A system and method for improved audio controls on a personal computer is provided. The system and method provide a unified architecture for audio controls across hardware and software interfaces of the personal computer. An intelligent facility may automatically change audio controls for users to simply interact with various communications and media applications. To this end, a configurable audio controller intelligently handles various aspects of the system's audio devices by following various rules that may be based at least in part on user-configurable settings and a current operating state. The present invention also provides audio controls so that a user may easily change audio settings such as the volume of an audio output device. There are many applications that may use the present invention for automatic control of audio devices based upon the user's context.

The role of contemporary computers continues to evolve as a tool used for communications and media applications. Personal computers offer many new and exciting media applications for personal entertainment such as live television, personal video recording, playing or recording digital music, displaying or creating digital photographs, playing movies recorded on a DVD, and so forth. Traditionally, sound for these media applications has been controllable by several audio controls made available on a personal computer. For example, sound may be controlled by software for soundcards that allow tuning for volume, treble, bass, and wave balance. Sound may also be controlled on a personal computer by sound synthesis software, by a media player, or by hardware controls such as a volume control on the speakers.
With the introduction of Voice-over-IP (VoIP) and other IP telephony applications, computers may also be used for handling phone calls and voice mail in addition to handling media applications and customary communication applications such as email, instant messaging, fax communications, and so forth. A personal computer with integrated telephony can enhance voice and video communication in ways that empower the user while increasing user productivity and enjoyment. For example, a personal computer may be designed that is capable of accepting incoming calls of various kinds such as analog Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), private branch exchange (PBX), cellular telephony or VoIP. There is the potential for such a personal computer to be connected to telephone equipment for PSTN, cellular telephony or PBX, and provide an enhanced user interface such as for handling voice mail.
What is needed is a unified architecture for audio controls across hardware and software interfaces of the personal computer. Such a system and method should operate in what is perceived to be a consistent, flexible and extensible manner. Additionally, this unified architecture should be capable of handling telephony applications, media applications, and switching between communications modalities.

Method and system for unified audio control on a personal computer


A broadcast management system creates, manages, and streams a broadcast of an event from videos captured from multiple cameras. A video capture system comprising multiple cameras captures videos of the event and transmits the videos to a broadcast management server. The broadcast management server generates a website or other graphical interface that simultaneously displays the captured videos in a time-synchronized manner. A broadcast manager user creates a broadcast by selecting which video to output to the broadcast at any given time. A broadcast map is stored for each broadcast that includes all of the broadcast decisions made by the broadcast manager user such that the broadcast can be recreated at a later time by applying the broadcast map to the raw videos. Using a viewer client, viewers can browse or search for broadcasts and select a broadcast for viewing.

1. Technical Field
This disclosure relates to a broadcast management system, and more specifically, to an application for creating customized broadcasts from multiple video streams.
2. Description of the Related Arts
In recent years, the creation and distribution of digital videos has become increasingly popular. Improvements in digital camera technology has made high quality video cameras both affordable and easy to operate. Video editing software provides convenient tools for editing video files or stitching together multiple video files. Furthermore, numerous video sharing websites allow users to easily share video content with any number of viewers.
Despite these advances in video technology, conventional systems are not well-suited for creating and sharing amateur broadcasts of live events such as sports or concerts. These events are ideally captured using multiple video cameras recording simultaneously. For example, at sports events cameras are commonly placed at different locations around a playing field or arena. Different cameras may focus on different portions of the playing field, follow different players or participants, or capture the event from various angles. Although some video sharing websites allow users to stream a video in real-time, conventional solutions do not provide tools for real-time control, editing, and management of multiple video streams.
In professional broadcast systems, multiple camera feeds are fed to a director's room and displayed on panels of monitors. A broadcast director simultaneously views all of the different camera feeds, and at any given time, selects a feed for broadcasting. However, these professional broadcast systems are extremely expensive and rely on dozens of trained employees working concurrently to manage the broadcast. Thus, these broadcast systems are feasible only for large network or cable broadcasting corporations and are not compatible with the needs of an amateur broadcaster.


A collapsible steering assembly features a guide bracket for attachment to a vehicle. A steering mechanism is interconnected with the guide bracket by a steering mechanism support. A plurality of guide rods are arranged about a common collapse axis and extend in non-parallel relationship to a longitudinal axis of the steering mechanism. The guide rods support the steering mechanism for axial movement along the collapse axis in response to a predetermined collapse force on the steering mechanism.

Collapsible knee bolster assemblies are well known in the art. Such assemblies typically include a bracket or other support affixed to the body of a vehicle. A knee bolster is carried by the bracket or support. Should a collision occur in which a sufficiently large impact force is applied to the knee bolster, the bolster will collapse relative to the support and translate away from the knees of the vehicle occupant sitting in front of the bolster.
A limited number of assemblies include a steering column and knee bolster mounted on a single support mechanism; however, such assemblies do not permit independent movement of the column and bolster relative to the support mechanism.


This application discloses a positioning method and an apparatus, and relates to the field of communications technologies. The positioning method and the apparatus are invented to resolve a prior-art problem of a relatively low success rate of obtaining an assisted location. The method includes: determining, by a terminal, identifiers of M target signal sources, where a value of M is an integer greater than 1, and the target signal source is a signal source whose signal strength currently can be detected by the terminal and is greater than a preset threshold; obtaining, based on the identifiers of the M target signal sources, a location matching the identifiers of the M target signal sources; and performing, by the terminal, satellite positioning based on the location. This application is applied to a satellite positioning process.

A location based service (Location Based Service, LBS) is a value-added service for obtaining location information (such as geographic coordinates) of a terminal user by using various positioning technologies, and providing a corresponding service to the user with support of a geographic information system (Geographic Information System, GIS) platform. As the location based service is more widely applied, the user also has an increasingly high positioning requirement. A Global Positioning System (Global Positioning System, GPS) is used as a common positioning technology, and a GPS time to first fix (Time to First Fix, TTFF) is a key factor affecting positioning. The GPS time to first fix is a time required by a terminal having a GPS positioning function from starting of GPS positioning to successful positioning.
To reduce the GPS time to first fix, at present, a widely used positioning method includes: obtaining, by a terminal, an assisted location, and searching for and tracking a satellite based on the obtained assisted location, to accomplish first positioning. In the prior art, a method for obtaining an assisted location includes: prestoring, by a terminal, a mapping relationship among a cell identifier, a location, and location frequency; and during positioning, obtaining, by the terminal, an identifier of a cell with which the terminal currently registers, searching the prestored mapping relationship based on the cell identifier, to obtain all locations corresponding to the cell with which a user currently registers, and using a location that appears most frequently in all the locations, as an assisted location. However, an error may occur in such an implementation in the following cases. Consequently, an assisted location cannot be obtained.
As shown in FIG. 1a, a physical distance between P and Q is short (within a range of several kilometers), but P and Q respectively correspond to different cells with which registration is performed. For example, a cell with which registration is performed and that corresponds to P is a cell A, and a cell with which registration is performed and that corresponds to Q is a cell B. When a terminal stores only a mapping relationship between the cell A and a location at P (for ease of description, the location at P is referred to as a location P), when the terminal moves to Q and requires GPS positioning, because the terminal obtains an identifier of the cell B, and fails to find a mapping relationship corresponding to the cell B, a location assistance function cannot be accomplished. Actually, at Q, the location P can be used as an assisted location to assist positioning by the terminal.
As shown in FIG. 1b, an area P is a cross coverage area of a cell A and a cell B. Therefore, when a terminal is in the area P, the terminal may register with different cells at different time. At a moment T1, the terminal registers with a cell A, and pre-obtains a location P of the terminal, so that the terminal stores a mapping relationship between the cell A and the location P at P; and at a moment T2, when the terminal is located at P again and requires GPS positioning, an identifier, obtained by the terminal, of a cell with which registration is currently performed is an identifier of the cell B. Because a mapping relationship corresponding to the cell B is not found, a location assistance function cannot be accomplished. Actually, the mapping relationship between the cell A and the location at P established during registration with the cell A can be used as location assistance information and provided for assisting positioning by the terminal.


A serial arbitration system for arbitration between multiple processors (20, 21, 22) in a low power system has an arbitration line driven by each of the processors and received by each of the other processors. The arbitration lines (30, 31, 32) are coupled to arbitration ports (60, 61, 62, 63, 64) on each processor (20, 21, 22) numbered from zero for the driven arbitration port (60). Each of the processors (20, 21, 22) has a processor ID number, with a master processor (20) having ID zero. The arbitration line (30) driven by the master processor (20) is coupled to each other processor (21, 22) on the arbitration port (61', 62') numbered equal to the processor ID of that other processor (21, 22). The driven arbitration lines (31, 32) from the other processors (21, 22) are coupled to the arbitration ports (61, 62) on the master processor (20) corresponding to the processor ID of the driving processor (21, 22). Arbitration ports (63, 64) on the master processor (20) not driven by another processor (21, 22) are coupled to its arbitration line (30), while the remaining ports (63', 64') on the other processors (21, 22) are coupled to ground.

Many serial arbitration techniques use an open pull-down collector configuration to arbitrate between a number of devices. FIG. 2 is a block diagram that illustrates such a prior art serial arbitration system. Three processors 0 50, 1 51, and 2 52 are coupled via a common bus 54 with an open collector resistor 55. The bus is pulled up with a pull-up transistor 56 controlled by a pre-charge line 57 and it is pulled down with a pull-down transistor 58 controlled by an ARB signal 59. In order to minimize the chance of shorts, only the master processor 50 operates the pull-up transistor 56, while all processors 50, 51, 52 operate pull-down transistors 58.
In portable multi-processor systems, such as portable multi-media devices, battery lifetime is a primary concern. The need to use open collector resistor 55 increases power consumption. Indeed, the system draws static power, even when not operational. The result is that this sort of arbitration system draws too much current to be used in battery operated systems.
The system shown in FIG. 2 also has some other problems. First, it does not support dynamic priority levels without significant modifications. Even then, it does not break priority level ties. Finally, it cannot detect and properly handle the situation where errors occur during the priority arbitration phase.


A detection technique detects inconsistencies in forwarding databases of a router and its neighbor, i.e., a next-hop router, during routing transients in a computer network. The technique enables the router to detect when its view of a computed path to a destination station is inconsistent with the view of its neighbor along that path. Upon detecting such an inconsistent state, the router invokes one of a plurality of forwarding mechanisms with respect to a packet intended for the destination station in an attempt to suppress forwarding loops that may arise during the transients.

Communication in a computer network involves the exchange of data between two or more entities interconnected by communication links and subnetworks. These entities are typically software programs executing on hardware computer platforms, such as end stations and intermediate stations. An example of an intermediate station may be a switch or router which interconnects the communication links and subnetworks to enable transmission of data between the end stations. The stations typically communicate by exchanging discrete packets or frames of data according to predefined protocols. In this context, a protocol consists of a set of rules defining how the stations interact with each other.
Most networks are typically organized as a series of hardware and software levels or "layers" within each station. These layers interact to format data for transfer between, e.g., a source station and a destination station communicating over the network. Specifically, predetermined services are performed on the data as it passes through each layer and the layers communicate with each other by means of the predefined protocols. This layered design permits each layer to offer selected services to other layers using a standardized interface that shields those layers from the details of actual implementation of the services.
Modern communications architectures are organized as such layered designs. The Internet communications architecture is an example of a layered architecture represented by four layers which are termed, in ascending interfacing order, the network interface, internetwork, transport and application layers. These layers are arranged to form a protocol stack in each communicating node of the network. FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic block diagram of prior art Internet protocol stacks 125 and 175 used to transmit data between a source station 110 and a destination station 150, respectively, of a network 100. As can be seen, the stacks 125 and 175 are physically connected through a communications channel 180 at the network interface layers 120 and 160. For ease of description, the protocol stack 125 will be described.
In general, the lower layers of the communications stack provide internetworking services and the upper layers, which are the users of these services, collectively provide common network application services. The transport layer 114 serves as the boundary between the network-specific elements and the application-specific elements. The transport layer's fundamental service is to move a user's data from its source to its destination over a communication path using the internetwork subsystem. The application layer 112 provides services suitable for the different types of applications using the network.
The lower network interface layer 120 of the Internet architecture addresses protocols that occupy physical and datalink sublayers of layer 120. The physical layer 126 is concerned with the actual transmission of signals across the communication channel and the datalink layer is responsible for transmission of data from one station to another. The primary network layer protocol of the Internet architecture is the Internet protocol (IP) contained within the internetwork layer 116. IP is primarily a connectionless network protocol that relies on transport protocols for end-to-end reliability. An example of such a reliable transport mechanism is the transmission control protocol (TCP) contained within the transport layer 114.
Data transmission over the network 100 therefore consists of generating data in, e.g., sending process 104 executing on the source station 110, passing that data to the application layer 112 and down through the layers of the protocol stack 125, where the data are sequentially formatted as a frame for delivery onto the channel 180 as bits. Those frame bits are then transmitted over an established connection of channel 180 to the protocol stack 175 of the destination station 150 where they are passed up that stack to a receiving process 174. Data flow is schematically illustrated by solid arrows.
Although actual data transmission occurs vertically through the stacks, each layer is programmed as though such transmission were horizontal. That is, each layer in the source station 110 is programmed to transmit data to its corresponding layer in the destination station 150, as schematically shown by dotted arrows. To achieve this effect, each layer of the protocol stack 125 in the source station 110 typically adds information (in the form of a header field) to the data frame generated by the sending process as the frame descends the stack. At the destination station 150, the various encapsulated headers are stripped off one-by-one as the frame propagates up the layers of the stack 175 until it arrives at the receiving process.
As noted, each layer of the protocol stack offers selected services to other layers; one such service is a connectionless service. This network service is generally implemented by a network layer protocol, an aspect of which involves the routing of packets from the source station to the destination station. In particular, this aspect of the internetwork layer concerns the algorithms and protocols used by routers when cooperating to calculate paths through a network topology. A routing algorithm is that portion of the network layer software responsible for determining an output communication link (i.e., an egress) over which an incoming packet should be transmitted. An example of a conventional routing algorithm is the Dijkstra algorithm and an example of a conventional network layer routing protocol is a link state routing protocol.
According to this latter protocol, each router constructs a link state packet (LSP) comprising information, such as a list of neighboring nodes adjacent to the router, sufficient to generate a complete map of the topology of the network. As defined herein, the term "neighbor" denotes a neighboring router. The LSP is then forwarded to all other routers of the network over, e.g., a plurality of interconnected local area networks (LANs). Each of these other routers stores only the most recently received LSP from the forwarding router in its LSP database. Armed with updated maps, the routers may compute shortest paths to destination stations using a conventional routing algorithm; the computed paths are then stored in forwarding tables of the routers. Examples of link state routing protocols are the intermediate system to intermediate system (IS--IS) protocol defined by the International Standards Organization (ISO), the open shortest path first (OSPF) protocol defined by the Internet protocol (IP) community and the NetWare link services protocol (NLSP) defined by Novell, Inc.
Use of link state routing in conjunction with hop-by-hop forwarding may result in formation of transient (i.e., temporary) forwarding loops. Routing transients typically arise when there is a change in the topology of a network. For example in response to a network topology change, each router updates its routing information and re-calculates shortest paths between the router and a destination station. This newly updated information is then transmitted to the other routers in the network. While the other routers propagate the updated information throughout the network and re-calculate their forwarding tables, there is a possibility that routers possessing inconsistent routing information may forward packets back to a previous sender of the packets, thus creating forwarding loops. The present invention is directed to an approach that enables detection of the occurrence of forwarding loops.
Conventional link state routing protocols, such as OSPF and IS--IS, generally do not provide mechanisms for suppressing such forwarding loops during routing transients. In order to limit the amount of network resources consumed by such transient forwarding loops, each packet may carry hop-count (e.g., time-to-live) information in a conventional network layer header of the packet. When a router forwards the packet, it decrements the hop-count information and when a router receives the packet with the hop-count information equal to zero, it discards the packet.
An approach that enables limiting of the amount of networking resources consumed by transient forwarding loops without relying on each router to decrement hop-count information is described in an Internet-Draft publication titled ARIS: Aggregate Route-Based IP Switching by Richard Woundy et al. of International Business Machines Corp, November 1996. This publication discloses a mechanism which uses conventional link state routing protocols as the basis for switching IP datagrams by the addition of the ARIS protocol that establishes switched paths through a network. The ARIS protocol guarantees that asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) virtual circuit (VC) loops are prevented even in the presence of transient IP routing loops by using an integrated switch router (ISR) identification ("ISR ID") list.
Specifically, each ISR in a VC establishment path appends its own unique ISR ID to each establishment message it forwards. In this way, an ISR is able to determine the path a message has traversed and can ensure that no loops are formed. Further, if an ISR modifies or deletes an egress due to an IP route change, the ISR must unsplice any established upstream VC from the downstream VC. Such unsplicing forces inbound traffic to be forwarded at the IP network layer so that transient IP routing loops cannot produce VC loops.
Another approach directed to solving the problem of suppressing forwarding loops during routing transients is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,265,092, titled Synchronization Mechanism for Link State Packet Routing by Stuart R. Soloway et al. This patent discloses a method of providing loop free and shortest path routing of data packets in a network of switches through modifications to known LSP routing protocols.
Specifically, a switch uses a received LSP to compute a forwarding table and informs neighboring switches of a routing change. The switch discards subsequent packets whose path would be affected by the routing change. Discarding of packets continues until the switch receives notification from each adjacent switch affected by the routing change that all affected routing paths have been re-calculated and the forwarding table of each affected switch has been updated. While adjacent switches may temporarily contain inconsistent LSP databases and possibly inconsistent forwarding tables, looping of data packets is prevented. Thus, the objective of Soloway is to essentially synchronize LSP databases across the network and data packets are discarded until that objective is achieved.
The mechanism in Soloway by which a switch informs the neighboring switches of the routing change, and by which the switch receives notification of those switches' affected by the routing change, is a Ready Announcement. The Ready Announcement is substantially a LSP that is modified to include an announcement bit which, when asserted true, indicates to all receivers that the Ready Announcement has been used to re-compute a forwarding table of the sending switch. Distribution of a modified LSP over the network results in relatively "slow" convergence of the patent's objective; that is, processing of the Ready Announcement consumes substantial time and overhead to determine inconsistencies of LSP databases.

Technique for handling forwarding transients with link state routing protocol


A vector decoding method includes decomposing a code of an initial vector to obtain a sign code and an absolute vector code, decoding the sign code to obtain a sign vector, performing multi-level permutation-based decoding on the absolute vector code to obtain an initial absolute vector, and combining the sign vector and the initial absolute vector to obtain an initial vector, wherein each respective vector ha a plurality of elements. A vector decoding apparatus includes a decomposing unit configured to decompose a vector code to obtain a sign code and an absolute vector, a sign decoding unit configured to decode the sign code to obtain a sign vector, a multi-level permutation-based decoding unit configured to perform multi-level permutation-based decoding on the absolute vector to obtain an initial absolute vector, and a combining unit configured to combine the sign vector and the initial absolute vector to obtain an initial vector.

Vector quantization technologies are usually deployed in stream media coding, a common one of the technologies is lattice vector quantization which is quite widely used in low-rate scenarios. In audio coding, for example, the quantization technology deployed in Transform Code Excite (TCX) part of the widely used Extend Adaptive Multi-Rate Wideband codec (AMR-WB+) audio coding algorithm is a multi-rate lattice vector quantization technique built on RE8—an eight-dimensional lattice known to ordinary skilled artisans as the Gosset lattice.
In the TCX part of the AMR-WB+ audio coding algorithm, the multi-rate lattice vector quantization approach is applied as the quantization approach. The multi-rate lattice vector quantization approach is applied on preshaped spectral data by groups each having eight values, and quantizes the eight values as elements in the RE8 set based on a principle of proximity. In the algorithm, a set of elements is selected from the RE8 with the quantization, which is defined as RE8=2D8∪{2D8+(1, . . . , 1)}, where D8={(x1, x2, . . . , x8)εZ8|x1+ . . . +x8 is even}. Therefore, the sum of all elements in the RE8 set is a multiple of 4. Thus, the quantization approach includes searching the 2D8 set for an element closest to the original data, searching the 2D8+(1, 1, 1, . . . , 1) set for an element closest to the original data, and comparing the two elements searched out to obtain a result, i.e. an initial vector, which is a group of integer data (x0, x1, . . . , xn-1) denoted by ck. Because the inputted data is divided into groups each having eight values, the resulting ck is actually (x0, x1, . . . , x7).
Subsequently, basic codebooks of Q0, Q2, Q3, Q4 are searched for the ck. If no ck is found in the basic codebooks, the basic codebooks are extended with the ck through Voronoi extension, so that a corresponding basic codebook index and an extended codebook index are determined. The basic codebooks of Q0, Q2, Q3, Q4 are shown in Table 1 below
TABLE 1Basic codebooksSphereKaLeaderCombinationSignSizeQ0Q2Q3Q40{0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0}1X20{1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1}1128128XX81{2, 2, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0}284112XX162{2, 2, 2, 2, 0, 0, 0, 0}70161120X223{3, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1}81281024X644{4, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0}8216XX245{2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 0, 0}28641792X426{3, 3, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1}281283584X727{4, 2, 2, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0}16881344X328{2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2}1256256X629{3, 3, 3, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1}561287168X8010{4, 2, 2, 2, 2, 0, 0, 0}280328960X12811{4, 4, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0}284112X15812{5, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1}81281024X8213{3, 3, 3, 3, 1, 1, 1, 1}701288960X8814{4, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 0}561287168X13615{4, 4, 2, 2, 0, 0, 0, 0}420166720X17816{5, 3, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1}561287168X32817{6, 2, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0}564224X19218{4, 4, 4, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0}568448X33629{6, 2, 2, 2, 0, 0, 0, 0}280164480X39220{6, 4, 2, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0}33682688X120221{7, 7, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1}81281024X102422{8, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0}8216X64823{6, 6, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0}284112X103224{8, 2, 2, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0}16881344X108825{8, 4, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0}564224X164226{9, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1}81281024X250427{10, 2, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0}564224X204828{8, 8, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0}284112X282439{10, 6, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0}564224X518430{12, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0}8216X524831{12, 4, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0}564224X500032{10, 10, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0}284112X960833{14, 2, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0}564224X620834{12, 8, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0}564224X1638435{16, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0}8216X
Codewords are generated from appropriate permutations of the components of a few basic vectors called "Leaders" or "characteristic codebooks," and are distributed on the surface of respective spheres. "Sphere" indicates the size of a sphere, "Size" indicates a number of the codewords derived from permutation and combination of the leader, and "Ka" identifies the respective leaders, with each leader being identified by a different Ka value. The value of Sphere (S) is a quarter of the sum of all components of the leader each to the power of four, i.e.
  S  =            1      4                          (                              x            1            4                    +                      x            2            4                    +          …          +                      x            7            4                    +                      x            8            4                          )            .      Each leader corresponds to an S having a different value. In the coding, each value of S corresponds to a value of Ka. In the case of an 8-dimensional vector, a corresponding Ka can be searched out with only the calculated value of S of the 8-dimensional vector, and thus a leader to which the value of S belongs may be determined from the value of Ka. The basic codebooks of the leaders are further shown in Table 1. The basic codebooks are divided into Q0, Q2, Q3 and Q4. The Q0 contains only one leader, and the Q2, Q3, and Q4 contain 3, 8 and 28 leaders respectively, where Q2⊂Q3, and Q3⊂Q4, as shown in Table 1.
After the basic codebook to which the ck belongs is determined, assuming that the ck is a sample from a set of elements (a0, a1, . . . , aq-1) and w(i) is the number of element ai in the sample, thus the number of possible states of Leader L is k(l) given as follows:
      K              (      l      )        =                    C        n                  w          0                    +                        ∏                      i            =            1                                q            -            1                                                                              C                      n            -                                          ∑                                  j                  =                  0                                                  i                  -                  1                                                                                w                i                                                          w            i                                =                  n        !                              ∏                      i            =            0                                q            -            1                                                                                w            i                    !
If d(k)=i, xk=ai, and wik is the number of element ai in (x0, x1, . . . , xn-1), an index of the (x0, x1, . . . , xn-1) is coded as follows:
  t  =            ∑              k        =        1            n                                                      (                      n            -            1            -            k                    )                                      ∏                          i              =              0                                      q              =              1                                                                                (                              w                i                k                            )                        !                                            (                              ∑                          j              =              0                                                      d                                                  (                  k                  )                                            -              1                                                                                w            i            k                          )
In decoding, vector d(k) is obtained in sequence using the formula below, where k=0, . . . 7:
            I                    (                                            d                                            (                k                )                                      -            1                    ,          k                )              ≤          t      -                        ∑                      j            =            0                                k            -            1                                                                              I                                (                                                            d                                                        (                    j                    )                                                  -                1                            ,              j                        )                                <          I                    (                              d                                      (              k              )                                ,          k                )                        I                    (                  p          ,          k                )              =                                        (                          n              -              1              -              k                        )                    !                                      ∏                          I              =              0                                      q              -              1                                                                                (                              w                i                k                            )                        !                                                      ∑                      j            =            0                    p                                                                    w          j          k
Then (x0, x1, . . . , xn-1) is derived from d(k) based on that d(k)=i and xk=ai. The above solution is disadvantageous at least in that multiple irregular factorials are calculated during coding and decoding, furthermore, the calculation of these random factorials can hardly be simplified by lookup process, resulting in high calculation complexity.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Vector decoding method and apparatus and computer program


Image data is encoded for distribution in a lower bit-depth format. The image data has a range that is less than a maximum range and is mapped to the lower bit depth format using a mapping such that a ratio of a range of the lower bit depth representation to a maximum range of the lower bit depth representation is greater than a ratio of the range of the image data to a maximum range of the image data. Metadata characterizing the mapping is associated with lower bit depth representation. The metadata may be used downstream to reverse the mapping so that tonal detail is better reproduced.

A display's bit depth corresponds to the number of levels of brightness that each of the display's pixels can reproduce or display. Higher bit depth displays can reproduce more discrete levels of brightness. For example, a display having a bit depth of 1 may represent either one of 21=2 levels of brightness in each pixel (e.g. each pixel can be ON or OFF). By contrast, in a display having a bit depth of 10, the display may be able to control each pixel to have one of 210=1024 distinct levels of brightness.
A color display may provide separate sub-pixels for each of a number of primary colors. For example, a display may provide pixels comprising sub-pixels that are red, green and blue. The luminance and color of a pixel can be controlled by varying the brightness of each sub-pixel. Greater bit-depth in the control of sub-pixels permits more discrete levels of luminance to be represented and also permits a color display to display a larger numbers of different colors. With a bit-depth of one for each sub-pixel one sub-pixel can be black or red, another sub-pixel can be black or green, and the third sub-pixel can be black or blue. In this case, the pixel may represent any of 21×21×21=23=8 colors.
A color display having a bit depth of 8 is capable of representing any one of 28=256 levels of brightness in each displayed sub-pixel. For example, a value of 0 may represent a value at the bottom of the sub-pixel's luminance range (typically black) and a value of 255 may represent a value at the top of the sub-pixel's luminance range. Such a display can theoretically display any one of 28·28·28=224=16,777,216 colors in each pixel.
To facilitate their display, images are encoded using various coding schemes. Bit depth is an attribute of such schemes. If an image is encoded using a bit depth of 8 then each one of the encoded image's sub-pixels (or pixels in the case of a monochrome image) may represent any one of 28=256 levels of brightness. If the same image is encoded using a bit depth of 10 then each one of the encoded image's sub-pixels (or pixels in the case of a monochrome image) may represent any one of 210=1,024 levels of brightness. Thus, a higher bit depth provides a finer granularity within the luminance range of the pixels.
Some encoding schemes for color images do not directly specify brightness of individual sub-pixels. For example, the LUV scheme specifies overall luminance (L) for a pixel and specifies color for the pixel using two chroma coordinate values U and V. Again, a greater bit depth can be used to increase the number of distinct luminance steps and/or colors that can be represented by the image data.
It is generally desirable that the luminance steps in a displayed image be small enough that a luminance difference of one step is not readily perceptible to the human visual system (HVS). Steps larger than this can result in visible artefacts such as banding, particularly in image regions where the luminance is slowly varying. Since higher bit depths make possible finer steps, higher bit depths are desirable for displaying images having higher luminance ranges. However, images encoded with higher bit depths are larger (i.e. consume more computer memory or storage space and more bandwidth on communication links) than images encoded with lower bit depths, and accordingly require increased computational processing time and resources before they can be displayed. Consequently, images are often encoded for distribution at lower than optimum bit depths, notwithstanding the availability of displays having higher bit depth capabilities and the fact that images are often initially acquired at higher bit depths.
There is a need for practical and cost effective methods and apparatus for distributing and reproducing images (both still and video images) having a desired image quality.

Content metadata enhancement of high dynamic range images

Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corporation


A new cranberry variety distinguished by early mid-season ripening period, precocious cropping, high productivity, and moderate-to-high fruit anthocyanin development, as compared to the currently cultivated commercial varieties.

The American cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon Ait.) is a temperate, woody perennial plant species native to North America. The United States is the largest producer, with Wisconsin and Massachusetts representing the majority of cranberry acreage and production, followed by New Jersey, Oregon and Washington. Varieties that currently are commercially cultivated include selections from native populations, and first and second breeding and selection cycle hybrids. Significant acreage is still devoted to varieties that were selected from native cranberry populations from as far back as 1843, including 'Ben Lear' (unpatented), 'Early Black' (unpatented), 'Howes' (unpatented), 'Lemunyon' (unpatented), 'McFarlin' (unpatented) and 'Searles' (unpatented). First breeding and selection hybrid varieties were developed by the United States Department of Agriculture, in cooperation with state Agricultural Experiment Stations in the 1940's, and the program released a series of unpatented varieties in the 1950's including the most widely grown cultivar 'Stevens', which was selected from original test plots in Pemberton, N.J. During the 2000-2010 decade, patented and unpatented varieties from a second breeding and selection cycles have been introduced and grown commercially.
The bulk of cranberry production is for the processed market, including both juice and 'sweetened dried cranberry' (SDC) fruit products, where fruit having specific total anthocyanin content (TAcy) ranges are desired. For SDC processors, certain fruit quality criteria are desired, including larger fruit size (>1.5 g/berry), a round fruit shape, mid-range TAcy, moderate to high titratable acidity (TA, 2.3-2.5 citric acid equivalents), and high soluble solids (Brix). Another important cranberry market is fresh fruit, where berry appearance and storage life are essential traits. For economic sustainability, cranberry growers require varieties with consistent high productivity, acceptable levels of disease resistance to both fruit and vine diseases, and desired season of harvest. In cranberry, varietal variation for crop productivity is a function of inherent differences among varieties for traits such as stolon vigor, upright (vertical reproductive shoots) density, inflorescence bud production, fruit set and fruit size. Varieties with high stolon vigor will establish more rapidly and reduce the number of years required to achieve maximal production. However, after stolon colonization of the bed, varieties must transition to optimal sexual reproduction mode, and optimal upright density, to achieve high crop production. Cranberry inflorescence bud primordia are set on uprights during the completion of the fruit development period and overwinter in a dormant state, before resuming growth the subsequent spring. Thus, the crop load of a given year, may impact the subsequent year's cropping, contributing to the pronounced biennial bearing habit common to many varieties. Productivity is also subject to environmental effects, e.g., heat and light intensity stresses, cold (frost) stress, water stress (drought and excess), disease, insects, certain pesticides, etc.
TAcy content is a fruit quality component of cranberry, usually having a minimum acceptable value. TAcy is typically measured as mg of total anthocyanin per 100 g fruit fresh weight, using a standard spectrophotometric method (@ 520 nm absorbance). For SDC products, there is a desired range, minimum and maximum, for TAcy, typically 20-40 mg total anthocyanins/100 g fresh weight. Earlier ripening varieties, which typically have higher TAcy, allow for earlier harvesting of a crop. Anthocyanins are largely located in the fruit epidermis, which results in a generally larger fruit having lower TAcy. The Rutgers University cranberry breeding program quantitatively measured TAcy along with mean fruit size, and selected progeny with large fruit size and high TAcy levels.
New Jersey uniquely offers an ideal environment for cranberry breeding because of the climate, soils and water. Of all the cranberry production areas in North America, New Jersey conditions subject the cranberry to the highest disease pressure and heat stresses. The plant and developing fruit must tolerate high heat stress, and fruit and vegetative diseases during the growing season. Over 15 pathogens are known to incite cranberry fruit rot in New Jersey, and the fruit is also subject to heat scald and physiological breakdown. Thus, selection under New Jersey conditions offers the opportunity to identify varieties with higher resistance to disease, scald, and heat stress.
The Rutgers University cranberry breeding program, in Chatsworth, N.J., was initiated in 1985 to take advantage of this unique selection pressure. The program's methods were designed to duplicate, as much as possible, the environment of a commercial bed. Breeding plots of 1.5×1.5 m are established with multiple plants and allowed to 'fill in' to form a dense canopy. Two to three years after planting, yield of a given plot is evaluated over a three year minimum to provide for biennial bearing assessment. Parental selection was based on parental field phenotypic performance, and parental progeny performance of cross combinations based on the objectives of enhancing traits and/or combining the most desirable traits from both parents into one genotype, i.e., variety. Traits being evaluated in this breeding program include yield, ripening season, fruit rot susceptibility/resistance, storage life, scald susceptibility, stolon and upright vigor, total anthocyanin content (TAcy), soluble solids (Brix), titratable acidity, and berry shape and appearance.

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey


A method and apparatus for drilling a bore through a target includes advancing a drill bit into the target along a direction of advancement and injecting a directing gas in the direction of advancement through at least one aperture in the drill bit. As the bore is drilled, waste material is directed in the direction of advancement via the gas.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for drilling through a target. In particular, but not exclusively, a bore is drilled through a target ensuring that waste material associated with the drilling process is directed in the direction of advancement of the drill.
2. Related Art
Many drilling techniques and apparatus are known in the prior art. Commonly a drive unit comprising a motor is used to rotate a drill bit at high speeds. The drill bit includes a cutting tip which cuts into a target as the drill is urged against the target. The drill bit may include rifling or other grooves which draw waste material, commonly known as swarf back out of the hole away from the cutting face where the front tip of the drill bit engages the target.
A number of problems are known with such drilling processes. One such problem is that when drilling through a target formed of a particularly hard material a great deal of heat is generated. Often a liquid coolant is used to lubricate the drilling process to prevent overheating. A problem with the use of liquid lubricant is that it can itself cause a hazard and can therefore require further steps to remove liquid.
Another problem with known drilling processes occurs when a target includes multiple materials each providing different physical properties when a bore is drilled through them. For example when drilling through a concrete wall which has pre-existing pipe work extending through it drilling out the metal pipe work and concrete can cause snagging. This is particularly true when drilling through large widths of wall for example through a number of meters in which case the force required to urge the drill bit through the wall can be prohibitive and/or snagging can make the process difficult.
It is also known that in certain hazardous areas drilling a hole through a wall to access that area has many peculiar problems associated with it. For example it is well known in the nuclear industry to have rooms, commonly known as cells in which radioactive waste is processed or generated. Under these circumstances the room is formed with thick walls and any breach of these walls could potentially cause an outward motion of radioactive or other hazardous material from the cell into an adjacent area. This should be avoided. Under these circumstances if a hole is to be drilled to provide access to the potentially dangerous zone care must be taken that waste material does not move from the cell to the adjacent region. In addition all potentially contaminated material including waste material from the drilling process and drill tips which have potentially come into contact with hazardous material must be collected within the dangerous zone for subsequent safe removal rather than being returned into a "safe" region where a drill is situated. Under these circumstances conventional drilling apparatus and methods do not provide a satisfactory system.
It is an aim of the present invention to at least partly mitigate the above-mentioned problems.


A snap-together wet nozzle for use with a vacuum assembly is described, as well as a removable squeegee assembly for use in combination with a wet nozzle for a vacuum assembly. The snap-together wet nozzle includes an elongated, generally U-shaped nozzle housing having outwardly tapering walls, spaced apart closed ends, and a connecting tube passageway for association with a vacuum-producing means, such as a wet/dry vacuum, and further includes a squeegee assembly capable of being insertably mounted within the elongated, generally U-shaped nozzle housing. The squeegee assembly generally includes a squeegee element comprising a plurality of openings extending through the squeegee element; a first, elongated squeegee bar having spaced apart end grooves at each of its ends; and a second, elongated squeegee bar having spaced apart locking end tabs at each of its ends and a plurality of vanes spaced across the interior face of the bar, wherein when the squeegee assembly is assembled and ready for insertion into the nozzle, the squeegee element is located intermediate between the first and second squeegee bars, and wherein the first and second squeegee bars interlock by the engagement of the end tabs of the second squeegee bar with the end grooves of the first squeegee bar.

1. Field of the Invention
This disclosure relates generally to wet nozzles for use with vacuum producing means, and more particularly, to a snap-together wet nozzle attachment for use with vacuum cleaners capable of wet pickup.
2. Description of the Related Art
The technology and application of vacuum suction, such as from a wet/dry vacuum cleaner or similar vacuum appliance, to nozzles containing one or more squeegee elements, is generally known. In particular, the technology and application of a vacuum to squeegees of various formats and configurations, and the associated benefits of the removal of both liquids and solid debris from a surface being cleaned are well known. Among the minimum requirements for a wet vacuum nozzle assembly include a vacuum source for aspirating both air and liquids, a housing connectable to the vacuum source at one end with an oblong suction head fitted with a narrowed intake port for increasing suction pressure at the other end, and a resilient rubber or similar squeegee blade in proximity to the intake port. In typical operation, wet nozzle attachments are attached to the end of a vacuum hose, which is in turn connected at the opposite end directly to a vacuum source, and the wet nozzle is wiped across the surface to be cleaned (which is typically already wet, or has been wetted). As the wet nozzle moves across the surface, the liquid and foreign debris on the surface are drawn towards the intake port as the vacuum source aspirates the material.
Generally speaking, as illustrated above, a wet nozzle is used with a vacuum appliance having liquid suction capabilities, so as to be able to remove water from a floor or other surface. In the typical application, the wet nozzle incorporates a squeegee portion to assist the nozzle in cleanly and efficiently removing the liquid from a surface.
However, as these squeegees are often made of rubber or similar soft, flexible, elastomeric materials, they can tend to wear out or harden before the usable life of the nozzle itself has expired. Thus, many of the wet nozzles have included a method of replacing the squeegee portion. This combination of incorporating a serviceable part (the squeegee portion) and the general difficulty of cleanly lifting liquids such as water from a surface combine to make wet nozzles some of the more complex parts and accessories used in association with a wet/dry vacuum appliance.
A number of devices have been described which intend to improve or enhance the fluid debris recovery in such wet nozzle assemblies, and address some of the problems associated with these devices as described above. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,419,007 describes a wet nozzle assembly which requires through-pins to be fitted through a retractable core, which requires a sequenced opening of the mold to prevent damage from occurring. Additionally, replacing the squeegee section of this assembly can be difficult, and may enhance the chance for broken or damaged pins, which in turn reduce the efficiency and utility of the nozzle assembly.
A further squeegee nozzle attachment design can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,184,372, which describes a squeegee attachment tool for use with a wet/dry vacuum cleaner incorporating an oblong but narrow in profile suction head fitted with a very short squeegee blade providing both high suction and superior aspiration and yet reaches to the extreme edges of a cleaned surface at both the beginning and end of a cleaning stroke. Internal angled ribs coupled with an efficient vacuum chamber a narrow but deep intake port throat with side channel creates improved pressure distribution at the intake port mouth and provides significant side suction to remove liquid and debris from along and beneath adjacent surfaces and other obstructions. A specifically dimensioned and angled handle reportedly improves operator comfort and effectiveness.
This application for patent discloses an improved snap-together wet nozzle assembly for use with a vacuum producing means, such as a wet/dry vacuum appliance, wherein the assembly can be molded and manufactured in an efficient and simple manner, is easy to service, and the structure of which facilitates the replacement of the squeegee portion therein.

Snap-together wet nozzle for vacuum appliance


According to an aspect of the present invention, a data receiving apparatus includes a receiver configured to receive a one-way communication packet transmitted from a data transmitting apparatus; a calculator configured to calculate a reception signal strength of the packet at the receiver; a comparison unit configured to compare the calculated reception signal strength with a threshold value; a generation unit configured to generate assistance information relating to transmission power of the data transmitting apparatus if the reception signal strength exceeds a threshold value as a result of the comparison; and an output unit configured to output the assistance information.

Blood pressure monitors provided with a function of transmitting blood pressure data to a user's portable information terminal have been introduced to the market. As a portable information terminal, a smartphone, a tablet terminal or a notebook personal computer may be used, for example. This function allows the user to view his/her own blood pressure measurement results under various conditions in list form on the portable information terminal. Typically, Near Field Communication technology, particularly Bluetooth (registered trademark) technology is used for transmission of the blood pressure data. In general, the Bluetooth communication (connection) can be realized on a smaller scale and in a power-saving manner in comparison to Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) communication. The Bluetooth specification version 4.0 is also referred to as "Bluetooth Low Energy" (BLE), which can further reduce power consumption in comparison to the conventional scheme.
With BLE, a two-way communication known as "connection" can be performed. The connection, however, raises some issues. For example, the user is required to go through complicated operations for pairing; the communication procedure after the pairing is complicated; the mobile information terminal needs to support BLE; high-performance hardware (processor and memory) is required not only for the mobile information terminal but also for the blood pressure monitor; high development/evaluation costs are required; and an excessive amount of communication overhead makes the connection unsuitable for transmission of a small amount of data.
With BLE, one-way communication known as "advertising" can also be performed. Japanese Patent No. 5852620 discloses a technique of transmission with any type of data included in the margin of the data field of an advertisement packet.
The use of advertising for the transmission of the blood pressure data eliminates the need for pairing and subsequent complicated communication procedures, thereby either solving or mitigating the above-mentioned issues. However, with the blood pressure monitor provided with only a one-way transmission function, control data cannot be transmitted for control from the portable information terminal to the blood pressure monitor, and the state of the portable information terminal (such as data reception state) cannot be referred to from the blood pressure monitor side.
In general, it is possible that the data wirelessly transmitted from the blood pressure monitor may be received by any data receiving apparatus other than the user's portable information terminal, depending on the propagation of the radio wave. If the blood pressure data is transmitted without being encrypted, there is the possibility that other people may view the user's blood pressure data. Such leakage of information on the user's health condition needs to be prevented; the security of the function of transmitting the blood pressure data must be enhanced. As mentioned above, a blood pressure monitor provided with a one-way transmission function cannot refer to the data reception state of the portable information terminal. To avoid data deficit on the portable information terminal side, packets may be sent with more power than necessary. If this is the case, the likelihood of leakage of information on the user's health condition may increase.

Data receiving apparatus and data transmitting apparatus


An ultrasound imaging device having a bipolar transmitter to generate a bipolar voltage signal, a transducer to emit an ultrasound wave in response to the bipolar voltage signal, and a bias generator to bias the bipolar voltage signal prior to being received by the transducer so that the biased bipolar voltage signal maintains a same polarity as a poling polarity of the transducer throughout a transmit cycle of the ultrasound imaging device. By biasing the bipolar voltage signal to maintain a same polarity as the poling polarity of the transducer throughout the transmit cycle, the ultrasound imaging device prevents depoling of the transducer which could otherwise occur if the transducer is driven by a bipolar voltage signal which repeatedly has a polarity opposite to the poling polarity of the transducer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ultrasound imaging device, and more particularly, to an ultrasound imaging device having a transducer, with a poling polarity, to emit ultrasound waves at an object to generate an image of the object, and which prevents depoling of the transducer. Generally, the object to be imaged is an organ of the human body.
2. Description of the Related Art
Ultrasound imaging devices utilize transducers which transform electrical energy into ultrasound and visa-versa. Such transducers are commonly used for non-destructive and non-invasive testing, such as for the examination of internal organs. Transducers, and more particularly, piezoelectric transducers, are often made of ceramic or a crystalline structure. These structures are expensive to grow and even more expensive to integrate with the necessary mechanical and electrical components required for ultrasound imaging. Medical ultrasound probes cost $10,000.00 and up.
Piezoelectric transducer are polarized. That is, the fine structure of the unit cells are oriented with an electric field at high temperatures during the manufacturing process thereof. As a result, when the voltage across the transducer is changed, the various unit cells in the crystal structure strain to produce a net displacement of the material, so as to emit a pressure wave at ultrasonic frequencies. Thus, as part of the normal manufacturing process, the ceramic or crystal structure is polarized. This transducer material process is called poling and produces a material that is called poled. If the material is not polarized, the transducer generally will not work, and the transducer is not piezoelectric anymore as it will not emit ultrasound when the voltage across the same is changed because the various unit cells in the structure behave randomly and the internal strains produce no external displacement. In effect, the various groups of unit cells in the volume of the material cancel each other out when you apply the voltage. The polarization of these materials is chiefly influenced by three variables: voltage; temperature; and time.
Historically, what has been done is to transmit a square pulse which goes from 0 volts and goes negative, perhaps down to xe2x88x92170 volts. The magnitude of the voltage is adjustable, but it always goes negative, so if you pole the transducer with a negative DC source, then when an ultrasonic imaging device transmits, there is merely a repeating of what was done when the transducer was manufactured, and the poling will be maintained.
More recently, it has been found advantageous to preferentially receive and display echo signals that arise because of the non linear properties of tissues or contrast agents. It is not desirable at times to use the simple square pulse. More complicated pulses are advantageous, and in particular, the simplest replacement pulse would be a square wave consisting of a negative going pulse immediately followed by an equal and opposite positive going pulsexe2x80x94or a positive going pulse followed by an equal and opposite negative going pulse. Such a simple pulse is called bipolar. However, any pulse with both positive and negative excursions is bipolar.
One motivation to use bipolar waveforms is to reduce the amount of waveforms exhibiting second harmonic of the fundamental frequency of the desired transmitted. It is ideal to transmit with no second harmonics, and then receive the second harmonic, so that the second harmonic that is received is solely caused by an object to be imaged or the tissue non-linearities in a patient. Another non-linear strategy is to sequentially transmit a first pulse, then receive and store data about the echoes thereof, then transmit an second inverted pulse, and then receive and add data about the echoes thereof to the data previously stored. The sum is zero if the ultrasound medium and target are linear any non zero values are due to non-linearities. Since a bipolar waveform with equal plus and minus excursions, as mentioned above, has two formsxe2x80x94one way to implement the pulse inversion strategy is to alternate between them.
There are other advantages of using bipolar waveforms other than non-linear imaging. For example, with a bipolar waveform having equal plus and minus excursions there are no audible noises that come out of the ultrasound imaging transducer, so that a patient cannot hear any sounds from the ultrasound imaging device at low frequencies. Particularly, if the ultrasound imaging device is to be applied to a patient""s head, it is desirable that the patient should not hear the ultrasound wave generated to perform the imaging.
With bipolar pulses, a voltage, opposite from the voltage by which it was manufactured, is momentarily put across the ceramic. This may cause problems, such as depoling. Certainly, at a high enough voltage for a long enough time, and alternatively, also at a high enough temperature, problems occur in that the ceramic becomes depoled. This has not proven to be a significant concern with older lower-frequency transducers that use coarse elements. However, higher-frequency transducers are desired and are currently developed. As a transducer is designed to operate at higher and higher frequencies, thinner and thinner elements are required in the transducer and for a given voltage, that means that the electric field in the transducer gets higher and higher, so that the above-noted problems will only be aggravated. Additionally, different kinds of ceramic are being developed and may be extremely sensitive to depoling.
Transducer materials exhibit capacitor-like characteristics. The manufacturing operation involves applying a DC voltage to this capacitor-like structure at some specified temperature, so that each one of the unit cells in the material has a contributing dipole moment. It has a plus charge and a minus charge that are very close together, and if a field is applied and the temperature is raised, these dipoles will align with this applied external field. Then, when the transducer is cooled down and the external field is removed, the alignment remains, so that the transducer functions as a piezoelectric element. Manufacturing processes seek to align the polarity of the unit cells of the ceramic or crystal structure in a desired direction such that their strains are additive. Any external event which causes them to become randomly aligned, or less aligned would be considered a depoling event. Any external force acting on the transducer which causes it to lose its polarization causes the transducer to become less effective, and that is undesirable.
As noted previously, if the transducer is heated to a high temperature, or if a voltage opposite to the poling voltage is applied, depoling may occur. If either the heating or the application of the opposite voltage is performed for a long period of time, the depoling effect would be worse. Further, higher frequency transducer designs with thinner piezoelectrics increase the probability of depoling.
FIG. 1 shows a conventional ultrasound imaging device. A bipolar transmitter 110 generates a bipolar signal centered around 0 volts. The bipolar signal varies between +Xv and xe2x88x92Xv as shown in FIG. 2. A transmitter/receiver (T/R) switch 120 selectively connects a transducer 130 with the bipolar transmitter 110 during a transmit cycle and to a receiver 140 during a receive cycle, so that the receiver 140 is not damaged by the high voltage of the bipolar transmitter 110. During the receive cycle, any noise that is being emitted from the bipolar transmitter 110 is not seen by the receiver 140. Also, the signal to the receiver 140 is not shunted by the transmitter 110.
During the transmit cycle, the T/R switch 120 enables the transducer element 130 to receive the bipolar signal generated by the bipolar transmitter 110 so that the transducer 130 generates an ultrasound wave. During the receive cycle, the transducer 130 receives a reflected ultrasound wave back from the object being imaged and generates an image voltage signal based upon the received ultrasound wave. The T/R switch 120 enables the image voltage signal to be transmitted to the receiver 140 for processing.
The transducer 130 receives the bipolar voltage signal which goes to +Xv and then to xe2x88x92Xv, and this pattern may be repeated any number of times as a bipolar waveform. One disadvantage of this bipolar waveform is that if the transducer 130 is negatively polarized, when the bipolar voltage signal becomes positive, and is repeatedly positive over the life of the transducer 130, the material in the transducer 130 might depole. In this instance, the value of Xv may be 50 volts, for example. More versatile modalities require various pulse shapes or trains. The term bipolar pulse applies to any pulse which causes the transducer to be momentarily driven to a voltage opposite to the poling voltage. Such a voltage could depole the transducer if applied directly. Alternatively, if the transducer 130 is positively polarized, when the bipolar voltage signal becomes negative and is repeatedly negative over the life of the transducer 130, the transducer""s ceramic will depole as well. Thus, in the conventional ultrasound imaging device 100, when the bipolar voltage signal repeatedly reaches a polarity opposite to that of the transducer 130, over time, the transducer 130 may become depoled, thereby losing effectiveness.
In the past, ultrasound imaging device vendors have not been aware of or concerned themselves with the problem of the depoling of the transducers used in the ultrasound imaging devices. The present inventors have realized that the risk of depoling may be reduced if a suitable DC bias is applied to the transducer in addition to the desired pulse. The addition of this DC bias introduces no sound energy, but safeguards the poling. Thus it is possible to generate and apply any arbitrary pulse shape without danger of depoling. For example, a gaussian windowed sine wave is one such pulse shape.
An ultrasound imaging device including a transducer with a poling polarity; a bipolar transmitter which generates a bipolar voltage signal; and a bias generator which biases the bipolar voltage signal, to generate a biased bipolar voltage signal without a polarity opposite to the poling polarity of the transducer, wherein the biased bipolar voltage signal drives the transducer to generate an ultrasound wave.
A further ultrasound imaging device is described that comprising a transducer with a poling polarity; a bipolar transmitter which generates a bipolar voltage signal; and a bias generator which biases the bipolar voltage signal, to generate a biased bipolar voltage signal from having a non-zero quiescent voltage, wherein the biased bipolar voltage signal drives the transducer to generate an ultrasound wave.
A method is also presented for generating an ultrasound wave from a transducer having a poling polarity to provide ultrasound imaging, the method comprising generating a biased bipolar voltage signal which maintains a polarity the same as the poling polarity of the transducer during a transmit cycle; and supplying the biased bipolar voltage signal to the transducer, which drives the transducer to generate the ultrasound wave.


An ebb and flow irrigation system wherein a plurality of plant growing receptacles are placed in a plurality of large protective containers positioned in the ground. The containers are connected to a pipe system including inlet and outlet valves communicating with a holding pond. By this construction and arrangement, irrigating water is supplied to the containers to irrigate the plant growing receptacles placed therein, and after a period of time, the water is drained from the containers and directed to the holding pond. The containers thus function as ebb and flood containers, whereby plants and trees can be commercially grown without wasting water and polluting streams, rivers and adjoining soils by run-off leach.

In his continuing research and experimentation to devise an environmentally friendly irrigation system, applicant has extended the concepts of his plant growing receptacles disclosed in his U.S. Pat. No. 5,007,135 and pending application Ser. No. 07/653,673, filed Feb. 11, 1991; and his plant growing receptacle placed in a large protective container as disclosed in his pending application Ser. No. 07/699,654, filed May 14, 1991, to provide an irrigation system whereby there will be no ground water pollution to the surrounding environment from either the plant growing receptacles, large containers or irrigation system.


An internal combustion engine having a combustion chamber incorporates a fuel conditioner and injector employs a vessel having a wall exposed within the combustion chamber to be heated by combusting fuel. The vessel encompasses an expansion chamber and has at least one open fuel injection passage through the wall into combustion chamber. An inlet conduit receives liquid fuel at a predetermined pressure from a fuel delivery system. A nozzle interconnects the inlet conduit and the expansion chamber. A pin operably seals the nozzle for timed injection of liquid fuel into the expansion chamber. An operator actuates the pin from a closed position sealing the nozzle to an open position placing the fuel injection volume in fluid communication with the expansion chamber. Liquid fuel injected into the expansion chamber at a predetermined time is simultaneously adiabatically heated, and pressurized to a state above a critical point using heat in the vessel wall and self-injects through the at least one open fuel injection passage into the combustion chamber of the engine.

Field of the Invention
The embodiments disclosed herein relate generally to fuel systems for an any internal combustion engines and more particularly to a fuel conditioning and injection system employing a volume in contact with combustion temperatures for adiabatic heating of fuel pumped into the chamber at a fuel rail pressure to high pressure and temperature and conversion of at least a portion of the fuel into more highly energized radical molecules for self-injection through open orifices into the combustion chamber of the engine. The open orifices allow partial oxidation of the fuel charge during adiabatic heating for formation of radicals improving combustion performance.
References to Related Art
Internal combustion engines, and more particularly compression-ignition engines, also known as a Diesel cycle engines, perform at maximum output and efficiency when the maximum combustion pressure occurs in a desired rotation range of the engine crank shaft somewhere between 20 and 30 degrees after top dead center (TDC) down in the working cycle. There is a measurable time lag between the point of fuel injection into the combustion chamber and combustion occurring, which is known as ignition delay. Fuel must be injected earlier to have time to ignite and combust developing maximum pressure at the desired rotation range. In most compression-ignition engines the fuel is injected into combustion chamber and starts raising pressure in the combustion chamber before the engine has completed the compression cycle, which is necessary to obtain the peak combustion pressure in the desired rotation range. This negatively affects life of the engine due to overloading and also produces noise known as "knock". In these engines, if fuel was injected after the compression cycle to eliminate the knock, then maximum combustion pressure will develop at greater than the desired 20-30 degrees of working cycle of the crank shaft, wasting combustion energy through the exhaust cycle and resulting in output and efficiency losses. Alternatively, the engine can be switched to a different fuel quality or cetane number to reduce ignition delay.
It is known in the prior art that compression-ignition engines working on gasoline are far more efficient compared to gasoline powered Otto cycle engines. However, such engines produce a power output only about 75% of an Otto cycle engine of equal displacement. Prior art compression-ignition engines do not provide homogeneous mixture of fuel with oxidizing atmosphere prior to combustion, and the greater amount of fuel after a certain level being injected into the engine creates incomplete fuel burn, resulting in unacceptable emission levels.
It is also known that higher efficiency can be obtained by conditioning fuel to a high energy state prior to introduction into the combustion chamber of the engine, and more particularly preheating, pressurizing and partially oxidizing the fuel to a vapor and above a critical state with an optimal ratio of fuel molecules in radical formation. It has been well established that only molecules in radical formation ignite and combust and that ignition delay is the time interval between introduction of the fuel into an oxidizing atmosphere, fuel transformation in several states to form radicals and initial oxidation of the radicals that is combustion. Parameters affecting transformation of the fuel molecules to formation of the radicals are heating the fuel to the temperature exceeding 1000 F. with initial pressure applied, or heating the fuel molecules above critical temperature and critical pressure for particular type of fuel with partially oxidation. The ignition and following combustion occurring from oxidizing fuel radicals in high concentration of oxygen constituting the combustion event is independent from the temperature of the oxidizer. Somewhat different from pure compression-ignition engines, this type of engine operation is called injection-ignition. It has also been found that radicals have four times higher ability to mix with oxidizer, providing a more homogeneous mixture and providing ability to increase power density of an engine.
It is therefore desirable to provide a conditioner and injector system for engines to have a negligible ignition delay where fuel can be injected after the compression cycle with combustion maximum pressure reached between 20 and 30 degrees after piston TDC down in the working cycle main operating shaft rotation with the engine performing at a maximum efficiency without knock. It is also desirable to provide a greater power density of the compression-ignition engines, for a particular engine displacement with any desired type of fuel and that engine displacement can be reduced with engine output requirements leading to reduce fuel consumption, reduced engine dimensions and weight thereby lowering manufacturing cost. It is also advantageous for the engine to have homogeneous mixture of fuel with oxidizing atmosphere prior combustion. It is still further advantageous for the conditioner and injector system to introduce fuel into the combustion chamber of the engine above critical state with an optimum level of radicals, instead of a liquid form at an engine environmental temperatures, thereby providing a greatly reduction ignition delay and increasing thermal efficiency of the combustion.

Adiabatic fuel injection-ignition method and device


A memory device includes a memory cell array and a transmitter, wherein the transmitter includes a pulse amplitude modulation (PAM) encoder configured to generate a PAM-n first input signal (where n is an integer greater than or equal to 4) from data read from the memory cell array; a pre-driver configured to generate a second input signal based on the first input signal and based on a calibration code signal, and output the second input signal using a first power voltage; and a driver configured to output a PAM-n DQ signal using a second power voltage lower than the first power voltage in response to the second input signal.

The disclosure relates to a memory device, and more particularly, to a memory device for generating a pulse amplitude modulation-based DQ signal and a memory system including the memory device.
As mobile devices are rapidly distributed and Internet access rapidly increases, demand for high-capacity and high-speed data transmission has been increasing. Accordingly, in a memory system, a technique for storing high-capacity data and high-speed data transmission in response to a data request is necessary. However, according to a signal modulation method based on a non-return to zero (NRZ)-type encoding, it is difficult to satisfy the demand for the high-capacity and high-speed data transmission. Recently, in a memory system, research into a pulse amplitude modulation (PAM) method has been actively performed as an alternative for a signaling method for high-capacity and high-speed data transmission.

Memory device for generating pulse amplitude modulation-based DQ signal and memory system including the same


A clamping device for machine tools with a power-operated chuck, the clamping jaws of which are actuatable by the clamping device via a movement converter and draw rod. A drive motor is provided with a switching element which is adjustable by axial control in a middle and two limit positions, wherein the switching element is connectable to the clamping device in one limit position and, in the other limit position, to an adjustment element connectable to an auxiliary device. The switching element is lockable in the limit positions with a machine spindle. The clamping device is thereby provided with an increased range of applications, without functions being impaired, with little structural complexity, because the switching element makes possible a clamping element integrated in the power operated chuck to be operated using the drive motor, such that further procedures can be undertaken without changing the clamping device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a clamping device for machine tools, the device comprising a power-operated chuck for holding a workpiece, and clamping jaws that can be actuated using the clamping device by means of a movement converter and an axially moveable draw rod, wherein the clamping device includes an electric drive motor with a changeover function connectable to the movement converter for triggering clamping movements.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A device for the releasable connection of a workpiece carrier configured as a power-operated chuck with an actuating element is disclosed in EP 0344451 A1, in which is two pneumatically operated servo devices arranged coaxially, one after another, are provided and comprise pistons disposed in cylinders and adapted to change the power-operated chuck within a short time. In this case, the piston rod of the actuating element of one servo device can act on the clamping jaws of the power-operated chuck by means of wedge hooks. The piston rod of the other servo device, on the other hand, is connected to a coupling element by means of another axially movable draw rod. Releasing and restoring the driving connection between the actuating element of one servo device, and a clamping piston arranged in the power-operated chuck, is undertaken by means of an actuating element provided with a special configuration allocated to the second servo device.
The connection between the actuating element and the clamping piston of the power-operated chuck can be reliably established, or released, by means of the further adjustment element, although this involves considerable structural complexity. In addition, the servo devices arranged axially, one after another, require a relatively large space, which means the application range of this fixture of the prior art is restricted to the specified purpose.


The invention is directed to a process for refining prepared biomass to produce hemicellulose hydrolyzates, cellulose or sugars involving the perforate at least a portion of the cells of the prepared biomass prior to hydrolyzing the biomass, reclaiming the catalysts used in hydrolysis for further hydrolysis, and drying the hydrolysis using reclaimed heat from previous steps in the process.

Improvements to refining biomass on a large commercial scale would provide numerous benefits. The market for products of biomass refinement is in the billions of dollars per annum. Protein is a dietary requirement, but is insufficiently met by many populations, including in the tropics, an area where biomass can best be grown. Further, replacing grain fed to cattle with digestible fibre will make more corn available for human consumption worldwide. The market for sugars which can be converted into biofuels, chemicals and plastics is in the tens, possibly hundreds of billions of dollars per annum. Refining of biomass into sugars therefore represents a useful application. Given how readily available biomass is, the creation of a large scale commercial biomass refining process could provide a significant energy source worldwide.
To date, a large scale commercial process does not exist that converts the ligno-cellulose components of biomass to sugars. Concentrated acid, high-temperature dilute acid combinations, steam, moderate temperature/neutral pH dry grinding, strong alkali, liquid anhydrous ammonia, high water ratios of lime, conically-shaped rotor-stator tools, laboratory sonicating devices, liquid stream, high-shear, and cavitating devices have been used to attempt to refine biomass commercially. However, none of these processes have been scaled up to refine biomass economically.
The methods available that make use of acid require that the hydrolysis either occurs at high temperatures or uses high concentrations of strong acids which are difficult to remove from the product. Both of these issues lead to high production costs.
There is a demand for a lower energy, thermal-chemical process capable of complete or selective biomass refining with high catalyst recovery which does not requiring enzymes for cellulose hydrolysis or one which enhances enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose, and which can effectively hydrolyze biomass into dry sugar solids without major degradation of sugars.


A method transmits data via an electric conductor of a current network. At least one first node and at least one second node are coupled to the electric conductor by a respective impedance-transparent coupling device. The method involves transmitting a carrier signal by the first node via the electric conductor, rectifying the transmitted carrier signal at the second node in order to supply energy to the second node, and modulating the transmitted carrier signal by the second node using a load modulation in order to transmit response data to the first node. The method is suitable in particular for low-maintenance and inexpensive sensor applications in current networks. An arrangement is used to transmit data via the electric conductor of a current network.

The present invention relates to a method and an arrangement for transmitting data via an electrical conductor of an electricity grid.
Powerline Communication (PLC) denotes the transmission of data via electrical conductors. In this case, electrical conductors, for example power lines in the building and access area, are simultaneously used for transmitting power and for transmitting data.
Application scenarios for PLC include the connection of households to the internet and home networks with data rates in the two-digit megabit range, but also measurement, control and regulatory applications in various environments, such as smart grid, or sensor applications in distribution substations.
For measurement, control and regulatory applications, low data rates are generally sufficient. Depending on the setting, however, particular demands on the safety and robustness of such an application may apply. Safety and robustness are critical criteria for the supply of power, for example, when a sensor function still needs to be ensured even if the system voltage fails. In addition, in may settings, low maintenance expenditure is important, for example in order to save costs.
In this context, there are a series of competing standards for communication on power lines, particularly for low voltage and medium voltage lines, which allow data transmission at low and medium data rates. Examples are Spread Frequency Shift Keying (S-FSK), Differential Code Shift Keying (DCSK), G3, PRIME and G.hnem. These standards use variously complex types of modulation in the longwave band, such as FSK, Spread-Spectrum or Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM). In Europe, these standards usually operate in what is known as the CENELEC band below 148.5 kHz and achieve data rates of up to 128 kbit/s, but usually the rates used are in the single-digit kilobit range. Corresponding systems are symmetrical at the physical level, that is to say that they usually have, per communication endpoint, a transmitter and a receiver in one unit, the transceiver. Transceivers communicate with one another via the channel that connects them. The power requirements for such systems based on the related art is typically a few tens of milliwatts. Low voltage lines allow power to be supplied directly from the system voltage, at least while said system voltage is applied. By contrast, medium voltage lines, in which the signal is often transported on the shield of the line, require power to be supplied externally, for example from batteries, these having a limited life and therefore meaning increased maintenance expenditure, however.
In addition, systems that are based on the cited standards require apparatuses with a high level of technical complexity, which needs to be implemented in appropriate chipsets, for example. Such chipsets require complex configuration and also a dedicated supply of power, which means that such solutions are of no interest at least for simple sensor applications.
In "Electronic Identification Systems for Asset Management", Richard Mcwilliam discloses an overview of the possibility of direct load modulation over power lines.
US 2008/303344 A1 discloses a power line communication system. In this system, apparatuses are connected to a plurality of electrical power lines. A master apparatus is connected to one of these power lines.

Method and arrangement for transmitting data via an electric conductor of a current network


A lens barrel includes a first barrel, a second barrel having an inner face facing an outer face of the first barrel, and a circuit board supported by the second barrel. The circuit board is provided between the first barrel and the second barrel. The circuit board comprises a first circuit board and a second circuit board, the first circuit board is provided as substantially parallel with an optical axis of the optical system, the first circuit board and the second circuit board are provided at a crossing direction.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lens barrel, an optical device having the lens barrel such as a camera and the like, and method for manufacturing lens barrel.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a lens barrel used for an optical device such as camera and the like, a lens barrel to which auto-focus function and hand blurring compensation function are added has been used.
In a lens barrel to which such functions are added or other lens barrel, there is a case that a circuit board is equipped in a lens barrel (refer to Japanese Patent Publication No. 2006-71953).

Lens barrel, optical device and method for manufacturing lens barrel