An optical control element is disclosed that can be made small and has a low loss, and is able to provide group speed control and wavelength dispersion of short light pulses. The optical control element is formed from a photonic crystal, and includes a first portion having a first refraction index in the photonic crystal, a second portion having a second refraction index lower than the first refraction index, and a refraction-index-distributed type defect wave guide. A difference effective refraction indexes between the first portion and the second portion near the refraction-index-distributed type defect wave guide, changing continuously or stepwise along a wave guiding direction of the refraction-index-distributed type defect wave guide.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical control element using a photonic crystal, and more particularly, relates to an optical control element that is able to be made compact, has high performance, and can be used in high speed/capacity optical communication and high speed optical signal processing in the field of optical transmission associated with a data transmission speed over 100 Gbps.
2. Description of the Related Art
When performing high speed and high capacity optical communication and high speed optical signal processing, optical signal pulses may spread, or the optical signals may arrive at different timings when being transmitted in a fiber, that is, dispersion or distortion occurs. This problem prevents high speed communication. To solve this problem, a device is needed for controlling the dispersion and a group speed delay of the optical pulses, which determine the optical signal arrival timing. In the related art, such devices have been developed, which utilize an optical fiber of peculiar dispersion properties. In this kind of device, light propagates in the optical fiber of peculiar dispersion property while the group delay is adjusted appropriately.
However, in the above device, a long optical fiber has to be used; for this reason, the optical control element becomes large in size, and has a low degree of freedom in the dispersion property. Due to this, it is difficult to reduce the size of the optical control device and increase the degree of integration, which are required for high level signal processing or multiple lines parallel processing.
Concerning dispersion compensation, study has been made to enable precise dispersion control and dispersion compensation by utilizing a fiber grating of a chirped structure. However, in order to achieve dispersion compensation, an optical fiber of an order of meters has to be used, hence it is difficult to reduce the size of the optical control device and increase the degree of integration. Further, because in a device including the chirped structure fiber grating, the incident light has to be reflected for use, and a circulator is needed to obtain high efficiency, hence, it is difficult to reduce the size of the optical control device and increase the degree of integration.
To solve these problems, recently and in the continuing years, dispersion or group speed delay effect given by a photonic crystal is attracting attention. In the photonic crystal, or in an optical wave guide with line defects introduced (usually referred to as a "defect wave guide"), the dispersion property, that is, a relation between the frequency and the wave number, shows some peculiarities.
For example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2000-121987 (referred to as "reference 1" hereinafter), and Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2000-224109 (referred to as "reference 2" hereinafter), disclose a dispersion compensation device using the photonic crystal.
However, in the dispersion compensation devices disclosed in reference 1 and reference 2, because the light propagating in the photonic crystal is not confined inside the wave guide structure, the dispersion compensation devices exhibit strong angular dependence, and have problems in reliability. Further, it is difficult to reduce the size of the dispersion compensation devices. For these reasons, these dispersion compensation devices disclosed in reference 1 and reference 2 cannot be put into practical use.
On the other hand, in the defect wave guide, it is theoretically predicted that the group speed of the light becomes zero at the edge of a Brillouin zone, which is also referred to as "band edge", and in fact, a group speed as low as 1/90 of the speed of light in a vacuum has been observed at the band edge. However, the defect wave guide usually has very large wavelength dispersion, hence, although the group speed can be decreased when short pulses of light having definite spectral widths are input, because of the large wavelength dispersion, the pulses greatly expand. For this reason, it is difficult to obtain a device for dispersion control and group speed control by using such a simple defect wave guide.
On the other hand, in a structure referred to as a "coupled defect wave guide", in which discrete dot-defects are arranged in sequence, because relatively large dispersion can be obtained in a relatively large area, and the value of the dispersion is higher than the dispersion of an optical fiber by about six orders of magnitude, the length of a fiber dispersion compensation device can be reduced from a few km due to the conventional techniques to a few mm.
For example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2002-333536 (referred to as "reference 3" hereinafter) discloses such a dispersion compensation device using the coupled defect wave guide.
FIGS. 40A through 40C are views of the conventional dispersion compensation device using the coupled defect wave guide as disclosed in reference 3.
As illustrated in FIGS. 40A through 40C, the dispersion compensation device includes a usual wave guide and a coupled-defect type dispersion compensation wave guide. Although it is structure-dependent, the dispersion compensation wave guide is calculated to be 20 ps/nm/mm.
However, in a slab type photonic crystal, which has been studied long before and is easy to be fabricated, if the coupled defect wave guide is formed, the period of the coupled defect wave guide in the propagation direction of the light is long, hence it is difficult to avoid a light leakage condition, known as "light-cone", consequently, a large loss of light occurs. Due to this, the photonic crystal cannot be put into practical use at all.
On the other hand, in recent years and continuing, it is proposed to use a multi-layer one-dimensional periodic structure to render light to propagate in a direction perpendicular to the films of the multi-layer structure, so as to fabricate a dispersion control device under the same principle as the coupled defect wave guide. However, in this method, the light propagates in the space but not in a wave guide, so it is difficult to reduce the size of the device and increase the degree of integration.
In contrast, as described in the Extended Abstracts, the 64th Autumn Meeting, 2003, The Japan Society of Applied Physics, p 947, 1pZM14, and in the Extended Abstracts, the 50th Spring Meeting, 2003, The Japan Society of Applied Physics, p 1130, 28pYN1, inventors of the present invention have proposed a novel chirped photonic crystal, in which the diameter of holes in a line defect wave guide is arranged to change gradually. This structure is investigated theoretically and experimentally to demonstrate that at a specific propagation frequency, the group speed becomes zero at the band edge, and it is published that it is possible to perform dispersion control and group speed control.
However, when short light pulses are input, specific dispersive wavelength components are localized in some locations, such as the holes, and because of this, the waveform of reflected light pulses spreads or distorts.


An inkjet printhead chip includes a substrate, transistors, isolation structures, a dielectric layer, a resistive layer and conductive sections. Each transistor includes a gate, a source, a drain and a gate oxide disposed between the gate and the substrate. The isolation structures are on the substrate surface and isolate the transistors. The dielectric layer covers the transistors and the isolation structures, and has openings exposed the source and the drain. Several heating regions are in the resistive layer that is on the dielectric layer. In the conductive sections, the first conductive section is on the resistive layer and exposes the heating regions for forming several heating devices. Each heating device has resistance less than 95 ohm and power density less than 2 GW/m2; the second conductive section and the third conductive section are electrically coupled to the drain and the source through the openings of the dielectric layer respectively.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to an inkjet printhead chip. More particularly, the present invention relates to an inkjet printhead chip with transistor drivers.
2. Description of Related Art
With the rapid development in the electronic industry, many high-tech products are produced in recent years. In particular, there is a major revolution in the design of printers, from the pin-activated and monochromatic laser printing to color inkjet and color laser printing. The two major methods used by a conventional inkjet printer for producing ink jets are the piezoelectric and thermal bubble techniques. One major aspect of the techniques is to target jets of ink onto a recording medium such as a paper so that words, images, or patterns are formed on the surface of the recording medium. In the piezoelectric jetting technique, the actuator is a piezoelectric material layer. When a voltage is applied to the piezoelectric material, the piezoelectric layer deforms to pressurize the ink within an ink chamber so that a jet of ink is forced out from the ink chamber via an ink nozzle. In the thermal bubble jetting technique, a small quantity of ink is rapidly vaporized by a heater (resistor) to generate a sudden increase of pressure in the ink so that a droplet of ink is squeezed out from an ink chamber via an ink nozzle.
FIG. 1 is a plan view, schematically illustrating a conventional inkjet printhead. Referring to FIG. 1, the conventional inkjet printhead mainly has an inkjet printhead chip 100 with an ink supply slot 102, a chamber layer (also called dry film layer) 104, a heating device (heater) 106 and a nozzle plate 110 with nozzle 108. The ink supply slot 102 has an elongated shape (but can also be in other shapes such as an elliptical or circular shape) and is formed through the entire inkjet printhead chip 100. The heating device 106 and the chamber layer 104 are formed over the inkjet printhead chip 100. The chamber layer 104 usually has a plurality of ink flow channels 112 and an ink chambers 120 (only one of them is shown in FIG. 1). The ink chamber 120 exposes the heating device 106 and communicates with the ink supply slot 102 via the ink flow channels 112 separated optionally by separators 114. The nozzle plate 110 is positioned above the chamber layer 104 and has a plurality of nozzles (only one of them is shown in FIG. 1). The nozzle 108 of the nozzle plate 110 is formed through the entire thickness of the nozzle plate 110, and is positioned above the corresponding heating device 106.
In addition, the drivers and heating devices are integrated onto the inkjet printhead chip in some inkjet cartridges or printers. However, how to reduce the area of the chip while maintaining its performance has been one of the issues considered by the persons skilled in the art.

International United Technology Co., Ltd.


A DVD player 11 reads disc control information recorded on a DVD medium M and causes a display 12 to display a start menu screen, thereby prompting a viewer to perform authentication (1). The viewer uses a remote controller 11a to display a first viewer authentication screen (2). Then, an acquisition code is indicated and an input of a password is requested. Here, the viewer uses a mobile telephone 13 to access the website indicated by an URL shown on the first viewer authentication screen (substantially, a server computer 2) and inputs a user ID and an acquisition code, thereby acquiring a password required for viewing the content of the DVD medium M ((3) and (4)). The viewer inputs the acquired password into the first viewer authentication screen (5). While a program recorded on the DVD medium M is executed, the DVD player 11 authenticates the password which has been input. If the password is judged to be valid, reproduction of the specified content is started.

The present invention relates to a viewing management method of a specified content recorded on an information recording medium such as a DVD.
DVD is a high capacity recording medium (media) that is currently becoming mainstream, and is used for recording audio/visual contents data such as computer programs and movies. A DVD-ROM is a playback-only disk, and DVD-Video and DVD-Audio are prescribed as the application formats thereof. A DVD-Video is a video format prescribed for use in recording audio/visual contents.
In addition to being able to record contents data such as actual images and sounds, a DVD-Video is able to record control information for realizing the viewing regulation function or special reproduction function. For example, with parental reproduction, which is one of the viewing regulation functions, a parental level is set according to age in consideration of the nature of the content. Further, DVD-Video is prescribed with a region code showing the areas where such content can be reproduced, and reproduction is permitted only when the region codes of the drive device, video reproduction device (player) and media all coincide.

Method for managing viewing of a particular content recorded on an information recording medium


A multi-resolution filter is provided that may be used to attenuate aliasing artifacts in a digital input signal, such as a digital image acquired by a digital camera. The multi-resolution filter reduces the resolution of the digital input signal and filters the reduced resolution signal using a median filter. The output of the median filter is provided to an interpolation filter, which increases the resolution of the median filter's output to produce a digital output signal in which aliasing artifacts from the digital input signal have been attenuated. The multi-resolution filter may be advantageously applied to the chrominance channels of digital images to attenuate aliasing artifacts without undesirably blurring sharp luminance and color boundaries in the digital image. Furthermore, the computational expense associated with the median filter is diminished by reducing the resolution of the digital input signal before filtering it using the median filter.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to digital signal processing and, more particularly, to attenuation of aliasing artifacts in digital images.
2. Related Art
A conventional digital image may be represented as a two-dimensional array of pixels. Each pixel within the digital image may be uniquely identified by its column and row coordinates, which are typically numbered sequentially beginning with zero. For example, the upper-leftmost pixel of a digital image is typically specified by the coordinates (0,0) and, more generally, a pixel at column c and row r is specified by coordinates (c, r). Although a variety of conventional coordinate schemes exist, the coordinate scheme just described will be used herein for purposes of example.
Each pixel in a digital image has a value that specifies the color of the pixel. For example, in a monochrome (black-and-white) image, the value of each pixel may be either one of two possible values (such as zero and one), indicating whether the pixel is black or white. The values of pixels in a grayscale digital image are typically limited to a predetermined range of values corresponding to shades of gray ranging from pure black to pure white. For example, pixel values in a grayscale digital image may be limited to the range of 0–255, where zero represents black, 255 represents white, and intermediate values represent intermediate shades of gray.
In a color digital image, the value of each pixel corresponds to the pixel's color. The fact that the human eye has three different kinds of cones for sensing color enables us to represent all possible colors in a three-dimensional color space. A variety of three-dimensional color spaces can be employed to represent the same color. The axes of these various color spaces differ in the attributes of color that they represent. For example, one conventional class of color spaces is the red-green-blue (RGB) class of color spaces, in which the three axes correspond to red, green, and blue color components. Each three-dimensional coordinate within an RGB color space corresponds to a particular combination of red, green, and blue color components that uniquely specify a color within the color space. Another similar class of color spaces is the cyan-magenta-yellow class of color spaces, in which the three axes correspond to cyan, magenta, and yellow color components. Another class of color spaces represent the pixel's color in terms of luminance and chrominance components. The luminance component is related to the intensity or brightness of a pixel. This is the component that is captured on a black and white photograph or is displayed on a black and white TV. The two-dimensional space that is orthogonal to the luminance is spanned by the chrominance components. These components capture the color of the pixel. These two-dimensional chrominance spaces can be represented in either polar or Cartesian coordinates. When polar coordinates are used, the angle captures the hue of the color and the distance from the origin captures the saturation of the color. Examples of such color spaces are hue-saturation-brightness (HSB) and hue-lightness-saturation (HLS). Examples of standard color spaces in which the chrominance components are represented in a Cartesian coordinate system are LAB and YIQ.
In a color digital image represented according to a three-dimensional color space, such as an RGB color space, the value of each pixel includes three color components, each of which corresponds to a particular axis (e.g., the red, green, or blue axis) in the color space. Color component values are typically limited to integral amounts within a predetermined range, such as 0–255. For example, the red, green, and blue components of a pixel's color value may each be stored in a separate byte having a range of 0–255. The combination of red, green, and blue color component values for a particular pixel specify the coordinates of a point within the RGB space, and thereby specify the pixel's color. For example, a pixel having a red value of 127, a green value of 0, and a blue value of 255 specifies the color at coordinate (127, 0, 255) within the corresponding RGB color space. Typically, the value of a color component is proportional to the contribution of that color component to the color of the pixel. For example, a color having a large red component and small green and blue components will typically be rendered as predominantly red. Other color spaces may be encoded similarly. A variety of conventional techniques may be used for rendering a digital image on an output device such as a computer monitor or printer using appropriate colors represented according to a variety of color spaces.
Conventional digital cameras and other digital image acquisition devices may be used to acquire digital images from an image source, such as a printed page or a three-dimensional scene, and store the acquired image in a digital form as described above. For example, referring to FIG. 1, a conventional digital image acquisition system 100 includes a digital image capture system 102 that produces a captured digital image 104 from an original image 106. The original image 106 may be any source from which an image may be captured, such as a photograph, printed page, or real-life three-dimensional scene. The digital image capture system 102 (which may, for example, be a conventional digital camera), includes a conventional image acquisition device 108, such as a charge-coupled device (CCD) or complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) imager.
The image acquisition device 108 typically samples only a single color component (such as red, green, or blue) for each pixel in the captured digital image 104. This may be accomplished, for example, by superimposing a color filter pattern on the image acquisition device 108 so that only one color component (e.g., red, green, or blue) is sampled for each pixel in the captured digital image 104. As described in commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 4,663,655 to Freeman, entitled "Method and Apparatus for Reconstructing Missing Color Samples," a color recovery algorithm 110 may be provided to recover the color components that are not sampled by the image acquisition device 108. The output of the image acquisition device 108 is provided to the color recovery algorithm 110 to provide the missing color components at each pixel. For example, if only the red component of a particular pixel was captured by the image acquisition device 108, the color recovery algorithm 108 attempts to provide the missing blue and green components for the pixel.
Before describing the digital image acquisition system of FIG. 1 in more detail, the phenomenon of aliasing will be briefly described. Consider an analog signal whose highest-frequency component has a frequency of f0. As is well known to those of ordinary skill in the art, conversion of the analog signal into a digital signal by an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) typically involves sampling the analog signal at a frequency f1 and quantizing the resulting samples. According to the Nyquist Theorem, accurate reconstruction of the original analog signal from the digital signal requires that the sampling frequency f1 used by the ADC be greater than twice f0. This minimum frequency (2f0) required for accurate reconstruction of the original analog signal is commonly referred to as the Nyquist frequency or Nyquist rate.
If the original analog signal is sampled at a frequency lower than the Nyquist frequency, the reconstructed analog signal will contain signal components that were not present in the original analog signal. This phenomenon is referred to as aliasing, and the spurious signal components introduced by aliasing are referred to as aliasing artifacts.
Spurious low frequency sinusoidal signal components in the chrominance channel of the digital captured image 104 are one example of aliasing artifacts that may appear in the captured digital image 104. Such low-frequency sinusoidal components are typically produced by high frequencies in the original image 106 that are close to the Nyquist frequency and that are not sufficiently attenuated by an optical anti-aliasing filter 114 (described in more detail below). This kind of aliasing artifact typically manifests itself visually in the captured digital image 104 as spurious periodic color patterns that were not present in the original image 106.
A second kind of aliasing artifact may appear in the captured digital image 104 when a region of the original image 106 containing a sharp luminance boundary (such as black and white text) is sampled by the image acquisition device 108. Such sampling may introduce a phase difference between the red, green, and blue color components that appears as a spike or impulse in the chrominance channel of the captured digital image 104. This spike manifests itself visually in the captured digital image 104 as spurious color (also known as color fringes) in the vicinity of the region that contained the sharp luminance boundary in the original image 106.
Referring again to FIG. 1, the optical anti-aliasing filter 114 is typically provided between the original image 106 and the image acquisition device 108 in an attempt to attenuate aliasing artifacts such as those described above. The optical anti-aliasing filter 114 blurs the original image 106, such as by shifting the original image 106 by a small amount and superimposing the shifted image onto the original image 106 for delivery to the image acquisition device 108. An ideal anti-aliasing filter would eliminate from the original image 106 all spatial frequencies that are above the Nyquist frequency of the color filter pattern used by the image acquisition device 108. Actual anti-aliasing filters, however, typically only attenuate super-Nyquist signal components to varying degrees.
The visual effect of the optical anti-aliasing filter 114 is to blur the original image 106 for delivery to the image acquisition device 108. Conventional optical anti-aliasing filters are designed to zero the Nyquist frequency of the color filter pattern in the original image. However, these filters do not completely eliminate super-Nyquist frequencies because of the side-lobes that are present in their frequency response. Furthermore, the sub-Nyquist frequencies are also attenuated in this process, resulting in blurring in the captured image 104 that has aliasing artifacts. To reduce the hit in sharpness, some digital cameras employ optical anti-aliasing filters that cause less blur by expanding the filter's pass band beyond the Nyquist frequency. Although such filters produce less blur, they also cannot effectively attenuate super-Nyquist frequencies. When conventional color recovery algorithms are applied to anti-aliased images produced using such filters, the aliasing artifacts in the captured digital image 104 manifest themselves as color fringes and other visual imperfections.
When conventional optical anti-aliasing filters are used, there is a marked tradeoff between image sharpness and presence of aliasing artifacts. Stronger anti-aliasing filters reduce more aliasing artifacts at the expense of image sharpness. Although weaker anti-aliasing filters maintain more image sharpness, they attenuate fewer aliasing artifacts.
What is needed, therefore, is a system for attenuating aliasing artifacts without significantly affecting image sharpness.


An implantable drug infusion device includes a pumphead assembly and a motor assembly operably connected to the pumphead assembly. The motor assembly is adjacent to and laterally offset from the pumphead assembly, advantageously reducing the overall height of the implantable drug infusion device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an implantable drug delivery device for infusing a therapeutic agent into an organism, and more particularly, relates to an improved orientation of the motor assembly and pumphead assembly of an implantable drug delivery device, providing a low profile.
2. Description of the Related Art
Implantable drug infusion devices are well known in the art. These devices typically include a medication reservoir within a generally cylindrical housing. Some form of fluid flow control is also provided to control or regulate the flow of fluid medication from the reservoir to the outlet of the device for delivery of the medication to the desired location in a body, usually through a catheter. These devices are used to provide patients with a variable and prolonged dosage or infusion of a drug or other therapeutic agent.
Active drug infusion devices feature a pump or a metering system to deliver the drug into the patient""s system. An example of such a drug infusion pump currently available is the Medtronic SynchroMed programmable pump. Additionally, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,692,147 (Duggan), 5,840,069 (Robinson), and 6,036,459 (Robinson), each assigned to Medtronic, Inc., Minneapolis, Minn., and each of which disclose a body-implantable electronic drug administration device comprising a peristaltic (roller) pump for metering a measured amount of drug in response to an electronic pulse generated by control circuitry associated within the device. These patents are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. Such pumps typically include a drug reservoir, a fill port, a peristaltic pump having a motor and a pumphead to pump out the drug from the reservoir, and a catheter port to transport the drug from the reservoir via the pump to a patient""s anatomy. The drug reservoir, fill port, peristaltic pump, and catheter port are generally held in a housing, or bulkhead. The bulkhead typically has a series of passages extending from the drug reservoir and through the peristaltic pump that lead to the catheter port, which is typically located on the side of the housing.
The prior art delivery devices, however, are limiting in that they are relatively large. When a relatively large drug delivery device is implanted in a patient""s body, the patient is obviously well aware of its presence and may, as a result, suffer considerable discomfort and anxiety. Additionally, large implantable devices are difficult to implant in children and small adults and require larger surgical incisions. Other problems can arise from the use of large implantable devices, including skin erosion.
In prior art implantable drug infusion devices, the bulkhead includes a pump chamber. A motor and corresponding drive assembly for operating the pump are positioned directly above the pump. One serious disadvantage of this configuration is the height of these devices. For example, the motor/pumphead in the SynchroMed device has an overall height of approximately 10.7 mm. Because implantable devices are typically implanted subcutaneously and may be implanted in a patient for many years, it has always been an objective in the design of such devices that they be as small and lightweight as possible. Size and weight are critical factors with respect to the physical and psychological comfort of the patient. Thus, it is desirable to provide an implantable drug infusion device having a smaller size, and, particularly, a reduced height and reduced total device volume.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an implantable drug infusion device which reduces or wholly overcomes some or all of the difficulties inherent in prior known devices. Particular objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art, that is, those who are knowledgeable or experienced in this field of technology, in view of the following disclosure of the invention and detailed description of preferred embodiments.
The present invention provides an implantable drug infusion device which features a pumphead assembly and a motor assembly for driving the pumphead assembly in a new configuration, in which the pumphead and motor assembly are adjacent to, and laterally offset from, one another, thereby reducing the overall height of the device.
In accordance with a first aspect, an implantable drug infusion device includes a pumphead assembly having a drive shaft; and a motor assembly operably connected to the drive shaft. The motor assembly is adjacent the pumphead assembly in a radial direction with respect to the drive shaft.
In accordance with another aspect, an implantable drug infusion device includes a bulkhead having a race, a first chamber and a second chamber. A pump tube has an inlet and an outlet and is positioned within the race. A pumphead assembly has a drive shaft and is located within the first chamber. A motor assembly is located within the second chamber and is operably connected to the drive shaft of the pumphead assembly. The motor assembly is adjacent the pumphead assembly in a radial direction with respect to the drive shaft.
From the foregoing disclosure, it will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, that is, those who are knowledgeable or experienced in this area of technology, that the present invention provides a significant advance over the prior art. Preferred embodiments of the implantable infusion device of the present invention can significantly reduce the overall height of the apparatus as compared to prior implantable pumps, and minimize discomfort to the patient. These and additional features and advantages of the invention disclosed here will be further understood from the following detailed disclosure of preferred embodiments.

Reduced height implantable drug infusion device


A panel form loudspeaker comprises a resonant multi-mode radiator (11) which in turn comprises a plurality of substantially concentric sub-panels (20, 21, 22, 23). A plurality of analogue drivers (10) drive the radiator (11), one or more of the drivers being operational at any time. A signal level measured at the input to the loudspeaker determines the operational state of each of the drivers (10). The concentric sub-panels may take various shapes and have different areas.

(1) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to loudspeakers and in particular to a panel form loudspeaker with improved dynamic range as compared to existing loudspeakers.
(2) Description of the Art
Conventional analogue loudspeakers have a limited dynamic range as compared to the available dynamic range of the latest digital recordings (for example 24 bit or DSD). Digital recordings use up to 24 bits and this implies a dynamic range of 141 dB. Digital loudspeakers, involving 2N single bit devices (with N=24, this number is 1.7×107) have been proposed—see WO96/31086. However, these suffer from obvious complexity and poor performance associated with the interaction effects between the different devices, which have discouraged widespread use of such systems. A further problem is the inability of most loudspeakers to reproduce realistic absolute levels of sound (up to say 120 dB at 1 m without distortion), so such digital loudspeakers cannot take full advantage of the 24-bit fidelity.
FIG. 1 shows a conventional loudspeaker system comprising three drivers/loudspeakers 1, 2, 3. A master signal 4 is split by filters 5, 6 and 7 (high pass filter, band pass filter and low pass filter respectively) into three frequency ranges, treble 5a which goes to speaker 1, mid-range 6a which goes to speaker 2 and bass 7a which goes to speaker 3. This represents a multiple speaker system in which there is a frequency split of the main master drive signal 4. The relationship between each of the drivers 1, 2 and 3 is fixed and is not dependent on the level of the master signal.
A conventional loudspeaker system, such as that shown in FIG. 1, will suffer distortion and other detrimental effects if the dynamic range supplied to any of the drivers/loudspeakers 1, 2 or 3 exceeds much more than 100 dB. Note, although conventional speakers can be constructed to have a dynamic range of approaching 120 dB they are very expensive. More usually the dynamic range of a conventional speaker is in the region of 100 dB.


A near field optical head includes: a slider provided so as to float from a surface of the magnetic recording medium by a predetermined distance, the slider having a facing surface faced to a surface of the magnetic recording medium; a tipped-shaped near field light generating element formed on the facing surface to have a bottom surface in contact with the facing surface, a top surface formed into a flat surface by cutting a top end of a cone or a pyramid, the flat surface being at a predetermined angle with the bottom surface, and a side surface connecting the bottom surface with the top surface for generating near field light from the top surface; a magnetic pole part formed from a main magnetic pole formed on the side surface and an auxiliary magnetic pole facing the main magnetic pole; a thin film-shaped magnetic circuit connected to the magnetic pole part; and a coil wound around the magnetic circuit.

Light record applying near field light has recently attracted attention as a method for achieving an increase in density of an optical recording apparatus. In accordance with the above, studied has been mounting of a near field light generation element to an optical head in an optical recording apparatus.
Development of optical recording apparatuses with high density has aggressively progressed in accordance with a recent explosive increase in quantity of information such as an image and a moving picture. It has been known that an optical disc represented by a CD (a compact disc) and a DVD (a digital versatile disc) has a limited recording density due to a limit of diffraction of light. In order to exceed the limit, proposed have been a method of using light with shorter wavelength and a method of using near field light. The optical recording apparatus using near field light uses a method of making light incident on an optical minute aperture whose size is less than the wavelength, letting near field light, which is slightly spread from the aperture, and a surface of a recording medium operate mutually and detecting permeated or reflected scattering light to read out a minute data mark. A smallest mark size capable of record and reproduction is not defined by a wavelength of the incident light but by a size of the opening. Accordingly, making a minuter aperture allows the density of record to be improved. The aperture is necessary to be close to the surface of a recording medium in an optical recording apparatus using the near field light. Further, the aperture is required to scan the surface of the recording medium at high speed for the purpose of achieving high data transmission speed.
A flying head method, which is used for conventional magnetic record, has been typically proposed in order to meet the above requirements. As described in Patent Reference 1, for example, studied has been a near field light generation element having an optical minute aperture whose size is less than the wavelength of the incident light, the near field light generation element for generating near field light by radiating the incident light on the minute aperture. The minute aperture is formed so that a part of an outline of the aperture would be crossing at substantially right angles with a polarization direction of the incident light. This causes only a part of the outline of the minute aperture, the part crossing at substantially right angles with the polarization direction of the incident light to generate near field light having high intensity, so that high resolution and high optical efficiency can be achieved.
Moreover, as described in Patent Reference 2, on a surface, which is faced to the recording medium, of an optically transparent floating slider, provided closely to each other are a columnar or square pillar-shaped pad provided for controlling a condition of contact or floating between the slider and the recording medium and a probe for generating near field light having a minute spot size. Further, the pad and the probe are made substantially equal in height from a surface facing the information recording medium of the slider while the height from the surface of the probe, the surface facing the information recording medium, is made lower than the height from the surface of the pad, the surface facing the information recording medium. This causes a near field optical head and the slider to be formed into one body, and thereby, allows a near field optical head having a small-sized, lightweight and simple structure, the near field optical head having similar performance to that of the head used in a conventional magnetic disc apparatus, to be obtained. Furthermore, relative speed between a recording medium and an optical head for recording and reproducing information can be increased since the slider is small in size and light in weight. In addition, it is possible to generate the near field light having a minute size by forming an optically opaque thin film, a metal thin film, for example, on the pad and the probe in the near field optical head or by forming a minute aperture, which has a structure that a material forming the probe is exposed at a top end part of the probe and in which a surface of a part where the probe is exposed is in a plane substantially same as a surface of the metal thin film.
Further, in a magnetic recording apparatus, density in recording information in a single recording surface has increased recently in accordance with an increase in capacity of a hard disc and such in a computer apparatus. Surface record density should be increased in order to increase recording capacity per a magnetic disc, for example. A recording area per a bit in a recording medium, however, decreases according to an increase in record density. A decrease in size of a bit causes potential energy of a record of information of a bit to get closer to heat energy in a room temperature. Accordingly, occurs a problem of heat demagnetization such as reversal and disappearance of recorded information due to thermal fluctuation and the like.
An in-plane recording system, which has been generally used, is a system of recording magnetism so that a direction of magnetization would be faced to an in-plane direction of a recording medium. In this system, however, easily occurs the above-mentioned disappearance of recorded information and such due to heat demagnetization. Accordingly, the system is changing to a perpendicular recording system in which a signal of magnetization is recorded in a direction vertical to a recording medium for the purpose of solving such a disadvantage. The perpendicular recording system is a system in which magnetic information is recorded in a recording medium according to the principle that a single magnetic pole is brought close. The recording magnetic field is faced to a direction substantially vertical to a recording film in accordance with the perpendicular recording system. Information recorded in a vertical magnetic field is easy to keep stability in energy since it is difficult for the pole N and the pole S to form a loop in a surface of the recording film. Accordingly, the perpendicular recording system has a more tolerance to heat demagnetization than the in-plane recording system.
Recent recording media, however, are required to have further higher density according to the need for recording and reproducing a greater quantity of information having higher density. In order to meet the requirement, introducing has been a recording medium having a great coercivity for the purpose of keeping influence of adjacent magnetic sections and thermal fluctuation to a minimum. This makes record of information in a recording medium difficult even in the case of the above-mentioned perpendicular recording system.
In order to solve such a disadvantage, proposed has been a hybrid magnetic recording system (a near field light assisted magnetic recording system) in which near field light is used to locally heat a magnetic section and temporarily reduce the coercivity while writing is carried out. The hybrid magnetic recording system is a system of using the near field light generated by an interaction between a minute area and an optical aperture (Patent Reference 3, for example) formed in the near field optical head into a size smaller than the wavelength. Using the minute optical aperture overstepping a limit of diffraction of light, namely, the near field optical head including the near field light generation element, as described above, allows an area in an area lower than a wavelength of light, the wavelength being a limit in a conventional optical system, to be heated. Accordingly, the density of a recording bit can be made higher than that of a conventional optical information recording and reproducing device.
In the case of using a magnetic recording head having such a structure, the near field light is generated while the recording magnetic field is simultaneously applied so that various kinds of information would be recorded in the recording medium. That is to say, cooperation between the near field light and the magnetic field enables record in a recording medium to be achieved.    Patent Reference 1: JP-A-2002-092276    Patent Reference 2: JP-A-11-265520    Patent Reference 3: WO-2007/074650

Near field optical head and information recording and reproducing device


According to a management method in an embodiment, in charging of a battery in each of a constant current mode and a constant power mode, it is determined that the battery is unusable based on a voltage of the battery dropping by a voltage threshold value or more from a starting time of dropping without increasing again to a voltage value at the starting time of dropping. In the management method, in charging of the battery in a constant voltage mode, it is determined that the battery is unusable based on a current supplied to the battery increasing by a current threshold value or more from a starting time of increasing without dropping again to a current value at the starting time of increasing.

In recent years, a battery such as a lithium ion battery has been mounted in battery-mounted apparatuses, such as smartphones, vehicles, stationary electric power supply devices, robots and drones. In particular, to enable rapid charging and discharging in a short time, a battery in which an active material containing titanium is used as a negative electrode active material is used in the battery-mounted apparatus. Charging and discharging of such a battery is controlled by any one of a controller mounted in the battery-mounted apparatus, a control device separate from the battery-mounted apparatus, etc., thereby forming a management system that manages the battery by controlling the charging and discharging of the battery, etc.
One charging method of such a battery as described above is to, after charging the battery in a constant current mode in which a current supplied to the battery is held constant over time from a starting time of charging, switch to a constant voltage mode in which a voltage of the battery is held constant over time to charge the battery. In this charging method, the mode is switched to the constant voltage mode based on the voltage of the battery increasing to a reference voltage value in charging in the constant current mode. Then, in the charging in the constant voltage mode, the charging is terminated based on the current supplied to the battery dropping to a termination current value.
In a state where the charging is performed by the above-described charging method, when an abnormality making the battery unusable such as an occurrence of a short circuit in the battery occurs, the voltage of the battery may drop in the constant current mode, or the current supplied to the battery may increase in the constant voltage mode. On the other hand, also in a case where a change that restores a charging capacity of the battery such as an electrolytic solution being re-impregnated into an electrode group occurs in the battery, the voltage of the battery may drop in the constant current mode, or the current supplied to the battery may increase in the constant voltage mode. Thus, even in a state where the battery is continuously usable, the voltage of the battery may drop in the constant current mode, or the current supplied to the battery may increase in the constant voltage mode. Accordingly, it is required to properly determine whether each of the drop of the voltage of the battery in the constant current mode and the increase in current supplied to the battery in the constant voltage mode is attributed to an occurrence of an abnormality making the battery unusable. Namely, it is required to properly determine whether an abnormality making the battery unusable has occurred based on a temporal change in the current and voltage of the battery in charging of the battery.

Management method, management device, management system, battery-mounted apparatus, and non-transitory storage medium


A second drain voltage switch is provided to turn ON/OFF a drain voltage in an amplifier in the final stage, the drain voltage in the amplifier in the final stage is turned ON when large output power is required, and the drain voltage in the amplifier in the final stage is turned OFF when small output power is required, thus a transmission output control apparatus capable of controlling output power in a wide range being obtained.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a transmission output control apparatus having a conventional type of amplifying device.
In FIG. 5, the reference numeral 1 indicates an input terminal to which a transmitter signal to the transmission output control apparatus is inputted, and the reference numeral 2 indicates an amplifier circuit in an exciting stage for amplifying the signal inputted into this input terminal 1. The reference numeral 3 is an amplifier circuit in a final stage for receiving a signal outputted from the amplifier circuit 2 in the exciting stage and amplifying power of the signal, said amplifier circuit comprising a FET (field effect transistor). The reference numeral 4 is an output terminal for taking out transmission output with the power amplified in an amplifier circuit 3 in the final stage.
The reference numeral 5 indicates a power supply terminal for supplying a drain voltage to the FET in the amplifier circuit 3 in the final stage, and the reference numeral 6 indicates a drain voltage switching means for switching a drain voltage supplied from the power supply terminal 5 to the FET in the amplifier circuit 3 in the final stage.
The reference numeral 7 is a coupler for taking out output from the amplifier circuit 3 in the final stage branching a portion thereof, and the reference numeral 8 indicates a detector circuit for detecting a signal taken out in the coupler 7 and outputting a signal corresponding to an output power from the amplifier circuit 3 in the final stage. The reference numeral 9 is a control means for generating a signal for specifying output power from the amplifier circuit 3 in the final stage, and this control means also controls the drain voltage switching means 6.
The reference numeral 10 is a power control circuit for generating a control signal for controlling output from the amplifier circuit 2 in the exciting stage according to a signal outputted from the detector circuit 8 as well as to the output power select signal generated in the control means 9. The reference numeral 11 is a power control transistor for controlling output from the amplifier circuit 2 in the exciting stage according to a control signal from the power control circuit 10.
Next description is made of the operation of the circuit.
At first, a control signal for controlling the drain voltage switching means 6 is outputted from the control means 9. When this control signal is at a low level, a switching transistor in the drain voltage switching means 6 is energized. In this case, the drain voltage from the power supply terminal 5 is supplied to a drain terminal of the FET in the amplifier circuit 3 in the final stage. With this, operation of the amplifier circuit 3 in the final stage is started, and power of an input signal from the input terminal 1 amplified in the amplifier circuit 2 in the exciting stage is amplified with the signal outputted from the outputted terminal 4 through the coupler 7.
On the other hand, a portion of the output from the amplifier circuit 3 in the final stage is branched by the coupler 7 and is inputted into the detector circuit 8. The detector circuit 8 detects a portion of the output from the amplifier circuit 3 in the final stage branched by the coupler 7 and generates a signal corresponding to output power from the amplifier circuit 3 in the final stage. The power control circuit 10 compares an output power select signal generated by the control means 9 to the signal corresponding to output power from the amplifier circuit 3 in the final stage which is generated in the detector circuit 8, generates a control signal so that the output power from the amplifier circuit 3 in the final stage is equalized to the power selected according to the output power select signal generated in the control means 9, and sends the signal to the power control transistor 11.
The power control transistor 11 controls a voltage loaded to the amplifier circuit 2 in the exciting stage according to a control signal generated in the power control circuit 10 and provides controls so that the output power from the amplifier circuit in the final stage is equalized to and maintained at the same level as the power selected according to the output power select signal generated in the control means 9.
Configuration of an amplifier apparatus based on the conventional technology is as described above, so that a voltage is always loaded to a drain terminal of the FET in the amplifier circuit 3 in the final stage. Generally, in a case where a drain voltage is loaded to an amplifying means such as an FET or an NPN transistor, isolation between the gate and drain becomes poorer, and sometimes power inputted to the gate terminal may be leaked to the drain terminal. For this reason, in a case where low output power is required such as when it is required that output power from an amplifying device is smaller than input power thereto, even if a voltage loaded to the amplifier 2 in the exciting stage is controlled, the power inputted into the gate terminal is leaked to the drain terminal and is added to the output power therefrom because of the characteristics of the amplifying means as described above. For this reason, even if lower output power is required, sometimes it may be impossible to suppress the output power to a certain level or below.

Amplifying device and transmission output control apparatus


An exemplary inspection apparatus for inspecting an article comprises a flexible sensor for sensing a characteristic of the article, which sensor conforms to a surface of the article, a finger cover which fits over a finger of a user, and an attachment device for removably attaching the sensor to the finger cover. The apparatus allows the user to traverse the sensor over a large range of smoothly varying concave or convex inspection surfaces, for example, while providing the user with direct control of the sensor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to nondestructive testing, and more particularly to a finger-tip probe for nondestructive testing which comprises a flexible sensor.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the field of nondestructive testing (NIDT), ultrasound and eddy current techniques are commonly used to characterize material properties and detect flaws in parts under inspection. Ultrasound, which is typically used for volumetric inspection, involves the generation and detection of ultrasonic waves in a part with an ultrasonic transducer. Eddy current methods, which are commonly used to inspect the surface of a part, involve the electromagnetic induction of eddy currents within the part using a changing magnetic field, and the detection of eddy current effects to determine part characteristics or flaws.
Performance of many NDT systems can be improved by placing the sensors in direct contact with the part under inspection, because commonly the inspection sensitivity is directly related to the placement, proximity, and coupling of the sensors to the surface of the part. The accuracy of NDT techniques may thus be influenced by geometrical constraints of the probe which houses the sensor and the exterior boundary conditions of the part. The exterior boundary conditions may include, for example, surface curvature, which may introduce limitations to the performance of the inspection system. Other exterior boundary conditions include surface roughness, external coatings, support structures, corrosion, and fasteners.
To provide flexibility in inspecting parts having a surface curvature, known systems utilize a flexible eddy current coil or ultrasonic sensor integrated into a multilayer flexible polymer film. This arrangement, which enables the sensors to be efficiently coupled to a curved part, eliminates the need to maintain a large inventory of probes tailored to fit individual geometries and curvature conditions of various parts.
Another factor which influences the sensitivity of the sensor is the pressure with which the sensor is applied to the part. A uniform pressure properly couples the interactions between the sensor and the part under inspection. Uniform pressure reduces variations in signal response to factors not directly related to the detection of material flaws or material properties. To achieve a uniform pressure at different inspection sites, a known solution utilizes compressed gas at a controlled pressure applied against the back of a flexible eddy-current sensing coil array. The eddy current sensing coil array is disposed in an eddy current probe which is under the control of a multi-axis mechanical control system which precisely manipulates the probe over the part. The complexity of such a system, however, may limit its usefulness due to cost considerations. The size of the system may also limit its accessibility to remote parts.
Hand held probes are known which provide NDT data without the substantial cost associated with a multi-axis control system. One known hand held probe includes a mechanism for applying a uniform pressure to the part surface, which pressure is decoupled from the pressure the operator uses to apply the probe against the part. Hand held probes, however, typically include a supporting structure which limits the accessibility of the probe to remote regions of a part and which makes the probe somewhat cumbersome to use.
It would be desirable, therefore, to have an inspection apparatus which was able to reach relatively inaccessible regions of a part and apply a uniform pressure to the surface of the part at a low cost.


An electrical contact (1) comprises an upper contact (10), a lower contact (12) and a spring (14) located between the upper contact (10) and the lower contact (12). The upper contact (10) comprises a first contacting portion (104) at one end thereof and a first mating end (108) comprising two contacting sheets overlapped at an opposite end thereof, and a lower contact comprises a second contacting portion and a second mating end defining a channel, the channel providing a space to allow movement of the first mating end.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical contact, and more particularly to a contact terminal having a thickened tail portion so as to readily incorporate with a complement lower portion such that the lower contact can be readily and easily manufactured and an adverse and unwanted disconnection therebetween can be prevented.
2. Description of the Prior Art
An conventional electrical contact is used to electrically connecting a Central Processing Unit (CPU) with a Printed Circuit Board (PCB). The electrical contact comprises an upper contact, a lower contact and a spring disposed between the upper contact and the lower contact. The upper contact comprises a flat base portion with a first contact portion at the top end. The lower contact comprises a flat body portion and a pair of arm portions extending upwardly from the body portion. The bottom end of the body portion has a second contact portion. The base portion is sandwiched between the arms and the arms which can move along the base portion.
When the CPU presses down the upper contact, the upper contact moves downwardly and presses the spring accordingly; the arms moves along the base portion of the upper contact and contacts with the base portion all along. When the CPU is removed, the elastic force of the spring will push the upper contact to move upwardly to the initial stage. The upper contact is made of sheet material and the thickness of the base portion is comparably thin. Thus, the distance between the pair of arms has to be precisely dimensioned and controlled to ensure the interconnection with the base portion. Therefore, this type of lower contact is difficult to be manufactured. Furthermore, disconnection may occur between the upper contact and the lower contact.
In view of the above, a new electrical contact that overcomes the above-mentioned disadvantages is desired.

Electrical contact having upper contact with thickened base portion


A technique facilitates a drilling operation by providing a drill bit having limited magnetic influence. The drill bit comprises a bit head formed with a non-magnetic bit head material. Cutting elements may be attached to the bit head to facilitate cutting of rock and other formation material during drilling of a borehole. The drill bit also comprises a bit body formed with a non-magnetic body material. The bit head and the bit body are joined to construct a non-magnetic drill bit which has no or limited magnetic influences on, for example, sensors located proximate the drill bit.

In many hydrocarbon well applications, a wellbore is drilled into a desired hydrocarbon-bearing formation. The drilling may be performed by cutting elements of a drilling tool forming part of a bottom hole assembly located in a drill string. When drilling deviated wellbores, the direction of drilling may be controlled by a steering system, such as a rotary steerable system. Electronics are disposed in a rotary steerable system control unit or in a measurement-while-drilling tool sensor package and may include several sensors used to measure the trajectory and attitude of the drilling tool at a given point in space. At least some of the sensors comprise magnetometers which are sensitive to the Earth's magnetic field and also to external magnetic influences, including metal above and below the sensors in the bottom hole assembly. The magnetic interference from drill string influences is calculated prior to the drilling job and an estimated error is determined. The estimated error may be reduced by providing a large distance between the drill bit and the magnetometer sensors. However, the large distance limits the type and accuracy of the data which may be obtained.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


The invention relates to a frequency hopping method and a radio system. Frequency hopping is implemented downlink to the frequency of the broadcast control channel. The radio system comprises a network part (100), a subscriber terminal (102) and a radio connection (104) as the transmission path. The novelty is that the broadcast control channel does not usually perform frequency hopping. The simplest implementation of the system is a software modification in the network part (100) and the subscriber terminal (102). The invention can be applied to all radio systems using frequency hopping, particularly to the GSM/DCS 1800 systems and the UMTS system.

The invention relates to a method of implementing downlink frequency hopping to the frequency of a broadcast control channel in a radio system comprising a network part, a subscriber terminal and a radio connection as the transmission path between the network part and the subscriber terminal.
Frequency hopping was developed for military radio systems to complicate eavesdropping and to eliminate interference. In eliminating interference it should be noted that frequency diversity and interferer diversity are achieved by frequency hopping. Frequency hopping is implemented by a transmitter transmitting a given amount of radio information at a given frequency. The transmitter then continues to transmit radio information at another frequency. The frequency can be changed several times. Usually the frequency is changed as a known series, and this is called a frequency hopping sequence.
In radio systems, each base station has one carrier, called a broadcast channel. The term control channel may also be used. In fact, the term refers to several channels used by a subscriber terminal and the network part for controlling their operations. Downlink broadcast channels are called broadcast control channels. In addition to these, the same carrier is used to transmit the actual traffic channels, on which user payload, such as speech or data, are transferred after a connection has been established. When needed, signalling data may also be transported within traffic channels.
The term channel is used in two different meanings. In this representation, a channel refers to a logical channel containing data characteristic of it. The second meaning of a channel refers to a physical channel used for carrying the logical channel. In this representation, a physical channel is called a time slot.
In the GSM system, one physical channel is one time slot of a TDMA frame. Logical channels are common channels or dedicated channels. A TDMA frame comprises 8 time slots. A 26-multiframe of the length of 26 TDMA frames has been defined for dedicated channels. Similarly, a 51-multiframe of the length of 51 TDMA frames has been defined for common channels.
The common channels comprise BCH channels (Broadcast Channel) and CCCH channels (Common Control Channel). The BCH channels comprise a FCCH channel (Frequency Correction Channel), a SCH channel (Synchronization Channel) and BCCH channels (Broadcast Control Channel). The CCCH channels comprise a PCH channel (Paging Channel), an AGCH channel (Access Grant Channel) and RACH channels (Random Access Channel). The dedicated channels comprise traffic channels and DCH channels (Dedicated Control Channel). The DCH channels comprise an SDCCH channel (Stand-alone Dedicated Control Channel), an SACCH channel (Slow Associated Control Channel) and an FACCH channel (Fast Associated Control Channel).
As to the present invention, the essential channels are the broadcast control channels, including the FCCH channel, SCH channel, BCCH channels and CCCH channels (the PCH and AGCH channels). The FCCH channel comprises frequency correction information for a subscriber terminal. The SCH channel comprises frame synchronization information. The BCCH channel comprises general base station-dedicated information. Of the CCCH channels, the PCH channel comprises call information and the AGCH channel information about the allocation of a traffic channel to a subscriber terminal.
The broadcast control channel is transmitted at full transmitter power and at the same frequency, i.e. frequency hopping cannot be utilized. This causes problems to planning and using a radio system.
The major problem is double network planning. At first, the use of normal carriers is planned. It can be enhanced by frequency hopping, discontinuous transmission and power control. Secondly, the use of the carriers of the broadcast control channels is planned.
Another major problem is that the capacity of the system reduces as the traffic channels that are on the same carrier as the broadcast control channel cannot utilize frequency hopping, discontinuous transmission and power control.
It is the object of the present invention to implement frequency hopping to the frequency of the broadcast control channel, the method avoiding the presented problems.
This is achieved with the method described in the preamble, characterized in that the method comprises the following steps:
A) the network part transmits on the broadcast control channel a first signal group to the subscriber terminal at a given frequency, the first signal group stating at which second frequency the first signal group will be transmitted the next time,
B) the network part then transmits on the broadcast control channel a known number of other signals to the subscriber terminal using frequency hopping, and the offset of the first frequency hop has been agreed in advance, and the offsets of the other frequency hops are agreed in advance,
C) step A is entered, the network part transmitting the following first signal group to the subscriber terminal at a second frequency,
D) steps A to C are repeated, the frequency hopping sequence being formed of a given number of steps A to C.
The invention also relates to a system for implementing downlink frequency hopping to the frequency of a broadcast control channel in a radio system comprising a network part, a subscriber terminal and a radio connection as the transmission path between the network part and the subscriber terminal.
The system is characterized in that the network part is adapted to transmit on the broadcast control channel a first signal group to the subscriber terminal at a given frequency, the first signal group stating at which second frequency the first signal group will be transmitted the next time, and to transmit on the broadcast control channel other signals to the subscriber terminal using frequency hopping, the offset of the first frequency hop being agreed in advance, and the offsets of the other frequency hops being agreed in advance; the subscriber terminal is adapted to generate a frequency hopping sequence of the transmission frequencies of the first signal group, the offset of the first frequency hop and the offsets of the other frequency hops.
The method of the invention provides a plurality of advantages. The performance of all channels on the carrier of the broadcast control channel improves significantly as frequency hopping can be used.
A significant advantage is gained by network planning becoming much easier. Double network planning is no longer needed, as all the channels transmitted by the network part are able to utilize frequency hopping. It is even possible that cell frequency planning does not have to be carried out at all: the base station randomly selecting a frequency hopping sequence. Should some neighbouring base stations use the same frequencies, frequency hopping ensures that the performance remains sufficiently good.
The system of the invention has the same advantages as described above in connection with the method. The preferred embodiments of the invention and the other more detailed embodiments emphasize the advantages of the invention. It is obvious that the preferred embodiments and the more detailed embodiments can be combined to different combinations to achieve the desired technical power.

Frequency hopping method and radio system


The present invention provides filters configured for use in surface mount technology (SMT). The high performance SMT filters of the present invention are formed of an exterior housing surrounding a smaller, similarly configured metal bracket. Electrically connected to the interior of the metal bracket are the filter internal components. Inside the metal bracket, and surrounding the filter internal components, is a solidified void-filling material such as epoxy. The ground leads of the filter are an integral part of the metal bracket giving excellent ground connection from the filter internal components to the surface mount circuit board. The high performance SMT filters of the present invention are especially adaptable to highly automated, high-throughput manufacturing techniques.

In the field of circuit board construction and technology, filter components have traditionally been attached to the board with through-hole technology. Through-hole technology, however is both costly and time consuming in that it requires the internal parts of a filter to be soldered or screwed into an enclosure, and this enclosure affixed to the circuit board with its leads extending through holes in the circuit board. Accordingly, there is a move away from the use of through-hole technology to surface mounted technology (SMT). SMT avails the use of automated manufacturing techniques that are fast and efficient. Accordingly, for purposes of automation and increased through-put, it is desirable to create RF/microwave filters that can be readily mounted on the surface of the circuit board.
With the development of wireless communication technology and the rapid expansion of the associated industry, the demand for associated SMT components has increased dramatically. Among the components now in high demand are RF/microwave filters. Such high demand has necessitated automated assembly, testing and packing techniques. Manufacturers are seeking to increase their use of automated equipment to mount components onto circuit boards. Surface mountable filters, properly constructed, can help meet that need. However, automated manufacturing techniques applicable to the manufacture of the high performance type SMT filters themselves has been slow in coming.
A conventional technique involves assembling the internal components of the filter onto a header. The internal components are held in place temporarily and by use of a side lid allows testing and adjusting of the filter by access through the temporary side lid. Following adjustment, the internal components are fixed in place with a fixative compound that is manually applied to the components and the header. Finally, the final lid is affixed to the header and the outside of the filter header/lid connection is sealed. Affixing the adjustments is required so that the adjustments made will survive the handling the filter will experience in the end use in automated machinery. It is most desirable to use a full metal ground shield surrounding the internal components to keep noise from entering the filter and affecting the performance of the end user's application. Some filter manufacturers have eliminated a ground shield and lid in an effort to mass produce SMT filters, with the resulting degradation of overall filter performance.
Techniques such as the foregoing require several difficult-to-automate steps. Fixative material is generally introduced by hand, and can only contact the header as the side lids must be removable for the final lid, which encloses all sides thereby precluding access to the filter's internal components. Further, the header serves as a ground to the internal filter components as well as the external ground connection for the filter, per se.

High performance RF/microwave filters for surface mount technology with a shielding metal bracket


A device for supplying voltage in a motor vehicle is described in which there is at least one generator that can furnish an generator-speed-dependent output voltage without voltage regulation. The at least one generator is preferably a three-phase alternator with a plurality of stator windings whose electrical connections are switchable at predetermined generator speeds by a control unit to provide the generator-speed dependent output voltage. In a following power control unit, this generator speed-dependent voltage is rectified by means of at least one controlled rectifier bridge and via assigned voltage converters is converted into a plurality of directly voltages of different magnitude. These direct voltages are supplied to the individual on-board electrical system components via electronic vehicle body power control system units. By optimal-efficiency triggering of the controlled rectifier bridges and additional safety and/or emergency provisions, the functional capability and power capability of the voltage supply unit are assured.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a device for the voltage supply in a motor vehicle and, more particularly, to a device for supplying voltage in a motor vehicle having two batteries.
2. Prior Art
Until now, the voltage supply in motor vehicles was typically done with the aid of a single battery charged by a generator. In modern motor vehicles with many electrical consumers, one battery is sometimes no longer sufficient for the voltage supply, and so two separate batteries are used that typically connected parallel to one another. To assure that the two batteries will not deleteriously affect one another, and thus to keep voltage drops that can occur during actuation of the starter away from voltage-critical components, a charging/disconnection module is connected between the two batteries, in a device for the voltage supply in a motor vehicle known from German Patent 41 38 943. During the starting process this module disconnects the battery connected with the starter from the rest of the on-board electrical system. Since the rated voltage of the battery connected to the starter is somewhat lower than the rated voltage of the on-board electrical system battery, it is assured that the starter battery will be optimally charged at all times. In one embodiment of the known device for the voltage supply in a motor vehicle, a voltage converter be used, for example a stepup device. It is thus possible to use a starter battery whose rated voltage is higher than that of the on-board electrical system battery. The charging voltage required for charging the starter battery can be obtained by increasing the voltage obtained from the on-board voltage.

Device for supplying voltage in a motor vehicle including two batteries and having improved reliability


Techniques are provided for implementing freeze logic on programmable logic blocks. The output signal of a register in each programmable logic block is driven to a predefined state in response to a freeze signal. The freeze signal also causes a multiplexer in each programmable logic block to select the output signal of the register. The multiplexer drives an output signal of the programmable logic block to a predefined state to eliminate contention between circuit elements. The freeze logic requires a small amount of area in each programmable logic block.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to programmable logic blocks, and more particularly to techniques for providing freeze logic for programmable logic blocks.
2. Description of Related Art
Programmable logic integrated circuits (ICs) include devices such as field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), and programmable logic arrays (PLAs). When a programmable logic IC is configured, nodes in the IC can enter undefined states, causing unwanted power consumption, contention between circuit elements, and possibly circuit failure.
Many FPGAs use a freeze methodology to prevent circuit contention during configuration mode. According to the freeze methodology, pre-defined voltage values are driven to interconnect lines in the IC and/or logic in the IC is disabled using freeze logic and other freeze signals during the configuration mode. The freeze logic implements the freeze methodology on all logic block outputs.
For example, on programmable logic array blocks in FPGAs made by Altera Corporation of San Jose, Calif., freeze logic is incorporated into the output logic of the logic elements (LEs) to properly disable the LE outputs, while the IC is frozen using a freeze logic signal. The freeze logic signal effectively disables the output multiplexers and forces the output driver to a high state, in accordance with the freeze methodology.
In the freeze methodology, each output multiplexer in each logic element requires its own control logic to disable the output of the multiplexer and to enable a weak pull down driver. The control logic in each multiplexer requires 3 inverters and 2 NAND gates, and a weak pull down to drive the output driver. Each logic element has 3 output multiplexers and 3 outputs. The freeze methodology is implemented on all LE outputs. Thus, the freeze methodology is expensive in terms of silicon real estate, because there are multiple outputs per LE, and the control logic is replicated for each output.
It would therefore be desirable to provide techniques for freezing a programmable logic IC during configuration mode that require less silicon area.

Reduced area freeze logic for programmable logic blocks


There are provided a bias circuit and an amplifier controlling a bias voltage, the bias circuit and the amplifier including a control voltage generating unit generating a control voltage using a reference voltage, a bias voltage generating unit generating a bias voltage according to the control voltage, and a voltage drop unit dropping the bias voltage from the bias voltage generating unit to a base voltage so as to provide the base voltage to an amplifying unit, wherein the control voltage generating unit controls the control voltage according to an amplitude of a high-frequency signal input to the amplifying unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a bias circuit and an amplifier capable of controlling a bias voltage according to the amplitude of a high-frequency signal input thereto.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a digital modulation/demodulation scheme has been selected as a wireless communications scheme, and appropriate schemes have been employed in consideration of frequency utilization efficiency. For instance, a quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) scheme is employed for mobile telephones using a code division multiple access (CDMA) scheme, while an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (QFDM) scheme is employed in a wireless LAN conforming to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standard.
Wireless communications systems in which such wireless communications schemes are employed include power amplifiers for amplifying high-frequency signals.
Here, in a system requiring linear amplification, a power amplifier having linear characteristics for amplifying a transmission signal without distortion is needed. Here, linear characteristics means that the power of an output signal is amplified at a constant rate while the phase thereof is not changed, even in the case that the power of an input signal varies.
In addition, a technology which compensates for temperature so as to prevent a power amplification rate from being significantly changed, even if an ambient temperature changes, is required.
In an existing power amplifier, a bias voltage generated by a bias circuit is supplied to a power amplifying element. The bias circuit may include a temperature compensation function.
In the existing power amplifier, a bias voltage and a bias current are provided to the base of an amplifying transistor included in an amplifying circuit so as to amplify a high-frequency signal input thereto.
Although the existing power amplifier has a temperature compensation function using a transistor included in the bias circuit, the temperature compensation function thereof may also be limited, such that the bias current may increase as temperature increases. In this case, the increased bias current may in turn cause the temperature at the junction of the transistor included in the bias circuit to be increased, such that the so-called "thermal runaway" phenomenon may occur.
In order to overcome this shortcoming, a current limiting resistor for limiting the bias current may be provided between the current supplying terminal of the bias circuit and the base of the amplifying transistor.
However, in the existing power amplifier, when a high-frequency signal having a higher amplitude than a normal amplitude is input thereto, the bias current increases according to the characteristics of the amplifying transistor. As the bias current increases, the voltage drop across the current limiting resistor is increased, such that the voltage supplied to the base of the amplifying transistor may be reduced.
As described above, when a high-frequency signal having a relatively large amplitude is input, the bias voltage supplied to the base of the amplifying transistor may be reduced, such that a linear region in which the amplifying transistor may perform amplification without distortion is narrowed. As a result, the high-frequency signal having a large amplitude may be distorted.
Patent Document 1 referenced below relates to a power amplifier but does not teach controlling a bias voltage according to the amplitude of a high-frequency signal.

Bias circuit and amplifier controlling bias voltage


A combination lock comprises a bolt which is withdrawn by depressing a bolt pin which is shielded by rotating discs having a movable disc pin within them. A selector pin attached to a dial is provided for engaging in selector holes in the discs and aligning the disc pins with one another and with the bolt pin, with provision for pushing inwardly the disc pin on the outer disc and urging the other disc pins aligned therewith towards the bolt pin such that it is depressed and/or withdrawn. The discs have a weight attached at their circumference such that, during code setting, changing the position of the weight changes the relative angular position of the disc pin. When pressure is released from the mechanism, springs return the selector pin and the disc pins to their original positions and the weights on the discs fall, thereby rotating the discs and automatically scrambling the code.

Combination locks are commonly used to control access to premises and containers and to control release of chains and other locked-up items by controlling the opening of a closure member, but they are not suitable for overall security. So, although such locks may be employed during the day to allow access to people knowing the code, at night the doors are usually locked with a key. This is because such locks generally do not have a sufficiently large number of combinations for the owner to be confident that the code will not be discovered by chance. Furthermore, they are normally operated by pressing buttons and onlookers can see which combination is selected. An additional drawback is that users sometimes forget the code or transpose the digits of the code.
It is therefore considered desirable to devise a combination lock which can overcome or at least minimize these and/or other problems.


Provided are systems and methods that address the problem of single scattering in homogeneous volumes. In one implementation, an importance sampling technique is provided that avoids a singularity near point light sources. The system and method can be extended to the situation of area lights of arbitrary shapes. The error caused by the non-constant distance to the finite-extent area light is distributed by using random sample points within the area light as points from which lighting is calculated for sampling points along the ray.

The problem of simulating light transport in participating media has been extensively studied. One aspect is the problem of efficiently computing the single scattering component from point light sources, including spotlights. Such light sources account for most dramatic high frequency lighting effects, such as light beams and volumetric shadowing. In addition, such light sources serve as a significant source of noise in homogeneous media because the other aspect, the transmission term, is generally nonzero and smoothly varying, and thus comparatively non-noisy.
Previous work in unbiased volume rendering has concentrated on efficient importance sampling of the transmission term. In one approach, the single scattering integral is estimated by jittered ray marching with a uniform step size Δx. As an improvement, this step size can be made adaptive by responding to local changes in the illumination, or by making the same a function of the extinction coefficient.
Nevertheless, such solutions require significant computational efforts and time. Consequently, there remains a need for a better way to perform such rendering.

System and method for importance sampling of area lights in participating media


A tomosynthetic image taking apparatus takes an x-ray image of an object in each of a plurality of positions of an x-ray source to obtain a desired tomogram of the object by adding up the x-ray images thus obtained. A heartbeat phase is detected and the tomosynthetic image taking apparatus is controlled to take an x-ray image of the object in each of the plurality of positions of the x-ray source when the heartbeat of the object is in the same heartbeat phase.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to tomosynthesis for obtaining a tomogram from x-rays, and more particularly to an x-ray system for obtaining a tomogram of the chest.
2. Description of the Related Art
In order to observe the diseased part, there has been carried out comparison between an x-ray image which was taken in the past and an x-ray image which was currently taken. Upon comparison between a past x-ray image (an x-ray image which was taken in the past) and a current x-ray image (an x-ray image which was currently taken), it is not easy to grasp the difference between the past x-ray image and the current x-ray image, for instance, when the past x-ray image was taken during shrinkage of the heart and the current x-ray image was taken during expansion of the heart since a state where the lung is inflated and a state where the lung is compressed and deformed are compared with each other. Accordingly, it has been proposed to detect the cycle of the heartbeat by measuring shrinkage and expansion of the heart by the use of an electrocardiograph, a sphygmograph or the like and take an x-ray image constantly during shrinkage of the heart. (See, for instance, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2003-250790)
Further, tomosynthesis where the x-ray tube is moved to take x-ray images at different angles and the obtained images are added to obtain an image where a desired cross-section is enhanced is recently proposed in the CR (computed radiography) in order to observe the diseased part in more detail.
In the tomosynthesis, the x-ray tube is moved in parallel to a flat panel or along a circular or elliptical path to take x-ray images at different angles and the x-ray images are reconstructed to obtain a tomogram. A method of reconstructing the x-ray images to obtain a tomogram will be described, hereinbelow.
When the x-ray tube is moved to positions S1, S2, . . . Sn to take images of an object body 5 at different angles, different x-ray images I1, I2, . . . . In are obtained as shown in FIG. 1. When, for instance, x-rays are projected from the position S1 of the x-ray source onto two object parts (01 and 02) at different depths, images of the object parts (01, 02) are formed in positions P11 and P12 of the x-ray images I1, whereas, when x-rays are projected from the position S2 of the x-ray source onto the object parts (01 and 02), images of the object parts (01, 02) are formed in positions P21 and P22 of the x-ray images I2. When x-rays are repeatedly projected from the different positions of the x-ray source S1, S2, . . . Sn onto the object parts (01 and 02) in this manner, images of the object parts (01) are formed in positions P11, P21, . . . Pn1, and images of the object parts (02) are formed in positions P12, P22, . . . Pn2.
When the cross-section where the object part 01 exists is to be enhanced, the x-ray image I2 is shifted by a distance equal to the distance between P21 and P11, the x-ray image I3 is shifted by a distance equal to the distance between P31 and P11, . . . and the x-ray image In is shifted by a distance equal to the distance between Pn1 and P11, and the images thus obtained are added up, whereby a tomogram where the structure on the cross-section at the depth of the object part 01 is enhanced is created. When the cross-section where the object part 02 exists is to be enhanced, the x-ray image I2 is shifted by a distance equal to the distance between P22 and P12, the x-ray image I3 is shifted by a distance equal to the distance between P32 and P12, . . . and the x-ray image In is shifted by a distance equal to the distance between Pn2 and P12, and the images thus obtained are added up. Thus by adding up the images obtained by shifting the x-ray images I1, I2, . . . . In to be aligned with each other depending on the position of a desired cross-section, an image where a tomogram in a desired position is enhanced can be obtained.
By observing a tomogram obtained by the tomosynthesis, more detailed information can be obtained. However, when a tomogram of the chest is obtained by taking an image of the chest by the tomosynthesis, a light shadow such as of lung cancer sometimes does not appear in the tomogram by a motion artifact due to the heartbeat or the breathing.
When the heartbeat is detected and x-ray images are taken at the same period at the timing of shrinkage of the heart as in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2003-250790, though the comparison between the past x-ray image and the current x-ray image is facilitated, the accuracy at which a light shadow such as of lung cancer can be recognized cannot be improved.