A four-cycle internal combustion engine has a permanent curtailed intake process, which allows the temperature and pressure of intake air to the combustion cylinders to be tightly controlled, and enables a very small combustion chamber so that a much higher compression ratio and pre-ignition compression pressure can be achieved without approaching the air/fuel mixture auto-ignition threshold. The maximum threshold of curtailed intake volume is determined to be 68% of engine cylinder volume to achieve a compression ratio CR of 22.1 or higher. Because this design can effectively regulate and set the maximum pre-ignition temperature of the fuel-air mixture, it can combust virtually any type of liquid hydrocarbon fuel without knocking. This four-cycle engine, due to its higher compression ratio, generates power equivalent to or greater than a standard four-cycle engine in a smaller and lighter engine and at a much higher efficiency.

The efficiency of a naturally aspirated standard four-cycle gasoline (petrol) internal combustion engine is limited with respect to compression ratio and pre-ignition compression high pressure temperatures. This is because of the need to avoid pre-ignition temperatures close to the fuel's auto-ignition temperature threshold, beyond which the knocking effect will impair efficiency and reduce engine life. As a consequence of this pre-ignition temperature, standard four-cycle engines are typically limited to a low compression ratio (CR), a parameter that is defined as the ratio of the entire engine cylinder volume divided by the combustion chamber volume. For Standard Engines using standard gasoline fuel, CR is typically not greater than 11, which limits engines pre-ignition compression pressure of not more than 22 Bars.
Because of fuel auto-ignition temperatures, typically compression ratios chosen by engine manufacturers are between CR=9.5 and CR=11.8 for naturally aspirated engines. These values can vary but they are always less than CR=15.
These temperature and pressure constraints of the standard four-cycle engine design not only reduce engine efficiency, but they also result in larger and heavier engines and impose restrictions on the type of fuel that these engines can combust without knocking.
The present invention proposes a four-cycle internal combustion engine design with a permanent curtailed intake process, for which we will use short term "CIP" engine ("Curtailed Intake Process" engine), and consequently it has a curtailed compression process as well. As will be explained herein, this design allows the temperature and pressure of intake air to the combustion cylinders to be controlled, so that a much higher compression ratio CR and pre-ignition compression pressure can be achieved without approaching the auto-ignition threshold. Moreover, because this novel design can effectively regulate and set the maximum pre-ignition temperature of the fuel-air mixture, it can combust virtually any type of liquid hydrocarbon fuel without danger of knocking if the engine is designed for the lowest auto-ignition-temperature fuel to be used.
The four-cycle engine of the present invention, due to its much higher compression ratio, generates power equivalent to or greater than a standard four-cycle engine in a smaller and lighter engine and in an environment where all main engine parameters are under control for maximum output and efficiency.

Four-cycle internal combustion engine with curtailed intake process


A game device is provided with an SSID setting unit and a channel setting unit. The SSID setting unit sets up an SSID (a network identifier) in accordance with a communication mode. Communication modes include a download standby mode, a download mode, a lobby mode and a game mode. By setting up an SSID for each communication mode, wireless networks for respective modes are formed. The channel setting unit sets up a communication channel in accordance with the SSID.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technology for communicating between a plurality of communication terminals and, more particularly, to a technology of efficiently executing an application in a wireless network.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the realization of miniaturization and lightweight of information terminals, it has become common for people to carry an information terminal. Wireless communication environment in which a plurality of users can enjoy an application such as a game together using infrastructure such as base stations and access points has become a reality in recent years. Study has also been undertaken on the construction of wireless ad hoc network for on-demand communication. In an ad hoc network, base stations and access points are not necessary. It is therefore easy to build a wireless network even in places where no such infrastructure exists. In an ad hoc network, a plurality of users can enjoy a game together as they join each other, bringing their own portable game devices and communicating wirelessly.
An infrastructure network and an ad hoc network are built using technologies such as IEEE802.11 or Bluetooth. A wireless communication environment assumed conventionally is such that several terminals are brought together so that communication is achieved between the terminals. In an infrastructure network or an ad hoc network, however, a situation could occur in which as many as 10-100 terminals are brought together in the same environment.
In a wireless network using IEEE802.11, a Basic Service Set (BSS) is prescribed as a basic unit of group comprising terminals communicating with each other. BSS refers to a set which is a group of mutually communicating terminals. Terminals belonging to the same BSS can communicate with each other. A BSS is identified by a 48-bit identifier known as Basic Service Set ID (BSSID). A unique value in the environment is assigned to a BSSID. There is also available a Service Set ID (SSID) comprised of a character string of 0-32 bytes to discriminate between BSSs. SSID may be arbitrary set up. The same SSID may be assigned to a plurality of BSSs. A BSS is formed by a terminal or an access point transmitting a reference packet called beacon. The range reached by the beacon defines a spatial range of the BSS. A plurality of BSSs may be located in the same physical space.
When using a wireless network using IEEE802.11, a terminal is required to belong to one of the BSSs available. For this purpose, the terminal searches for (scans) BSSs located in its neighborhood. When participating in an existing group, the terminal may specify an SSID in case it has the knowledge of the SSID of a group in which participation is sought. In contrast, if the SSID is not known, the terminal scans all BSSs in its neighborhood and specifies an SSID selected from the SSIDs identified as a result of the search.
In a wireless LAN system of the infrastructure mode using access points, an access point transmits a beacon so as to form a BSS. In a majority of cases, an access point is connected to the Internet or a private network such as an enterprise network. Normally, a manager of such a network determines an SSID and sets up an access point accordingly. Uses of the network are informed of the SSID from the network manager and are involved in wireless communication accordingly.
In a wireless LAN system of an ad hoc mode not using access points, a network manager is not available. Therefore, users of the network have to determine an SSID themselves for connection. In this case, mutual connection is impossible unless the terminals select the same SSID. Therefore, it is necessary for the users to agree upon an SSID prior to communication. Since an SSID can be arbitrarily set up, connection may be established to an undesired wireless network if the same SSID is used in different groups. Thus, the setting of an SSID in an ad hoc network is a complicated process for users to perform. Further, stability in communication is difficult to achieve in an environment in which a large number of wireless networks are built in the same environment.

Application execution method, file data download method, file data upload method, communication method, network identifier setting method and wireless communication terminal


Reduction of recorded noise is achieved at the time of imaging in an environment of generation of noticeable noise while securing user convenience. A communication controller includes a wireless communication unit that performs first wireless communication using a first wireless communication method, and second wireless communication using a second wireless communication method, and a control unit that detects a volume of a voice, and changes a wireless output of the first wireless communication on the basis of the detected volume.

For example, a digital camera or the like is known as an imaging apparatus which has a built-in wireless communication function. A user (image capturing person or the like) can operate a digital camera via wireless communication using another device, such as a smartphone, as a remote controller.
In a case where an image captured by the digital camera is displayed on a smartphone as a so-called live view image herein, a communication method suited for transmission and reception of image data or the like is adopted. However, when this type of communication method is used, noise may be generated by an effect of a radio wave of wireless communication during recording of captured image data. Particularly in recent years, a distance between a sound concentrating microphone and an antenna for wireless communication tends to decrease with miniaturization of imaging apparatuses. Accordingly, the foregoing effect of the radio wave has been increasing.
For example, PTL 1 and PTL 2 are given as examples of a method for reducing this noise.

Communication controller and control method of communication controller


A method of using metallized polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes as cure promoters and catalysts for polyurethanes.

Metals are used to catalyze the cure (connectivity) of polyurethane chains. A polyurethane is any polymer consisting of a chain of organic units joined by urethane links. Polyurethanes are widely used in flexible and rigid foams, durable elastomers, high performance adhesives and sealants, fibers, seals, gaskets, carpet underlay, and hard plastic parts.
Polyurethanes are in the class of compounds which includes epoxies, unsaturated polyesters, and phenolics. A urethane linkage is produced by reacting an isocyanate group, —N═C═O with an hydroxyl (alcohol) group, —OH. Polyurethanes are produced by the polyaddition reaction of a polyisocyanate with a polyalcohol (polyol) in the presence of a catalyst and other additives. In this case, a polyisocyanate is a molecule with two or more isocyanate functional groups, R—(N═C═O)n≧2 and a polyol is a molecule with two or more hydroxyl functional groups, R′—(OH)n≧2. The reaction product is a polymer containing the urethane linkage, —RNHCOOR′—.
Polyurethanes are produced commercially by reacting a liquid isocyanate with a liquid blend of polyols, catalyst, and any other additives. These components are referred to as a polyurethane system, or simply a system. The isocyanate is commonly referred to as the 'A-side' or just the 'iso'. The blend of polyols and other additives is commonly referred to as the 'B-side' or as the 'poly'. This mixture might also be called a 'resin' or 'resin blend'. Resin blend additives may include chain extenders, cross linkers, surfactants, fire retardants, blowing agents, pigments, and fillers.
The polymerization reaction is catalyzed by tertiary amines, such as dimethylcyclohexylamine, and organometallic salts, such as dibutyltindilaurate. Furthermore, catalysts can be chosen based on whether they favor the urethane (gel) reaction, such as diazobicyclooctane, or the urea (blow) reaction, such as bis-dimethylaminoethylether, or specifically drive the isocyanate trimerization reaction, such as potassium octoate.
Catalysis is the acceleration (increase in rate) of a chemical reaction by means of a substance, called a catalyst, that is itself not consumed by the overall reaction. More generally, one may at times call anything that accelerates a reaction, without itself being consumed or changed, a "catalyst". A promoter is an accelerator of catalysis, but not a catalyst by itself.
The most common catalyst for polyurethanes is dibutyltin dilaurate (DBTDL) which is a yellowish liquid of composition C32H64O4Sn MW 631.6 (bp 205°, mp 24°). DBTDL usage is no longer desirable for industrial use because it is known to give off combustible and irritating toxic fumes in a fire, and is cytotoxic and bioaccumulative. Therefore, a need exists for a catalyst that replaces DBTDL. Highly desirable are catalysts that contain more active Sn atoms in a nonflammable dissolvable solid form. Such a catalyst could be utilized in lower concentrations and would afford an overall reduction of Sn in polyurethane products.
Recent developments in nanoscience have now enabled the ability to cost effectively manufacture bulk quantities of materials that are best described as metallized nanostructured chemicals due to their specific and precise chemical formula, hybrid (inorganic-organic) chemical composition, and large physical size relative to the size of traditional chemical molecules (0.3-0.5 nm) and small size relative to larger sized traditional fillers (>50 nm) Nanostructured chemicals containing catalytically active metals behave as both fillers and catalysts to promote the connectivity of polymer chains between themselves, with fillers and surfaces, and with the nanostructured chemical.
Metallized nanostructured chemicals are best exemplified by those based on low-cost Polyhedral Oligomeric Silsesquioxanes (POSS) and Polyhedral Oligomeric Silicates (POS). FIG. 1 illustrates some representative examples of metallized nanostructured chemicals for which the all silicon containing systems are known as POSS and metallized systems are known as POMS. POMS (polyhedral oligomeric metallosesquioxanes) are cages that contain one or more metal atoms inside or outside the central cage framework. In certain instances cages may contain more than one metal atom or types of metal atoms, or even metal alloys.
Like the all silicon containing POSS cages, POMS are hybrid (i.e. organic-inorganic) compositions containing internal frameworks that are primarily comprised of inorganic silicon-oxygen bonds but which also contain one or more metal atoms bound to or inside of the cage (FIG. 2). In addition to the metal and silicon-oxygen framework, the exterior of a POMS nanostructured chemical is covered by both reactive and nonreactive organic functionalities (R), which ensure compatibility and tailorability of the nanostructure with organic polymers. Unlike metal or other particulate fillers, these metallized nanostructured chemicals have molecular diameters that can range from 0.5 nm to 5.0 nm, are of low density (>2.5 g/ml), highly dispersable into polymers and solvents, exhibit excellent inherent fire retardancy, and have unique optical and electronic properties.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Metallized polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes as catalysts for polyurethanes


A forwarding telephone number in a programmable telephone number list associated with a called number is dialed in response to a busy or no answer signal at the called number. The programmable telephone number table may include preferred caller telephone numbers. The system and method may be may be implemented on an AIN based wire line system.

While some homes and small businesses having multiple wire line telephone numbers, the majority of homes and small businesses today still have only a single wire line. With the advent of and drastic increase in the popularity of the Internet this has led to a number of problems at single line subscriber locations. For instance, while broadband access technologies are becoming increasingly prevalent the majority of homes and small businesses today still rely on dial-up Internet access over the public switched telephone network (PSTN). As a result, many calls are missed or directed to voice mail during dial-up Internet access sessions from single line homes or businesses because subscribers typically do not have the option of terminating the access session in favor of receiving the incoming telephone call. Many people today do however own and carry wireless telephones. Thus, it would be advantageous for a party with a single wire line number who regularly accesses the Internet over a dial-up access session to have the ability to forward calls received on the wire line during the access session to his or her wireless telephone.

System and method for delivering personalized messages to selected calling parties

BellSouth Intellectual Property Corporation


A DNA fragment encoding a β subunit is obtained by inverse PCR using primers designed based on the nucleotide sequence of a N-terminal signal sequence region of a GDH β subunit derived from Burkholderia cepacia KS1 strain.

Biosensors using an enzyme that specifically reacts with a particular substrate are being actively developed in various industrial fields. As for a glucose sensor, which is one of the biosensors, in particular, measurement methods and devices utilizing such methods are being actively developed mainly in medical fields. For example, the glucose sensor has a history of about 40 years since Clark and Lyons first reported about a biosensor including glucose oxidase and an oxygen electrode in combination in 1962 (L. c. Clark, J. and Lyonas, C. "Electrode systems for continuous monitoring in cardiovascular surgery." Ann. n. y. Acad. Sci., 105: 20–45).
Thus, the adoption of glucose oxidase as an enzyme for the glucose sensor has a long history. This is because glucose oxidase shows high substrate specificity for glucose and superior thermal stability, this enzyme can further be produced in a large scale, and its production cost is lower than those of other enzymes. The high substrate specificity means that this enzyme does not react with a saccharide other than glucose, and this leads to an advantage that accurate measurement can be achieved without error in measurement values. Further, the superior thermal stability means that problems concerning denaturation of the enzyme and inactivation of its enzymatic activity due to heat can be prevented, and this leads to an advantage that accurate measurement can be performed over a long period of time.
However, although glucose oxidase has advantages as described above, it has a problem that the enzyme is affected by dissolved oxygen and this affects measurement results.
Meanwhile, in addition to glucose oxidase, a glucose sensor utilizing glucose dehydrogenase (hereinafter referred to as "glucose dehydrogenase" or "GDH") has also been developed. This enzyme is also found in microorganisms. For example, there are known glucose dehydrogenase derived from Bacillus (EC 184.108.40.206) and glucose dehydrogenase derived from Cryptococcus (EC 184.108.40.206).
The former glucose dehydrogenase (EC 220.127.116.11) is an enzyme that catalyzes a reaction of β-D-glucose+NAD(P)+→D-δ-gluconolactone+NAD(P)H+H+, and the latter glucose dehydrogenase (EC 18.104.22.168) is an enzyme that catalyzes a reaction of D-glucose+NADP+→D-δ-gluconolactone+NADPH+H+. The aforementioned glucose dehydrogenases derived from microorganisms are already marketed.
These glucose dehydrogenases have an advantage that they are not affected by dissolved oxygen in a measurement sample. This leads to an advantage that accurate measurement can be achieved without causing errors in measurement results even when the measurement is performed in an environment in which the oxygen partial pressure is low, or a high-concentration sample requiring a large amount of oxygen is used for the measurement.
However, although conventional glucose dehydrogenase is not affected by dissolved oxygen, it has problems of poor thermal stability and substrate specificity poorer than that of glucose oxidase. For an enzyme which is used in a sensor, an enzyme that overcomes disadvantages of both of glucose oxidase and glucose dehydrogenase has been desired.
The inventors of the present invention reported results of their studies about GDH using samples collected from soil near hot springs in Sode, K., Tsugawa, W., Yamazaki, T., Watanabe, M., Ogasawara, N., and Tanaka, M., Enzyme Microb. Technol., 19, 82–85 (1996); Yamazaki, T., Tsugawa, W. and Sode, K., Appli. Biochemi. and Biotec., 77–79/0325 (1999); and Yamazaki, T., Tsugawa, W. and Sode, K., Biotec. Lett., 21, 199–202 (1999). The microorganisms in those samples produce a coenzyme-binding GDH, and the enzymologic properties such as optimum reaction temperature, thermal stability, and substrate specificity have already been clear (See the aforementioned documents). This enzyme is a hetero oligomeric enzyme that is constituted by a catalyst subunit having a high thermal resistance (α subunit), an electron transferring subunit (β subunit), and γ subunit having an unknown function, and the activity peaks thereof are observed at 45° C. and 75° C., respectively. Further, the γ and α subunit genes have been cloned, and it has been clarified that the aforementioned microorganism belongs to Burkholderia cepacia, and the N-terminal amino acid sequence of the β subunit has been clarified (Ken Inose, Tokyo Agricultural Engineering University Master's Thesis (2001)). However, the structure of the β subunit gene has not been reported.

Glucose dehydrogenase β-subunit and DNA encoding the same


A technique to detect defects when reading a defect scan pattern stored on a disk in which the detected defects are processed differently depending on which region of a sector the defect is resident. In one implementation, a mask is used to identify the defects of different regions. By differentiating different regions within the sector for defect scan, sync mark and preamble fields may be treated as critical regions so that different defect scan properties may be attributed when performing the defect scan.

1. Technical Field of the Invention
The embodiments of the invention relate generally to disk drives and, more particularly, to providing different defect processing to different portions of information read from a disk medium during a defect scan.
2. Description of Related Art
Varieties of memory storage devices, such as magnetic disk drives, are available to store data and are used to provide data storage for a host device, either directly, or through a network. Those networks may be a storage area network (SAN) or a network attached storage (NAS). Typical host devices include stand alone computer systems such as a desktop or laptop computer, enterprise storage devices such as servers, storage arrays such as a redundant array of independent disk (RAID) arrays, storage routers, storage switches and storage directors, and other consumer devices such as video game systems and digital video recorders. These devices generally provide high storage capacity in a cost effective manner.
One class of disk storage devices uses magnetic media to store information. In order to ensure that digital data is written to the disk and retrieved correctly, it is desirable to have defect-free media. However, manufacturing processes are not ideal and defects are introduced in the manufactured media. For example, one type of defect is caused by having a reduction of magnetic material on a medium below a specified value. Such reduction of magnetic material may cause a lower signal amplitude, which may result in a "dropout" condition. Alternatively, another type of defect is caused by having excess magnetic material on a medium above a specified value. Such increase of magnetic material may cause a higher signal amplitude, which may result in a "dropin" condition. Either defect condition may cause a bit or bits to be stored in an incorrect state when written to the medium and/or read incorrectly from the medium.
In order to address manufacturing defects of the types noted above, as well as other defects, a typical practice for disk manufacturers is to perform a defect scan to map defective sectors after the disk is manufactured. Generally, a defect scan entails writing a known test pattern on the disk, reading the stored bits and comparing the read bits to the known test pattern to determine sectors (or tracks) that contain defects. A defect mapping is then performed to identify those sectors (or tracks) that contain defects that are not acceptable. The defective sectors are then placed in a defect scan table and these sectors are not used for data storage when logical addresses are mapped to physical addresses on the disk to store data.
Although the above-described technique allows defect mapping to identify defective sectors (or tracks) on a medium, all scannable regions of the disk are treated the same, so that no differentiation is made between critical regions of a sector from less critical regions of the sector. For example, preamble and sync mark fields are generally regarded as more critical than user data fields, since user data may be further processed by an error correction mechanism, such as error correction code (ECC) to correct for errors. That is, more errors are generally tolerated with data fields, as compared to preamble and sync mark fields. However, no such distinction is made when the disk is scanned for defects. Depending on the defect threshold set for the scan, this uniform scanning technique results in 1) mapping out too many sectors on a disk drive, which may ultimately result in lower yield issues in the factory; or 2) having drive returns due to bad sync mark/preamble fields in which sectors are not mapped out when they should have been.
Accordingly, there is a need for another technique to perform a defect scan, in which different defect criteria may be set dependent on the type of information being read. By having different defect scan levels, critical regions of a disk may be treated differently from less critical regions when identifying the defects.

Modified defect scan over sync mark/preamble field


Embodiments of the invention provide techniques for increasing user engagement with video ads and content. The invention is not limited to video advertisements, but is applicable to any other content. Embodiments of the invention provide engagement formats that use interesting frames in a video or objects within video frames to increase user engagement in the video, one or more frames of the video, or any object within the video.

Technical Field
The invention relates to video advertising. In particular, the invention relates to enhancing video advertising with engaging and interactive content.
Description of the Background Art
Video content is becoming increasingly popular on all display platforms. As a result, a large volume of video content is made available for viewing every day. Such video content ranges from product advertisements to entertainment videos. The upward Internet speed trend in the mobile domain and the world wide Web provides sufficient bandwidth to keep pace with the growth of video content, thus enabling accessibility of such video content on a variety of display devices easily and without disruption.
Online video advertising is also becoming increasingly popular due to the availability of mobile telephones, tablets, IP TVs, and other custom and proprietary devices. However, the traditional approach used in advertising over television does not provide users with the ability to interact with the advertisements. Such ability is embedded in currently available smart devices that show video content. Therefore, video advertisements can be more interactive due to the nature of these devices. However, not many video advertisements are presently interactive, except where they may provide a redirect link to a marketing landing page.
Consumer behavior is also different in the traditional TV and smart device market segments. In the smart device market segment, consumers are very time sensitive and tend to ignore the video advertisements by skipping or by switching to another device webpage, application, or channel whenever they encounter a long video ad. Typical video ads are long, i.e. 30 seconds. On an average, for every five minutes of video content displayed, content providers show 30 seconds of advertisements. So, 10% of user time is consumed in watching ads, and it gets worse when the same lengthy video ads are repeated multiple times. Not only does this frustrate the user, it also creates a negative impact on the brand and/or product that is being advertised.
As a solution, some the content providers provide the capability to skip ads if the user is not interested. In most cases, when a user skips ads, advertisers lose the opportunity to engage the users, while content providers waste the resources that are needed to display video ads that are skipped. Therefore, there is an incumbent need to engage users with the ads and content without making the ads a boring and to-be-avoided aspect of any online session.

Method and apparatus for increasing user engagement with video advertisements and content by summarization


A variable-pitch racked bar has a row of rack teeth with a middle fixed pitch region and two end fixed pitch regions. A variable-pitch region is interposed between the middle fixed pitch region and each of the end fixed pitch regions. In the variable-pitch region, the pitch increases from the fixed, small-pitch middle region toward the fixed, large-pitch end regions. In the variable-pitch racked bar, the effective meshing width continuously decreases from the middle of the row of rack teeth toward both ends thereof.

A variable-pitch racked bar, as disclosed in Japanese examined and published patent application No. 52-29049, has a variable-pitch tooth profile or VGR tooth profile, in which the pitch gradually increases or decreases along a row of rack teeth. In a first arrangement, the pitch of the middle teeth is set at a minimum and the pitch is gradually increased from the middle teeth toward both ends of the row of rack teeth. This variable-pitch enhances a steering response during slalom racing, for example. In a second arrangement, the pitch of the middle teeth is set at a maximum and the pitch is gradually decreased from the middle teeth toward both ends of the row of rack teeth. This variable-pitch reduces a steering force when a steering angle is large.
The VGR tooth profile of the variable-pitch racked bar is formed by complicatedly curved tooth faces which mesh with a helical pinion provided with an involute curve. During the manufacture of the variable-pitch racked bars, the curvature of each rack tooth face unavoidably, slightly deviates from the originally designed curvature. These deviations adversely affect the meshing condition of the helical pinion in each rack tooth, causing torque variances and increasing play in the steering operation.


An exemplary liquid crystal display device (1) includes a first substrate assembly (14), a second substrate assembly (16) parallel to the first substrate assembly, a liquid crystal layer (18) sandwiched therebetween, and a backlight module (12) adjacent to the first substrate assembly. The first substrate assembly includes a first substrate, a plurality of pixel electrode (145) and a color filter (148). The first substrate includes a plurality of pixel regions. Each pixel region includes a reflection region and a transmission region. The reflection region includes a thin film transistor (TFT) (146) and a reflective layer (147) covering the TFT. The pixel electrodes cover the transmission regions and the reflection regions.

LCD devices have the advantages of portability, low power consumption, and low radiation, and because of this they have been widely used in various portable information products such as notebooks, personal digital assistants (PDAs), video cameras, and the like. Furthermore, LCD devices are considered by many to have the potential to completely replace CRT (cathode ray tube) monitors and televisions.
Referring to FIG. 6, a typical LCD device 6 is schematically shown. The LCD device 6 includes an LCD panel 60, and a backlight module 62 for illuminating the LCD panel 60. The LCD panel 60 includes a first substrate assembly 64, a second substrate assembly 66 parallel to the first substrate assembly 64, and a liquid crystal layer 65 sandwiched between the two substrate assemblies 64, 66. The backlight module 62 is provided adjacent to the first substrate assembly 64.
Referring also to FIG. 7, the first substrate assembly 64 includes a first transparent substrate 641, a number n (where n is a natural number) of gate lines 642, a number m (where m is also a natural number) of data lines 643, a plurality of thin film transistors (TFTs) 646, and a plurality of pixel electrodes 645.
The gate lines 642 are parallel to each other, each gate line 642 extending along a first direction. The data lines 643 are parallel to each other, each data line 643 extending along a second direction orthogonal to the first direction. The gate lines 642 and the data lines 643 cross each other, thereby defining a plurality of pixel regions 644. The pixel electrodes 645 are disposed in the pixel regions 644, respectively.
Each TFT 646 is provided in the vicinity of a point of intersection of a corresponding gate line 642 and a corresponding data line 643. The TFT 646 includes a gate electrode 647 connected to a corresponding gate line 642, a source electrode 648 connected to a corresponding data line 643, and a drain electrode 649 connected to a corresponding pixel electrode 645.
Referring also to FIG. 8, the second substrate assembly 66 includes a second transparent substrate 661, and a color filter 662 disposed on an inner surface of the second transparent substrate 661 that is nearest to the liquid crystal layer 65. The color filter 662 includes a black matrix 6621 and a color region 6622. The color region 6622 includes a plurality of red filter units, green filter units, and blue filter units arranged in a matrix and separated by the black matrix 6621. The red, green, and blue filter units correspond to the pixel electrodes 645 on the first transparent substrate 641, respectively. The black matrix 6621 spans areas of the second transparent substrate 661 that correspond to the gate lines 642, the data lines 643, and the TFTs 646 of the first transparent substrate 641.
Areas of the LCD device 6 corresponding to the gate lines 642, the date lines 643, and the TFTs 646 cannot display images properly, because no appropriate electric field is generated in those areas. The black matrix 6621 is used to absorb light that transmits through such areas, in order to improve the display quality.
Because the liquid crystal layer 65 does not emit light itself, the LCD device 6 needs the backlight module 62 to illuminating the LCD panel 60. This means the LCD device 6 has relatively high electrical power consumption.
Furthermore, the black matrix 6621 is generally made a little larger than the areas of the LCD device 6 that cannot display images properly, because of positioning tolerances that are needed when the first and second transparent substrates 641, 661 are attached together during manufacture of the LCD device 6. Thus the areas of the red filter units, the green filter units, and the blue filter units are correspondingly reduced in size. As a result, an aperture ratio of the LCD device 6 is correspondingly low. Accordingly, the capability of the LCD device 6 to display good quality images is limited.
What is needed, therefore, is an LCD device that can overcome the above-described deficiencies.

Transflective liquid crystal device having color filter on thin film transistor structure


An audio processing circuit includes a clock synthesizer, a clock divider, a digital interpolator module, a sampling rate converter and a digital-to-analog converter. The clock synthesizer generates a base clock signal according to a sampling clock signal and a first reference clock signal. The clock divider generates a multiple frequency clock signal according to the base clock signal. The digital interpolator module interpolates a digital audio data according to the multiple frequency clock signal. The sampling rate converter processes the interpolated digital audio data into a re-sampled digital audio data according to the multiple frequency clock signal and a second reference clock signal. The digital-to-analog converter is coupled to the sampling rate converter for converting the re-sampled digital audio data into an analog audio signal according to the second reference clock signal.

Conventionally, video, audio and other functional chips are independently designed for corresponding applications. Nowadays, it has become a trend to integrate circuitry of different functions in a single IC chip so as to enhance performance and reduce cost. For example, a liquid crystal display (LCD) TV has experienced great growth and is now rapidly gaining in popularity but the video chip 11 and the audio chip 12 of a conventional LCD TV are independently designed and disposed on a system circuit board, as shown in FIG. 1.
For circuitry simplification and cost-effectiveness, a single IC chip integrating therein a video circuitry module and an audio circuitry module is developed. As shown in FIG. 2, the conventional IC chip includes an interpolator 21, a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) 25 and a phase-locked loop (PLL) circuit 26 as a part of the audio circuitry module. The PLL circuit 26 generates a high-quality and high-frequency (n*Fs) clock signal according to a sampling clock signal with a frequency Fs (e.g. 32 kHz or 48 kHz) that is associated with a digital audio data, and the digital audio data is to be processed by the interpolator 21 and the digital-to-analog converter (DAC) 25 according to the clock signal with the frequency n*Fs. In other words, the interpolator 21 interpolates the digital audio data with reference to the high frequency n*Fs. The DAC 25 then converts the digital audio data into analog audio data with reference to the high frequency n*Fs.
The PLL circuit 26 is an analog circuit generally occupying a large layout area.


A polyphase filter including M taps, each of the M taps including a filter coefficient. The filter also includes a multiplier-accumulator (MAC) shared by the M taps, a plurality of multiplexors for sequentially selecting a subset of the plurality of taps, and a scheduler for controlling the MAC to perform arithmetic operations on respective filter coefficients of the selected subset of the plurality of taps.

In some digital signal processing systems, sample rate converters are used to effect a scaling of a digitally encoded video or audio signal, for example. A digitally encoded video or audio signal, includes an array of samples of the original signal. A decimator is used to remove sample values, if the signal is being down-converted. An interpolator is used to add sample values if the signal is being up-converted. To provide both up-scaling and down-scaling, the sample rate converters of some digital signal processing systems include both a decimator and an interpolator.
Decimators and interpolators are typically designed as part of digital filters. In this case, the resultant sample value is a weighted average of the samples in the vicinity of the sample. The number of samples used to determine the resultant weighted average is termed the number of "taps" of the digital filter. The general equation for an N-tap filter is given by:
            y                    (                  i          +          p                )              =                  ∑                  n          =          0                          N          -          1                                            c                                (                          n              ,              p                        )                          *                              x                                      (                              i                -                n                            )                                .                      )where x(i) . . . x(i-(N−1)) are the input samples at each tap of the N-tap filter, p is the phase, and c(n, p) is the weight associated with each input sample at the specified phase. a polyphase filter can be utilized to supply a variety of scale factors. Each phase of a P-polyphase filter corresponds to an integer multiple of 1/P of the output scale for down-sampling. Similarly, each phase of a P-polyphase filter corresponds to an integer multiple of 1/P of the input scale for up-sampling.
FIG. 1 shows a simplified block diagram of an up-sampling polyphase filter with P phase stages 110a-110p. Input samples 101 are input to each stage. If the output is an up-scaling by a factor of 1:P, the output of each stage 110a-110p is selected by switch 120, and P output values are provided in response to each input sample 101. After generating the P output values, the next input sample 101 is input, and another P outputs are generated. As a result, P output values are formed for each input sample, thereby providing an up-scaling by a factor of 1:P. For an up-scaling of Q:P, Q of the P stages are selected for output for each input sample. For example, if Q is three, every third stage 101a, 101d, etc. is selected for output for each input sample.
FIG. 2 depicts a simplified block diagram of a down-sampling polyphase filter with P phase stages 210a-210p. Input samples 201 are input to select stages via the switch 220. If the output is a downscaling by a factor of P:1, the output of all P stages 210a-p are combined by the adder 230, and a single output value 231 is generated in response to the P input samples 201. After generating the output value, another set of P inputs 201 generate the next output sample 231. As a result, one output value is formed for P input samples, thereby providing a downscaling by a factor of P:1. For a downscaling of Q:1, Q input samples 201 are input to select input stages 210a-210p and the output of these stages are combined by the adder 230 to produce the single output sample 231.
Polyphase filters are typically used to implement decimation and interpolation in a flexible yet computationally efficient way. A polyphase filter with N taps is typically designed as a single filter with N registers and some type of memory that is configured to store the N coefficients for each of the P stages. The N registers of the filter store the corresponding N coefficients for generating each required output.
In the traditional approaches, the decimation/interpolation filters are at a higher sample rate, that is, either before down-sampling or after up-sampling. Given that the down/up sampling ratio is Q, a polyphase filter structure splits the relating filtering into Q parallel stages operating at the lower sampling rate. In applications requiring very high operation speeds, this can be a crucial benefit. Furthermore, the polyphase structures are quite flexible if used, for example, in channelization applications.
However, as shown, typical up/down-scaling polyphase filters require N multipliers and M adders. A typical multiplier takes a significant amount of silicon area to implement in an Integrated Circuit (IC). For example, a typical size for a 22 bit multiplier implemented in 0.13 um CMOS technology is about 21,000 Sq. Microns. Likewise, a typical size for a 22 bit adder using a similar technology is about 670 Sq. Microns. As more complex functions are being integrated in a single IC, silicon area becomes an important consideration and limitation in designing such complex ICs.
Therefore, there is a need for an area-efficient polyphase filter for reducing expensive silicon area.

Polyphase filter with optimized silicon area


Methods, apparatus, articles of manufacture, and systems for providing a supply voltage to an electronic component, such as a processor, are provided. An executable software component, such as system firmware, may access a voltage selection value embedded in the component and retrieve a voltage setting, from a table of voltage settings, using the embedded voltage selection value as an index. The software component may then configure a power supply, based on the voltage setting retrieved from the voltage selection table, to supply the component with an optimal supply voltage. For some embodiments, the voltage selection table may be replaced by downloading a new voltage selection table, thus, allowing changes to the component supply voltage without changing hardware.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to computer systems and more particularly to the adjustment of voltages supplied to processors in computer systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
Some electronic components, such as processors used in computer systems, run optimally at a specific supply voltage (i.e., the voltage supplied to the component by a power supply). Determining this optimal supply voltage may require extensive testing, which may not be performed until a final design version of the component is completed. In fact, with the increased pressures to speed component time to market, this testing may not be performed until after a product is released. As a result, for some components, the optimal supply voltage not be known until the component has already been built in quantity or already in use in the field (e.g., a customer site, or a production environment). Therefore, one problem component manufacturers (as well as manufacturers of systems utilizing the components) are presented with is how to change supply voltage, or at least allow for changes to supply voltage, in the field to optimize component performance.
One solution to this problem is to release new power supplies or power supply components to provide a newly determined optimal supply voltage. However, developing new power supplies and regulators and replacing old ones is an expensive proposition. Further, customers may not be willing to endure the down time necessary to replace the power supplies or components, particularly, if the system is vital to the operations of their business, such as an enterprise server.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved method for changing the voltage supplied to an electronic component in the field, preferably that does not require hardware changes, such as a new power supply or power supply components.

Firmware controlled supply voltage adjustment

International Business Machines Corporation


The music number is input through the panel switch arranged in the music accompanying apparatus. The modulated music number signal by the modulation-demodulation device is transmitted to the control apparatus through the coaxial cable. In the control apparatus, the music number data signal is received through the coaxial cable, and further demodulated into the music number data by the modulation-demodulation device. The controller reads out the various music data. At the same time, the controller controls the four video disc devices so that the four video picture data each of which is corresponded to the different music genre, are reproduced by the video disc devices. Thereafter, both the various music data and the four video picture data are mutually superimposed through the head amplifier after modulated by each of the modulators and transmitted to each of the music accompanying apparatuses through the coaxial cable. In the music accompanying apparatus, one of the four video picture data is selected by the video tuner based on the song tone data and both the video picture and the song text are displayed on the video monitor at the same time through picture synthesizing circuit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a control system for concentratively controlling a plurality of music accompanying apparatuses, each having a video monitor, and particularly relates to the control system including a control apparatus having a video picture signal source through which video picture signals are commonably provided for each of the music accompanying apparatuses.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, as the control system for concentratively controlling a plurality of the music accompanying apparatuses each of which has a video monitor, a player system including an auto-exchanger in which many video discs having the recorded video picture data thereon are stored, is generally utilized. Here, the number of the player system is usually set less than the number of the music accompanying apparatuses to a extent that there does not occur any problems at the music accompanying apparatus side. The reason is that the player system can handle a case in which the same music number (song) is selected at the same time by the plural music accompanying apparatuses.
However, in such player system, over one hundred video discs are stored, thus, the player system becomes very big scale. Thus, in case that the number of the player system is set extremely less than the number of the music accompanying apparatus, there will often occur a case in which the player system cannot provide the video picture data with some of the music accompanying apparatuses when the same music number is simultaneously selected by the plural music accompanying apparatuses. Therefore, if the number of the music accompanying apparatus becomes more than the number of the player system, it is necessary to prepare many of the big player systems. As a result, a control compartment with wide area has to be retained for the player systems, therefore, the cost becomes very expensive.
As mentioned above, in case that the player systems are installed in the control compartment with wide area according to the number of the music accompanying apparatus, there are problems that the wide control compartment has to be retained and the cost therefor inevitably becomes expensive. Additionally, the player system has to be seriously changed in the future if the video discs continuously released could not be stored in the auto-exchanger of the player system.

Control system for concentratively controlling a plurality of music accompanying apparatuses


A multi-band mobile station (10) includes a plurality of RF amplifier sections, one for each frequency band of interest; a controller (18) for selectively enabling, when transmitting, only one of the RF amplifier sections; a directional coupler circuit for detecting the power of an amplified RF signal that is output from the enabled one of the RF amplifier sections; and a single error detection circuit, coupled to the detecting circuit, for generating an error signal. The error signal has a magnitude that is indicative of a difference between the detected power and a desired power. The error signal is coupled to the enabled one of the RF amplifier sections so as to minimize the magnitude of the error signal. The controller may place a non-enabled RF amplifier section into a low power consumption mode. The directional coupler circuit includes an RF detector coupled to the directional coupler, and an impedance matching circuit coupled between the directional coupler and the RF detector. The impedance matching circuit operates so as to cause the signal output from the RF detector to have about the same magnitude for a given level of output power from any one of the enabled RF amplifier sections. In an illustrative embodiment of this invention one frequency band of interest includes 836 MHz, and another frequency band of interest includes 1880 MHz.

A multi-band mobile station, such as a radiotelephone or personal communicator, is capable of operating in more than one system, each having different frequency bands. By example, and for a dual band mobile station, the mobile station may be capable of operating in a digital cellular mode (e.g., DCS1900 at about 1900 MHz) and an analog cellular mode (e.g., IS-41 (AMPS) at about 830 MHz).
An important component of a mobile station is a transmitter power control subsystem. In general, the transmitter power control subsystem operates by directly sensing the. transmitted RF power, usually with an RF directional coupler and a detector diode, and then using the detected signal to close a power control loop by comparing the detected RF power with a value of a transmitter power control signal (TXC).
By example, and referring to FIG. 3, a conventional arrangement for a transmitter power control subsystem of a mobile station that operates in two bands (i.e., Band1 and Band2) includes, for each band, a variable gain amplifier (VGAn), a power amplifier (PAn), and a directional coupler (DCn) coupled to an antenna element (ANTn). Connected to an output of the directional coupler is a detection diode (Dn) having an output connected to an input of an error amplifier (An). A second input of the error amplifier is connected to the transmit power control signal (TXCn). An error signal, representing the difference between the transmitted power commanded by the TXC signal and the actual RF power measured by the directional coupler, is connected to the VGA for either increasing or decreasing the gain of the amplifier so as to drive the error signal to zero at the output of the error amplifier.
As is evident in FIG. 3, a full duplication of components is required for each frequency band. It can be appreciated that in a portable, hand-held device, such as a cellular telephone or a personal communicator, an important goal is to minimize the number of components. However, this has been difficult to accomplish with conventional directional couplers since each is typically tuned to the associated frequency band. As such, a directional coupler tuned for use at, by example, the 800 MHz band will not provide an accurate or usable output if operated at 1900 MHz. U.S. Pat. No. 5,363,071, issued Nov. 8, 1994 entitled "Apparatus And Method For Varying The Coupling Of A Radio Frequency Signal" by D. G. Schwent et al. describes a technique for increasing the dynamic range of a power detector in an automatic power control loop. The technique of Schwent et al. employs a plurality of switches that are coupled to a plurality of coupler elements. FIGS. 1-3 of this patent illustrate various embodiments of prior art RF couplers. The technique of Schwent et al. does not address the problem of providing a single RF coupler that can be used in two different frequency bands.

Mobile station having dual band RF detector and gain control


The invention relates to 3-, 5-, 7-trisubstituted pyrazolo[4,3-d]pyrimidines represented by the general formula I

This invention relates to new pyrazolo[4,3-d]pyrimidine derivatives and to their use in suitable utilities, especially diagnostic and therapeutic methods.
The cell division cycle is usually regarded as a succession of two phases, the S phase (DNA synthesis) and the M phase (segregation of the synthesized DNA in the two daughter cells) interspaced by two gap periods, G1 and G2. The net result of the cell cycle scenario may not only be growth and differentiation, but also tumor development and apoptosis. This view reflects the evidence accumulated over the last 5 years in mammalian field, that the vast majority and quite likely all tumors have suffered one or more defects that derail the cell cycle machinery. Such defects can either target components of the cell cycle apparatus, including the checkpoint mechanisms that ensure fidelity and orderly progression through the cell cycle phases, thereby protecting genome, or target elements of the upstream signaling cascades, whose effects eventually converge to trigger cell cycle events (Bártek et al. 1999, J. Pathol. 187: 95-99).
Although the concept of cancer as a disease of the cell cycle implies that every tumor is defective in one or more aspects of all cycle control, it clearly does not mean that oncogenesis targets only the cell cycle clock. Development of a tumor appears to require also aberrations in the cell death machinery and cell-cell and/or cell-matrix interactions that co-operate with cell cycle defects. The above concept simply regards cell cycle deregulation as an essential step in the process of multistep tumorigenesis.
In terms of the molecular pathogenesis of tumors, cell cycle defects can either represent the initial, predisposing event, or contribute to tumor progression. Examples of tumor-predisposing alterations include, for instance, germ-line mutations of the CDK inhibitors p16INK4A or p57KIP2, while many of the known cell cycle defects result from somatic mutations or even epigenetic changes that may occur during the early or later stages of tumorigenesis (Hunter 1997, Cell 88: 333-346, Fearon 1997, Science 278: 1043-1050).
The importance of cell cycle regulatory proteins, their direct interaction with oncogenes and the tumor suppressor pRb and their frequent deregulation in human tumors has encouraged an active search for low-molecular weight regulators of these proteins. Among them the chemical inhibitors of cyclin-dependent kinases were the first discovered. These inhibitors are anti-mitotic and display very interesting antimitotic and anti-tumor activities.

Pyrazolo[4,3-d]pyrimidines, processes for their preparation and methods for therapy

Abstract: and pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof, whereinR3 is an optionally substituted alkyl, cycloalkyl, cycloheteroalkyl, cycloalkyl alkyl, aryl or alkylaryl group;R5 is halogen, —NHNH2, —NHOH, NHCONH2, guanylo (NH—C(NH)NH2) an optionally substituted C1-C6 alkyl, alkenyl, alkynyl, C3-C15 cycloalkyl, Rf(C3-C15 cycloalkyl), heterocyclyl, heteroalkyl, aryl, heteroaryl, arylalkylene, arylalkenylene, arylalkynylene, cycloheteroalkyl, cycloheteroalkyl alkyl, heteroarylalkylene, heteroarylalkenylene, heteroarylalkynylene group, the group —C(O)—Ra, —C(O)NRbRc, —SO3Rd, or —NHC(O)Re, wherein Ra and Rf are an optionally substituted C1-C6 alkyl, alkenyl, or alkynyl group, Rb, Rc, and Rd are independently selected from the group consisting of H, optionally substituted C1-C6 alkyl, alkenyl, or alkynyl group, and Re is a hydroxy, amino, alkoxy, alkylamino, optionally substituted C1-C6 alkyl, alkenyl or alkynyl group; or the group —X—R5′, wherein X is —NH—, —O—, —S— or —N(alkyl)- and R5′ is hydrogen, an optionally substituted C1-C6 alkyl, alkenyl, alkynyl, C3-C15 cycloalkyl, Rf(C3-C15 cycloalkyl), aryl, heterocyclyl, hetero C1-C6 alkyl, arylalkylene, arylalkenylene, arylalkynylene, heteroaryl, cycloheteroalkyl, cycloheteroalkyl alkyl, or heteroarylalkylene, heteroarylalkenylene, heteroarylalkynylene group, the group —C(O)—Ra, —C(O)NRbRc, —SO3Rd, or —NHC(O)Re, wherein Ra, Rb, Rc, Rd, Re and Rf have the above meaning, andR7 is halogen, —NHNH2, NHOH, NHCONH2, guanylo (NH—C(NH)NH2) or the group —X—R7′, wherein X has the above meaning and the meaning of R7′ is as defined for R5′.


A method and system for allocating frequency bandwidth between a relay backhaul link and a donor access link, based at least in part on the PLMN(s) to which UE(s) served by the relay node subscribe. The donor base station or another controlling entity may determine the PLMN(s) to which one or more UEs currently served by the relay node subscribe and, based at least in part on the determined PLMN(s), may assign a PLMN-priority level to the relay. Based at least in part on the PLMN-priority level assigned to the relay, the controlling entity may then establish an allocation of the frequency bandwidth between the relay backhaul link and the donor access link, and the donor base station may apply that established allocation.

Unless otherwise indicated herein, the materials described in this section are not prior art to the claims and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
In a typical market area, wireless service providers may operate radio access networks (RANs) each arranged to provide user equipment devices (UEs) with wireless communication service. Each such a RAN may include a number of base stations that radiate to define wireless coverage areas in which to serve UEs according to a radio access technology such as Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA (e.g., Long Term Evolution (LTE) or Wireless Operability for Microwave Access (WiMAX)), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) (e.g., 1xRTT and 1xEV-DO), GSM, GPRS, UMTS, EDGE, iDEN, TDMA, AMPS, MMDS, WIFI, and BLUETOOTH, or others now known or later developed. In turn, each base station may be coupled with network infrastructure that provides connectivity with one or more transport networks, such as the public switched telephone network (PSTN) and/or the Internet for instance. With this arrangement, a UE within coverage of the RAN may engage in air interface communication with a base station and may thereby communicate via the base station with various remote network entities or with other UEs served by the base station or by other base stations.
A wireless service provider may operate one or more such RANs as a public land mobile network (PLMN) for serving UEs. For example, a service provider may operate an LTE RAN as a PLMN for serving UEs with LTE service. In general, each such PLMN may have a respective PLMN identifier (PLMNid), and UEs that subscribe to service of the PLMN may be provisioned with data indicating that PLMNid. For instance, the UE may maintain in data storage a terminal identifier that uniquely identifies the UE and that includes an indication of the PLMNid to which the UE subscribes, such as an international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) that includes as its first six digits the PLMNid. Further, the UE may be provisioned with program logic that causes the UE to provide an indication of its PLMNid to a base station when the UE seeks to be served by the base station, such as to provide the base station with the UE's IMSI including the UE's PLMNid.
(Note also that some radio access technologies may use other terms to characterize the service provider's network to which UEs may subscribe, and those other networks could be considered types of PLMNs for purposes of this disclosure even though they are characterized by other terms. For instance, CDMA identifies a service provider's network by a combination of system identifier and network identifier (SID/NID). Other examples are possible as well.)
In addition to operating a RAN as its own PLMN (home PLMN) for serving its own subscriber UEs, a wireless service provider may also operate a RAN on behalf of one or more other wireless service providers known as "mobile virtual network operators" (MVNOs), to allow the MVNOs to provide wireless communication service without the need to build out RANs of their own. (In practice, an MVNO may be a different company than the actual RAN operator or may be the same company as the actual RAN operator.) In this arrangement, the MVNO may be considered to provide an MVNO PLMN, which may have its own PLMNid. However, the wireless service provider would in fact be operating its RAN not only as its own PLMN but also as the MVNO's PLMN. In addition, a wireless service provider that functions as an MVNO using the RAN of another service provider may also operate its own RAN in certain locations, and may in fact host service for the other service provider in certain locations, such that the other service provider would then function as an MVNO in those locations.
Still further, a wireless service provider may have roaming agreements with other wireless service providers, to provide a wider range of coverage for UEs. In such arrangements, a UE that subscribes to service of a service provider's PLMN but is not within sufficient coverage of that service provider's RAN may instead be served by another service provider's RAN, and the service providers may work with each other to account for the costs of that roaming service. In that case, from the perspective of the serving RAN, the UE would be a subscriber of a roaming partner PLMN.
In practice, base stations of a given RAN may therefore provide service for possibly multiple PLMNs. For instance, a base station operated by a wireless service provider may provide service for a PLMN of that service provider and may also provide service for PLMNs of one or more MVNOs, as well as PLMNs of one or more roaming partners.
In an ideal arrangement, the base stations of a wireless service provider's RAN would provide seamless coverage throughout the market area, so that UEs being served by the system could move from coverage area to coverage area without losing connectivity. In practice, however, it may not be possible to operate a sufficient number of base stations or to position the base stations in locations necessary to provide seamless coverage. As a result, there may be holes in coverage.
One way to help to resolve this problem is to operate a relay node that extends the range of a base station's coverage area so as to partially or completely fill a coverage hole. Such a relay node may be configured with a wireless backhaul interface for communicating with and being served by the base station in much the same way that a UE does, and a wireless access interface for communicating with and serving one or more UEs in much the same way that a base station does. Further, the relay node may include control logic for actively bridging the backhaul communications with the access communications. The relay node may thus receive and recover downlink communications from the donor base station and transmit those communications to the UEs served by the relay node, and may likewise receive and recover uplink communications from UEs served by the relay node and transmit those communications to the base station.
In this arrangement, the base station is considered a to be "donor base station," in that the base station provides coverage to the relay node and the relay node then provides coverage to one or more UEs. In practice, the wireless communication link between the donor base station and the relay node is considered to be a "relay backhaul link," and the wireless communication link between the relay node and UEs served by the relay node is considered to be a "relay access link." Further, to the extent the base donor station itself also serves UEs, the wireless communication link between the donor base station and those UEs is considered to be a "donor access link."
Advantageously, a relay node like this might have a relatively small form factor, with antenna height lower than the base station and with reduced transmit power requirements and cost. Consequently, a wireless service provider may conveniently employ such relay nodes throughout a region to help efficiently fill coverage holes and improve service quality.

Managing allocation of frequency bandwidth between donor access link and relay backhaul link


An unmanned air system and method with blown flaps are presented. Air is guided to a fuel cell carried by the unmanned air system. The fuel cell is ventilated by the guided air such that the air is heated by the fuel cell to provide heated air. The heated air is routed from the fuel cell to one or more high lift devices on a lift device of the unmanned air system to provide routed air. The routed air is blown across the high lift devices.

Flight endurance of unmanned air systems is limited by an amount of energy that can be stored on board. For an electrically powered UAS this is limited by an amount of charge that can be stored in a battery and its state of charge, or for a fuel cell powered UAS this is limited by an amount of fuel for feeding a fuel cell that can be carried. Batteries are heavy. Hydrogen is commonly used as a fuel for feeding fuel cells but hydrogen is a very light molecule which is difficult to store without heavy containment vessels. Considerable amounts of hydrogen are also required for extended flight durations.


A peroxisome proliferator activated receptor regulator containing a carboxylic acid derivative of formula (I)

Recently in the study of transcription factors concerned with marker genes expression in adipocytes differentiation, peroxisome proliferator activated receptor (abbreviated as PPAR hereinafter), which is one of intranucler receptors, has been focused. cDNAs of PPAR were cloned from various kinds of animals, and plural isoform genes were found, particularly in mammals three types of isoforms (α, δ, γ) are known (see J. Steroid Biochem. Molec. Biol., 51, 157 (1994); Gene Expression,. 4, 281 (1995); Biochem Biophys. Res. Commun., 224, 431 (1996); Mol. Endocrinology., 6, 1634 (1992)). PPARγ isoform is predominantly expressed in adipose tissues, immune cells, adrenal gland, spleen, small intestine. PPARα isoform is mainly expressed in adipose tissue, liver, retina, and PPARδ isoform is widely expressed without specificity for tissue (see Endocrinology., 137, 354 (1996)).
On the other hand, the following thiazolidine derivatives are known as agents for the treatment of non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) and are hypoglycemic agents which are used for the improvement of hyperglycemia in the patients suffering from diabetes. They are also effective for the improvement of hyperinsulinemia, glucose tolerance and decrease of serum lipid and therefore they are thought to be considerably hopeful as agents for the treatment of insulin resistance.

One of the target proteins in the cells of these thiazolidine derivatives is exactly PPARγ and it is resolved that they enhance the transcription activity of PPARγ (see Endocrinology., 137, 4189 (1996); Cell., 83, 803 (1995); Cell., 83, 813 (1995); J. Biol. Chem., 270, 12953 (1995)). Therefore, a PPARγ activator (agonist) which enhances its transcription activity is thought to be hopeful as a hypoglycemic agent and/or a hypolipidemic agent. Furthermore, since a PPARγ agonist is known to promote the expression of PPARγ protein itself (Genes & Development., 10, 974 (1996)), an agent which increases the expression of PPARγ protein itself as well as PPARγ activating agent is also thought to be clinically useful.
Among all of nuclear receptors, PPARγ is related to adipocytes differentiation (see J. Biol. Chem., 272, 5637 (1997) and Cell., 8, 803 (1995)). It is known that thiazolidine derivatives which activate this receptor promote adipocytes differentiation. Recently it was reported that thiazolidine derivatives increase fat mass and cause man to gain weight and to become obese (see Lancet., 349, 952 (1997)). Therefore, it is also thought that antagonists which inhibit PPARγ activity and agents that decrease the expression of PPARγ protein itself are also clinically applicable. On the other hand, a compound that phosphorylates PPARγ protein and decreases its activity is reported (Science., 274, 2100 (1996)). This implies that an agent which does not bind on PPARγ protein as a ligand, but inhibits its activity is also clinically applicable.
From these, PPARγ activators (agonists) and PPARγ regulators for its expression that can increase the expression of the protein itself are expected to be useful as hypoglycemic agents, hypolipidemic agents, and agents for prevention and/or treatment of diseases associated with metabolic disorders such as diabetes, obesity, syndrome X, hypercholesterolemia and hyperlipoproteinemia etc., hyperlipidemia, atherosclerosis, hypertension, circulatory diseases and overeating etc.
On the other hand, antagonists that inhibit the transcription activity of PPARγ or PPARγ regulators that inhibit the expression of the protein itself are expected to be useful as hypoglycemic agents and agents for prevention and/or treatment of diseases associated with metabolic disorders such as diabetes, obesity and syndrome X etc., hyperlipidemia, atherosclerosis, hypertension and overeating etc.
The following fibrate compound (e.g. chlofibrate) is known as a hypolipidemic agent.
And, it is also resolved that one of the target proteins in the cells of fibrate compounds is PPARα (See Nature., 347, 645 (1990); J. Steroid Biochem. Molec. Biol., 51, 157 (1994); Biochemistry., 32, 5598 (1993)). From these facts, PPARα regulators which can be activated by fibrate compounds are thought to have a hypolipidemic effect, and so they are expected to be useful as agents for prevention and/or treatment of hyperlipidemia etc.
Besides, it has been recently reported that PPARα possesses anti-obese activity in the specification of WO 9736579, In addition, it was reported that the elevation of high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol level and the reduction of low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, very low density lipoprotein (VLDL) cholesterol and triglyceride levels were induced by activation of PPARα (J. Lipid Res., 39, 17 (1998)). It was also reported that composition of fatty acids in blood, hypertension and insulin resistance were improved by administration of bezafibrate which is one of fibtrate compounds (Diabetes., 46, 348 (1997)).
Therefore, agonists that activate PPARα and PPARα regulators that promote expression of PPARα protein itself are useful as hypolipidemic agents and agents for treatment of hyperlipidemia, and are expected to have HDL cholesterol level-elevating effect, LDL cholesterol and/or VLDL cholesterol levels-lowering effect, inhibition on the progress of atherosclerosis and anti-obese effect. Therefore, they are thought to be hopeful agents for the treatment and/or prevention of diabetes as hypoglycemic agents, for the improvement of hypertension, for the relief from risk factor of syndrome X and for the prevention of occurrence of ischemic coronary diseases.
On the other hand, few reports are found on ligands that activate PPARδ significantly or on biological activities associated with PPARδ.
PPARδ is sometimes called PPARβ, or it is also called NUC1 in human. Until now, as for activity of PPARδ, it is disclosed in the specification of WO 9601430 that hNUC1B ( PPAR subtype whose structure is different from that of human NUC1 in one amino acid) inhibited the transcription activities of human  PPARα and thyroid hormone receptor. Recently in the specification of WO 9728149, it was reported that the compounds, which possessed high affinity to  PPARδ protein and which could activate PPARδ significantly (i.e. agonists) were found out and that they had HDL (high density lipoprotein) cholesterol level-elevating activity. Therefore, agonists that can activate PPARδ are expected to have HDL cholesterol level-elevating effect, and so they are expected to be useful for the inhibition on the progress of atherosclerosis and treatment thereof, as hypolipidemic agents and hypoglycemic agents, for the treatment of hyperlipidemia, as hypoglycemic agents, for the treatment of diabetes, for the relief from risk factor of syndrome X, and for the prevention of occurrence of ischemic coronary diseases.
As for PPAR regulators, the following compounds were reported besides the above-mentioned thiazolidine derivatives and fibrate compounds.
For example, in WO9731907, it is disclosed that the compounds of the formula (A)
(wherein, AA is phenyl, in which the said phenyl may be substituted with one or more substituent(s) selected from group consisting of halogen, C1–6 alkyl, C1–3 alkoxy, C1–3 fluoroalkoxy, nitrile or —NR7AR8A (R7A and R8A each independently, is hydrogen or C1–3 alkyl);    BA is (5- or 6-membered heterocyclic ring containing at least one hetero atom selected from O, N and S)—C1–6 alkylene-, in which the said heterocyclic ring may be substituted with C1–3 alkyl;    AlkA is C1–3 alkylene;    R1A is hydrogen or C1–3 alkyl;    ZA is —(C1–3 alkylene)phenyl or —NR3AR4A)or pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof possess PPARγ agonist activity (the necessary parts in explanation of symbols are shown).
On the other hand, in JP-A-9-323982, it is disclosed that the propionic acid derivatives of the formula (B)
(wherein, R′B is substituted or unsubstituted aromatic hydrocarbon, substituted or unsubstituted aliphatic hydrocarbon ring, substituted or unsubstituted heterocyclic ring or substituted or unsubstituted condensed heterocyclic ring, R5B is lower alkyl), R4B s hydrogen or lower alkyl, R6B is hydrogen or R6B and R9B taken together form double bond, R7′B is hydrogen, hydroxy, carboxy, acyl, substituted or unsubstituted alkoxycarbonyl, substituted or unsubstituted lower alkyl, substituted or unsubstituted carbamoyl, substituted or unsubstituted aryloxycarbonyl, substituted or unsubstituted aralkyloxycarbonyl or —YB—R8B (in which YB is —NH— or O, R8B is substituted or unsubstituted acyl, substituted or unsubstituted alkoxycarbonyl, aryloxycarbonyl or aralkyloxycarbonyl), R9B is hydrogen, substituted or unsubstituted lower alkyl or substituted or unsubstituted lower alkoxycarbonyl, R10B is hydroxy, substituted or unsubstituted amino, substituted or unsubstituted lower alkoxy, substituted or unsubstituted lower alkyl, substituted or unsubstituted aryloxy or substituted or unsubstituted aralkyloxy)or pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof possess hypoglycemic action and hypolipidemic action. In addition, JP-A-8-325264, JP-A-8-325250, WO9638415 and WO9800137 have also disclosed that analogous compounds possess hypoglycemic action and hypolipidemic action.

Carboxylic acid derivative and a pharmaceutical composition containing the derivative as active ingredient

Abstract: (wherein all symbols are as defined in the specification), a non-toxic acid thereof or a hydrate thereof as active ingredient.

Abstract: Because of having an effect of regulating PPAR, a compound of formula (I) is useful as a hypoglycemic agent, a hypolipidemic agent, a preventive and/or a remedy for diseases associating metabolic disorders (diabetes, obesity, syndrome X, hypercholesterolemia, hyperlipoproteinemia, etc.), hyperlipemia, atherosclerosis, hypertension, circulatory diseases, overeating, coronary heart diseases, etc., an HDL cholesterol-elevating agent, an LDL cholesterol and/or VLDL cholesterol-lowering agent and a drug for relief from, risk factors of diabetes or syndrome X.


The present invention relates to a sealing member for a base station antenna and a base station antenna comprising the same as well as a method and device for manufacturing the sealing member. The sealing member (2) is flexible and resilient and is configured to form a seal between an open end (5) of a radome (3) and an end cap (1) of the base station antenna. The sealing member is an elongated sealing strip having two ends, wherein the two ends of the sealing member are lappable with each other, and the sealing member has a groove extending over its entire length, which groove is defined by two side limbs and a bottom limb connecting the two side limbs of the sealing member, wherein the groove is configured to engage with an edge of the open end (5) of the radome, and wherein the sealing member is configured to be received in an annular recess of the end cap (1) and isolate an interior of the radome (3) from the environment. The sealing member can be manufactured cheaply and can be flexibly applied to base station antennas with different sizes.

In a mobile communication network, there are a large number of base stations, each of which may include one or more base station antennas for receiving and transmitting radio frequency (RF) signals. The base station antenna has a radome and antenna assemblies received in the radome, such as a reflector, radiating elements mounted on the reflector, a feeder plate, and the like. The radome may have one or two open ends, which may be enclosed correspondingly by an end cap. A sealing member may be provided between the radome and the end cap so that the antenna assemblies received in the radome may be favorably protected.
Conventionally, sealing members for base station antennas may be sealing rings, wherein individual sealing rings are formed by compression molding and vulcanization of single blanks of raw material. Semi-finished products formed by compression molding may require costly demolding and deburring, which leads to higher material cost and time cost. In addition, a sealing ring having a specific size can only be designated for use in a base station antenna having a corresponding specific size. For base station antennas having different sizes, it is necessary to differently design and manufacture corresponding sealing members, which is also related with high costs.

Base station antenna, sealing member, and method and device for manufacturing the sealing member


A system and method for averaging incident light on plural pixels using a CMOS sensor is provided. The process includes resetting all pixels in a given region during a reset phase; and reading a voltage of a floating reset node as a function of time during a measurement phase. During the reset phase, an access select signal and a reset voltage are both high. The measurement phase begins when the access select signal is low and the reset voltage is still high. The system and method may be used to perform automatic exposure control and automatic white balancing operations.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to image sensors, and more particularly, to automatic exposure control and white balancing using active pixel CMOS sensors.
2. Background of the Invention
Solid State or electronic image sensors consist of array(s) of photodiodes that produce an electrical signal in response to light illumination. Such image sensors can be divided into two broad categories, CCD (charge-coupled devices) and CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor), depending on how the signal is read out from the photodiodes.
Typically, CCD sensors use repeated lateral transfer of charge in an analog shift register. Photo-generated electrons or holes are read out after they are shifted in appropriate positions. CCD sensors have disadvantages, for example, to perform charge shifting with high fidelity, and low loss requires specialized semiconductor fabrication processes, which are not compatible with the fabrication process used to make most solid-state integrated circuits. This increases the overall cost of the CCD sensors.
In CMOS sensors, signals from the photodiodes are read out as column readout lines, one row at a time. During readout, there is no shifting of charge from one pixel to another. Because CMOS sensors are compatible with typical CMOS fabrication processes, they allow integration of additional signal processing logic on the same substrate as the sensor array. This leads to reduction in the size and cost of a digital camera.
A highly integrated CMOS sensor chip can perform many image processing functions that are otherwise carried out by a controller, external to the sensor. Two such functions are automatic exposure (AE) control and automatic white balancing (AWB) that are described below.
Automatic exposure (AE) control: Similar to conventional film, sensors in digital cameras are exposed to light for certain duration, known as the "exposure time". For given light conditions and lens aperture, there is an optimum exposure time that produces desirable pictures. An exposure time longer than optimum results in an image that is overly bright, and it will look "washed out." An exposure time shorter than the optimum time results in an image that is "too dark and difficult to view." AE control is the ability of the sensor chip to select optimum exposure time for a given scene lighting condition, without user intervention.
Currently, AE control processes used in electronic digital cameras calculate the optimum exposure value after performing a histogram analysis on a signal strength measured at all the locations in a picture using multiple preliminary frames. One way of analyzing the signal strength distribution is to determine the actual frame mean and then to compare it with a desired frame mean. If the actual frame mean is less than the desired mean, then the exposure time is increased; otherwise, the exposure time is decreased.
Another conventional solution is to sort all pixels within an image frame into different brackets depending on their brightness. The goal is to count the number of pixels that are unacceptably bright and those that are unacceptably dark and then make an incremental adjustment to the exposure setting that tries to balance the number of pixels that are too dark with those that are too bright.
The foregoing conventional techniques have disadvantages. To determine the optimum exposure time, both the foregoing techniques require a starting point to acquire an image that is not fully saturated or completely dark for the histogram analysis. An additional photometer is required as a part of the digital camera to choose a suitable exposure starting point that is close to the optimum exposure for arbitrary light conditions. If no additional photometer is used, the first frame used by the foregoing techniques is either saturated or too dark. Consequently, conventional techniques require acquisition of several frames until the optimum exposure time is determined. If the camera is used in a snapshot mode, then there will be a noticeable delay from the time the camera trigger is pressed until the final picture is taken
Conventional techniques also have to process sequentially a large number of pixels to build representative histogram data or find the mean. Since these techniques work directly on sensor output as the sensor is being scanned out, all data processing circuitry for pixel tallying must operate at pixel readout rate and thus consumes a significant amount of power during multiple frames. The power penalty may be even higher if digital pixel data is processed. In this case, all blocks in the signal processing chain from the pixel to the analog-to-digital (A/D) converter need to be powered while the AE control block is running.
Automatic white balancing (AWB): Typical solid state imaging arrays can be described as combination of multiple sub-arrays of individual color detectors. One such pattern 100 (known as the Bayer pattern) that is commonly used is shown in FIG. 1. This arrangement consists of interspersed red, green and blue (also referred to herein as R, G, B) detectors (103-101). R 103, G 102 and B 101 pixels have different light sensitivity and thus produce different signal levels even if incident light is white with equal components of red, green and blue. As a result, a white object in a scene will not appear white in an unprocessed picture. This problem is corrected by "white balancing" which adjusts signal levels for R, G and B pixels so that the image of a white object appears white in a picture. White balancing involves multiplying R, G and B pixels in an image array (e.g. 100 of FIG. 1) by certain coefficients, known as white balance (WB) coefficients. If R, G and B are raw signal levels before white balancing, then the signal levels after white balancing, RWB, GWB and BWB may be expressed asRWB=WR*R  (1a)GWB=WG*G  (1b)BWB=WB*B.  (1c)
WR, WB and WG are white balance coefficients for red, green and blue, respectively for a given lighting.
Manual white balancing requires the user to point a camera at a white background and manually adjust the WB coefficients until the background appears white, for which RWB=GWB=BWB. Also the WB coefficient for the color having the strongest raw signal is usually set to 1. For example, if G>B>R, then;WR=Gwhite/Rwhite  (2a)WG=1  (2b)WB=Gwhite/Bwhite.  (2c)
Rwhite, Gwhite and Bwhite are raw signals from red, green and blue pixels comprising a white object and it is assumed that Gwhite is the strongest signal.
WB coefficients may be automatically determined by using equations (2a), (2b) and (2c). However, the user still needs to point the camera at a white object.
This restriction is overcome by making the assumption that real-world scenes contain equal amounts of red, green and blue colors. In other words, a typical white-balanced picture has equal means for R, G and B pixels when the means are calculated over the entire image. Under this assumption, equations (2a), (2b) and (2c) may be rewritten in terms of pixel means:WR= G/ R  (3a)WG=1  (3b)WR= G/ B,  (3c)
where R, G and B are raw red, green and blue pixel means before white balancing and it is assumed (for illustration purposes) that the green mean is the highest.
Based on equations (3a), (3b) and (3c), real-life scene-based automatic white balancing requires three operations: 1) finding the mean values for R, G and B pixels; 2) finding the highest of the three means; 3) setting the WB coefficient of the color with the highest mean to 1, and finding the other two WB coefficients as ratios of the frame means. The three color means are representative only for a picture with intermediate frame brightness. A saturated picture or a picture that is too dark will not carry useful color information. Therefore white balancing will be accurate only after AE control is complete, which, as discussed earlier, takes several frames in conventional implementations.
Conventional AWB techniques have disadvantages. One such disadvantage is that conventional processes require several frames. Typically the user has to hold the camera still during this entire period since it is not clear when this process is completed by a digital camera and the actual picture is "saved." Additional problems with conventional digital signal processing (DSP) or ASIC based implementations of the foregoing processes require additional chip area and power consumption. These limitations make the conventional processes impractical for single-chip digital camera applications.
Therefore what is required is a system and process for efficiently performing auto-exposure control and white balancing for the modern, single-chip digital cameras.

System and method for automatic exposure control and white balancing for CMOS sensors


Processing methods are provided for network game systems without dynamic obstructions. In an exemplary method, when a non-player-controlled character (NPC) role selects a user role as a target of a short-range interaction on a game map, a rotation angle C=N×a can be determined, N being a total number of all NPC roles having the short-range interaction with the user role before the selecting, and “a” being a reference angle. Next, a destination point of the NPC role can be calculated by rotating the NPC role by C from a current point and around the user role. When there is a static obstruction at the destination point, the destination point can be re-calculated by adding a specified angle to the current C. When there is no static obstruction, the NPC role can be moved to the destination point.

Network game, also called "online game", is a sustainable multiplayer online game that uses the Internet as transmission medium, game servers and user devices (such as computers, smartphones, tablet computers) as processing terminals, and game client terminals or webpages as information exchange windows. Network game is generally intended to realize various purposes such as entertainment, recreation, communication and accomplishing virtual achievements, etc.
Existing network game systems include two main types of interaction modes between roles, i.e., an interactive competition mode among users, and an interactive competition mode between a user and environment.
The interactive competition mode among users (PVP, or Player VS Player) means competition between users. A network game system may need to include a processing system related to PVP, in order to process interaction instructions and data under the PVP mode.
The interactive competition mode between user and environment (PVE, or Player VS Environment) means interactive competition formed between a user and a non-player-controlled character (NPC). The NPC is controlled by an NPC system in the network game system. The NPC system includes artificial intelligence (AI) module(s). The AI module(s) refer to the control logic of the NPC in games, and can make the NPC in games possess independent artificial intelligence capabilities. User roles and NPC roles can have gaming interactions, such as dialogue, obtaining services, combating, etc.
Existing network game systems, especially Kingdom Wars type of network game systems, i.e., massive multiplayer online real-time strategy (MMORTS) game systems, may be based on PVP mode. However, rich PVE mode also needs to be provided in network games in order to meet the demand of role growth. Good user experience is also required in the running and processing of the PVE mode.
Based on methods for obstructing between roles, existing network game systems can be divided into network game systems with dynamic obstructions and network game systems without dynamic obstructions.
In the network game systems with dynamic obstructions, a role model can be obstructed not only by fixed landscapes (e.g., mountains, stones, houses, etc.), but also by other role models. The role model is a simulated 2D (2-dimensional) or 3D (3-dimensional) image of a role. For example, the role model is usually a 2D image in a 2D network game, and is usually a 3D image in a 3D network game.
In the network game systems without dynamic obstructions, a role model can be obstructed by fixed landscapes, but does not have to be obstructed by other dynamic role models.
In MMORTS network games, there can be a large number of roles participating in the game. In order to ensure the clarity of role models' locations in the picture and ensure that good picture operation experience is provided for users, the role models controlled by the network game system need to avoid visually overlapping with each other during short-range interactions. For example, the short-range interactions can be attacking interactions in which an NPC role attacks a user role, or other dialogue interactions, etc.
In a network game system with dynamic obstructions, the game system has a special obstruction algorithm for real-time calculation of dynamic obstruction information between role models. Therefore, the probability of role models visually overlapping with each other is low. Thus, operation experience is good. However, because real-time calculation of dynamic obstruction information is needed, the server system overhead can be too high, wherein the overhead includes central processing unit (CPU) overhead and storage resource overhead.
In a network game system without dynamic obstructions, because dynamic obstruction information does not need to be real-time calculated, the cost of system can be lower in comparison with a network game system with dynamic obstructions. Therefore, existing large-scale MMORTS network games, which are based mainly on PVP modes with PVE modes as supplement, are usually without dynamic obstructions.
In existing network game systems without dynamic obstructions, in order to solve the issue of reducing role models' overlapping during the short-range interactions between user role and NPC role, and to provide users with good visual experience, an AI module of the NPC system needs to detect and calculate in real time relative coordinate positions between roles and to dynamically adjust the coordinates of the NPC role. A method for such real-time detection and calculation can include specific steps as follows.
For example, an NPC role has current coordinates of (x1, y1) and a radius of r1, and a user role has current coordinates of (x2, y2) and a radius of r2. A radius for a short-range interaction to occur between the NPC role and the user role (such as the NPC role attacking the user role) is ar. When the NPC role has an attacking target (i.e., a target role), a distance s between the coordinate points of the NPC role and the user role is calculated at each time when a driving clock cycle of the NPC role arrives.
If s>r1+r2+ar, the NPC role continues to move toward the target role, and sends a "move" message packet to all roles in a field of view.
If s>r1+r2+ar, the NPC role immediately stops moving, and sends a "stop moving" message packet to all roles in the field of view.
Another NPC role that attacks the same user role can dynamically calculate and adjust the position of itself according to the message packets from other NPC roles regarding whether to move or not, so as to avoid overlapping with other NPC role models.
Therefore, in existing network game systems without dynamic obstructions, in order to reduce the probability of role models' overlapping during short-range interactions between user role and NPC role, each NPC role is required to perform real-time and complex dynamic calculation at each time when a driving clock cycle arrives. That is, each NPC role needs to not only calculate the distance s between itself and the attacking target (i.e., the target role), but also determine whether to send a relevant message packet according to the length of s, and also receive message packets from other NPC roles to re-calculate its own coordinate position based on the moving situations of the other NPC roles. Thus, the amount of calculations can be tremendous, and can take a large amount of system overhead, such as CPU overhead, storage overhead, bandwidth overhead, etc. Especially in large network game systems, the number of NPC roles in a server can be usually more than the order of tens of thousands. As a result, the overhead of the NPC system that drives the NPC roles can be very large.

Network game system without dynamic obstructions and processing method thereof

TENCENT TECHNOLOGY (SHENZHEN) COMPANY LIMITED