layer and transmitting them separately to a lower layer through a pair of different channels.
2. Background of the Related Art
FIG. 1 illustrates a method of data processing between open system interconnection (OSI) layers according to the related art. Generally, a radio link control (RLC) layer is a protocol layer corresponding to the second layer in an OSI. First, the RLC layer initially segments and/or concatenates one or more service data units (SDU) received from its next higher layer and generates a payload unit (PU). Then it produces a radio link control protocol data unit (RLC PDU) by attaching a RLC header to the PU generated and transmits the RLC PDU produced to its next lower layer called media access control (MAC) layer through a logical channel.
Thereafter, the MAC layer produces a transport block (TB), which is a MAC PDU, by optionally attaching a MAC header to a MAC SDU, which is the RLC PDU received from the RLC layer. Then the TB is transmitted to a physical (PHY) layer through a transport channel, and the PHY layer attaches a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) to the TB received and lastly transmits it to a receiving system though a physical channel.
There are two different types of the RLC PDUs generated in the RLC layer: a first type of PDUs including an unacknowledged mode data (UMD PDU) and the other type of PDUs including an acknowledged mode data (AMD PDU). The UMD PDUs are used when it is not required to transmit an acknowledgement signal to an originating system after PDUs are transmitted to a receiving system. On the other hand, the AMD PDUs are used when the acknowledgement signal is required to be transmitted to the originating system after PDUs are transmitted to the receiving system.
FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 illustrate structures of the UMD PDU and AMD PDU, respectively, according to the prior art. Each PDU consists of a header portion and a PU portion which includes the data. Each header in both figures commonly includes a sequence number (SN), one or more length indicators (LI), and extension (E) fields. The header attached in FIG. 3 further includes a data/control (D/C), a polling (P), and a header extension (HE) field.
The SN field represents an order number of each PDU and has a size of 7 bits for the UMD PDU and 12 bits for the AMD PDU. The LI forms boundaries between the RLC SDUs if the PDU has more than one SDU and has a size of 7 bits or 15 bits. The E field indicates what the next following field is and has a size of one bit. The D/C field indicates whether the corresponding PDU contains data or control information. The P field requests the receiving system to send a status report and has a size of one bit. The PU includes a data field and a padding (PAD) field or a piggyback status PDU field. The data field includes the SDUs transmitted from the upper layer, and the padding is performed to make the size of each PDU in octet units. The AMD PDU sometimes is attached with the piggyback status PDU field instead of the PAD field and gets transmitted to a lower layer.
Since the header and data portions of the RLC PDU get transmitted together according to the prior art, an error rate of the header portion is always same as that of the data portion for each PDU. When it is desired to separately transmit the header portion of a PDU at a lower rate than the rate of the data portion for each PDU, the prior art technique cannot be adequately used because both portions are transmitted together at a same rate. Similarly, same problem occurs when it is necessary to separately transmit a sequence number of a RLC PDU through a different channel.

Method of generating protocol data units in split mode


A computer-implemented method for ranking a plurality of academic programs includes receiving a plurality of records corresponding to the plurality of academic programs, respectively, combining elements of the plurality of records to determine respective z-scores according to a predetermined metric, and ranking the plurality of academic programs according to the respective z-scores.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to ranking educational institutions, including programs and faculty, and more particularly to a system and method for ranking academic programs.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Various publications, organizations and individuals rank universities and graduate schools. The rankings are typically used as tools by administrators to assess the quality of their programs and universities, and by students to determine which schools and programs to make applications to.
Existing methods for ranking universities utilize census forms distributed to faculties. Faculty members rank universities and programs according to their impressions. These impressions may be based on any number of factors, including lack of information. These impressions introduce uncertainties and bias into the rankings.
The 1995 National Research Council Assessment of Research Doctorate Programs collected data on faculty publications, citations and grants. In 1997, Graham and Diamond (the Rise of the American Research University, Johns Hopkins) ranked universities based on per capita publications in top journals and per capita awards and honors in humanities fields. In 2000, Diamond and Graham (Change Magazine) ranked graduate programs and universities based on citation data from the 1995 NRC study. Such rankings may be statistically inaccurate for many comparisons.
Therefore, a need exists for a standardized system and method for ranking graduate programs.

System and method for ranking academic programs

Research Foundation of the State University of New York


A non-contact type tonometer includes: a measurement unit including a first measuring unit for measuring an eye pressure of an examinee's eye in a non-contact manner and a second measuring unit for measuring a corneal thickness of the examinee's eye in a non-contact manner; a moving mechanism for causing relative movement of the measurement unit with respect to the examinee's eye; a drive controller for driving the moving mechanism for aligning the measurement unit; and a setting switch controller for switching an alignment reference on the cornea used for aligning the measurement unit between first and second alignment references. The first alignment reference is a reference for measuring the eye pressure with the first measuring unit and the second alignment reference is a reference for measuring the corneal thickness with the second measuring unit and set closer to a corneal rear surface than the first alignment reference.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a non-contact type tonometer.
2. Related Art
A non-contact type tonometer measures the eye pressure of an examinee's eye in a non-contact manner. Specifically, the non-contact type tonometer first sprays a liquid onto the cornea of the examinee's eye via a nozzle. The non-contact type tonometer then optically detects a deformed state of the cornea upon the spraying of liquid. In this way, the non-contact type tonometer measures the eye pressure of the examinee's eye based on the deformed state of the cornea in a non-contact manner. A known example of such a non-contact type tonometer is an apparatus including an optical system for measuring the corneal thickness of the examinee's eye. The apparatus corrects the eye pressure value of the examinee's eye based on an obtained measurement result (see, for example, JP-A-8-507463).
An apparatus described in JP-A-2002-102170 causes a light flux to obliquely enter the examinee's eye during measurement of the corneal thickness. Reflected light from the cornea is received by a light receiving device, such as a line sensor. The apparatus measures the corneal thickness based on a peak value of a light receiving signal for reflected light from front and rear surfaces of the cornea. In the apparatus, alignment in an actuation distance direction is conducted with reference to the peak value of the light receiving signal for the reflected light from the corneal front surface, during both eye pressure measurement and corneal thickness measurement.


A system and method for efficiently reinstalling computer software, which tracks frequency of utilization for each software application loaded onto the computer and reinstalls applications based on frequency of utilization, with the option to reinstall a computer operating system first or to reinstall computer applications along with libraries, so that computer users can resume working as soon as possible instead of waiting many hours for the entire reinstallation image to complete before a computer system reboot allows for continuation of computer usage.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates in general to computers, in particular to computer software, and more particularly to reinstalling computer software.
2. Description of the Related Art
A common frustration among computer users occurs when there is a fatal hardware flaw in a computer system that necessitates reinstallation of the entire operating system and reinstallation of non-base applications on that operating system. Few systems have the capability to customize the reinstallation of backup or archival images onto a computer system. However, the current strategy of reinstallation of archive images does not take into account the most frequently utilized applications that a user would need installed the soonest upon reinstalling applications on a new computer. For example, while reinstallation of foreign language fonts occurs, such activity on a new computer may prevent a user from using the system to perform other tasks that are of a more urgent need to the user. Therefore, a need exists for efficient reinstallation of computer software based on frequency of utilization for each software application loaded onto a computer.

Reinstalling a computer based on frequency of application utilization

International Business Machines Corporation


A method of localizing a mobile body (MB) in a known environment, includes the following steps: a) defining an occupancy grid (G) modeling the environment; b) defining a set of position grids (Π) each position grid being associated to a heading of the mobile body; c) receiving a time series of measurements (z1, z2, . . . ) from a distance sensor carried by the mobile body; and d) upon receiving a measurement of the time series, updating the pose probabilities of the position grids as a function of present values of the occupancy probabilities and of the received measurement; wherein step d) is carried out by applying an inverse sensor model to the received measurement, while considering the distance sensor co-located with a detected obstacle and by applying Bayesian fusion to update the pose probabilities of the position grids.

The invention applies, in particular, to the field of robotics, and more particularly to that of autonomous vehicles, etc. and more generally it pertains to the field of perception.
In the following,
A "known environment" means a region of space surrounding in whole or in part the mobile body, and within at least part of which the mobile body can move, a model—or "map"—of which is available. The environment model may in particular take the form of a grid formed by cells, at least some of which are considered to be occupied by "obstacles" (e.g. walls) which can be detected by a suitable sensor and through which the mobile body cannot pass.
"Localization" refers to the task of determining at least the position, and preferably also the heading, of the mobile body, with respect to the environment.
A distance (or "range") sensor is a sensor that provides information about at least the distance to a nearest obstacle in its field of view. Its physical operating principle is irrelevant: sensors as diverse as LIDARs, radars, sonars, etc., may be used to implement the inventive method and apparatus. Some distance sensors may provide additional information, e.g., the distance of all obstacles in a field of view and in some cases the azimuth/elevation of said obstacles. A distance sensor may be considered to be of the "narrow-angle" or of the "wide-angle" type. A distance sensor is considered to be "wide-angle" when there is a non-negligible likelihood that several different obstacles are simultaneously present inside its field of view, and possibly at a same distance from it (taking into account the finite resolution of the distance measurement). Conversely, a distance sensor is considered to be "narrow-angle" when such likelihood is negligible. Therefore, these definitions are application-dependent. Within the framework of the invention, distance sensors will be considered to have nearest-obstacle behavior (i.e., to only provide information on the range of a nearest obstacle) and a narrow-angle field of view.
A "moving body" is a body that is capable of translating and/or rotating in one, two or three dimensions in the environment. For instance, it may be a robot, drone, autonomous vehicle or the like, or even a device that cannot move autonomously but is carried by a person or a machine.
Self-Localization is a crucial task for instance for mobile robots safe and autonomous navigation in their environment. It consists in learning the most probable pose (position and heading) of the mobile robot in a known map, taking into account noisy measurements provided by exteroceptive sensors such as lasers, sonars, radars and vision sensors and/or motion sensors such as motor encoders, inertial measurement units and global positioning systems.
The literature splits self-localization in two main sub-categories: position tracking (also called re-localization) and Global Localization.
Position tracking assumes that the robot initial pose is known with certainty and represented by a Dirac Delta distribution. When the robot moves, an error coming from the noise in motion sensors is added to the previous pose distribution. Position tracking aims to reduce this error by integrating observations received from exteroceptive sensors and matching them to a partially or totally known map.
Global Localization considers that the robot initial pose is unknown, and usually represented by a uniform distribution over the entire space. Then, the robot current pose is estimated, given the map and exteroceptive measurements. This problem is considered harder than the re-localization one since the space enclosing the possible solutions and the error are much larger.
Global Localization is an active research topic since the 1990s because it faces huge challenges, e.g., the high computational cost when solving this problem and the degree of robustness of the estimated pose when occlusions and/or noisy observations occur. Among these studies, grid-based localization methods seem to be among the most effective in terms of robustness and ability to deal with any kind of sensor uncertainty. Unfortunately, as it will be explained below, they suffer from an exponential complexity in terms of the grid size, which has limited their use.
Grid-based localization estimators compute and update the robot pose distribution represented by a histogram filter over a grid decomposition of the pose space (Burgard et al., (1996)). They seem to be less used despite their robustness, ability to deal with occlusions and suitability to any kind of statistical distribution. In fact, they suffer from an intractable computational complexity that is exponential with the grid size, therefore limiting their use to small grids.
A brief review of the standard grid-based Global Localization techniques found in the literature, initially introduced by Burgard et al. (1996), will now be discussed.
Let G be a given 2-Dimensional (but generalization to different dimensionality is straightforward) occupancy grid representing a map of the environment. G is composed of disjoint cells, each being in either of two possible states: "occupied" and "empty". A cell in an "occupied" state is a cell containing an obstacle, while a cell in an "empty" state contains no obstacle. More generally, each cell of the grid G may have a probability of occupancy in [0, 1] reflecting its likelihood of being in its "occupied" state (Elfes, 1989). In this case, at least some embodiments of the invention do not exploit all the information encoded by the occupancy probability, and merely consider a cell as "occupied" if its occupancy probability exceeds a threshold (typically 0.5) and "empty" otherwise.
In the following, it will be assumed that G is a square grid composed of N square-shape cells, each having a binary occupancy state ("occupied" or "empty"). An exemplary representation of G is provided on FIG. 1, where occupied cells are black and empty ones white.
Let A={α1, . . . , αM} for Mϵ* be the set of discretized possible values of the robot heading. For each αϵA, let Πα be a position occupancy grid—or, for short, a position grid—having the same shape and number of cells as G (see FIG. 2). Each Πα, αϵA, represents the 2D space where the robot position distribution takes place; therefore, each cell of each position grid Πα has a probability in [0, 1] reflecting the likelihood that the robot takes the pose—position and heading—represented by the cell. In the case of Global Localization, the initial pose distribution is typically set to a uniform distribution over Πα ∀αϵA.
Let zt={z1, . . . , zt−1, zt} be a vector of t consecutive sensor readings acquired from an exteroceptive range sensor, i.e., a time series of range or distance measurements. Measurement z is defined as:z=(r(z),θ(z))  (1)where r(z) is the range from the sensor to the detected obstacle and θ(z) is the angle between the range sensor heading and the robot heading. The grid-based Global Localization problem, when the previous definitions apply, consists in finding the most likely αϵA and xϵΠα by integrating zt. In other terms, it consists in computing x*, α* with:(x*,α*)=argmaxαϵA,xϵΠαP(x|zt,G)  (2)
The solution of the grid-based Global Localization problem requires the computation of P(x|zt, G) in (2) ∀αϵA and ∀xϵΠα. From Bayes' rule and Markov assumption, it comes:P(x|zt,G)=ηp(zt|x,G)P(x|zt-1,G)  (3)where η normalizes the sum of the pose probabilities over all x up to 1, and P(x|zt-1,G) is the prior probability of position x. The term p(zt|x,G) is the so-called sensor model, specific to each sensor (e.g., its field of view, uncertainty). It is usually given (modeled) in advance. Its computation is based on the total probability law. First, let αz=α+θ(z) be the angle that the principal axis of the sensor forms with the x-axis when the robot is at pose (x, α) and let θ(z) be the sensor heading is with respect to the robot heading given by α. Let Gx,αz be the part of G located in the sensor field-of-view when the sensor is located at x and its principal axis has an angle αz with the x-axis, and ϕ(Gx,αz) the set of all the possible configurations of Gx,αz (i.e., all the possible combinations of cell states in Gx,αz). Then, p(zt|x,G) is computed by summing over all the configuration grids in ϕ(Gx,αz):p(zt|x,G)=Σεϵϕ(Gx,αz)p(zt|x,ε)P(ε)  (4)
Solving the Global Localization problem requires updating the pose distribution over all Πα ∀αϵA. This is done by considering each position in Πα ∀αϵA, and computing P(x|zt, G) based on (3). Therefore, the update complexity is equal to M times the number of cells in each position grid Πα times the complexity of the update in (4). The number of terms of the sum in (4) is equal to the number of elements of ϕ(Gx,αz), which in turn is an exponential function of the number Nx,αz˜√{square root over (N)} of cells in Gx,αz. Therefore, the complexity of updating the pose probability distribution is exponential in terms of the size of the grid (of the order of 2√{square root over (N)}), leading to an intractable computation.
To decrease this exponential complexity, Dia et al. (2017) proposed a linear sensor model for sensor having a narrow field-of-view based on the hypothesis of the nearest-target. Under the same hypothesis, Dia et al. (2018) and EP 3 594 719 proposed a linear sensor model for large field-of-view sensors. However, even with these solutions, the complexity of the pose distribution update remains quadratic in terms of the grid size because eq. (4) involves a sum over N terms, and has to be computed over all the cells of the pose grids. As a consequence, even in the narrow-field single-target approximation, grid-based Global Localization cannot, in practice, be computed for large grids (more than a few thousands cells).

Method and apparatus for performing grid-based locailization of a mobile body

COMMISSARIAT A L'ENERGIE ATOMIQUE ET AUX ENERGIES ALTERNATIVES


Certain embodiments provide an angle detector comprising: an AD converter configured to analog-to-digital convert plural-phase signal waves having respective different phases; a corrector configured to delay a phase of an excitation signal by an amount corresponding to a phase difference between the excitation signal and the signal wave; a wave detector configured to perform synchronous detection to an output signal from the AD converter in synchronization with the excitation signal whose phase is corrected; and an angle calculator configured to calculate an estimated rotation angle using an output signal of the wave detector and output the estimated rotation angle to the AD converter.

A system of a vehicle applies an excitation wave to an exciting coil of a resolver. The system receives two signal waves from a sin phase coil and a cos phase coil of the resolver. The excitation wave has a sinusoidal waveform having a constant amplitude level. A signal wave is referred to as an amplitude-modulated wave having a waveform obtained by amplitude-modulating the excitation wave by a rotation angle. For example, two-phase signal waves are sin θ·sin ωt and cos θ·sin ωt. ω represents an angular frequency of the excitation wave or the excitation signal.
In prior art, there has been known a resolver digital convertor which AD (analog-to-digital) converts an AC signal output from a resolver and detects a point at which the amplitude of the AC signal is 0. There has been known a circuit which obtains a rotation angle by measuring a time difference of a zero-cross point at which voltage levels of two-phase AC signals cross the zero level.

Angle detector and motor drive controller


A method for cleaning parts employed during the processing of semiconductor wafers includes a first cleaning step for removing super-micron particles and a second cleaning step for removing sub-micron particles. The second step utilizes frozen carbon dioxide pellets and removes contaminant particles have a size of less than one micron. The cleaning method consistently removes substantially all sub-micron particles from a work surface.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method and apparatus for cleaning parts which are components of semiconductor processing equipment and which include surfaces that are directly exposed to the atmosphere in the equipment, which atmosphere extends around a semiconductor wafer or other semiconductor part being processed in the equipment.
More particularly, the invention relates to a method and apparatus for removing both super-micron and sub-micron contaminant particles from the surface of a part from a semiconductor processing apparatus.
In a further respect, the invention relates to a method and apparatus particularly suited to cleaning ceramic parts from a semiconductor processing apparatus.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Equipment like the Lam Research Corporation (LRC) etcher (hereafter "LRC etcher") is widely used in the processing of semiconductor wafers. After a photolithographic pattern is formed or deposited on a semiconductor wafer, the wafer is loaded into an LRC etcher. The LRC etcher utilizes a plasma etching process to remove portions of the wafer which are not protected by the photolithographic pattern. The LRC etcher can be utilized as an oxide etcher, metal etcher, polymer etcher, etc. Such etching of the wafer causes particles of silicon oxide, nitride, arsenic oxide, tungsten oxide, aluminum oxide, titanium, ammonium chloride, chlorine based compounds, and other contaminant materials to be deposited on the surface of parts or components of the LRC etcher which are exposed to the atmosphere surrounding the wafer while the wafer is etched. Since such contaminants can adversely affect the processing of future wafers processed by the LRC etcher, contaminant particles must be carefully cleaned from the surfaces of parts in the LRC etcher, or in other equipment utilized to process semiconductor wafers or components.
One disadvantage of conventional processes of removing contaminant particles from parts used in an LRC etcher or other semiconductor processing equipment is that such processes do not remove most sub-micron particles from the surface of a part, particularly sub-micron particles which have a width of 0.5 to 0.2 micron or smaller. In prior years, the existence of such particles was not a major concern because the lines in the photolithographic patterns were larger and were spaced farther apart. It was only important to remove super-micron particles (i.e., particles with a width equal to or greater than one micron). With time, photolithographic patterns have become finer. The lines are narrower and are spaced closer together. As a result, the ability to remove sub-micron particles (i.e., particles having a width of less than one micron) has become critical. A variety of companies have, since about 1992, been working on the development of equipment for removing sub-micron contaminant particles from the surface of parts found in semiconductor processing equipment. Although such research has significant commercial import, it appears that an economical, reliable, practical process for consistently repeatedly removing a substantial portion of sub-micron contaminant particles from parts in a semiconductor processing apparatus has not yet been developed.
Accordingly, it would be highly desirable to provide an improved method and apparatus for cleaning the surface of a part utilized in semiconductor processing equipment.
It would also be highly desirable to provide in improved method and apparatus for removing sub-micron particles from parts used in processing semiconductor materials.
Therefore, it is a principal object of the instant invention to provide an improved cleaning method and apparatus for parts from semiconductor processing equipment.
Another object of the invention is to provide an improved cleaning method and apparatus for removing contaminant particles from parts having a surface comprised of a ceramic.
A further object of the invention is to provide an improved cleaning method and apparatus for removing sub-micron particles from the surface of a part utilized in processing semiconductor processing equipment.


A power supply system (and method) for an exhibition stand having a frame that includes upstanding posts and transverse members. The power supply system (and method) includes an elongate member forming in use one of the transverse members of the frame. The elongate member includes a power inlet connectable to a power supply, a power outlet, and a circuit connecting the power inlet and power outlet. The power supply system (and method) also includes a power take off unit having a power inlet and at least two power outlets, and a plurality of electrical connecting means. The power outlet of the elongate member can be connected by means of one of the electrical connecting means to the power inlet of the power take-off unit such that power can be tapped from the elongate member and directed from one power outlet of the take-off unit, via another of the electrical connecting means, to the elongate member of an adjacent exhibition stand. Power can also be directed from another power outlet of the take-off unit, via a further one of the electrical connecting means, to a desired portion of the exhibition stand.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates broadly to power supply systems. More particularly, this invention relates to power supply systems for exhibition stands.
2. State of the Art
Exhibitions typically employ a large number of stands located in an open hall. The term exhibition is intended to include events such as trade fairs, wedding fairs etc. The size, type and arrangement of the stands within the hall will vary depending on the requirements of individual exhibitors, the number of exhibitors and also on the subject of the exhibition. The stands are temporary structures which are erected for each exhibition to the specifications of the exhibitor and in the designated position in the hall. Immediately after the exhibition the stands are dismantled and removed from the hall. This leads to a particular problem with the provision of a power supply to each stand for lighting the stand and providing a power supply for use by the exhibitors in the stand.
The established way of dealing with this problem is for each stand, once constructed, to be wired-up by a qualified electrician and connected to the main electricity supply of the exhibition hall. Once the exhibition is finished and before the stand can be dismantled the electrical wiring, which has of course been cut to fit the particular stand and exhibitors requirements, is ripped out and disposed of. There is thus a considerable amount of wastage as the wiring is not reused but is disposed of. In addition the exhibitor must pay the costs of the qualified electrician for each stand as well as the extra rent for the period whilst the stand is waiting to have the wiring fitted, is having the wiring fitted, is waiting to have the wiring removed at the end of the exhibition and is having the wiring removed.
GB 2390232 discloses an electrical supply system for an exhibition stand having an electrical bus bar with power outlets along its length to which electrical components can be plugged in to provide lighting and power sockets.


A detector for detecting changes in the output level of an amplifier included in, for example, a mobile communication signal. A first detecting circuit produces a detected voltage having linearity against low output levels of the amplifier. A second detecting circuit produces a detected voltage which is linear against high output levels of the amplifier. The detected voltages from the first and second detecting circuits are mixed by a mixer in a predetermined ratio. Even when the output level of the amplifier changes over a broad dynamic range, the detector detects the changes with accuracy.

The present invention relates to a detector for accurately detecting changes in the level of an amplifier which amplifies an input signal whose level changes and, more particularly, to a detector for an amplifier included in a mobile communication system.
A prerequisite with a mobile communication system is that changes in the output level of an amplifier be accurately detected to insure accurate control over the output of the amplifier. To meet this requirement, it has been customary to use a coupling circuit for extracting the output of the amplifier, to which an input signal whose level changes is applied, in a predetermined coupling amount. A detector detects the output of the coupling circuit to thereby detect changes in the output level of the amplifier. The detector, however, cannot detect the output of the amplifier accurately when the output level of the amplifier noticeably changes. This problem is particularly serious in the case of a mobile communication system. Specifically, in a mobile communication system, since a mobile station freely moves throughout a cell, the electric field of a signal received by a base station changes with the varying position of the mobile station. For example, when the mobile station is located near the base station, both the input to the base station and the input to the mobile station are excessive. This would generate undesirable waves due to cross modulation or similar cause. In the light of such a situation, it is a common practice with a mobile communication system to change the output level of the amplifier over a substantial range, e.g., even by 30 dB, so that the electric field of an input signal may remain constant. It is, therefore, necessary for the detector to detect changes in the output level of the amplifier with accuracy. However, a conventional detector using a diode cannot detect the changes accurately since the diode characteristic is not linear over a substantial range.

Amplifier signal level detector for a mobile communication system


A system operable by a single workman safely launches and recovers an unmanned undersea vehicle (UUV) using a motor-driven carriage to transport the UUV to the water. The UUV is fitted to a reconfigurable sabot. An elevating ramp on the carriage supports the sabot and UUV on an elongate conveyer assembly having inclined rollers aligned with motor-driven belts to selectively outwardly and inwardly displace the UUV between the carriage and the water. Hinge members are used to rotatably connect the elevating ramp to the carriage, and a lifting mechanism connected to the carriage and ramp rotatably displaces the ramp about the hinge members. The rollers and belts displace the UUV on the conveyer assembly. A winch on the elevating ramp has a line connected to the UUV to lower and raise the UUV during launch and recovery operations.

This invention relates to system for deploying and retrieving vehicles in water. More particularly, this invention is to a portable launch and recovery system adaptable to different vehicles and platforms.
Currently, launch and recovery of an unmanned undersea vehicle (UUV) into the water from a ship or land-based launch platform relies on considerable manpower and equipment and, consequently, can be dangerous operations. During launch, the elongate, torpedo-shaped UUV is usually so heavy as to require a heavy-duty crane to lift it from the launch platform, carefully move it around until it's over the water, and slowly lower it into the water. Several workmen are needed to operate the crane and man the lines needed to guide the UUV. Even more personnel must be in a small boat in the water to bring the UUV safely into the water, detach the hoist lines, and make sure that the UUV does not impact the launch platform. During recovery, the small boat must come alongside the UUV and its crew must reattach the hoist lines and quickly get out of the way as the crane raises the UUV from the water, rotates it around, and returns it to the platform. Throughout these procedures, many workmen are involved in this hazardous activity and must be closely coordinated to avoid serious injuries and damage to the UUV. Routine adverse conditions of wind and waves add further complications to this dangerous process.
Thus, in accordance with this inventive concept, a need has been recognized in the state of the art for a system for launching and recovering different sized UUVs from different launch platforms with fewer personnel to increase safety and utilize less dangerous equipment.

Launch and recovery system for unmanned undersea vehicles

United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy


The device for adjusting a time indicator includes a gear train (1), the kinematic chain of which includes a sliding pinion (2) driven by a driving wheel set (3). The sliding pinion drives a driven wheel set (4) when the driving wheel set rotates in a first direction (A) and disconnects from said driven wheel set when said driving wheel set (3) rotates in a second direction (B), opposite to the first direction. The shaft (6) that the sliding pinion (2) includes is engaged in a groove (7) having first (9) and second (12) end portions, at least the first end portion (9) of which is directed radially (R) to the driven wheel set (4).

Such a device is known. It is fitted, for example, to a watch displaying both the date and the day of the week. In this watch, the date and day of the week are set by means of a stem capped by a crown. When the stem is pulled into a first position and the crown is rotated in a first direction, the date is corrected. From this same pulled out position, the day of the week is corrected by rotating the crown in a second direction, opposite to the first. These functions are obtained by means of a sliding pinion meshing with the stem and driving either the date-ring, or the day-disc depending on the rotational direction of the crown.
If the device described hereinbefore gives entire satisfaction for the stated functions, it has a major drawback if it is implemented in a watch comprising for example a date and a timer, the latter allowing the countdown and display on a dial of a predetermined time interval. Indeed, when passing from the calendar date-setting to the desired time-setting of the timer, or vice-versa, the time displayed by the timer is upset or disturbed, this disturbance being caused by the sliding pinion which is not introduced or is removed from the wheel set that it drives along an appropriate direction.


A chromatographic apparatus may include a hydraulic lifting mechanism axially movable from a lowered position to a raised position such that a column and flange of the apparatus are axially movable with the hydraulic lifting mechanism. In a packing system, a mobile column module may be moved into engagement with a packing station by engaging a flange of the column module with a fixture of the packing station. After packing a column of the column module, the column module may be removed from the packing station with a piston head locked in the column to maintain packing pressure. The packing station may be utilized to unpack the column. A hydraulic lifting mechanism may be operated to lower one or more portions of the column module such that the one or more portions may be separately removed from the packing system.

Liquid chromatography (LC) is a technique for performing an analytical separation or a preparative separation of a liquid-phase material of interest (e.g., a mixture of different chemical compounds) into constituent components. During the course of a chromatographic separation, the material of interest is transported in a mobile phase (or solvent). The mobile phase is forced through a stationary phase that is immiscible relative to the mobile phase. Typically, the stationary phase is provided in the form of a volume of particles (a column packing bed) supported in a column through which the material to be separated and the mobile phase flow. The column packing bed is typically retained at each end of the column by a frit or filter that allows the mobile phase and the material to be separated to flow through while preventing the packing material from escaping the column. In the column, the respective compositions of the mobile phase and stationary phase are selected to cause differing components of the material of interest to become distributed between the mobile phase and stationary phase to varying degrees dependent on the respective chemistries of the material's components. Components that are strongly retained by the stationary phase travel slowly with the mobile phase, while components that are weakly retained by the stationary phase travel more rapidly. As a result, components of differing compositions become separated from each other as the mobile phase flows through the column.
In analytical separation, the components are separated to facilitate their analysis by known detecting techniques. Analytical separation typically entails the use of a small amount of material and small inside-diameter columns (e.g, less than 1 inch). In preparative separation, the components are separated to purify or isolate one or more chemical components from the starting material, which may be done for a further use such as reaction, synthesis, etc. Preparative separation is typically performed on a much larger scale to purify a large quantity of material, and hence typically utilizes large inside-diameter columns (e.g., 1-24 inches).
The packing and handling of large columns have conventionally required the use of large, heavy equipment. Large columns are typically packed by a flow packing technique, which entails suspending the particulate packing material in a suitable solvent to form a slurry, forcing the slurry into the column to retain the packing material while allowing the solvent to pass through the column, and then rapidly compressing the packing material by axial compression to form a uniform, tightly-packed bed at a desired final pressure. Axial compression is typically accomplished by driving a piston head through the column and into contact with the packing material. Axial compression and handling of columns is typically done pneumatically, which may not be sufficiently robust for larger-scale columns. Moreover, axial compression typically requires a column to be loaded into a column packing station. The packing station is often stationary or at least too heavy or bulky to be transported easily, and the column is often too large or heavy to be handled easily. Consequently, the packing station is often required to be located directly at the site of operation of the column, i.e., the location where the column is utilized to perform separation. Thus, there is a risk that fluids or other components of the packing station may contaminate the column, and the packing station may not be available to pack other columns while the packed column is being utilized in a separation process. Moreover, the typical packing station is compatible for use with only one or a few different column sizes, and is limited to a narrow range of packing pressures.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need for providing chromatographic column hardware configured for easier and more robust handling and packing of columns of differing sizes, including large-scale columns, and over a wide range of selectable packing pressures and packing material compositions. There is also a need for improving the mobility of columns to enable a packed column to be easily transported to a site of operation located remotely from the packing station, so as to isolate the separation process from the packing/unpacking process and prevent decompression of the packed column. There is also a need for reducing the bulk and weight of the apparatus utilized for handling and transporting a packed column.

Apparatus and methods for packing chromatography columns


Multiple channels of a multi-channel analyzer are allocated among multiple users such that each user can initiate and retrieve the results of separate diagnostic sessions or strategies. Each analyzer channel includes an input connection port, a trace buffer memory and logic circuitry. The input connection port is operably connected to a unique node in the communication network. A host processor assigns ownership of a unique set of analyzer channels to at least two users such that each user can initiate separate simultaneously established traces on the communication network. The logic circuitry monitors frame data on the connection port at each node in accordance with a set of instructions established by the user assigned to the analyzer channel for that node, and the traces are captured in response to the set of instructions such that each user retrieves only results of the analyzer channels assigned to that user.

Analyzers are used as diagnostic and testing tools at various stages of the development, integration and maintenance of electronic computing devices. Typically, an analyzer is designed for use with a particular electrical communication interface protocol, such as ATA, SCSI, Ethernet, or Fibre Channel. In a typical use, the analyzer is connected to one or two ports of the communication interface of the computing system being tested to record communication activity on the interface. The communication activity is captured and recorded in a dedicated trace buffer associated with the analyzer, and then analyzed and/or presented to the user for the purpose of diagnosing, testing, or maintaining the communication interface.
Analyzers designed for high-speed interfaces, such as the Fibre Channel protocol, must overcome significant technical challenges due to the extremely high bandwidth and high data transfer rates that are supported by the Fibre Channel communication interface. Examples of existing Fibre Channel protocol analyzers include the I-Tech Corporation IFC-20 Fibre Channel Analyzer™, the Xyratex TP-5-100-PA+ Fibre Channel Protocol Analyzer Plus™, the Ancot FCA-5010 Fibre Channel Analyzer™, the FuturePlus Systems Fibre Channel Bus Analysis Probe™, and the Finisar GT-A Fibre Channel Protocol Analyzer™. In each of these Fibre Channel protocol analyzers, the analyzer is provided with a pair of channels that connect to the input and output ports, respectively, of a single computing device on the interface. These analyzers are equipped with various triggering, filtering and capture mechanisms that are designed to identify, capture and store the data of interest at the particular device to which the analyzer is connected. While it is conventional to refer to an analyzer as being "triggered" in order to capture the data of interest, it should be understood that what the analyzer actually does is continuously store all of the data going by the analyzer, and then the signal to "trigger" the analyzer effectively stops this continuous capture so that the data remaining in the buffer of the analyzer is the data of interest. Once captured, the data can then be analyzed to determine the source of problems in the communication interface for that particular device or to optimize the performance of the communication interface for that particular device.
While existing Fibre Channel analyzers work well at debugging communication protocol problems at the particular device to which the analyzer is connected, they do not work well to track down problems or to optimize the communication interface across multiple computing devices in a large Fibre Channel network. Large Fibre Channel network installations can consist of tens to hundreds of computing devices linked over many miles of communication cables and often located at sites that are physically distant from one another. Because of the existing limitation in current Fibre Channel analyzers of only being able to connect to the input and output ports of a single device, analysis of a problem in a large Fibre Channel network requires the use of multiple analyzers. Unfortunately, there is no convenient way of integrating the data from multiple ones of these analyzers in order to make the analysis and presentation of data about such a problem a simple or straightforward matter.
In the I-Tech IFC-20 Fibre Channel Analyzer™, for example, monitoring of more than a single device requires the use of multiple analyzers. All of the analyzers must be independently connected to each of the multiple devices and must be independently programmed for triggering and filtering conditions. In order to allow one analyzer to trigger another analyzer to capture data, a trigger out-sync of the first analyzer must be connected to a trigger in-sync of the second analyzer. Although it is possible to arrange multiple analyzers in this manner, it is difficult and time consuming to set up because the analyzers are not designed for any type of coordinated arrangement. Moreover, it has been discovered that the kinds of problems encountered in large complex multi-device Fibre Channel communication networks are very often too complicated for such a simplistic arrangement as having a trigger out-sync signal of one analyzer connected to the trigger in-sync signal of a second analyzer. For example, in Fibre Channel networks that allow for multiple paths over which data packets may travel between a source and destination, monitoring the actual path that any given data packet may be taking becomes less and less predictable as the complexity of the network interconnections increases.
Once this type of multiple analyzer arrangement in the prior art has been set up and triggered, data from the two analyzers is time correlated by a time stamping arrangement to allow for comparison by a host processor of data captured by the pair of channels in the first analyzer with the data captured by the pair of channels in the second analyzer. The time stamped data is then separately downloaded from each analyzer and the host processor is used to correlate and evaluate the captured data. Examples of the use of time stamping to coordinate multiple communication analyzers for communication interfaces other than a Fibre Channel protocol are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,535,193, 5,590,116, 5,276,579, 5,375,159 describe examples of protocol analyzers for telecommunication data networks that include the ability to remotely operate and coordinate the analyzers. U.S. Pat. No. 5,600,632 describes performance monitoring using synchronized network analyzers in which the data from all of the analyzers is aggregated and sorted chronologically before it is analyzed.
Because all of the existing analyzers for such high-speed communication protocols such as the Fibre Channel protocol have been designed as single devices that can attach to and analyze the communications across a single target device, there has been no need or opportunity for a control arrangement capable of supporting multiple users. The ability to provide a method and system for allocating multiple channels among multiple users for a multi-channel analyzer would be advantageous.

Method and system for multi-user channel allocation for a multi-channel analyzer


The compound roll comprising a shell portion made of a hard cast iron having excellent wear resistance and resistance to surface roughening and a core portion made of a tough cast iron or cast steel, the cast iron of the shell portion having a composition consisting essentially, by weight ratio, of 2.5-3.5% of C, 0.5-1.5% of Si, 0.5-1.5% of Mn, 0.1% or less of P, 0.05% or less of S, 3.0-5.0% of Ni, 1.0-2.5% of Cr, 0.1-1.5% of Mo and balance Fe and inevitable impurities, an average diameter of primary precipitated particles constituting a matrix of the metal structure of the shell portion being 80 .mu.m or less in a range from a surface to a depth of 50 mm when determined by an image analysis method on the primary precipitated particles having diameters exceeding 30 .mu.m, and the primary precipitated particles satisfying the formula: m.sub.2 .ltoreq.1.2 m.sub.1, wherein m.sub.1 is an average diameter of the primary precipitated particles at the surface of the shell portion, and m.sub.2 is an average diameter of the primary precipitated particles at the depth of 50 mm, is produced by supplying a melt for the shell portion at a temperature T satisfying the formula: Tc-20.degree. C..ltoreq.T.ltoreq.Tc+70.degree. C., wherein Tc is a primary crystal-forming temperature of the melt for the shell portion, to a hollow cylindrical mold rotatable around its longitudinal axis, at such a speed that an average shell portion-forming speed in the mold is 2-40 mm/min.

The present invention relates to a compound roll comprising a shell portion having excellent wear resistance and resistance to surface roughening and a tough core portion, and a method of producing such a compound roll by a centrifugal casting method, particularly to a compound roll having a shell portion having a fine and uniform metal structure and a method of producing such a compound roll.
In a roll used for hot rolling or cold rolling of steel materials, it is required that a shell portion, which is brought into direct contact with materials to be rolled, has a uniform cast structure and excellent wear resistance, resistance to surface roughening and crack resistance. To meet this requirement, it is effective to form the shell portion by a centrifugal casting method, and the production of compound rolls having shell portions and core portions is widely conducted. In the centrifugal casting method, a melt for a shell portion is usually introduced into a hollow cylindrical mold rotatable around its longitudinal axis at a high speed, and solidified in the mold.
In this case, since the melt is rapidly cooled by contact with an inner surface of the mold usually made of steel, the shell portion of the compound roll has a fine metal structure. However, as a distance between the inner surface of the mold and the melt to be solidified becomes larger, the cooling speed of the melt for the shell portion decreases, and the temperature gradient of the melt becomes smaller. As a result, the metal structure of the shell portion becomes coarser, so that various properties required for the shell portion such as a wear resistance, etc. are deteriorated. To solve this problem, it is considered to be effective that the cooling speed of the melt for the shell portion is increased, and it is necessary to make the cooling speed of the melt as even as possible in any portion along the radial direction of the shell portion.
To increase the cooling speed of the melt for the shell portion, proposals were made to cool the mold by water, and to spray the melt onto an inner surface of the mold (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 1-254363). Also, to avoid undesirable segregation and other defects generated in the shell portion and to improve the uniformity of the shell portion, it was proposed to move the point of pouring the melt into the mold in the centrifugal casting method (Japanese Patent Publication No. 50-33021). Further, research has been conducted on the materials for the shell portion. At present, the shell portion produced by the centrifugal casting method is mainly made of a high-alloy cast iron, a high-chromium cast iron, a high-chromium cast steel, etc.
Among them, in the case of a roll mainly used on a rear side in a tandem mill, which has a shell portion made of a high-alloy cast iron, the non-uniformity of the cast metal structure of the shell portion due to the existence of coarse precipitated grains and segregation leads to a poorer wear resistance, resulting in the increase of roll consumption per a unit weight of a material to be rolled and poorer quality of the rolled material.
Since high quality is increasingly required for rolled steel sheets recently, high requirements are imposed on the roll. Therefore, the shell portion of the compound roll is required to have an increasingly finer metal structure with higher uniformity.
The high-alloy cast iron is a material in which graphite particles are inherently likely to be precipitated. Accordingly, in the case of forming the shell portion from the high-alloy cast iron, a surface portion of the shell portion not only has a fine metal structure but also contains fine graphite particles and a fine carbide phase by the rapid cooling action of the mold. However, since the rapid cooling action of the mold decreases inside the shell portion, the metal structure becomes coarser and the amount of graphite particles precipitated increases while the amount of the carbide phase decreases. As a result, in the deep area of the shell portion, which is to be exposed by several times of machining, it shows poor resistance to wear and surface roughening.
In the case of forming the shell portion by a centrifugal casting method, there is also a problem that the shell portion inevitably contains cast defects and non-uniformity of the metal structure. Since the cooling speed (temperature gradient) of the shell portion is smaller in the inside than in the surface portion, it is difficult for gas, dissolved elements, impurities, etc. in the melt for the shell portion to escape toward an inside cavity into which the melt is poured. Accordingly, these components are trapped in the process of solidifying the melt, resulting in the segregation, coarse metal structure, gas defects, etc.


A digital address filter is provided which converts straight-line and arc analog stroke data into digitized images which comply with Bresenham raster display criteria and can be displayed on a raster scanned monitor or LCD. Data collected over a preselected (M pixel.times.M pixel) spatial window are repetitively matched against a set of pixel template patterns permitted by the Bresenham criteria. After each full-frame iteration, the display pixel(s) corresponding to the best-fit templates are lighted.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the display of graphics on rasterized displays such as video monitors, LCD displays and printed pages and, in particular, relates to the conversion of vector or stroke graphic inputs for raster displays.
2. Description of the Related Art
Symbol graphics are conventionally displayed in either a raster scan or vector format on video displays or monitors dedicated to either raster scanned or vector images. Raster displays, such as those on CRT monitors typically used with desktop computers, describe a graphic image by modulating beam intensity while scanning the total display surface in a fixed pattern. In contrast, vector displays move in a random access manner only through those portions of the display surface required to describe the image. Symbols are graphically presented by using a stroke generation system to drive an intensified CRT beam in X and/or Y directions to create lines that may be at any angle and in any direction.
A stroke generation system which can provide high quality symbology graphics in a vector display must have several properties. First, for drawn lines to have uniform intensity, the beam intensity must remain constant, and linear motion in all directions must be at a constant rate. Secondly, due to a time lag in the deflections creating beam motion, the time at which the beam intensity is turned on at the start of a line must be delayed relative to the deflections. Thirdly, since deflections slow down as they approach a constant value, a settling time with the deflection inputs at their final value is required to complete drawing a line-end. Without this "stretch" of intensity at the end of each line, resultant lines will appear shortened and have gaps if chained together.
Analog stroke graphics are a form of vector graphics characterized instantaneously by an X Position, a Y Position, and a Stroke Intensity ("Intensity" or "Bright-Up" (BU)) of the generating beam. As shown in FIG. 1, conventional analog stroke graphics use straight-line vectors and/or arcs. Exemplary straight-line vector V1 has an Intensity (indicated by a bold-face line), a start point V1 Start, an end point V1 End, and a constant slope V1 Slope. Straight-line V2 has a start point V2 Start coinciding with V1 End. Straight-line V3 is unconnected to vector V2. Exemplary arc A1 has an Intensity, a start point A1 Start, an end point A1 End, an initial slope A1 Initial Slope, a plurality of successive gradual changes in slope A1 Slope 1, A1 Slope 2, . . . , (not shown) and an end slope A1 End Slope. An arc can be considered to be a series of small chained vectors each having a slightly different slope. The start point of a line is distinguished by changing the X and Y values with the Intensity at zero (referred to as "slewing"), cutting off the X, Y driver signals and waiting a predetermined interval (referred to as "settling"), and then increasing the Intensity from zero to a positive value. Alternatively, a start point is distinguished by using the end point values of the previous line. An end point is recognized by the Intensity changing from a positive value to zero, or by a positive Intensity with X and Y stationary (indicating settling or that a point is being drawn).
Analog stroke graphics are generated by CRT beam driver signals produced by analog stroke generation systems which generally have the following characteristics:
1) X Position and Y Position are mostly monotonic, while Stroke Intensity may have multiple values but is constant for a given vector. Stroke Intensity may simply indicate the presence or absence of a signal. PA1 2) X and Y are in time synchronization with each other, while Intensity may not be. PA1 3) Beam motion, described by X and Y, is not in a fixed pattern. PA1 4) Symbology is described by vectors and/or arcs drawn in any direction and at any angle. PA1 5) Vectors have a constant slope while arcs have a slowly varying slope. PA1 6) Beam motion is at a constant rate along the direction of a line. PA1 7) Lines may start anywhere on the display surface and are distinguished by the Intensity going from zero to a positive value, or by (X, Y) motion with positive Intensity after detection of an end-of-line condition. PA1 8) A line-end is distinguished by the Intensity going to zero or by a settling time with a non-zero Intensity. PA1 9) The number of times that the beam transits any given point on the display surface can vary from none to many times. PA1 1) The sequence of randomly located analog symbols must be digitized and organized into a single frame of information. PA1 2) Digitized lines must meet the Bresenham criteria. PA1 3) Unprocessed digitized analog stroke data will almost always produce output that violates the Bresenham criteria, even in the absence of noise. PA1 4) Since the analog X and Y signals are typically noisy, the sequence of intended locations along a line will often be somewhat ambiguous. Consequently, the width of rasterized lines will appear to vary, and their start and end points will be difficult to define. PA1 5) The (X, Y) signals must be resynchronized with the Intensity signal, i.e., compensation must be provided for Intensity stretch and deflection lag. PA1 6) Stroke writing rates are constant along a line for a given application, but will vary from system to system. PA1 7) Sampling must be fast enough in the presence of noise to be able to consistently determine probable intended location, and for static symbology must also be consistent from frame to frame. PA1 8) The number of samples from one FB pixel location to the next is not constant because the distance between illuminated pixels varies with the angle of the line being drawn. PA1 (9) Hardware (HW) and software (SW) operation of stroke generators will vary according to the host platform used.
Since raster displays describe graphic images by scanning the total display surface in a fixed pattern, a sequence of randomly located symbols must first be organized into a full frame image before being transmitted to the display. This is usually accomplished in a raster graphics generator by writing an image into an intermediate Frame Buffer (FB) and then transmitting the buffer contents to the display in the required fixed pattern. A conventional FB is organized into fixed pixel locations in an (X, Y) grid with intensity and/or color values assigned to each pixel.
Raster displays require a digitized version of the analog stroke information which if utilized in unprocessed form does not produce acceptable quality graphics because the output violates certain basic norms of raster scanned drawings. In particular, line drawings obtained by simple A/D conversion of stroked vectors violate the Bresenham criteria which specify the rules to be obeyed by a rasterized line produced by the Bresenham line drawing algorithm, which is the generally accepted method for drawing a line on a raster grid. These criteria require that an X-major (slope less than or equal to .+-.45 degrees with respect to the X-axis) line of unit width must intensify exactly one pixel (pel) per column of the grid, while a Y-major (slope less than or equal to .+-.45 degrees with respect to the Y-axis) line of unit width must intensify exactly one pixel per row of the grid.
Problems to be resolved in converting analog stroke graphics into raster scanned graphics include:
The simplest method for stroke-to-raster conversion is to digitize analog symbols using an analog-to-digital (A/D) converter, and write the digitized data directly to a raster display Frame Buffer. As noted supra, this approach almost always produces data violating the Bresenham criteria, even in the absence of noise, resulting in a poor quality raster display. An improved conventional method samples over a 2 pel.times.2 pel ("2.times.2") window to produce anti-aliased raster output. This approach, which requires sophisticated hardware, produces marginal quality output and in particular makes small characters hard to read.
What is needed is a technique for analog stroke-to-raster conversion which produces real-time output in accordance with accepted standards of high quality raster graphics, in particular the Bresenham criteria. The technique should accommodate tailoring to a variety of stroke generators by implementing straightforward software modifications. The technique should also be robust in the presence of significant noise contamination of stroke data. Moreover, the technique should offer a practical implementation using off-the-shelf devices such as adders, multiplexers and registers, and should be readily scaleable with display surface area.


The present invention is directed to the use of concatenatable Point-To-MultiPoint (PTMP) broadcast messages for displaying display messages, and in particular long display messages requiring two or more PTMP broadcast messages, on personal cellular telecommunications devices. The present invention is achieved by the provision of a pseudo-header including a display message identifier, a PTMP broadcast message field for specifying the number P≧1 of PTMP broadcast messages to transport an entire display message, and a PTMP broadcast message counter Q=(1, 2, . . . , P−1, P) for specifying the location of a PTMP broadcast message in that sequence. A pseudo-header may alternatively enable concatenation of two or more macromessages into a supermacromessage.

In Applicant's WO 01/52558 A2 entitled "Method for Operating a Cellular Telecommunications Network, and Method for Operating a Personal Cellular Telecommunications Device" and WO 01/52572 A1 entitled "Method for Operating a Cellular Telecommunications Network", the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference, there is illustrated and described a screen saver application for displaying display messages on personal cellular telecommunications devices in a screen saver like manner, namely, their display is temporarily interrupted during, say, a voice call, an Internet session, and the like. The display messages are preferably so-called "interactive display messages" in the sense that a subscriber can automatically activate a Point-To-Point (PTP) transmission response mechanism from a dedicated response means integrally provided in a display message. Interactive display messages are preferably transmitted over a Point-To-MultiPoint (PTMP) transmission capability as opposed to over a PTP transmission capability, thereby rendering an interactive cellular broadcasting service.
ETSI's GSM 03.41 standard entitled "Technical Realization of Cellular Broadcast Service", the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference, standardizes a so-called "macromessage" constituted by between one and 15 broadcast messages each having a 82 byte payload for transporting long display messages of up to a maximum of 1230 bytes. This upper limit of 15 broadcast messages is due to the provisioning of only 4 bits for the purpose of specifying the number of pages in a macromessage i.e. 1111. Despite the inclusion of the macromessage feature since the inception of the GSM 03.41 standard, neither do many installed GSM Cell Broadcast Controllers (CBCs) employed for parsing an display message into broadcast messages support the macromessage feature, nor do many Base Station Controllers (BSCs) for transmitting the broadcast messages and nor do many GSM personal cellular telecommunications devices. Looking to the future, assuming that all installed CBCs, BSCs and devices support the macromessage capability, the maximum 1230 byte payload of a macromessage may be insufficient to transport certain bandwidth heavy display messages, for example, including video content.

Concatenated Point-To-MultiPoint (PTMP) broadcast messages displaying display messages in cellular phones


According to one aspect of the invention, disclosed herein is a method of controlling a visual presentation of data to a viewer, the presentation comprising a plurality of display configuration states through which data content is presented to a viewer, the presentation being responsive to transition input to transition from a current display configuration state to a next display configuration state, the method comprising: (1) providing a plurality of transition effects; (2) for each pair of potentially successive display configuration states, associating a transition effect therewith; (3) receiving transition input indicative to transition from a current display configuration state to a next display configuration state, the transition defining a pair of successive display configuration states; and (4) during the transition from the current display configuration state to the next display configuration state, presenting to the viewer the transition effect associated with the defined pair of successive display configuration states. According to another aspect of the invention, disclosed herein is a method of controlling a visual presentation of data to a viewer, the presentation comprising a plurality of display configuration states through which data content is presented to the viewer, the method comprising: (1) providing a plurality of style guides, each style guide having a plurality of display configuration states corresponding thereto; (2) for each style guide, associating each of its corresponding display configuration states with a plurality of counterpart display configuration states in the other style guides; (3) for a presentation having a previously-defined style guide, selecting a different style guide therefor; and (4) replacing the presentation's display configuration states with their counterparts in the different style guide.

Communication tools that control the visual presentation of data from a presenter to a viewer are known in the art. These communication tools exist in a wide variety of applications, including multimedia slideshow presentations, videoconferences, video phone calls, and video productions—both professional and amateur.
One problem with currently available technology in this field is the skillset required to create high-quality "professional" presentations. Aesthetics play an important role in the effectiveness of such presentations, to capture and hold the viewer's interest. In professional data presentations such as news programs seen on television, highly skilled, trained directors are required to determine and implement the appropriate transition effects displayed to a viewer when the presentation transitions from one camera view to another. Examples of camera views from transitions are made include a close-up of the person reading the news, a view of the person reading the news along with an over the shoulder graphic, a view of the person reading the news with a scrolling text box at the bottom of the screen, a full screen shot of a video clip, and the like. Examples of available transition effects include wipes, dissolves, fades, focuses, flying planes, pushes, pulls, cuts, and the like. An improper selection of the type and timing of the transition effect to be used during a given transition may inadvertently detract from the presentation, giving it an amateurish or unprofessional appearance. Thus, it is important that appropriate transition effects be implemented.
In today's world, many people untrained in the art of directing data presentations are called upon to create and give presentations to audiences of varying sizes. Because it is highly unlikely that such persons have sufficient training or skill so as to make appropriate decisions required to properly implement transition effects, their presentations are unknowingly at risk and might fail for reasons unrelated to the presentation's substantive content. To ensure that the audience focuses on the message of the presentation and not on its production quality, and to possibly even impress the audience with a highly professional production quality, it is important that such unskilled/untrained users have access to a presentation tool that will provide the functionality of a trained and intelligent director.
As an example of a shortcoming indigenous to present prior art multimedia slideshow applications, it is often the case that during a slideshow the presenter will deviate from a planned sequence of slides. With prior art systems, transition effects are pre-selected for the predetermined slide sequence (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,640,522, the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference). In such systems, and when the slides are presented out of sequence, either an inappropriate transition effect is displayed (e.g., when the planned transition is from slide 5 to slide 6 with transition effect E to be displayed therebetween, but instead the presenter transitions in an unplanned sequence from slide 5 back to slide 2, transition effect E is displayed even though it is not aesthetically congruous with a slide 5 to slide 2 transition) or an unaesthetic default transition effect is used (e.g., a straight cut). When such "unplanned" and unaesthetic transition effects are displayed during a presentation, especially in the middle of a presentation incorporating aesthetic transitions, the audience's attention often will shift to the inappropriate and many times disruptive transition effect and away from the presenter's message.
Another issue affecting the quality of a presentation is the presentation's style. Style is a wide-ranging concept that encompasses aspects such as the color, shape, and font of any graphical elements displayed during the presentation. It has been found to be desirable for a person creating a presentation to be able to globally define the presentation's style without concerning himself/herself with whether each piece of a presentation fits in with an overall desired style. Further, it has also been found to be desirable to permit the global change of a presentation's style after it or even a part of it has already been created.
For example, if a presenter were to deliver the same presentation to two different audiences that would have two different styles associated therewith (for example, a presentation given to an audience of 7 year old girls and then given to an audience of 7 year old boys), it highly desirable that the presenter be able to globally change the presentation style without being required to laboriously and individually enter stylistic changes to each piece of the presentation.

Method and apparatus for controlling the visual presentation of data


An imaging device capable of phase difference focus detection is described. The imaging device includes a plurality of pixels that are 2-dimensionally arranged and which receive image light. At least one pixel of the plurality of pixels comprises: a micro lens; a plurality of photoelectric conversion units, which are biased around an optical axis of the micro lens; and a control unit, which limits generation of electrons photoelectrically converted at at least one photoelectric conversion unit of the plurality of photoelectric conversion units.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to an imaging sensor, and more particularly, to an imaging sensor capable of detecting a phase difference of focus.
2. Related Art
In a digital photographing apparatus, such as a camera or a camcorder, it is desirable to precisely set focus on an object to capture a clear still image or a clear moving picture. Examples of auto focus (AF) adjusting mechanisms for automatically adjusting focus include a contrast AF and a phase difference AF.
The contrast AF is a mechanism for acquiring contrast values with respect to image signals that are generated by an imaging sensor while position of a focus lens is being changed and moving the focus lens to a position corresponding to the peak contrast value.
The phase difference AF is a mechanism that employs a separate sensing device and detects a focal point based on phase difference of lights applied to the sensing device.
The phase difference AF is generally faster and more precise than the contrast AF. However, the phase difference AF requires a mirror for detecting a focal point, thereby increasing a size of a photographing device employing the phase difference AF. Furthermore, it may be difficult to detect a focal point while images are successively being captured.
Therefore, to resolve the problem, a method of performing phase difference AF without a mirror by arranging phase difference detecting pixels capable of performing phase difference AF at an imaging sensor has been introduced.
However, outputs of phase difference pixels arranged between imaging pixels significantly differ from those of the remaining pixels. Therefore, the phase difference pixels are considered as defective pixels in an output image and causes deterioration of captured images. The same problem may occur even if phase difference detecting pixels are used as imaging pixels.

Imaging sensor capable of phase difference focus detection


A harmonics survey system includes an induction coil arranged so as to cross over a magnetic flux generated by a current passing a distribution line to be surveyed and adapted to detect a detection current caused by an electro motive force in proportion to the current passing the distribution line, a harmonics detection unit operatively connected to the induction coil and adapted to detect a fundamental component and a harmonic component of the detection current detected by the induction coil, a harmonic current content operation unit for operating the harmonic current content of the harmonic component with respect to the fundamental component detected by the harmonic detection unit, and an indication unit for indicating the harmonic current content operated by the harmonic current operation unit.

The present invention relates to a harmonics survey system for surveying harmonics superimposed to a power transmission (distribution) line particularly capable of surveying the harmonics in an optional power transmission line in a non-contact manner.
In a known art, there is provided a system, as such harmonic survey system, for surveying harmonics in accordance with a detected result of a current sensor such as shown in FIG. 4 as a schematic block diagram of a known harmonics survey system.
In the harmonics survey system of FIG. 4, a current transformer CT for an instrument is disposed to a distribution line 100 of a receive-side transformer 300, and harmonics superimposed to the distribution line 100 is detected by a harmonics detection circuit 120 in accordance with a value detected by the current transformer CT. The harmonics detection circuit 120 is adapted to operate and then detect current values of respective degrees or orders of the harmonics, and concrete current values corresponding to the harmonics of the respective degrees are displayed by a display section.
The harmonics detection circuit 120 can detect the harmonic through a fast Fourier transform process. In such case, in a primary stage of the fast Fourier transform process, the current detected by the current transformer CT is sampled with a predetermined sampling frequency to thereby convert the current to a digital signal.
Further, another system for preventing a harmonic fault is also disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open (KOKAI) Publication No. SHO 61-199420, which will be shown in FIG. 5.
With reference to FIG. 5, the condenser system as a conventional harmonics survey system is provided with condensers C1, C2 and C3 and linear reactors L1, L2 and L3 connected in series to the condensers C1, C2 and C3, respectively, and also provided with induction coils L10, L20 and L30 magnetically coupled with the linear reactors L1, L2 and L3, respectively. These induction coils L10, L20 and L30 have output ends to which outputs from harmonics detection circuits 121, 122 and 123 composed of synchronizing circuits synchronized with the coils to be detected are applied as harmonics detection signals. The condensers C1, C2 and C3 are also connected with branch lines 110R, 110S and 110T branched from distribution lines 100R, 100S and 100T of a power supply system, respectively, thus constituting the series circuits together with the condensers C1, C2 and C3 and the linear reactors L1, L2 and L3. A breaker 10 is interposed between the branch lines 110R, 110S and 110T and the distribution lines 100R, 100S and 100T so as to establish an electrical connection therebetween and separate them from each other.
The harmonics detection circuits 121, 122 and 123 connected to the output ends of the induction coils L10, L20 and L30 magnetically coupled with main coils of the linear reactors L1, L2 and L3 are composed of tuning (synchronizing) circuits having tuning characteristics having detection objects of harmonic orders such as fifth harmonics or seventh harmonics, and outputs generated upon the detection of such harmonics are utilized as harmonics detection signals. An alarm 130 operated in response to the harmonics detection signal serves to separate the breaker 110 in response to an alarming operation. A buzzer, lamp or other display means may be utilized in substitution for the alarm 130 or in combination therewith. Further, the harmonics detection circuits 121, 122 and 123 may be accommodated in a container or disposed outside thereof.
In general, electric current flowing the main circuits of the linear reactors L1, L2 and L3 of the characters mentioned above has a linearly proportional relationship to intensity of a leakage magnetic field, and accordingly, voltages proportional to the harmonic current flowing the main coils are outputted to the induction coils L10, L20 and L30 magnetically coupled with the main circuits of the linear reactors L1, L2 and L3 through the leakage magnetic field.
When the harmonic current of the detection objective order flows to the linear reactors L1, L2 and L3, the induction coils L10, L20 and L30 generate voltages in proportion to the harmonic current, and these voltages are detected by the harmonics detection circuits 121, 122 and 123 to thereby generate the harmonics detection signals. In response to these signals, since the alarm 130 is operated, it is known that the harmonic current flows into the condensers C1, C2 and C3 as condenser system. In response to the operation of the alarm 130, the breaker 110 is separated or this fact may be displayed on a display means.
The harmonics detection circuits 121, 122 and 123 may have small energization power even if it serves to energize only the alarm 130, and accordingly, the induction coils L10, L20 and L30 having small capacities may be also utilized, so that no influence is applied to magnetic fluxes caused by the linear reactors L1, L2 and L3.
As mentioned above, according to the conventional harmonics survey system, there can be surveyed only the fact whether the harmonics at portions of the distribution lines 100, 100R, 100S and 100T, to which the current transformer CT for an instrument or induction coils L10, L20 and L30 are connected, are superimposed or not, and it is impossible to survey the existence (presence) of the harmonics at the other portions of these distribution lines to which current transformer CT or induction coils are not connected, providing a problem.
Furthermore, in the conventional harmonics survey system, since the current values are obtained and displayed every time of the respective orders of the harmonics, it is required to consider influences to respective equipments or elements every time of the respective orders, also providing a problem of difficulty in the total judgement. Concretely, even in a case where the current values of the harmonics of the respective orders are within ranges of preset allowable values, when the harmonics of the respective orders totally act, significant influence will be given to, for example, a high pressure phase advance condenser or linear reactor, resulting in an occurrence of harmonic fault.
Further, in any conventional harmonics survey system mentioned above, in order to survey the harmonics at optional portions other than the specified or predetermined portions of the distribution lines 100, 100R, 100S and 100T, it is necessary to survey the harmonics through direct or indirect contact to the distribution lines, thus being dangerous for workers particularly in a case of high voltage current.


Recovery systems and methods of the present invention include circuitry that transfers energy from an input to an output with reduced power dissipation. A synchronous switching regulator is one application for the recovery system of the present invention. An inductor may be used in a synchronous switching regulator to reduce power dissipation caused by reverse recovery current that flows through the body diode of the synchronous switching transistor when the synchronous switching transistor turns OFF. Energy in the inductor may be transferred back to the input or output capacitor of the switching regulator through a recovery system of the present invention. The recovery circuit of the present invention provides an efficient method for intercepting energy in the inductor, and presenting power to a recovery switcher in a manner that allows the recovery switcher to transfer the energy into the input or output capacitor of the switching regulator efficiently.

This invention relates to circuitry and methods for improving the efficiency of a switching regulator. More specifically, this invention relates to circuitry and methods that recover energy that would otherwise be lost.
A recovery switcher is a switching regulator circuit that transfers energy from an input voltage source to an output voltage through an inductor. A recovery switcher typically has a low input impedance and a high output impedance. A recovery switcher regulates its input voltage, but it does not regulate its output voltage as its primary function.
It would therefore be desirable to provide a more efficient recovery switcher.
It would also be desirable to provide a recovery system that is highly efficiency.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a more efficient recovery switcher.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a recovery system that is highly efficient.
The energy recovery system of the present invention includes circuitry that transfers energy from an inductor to a capacitor with reduced power dissipation. A synchronous switching regulator is one application for the recovery system of the present invention. In a synchronous switching regulator, an inductor coupled in the commutation path of the body diode of the synchronous switching transistor may be used to reduce power dissipation caused by reverse recovery current that flows through the body diode of the synchronous switching transistor when the synchronous switching transistor turns OFF.
Energy in the inductor may be transferred back to an input capacitor or to an output capacitor of the switching regulator through a recovery system of the present invention. The recovery circuit of the present invention provides an efficient method for intercepting energy in the inductor, and presenting power to a recovery switcher in a manner that allows the recovery switcher to transfer the energy to the input or output capacitor of the switching regulator efficiently.
The recovery system of the present invention may also be used in a non-synchronous switching regulator. The recovery circuit of the present invention is coupled to an inductor. The inductor is coupled in the commutation path of a diode in the non-synchronous switching regulator. The inductor reduces the reverse recovery current that flows through the diode. The recovery circuit transfers energy from the inductor to the input or output capacitor of the switching regulator.

Circuitry for improving the efficiency of a switching regulator by reducing reverse recovery current


A keyboard having a lifting lid and a replaceable panel includes a keyboard body, a see-through upper lid made from a transparent or translucent material to cover the keyboard body and an ornamental panel sandwiched between the keyboard body and the upper lid on a keyboard non-operation zone. Users can replace a desired ornamental panel whenever desired to enhance the total aesthetic appealing of the keyboard body.

Conventional keyboards, based on the profile, may be categorized as follow:
1. Standard keyboard: It is rectangular with parallel sides and often gives people a plain and dull impression.
2. Ergonomic keyboard: It has a slightly curved profile and bracing boards on the lateral sides of the keyboard to extend the width of the keyboard to support user's wrists.
3. Separated keyboard: The keyboard is divided into two portions.
4. Wireless keyboard: It is free from the constraint of the transmission line and operable within a selected range.
In terms of functions, the present keyboard can be used to issue commands or input data to the computer. Some keyboards have a touch panel, mouse wheel, hot key, or the like. But the profile does not change very much. Some have varying colors on the outer frame or button keys. Some others have a patterned plastic membrane covering the outer frame. The profile of the outer frame does not have much alteration except the color on the surface. Hence they generally look plain and dull, and offer little feature to differentiate with other keyboards. It is a drawback and cannot meet user's requirement that demands novelty and is fashion-conscious.

Keyboard having a lifting lid and a replaceable panel