A method and system for providing real-time display of data collected and submitted via mobile devices. An example method includes collecting data in a data record by the mobile device. The collected data record is submitted to a remote server. At least some of the data in the collected data record is displayed in real-time relative to the submission of the collected data record via an interface.

Traditionally, most data in field force industries (e.g., field sales, field services, inspection and reporting, etc.) is distributed and captured on paper-based forms. The data entered on paper-based forms was typically returned to the business office to be manually entered electronically and integrated with a back office system. Furthermore, an enterprise business process might require the captured data to be reviewed by other members of the organization (e.g., authorization, up sell opportunity, billing, etc.) before, during, or after the field has interacted with the data. The process of distributing, updating, capturing, and returning form data and adapting it to a unique business process applies to a large number of mobile workers performing a variety of tasks such as, but not limited to, data collection solutions for inspections (e.g., property, health, etc.), field sales solutions reporting (e.g., lead capture, timesheet, expense reports, etc.), and field services solutions such as work order dispatches (e.g., HVAC, insurance claims, etc.)
Typically, in more complex forms-based business processes, work requests and form data are initially dispatched to field force workers using a voice channel (e.g., cell phone) or pre-printed paper forms (e.g., clipboard) that is then manually filled out or updated by the mobile worker (e.g., technician). A completed work request might also require one or many subsequent requests (e.g., required parts, required authorization, up-sell opportunities, etc.) that are typically done through a call over a cellular phone, or return trip to the office, or may cause the displacement of the mobile worker. In addition, field inspectors may also capture data in the field using a series of paper forms and binders to complete their inspection tasks, resulting in a slow and inefficient process.
Businesses incur high wireless voice and vehicle fleet costs due to the above-described processes used in dispatching field workers, capturing or updating form data, and completing work orders or inspection forms in the field. Additionally, there are significant costs and inefficiencies with slow, manual processes for the exchange of data using paper-based forms, from the cost of the paper based forms, to duplicate data entry, to errors made in data capture on paper, to waiting for the person with the data to update another person or system, etc.
In order to reduce the use of paper, electronic forms may be used in conjunction with mobile devices such as portable computers. However such electronic forms and XForms (XML Forms) solutions (such as, Adobe LiveCycle, Microsoft Infopath, FormDocs, Altova, Advantys, MDSI, X-Smiles, formsPlayer, and Novell XForms) are generally PC-centric and Local Area Network (LAN) oriented as opposed to being optimized for mobile devices and wireless use. Additionally, these solutions are on-line and browser-centric, as opposed to being optimized for on- and off-line use over intermittently connected wireless networks with varying degrees of cost and quality of service. These solutions typically do not provide mechanisms for hosting multi-tenants (multi-domain) forms applications using a common IT infrastructure (e.g., Managed Service Provider hosted environment), nor do they have support for sophisticated routing and tracking of forms and policies that define a mobile forms application.
Currently, mobile devices (e.g., laptops, cell phones, PDAs, tablet PCs, Ultra Mobile PCs, etc.) are increasingly used to collect data using mobile applications, such as those produced by the mXDesigner tool available from TrueContext of Ottawa, Canada. Using connectivity of mobile devices, the data collected may be transmitted to a central location including a file system. However, mobile data is currently not aggregated and reported in real-time. Usually, mobile data is gathered and sent at predetermined intervals (i.e., once a day) or synchronized to back-end databases where it can then later be extracted and transformed into data records. If data is transmitted in real-time from the mobile devices, the transmitted data simply feeds into a data repository such as a server for later analysis. The current systems thus create an issue of time delay for organizations with a mobile workforce who rely on business processes requiring timely and secure exchange of data.
Thus, there is a need for a real-time interface to view data collected from mobile devices. There is a further need for a system allowing a user easy access via a web based interface for real-time updates of collected mobile data. There is another need for a graphically based interface to display data collected by mobile applications, data relating to mobile device performance metrics, or data relating to mobile device users.

Method and system for real time records from aggregated mobile data


A linear power amplifier (LPA) shelf for a mobile communication base station including a plurality of LPA types installed in one LPA shelf. The LPA shelf includes a signal dividing unit and a signal combining unit, which can connect either a single path or multiple paths. The LPA shelf further includes a first LPA type conversion unit and a second LPA type conversion unit, which perform a switching operation so as to use one LPA of six LPAs as either a redundant LPA or an LPA that amplifies a gamma sector signal. Accordingly, since a plurality of LPA types can be supported with one LPA shelf, it is possible to prevent service from being stopped and prevent the waste of time, cost and human resources due to the replacement of equipment.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile communication system, and more particularly, to a linear power amplifier (LPA) shelf in which a plurality of LPA types are supported with one LPA shelf according to each LPA installation and the number of frequency assignments (FAs) supported.
2. Background of the Related Art
Generally, a base station for a mobile communication system includes a LPA installed in a shelf. The LPA is used to amplify signals which are transmitted to subscribers on the basis of respective communication sectors.
FIG. 1 is a view schematically illustrating a configuration of a related art base station for a mobile communication system. Referring to FIG. 1, the base station includes a wireless device 100, a digital processing device 110, a BTS interconnection network (BIN) 120 and a processor 130.
The wireless device 100 processes a wireless signal for a wireless terminal. In other words, the wireless device 100 includes a band-pass filter (BPF) 102, a high power amplifier (HPA) 104, an LPA 106 and an RF transceiver 108. The wireless device 100 performs a common air interface (CAI) process, a wireless signal transmission/reception function, an RF signal up/down conversion function, an RF signal power amplification function and a wireless noise rejection function. The digital processing device 110 performs a channel coding/decoding related function, an interface function according to the sectors, and an analog common function for modulation/demodulation.
The BIN 120 routes packet data in the base station. In other words, the BIN 120 performs functions of routing and transmitting/receiving traffic information between the digital processing device 110 and a control station, as well as routing and transmitting/receiving control information between the processor 130 and the control station. The processor 130 controls the base station and functions to receive and divide TOD information of a global positioning system (GPS). According to the number of frequency assignments (FAs) and failure of LPA, 1:1 type, redundancy type and 2 way combiner type are respectively applied to an LPA shelf of the base station configured as discussed above.
FIG. 2 is a view schematically illustrating a configuration of a related art LPA shelf of a redundancy LPA type. Referring to FIG. 2, the LPA shelf to which the redundancy LPA type is applied comprises an LPA unit 200 and a switch unit 210. The switch unit 210 includes two switches 214 and 218 positioned at the front and back of the LPA unit 200.
The LPA unit 200 includes three LPAs (i.e., LPA1 200a, LPA2 200b and LPA3 200c) and a redundancy LPA (i.e., LPA4 200d). The redundancy LPA can be substituted for one abnormally performing LPA of the three LPAs 200a, 200b and 200c. When an LPA is performing abnormally, it is said to be in an abnormal state. Here, the LPA1, the LPA2 and the LPA3 cover an alpha sector, a beta sector and a gamma sector, respectively. In other words, signals to be transmitted to the alpha sector, the beta sector and the gamma sector are amplified by the LPA1 200a, the LPA2 200b, and the LPA3 2001c, respectively. If one of among the three LPAs 200a, 200b and 200c is in an abnormal state, the redundancy LPA, (i.e., LPA4 200d) is substituted for the abnormal LPA in order to maintain coverage.
For example, in case the LPA1 200a is in an abnormal state and cannot amplify signals to be transmitted to the alpha sector, the 3:4 switch 214 and the 4:3 switch 218 are switched from the LPA1 200a to the redundancy LPA4 200d. Accordingly, the signal to be transmitted to the alpha sector is inputted to the LPA4 200d and amplified to a predetermined level.
As described above and shown in FIG. 2, the switch unit 210 comprises the 3:4 switch 214 and the 4:3 switch 218. The 3:4 switch 214 is positioned at the front and back of the LPA unit 200 and inputs the signals for each sector to corresponding LPAs, and the 4:3 switch 218 switches the amplified signals outputted from the LPA unit 200 to transmit them to corresponding sectors. At this time, the switch unit 210 switches the signals to the LPA4 200d if the LPA for amplifying the signals for each sector is in the abnormal state.
Generally, one LPA accommodates 2 FAs. If the subscriber capacity of the corresponding base station increases or the number of FAs increases to 3 or 4 due to the change of the external environment, the LPA shelf changes to a 2 way combiner type as shown in FIG. 3. In this case, the LPA shelf provided with the related art redundancy type should be removed from the base station and replaced with a LPA shelf of a 2 way combiner type.
FIG. 3 is a view schematically illustrating a configuration of the LPA shelf of a related art 2 way combiner type. Referring to FIG. 3, the LPA shelf of 2 way combiner type comprises a signal dividing unit 300, an LPA unit 310 and a signal combining unit 320.
The signal dividing unit 300 provides the signals for each sector to the corresponding LPAs, via paths divided into a first path and a second path. The signal dividing unit 300 includes a first signal divider 300a, a second signal divider 300b and a third signal divider 300c. Signals that are to be transmitted to an alpha sector, a beta sector and a gamma sector are inputted to the first signal divider 300a, the second signal divider 300b and the third signal divider 300c, respectively. Each of the signal dividers 300a, 300b and 300c comprises an internal switch for separately providing the signals via at least two divided paths.
In the LPA unit 310, each of the alpha, beta and gamma sectors are provided with two LPAs. In other words, the LPA unit 310 comprises an LPA1 312a and an LPA2 312b for amplifying the signal to be transmitted to the alpha sector, an LPA3 314a and an LPA4 314b for amplifying the signal to be transmitted to the beta sector and an LPA5 316a and an LPA6 316b for amplifying the signal to be transmitted to the gamma sector. From the above description and considering that the LPA shelf of 2 way combiner type used in case the subscriber capacity increases and the number of FAs is 3 or 4, those skilled in the art will understand that two LPAs covering each sector are provided with respect to each sector.
The signal combining unit 320 combines the amplified signals according to the sectors. The signal combining unit 320 receives the amplified signals via two paths for each sector and combines two amplified signals provided by the corresponding two LPAs into one signal. The signal combining unit 320 includes a first signal combiner 320a, a second signal combiner 320b, and a third signal combiner 320c, which are used to combine each sector signal.
For example, in an exemplary embodiment where an output signal of the alpha sector is 60 watts and the number of allocated FAs is two, the LPA shelf of the redundancy type accommodates 30 watts per one FA. In the LPA shelf of the 2 way combiner type shown in FIG. 3, at least 3 FAs should be allocated. If the number of allocated FAs is 4, the LPA shelf of the 2 way combiner type accommodates 15 watt per one FA. When the first signal divider 300a receives the signals to be transmitted to the alpha sector, gains of the signals each of which has 15 watts (W) are amplified via two paths by the LPA1 312a and LPA2 312b and then combined using a phase combination method by the first signal combiner 320a, thereby outputting signals with a total of 30 W.
If either the LPA1 312a or the LPA2 312b changes to an abnormal state in the LPA shelf of the 2 way combiner type, the signal dividing unit 300 and the signal combining unit 320 can disconnect the corresponding paths, so that the loss due to signal division and signal combination is prevented. While an entire gain is maintained constantly, the output per FA decreases to half the gain. Accordingly, although service areas according to the FAs of sectors are reduced, the service is not stopped, so that the redundancy LPA, shown in FIG. 2, for preventing the service from being stopped is not required.
However, since the related LPA shelf itself is configured to be adaptable to respective LPA types, the LPA shelf must be removed from the base station and another LPA shelf must be substituted for the LPA shelf whenever an external situation occurs.
In addition, in the prior art, since the base station should be turned off so as to substitute the LPA shelf, the service is stopped for a long time until the LPA shelf is replaced completely. There is also a loss of manpower due to the physical replacement of the LPA shelf.

LPA shelf and LPA type switching method for a mobile communication base station


Piezoelectric vibrators provided with an electrode that includes a drive electrode and adjustment electrodes formed in advance on part of the electrode; the drive electrode and adjustment electrodes that are initially electrically connected to each other are electrically cutoff and insulated from each other by cutting conductive parts between the drive electrode and adjustment electrodes, or the mutually insulated drive electrode and adjustment electrodes are electrically connected using solder, a wire, or another electrically conductive member, whereby the characteristic frequencies are adjusted.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a piezoelectric vibrator that vibrates due to the application of voltage to a piezoelectric element, a method for adjusting this piezoelectric vibrator, a piezoelectric actuator that includes this piezoelectric vibrator, a timepiece, and an electronic device.
2. Description of the Related Art
In conventional practice, piezoelectric vibrators that use piezoelectric elements have been used in oscillators and actuators and the like in electronic circuits. In such piezoelectric vibrators, the characteristic frequency is determined by the characteristics and dimensions of the material, but the characteristic frequency in each individual vibrator must be adjusted because of the tendency of the characteristics of the piezoelectric material to be nonuniform, and because of the occurrence of errors in the working dimensions of the piezoelectric vibrators.
One known method of adjusting the characteristic frequency is a method of sequentially cutting off pieces of a rectangular piezoelectric element several dozen microns at a time from the end in the length direction with a laser (Prior Art 1). In other words, the characteristic frequency is adjusted by reducing the length of the piezoelectric element.
Another known practice is to adjust the characteristic frequency by coating the piezoelectric vibrator with paint (Prior Art 2). In this method, the position where the paint is applied and the amount applied are calculated based on the determined resonance frequency of the piezoelectric vibrator, and paint is repeatedly applied to the vibrator by a paint ejecting device until a specific resonance frequency is achieved.
In actuators that include a piezoelectric vibrator, part of the piezoelectric vibrator describes an elliptical trajectory consisting of both longitudinal vibration and bending vibration, and when the driven object is brought into contact with this elliptically moving portion and is driven, the characteristic frequencies of both the longitudinal vibration and bending vibration must be adjusted to reach a specific relationship in order to drive the object at a high efficiency while using the resonance at both the longitudinal vibration and the bending vibration. In view of this, it has been proposed that the difference in resonance frequencies of longitudinal vibration and bending vibration be adjusted by removing the frequency-adjusted portion provided to the outer periphery of the cylindrical vibrator and reducing the diameter of the vibrator by cutting, polishing, dissolving, or the like (Prior Art 3).
[Prior Art 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-204778 ([0018]-[0020], FIG. 1)
[Prior Art 2] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-32445 ([0011], FIG. 1)
[Prior Art 3] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-146070 ([0093], FIGS. 1 and 3)
However, with a method for varying the dimensions of the vibrator by cutting off pieces of the piezoelectric element as described in Prior Art 1, a large amount of energy is required, and the Q value and other such vibration characteristics may degrade due to the power or heat applied to the piezoelectric vibrator. Also, the cycle time increases because time is required to cut off pieces of the piezoelectric element. Furthermore, since many steps are required for adjustment and it is difficult to cut the material from the front side of the piezoelectric element irradiated with a laser beam to the reverse side with accurate dimensions, problems are encountered in which the characteristic frequency cannot necessarily be adjusted to the specified range and the amount of adjustment is nonuniform.
In Prior Art 3, problems are encountered with degradation in the vibration characteristics, increases in the cycle time, and nonuniformities in the adjusted amounts, similar to Prior Art 1. Particularly, it is difficult to drive the piezoelectric actuator in a stable manner because the characteristic frequencies of both longitudinal vibration and bending vibration must be maintained in order to obtain the desired elliptical trajectory, and the vibration characteristics are extremely nonuniform if the characteristic frequencies are even slightly nonuniform. This nonuniformity in the vibration characteristics poses a crucial problem, particularly in vibrators for low output.
In the method in Prior Art 2, it is difficult to control the amount of paint ejected, and therefore the amounts of paint are nonuniform among different piezoelectric vibrators, and the adjustment results have so far been unsatisfactory. Moreover, since the vibration characteristics may degrade with a greater amount of paint, problems have been encountered in that the amount of paint is limited and the characteristic frequencies can only be adjusted within an extremely small range.
In view of such problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a piezoelectric vibrator, a method for adjusting a piezoelectric vibrator, a piezoelectric actuator including a piezoelectric vibrator, a timepiece, and an electronic device, wherein the adjusted amounts of the characteristic frequencies can be ensured with little reduction in the vibration characteristics, the characteristic frequencies can be reliably adjusted by reducing nonuniformities in the adjusted amounts of the characteristic frequencies, and individual differences pertaining to the characteristic frequencies can thereby be eliminated, all with a simple configuration.

Piezoelectric vibrator, method for adjusting piezoelectric vibrator, piezoelectric actuator, timepiece, and electronic device


Provided is a display control device including a display controller which generates a control signal for controlling a display part in such a manner that a boundary line between a content display region and a region adjacent to the content display region has a wave-like shape and the boundary line is displayed while being fluctuated with progress of time, and an output part which outputs the control signal to the display part.

In recent years, the number of pieces of content handled by users has been increased with the developments in communication technology and increase in storage capacities of recording media. Accordingly, various technologies have been disclosed for viewing content group with a simple operation. For example, a technique of displaying the content groups arranged in the shape of a list (for example, Patent Literature 1.). Patent Literature 1 describes using a time-series order of the update of each content group as an example of the arrangement order of the content groups.
According to the technique, the content groups arranged in the shape of a list are displayed, and therefore the content groups can be simply viewed.

Display control device, display control method, and recording medium


A pressure sensor includes a top cap with a recess formed in an end of the top cap and a cavity formed in the end of the top cap to communicate with the recess. The cavity extends further axially into the top cap than the recess thereby having depth greater than a depth of the recess. Outer edges of the recess extend laterally outward beyond outer edges of the cavity thereby defining a bonding boundary. A silicon substrate has a sensing circuit on a top side thereof. The top cap is bonded to the top side of the silicon substrate in a range from the outer edges of the top cap to the bonding boundary. The recess and the cavity of the top cap face the top side of the silicon substrate and form a reference vacuum cavity. When pressure is exerted on a backside of the substrate, a portion of the substrate is constructed and arranged to deflect.

MEMS (microelectromechanical systems) pressure sensors are generally known and widely used. One type of pressure sensor is an absolute pressure sensor which includes a pressure sensing circuit, typically a piezoresistor bridge, formed on the top side of a silicon substrate, and a glass pedestal anodically bonded to the backside of the silicon substrate where a cavity is located to form a reference vacuum. For such an absolute pressure sensor, the front side of the device where the sensing circuit is located faces the pressure media. Many absolute pressure sensors are used in applications in which the sensors are exposed to a harsh media. For such applications, the front side sensing by a traditional absolute pressure sensor cannot survive in the harsh media. These environments require another type of absolute pressure sensor, such as a backside absolute (BSA) pressure sensor, which is resistant to exposure to harsh media.
One typical BSA pressure sensor includes a top cap to enclose a cavity on the front side of the silicon substrate, having the sensing circuit. The cavity contains a reference vacuum and the backside of the sensor is exposed to the pressure media. The reference vacuum is enclosed in a cavity formed by bonding the top cap to the top side of the silicon substrate embedded with a sensing circuit. The backside of the silicon substrate may be bonded with a pedestal having an aperture for accessing the backside of the silicon diaphragm to the pressure media. The silicon diaphragm is formed by selectively removing a portion of bulk silicon from the backside of the silicon substrate.
However, these types of BSA pressure sensors have certain operational drawbacks, such as high cavity pressure due to the residual gasses accumulated during the anodic bonding step for a design and process having limited depth of the cavity of the cap, which may cause high output errors at low/high operating temperature.
Another issue that may occur is a large variation of the cap bonding boundary to enclose the cap cavity. This is because the lateral dimension of the cap cavity is difficult to control while etching the cap cavity. In general, the deeper the depth of the cavity of the cap, the bigger the lateral dimensional error of the cavity of the cap. The lateral dimension of the cap cavity determines the cap bonding boundary with the silicon substrate. The cap bonding boundary is an important factor effecting on the distribution and level of thermal stresses on the sensing circuit. These process errors are often beyond allowed bonding boundary tolerance for balancing thermal stresses, resulting in high output error, which reduces the device yield. Furthermore, these types of sensors are also subject to weak diaphragm strength, and diaphragm damage may result from high pressure fluctuations in different applications.
Accordingly, there exists a need for a BSA pressure sensor which overcomes the drawbacks discussed above.

Absolute pressure sensor with improved cap bonding boundary


A loading station of a detachable chair-lift comprises two spots 22, 29 for alternate pickup of skiers 21. To give the skiers easy access to the pickup spots, the distance between the chairs is increased by grouping them in pairs in the access zones. The station may comprise two tracks 16, 17, each having a pickup spot, onto which the chairs 11, uncoupled from the rope, are directed alternately. The two pickup spots can be on the same track, one after the other, the grouping of the chairs in pairs then being modified when running between the two pickup spots so that the rear chair of the pair at the first is pickup spot comes in front at the second pickup spot.

The invention relates to a detachable chair-lift having an aerial rope with continuous running, which extends between two stations where the rope passes over bull-wheels to form an endless loop, and chairs coupled to the rope on the line and uncoupled from the rope in the stations to run continuously over a trajectory transferring the chairs from one strand of the loop to the other passing pickup spots to pick up skiers.
The invention is described hereinafter in its preferred application to a detachable chair-lift, and more particularly to a loading station generally situated downhill, but it is clear that it is applicable to other transporters, notably to cable-cars.
The transport capacity is an essential factor of a chair-lift and it depends on the number of places on each chair and on the speed of and the distance between the chairs on the line. The development of detachable chair-lifts has enabled the speed on the line and therefore the throughput rate to be increased, while providing ease of pickup on chairs running at reduced speed. As the speed of the chairs in the stations is lower, the chairs are closer to one another than on the line, notably in the pickup zone, and at a high throughput rate, the larger the size of the chairs, with two, three or four seats, the more difficult it is for skiers to pass between two chairs close to one another.
The object of the present invention is to achieve a chair-lift with a high transport capacity and with loading in complete safety.
The document U.S. Pat No. 4,050,385 describes a detachable chair-lift, whose transfer trajectory of the chairs is doubled into two parallel tracks, each having a pickup spot. The chairs are directed alternately onto one or the other of the tracks so as to increase the throughput rate of the installation. The two tracks cross and the pickup spots are arranged on the outside sections of the tracks. The skiers are seated perpendicularly to the line and they get on the chairs, at a standstill, from the rear, without crossing the trajectory of the chairs or one of the tracks. Loading at a standstill reduces the running rate of the chair-lift and, at the crossing of the two tracks, one of the chairs is loaded and the slightest misadjustment may cause an accident with injury.
The document EP-A-0,306,771 describes a parking track of a detachable chair-lift, on which the chairs are stored at a small distance from one another.

Aerial transporter having two pickup spots


Disclosed are an apparatus and method for displaying a rear image of a vehicle. The apparatus for displaying a rear image of a vehicle includes a rear camera configured to capture a rear image of the vehicle, a steering angle sensor configured to sense a steering angle of a steering wheel, a display unit, and an image processing unit configured to convert the rear image captured by the rear camera when the vehicle moves backward into an image in a direction where the vehicle is to move backward according to the steering angle of the steering wheel that is sensed by the steering angle sensor, and display the converted image in the direction where the vehicle is to move backward through the display unit.

The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for displaying a rear image of a vehicle, and more particularly, to an apparatus and method for displaying a rear image of a vehicle, which display an image in a direction where the vehicle is to move backward, when the vehicle moves backward.
As the rear camera technology is generalized, a rear camera is mounted as a default option in the vehicle. Recently, when gears are changed into reverse and an angle of a steering wheel is changed, an expected trajectory is displayed with a solid line on a screen.
When moving in a certain direction, a person has a user experience (UX) that instinctively turns his/her head to the direction or moves his/her line of sight
However, when trying to reverse parking, a driver does not fully secure his/her field of view in an actual direction that is expected in a state where the camera is fixed only with a trajectory in the direction, and there is also a case where the driver does not perceive an obstacle outside a screen in the moving direction.
The related art of the present invention is disclosed in Korean Patent No. 10-0899892 published on May 21, 2009 and entitled "Camera device for vehicle and guideline display method".

Apparatus and method for displaying rear image of vehicle


A method and apparatus for communicating congestion control information between dissimilar protocols operating in heterogeneous internetworks at different layers of the International Standards Organization (ISO) Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) 7 layer conceptual model for data networking. The method and apparatus provides direct end-to-end congestion control at the Transport layer across a TCP/IP and ATM internetwork utilizing ATM ABR and TCP sliding window flow control mechanisms. A network device that interconnects TCP/IP and ATM data networks for communication of data communicates network congestion detected by a protocol operating in the ATM data network to a heterogeneous protocol operating in the TCP/IP data network. The network device receives TCP data packets and stores them in a queue. A TCP packet is discarded if the queue is full or network congestion is detected by the protocol operating in the ATM network, to communicate network congestion in the ATM network to the heterogeneous protocol operating in the TCP/IP network.

Contained herein is material that is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction of the patent disclosure by any person as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent files or records, but otherwise reserves all rights to the copyright whatsoever.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to the field of data networking. More specifically, the present invention is related to the communication of flow control information from one layer of a data internetwork to another layer of the data internetwork. In one embodiment, the present invention relays congestion control information provided by a protocol operating at the Data Link layer in a connection-oriented, packet switched network, e.g., an Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) network, to a protocol operating at the Transport layer in a connectionless-oriented network, i.e., a non-ATM interconnected network, such as an Ethernet or Token Ring network that supports, e.g., the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) suite of protocols for nondeterministic (i.e., not guaranteed) transmission data.
2. Description of the Related Art
The ATM Forum is a consortium of vendors in the data and telecommunication industries that proposes recommendations and implementation specifications for Asynchronous Transfer Mode networks. The ATM Forum promulgates specifications for functions not addressed by the standards bodies, including Available Bit Rate (ABR) services for Local Area Networks (LANs), Unspecified Bit Rate (UBR) services, and ABR-based flow control. The ATM Forum has specified an Available Bit Rate (ABR) service and a rate-based flow control mechanism in the ATM Forum TM SWG Traffic Management Specification version 4.0, April, 1996. ABR is a service type that guarantees a minimum bit rate for data transmissions, formatted as fixed length data cells. Additionally, while ABR makes no guarantee a cell will be delivered, it does attempt to keep cell loss as low as possible. UBR is a best effort service type that provides no minimum bit rate guarantee for data transmission.
ABR is utilized by ATM applications to vary the rate of data cells transmitted by the ATM applications in the ATM network based on feedback, i.e., control information, provided by the network. Control information is sent to an ATM application, i.e., an ABR source, in Resource Management (RM) cells. Based on the information provided in the RM cells about the condition of the network, the ABR source varies the rate of data cells transmitted by the ABR source in the network. ABR service includes a flow control mechanism that provides a minimum amount of bandwidth to ABR compliant ATM applications, such as file transfer applications. With the ABR flow control mechanism, the data cell transmission rate of an ATM Virtual Circuit (VC) connection is controlled based on the network feedback information carried in the RM cells.
A RM cell contains information fields, including, at least: 1) a direction field indicating the direction of the RM cell, 2) a Congestion Indication (CI) bit field, and 3) an Explicit Rate (ER) field. The network initially sends a RM cell with the CI bit equal to zero and the ER field equal to the maximum cell rate. An ATM network component (e.g., a switch or ATM destination end-user system) may modify the CI bit and ER field of the RM cell to reflect the congestion experienced in the ATM network and availability of network resources. When the ATM source end-user system receives a RM cell from the destination end-user system, it adjusts its cell transmission rate accordingly, based on, for example, the ER and CI values. It is generally believed the ABR service effectively controls congestion within ATM networks in this manner. However, this method does not extend to congestion control across interconnected heterogeneous networks, such as an Ethernet or Token Ring Local Area Network (LAN), connected to an ATM network via, e.g., a switch or router.
Presently, little research on end-to-end traffic management in a heterogeneous internetworking environment has been done. For example, when non-ATM networks such as local area networks 110 and 120 shown in FIG. 1, e.g., Ethernet networks operating under the TCP/IP suite of protocols, are connected to an ATM network 130, ABR flow control may simply push any congestion to the edge of ATM network, i.e., to ATM intermediate systems 115 and 125 (e.g., ATM/LAN switches). Even if the ATM network effectively controls congestion therein using ABR flow control, the overall network performance (e.g., the time to transfer a file) provided to an application executing on a node, e.g., node 140, in the non-ATM network may not be necessarily better. Furthermore, it could be contended that reducing memory buffer requirements in an ATM switch (within ATM network 130) using ABR flow control may be at the expense of increasing memory buffer requirements at ATM edge devices (e.g., switches 115 and 125).
Most of today""s data networking applications use Transport layer flow control protocols. The Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) is an example of a reliable connection-oriented Transport layer protocol operating above the Network (e.g., Internet Protocol (IP)) and Data Link layers. TCP flow control utilizes a variable sized window-, or sliding window-based flow control protocol. A sliding window at the source port of a TCP connection is adjusted based on the window size advertised by the destination port of the TCP connection and the successful transmission of each TCP packet being transmitted. As the window size advertised by the TCP destination port increases, the size of the sliding window at the TCP source port is increased. Conversely, as the window size advertised by the TCP destination port decreases, the size of the sliding window at the TCP source port is decreased. For example, if the TCP destination port receive buffer is full, the TCP destination port advertises a window size of zero. The TCP source port then stops sending data to the TCP destination port until it receives an advertisement from the TCP destination port indicating a nonzero window size. Additionally, when the network becomes congested, for example, when an intermediate system in the network becomes overloaded due to unavailable bandwidth or lack of buffer space, TCP packets may be dropped. This is detected by the TCP source and/or destination port by out of sequence TCP end-to-end flow control sequence and acknowledgement numbers. In such a situation, the TCP sliding window flow control mechanism functions as a congestion control mechanism, decreasing the sliding window size at the TCP source port.
In an internetworking environment, e.g., network 100, the TCP source and destination ports (at nodes 140 and 150 respectively) may be interconnected through heterogeneous networks such as the TCP/IP-based network 110, ATM network 130 and TCP/IP-based network 120 as shown in FIG. 1. The relationship between the TCP sliding window flow control and ATM ABR flow control is further illustrated in FIG. 2, wherein TCP/IP protocol stacks 210 and 220 are respectively operating at end user nodes 140 and 150, ATM over IP protocol stacks 230 and 250 are respectively operating at intermediate systems 115 and 125 (also referred to herein as source and destination edges devices because the systems are located at the xe2x80x9cedgexe2x80x9d of the ATM network), and ATM protocol stack 240 is operating over ATM network 130, for the internetworking environment 100 illustrated in FIG. 1. End user application(s), e.g., end user application 255, executes at the top of the TCP/IP protocol stack, e.g., TCP/IP protocol stack 210. With respect to FIGS. 1 and 2, data formatted as TCP packets are transmitted from node 140 through the TCP/IP-based network 110 to the source edge device 115. The TCP packets are variable in length, and generally have a length greater than the fixed-length 53 byte cells transmitted in an ATM network environment. Thus, the TCP packets are segmented into fixed length 53 byte ATM cells by IP over ATM protocol stack 230 (using, for example, the ATM Adaptation Layer 5 (AAL5) protocol) executing at the source edge device 115 for transmission over the ATM network 130. The ATM cells are then transmitted across the ATM network 130 via ATM protocol stack 240. The ATM cells are received and reassembled into TCP packets at the destination edge device 125 by IP over ATM protocol stack 250.
As shown in FIG. 2, the TCP sliding window flow control mechanism operates at the Transport layer (e.g., TCP control loop 260) and the ABR flow control mechanism operates at the Data Link layer (e.g., ATM control loop 265). In the prior art, there is no direct communication between the aforesaid TCP sliding window flow control mechanism and the ATM ABR flow control mechanism. When congestion is detected in the ATM network, ABR flow control reduces the data cell transmission rate in the ATM network. If congestion persists, memory buffers present in the ATM network may reach capacity, and/or ATM network bandwidth may become unavailable, causing TCP packets to be dropped, eventually resulting in a reduction of the TCP sliding window at the TCP source port in the sending node. Loss of multiple TCP packets within the same TCP window may result in significant reduction of TCP packet throughput. Using larger buffers at the edge devices 115 and/or 125 may reduce the loss of TCP packets and increase the TCP packet throughput, but it may significantly increase the cost of the edge devices. Moreover, the requirement for larger buffers may be beyond the practical limitations of an edge device.
From a performance point of view, there are two control loops in the network illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2: ABR rate-based flow control at control loop 265 and TCP sliding window flow control (providing congestion control when TCP packets are dropped) at control loop 260. The ABR control loop 265, operating essentially as an inner loop to the TCP control loop 260, may result in a longer feedback delay for the TCP control loop. Furthermore, there are two feedback control protocols, and the interactions or interference between the two may actually degrade the Transport layer performance, depending on the TCP implementation.
Thus, what is needed is a mechanism at the ATM edge device that provides for direct communication between the TCP and ABR flow control mechanisms to resolve the above problems.
The present invention provides a method and apparatus for congestion control by communicating information between different protocols operating at different layers of the International Standards Organization (ISO) Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) 7 layer conceptual model across heterogeneous interconnected networks. Generally, network congestion, detected by a first protocol operating in a first network, is communicated to a second protocol operating in a second network. The first protocol discards a data packet received from the second network if the first protocol operating in the first network detects a transition to a state of network congestion or a continued state of network congestion in the first network. In one embodiment, a network device, such as a switch or router, that interconnects TCP/IP and ATM data networks for communication of data between nodes connected to the networks, communicates network congestion detected by a protocol operating in a ATM data network, e.g., a Data link layer protocol, to a heterogeneous protocol operating in the TCP/IP data network, e.g., TCP. The network device receives TCP data packets and stores them in a queue. The oldest TCP packet is discarded when the queue is full or network congestion is detected by the Data Link layer protocol in the ATM network, to communicate network congestion in the ATM network to the Transport layer in the TCP/IP network. The TCP window size is estimated and only one TCP packet is allowed to be discarded in each TCP window, unless the queue is full.

Method and apparatus for communicating congestion information among different protocol layers between networks


The present invention relates to oral compositions which are useful for binding phosphorus in ingesta, and inhibiting absorption of phosphorus from the gastrointestinal tract of subjects. A method for binding phosphorus in ingesta and inhibiting its absorption from the gastrointestinal tract is also provided. The dietary supplements and pharmaceutical products and methods of the present invention are particularly useful in the treatment of hyperphosphatemia of chronic uremia and reducing serum phosphorus levels in patients requiring such therapy.

Phosphorus, the sixth most abundant element in the human body, is critical for bone mineralization, cellular structure, genetic coding, and energy metabolism. Approximately 1,000 g of phosphorus, constituent in a variety of organic and inorganic forms, is present in an adult human. About 80-90% of the phosphorus is in bone, 10-14% is intracellular, and the remaining 1% is extracellular.
Phosphorus is present in nearly all foods, and absorption of dietary phosphorus from ingesta in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract is very efficient. Normal daily dietary intake varies from 800-1,500 mg of phosphorus. Typically, 70-90% of dietary phosphorus is absorbed, primarily from the jejunum, duodenum, and proximal ileum of the GI tract, although some absorption continues throughout the remainder of the intestinal tract. A small amount of GI excretion occurs.
In the normal adult human, serum phosphorus levels range from 2.5 to 4.5 mg/dL (0.81 to 1.45 mmol phosphorus/L). (Normal serum levels are typically 50% higher in infants and 30% higher in children due to growth hormone effects.) A condition of phosphorus homeostasis is normally maintained in the body of a subject, wherein the amount of phosphorus absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract approximately equals the amount excreted via the kidney. In addition, cellular release of phosphorus is balanced by uptake in other tissues. Hormonal control is provided by parathyroid hormone.
Since the kidney plays a central role in maintaining phosphorus homeostasis, kidney dysfunction is often accompanied by increased phosphorus retention by the body. In early kidney dysfunction, compensatory physiological responses allow for a continued match between urinary phosphorus excretion and phosphorus absorption from the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. With more advanced renal failure, however, elevated serum phosphorus is a predictable co-morbidity.
Hyperphosphatemia is a disease state in which there is an abnormally elevated serum phosphorus (Pi) level in the body. Hyperphosphatemia is a particular problem of chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients who are treated using dialysis. Conventional dialysis fails to reduce levels of phosphorus in the blood, and serum phosphorus levels increase with time. Significant hyperphosphatemia is considered present when serum phosphorus levels are greater than about 5 mg/dL in adults or 7 mg/dL in children or adolescents. [National Kidney Foundation. Am J Kidney Dis 2003; 42 (Suppl 3):S1-S201.]
In patients with CKD, phosphorus retention (as evidenced by abnormally elevated serum phosphorus levels) may contribute to progression of renal failure and is a major factor in the development of secondary hyperparathyroidism, renal osteodystrophy, and soft tissue calcification. [Block G A, Klassen P S, Lazarus J M, Ofsthun N, Lowrie E G, Chertow G. J Am Soc Nephrol 2004 August; 15(8): 2208-2218.] Prevention of phosphorus retention with dietary and pharmacological means is frequently required to prevent or reverse secondary hyperparathyroidism and the morbidities and mortality risks associated with it. [Qunibi W Y. Kidney Int 66 (Suppl 90): S8-S12. Alfrey A C. Kidney Int 66 (Suppl 90): S13-S17.]Phosphorus (Pi) binders which bind dietary phosphorus in the gastrointestinal tract are, therefore, clinical mainstays in restoring phosphorus balance and preventing hyperphosphatemia in the roughly 450,000 end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients in the United States.
Phosphorus Binders. Phosphorus binders are ingested orally by a subject to bind dietary phosphate and convert it to insoluble phosphate salts, thus preventing its absorption from the GI tract. Phosphorus binding is a chemical reaction between dietary phosphorus and a cation of the binder compound, resulting in the formation of insoluble and hence unabsorbable phosphate compounds; adsorption of phosphorus-containing anions on the surface of binder particles; or a combination of both processes. Two classes of phosphorus binders are known: metal salts and cationic polymers. Known metal salts with phosphate-binding properties are calcium salts, including calcium acetate, calcium carbonate, calcium citrate, calcium alginate, calcium gluconate, calcium lactate, and calcium sulfate; magnesium salts, including magnesium carbonate, and magnesium hydroxide; aluminum salts, including aluminum hydroxide and aluminum carbonate; ferric citrate and ferric acetate; lanthanum salts, including lanthanum carbonate; and zirconium salts. Cationic polymers that exhibit phosphorus binding include high molecular weight polymers having multiple amine substituents, such as, by way of example, a polymer known as sevelamer hydrochloride (marketed as "RenaGel®" by Genzyme, Inc.).
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,889,725 Veltman discloses a means for promoting the neutralization reaction between particulate calcium carbonate and ionized phosphate by adding a material formed by the reaction of particulate calcium carbonate and dilute hydrofluoric acid. The products of this invention are useful in lowering serum phosphorus levels in patients undergoing renal dialysis, and are also useful as antacids.
A common treatment for controlling Pi levels is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,870,105 to Fordtran, which discloses a calcium acetate phosphorus binder for oral administration to an individual for the purpose of inhibiting gastrointestinal absorption of phosphorus. It further discloses a method of inhibiting gastrointestinal absorption of phosphorus, comprising administering orally the calcium acetate phosphorus binder, preferably close in time to food and beverage consumption. Likewise, U.S. Pat. No. 6,576,665 to Dennett, Jr. et al. discloses a composition for inhibiting gastrointestinal absorption of phosphorus in an individual. The composition includes a quantity of calcium acetate sufficient to bind the phosphorus and having a bulk density of between 0.50 kg/L and 0.80 kg/L and is dimensioned to form a caplet for fitting within a capsule. Further provided is a method for administering the calcium acetate composition. Likewise, U.S. Pat. No. 6,875,445 to Dennett, Jr., et al. discloses a composition for binding phosphorus within the gastrointestinal tract of an individual. The composition includes a quantity of calcium acetate having a specific bulk density sufficient to bind the phosphorus in the gastrointestinal tract of an individual. Further provided is a method for administering the calcium acetate composition.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,160,016 to DeLuca discloses a calcium formate composition for oral administration to an individual for the purpose of inhibiting gastrointestinal absorption of phosphorus. It further discloses a method of inhibiting gastrointestinal absorption of phosphorus, comprising administering orally the composition, preferably close in time to food and beverage consumption. Likewise, U.S. Pat. No. 6,489,361, to DeLuca discloses a calcium formate composition for oral administration to an individual for the purpose of inhibiting gastrointestinal absorption of phosphorus. Further, DeLuca discloses a method of inhibiting gastrointestinal absorption of phosphorus, comprising administering orally the calcium formate composition of his invention, preferably close in time to food and beverage consumption.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,689,322, to Kulbe et al. provides calcium salts or calcium mixed salts of polymeric, anionic carboxylic acids and/or an ester of sulfuric acid, and methods for their preparation and use, discloses a pharmaceutical product which contains at least a calcium salt or a calcium mixed salt of a natural or chemically modified polymeric, anionic carboxylic acid and/or an ester of sulfuric acid, and additive materials and/or carrier materials. There are further disclosed calcium salts, and methods of preparation thereof, comprised of polymannuronic acid, polygalacturonic acid, polyglucuronic acid, polyguluronic acid, the oxidation products of homoglycans, the oxidation products of heteroglycans, or their mixtures, for controlling the levels of phosphorus, calcium and iron in patients with chronic uremia and/or the control of the oxalate and/or phosphate of the blood in kidney stone prophylaxis.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,887,897 to Walsdorf and Alexandrides discloses a calcium glutarate supplement and its use for controlling phosphate retention in patients on dialysis and suffering from renal failure and associated hyperphosphatemia. Therapeutic benefit can be realized by administering a calcium glutarate compound orally to a patient to increase available calcium and contact and bind with ingested phosphorus in the patient's digestive tract, and thereby prevent its intestinal absorption.
The Pi binding properties of magnesium salts have been studied by Fine et al. in acute studies involving normal subjects. [Fine K D, Santa Ana C A, Porter J L, Fordtran J S. Intestinal absorption of magnesium from food and supplements. J Clin Invest 1991; 88: 396-402.] They found a dose-dependent decrease in Pi absorption from ingesta that ranged from 75% Pi absorption with placebo to 28% Pi absorption with 77 mEq magnesium acetate (MgAc) per os. Fine stated that Pi absorption by magnesium acetate was comparable to that of calcium acetate, a current standard of care. However, Fine rejected use of magnesium acetate, because "the risk of hypermagnesemia and diarrhea from MgAc ingestion would likely limit the clinical usefulness of MgAc as a P binder." [ibid, page 401, column 1, paragraph 4]
Several investigators have evaluated the use of orally administered magnesium (Mg) hydroxide- or carbonate-containing Pi binders in the treatment of ESRD patients undergoing dialysis. Guillot et al., treated nine patients undergoing conventional hemodialysis with oral magnesium hydroxide for three to five weeks. [Guillot A P, Hood V L, Runge C F, Gennari F J. The use of magnesium-containing phosphate binders in patients with end-stage renal disease on maintenance hemodialysis. Nephron 1982; 30:114-117.] Using doses averaging 734 mg of elemental Mg/day and concurrent dialysis with dialysate having Mg concentrations of 1.2 to 1.8 mg/dl, the serum Pi levels fell from a control (no binders) value of 9.0 mg/dL to 8.1 mg/dL as a result of treatment. The mean serum Mg levels were 4.32 mg/dL. Four of nine patients developed diarrhea. In contrast to the Guillot study, Mactier et al. observed no effect of oral choline magnesium trisalicylate (trilisate) on serum Pi levels in either hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis patients. [Mactier R A, Leung A C T, Henderson I S, and Dobbie J W. Control of hyperphosphatemia in dialysis patients: Comparison of aluminum hydroxide, calcium carbonate, and magnesium trilisate. Dial Transplant 1987; 16: 599-601.] Adverse findings were reported by Oe et al., who studied eighteen patients undergoing conventional hemodialysis who were switched from oral Al((OH)3 to Mg(OH)2. [Oe P L, Lips P, van der Meulen J, de Vries P M J M, van Bronswuk H. Long-term use of magnesium hydroxide as a phosphate binder in patients on hemodialysis. Clin Nephrol 1987; 28: 180-185.] Serum Pi levels rose from 4.3 to 6.1 mg/dL despite an average daily intake of 991 mg of elemental Mg and use of a dialysate lacking Mg. The serum Mg level averaged 4.3 mg/dL during Mg(OH)2 treatment. The potassium levels were significantly higher when patients received Mg(OH)2 compared to the control phase (5.7±0.3 vs. 5.1±0.4 mEq/L). O'Donovan et al. switched 28 patients undergoing conventional hemodialysis from oral Al(OH)3 to oral MgCO3 in combination with a Mg-free dialysate. [O'Donovan R, Baldwin D, Hammer M, Moniz C, Parsons V. Substitution of aluminium salts by magnesium salts in control of dialysis hyperphosphataemia. Lancet 1986; 1: 880-882.] Over the two-year study period, Ca, P, and Mg levels were well controlled and not different from those in the control phase. The amount of elemental Mg used varied between 155 to 465 mg/day. Diarrhea was mild and transient. Similar data were reported by Moriniere et al. [Moriniere P, Vinatier I, Westeel P F. Magnesium hydroxide as a complementary aluminum-free phosphate binder to moderate doses of oral calcium in uraemic patients on chronic haemodialysis. Nephrol Dial Transplant 1988; 3: 651-656.] They also reported severe hyperkalemia as high as 8 mEq/L in many patients, the etiology of which was unclear. More recently, this same group performed a controlled study in which patients were either treated with CaCO3 plus Mg(OH)2 as needed or Mg(OH)2 alone and 1-alpha-hydroxyvitamin D3. [Morniere P, Maurouard C, Boudailliez B, Westeel P, Achard J, Boitte F, El Esper N, Compagnon M, Maurel G, Bouillon R, Pamphile R, Fournier A. Prevention of hyperparathyroidism in patients on maintenance dialysis by intravenous 1-alpha-hydroxyvitamin D3 in association with Mg(OH)2 as sole phosphate binder. Nephron 1992; 60: 154-163.] Neither the combination of oral calcium carbonate/magnesium hydroxide nor magnesium hydroxide alone was effective in suppressing parathyroid hormone (PTH) secretion, and uncontrolled hyperphosphatemia forced a reduction in the dose of 1-alpha-hydroxyvitamin D3. Delmez et al. showed that magnesium carbonate was well-tolerated and controlled Pi and Mg levels when given in conjunction with a dialysate having a Mg concentration of 0.6 mg/dL. [Delmez J A, Kelber J, Norword K Y, Giles K S, Slatopolsky E. Magnesium carbonate as a phosphorus binder: A prospective, controlled, crossover study. Kidney Int 1996; 49: 163-167.] In addition, Delmez showed that oral magnesium carbonate (dose, 465±52 mg/day elemental Mg) allowed a decrease in the amount of elemental calcium ingested from 2.9±0.4 to 1.2±0.2 g/day (P<0.0001). Moreover, the combined treatment allowed an increase in the maximum dose of intravenous calcitriol without causing hypercalcemia.
Recently, Fresenius Medical Care A G & Co. KGaA (Bad Homburg Germany) received regulatory approval from Germany's Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (Bundesinstitut für Arzneimittel und Medizinprodukte) for a new phosphate binding agent. The Fresenius drug, called "OsvaRen," is a phosphate binding agent that is made from a combination of calcium acetate and magnesium carbonate.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,926,912 to Roberts et al. discloses a non-aluminum containing mixed metal compound for pharmaceutical use, which may be a mixed metal hydroxy carbonate containing magnesium and iron, and may have a hydrotalcite structure, preferably a non-aged hydrotalcite structure. Other metals, including calcium, lanthanum and cerium, may also be used. U.S. Pat. No. 4,988,569 to Okazaki et al. discloses a phosphate adsorbent comprising a magnesium oxide-titanium dioxide complex as an active ingredient and a phosphate adsorbent having said complex deposited on active carbon.
Phosphate-binding polymers include sevelamer, which is marketed under the brand name RenaGel® (Genzyme, Waltham Mass.), Oxasorb®, and polymers prepared using the methods disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,496,545, 5,667,775, 6,083,495; 6,509,013, 6,726,905, 6,844,372, 6,858,203, and 7,087,223. U.S. Pat. No. 6,132,706 to Hider and Canas-Rodriguez discloses methods of medical treatment for excess phosphate using guanidine-containing polymers. U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,383,518 and 6,697,087, both to Matsuda and Kubota, disclose phosphate-binding polymer preparations. In U.S. Pat. No. 7,014,846 Holmes-Farley et al. disclose phosphate-binding polymers for oral administration.
L-Carnitine. L-(−)-Carnitine is a vitamin-like nutrient that is essential for energy production and fat metabolism in the physiological systems of birds, fish, and mammals and has the structure:

For humans, L-carnitine is supplied to the body through both endogenous synthesis (about 25% of adult daily requirement) and food intake (about 75% of adult daily requirement). Meats, in particular beef and lamb, are the major dietary sources of L-carnitine. (Fruits and vegetables are poor dietary sources of L-carnitine.)
Within the human body, the major sites of L-carnitine biosynthesis are the liver and kidney, and these organs synthesize sufficient L-carnitine for local use and for export to other tissues, including the muscles and heart. Biosynthesis also takes place in the brain and testes. Biosynthesis requires lysine, methionine, vitamin C, iron, vitamin B6, and niacin. Dysfunction of the liver or kidney, such as cirrhosis of the liver or chronic kidney disease, may restrict the biosynthesis of L-carnitine and alter the diet, causing concomitant, deleterious L-carnitine deficiency.
Supplemental L-carnitine is available and has been used to mitigate L-carnitine deficiency. However, conventional L-carnitine compositions exhibit noxious odor and taste, as well as hygroscopicity. After ingestion, supplemental L-carnitine has a bioavailability that ranges between about 3% and about 20% of the administered dose.
L-Carnitine functions as a requisite mediator of acyl transport and accepts acyl groups from a variety of acylCoA derivatives in cells and tissues throughout the body. In humans, the transport activity of L-carnitine is particularly important in working muscle, for example, in the muscles throughout the body and the heart. Both types of tissues are dependent on fatty acid metabolism for energy supply, and L-carnitine mediates the translocation of fatty acyl groups across mitochondrial membranes to the sites of oxidation in the mitochondria. In addition, L-carnitine shuttles short chain fatty acids from inside the mitochondria to the cytosol.
A physiologically adequate concentration of L-carnitine is required to provide nutritional support for producing energy in muscles and heart, for mitochondrial long-chain fatty acid oxidation, buffering of the mitochondrial acyl CoA/CoA couple, scavenging acyl groups, peroxysomal fatty acid oxidation, branched-chain amino acid oxidation, and membrane stabilization.
The kidneys are sites of endogenous synthesis of L-carnitine as well of organs of excretory regulation. Under normal physiological conditions, 90% to 95% of the L-carnitine which undergoes glomerular filtration is subsequently reabsorbed by the renal tubules, with the balance excreted in the urine either as acetyl L-carnitine (the major form) or as L-carnitine. Individuals with chronic kidney disease (CKD) exhibit dysregulation of L-carnitine metabolism concomitant with reduction in glomerular filtration rate and other symptoms of renal failure. As a result, the concentration of free L-carnitine in the blood is lowered and the concentrations of L-carnitine esters in the blood are raised. In addition, progressive damage of the renal parenchyma leads to a loss of renal capacity to synthesize L-carnitine, reducing the intracellular L-carnitine concentration. Moreover, maldigestion, impaired absorption by the small intestine in uremia, and restrictions in dietary protein intake may contribute to an increasing L-carnitine deficiency in CKD patients. Finally, CKD patients who undergo hemodialysis lose L-carnitine during the dialysis procedure in excess of the endogenous synthesizing capacity. All of these factors render individuals with renal disease deficient in L-carnitine.
Because L-carnitine functions as a requisite mediator of acyl transport in the body, an L-carnitine deficiency is a serious physiological disorder. Individuals who suffer from L-carnitine deficiency are afflicted with muscle weakness (myasthenia), accompanied by an accumulation of lipids in specific types of muscle fibers. Severe L-carnitine deficiency may present as myasthenia gravis. Individuals who suffer from systemic L-carnitine deficiency and also secondary L-carnitine deficiency associated with organic acidemias may experience vomiting, stupor, confusion and in severe or prolonged occasions of systemic L-carnitine deficiency accompanied by stressful stimuli, coma in encephalopathic episodes.
It is known that increasing the serum L-carnitine concentration to more normal values provides significant benefit to individuals with renal disease. For example, intravenous administration of L-carnitine has been reported to decrease total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol while significantly increasing HDL cholesterol. [M. Bulla et al., "Dysregulation of carnitine metabolism in renal insufficiency," pages 177-194 in Carnitine: Pathobiochemical Basics and Clinical Applications, H. Seim and H. Loster, Eds. Ponte Press, Bochum, Germany, 1996] Likewise, Golper et al. have reported that intravenous administration of L-carnitine reduced the serum phosphate concentrations significantly. [T. A. Golper et al. "Multicenter trial of L-carnitine in maintenance hemodialysis patients. II. Clinical and biochemical effects." Kidney Intl 1990; 38: 912-918] Similarly encouraging observations have been reported with regard to cardiomyopathy, muscular myasthenia, hypotension and arrhythmia in CKD patients undergoing hemodialysis.
The ideal Pi binder should bind most dietary phosphorus in the gastrointestinal tract without producing significant adverse effects. It should also be relatively inexpensive, because most dialysis patients usually consume relatively large daily doses of the binder. Further, if components in the ideal Pi binder are absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract, these moieties should have beneficial physiological activities. Unfortunately, none of the currently used Pi binders fulfill all of these requirements. It would be very useful, therefore to have a Pi binder which binds dietary phosphorus more effectively, thus enabling use of lower doses, which does not have the risks associated with ingestion of conventional Pi binders, and which has pluripotent benefits to the subject. The present invention answers this unmet need.

Phosphorus binder for treatment of renal disease


There is provided a radio wave transmitting decorative member which has radio wave transmitting properties as well as mirror-surface like metallic luster, the radio wave transmitting decorative member which hardly loses its metallic luster and which can be produced at a low cost. More specifically, disclosed is a radio wave transmitting decorative member including a substrate, and a light reflecting layer provided on top of the substrate and formed of an alloy composed of either silicon or germanium and a metal, wherein the light reflecting layer is preferably a deposition film formed by a physical vapor deposition of an alloy composed of either silicon or germanium and a metal.

From the viewpoint of design properties, metallic decorative members, in particular, decorative members having mirror-surface like metallic luster have been widely used in the casing or button of a mobile phone; the casing of a watch; and the front grille, bumper or the like of a vehicle.
As such decorative members, a decorative member that transmits radio waves (microwaves or the like) without adversely affecting the radio waves has been required for the following reasons.
(i) An antenna for transmitting and receiving radio waves is disposed inside the casing of a mobile phone.
(ii) An antenna for receiving radio waves is disposed inside the casing of a radio controlled clock that is provided with a function to receive the standard wave and to automatically correct errors.
(iii) In a vehicle equipped with a radar device that detects the presence of obstacles or measures the distance between vehicles, an antenna in the radar device is disposed in the vicinity of a front grille or a bumper.
(iv) The frequency of radio waves used in the communication devices or the like has been shifting to a high frequency range of about 100 GHz, at which radio waves are readily affected by the decorative members, and thus these devices are prone to functional disorders.
The following materials have been proposed as the decorative members that allow the passing through of radio waves and are provided with metallic luster.
(1) A shaped product having a deposited film of indium, an indium alloy, tin, or a tin alloy, on a substrate (refer to Patent Document 1).
(2) A transfer material having a deposited film of an indium/indium oxide complex on a base material (refer to Patent Document 2).
(3) A decorative product having a coating film, in which fine pieces of luminescent materials are dispersed, on a base material (refer to Patent Document 3).
(4) A decorative product having a reflective film (metal) which is provided with an opening on a base material (refer to Patent Document 4).
With respect to the metal deposited film of indium, tin, lead, zinc, bismuth, antimony, or the like, it has been known that because the metal is present as a minute independent island, radio waves can pass through the gaps between the islands where no metal is present. For this reason, the decorative members described above in (1) and (2) have radio wave transmitting properties as well as metallic luster.
However, with respect to the decorative members of (1) and (2), if the thickness of the metal deposited film is increased in order to attain a satisfactory level of metallic luster, the islands become partially connected with each other and form a network that serves as a good conductor, and thus the reflection or absorption of radio waves occurs depending on the frequency thereof.
In addition, tin is prone to oxidation, chlorination, or the like, as a result of which the metallic luster thereof is lost over time. On the other hand, indium is highly expensive.
Because the above decorative member of (3) is a product in which luminescent materials are dispersed in a coating film, it is not provided with mirror-surface like metallic luster.
On the other hand, with respect to the above decorative member of (4), only radio waves having a specific frequency that conforms to the size of the opening of the light reflecting layer can pass therethrough.
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2005-249773
[Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent No. 3414717
[Patent Document 3] Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2006-282886
[Patent Document 4] Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2006-276008

Radio wave transmitting decorative member


The number of times for averaging operation for averaging a correlation value of a received signal and a reference signal is properly controlled. When the correlation value is not averaged, since a lower limit value TH_A of a correlation level of a distribution of timings of which a path exists is larger than an upper limit value TH_B of a correlation level of a distribution of timings of which a path does not exist, the correlation value of a path is hidden by noise. Since the averaging operation is repeated until the relation of TH_A>TH_B is satisfied, the averaging operation is stopped when the relation is satisfied. The TH_A and TH_B are decided in accordance with RSCP and ISCP of a pilot channel and RSSI of a received base band signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a portable information communication terminal having a function of for detecting multiple paths over a wireless transmission line, a program for such function, and recording medium on which the program is recorded.
2. Description of Related Art
In the direct sequence spread spectrum (DS-SS) system, multiple paths over a wireless transmission line are detected. Received signals of the multiple paths are rake-combined so as to alleviate influence of fading due to the multiple paths and improve the communication quality. Thus, a function for accurately detecting multiple paths to be rake-combined is important for a receiving apparatus of the direct sequence spread spectrum wireless communication.
To detect multiple paths, correlating calculations for received signals and a reference signal are required. In addition, to improve the detection accuracy of multiple paths, the correlating calculations are performed several times, and thus obtained results are averaged in general. These calculating process takes a relatively large part in all the receiving process. Thus, it is important to minimize the number of times (operating time) for the averaging operation is performed so as to reduce the power consumption of the receiving apparatus.
A method for suppressing the number of times for the averaging operation by deciding the number of times for the averaging operation in accordance with output levels of a correlation device that performs the correlating calculations for the received signals and the reference signal is disclosed in a first and a second related art references. A third related art reference discloses a method for decreasing an operation time by omitting an unnecessary cumulative adding operation.
The first related art reference is Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2002-26768, the second related art reference is Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-267958, and the third related art reference is Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-136101.
However, when the number of times for the averaging operation is decided in accordance with the output levels of the correlation device, the following problems will arise.
First, the outputs of the correlation device are complex correlation values. Thus, it is preferred to perform an averaging operation by a coherent adding operation. However, the averaging operation by the coherent adding operation is difficult. Thus, after the outputs of the correlation device are converted into power values or amplitude values, thus converted values are averaged. However, the measurement accuracy of levels obtained by that method is inferior to that obtained through the averaging operation by the coherent adding operation. Since the number of times for the averaging operation is decided in accordance with the inaccurate outputs of the correlation device, the number of times for the averaging operation cannot be accurately decided.
The output levels of the correlation device have to be decided in accordance with the past reception states, and should not be decided with the current reception state. Thus, the number of times for the averaging operation cannot be derived in accordance with the current reception state.
In the actual receiving apparatus, the number of fingers is limited. In other words, since the number of paths that are able to be assigned is limited, if the paths that exceed the limited number are detected, this means that unnecessary process is preformed. However, in the related art references, control for the number of times for the averaging operation is not carried out in accordance with the number of fingers that is able to be assigned. Thus, the methods according to the related art references are not effective.

Portable information communication terminal, program, and recording medium

Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications Japan, Inc.


A method for determining a path for a user of a mobile device for traveling from an origination location to a destination location, comprising receiving a request for a recommended path from the origination location to the destination location, wherein the request comprises a origination location, a destination location, and a network quality constraint, receiving network access point information for access points between the origination location and the destination location, and generating, with a processor, at least one recommended path from the origination location to the destination location based on the request and the network access point information, wherein the recommended path satisfies the network quality constraint.

The wide deployment of infrastructure based mobile networks, e.g., high-speed cellular networks and metro-scale WiFi™ (WiFi™ is an wireless local area network (WLAN) based on the Institute of Electrical and electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards), significantly facilitates the ubiquitous Internet access for mobile users. It is becoming a common practice for users on the move to use many kinds of Internet services like browsing, video streaming, and even video chat. Meanwhile these mobile applications have various requirements on the mobile networks, e.g., high availability, high bandwidth, and low loss rate. Unfortunately, current deployed mobile networks cannot satisfy these requirements everywhere because of the imbalanced distribution of base stations (or access points for WiFi™) and the geographic properties of different regions. Mobile users usually experience varying network quality during their movement. The varying network quality may be caused by the combined effects of imbalanced geographic distribution of mobile networks and users' lacking and, thus, ignoring such information when choosing the travel paths.

Proactive navigation techniques to improve users' mobile network access


A N-up calculator graphical user interface (GUI) is provided for performing N-Up printing. The graphical user interface includes configurable objects for specifying: 1) the size of the page, 2) the dimensions of the image, and 3) the number of images to be printed on each page (N-up). The controls on the GUI can include page size, reduction/enlargement percentage, final image size−height/width, Number up, and other related controls. The manipulation of any one of the controls may affect the others according to a set of rules. These rules determine which objects are held constant and for which values are automatically calculated, and the object automatically configured. The rule-set can be manipulated by selecting from a list of modes or options such as “Conserve Paper,” “Fit as Many Images as Possible” or “Maximize Image size” or by locking certain controls and freeing others.

1. Field of the Technology
The present disclosure relates to a method, system and computer program product for configuring printing and copying systems. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a method, system and computer program product for performing N-Up printing (also known as "multiple-up printing").
2. Description of the Prior Art
Graphical User Interfaces ("GUIs") are used to display and configure parameter values for document processing, such as "N-up printing." N-up printing involves printing more than one image on a page. This may include: 1) printing an image at a specific size, and fitting as many copies of this image on a page as possible; 2) printing an image at a specific reduction/enlargement value (e.g., 50%) and fitting as many copies of the image on the page as possible; or 3) printing a specific number of images on each page while keeping the resulting image as large as possible.
Typically, a GUI only provides controls to perform one of these types of N-up printing. The selection of a value for the control will cause the system to automatically perform the calculations necessary to perform the type of N-Up printing that the control is provided to support in accordance with the selected value. For example, the selection of a size value for the image size control will result in the system automatically calculating the number of images that can fit on each page at the selected size value. Likewise, the selection of a value for the Number up control (specifying the number of images per page) will result in the system automatically calculating the maximum image size to provide the selected value of images on each page.
When controls for a type of N-up printing are not provided, the user must manually perform the mathematical calculations to perform the N-Up printing. For example, a user has an original image and needs to reduce the final image to a specific size, printing images 2 per page, but a control for the final image size is not provided in the GUI. So, the user must compute the reduction percentage by manually by dividing the final image size by the original image size and then the user must enter this computed reduction percentage in the GUI in order to obtain the desired output. Alternatively, the user can employ trial and error to obtain the desired output. In addition, the available GUIs for N-up printing often fail to provide the user with adequate feedback related to the output that will result based on the mathematical calculation. As a result, a substantial amount of time and resources are wasted because of the trail an error that must be preformed to obtain the desired output from the performance of N-up printing.
Accordingly, there is a need for a method, system and computer program product for performing N-up printing. There is a need for the method, system and computer program product to support each of the different types of N-up printing within a single system. There is a need for the method, system and computer program product to perform the necessary calculations to perform each type of N-up printing. There is a need for the method, system and computer program product to provide feedback.

UIdesign: N-up calculator user interface


The present disclosure provides a centralized charging cabinet, including: a charging cabinet, provided with an isolation area and a charging area therein; an isolation transformer, provided in the isolation area; and at least one charging unit, provided in the charging area, where each of the charging unit is electrically connected to a secondary winding of the isolation transformer through a plurality of first connection structures, and the plurality of first connection structures are located at a back region of the charging area. In the centralized charging cabinet, the isolation transformer is provided in the isolation area inside the charging cabinet, the charging unit is provided in the charging area inside the charging cabinet, which realizes a centralized layout of the isolation transformer and the charging unit and improves the space utilization.

With the increasingly serious environmental problems, many countries around the world have formulated policies to support the development of electric vehicles, and the supporting electric vehicles charging system has also been continuously improved.
FIG. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a charging system in the prior art. As shown in FIG. 1, the charging system includes a power distribution station, a switch box, and a charging equipment, where a 10 kV high-voltage power is connected to a 10 kV switch box, and the 10 kV switch box is connected to a 10 kV/0.4 kV power distribution station through a connection line. The power distribution station includes a plurality of transformers, the charging equipment includes a plurality of rectifying units, the transformers are connected to the rectifying unit in one-to-one correspondence, an output of the rectifying unit charges an electric vehicle through a charging gun. An automatic display and a control apparatus are also provided in the charging system.
However, in the above charging system, the rectifying equipment, the power distribution station, and the control apparatus adopt a distributed arrangement, thus the space utilization is low.

Centralized charging cabinet provided with isolation area and charging area


A surface plasmon measurement instrument measures a change in a property (e.g., refractive index) of a material layer. The method includes providing a prism with a rear surface having a metal layer disposed thereon; providing the material layer on the metal layer on the rear surface of the prism; directing a source beam through the prism toward the rear surface in a vicinity of the material layer; performing at least two sampled measurements to detect light reflected from the rear surface and to produce two corresponding data sets; transforming the data sets to a transform domain; processing the transformed data sets to estimate a sample shift between the two data sets; and determining a change in a property of the material layer using the estimated sample shift.

Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensors have become widely employed for studying biomolecular interactions. In general, SPR sensors operate according to the following principles.
At an interface between two transparent media of different refractive indices (e.g., glass and water), light coming from the side having the higher refractive index (e.g., glass) is partly reflected and partly refracted. Above a certain critical angle of incidence, θC, no light is refracted across the interface, and total internal reflection is observed. While the incident light is totally reflected under these conditions, the electromagnetic field component penetrates a short distance (e.g., tens or hundreds of nanometers) into the medium of the lower refractive index (e.g., water), creating an exponentially decaying evanescent wave. The propagation constant of the light parallel to the surface, kθ, is:
                              k          θ                =                              (                                          2                                                                                π                            λ                        )                                          n            P                                          sin                                      (              θ              )                                                          (        1        )            where: λ is the wavelength in free space, nP is the refractive index of the material having the higher refractive index (e.g., glass) through which the light impinges on the interface, and θ is the angle of incidence of the light beam.
Meanwhile, surface plasmons are evanescent surface electromagnetic waves that propagate along a metal/dielectric interface. Since these evanescent waves propagate on the boundary of an interface between a metal layer and a dielectric layer (for example, a protein layer in a water buffer), these oscillations are very sensitive to any change near the boundary, such as the adsorption of molecules onto the metal surface. The propagation constant of the surface plasmon, ksp, can be approximated as:
                              k          SP                ≈                              (                                          2                                                                                π                            λ                        )                                          Re                                      [                                                                    (                                                                  e                        m                                                                                n                        a                        2                                                              )                                                        1                    /                    2                                                                                (                                                                  e                        m                                            +                                              n                        a                        2                                                              )                                                        1                    /                    2                                                              ]                                                          (        2        )            where em is the relative permittivity of the metal, na is the refractive index of the dielectric layer on the metal (e.g., a protein layer in a water buffer), and Re[expression] denotes the real part of the expression.
These two phenomena can be combined powerfully as follows.
If the interface between two dielectric media (e.g., glass and water) is coated with a thin layer (e.g., 50 nm) of a metal (e.g., gold), and monochromatic, p-polarized light is directed onto the interface from the side having the higher refractive index, then at a specific angle of incidence, θSP ("the resonance angle"), greater than θC, the propagation constant of the light parallel to the interface surface, kX, is equal to the real part of the propagation constant of the surface plasmon, kSP. At the resonance angle there is a resonance energy transfer between the evanescent wave and surface plasmons. This is called surface plasmon resonance (SPR). As a result of the resonance energy transfer between the evanescent wave and surface plasmons, the intensity of the reflected light at the resonance angle is sharply attenuated. If the metal layer has an appropriate thickness, then theoretically, at the resonance angle there is no reflection of the incident light.
The resonance angle may be found as the angle, θ, where k0=kX. Substituting from equations (1) and (2) above, we find that:
                                          (                                          2                                                                                π                            λ                        )                                          n            P                                          sin                                      (                              θ                SP                            )                                      =                              (                                          2                                                                                π                            λ                        )                                          Re                                      [                                                                    (                                                                  e                        m                                                                                n                        a                        2                                                              )                                                        1                    /                    2                                                                                (                                                                  e                        m                                            +                                              n                        a                        2                                                              )                                                        1                    /                    2                                                              ]                                                          (        3        )
It can be seen from equation (3) that the resonance angle, θSP, is dependent upon the index of refraction of the material (e.g., a biochemical material in a water solution) provided on the metal (e.g., gold) layer.
In a typical SPR biosensing experiment, one interactant in an interactant pair (i.e., a ligand or biomolecule) is immobilized on an SPR-active gold-coated glass slide which forms one wall of a thin flow-cell, and the other interactant (e.g., an analyte) in an aqueous buffer solution is induced to flow across this surface, by injecting it through this flow-cell. As the analyte binds to the ligand, for example, the accumulation of protein on the surface results in an increase in the refractive index. When light is shined through the glass slide and onto the gold surface at angles near surface plasmon resonance, the resonance angle changes very sensitively with change in the index of refraction due to the presence of biomolecules on the gold surface. This change in refractive index is measured in real time, and the result plotted as response or resonance units (RUs) versus time (a sensorgram). The extent of binding between the solution-phase interactant and the immobilized interactant can be quantified by monitoring this change in refractive index. Accordingly, SPR is capable of high sensitivity without any fluorescent or other labeling of the interactants.
In practice, a real instrument has a lateral distribution of light at the dielectric/metal interface. Furthermore, in practice the light source does not operate at just a single frequency, but has some finite bandwidth. These two factors lead to superimposed "dips" in reflectivity and a net non-zero minimum dip having a width spanning a small range of incident angles on either side of the "true resonant angle" θSP as illustrated by the reflectivity curve 10 in FIG. 1. As a result, it can be difficult to ascertain the location of the true resonance angle θSP and therefore the index of refraction of the material under test.
Algorithms have been developed for determining the minimum of the dip, corresponding to the resonance angle θSP, as a function of time during a biochemical reaction. Several such algorithms are disclosed by Knut Johansen et al., "Surface Plasm on Resonance: Instrumental Resolution using Photo Diode Arrays," MEASUREMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, Vol. 11, pp. 1630-1638 (2000), which is incorporated herein by reference. Such algorithms include intensity measurements, polynomial fitting algorithms, centroid calculation algorithms, locally weighted parametric regression, and principal component regression.
However, in practice, such algorithms may produce undesirable artifacts that appear as either noise or measurement errors. As a result, the accuracy and resolution of the measurements are reduced.
What is needed, therefore, is a method of surface plasmon resonance measurement that exhibits greater sensitivity and/or lower noise. What is also needed is a surface plasmon measurement instrument that exhibits greater sensitivity and lower noise.

Method and system for estimating surface plasmon resonance shift


A page containing a large number of graphics and therefore having a high process load can be processed in parallel and quickly by dividing an edge extraction process into a plurality of threads. In this case, if the number of cores is eight, the edge extraction process is performed by allocating four cores to one of regions obtained by dividing a page and the remaining four cores to the other region.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to image processing apparatuses for performing image processing for printing a variety of image information such as characters, photographs, graphics, and the like. More specifically, the present invention relates to a process of accelerating generation of an image such as graphics and the like.
Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, rendering is the commonly used technique of generating an image based on contour information (also referred to as edge information) of a graphic which is extracted from coordinate information or the like of the graphic for generation of an image of the graphic (e.g., Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 04-170686, 08-72317, 2005-267290, and 2007-122188). Contour information is represented by straight lines. The DDA algorithm is a known technique of representing straight lines (David Rogers, "Procedural Elements for Computer Graphics," McGraw-Hill Education, issued on Oct. 1, 1997, ISBN-10:0070535485).
A conventional renderer system employs so-called banding, in which one page of data is divided into bands which are to be processed. Such a system has a problem with graphics processing that when a page containing a large number of graphical objects is input, the rendering speed decreases. To address such a problem, a technique has been proposed in which when a page is divided into bands, a separate processing unit (thread) is allocated to each band so that the processing speed may be improved (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-51019).
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2012-185697 describes a system which allocates a processing unit (thread) to each graphic to process the graphics in parallel so that the overall parallelism may be increased in order to increase the processing speed. Edge information extracted from graphics is mapped back to their coordinate points on the page, and are synthesized or combined together. These processes can be separately performed. A thread can be allocated to each of the process of extracting edges from each graphic and the process (data synthesis) of merging data obtained by the extraction processes. If the environment in which rendering is performed has multiple CPUs or a multi-core CPU, a parallel operation can be performed in which a core thread process is mapped to an execution unit (processor core, which is also simply referred to as a core) which performs the core thread process so that each core performs a process in a time-independent manner. In such a system, the processing speed can be increased by increasing the utilization rate of each processor core and thereby exploiting the capability of the core.
In multi-core CPUs, however, the execution speed varies depending on the memory access pattern, which leads to a problem that the speed of the conventional thread allocation algorithm is not improved more than expected.

Image processing method and image processing apparatus