An apparatus and method is disclosed for reducing error propagation in a decision feedback equalizer by constraining the values of feedback filter tap coefficients in a feedback filter of the decision feedback equalizer. The feedback filter tap coefficients that are constrained are calculated using a constraint cost function and a related constraint function. The constraint condition of the present invention reduces error propagation in a decision feedback equalizer by preventing error from circulating in a feedback loop of a feedback filter within the decision feedback equalizer.

The Digital High Definition Television (HDTV) Grand Alliance (Grand Alliance) is a group of television manufacturing and research organization in the television industry. After years of cooperative effort the Grand Alliance developed and proposed a standard for digital HDTV systems. The Grand Alliance standard has been adopted (with a few changes) by the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) as an official broadcasting standard for HDTV. The standard is known as the Advanced Television Systems Committee Digital Television Standard (the "ATSC Standard").
The ATSC Standard for HDTV transmission over terrestrial broadcast channels uses a signal that consists of a sequence of twelve (12) independent time-multiplexed trellis-coded data streams modulated as an eight (8) level vestigial sideband (VSB) symbol stream with a rate of 10.76 MHz. This signal is converted to a six (6) MHz frequency band that corresponds to a standard VHF or UHF terrestrial television channel, over which the signal is then broadcast.
The ATSC Standard calls for two (2) bit data symbols of the HDTV signal to be trellis encoded in accordance with an eight (8) level (i.e., a three (3) bit) one dimensional constellation. One bit of each data symbol is pre-coded, and the other is subjected to a ½ encoding rate that produces two coded bits in accordance with a four (4) state trellis code. For purposes of interleaving, twelve (12) identical encoders and pre-coders operate successively on every twelve successive data symbols. Symbols 0, 12, 24, 36, . . . are encoded as one series. Symbols 1, 13, 25, 37, . . . as a second series. Symbols 2, 14, 26, 38, . . . as a third series. And so on for a total of twelve (12) series. Therefore, the ATSC Standard requires twelve (12) trellis decoders in the HDTV receiver for the twelve (12) series of time division interleaved data symbols in the signal. Each trellis decoder in the HDTV receiver decodes every twelfth (12th) data symbol in the stream of coded data symbols.
In an ATSC Standard receiver trellis decoders are used to retrieve the original digital data that was trellis encoded just before being converted to 8-VSB symbols, modulated and broadcast. The use of trellis coding provides an improvement in the signal to noise ratio of the received signal, and the time multiplexing of twelve (12) independent streams reduces the possibility of co-channel interference from an analog NTSC broadcast signal residing on the same frequency. The abbreviation NTSC stands for National Television Standards Committee.
Each of the trellis decoders for the four (4) state trellis code operates in accordance with the well-known Viterbi decoding algorithm. Each of the decoders comprises a branch metric generator unit, an add-compare-select unit, and a path-memory unit. See, for example, "Trellis-coded Modulation With Redundant Signal Set, Part I, Introduction; Part II, State of the Art," by G. Ungerboeck, IEEE Communications Magazine, Vol. 25, pp. 5–21, February 1987.
In addition to being corrupted by noise, the transmitted signal is also subject to deterministic channel distortions and distortions caused by multipath interference. Consequently, an adaptive channel equalizer is generally used in front of the trellis decoders to compensate for these effects. The goal is to create a symbol stream that resembles, as much as possible, the symbol stream that was created by the twelve (12) trellis encoders at the transmitter.
One commonly used equalizer architecture makes use of a second equalizer known as a decision feedback equalizer (DFE). In this architecture, a conventional, or forward equalizer (FE) is supplemented by a DFE. The input to the DFE is an estimate of the original transmitted value of the current output symbol of the complete equalizer (FE and DFE). The output of the decision feedback equalizer (DFE) is subsequently added to the output of the forward equalizer (FE) to generate the output symbol. In a typical implementation, this estimate of the output symbol is obtained by simply "slicing" the equalizer output. The term "slicing" refers to the process of taking the allowed symbol value (of the eight (8) levels specified by the 8-VSB ATSC Standard) that is nearest to that of the actual output. Using the "sliced" symbols in a decision feedback equalizer (DFE) gives a near optimum error rate performance with low complexity. This approach, however, can suffer from error propagation caused by slicing errors. Because the typical symbol error rate after the equalizer for the HDTV signal can be up to twenty percent (20%), this can be a serious problem if the number of DFE filter taps is large.
After the equalizer, the HDTV signal is decoded in a trellis decoder that uses the Viterbi algorithm to decode the symbol stream based on the ½ rate trellis coding performed in the transmitter. As previously mentioned, the ATSC Standard specifies that twelve (12) trellis encoders and decoders are used in parallel in a time multiplexed fashion. Trellis decoding is then followed by byte de-interleaving and Reed Solomon decoding to further correct transmission errors in the signal.
A decision feedback equalizer (DFE) generally comprises a forward linear filter and a feedback filter inside a feedback loop. The feedback loop comprises a decision device (e.g., a slicer) and an error calculation unit. When errors are made by the decision device, the errors circulate in the feedback loop causing performance loss. The circulation of errors in the feedback loop is referred to as error propagation.
When the magnitude of the feedback filter taps is large, the effect of the error propagation often increases. This is because the error is multiplied by a large constant, thereby causing a greater error propagation. The resulting error continues to circulate in the feedback loop of the DFE, sometimes endlessly.
The filter tap coefficients of the DFE may be updated by using various prior art algorithms that exist for computing filter tap coefficients for adaptive equalizers. One commonly used method uses the well known least mean square (LMS) algorithm. The LMS algorithm is a successive approximation technique that uses the current coefficient and data tap values as well as the calculated error to compute the new coefficient value. The LMS algorithm repeats the procedure until each filter tap coefficient converges to the desired optimum value.
In a typical LMS algorithm the coefficient vector ƒnk+1 for the forward linear filter of a DFE is determined using the following formula:
      f    n          k      +      1        =            f      n      k        +          μ                                              e        k                          r                  k          -          n                    where
  f  n  kis a forward filter tap coefficient at time k, μ is an adaptation speed constant, ek is an error term, and rk−n is a value of the forward filter tap data in the forward filter at time k. The error term ek is the error calculated from the output of the DFE. The error term ek can be calculated in a decision directed fashion using a known training sequence embedded in the data stream. Alternatively, the error term ek can be calculated in a blind fashion using a Constant Modulus Algorithm (CMA) or a Decision Directed (DD) algorithm.
Similarly, the coefficient vector
  g  n      k    +    1  for the feedback filter of a DFE is determined using the following formula:
      g    n          k      +      1        =            g      n      k        +          μ                                              e        k                          a                  k          -          n                    where
  g  n  kis a feedback filter tap coefficient at time k, μ is an adaptation speed constant, ek is an error term, and ak−n is a value of the feedback filter tap data in the feedback filter at time k.
In a typical LMS algorithm the coefficients
  f  n  kand
  g  n  kare unconstrained. That is, the coefficients
  f  n  kand
  g  n  kcan assume any value to reduce multipath interference effects in the DFE. For severe post-echoes and pre-echoes the value of the feedback filter tap coefficients
  g  n  kcan grow to such an extent that they reduce the performance of the DFE through error propagation.
There is therefore a need in the art for an apparatus and method that is capable of constraining the value of feedback filter tap coefficients
  g  n  kin a decision feedback equalizer in order to reduce error propagation.

Apparatus and method for constraining the value of feedback filter tap coefficients in a decision feedback equalizer


Method and residential control node for enabling encrypted residential communication of user data between two wireless communication devices. The method comprises receiving a radio bearer mapping from a communication network node, establishing a connection with a first wireless communication device, in accordance with the radio bearer mapping, and establishing a connection with a second wireless communication device, in accordance with the radio bearer mapping. Furthermore, the method comprises obtaining a first key which is based on a key of the first wireless communication device, from the communication network node, and obtaining a second key which is based on a key of the second wireless communication device. Thereby, the residential control node is enabled to decrypt user data received from the first wireless communication device by the first key, and encrypting the user data by the second key, before sending the user data to the second wireless communication device.

With emergence of various communication services, new radio access technologies have been developed, which typically provide faster communication rates between wireless communication devices. In current communication networks, wireless communication devices connects to each other via RANs (Radio Access Networks) and core network nodes, as will be illustrated below in conjunction with the FIG. 1.
The term "wireless communication device" will be used throughout this description to denote any device which is capable of wireless communications. The term wireless communication device may thus include any device, which may be used by a user for wireless communications. Accordingly, the term wireless communication device may alternatively be referred to as a mobile terminal, a terminal, a user terminal (UT), a user equipment (UE), a wireless terminal, a wireless communication device, a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU), a mobile phone, a cell phone, a table computer, a smart phone, etc. Yet further, the term wireless communication device includes MTC (Machine Type Communication) devices, which do not necessarily involve human interaction. MTC devices are sometimes referred to as Machine-to-Machine (M2M) devices.
The term "USIM", standing for Universal Subscription Identity Module, is used throughout this document. It is understood by the man skilled in the art that this functionality can also be provided by a soft-SIM, an M2M SIM, eSIM, virtual SIM or any other contraption providing the same functionality.
With reference to FIG. 1, which is a schematic overview of a communication network 100, a scenario where two wireless communication devices 102, 104 communicate with each other will now be described in accordance with existing art.
In this example, the first wireless communication device 102 is a UE and the second wireless communication device 104 is a HDTV (High Definition TeleVision) device. The UE 102 and the HDTV device 104 are located in a room of a building (dashed line). When user data will be transported from the UE 102 to the HDTV 104, the user data (dashed-dotted line) is transported on a first radio bearer via an eNodeB (Evolved NodeB) 106 to the core network, where a mapping is performed between the first radio bearer and a second radio bearer, and transported forward on the another radio bearer via the eNodeB 106 to the HDTV 104. The wireless communication devices are physically connected to the eNodeB by radio as seen in the figure, but to illustrate the principle solution, the transport of user data is illustrated by the dash-dotted line. The functionality of radio bearer mapping is arranged in a suitable core network node and is typically performed in accordance with the PDCP (Packet Data Convergence Protocol. For traditional radio access technologies the RANs have been bottlenecks for communication capacity. However, with emergence of modern and faster radio access technologies, limited communication capacity in backhaul networks which connect the RAN nodes, e.g. eNodeBs, have more and more been bottlenecks in the communication networks.
Thus, in order to increase end users experience, there is a need to make better and more effective use of installed communication resources.

Residential local break out in a communication system


A preparation method for an yttrium aluminum garnet continuous fiber. The method prepares a spinnable precursor sol by utilizing an Al13 colloidal particles contained alumina sol, γ-AlOOH nano-dispersion, yttria sol, glacial acetic acid and polyvinylpyrrolidone, then prepares a gel continuous fiber by adopting a dry spinning technique, and carries out a heat treatment to obtain the yttrium aluminum garnet continuous fiber.

Alumina fiber is a kind of high-performance inorganic fiber, and its main component is alumina, and some also contains non-metal oxides such as silicon oxide, boron oxide and metal oxide components such as zirconium oxide and magnesium oxide. It can be divided into short fiber, continuous fiber, whisker and other different types. The diameters of the fibers are generally about 10 μm and the length can reach up to several kilometers, or even longer. The continuous YAG fiber belongs to chemically stable alumina fibers, which is a composite of Al2O3 and Y2O3 with a melting point of up to 1970° C. YAG fiber not only exhibits excellent properties such as high strength, high modulus and high temperature resistance, but also shows high temperature creep resistance and have been widely used as insulating refractory material and structural reinforcing material.
At present, the melting method or chemical method has been used for preparing the YAG fiber. The melting method generally uses aluminum oxide and yttrium oxide as raw materials, and the molten liquid is formed by heating at a high temperature, then the melt is spun into fibers (see: Bull. Chin. Ceramic Soc. 2009, 28, 132). Al2O3 and Y2O3 melts were mixed by Mileiko et al. in a stoichiometric ratio, the mixture was infiltrated into a molybdenum-based mold with a continuous cylindrical channel, and it crystallized in the channel to form fibers. After the fiber and the mold were separated, the YAG fiber were obtained, and the bending strength of the fiber was up to 1 GPa, and the creep strength is 169 MPa at 1100° C. (see: J. Eur. Ceram. Soc. 2002, 22, 1831). Al2O3 and Y2O3 were melted in proportion by Maston et al., and then Al2O3/YAG eutectic fibers were directly drawn by using a special equipment (see: J. Eur. Ceram. Soc. 1999, 19, 2487). However, due to the high melting point of YAG, the preparation of YAG fiber by melt method requires high temperature resistant equipment, and the preparative process is difficult and costly, which limits the development of YAG fiber.
The chemical method mainly adopts the sol-gel method, which is that a compound containing a chemically active component is solidified by a solution, a sol or a gel, and then heat-treating the oxide or other compound solid. The spinnable YAG sol was prepared by use of aluminum isopropoxide and yttrium isopropoxideas precursors, and water, hydrochloric acid, nano-alumina powder and viscosity modifier as additives by Towata et al. The as-prepared gel fiber using metal alkoxide was sintered at high temperature to form YAG fiber, or YAG/Al2O3 eutectic fibers (see: Composites Part A 2001, 32, 1127), because the metal alkoxide is relatively expensive, the cost is too high to limit the development of YAG materials, and YAG fiber was prepared through the sol-gel route by Pullan et al. by use of Al(NO3)3, YCl3 or Y(NO3)3 as the raw material, ammonia as the precipitant, nitric acid as the peptizer. The short fiber was prepared by use of the blow spinning technology (See: Mater. Lett. 1999, 39, 173). YAG/Al2O3 composite fibers was prepared by Shojaie-Bahaabad through the sol-gel process by using aluminum powder, aluminum chloride, hydrochloric acid and Y2O3 as raw materials in which the rheologicaland spinning properties of the gel was only analyzed in detail, but other properties such as fiber strength did not be discussed. Afterheat-treatment, the grain size of the ceramic fiber is between 100 nm and 200 nm (see: Ceram. Int. 2007,7, 32). A method for the preparation of the YAG fiber is described in US005217933A, in which the YAG fiber was prepared by using aluminum chloride, aluminum powder, formic acid, acetic acid, lactic acid and nitric acid as raw materials according to the different molar ratios of Y2O3 and aluminum oxide, in which a large amount of organic acid were added, leading to a complicated synthetic reaction of the sol.
The polycrystalline YAG fibers were prepared by Li Chengshun et al. using cheap aluminum powders, industrial hydrochloric acid and barium acetate as the raw materials. The single-phase YAG were formed after heat treatment at 900° C., however, after heat treatment at 1550° C., the as-obtained polycrystalline YAG fiber has an average particle diameter of ca.200 nm and a tensile strength of 485 MPa (see: J. Chin. Ceram. Soc. 2009, 37, 1165). CN105002601A described a preparation method of Al2O3-YAG composite fiber or YAG fiber by using aluminum chloride, aluminum micro-powders, cerium nitrate, cerium acetate and acetic acid as raw materials, and the YAG gel fiber was also prepared by centrifugal spinning. After drying and heat treatment, a polycrystalline Al2O3-YAG fiber or a single-phase YAG fiber is obtained. However, the fiber described in the above literature obtained by a centrifugal twisting technique is a short fiber, and not capable of 2-dimensional or 3-dimensional weaving. CN102011215A described a method for preparing continuous YAG fiber by sol-gel method, in which inorganic aluminum salt, metal aluminum, Y2O3 and acetic acid were used as raw materials, and a certain amount of spinning additives was added, and then the solution was concentrated. A YAG-based fiber strand is obtained, and the gel fiber is dried and sintered to form a YAG-based continuous fiber. However, the inventers does not discuss the fiber length, and this method takes too much time in the preparation process of the spinning solution, and if the fiber is industrially produced, the production efficiency is low.

Preparation method for yttrium aluminum garnet continuous fiber


A powered floor sanding system with a rotating sanding drum having a drum core, to which is adhered a compliant sole and thereto a hook component material, using suitable adhesives; in combination with a sanding sheet having a loop fabric laminated to its backside with a high temperature adhesive so that the sanding sheet can be manually wrapped around the drum without special tools or other considerations, resulting in full surface area engagement of the hook and loop fastening materials with a butt joint of the sheet leading and trailing edges that does not overlap, and the sheet retains its grip on the drum for floor sanding operations under the weight of the floor sander at speeds up to 2800 rpm. There may be an alignment bar on the drum, not higher than flush. There may be a recess behind the bar for the leading edge of the sanding sheet.

Powered disk and drum sanders are commonly known and used for sanding floors and other surface areas. Floor sanders designed specifically for floor surface applications are of the motorized drum sander type. Traditionally, the leading and trailing edges of a sheet of sand paper are secured within a slot on the drum by a paper edge gripping mechanism in order to hold the sand paper on the drum. There are other methods of doing it; such having three screws securing a bar that captures the butting edges of the sheet. The screws are known to come loose and scrap the floor. All of these methods rely on the butt joint as the point of security, the point where the sheet is attached to the drum. The remaining surface area of the sheet is wrapped around the drum but is not secured to the drum body or surface.
There are other methods of mounting disposable sanding material to sanders. One method employs a loop or belt of sand paper that must be slid over one end of the drum, where the drum is supported on the sander at its other end by a heavy bearing. The belts may be used in combination with drums of retractable diameters which are then expanded to hold the belt in place. The drum designs are complex, and often don't perform well due to the expansion mechanisms, causing excessive "chatter" in use and leaving undesirable marks on the sanded floor surface.
Other types of sanders such as hand held or bench mounted rotating disk sanders (as opposed to drum sanders) have been known to try to use hook and loop fastener materials such as Velcro® brand material to secure the sand paper to the flexible sanding pad. However, the load and load distribution are markedly different for a disk sander than for a drum. There is not the continuous weight of a floor sander bearing on the contact interface causing increased pressure and temperature at the sandpaper to pad attachment interface, there is no centrifugal force normal to the attachment interface attempting to dislodge the sandpaper from the pad, and there is no paper joint on the sanding disk exposed to the leading edge lip peeling action of the passage of sandpaper over the surface or floor being sanded. The contact area or pressure print of a rotating sanding disk to the floor is typically constrained to less than one side of the disk area, and so excludes the region of the point of attachment, at the center of the disk.
For all drum type floor sanders, the weight of the machine combined with the rotating drum works to remove material from the floor surface. In finishing or re-finishing operations, some skill is required to achieve a satisfactory result. As is well known, the sanding sheets are consumed by use and must be replaced frequently. There is some user resistance to the effort and attention to detail required to install new sanding blanks with the necessary precision on the drum, so better and easier mounting methods are sought.
It is unknown to this Applicant for portable drum type floor sanders used with sand paper sheets to achieve commercial success using a hook and loop fastener system such as a Velcro® brand material to secure a sand paper blank to a fixed diameter drum surface where a joint in the sheet must be exposed on the drum surface. The reasons why can be readily deduced by one skilled in the art: rotational speed, machine weight, inherent resistant in the abrading motion, exposed leading edge of the sandpaper blank at a joint the drum, effects of the resulting high heat, peeling and shear pressure on the fastening materials, and cost. It has been tried without success by others.

Drum for drum sander for surface mounting of sandpaper blanks


Techniques for assigning device identifiers in a system of devices are provided. In one embodiment, a master device of the system can maintain a first configuration that specifies a set of links between a first subset of the devices, where the first configuration includes a device identifier for each device in the first subset. The master device can further generate a second configuration that specifies a set of links between a second subset of the devices, where the second configuration is based on a physical topology of the system, and where one or more devices in the second subset are unknown devices that are not associated with a device identifier in the physical topology. The master device can then assign device identifiers to the unknown devices in the second subset by comparing the first configuration with the second configuration.

As known in the art, a "stackable switch" is a network switch that can operate independently as a standalone device or in concert with one or more other stackable switches in a "stack" or "stacking system." FIG. 1A illustrates the front face of an exemplary stackable switch 100 according to an embodiment. As shown, stackable switch 100 includes a set of data ports 102, a set of stacking ports 104, and a console port 106. Data ports 102 are operable for connecting stackable switch 100 to one or more hosts and/or data networks. Stacking ports 104 are operable for linking stackable switch 100 to other stackable switches in the same stacking system/topology. Stacking ports 104 can be dedicated ports (i.e., ports designed specifically for stacking) or high bandwidth data uplink ports that operate in a stacking mode. Console port 106 is operable for accessing the management console of stackable switch 100 in order to perform various device management functions.
FIG. 1B illustrates an exemplary stacking system 150 according to an embodiment. As shown, stacking system 150 comprises a number of stackable switches 152, 154, and 156 (each similar to stackable switch 100 of FIG. 1A) that have been linked together via their respective stacking ports. In the example of FIG. 1B, stackable switches 152, 154, and 156 form a ring topology. In addition, stackable switch 154 is designated as the "master" switch of stacking system 150, which means that switch 154 serves as the point of user contact for all management functions of system 150. For instance, stackable switch 154 can accept and process user commands directed to the overall configuration of stacking system 150. Stackable switch 154 can also communicate with non-master switches 152 and 156 as needed in order to propagate various types of management commands and data to those switches.
One aspect of configuring and operating a stacking system such as system 150 of FIG. 1B involves assigning unique identifiers (known as "device IDs" or "unit IDs") to the stackable switches in the system. These identifiers allow an administrator to precisely identify each stackable switch in order to configure the switch and its respective ports. Generally speaking, only the master switch in a stacking system will have a predefined device ID; non-master switches will not. Accordingly, it is necessary to assign device IDs to the non-master switches when they are added to the stacking system (e.g., at the time of constructing the stack or replacing one or more existing switches in the stack) so they may be properly identified/configured.
In existing stacking systems, there are typically four options for assigning device IDs: (1) manually assigning a device ID to a given switch via the switch's console port; (2) manually entering the serial number for each non-master switch in the master switch so that the master switch can assign device IDs based on the serial numbers; (3) presenting an interactive UI to an administrator that displays the system's topology and asks the administrator to enter a device ID for each switch; and (4) executing an algorithm that "guesses" appropriate device IDs based on certain metrics. Unfortunately, each of these options suffers from certain drawbacks. For example, option (1) requires an administrator or technician to physically connect a terminal to the console port of each stackable switch in order to set the switch's device ID. In a large data center that has hundreds or thousands of stackable switches (of which only a portion may be connected to console terminals), this approach is too cumbersome to be practical.
Option (2) (i.e., manually entering serial numbers into the master switch) is highly error-prone. For instance, it is quite common to mis-transcribe characters in a long serial number string. Further, the task of collecting switch serial numbers can be challenging because such numbers are typically printed on the backside or underside of each switch. These locations are not easily accessible in many environments, such as data centers where switches are mounted into racks or other similar structures.
Option (3) addresses some of the issues of options (1) and (2) since it allows an administrator to enter device IDs via an interactive UI on the master switch, without having to physically access the non-master switches. However, some environments include many identical stacking systems that need to be configured similarly. In these scenarios, the administrator may prefer a mechanism for easily applying the same device ID configuration to all stacking systems, rather than running though the interactive UI for each individual stack.
Finally, option (4) (i.e., the "best guess" algorithm) is problematic because the algorithm involves computing all possible device ID permutations in a stacking system and ranking the permutations according to various metrics in order to arrive at a device ID assignment. For stacks with a moderate to large number of switches, this can result in a very large number of permutations, to the point where the algorithm cannot be feasibly run on existing hardware (there are ways to reduce the number of permutations based on switch order in linear or ring topologies, but these optimizations cannot be used for more complex topologies such as generalized meshes). Further, even if the algorithm is able to generate a device ID assignment for a given stacking system, the resulting device IDs may not be consistent with what the administrator has in mind, and thus may need to be reassigned using one of the other options mentioned above.

Device ID assignment in a system of devices


A pacing apparatus for use with a manual ventilation device, includes electronic circuitry configured to provide a visual, tactile and/or audible indication of a specified compression/ventilation duty-cycle for delivering compressions/ventilations in order to ventilate, provide air, oxygen or other medical gas to a patient or training device.

A manual resuscitator/ventilator is a hand-held device used to provide positive pressure ventilation to patients who are not breathing or are not breathing adequately or normally by manually compressing a bag connected to an airway tube, face mask or other airway adjunct. One common form of a manual resuscitator is a bag valve mask (BVM) that is also sometimes referred to as an ambu bag. In a BVM, the airway tube is connected to a mask that is designed to fit over the face of a patient. In another type of manual resuscitator, the airway tube is connected to an endotracheal tube or advanced airway device that is used to intubate/ventilate the patient. Use of manual resuscitators to ventilate a patient is usually called "bagging" the patient and is necessary in medical emergencies when the patient's breathing is insufficient (respiratory failure) or has ceased completely (respiratory arrest). Use of the manual resuscitators force-feeds air or oxygen into the lungs in order to inflate them under pressure thus constituting a means to manually provide ventilation to a patient.
When using a manual resuscitator such as a BVM, bag compressions/ventilations performed improperly, such as at improper rates and/or durations, have been shown to cause detrimental effects including low survival rates in patients in cardiac arrest and life threatening complications such as gastric regurgitation and aspiration that can later lead to death. It is widely known from many clinical studies that very often ventilation rates are administered far in excess of the recommended and safe amounts established. This is very often done even by highly experienced well trained EMS personnel and personnel and can cause detrimental effects where life threatening conditions already exist in patients. Studies have found that even among highly trained and experienced medical personnel, the quality of manual and BVM ventilation is inconsistent and does not meet published guidelines. In one clinical observation study, it was found that ventilation rates during the field application of CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) in a city with well-trained EMS personnel were observed to be far in excess of those recommended by the American Heart Association. This study found that professional rescuers responder and medical personnel consistently and inadvertently hyper-ventilated patients during actual resuscitations. This hyperventilation can lead to detrimental hemodynamic and survival consequences during low flow states such as when CPR is applied. The study concluded that unrecognized and inadvertent hyper-ventilation may be contributing to the currently dismal survival rates from cardiac arrest.
Manual resuscitators often are manufactured in different sizes to be used on patients of different age categories and are commonly available in adult, child, infant and neonate sizes. Particularly in the case of a small child, infant or neonate, over pressure ventilation could cause rupture of delicate lung tissue. Accordingly, in order to reduce this possibility, manual resuscitation apparatus typically includes a safety valve for venting air above a pre set pressure.
The prior art as also proposed equipping manual resuscitators with manometers or spirometers, and optionally CO2 and/or CO sensors or pressure transducers for measuring expiratory flow, expiratory tidal volume, expiratory minute volume and ventilator frequency. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,722,394; 7,051,596; 7,172,557 and 7,357,033. However, without an apparatus and method to provide correct alerting/notifications of proper rates/timing of ventilations, proper consistent administration can be difficult, especially in the field under traumatic situations.

Duty-cycle indicator for manual resuscitation/ventilation


A valve timing controller for controlling a valve timing of an intake valve that opens and closes by a rotation of a camshaft to which a power is supplied from a crankshaft of an internal-combustion engine. The valve timing controller includes a phase changer changing a rotation phase for an adjustment of the valve timing; an electric actuator driving the phase changer; and a control section controlling an operation of the electric actuator, in which the control section performs a start time control process, controlling the valve timing to a rotation starter phase retarded from a preset reference phase at a start of crankshaft rotation, and controlling the valve timing to an engine started phase advanced therefrom after a passing of a top dead center in a first compression process by a piston in a cylinder after the start of crankshaft rotation and before completion of engine start.

In the related art, an electric valve timing controller that controls a valve timing of an intake valve of an internal-combustion engine is known. In general, in an electrically-operated valve timing controller/adjuster, it is possible to control valve timing immediately after the start of rotation of a crankshaft. In the valve timing controller of the related art, a valve timing is, for starting the internal-combustion engine, brought to a phase in between the most retarded phase and the most advanced phase, i.e., to an intermediate phase between the two, in a period from a turning ON of a starter motor of the internal-combustion engine to an engine started timing.
In the valve timing controller of the related art, after the starter motor is turned ON, there is no sufficient study regarding at which timing a phase should be changed to a position, such as a phase or angle suitable for a start of the engine. Therefore, there is room for further improvement regarding the timing of changing the phase at the start time of the internal-combustion engine.

Valve timing controller and valve timing control method


Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for context-adaptive scanning of digital components. In one aspect, a method comprises: selecting a given digital component from among a plurality of digital components based on a current scanning priority of the given digital component; scanning the given digital component, comprising determining a current state of the given digital component; determining a current context of the given digital component based on one or more of: (i) the current state of the given digital component, or (ii) a current scan index of the given digital component that specifies a number of times the given digital component has been scanned; determining an updated scanning priority of the given digital component based on the current context of the given digital component; and re-scanning the given digital component according to the updated scanning priority.

This specification relates to adaptive scanning techniques.
Digital components are discrete units of digital content or digital information, which can be incorporated into various electronic documents or applications. A digital component can be scanned to determine the state of the digital component, e.g., the compliance status of the digital component. The compliance status of a digital component specifies whether the digital component complies with one or more policy criteria. For example, a digital component that includes an active link that redirects a client device to a specific network address (or series of network addresses) may be determined to comply with certain policy criteria only if the network address(es) do not host malware, or otherwise result in an action that violates the policy criteria (e.g., by initiating a malicious script or set of operations that negatively impact performance of a client device).


A high density electrical connector for electrically connecting an exterior mating connector and a circuit board, mainly comprises an insulative housing, a shell, a plurality of contacts and a spacer. The insulative housing receives the contacts therein and has a pair of two-stage locking means which each includes a first stage and a second stage. The spacer forms a pair of latching portions and defines a plurality of cavities therein. By means of gradual cooperation between the two-stage locking means and the latching portions, the contacts are gradually oriented and guided in two stages by the cavities of the spacer to be precisely inserted into a plurality of apertures formed on the circuit board without resulting in a buckling of the contacts.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a high density electrical connector for electrically connecting an exterior mating connector to a circuit board, and particularly to an electrical connector with a plurality of high density contacts which is quickly and precisely inserted into a plurality of apertures defined on a circuit board by means of gradual guidance.
2. The Prior Art
To increase the transmission speed of input/output messages between electrical connectors in electrical apparatus like computer systems, high density electrical connectors, which have a plurality of contacts in a high density arrangement, are proposed. However, the high density arrangement of the contacts results in a very small pitch between adjacent contacts. Therefore, such high density electrical connectors are usually equipped with a spacer to orient the contacts thereby preventing them from coming too close to each other and assuring that the contacts are precisely inserted into the associated apertures formed on a circuit board. To further assure that the contacts are correctly inserted as mentioned above, guiding posts are often utilized with the connector to retentively cooperate with the orienting holes formed on the circuit board.
Although some conventional high density electrical connectors as disclosed in Taiwan Patent Application Nos. 83,217,760, 83,216,747 and 83,217,761, are assembled with a space to orient a plurality of contacts thereof, one portion of each contact extending through the space is long enough to cause difficulty to exactly insert the contacts into the corresponding apertures of the circuit board, which may result in the buckling of the contacts.
Accordingly, to resolve the above disadvantages, an object of the present invention is to provide a high density electrical connector with a pair of two-stage locking means to cooperate with a spacer to gradually orient and guide a plurality of contacts to be precisely inserted into the corresponding apertures defined on a circuit board. The two-stage means includes a first stage for allowing a tail portion of each contact to extend through the space in a tip area thereof to be oriented and correctly aligned with the apertures of the circuit board, and a second stage for allowing the tail portion to be further inserted through the spacer in a longer length thereof.


The invention provides a synchronism establishing method and apparatus including a plurality of modules having different independent synchronization patterns to be switched wherein the switching transition process having a time length corresponding to the number of protection stages necessary for pull in and protection of synchronism is reduced so small that the presence of such switching transition process can be ignored while assuring similar advantages to those of conventional synchronism establishing apparatus. A master side module delivers a notification of establishment of synchronism thereof to a slave side module. When the slave side module is in a condition wherein synchronism is established, it puts its synchronizing operation into a waiting mode. Even if it thereafter detects a number of abnormal synchronization patterns greater than the number of protection stages, it does not determine a pull out condition and maintains the pulled in phase. If the slave side module detects a false pull out condition from the master side module, the slave side module determines that synchronism is entered therewith and resumes its processing operation.

This invention relates to a synchronism establishing method and apparatus.
Generally, in various systems for signal processing such as image signal processing or audio signal processing employed in communication in which a plurality of processes are achieved by a combination of several modules to extract a desired function as an apparatus or a unit, particularly, for example, in TDM (time division multiplexing) multiplexing apparatus or multi-media communication apparatus which employ digital circuits or multi-media switched networks as represented by a digital exchange or an ATM (asynchronous transfer mode) exchange, it is necessary to establish, on the receiver side, synchronism with the transmitter side.
Conventionally, when various media are involved in input signals, for example, for signal compressing processing of speech, a plurality of signal processing modules are used for the media. Also a determining section is used which analyzes a characteristic of an input signal to select a necessary signal processing module by means of some apparatus such as a service trunk in an exchange.
Accordingly, the kind of a medium inputted is identified and an optimum one of the signal processing modules is selected by the determining section. The result of processing of the selected processing module (information to be transmitted) is forwarded onto a transmission line to transmit it to the receiver side by switching control based on a result of the determination by the determining section. Meanwhile, some communication means is used to notify the receiver side of the result of the module selection.
On the receiver side which receives the information, decoding processing is performed and a reproduced signal is outputted by a module selected based on the information regarding the selected module.
However, normally a signal processing module in most cases effects encoding conforming to a multiplexing hierarchy of a communication apparatus (bearer rate), and sometimes it cannot assure a band for the notification of a result of determination thereof within a band of a channel allocated to it.
One alternative in this instance is transmission of switching information of a module making use of a control communication path which is assured for control between different communication apparatus. However, normally the control communication path does not assure a sufficient band to transmit information of the channel level on a real time basis. Also, from the point of view of the processing capacity of a control processor, it is difficult to apply the control communication path to any other processing than comparatively low speed processing such as switching of a call by voice.
Therefore, signal processing modules must be switched on a real time basis within a connected call in service. Besides, since it is difficult to transmit switching information between modules in a band allocated to the channel, it is necessary for the receiver side to obtain frame synchronization information in order to establish synchronism between processing cycles of modules on the transmitter side and the receiver side.
From the situation described above, a synchronism establishing method is conventionally performed using, for example, such a synchronism establishing apparatus as shown in FIG. 13 in order to transmit frame synchronization information.
Referring to FIG. 13, the conventional synchronism establishing apparatus shown is incorporated in a signal processing unit of a signal processing system and includes a facsimile (FAX) signal detecting codec 101 connected in parallel to a speech codec 102 and an echo canceller (ECAN) 5. Either one of the facsimile signal detecting codec 101 and the speech codec 102 is selected by a pair of selectors 3 and 4.
The facsimile signal detecting codec 101 and the speech codec 102 are connected to a multiplexing unit (MUX) not shown by way of an interface circuit 6 and also to a terminal not shown by way of another interface circuit 7.
Here, the facsimile signal detecting codec 101 and the speech codec 102 are individually used as modules which have independent synchronism establishing means. In this manner, normally two or more modules of different types are provided in combination in a signal processing unit of a signal processing system. Further, the facsimile signal detecting codec 101 and the speech codec 102 are switched so as to alternatively operate to effect transmission of a signal in accordance with the necessity.
When the signal processing unit shown is used as the master side apparatus, each of the facsimile signal detecting codec 101 and the speech codec 102 effects its respective processing operation when it detects establishment of synchronism based on its own frame pattern.
The facsimile signal detecting codec 101 detects a facsimile signal from within a signal transmitted thereto and decodes the signal when the signal is a coded signal, but encodes the signal when the signal is a decoded signal.
The speech codec 102 includes a speech encoder 102a and a speech decoder 102b which encode and decode a speech signal, respectively.
The synchronism establishing apparatus constructed from the modules described above operates in the following manner. In particular, a synchronization pattern, a period and so forth are switched between the modules to effect transmission or reception of a signal, and on the receiver side, it is determined by which module the signal can be pulled in in response to the module selection on the transmitter side. Then, a processing operation using the selected module itself is performed. In short, processing for establishment and protection of synchronism is performed individually among the modules.
Since the conventional synchronism establishing apparatus basically requires a combination of modules developed individually in this manner, where several existing modules are present, necessary functions can be realized comparatively easily.
While the conventional synchronism establishing apparatus basically requires a combination of modules developed individually, it has a problem to be solved that involves, upon switching between modules, a switching transition process having a time length corresponding to the number of protection stages necessary for pull in and protection of synchronism.
It is another problem to be solved that, due to the first problem described just above, an undefined state of a period equal to the frame period multiplied by the number of protection stages for establishment of synchronism is involved, and some masking processing is required such as stopping a decoded signal output.

Synchronism establishing method and apparatus


A system and method for changing data displayed on a touch-sensitive display screen. The present system and method recognize handwritten strokes made with a stylus on the touch-sensitive display screen of a PDA or palmtop computer in order to alter or correct displayed data. In one mode of operation, computer controlled association of the location of the handwritten strokes on the display screen with one or more of the displayed characters will result in automatic replacement of those characters by the handwritten strokes. In a second mode of operation, matching at least one of the handwritten strokes with one character of the displayed data will result in replacement of one or more characters of the displayed data with the handwritten characters. With the present system and method, the number of steps required to alter displayed data is reduced to the number of handwritten strokes. A significant reduction in time and effort as well as a simplification in application is therefore offered.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of portable devices such as personal digital assistants or palmtop computer systems. More specifically, embodiments of the present invention relate to the recognition and correction of displayed text.
2. Related Art
As the components required to build a computer system have reduced in size, new categories of electronic devices and computer systems have emerged. One of the new categories of computer systems is the "palmtop" computer system. A palmtop computer system is a computer that is small enough to be held in the hand of a user and can therefore be "palm-sized." Most palmtop computer systems are used to implement various Personal Information Management (PIM) applications such as an address book, a daily organizer (calendar, date book, etc.) and electronic notepads, to name a few. Palmtop computers with PIM software have been known as Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs). Many PDAs have a small and flat display screen associated therewith.
User convenience and device value are very important factors for portable electronic devices. Typically, portable electronic devices are employed while the user is on the run, e.g., in business meetings, on business travel, personal travel, in a vehicle, on foot, etc. Because the user may be occupied or busy while using the portable electronic device, the number of user steps or user tasks required in order to access information from an electronic device (or to store information into the electronic device) is crucial for producing a commercially successful and useful product. That is, the more difficult it is to access data from an electronic device, the less likely the user will perform those tasks to obtain the information. Likewise, the easier information is to obtain, the more likely the portable electronic device will be used to obtain that information and the more likely the portable electronic device will become a part of the user's everyday activities.
Similarly, the more difficult it is to enter data into an electronic device, the less likely the user will perform those tasks required to communicate information. The easier it is to input information, the more likely the portable electronic device will be used to communicate that information and the more likely the portable electronic device will become a part of the user's everyday activities. A stylus is frequently utilized in an on-screen handwriting system to enter data into a PDA. An important aspect of this operation is the ease with which the user can alter or correct such written information. The current state of the art is to move a visual selection tool or cursor around the screen and edit via the same mechanism that was used to enter the original text or data, however, extra strokes or entry actions are required to perform character deletions, etc.
The ability to modify information displayed on a touch-sensitive display screen, such as spelling errors or perhaps inaccurate numerical data, is an important function. Since the characters used to display information on the screen are relatively small, the spacing between characters is also quite small. This adds to the difficulty of locating, identifying and correcting a single character or groups of characters displayed on a display screen. One conventional method for allowing a user to correct mistakes requires that entire words be corrected at once. In effect, the user is required to identify a larger segment of information (for example a complete word) that is then displayed in magnified form for correction on the screen. However, there are many instances were only one character may be mistaken in a large word. It is very inconvenient to require a user to re-enter an entire word if just one character is mistaken.
Other correction techniques require that the user position a visual correction tool, e.g., a cursor, near the character to be corrected. The difficulty with the conventional correction methods involves the amount of time and effort required. For instance, to correct one mistake may require three to four separate actions, often in three disparate areas of the screen or device. For example, the user needs to position the cursor, perform a delete, reenter the new character, and then reposition at a last location. Therefore, existing systems and methods for accomplishing text correction are generally multiple step operations, and they generally are limited to altering only one character at a time. What is needed is a mechanism and method for allowing a user to easily make corrections with respect to displayed text without requiring the number of steps required of the cursor approach described above.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and system for on screen text correction via pen interface


A system and method for determining motion in a region-of-interest directly from MR data acquired from the region-of-interest and independently of k-space trajectory are disclosed.

The present invention relates generally to MR imaging and, more particularly, to a method and system of determining motion in a region-of-interest directly from MR data acquired from the region-of-interest independent of k-space trajectory of a k-space filling scheme carried out to sample the region-of-interest.
When a substance such as human tissue is subjected to a uniform magnetic field (polarizing field B0), the individual magnetic moments of the spins in the tissue attempt to align with this polarizing field, but precess about it in random order at their characteristic Larmor frequency. If the substance, or tissue, is subjected to a magnetic field (excitation field B1) which is in the x-y plane and which is near the Larmor frequency, the net aligned moment, or "longitudinal magnetization", MZ, may be rotated, or "tipped", into the x-y plane to produce a net transverse magnetic moment Mt. A signal is emitted by the excited spins after the excitation signal B1 is terminated and this signal may be received and processed to form an image.
When utilizing these signals to produce images, magnetic field gradients (Gx, Gy, and Gz) are employed. Typically, the region to be imaged is scanned by a sequence of measurement cycles in which these gradients vary according to the particular localization method being used. The resulting set of received NMR signals are digitized and processed to reconstruct the image using one of many well known reconstruction techniques.
Any type of subject motion—cardiac, respiratory, or other body motion—during MRI may introduce image artifacts that affect the quality of an image and, ultimately, diagnostic utility of the scan. A number of techniques have been developed to reduce motion artifacts in MRI. One class of techniques synchronizes data acquisition with motion using breath-holding, respiratory triggering, and/or cardiac gating to "freeze" subject motion. Another class of techniques corrects data acquired in the presence of motion. Despite the use of these techniques, however, motion remains one of the primary impediments to diagnostic image quality.
Most known motion artifact reduction techniques require the ability to measure subject motion during the scan, either by external physical tools (e.g. respiratory bellows, electrocardiogram (ECG), pulse oximetry, and the like) or by interleaving extra gradient pulses into the pulse sequence (e.g. navigator echoes)—both of which impose additional time, cost, and complexity to the scan and scan system. Furthermore, external physical measurements are typically indirect, error-prone measures of motion that may not accurately reflect true motion in the region-of-interest. For example, respiratory bellows measure only the anterior-posterior component of breathing motion at the abdominal surface, while the ECG measures electrical rather than mechanical cardiac activity. While breath-holding can be used to minimize respiratory motion artifacts and does not require the ability to measure motion, it limits image quality, suffers from drift and position inconsistencies, and is often impractical in severely ill or pediatric subjects.
Other known motion assessment techniques are k-space trajectory limited. That is, one known technique determines motion in a region-of-interest directly from MR imaging data acquired from the region-of-interest. That is, this technique determines motion from spatially encoded data, rather than data acquired without spatial encoding. In this regard, this technique is severely limited in its applications. Simply, the technique is applicable only with spiral and radial sampling. As such, the technique cannot be used for MR scans in which resonance is sampled and k-space filled using non-spiral or non-radial k-space trajectories. As there are a number of MR imaging techniques that do not rely upon a spiral or radial k-space trajectory, this known technique, and others that are k-space trajectory limited, is frequently inapplicable.
Other proposed "self-navigated" techniques sample additional echoes that are generated without phase encoding. The data associated with these additional and fully-sampled echoes is then analyzed to determine motion in a region-of-interest. Since "extra" echoes must be induced and then sampled, such a technique can significantly lengthen scan time and increase the memory and processing requirements of an MR scanner.
It would therefore be desirable to have a system and method capable of more direct, efficient, and accurate measuring of motion in a region-of-interest that is independent of k-space trajectory such that motion artifact reduction techniques may be applied with greater success in many MR applications and without increasing scan time.

Method and system of determining motion in a region-of-interest directly and independently of k-space trajectory


A method is disclosed for authenticating, by a processor that controls a parent device, a child device includes: authenticating the child device by making a comparison between a value obtained by operating, for a first response value, a third transform function, which is decided based on a number of a difference between the value set in an authentication chip of the parent device and the value set in an authentication chip of the child device, and the second response value, wherein a first and a second response values are obtained by operating a first and a second transform functions for output values generated by operating an encryption function for performing encryption for secret keys in authentication chips of the parent device and the child device, respectively.

By using embedded appliances having an authentication function in order to make a distinction between a regular product and a counterfeit in fields of printer cartridges and medical equipment, customers can be protected from damages caused by inferior counterfeits. Namely, precluding counterfeits of embedded appliances having an authentication function directly links to protection of profits of customers who use products. Therefore, precluding counterfeits of embedded appliances having an authentication function is a highly significant challenge in industrial fields.
In authentication, cryptographies are used as a core function. Cryptographies are broadly classified into a public key cryptography and a common key cryptography. The public key cryptography is a scheme that uses different keys respectively for encryption and decryption, and maintains security by setting a key (secret key) for decrypting an encrypted text as secret information only for a receiver instead of making a key (public key) for performing encryption public. In contrast, the common key cryptography is a scheme that uses the same key (secret key) for encryption and decryption, and maintains security by setting the secret key as information unknown to a third party other than a transmitter and a receiver. In either case, it is the major premise in terms of security that the secret key is not leaked to an outside. As far as this premise is followed, also authentication using any of the public key cryptography and the common key cryptography becomes secure. However, a circuitry scale of the common key cryptography is smaller than that of the public key cryptography, and suited for cost reduction. Therefore, authentication using the common key cryptography is in widespread use, especially, in embedded appliances.
Properties demanded for embedded appliances having a security function include tamper resistance. Tamper resistance means prevention of peeping, and indicates a property that makes it difficult to illegally leak important information such as a secret key and the like stored within an embedded appliance from an outside. For implementation of tamper resistance, it is needed not only to naturally prevent information from being leaked out of a legal input/output terminal included in an embedded appliance but to prevent information from being leaked by an illegal access that directly peeps an internal circuit with a micro-probe. A normal hardware configuration of an IC chip is not resistant to the attack that directly peeps an internal circuit with a micro-probe. Accordingly, to implement tamper resistance, an IC chip having a hardware configuration dedicated to preventing physical and logical illegal accesses from an outside needs to be manufactured.
As a normal method for implementing secure authentication, a method for writing a secret key used for authentication to an inside of a tamper-resistant authentication appliance when being manufactured, and for not taking out the key to an outside after being manufactured is used. This can prevent an illegal third party from acquiring the secret key and counterfeiting the authentication appliance. An authentication protocol is executed between authentication appliances in a state where a secret key is written to the tamper-resistant authentication appliances and the key is not externally taken out, whereby secure authentication is implemented and customers can be protected from damages caused by inferior counterfeits.
For the authentication using common key cryptography, it is difficult to implement secure authentication under three constraints such that a secret key is not leaked to an outside, a manufacturing cost is reduced, and a communication topology is simplified as much as possible. Therefore, secure and compact authentication protocol and system, which prevent counterfeits even under these constraints, are demanded.

Authentication method, authentication system, and authentication chip using common key cryptography


A vehicle seat apparatus includes a lower arm, an upper arm being rotatable relative to the lower arm in a front-rear direction of a vehicle seat, a pressing member fixed at the upper arm, a base member fixed at the lower arm, a first link supported by the base member so as to be rotatable and having a stopper pin positioned on a rotation path of the pressing member when a walk-in operation is performed and positioned out of the rotation path of the pressing member when a tilt-down operation is performed; and a second link rotatably supported by the first link and maintaining the stopper pin so as to be one of on and out of the rotation path of the pressing member, the second link being provided in a manner where a rotational axis thereof is coaxial to a central axis of the stopper pin.

Automotive vehicles, especially a two-door type vehicle has a known walk-in mechanism by which a seat back of a front seat, provided at a front low, is tilted forward, while a passenger gets in and out of a rear seat of the vehicle, at the same time, the walk-in mechanism disengages a lock mechanism of a seat slide mechanism in order to adjust the position of the seat in a front-rear direction thereof, so that it becomes easy for the passenger to access to the rear seat.
Besides the walk-in mechanism, such two-door type vehicle also has a tilt-down mechanism by which the seat back of the front seat is significantly tilted forward so that, when a rear compartment of the vehicle is used as a luggage space, it becomes easy to get a luggage into and out of the luggage space.
According to U.S. Pat. No. 6,336,679B1, a vehicle seat apparatus includes a mechanism for switching between a walk-in operation and a tilt-down operation. Specifically, a first operation lever is activated in order to execute the walk-in operation, and a second operation lever is activated in order to execute the tilt-down operation.
However, according to the mechanism disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,336,679B1, when the seat being in the tilt-down state is restored to its original position, it is necessary for the passenger to activate the operation lever again. Further, parts configuring the abovementioned mechanism scatter within a reclining unit, which is used for adjusting the angle of the seat back, and a walk-in mechanism or the like is not provided as a unit independently. Thus, it is limited to secure a space in which the walk-in mechanism is provided. Further, a walk-in stopper for regulating the seat back at a predetermined angle is not provided within the walk-in in mechanism, and a protruding portion provided at the side flame serves as the walk-in stopper. Thus, flexibility in design of the seat back is significantly limited.
Another mechanism of the vehicle seat apparatus for switching between a walk-in operation and a tilt-down operation has been disclosed in JP2003182416A. Specifically, the mechanism detects a case when the walk-in operation is executed and a case when the tilt-down operation is executed by detecting a position of a seat cushion by means of a sensor link.
It is based on the premise that such mechanism disclosed in JP2003182416A is applied to a double fold type seat, whose seat cushion can be moved; however, it also can be mounted to a seat whose seat cushion is not moved (a tilt-down type seat or a fixed-type seat), if the sensor link is replaced to an appropriate link by which an operation force is inputted.
According to the vehicle seat apparatus disclosed in JP2003182416A, a central axis of a walk-in stopper pin provided at the main link is not coaxial to a rotational axis of the sensor link for maintaining the walk-in stopper pin on or out of the rotation path of the pressing member. Thus, because the sensor link, which is formed in a long shape, needs to be rotated relative to the rotational axis thereof, it is necessary to provide an additional space, as a result, the size of the seat apparatus is increased.
According to the vehicle seat apparatus disclosed in JP2003182416A, the rotational axis of the main link functioning as a stopper for the walk-in operation is coaxial to a rotational axis of the sub link for unlocking the lock mechanism of the seat slide mechanism, and a rotational axis of the sensor link is not coaxial to the rotational axes of the sub link and the main link. The sensor link can be replaced to an appropriate link by which an operation force is inputted in order to move the walk-in stopper pin so as to be out of the rotation path of the pressing member. Thus, because the main link and the sub link need are rotated relative to the rotational axis, and the sensor link is rotated relative to the other rotational axis, an additional space needs to be provided, as a result, the size of the vehicle seat apparatus is increased.
A need thus exists to provide a more compact vehicle seat apparatus.


A thin-film magnetic head includes a non-magnetic insulating substrate, a lower magnetic substance layer which is stacked on the insulating substrate, a gap layer which is further stacked on a predetermined area of the lower magnetic substance layer, an insulating layer which is stacked on a predetermined area of the gap layer and has a plurality of coil layers, an upper magnetic substance layer which is stacked in the manner of covering entirely the lower magnetic substance layer, the gap layer and the insulating substance layer, and a protective layer which is stacked on the upper magnetic substance layer. The thin-film magnetic head comprises a magnetic substance disposed in first and second grooves, respectively, which are formed in the substrate. The first groove is at a right angle to a portion which is to define a tape contacting surface and has the same width as a track width of a tape. The second groove is at a right angle to the first groove and parallel to the plurality of lines of coil layers.

The present 1nvention relates to a thin film magnetic head used in a magnetic recording/playback apparatus and a manufacturing method thereof, and more particularly to a thin-film magnetic head capable of thickly stacking a magnetic layer with retaining a size of an outward appearance of the head in order to prevent a magnetic circuit from a magnetic saturation and a method of manufacturing the thin-film magnetic head.
In general, a thin-film magnetic head has a magnetic layer, an insulating layer and a coil conductive layer which are formed step by step with a stack by means of a vacuum evaporation and etching, and is a smaller and thinner than a conventional bulk head. However, the thin-film magnetic head has the complicated processing steps, and it is impossible for the thin-film magnetic head to precisely keep outline sizes of completed products when the magnetic layer is thickly stacked in order to prevent the magnetic circuit from a magnetic saturation.
The conventional thin-film magnetic head is shown in FIG. 1. In the figure, a material 10 of a thin-film magnetic head 10A comprises a non-magnetic insulating substrate 11, a lower magnetic substance layer 12 which is stacked on a side of the substrate 11, a gap layer 13 which is stacked on a predetermined and limited area of the magnetic layer 12, a first insulating layer 14a which is stacked on a predetermined and limited area of the gap layer 13, a first coil layer 15a which is formed in line shapes of a plurality of rows on the first insulating layer 14a, a second insulating layer 14b which is stacked on the first insulating layer 14a in the manner of covering the first coil layer 15a, a second coil layer 15b which is formed on the second insulating layer 14b corresponding to the first coil layer 15a, a third insulating layer 14c which is stacked on the second insulating layer 14b in the manner of covering the second coil layer 15b, an upper magnetic substance layer 16 which is stacked in the manner of covering an insulating substance layer 14 including the first through third insulating layers 14a, 14b and 14c and a coil conductive layer 15 including the first and second coil layers 15a and 15b, and a protective layer 17 which is stacked on an upper surface of the upper magnetic substance layer 16.
As shown in FIG. 2, the material 10 stacked and configured as above, is cut in the outline shape of the thin-film magnetic head 10A so as to complete a product. The head 10A as the product has an outline in the manner of combining a small rectangular portion with a large rectangular portion, and a long side of the small rectangular portion is used as a tape contacting surface 10B.
The material 10 of the conventional thin-film magnetic head 10A is manufactured by some steps shown in FIGS. 3A through 3F. In a first step shown in FIG. 3A, the lower magnetic substance layer 12 which is made of amorphous, is stacked on the non-magnetic insulating substrate 11 which is made of abrasion resisting materials such as glass and ceramics.
Next, in a second step shown in FIG. 3B, the gap layer 13 which is made of materials of SiO.sub.2, Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 and the like and functions as a head gap of the magnetic head after completed, is stacked in the predetermined or limited area on the magnetic layer 12. Furthermore, the first insulating layer 14a which becomes one portion of the insulating substance layer 14 for insulating the coil conductive layer 15 which will be formed by a step mentioned later, is stacked on predetermined area of the gap layer 13.
In a third step shown in FIG. 3C, the first coil layer 15a is formed in a predetermined pattern. In this example, the coil layer is arranged in six rows of a line-shape. Next, the second insulating layer 14b is stacked on the first insulating layer 14a in the manner of covering the first coil layer 15a.
In a fourth step shown in FIG. 3D, the second coil layer 15b is formed in six lines on the second insulating layer 14b corresponding to the first coil layer 15a. Next, the third insulating layer 14c is stacked on the second insulating layer 14b in the manner of covering the second coil layer 15b, so that the insulating substance layer 14 including the first through third insulating layers 14a, 14b and 14c is formed in the manner of completely insulating the coil layer 15 of two stages and six lines.
Furthermore, in a fifth step shown in FIG. 3E, the upper magnetic substance layer 16 of amorphous materials is stacked in a predetermined thickness in the manner of further covering an exposed portion of the gap layer 13, the insulating substance layer 14 which is formed in the predetermined area of the gap layer 13, and the coil layer 15 which is covered by the insulating substance layer 14.
Finally, in a sixth step shown in FIG. 3F, the protective layer 17 of plastic or low-temperature melting-point glass materials, is stacked in the manner of covering the upper surface of the upper magnetic substance layer 16, thereby completing the material 10 of the thin-film magnetic head 10A.
The material 10 formed by the above steps, is cut in a predetermined shape shown in FIG. 2, thereby completing the thin-film magnetic head 10A as the product.
The material 10 of head 10A has three stages of the insulating layers and two stages of the coil layers which are formed between the insulating layers. In order to form each of the layers, there is used a thin-film formation technique such as sputtering and a vacuum evaporation and a thin-film treatment technique such as ion-milling or dry etching.
It is necessary for the conventional thin-film magnetic head 10A to form the lower magnetic substance layer 12 and the upper magnetic substance layer 16 which constitute a magnetic loop each having several ten micrometers thick in order to prevent the magnetic loop from a magnetic saturation. However, in case where the magnetic layers 12 and 16 have the thickness of this, respectively, because the layers have patterning accuracy of plus and minus 5 to 10 micra when patterning is performed to both layers 12 and 16, an accuracy of the outline size of the head as a product is remarkably reduced.
Accordingly, in the case where a track width of the thin-film magnetic head 10A is formed by patterning the lower and upper magnetic substance layers 12 and 16, the conventional magnetic head has the problem that it is difficult to obtain the high-accuracy of the track width.

High accuracy track width thin-film magnetic head


A binaural hearing aid system (100) with improved diversity properties. The invention also provides a method for operating such a binaural hearing aid system (100).

Generally a hearing aid system according to the invention is understood as meaning any device which provides an output signal that can be perceived as an acoustic signal by a user or contributes to providing such an output signal, and which has means which are customized to compensate for an individual hearing loss of the user or contribute to compensating for the hearing loss of the user. They are, in particular, hearing aids which can be worn on the body or by the ear, in particular on or in the ear, and which can be fully or partially implanted. However, some devices whose main aim is not to compensate for a hearing loss, may also be regarded as hearing aid systems, for example consumer electronic devices (televisions, hi-fi systems, mobile phones, MP3 players etc.) provided they have, however, measures for compensating for an individual hearing loss.
Within the present context a traditional hearing aid can be understood as a small, battery-powered, microelectronic device designed to be worn behind or in the human ear by a hearing-impaired user. However, the hearing aid may be powered in any suitable way such as by a fuel cell. Prior to use, the hearing aid is adjusted by a hearing aid fitter according to a prescription. The prescription is based on a hearing test, resulting in a so-called audiogram, of the performance of the hearing-impaired user's unaided hearing. The prescription is developed to reach a setting where the hearing aid will alleviate a hearing loss by amplifying sound at frequencies in those parts of the audible frequency range where the user suffers a hearing deficit. A hearing aid comprises one or more microphones, a battery, a microelectronic circuit comprising a signal processor, and an acoustic output transducer. The signal processor is preferably a digital signal processor. The hearing aid is enclosed in a casing suitable for fitting behind or in a human ear.
Within the present context a binaural hearing aid system comprises two hearing aids, one for each ear of the hearing aid user. Therefore so called Contra-lateral Routing Of Signal (CROS) hearing aids and Bi-lateral Contra-lateral Routing Of Signal (BiCROS) hearing aids, are in the present context considered binaural hearing aid systems, because they comprise two devices, one for each ear of the hearing aid user. Thus in the following context a CROS or BiCROS device is considered a hearing aid despite that it may not comprise an acoustic output transducer.
Furthermore, the hearing aid system may comprise an external device, such as a smart phone having software applications adapted to interact with other devices of the hearing aid system. Thus within the present context the term "hearing aid system device" may denote a traditional hearing aid, an external device, a CROS device or a BiCROS device.
The mechanical design has developed into a number of general categories. As the name suggests, Behind-The-Ear (BTE) hearing aids are worn behind the ear. To be more precise, an electronics unit comprising a housing containing the major electronics parts thereof is worn behind the ear. An earpiece for emitting sound to the hearing aid user is worn in the ear, e.g. in the concha or the ear canal. In a traditional BTE hearing aid, a sound tube is used to convey sound from the output transducer, which in hearing aid terminology is normally referred to as the receiver, located in the housing of the electronics unit and to the ear canal. In some modern types of hearing aids, a conducting member comprising electrical conductors conveys an electric signal from the housing and to a receiver placed in the earpiece in the ear. Such hearing aids are commonly referred to as Receiver-In-The-Ear (RITE) hearing aids. In a specific type of RITE hearing aids the receiver is placed inside the ear canal. This category is sometimes referred to as Receiver-In-Canal (RIC) hearing aids.
In-The-Ear (ITE) hearing aids are designed for arrangement in the ear, normally in the funnel-shaped outer part of the ear canal. In a specific type of ITE hearing aids the hearing aid is placed substantially inside the ear canal. This category is sometimes referred to as Completely-In-Canal (CIC) hearing aids. This type of hearing aid requires an especially compact design in order to allow it to be arranged in the ear canal, while accommodating the components necessary for operation of the hearing aid.
Auxiliary devices such as e.g. remote controls or smart phones adapted for use with hearing aids are known. They offer a convenient way of operating various user-accessible features of a hearing aid such as volume level and program selection.
Some contemporary hearing aids are provided with a 2.4 GHz wireless link that allows direct communication between an auxiliary device and the hearing aid. However the quality of this type of wireless transmission may suffer due to e.g. shadowing effects and in case the wireless link is used for longer periods of time, such as when streaming audio from the auxiliary device and to the hearing aid then a significant power consumption may result.
It has been suggested, e.g. it is an option in the Bluetooth Low Energy (BT LE) standard, to use data packet re-transmission in order to alleviate low wireless transmission quality (due to lost data packets) but the downside of this solution is that it introduces an additional transmission delay that may deteriorate the quality of e.g. transmitted audio signals and in some cases data packet re-transmission may not be capable of solving the issue of lost data packets (which may also be denoted fall outs).
EP-A1-2871857 discloses a method wherein data packets, received in a hearing aid from an auxiliary device using a far-field wireless link, are relayed to the other hearing aid, using a near-field wireless link, in response to a detection of a low quality of the far-field wireless link. Thus relaying is only initiated in response to a detection of a problematic situation and this inevitably adds to the latency.
EP-A1-2439960, is similar to EP-A1-2871857 in so far that the primary focus is on conditional relaying, i.e. that data received by one hearing aid is only transmitted to the other hearing aid in response to some trigger event.
EP-B1-2534853 discloses a method wherein an audio signal is transmitted to a receiver unit with two spaced-apart antennas both adapted for receiving the audio signal, whereby multi-path fading resulting from destructive interference may be alleviated. However, for a hearing aid, where space is a scarce resource it is disadvantageous to incorporate two antennas and corresponding digital circuitry for receiving the same signal.
EP-B1-2119310 discloses a method wherein the quality of a far-field wireless link between an auxiliary device and the two hearing aids of a binaural hearing aid system is monitored and in case a quality measure for the link to one of the hearing aids is significantly lower than the quality measure for the link to the other of the hearing aids or in case the quality measure for one of the links falls below some predetermined threshold then relaying using the near-field wireless link between the hearing aids is initiated. This method may be considered disadvantageous because it is based on conditional relaying and because it does not consider the quality of the data that is ultimately received due to the relaying.
It is therefore a feature of the present invention to provide an improved method of transmitting data from an auxiliary device and to the hearing aids of a binaural hearing aid system.
It is another feature of the present invention to provide a binaural hearing aid system adapted to provide such a method of operating a binaural hearing aid system.

Binaural hearing aid system and a method of operating a binaural hearing aid system


A color corrector for correcting chromaticity of a color image to be reproduced is provided in a color printer or a CRT display device for reproducing a color image from respective signals corresponding to predetermined primary colors of a plurality of primary colors constituting the color image. This color corrector comprises: a corrective operation circuit for executing an operation between a color correction coefficient matrix and signals corresponding to the primary colors to correct relative levels of the signals corresponding to the primary colors; a gray component extraction circuit for making level comparison between the signals corresponding to the primary colors to thereby extract a gray component; a correction signal output circuit for executing an operation between the extracted gray component and correction coefficients determined by the matrix to output gray balance correction signals every primary colors; and an adding circuit for adding signals of which levels are corrected in correspondence with respective primary colors outputted from the corrective operation circuit to outputs from the correction signal output circuit.

This invention relates to a color corrector in a color image reproducing apparatus for displaying/printing a color image on the basis of color signals or color data (hereinafter referred to as video signals) corresponding to primary colors such as Red (R), Green (G) and Blue (B), etc., and more particularly to a color corrector in a color image reproducing apparatus for converting video signals of R, G and B to recording density signals or data (hereinafter referred to as recording density signals) of Cyan (C), Magenta (M) and Yellow (Y) which are complementary colors thereof, respectively.
For example, in color Televisions (TV), an approach is employed to represent a color image as sum of respective components of the three primary colors respectively having predetermined chromaticities to further convert electro-optic conversion characteristics of emitting bodies of respective primary colors on the reproducing side to electric signals to which correction (which is called a .gamma.-correction) is implemented. Accordingly, in reproducing such electric signals, three primary colors having the same chromaticities and conversion characteristics as those used at the conversion to electric signals are used in principle.
In practice, for the reason why it is difficult to increase the brightness of a display image, there are instances where primary colors of which chromaticities deviate from the above-mentioned predetermined chromaticities are used as a light source for regenerative display. Further, in the case of providing a hard copy from the above-described electric signals by using a printer, an approach is employed to convert signals corresponding to the above three primary colors to signals corresponding to Cyan, Magenta and Yellow (the subtractive primaries) which are respectively complementary colors thereof to convert .gamma.-corrected signals to original ones (inverse .gamma.-correction) so that density signals corresponding to respective complementary colors are provided to carry out printing by using these density signals thus to reproduce or reconstruct an image. Also in this case, it frequently takes place that inks used have the relationship that their colors are not completely complementary to the original three primary colors (R, G, B).
In the case where the chromaticities of primary colors used at the time of reproduction or reconstruction of an image deviate from desired chromaticities as in the above-mentioned example, colors of a display image or hard copy are reconstructed or reproduced in a manner that their chromaticities also deviate from those of the original image. In order to correct such a deviation, a color corrector is used.
A conventional example of a color corrector for printer used for the above purpose is shown in FIG. 1.
This color corrector circuit 50 comprises a frame memory 51 for storing color video signals R, G and B corresponding to respective primary colors (Red, Green, Blue), an inverse .gamma.-correction/luminance-density conversion circuit 52 for implementing an inverse .gamma.-correction to color video signals R, G and B read out from the frame memory 51 to provide signals of R.gamma., G.gamma. and B.gamma., and to convert these .gamma.-corrected color video signals R.gamma., G.gamma. and B.gamma. to optical density signals DR, DG and DB of Cyan, Magenta and Yellow which are respectively complementary colors thereof, and a color masking circuit 53 provided with the optical density signals DR, DG and DB to output printing or recording density signals C, M and Y.
As previously described above, since, in most cases, inks (dye stuffs) of respective colors of Cyan, Magenta and Yellow used in a printer have not desired optical characteristics as the primary colors, for example, a component of a primary color is mixed with other colors, when printing is simply carried out in accordance with the optical density signals DR, DG and DB, a hard copy having a chromaticity deviating from that of the original image may be provided.
The color masking circuit 53 carries out a signal processing based on the color masking matrix expressed as the following equation (1) in order to lessen the influence of the above-mentioned contamination color, thus to output recording density signals C, M and Y such that a reproduced color on a hard copy has a density close to the density corresponding to optical density signals DR, DG and DB. ##EQU1##
Generally, the color correction coefficient Aij shown in FIG. (1) is set by using various least square methods. These least square methods are described in detail in, e.g., "Journal of the Society of Image Electronics" Vol. 18, No. 1, 1989, pp. 20 to 28.
However, with a method of setting the correction coefficient Aij so that each reproducibility of intermediate colors becomes good by the least square method as shown in the above example, there are instances where the gray balance of a reproduced color on a hard copy or a display image is collapsed or destroyed.

Color corrector in an apparatus for producing color image


A liquid crystal display device includes a pair of substrate; a liquid crystal layer that is formed between the pair of substrates, and that is composed of liquid crystal having negative dielectric anisotropy, the liquid crystal being vertically aligned in an initial state; dot regions each having a transmissive display region and a reflective display region; a liquid-crystal-layer-thickness adjusting layer that is provided between the liquid crystal layer and at least one of the pair of substrates to make the thickness of the liquid crystal layer in the reflective display region smaller than the thickness of the liquid crystal layer in the transmissive display region; a color filter layer that includes plural types of colored layers having different colors corresponding to the respective dot regions, and that is provided on at least one of the pair of substrates; and alignment regulators that are provided on an inner surface of at least one of the pair of substrates to regulate the alignment of the liquid crystal in the reflective display regions. In the above-mentioned structure, a colored region having the colored layer formed therein and a non-colored region not having the colored layer formed therein are provided in a portion of the colored layer that is arranged in the reflective display region, and the alignment regulators are arranged so as to overlap the non-colored regions of the color filter layer in the reflective display regions in plan view.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display device and to an electronic apparatus, and more specifically, to a technique for achieving display having high brightness and a wider viewing angle both in a reflective mode and in a transmissive mode in a transflective color liquid crystal display device using vertical-alignment-type liquid crystal.
2. Related Art
Transflective liquid crystal display devices having both a reflective mode and a transmissive mode have been generally known as liquid crystal display devices. As the transflective liquid crystal display device, a display device has been suggested in which a liquid crystal layer is interposed between an upper substrate and a lower substrate, and a reflective film obtained by forming light-transmissive windows in a metal film made of, for example, Al, is provided on an inner surface of the lower substrate to function as a transflective sheet. In this case, in the reflective mode, external light incident on the upper substrate passes through the liquid crystal layer and is then reflected from the reflective film on the inner surface of the lower substrate. Then, the reflected light passes through the liquid crystal layer again to be emitted from the upper substrate, thereby contributing to display. On the other hand, in the transmissive mode, light emitted from a backlight to the lower substrate passes through the liquid crystal layer via the windows of the reflective film, and is then emitted from the upper substrate to the outside, thereby contributing to display. Therefore, in a region where the reflective film is formed, a portion thereof where the window is formed serves as a transmissive display region, and the other portion serves as a reflective display region.
However, this type of transflective liquid crystal display device has a problem in that a viewing angle is narrow in the transmissive display. The reason is that, since the transflective plate is provided on an inner surface of a liquid crystal cell to prevent the occurrence of parallax, reflective display should be performed by using only one polarizing plate provided on an observer side, which results in a low degree of flexibility in the optical design. Therefore, in order to solve this problem, the inventors, M. Jisaki et al., have proposed a liquid crystal display device using vertical-alignment-type liquid crystal as disclosed in "Development of transflective LCD for high contrast and wide viewing angle by using homeotropic alignment," M. Jisaki et al., Asia Display/ID W′01, pp. 133 to 136 (2001). The liquid crystal display device has the following three features:
(1) A 'VA (vertical alignment) mode' is used in which liquid crystal molecules having negative dielectric anisotropy are vertically aligned with respect to substrates in an initial state, and are then inclined when a voltage is applied;
(2) A 'multi-gap structure' is used in which the thickness (cell gap) of a liquid crystal layer in a transmissive display region is different from that in a reflective display region (for example, see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 11-242226); and
(3) An 'alignment dividing structure' is used in which each transmissive display region is formed in the shape of a regular octagon, and a projection is provided at the center of the transmissive display region on a counter substrate to make the liquid crystal molecules incline in all directions in the transmissive display region.
The transflective liquid crystal display device having the multi-gap structure, disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 11-242226, has an advantage in that electro-optical characteristics (a transmittance-voltage characteristic and a reflectance-voltage characteristic) of the reflective display region are identical to those of the transmissive display region. The reason is that light passes through the liquid crystal layer one time in the transmissive display region, but it passes through the liquid crystal layer two times in the reflective display region.
However, in the paper of Jisaki et al., the directions in which the liquid crystal molecules in the transmissive display region are inclined are controlled by a projection provided at the center of the transmissive display region. However, the paper does not disclose how to control the directions in which the liquid crystal molecules in the reflective display region are inclined at all. When the directions in which the liquid crystal molecules are inclined are not controlled, the liquid crystal molecules are inclined in random directions. In this case, a line of discontinuity, referred to as disclination, appears at boundaries between different liquid crystal alignment regions, which causes residual images. Also, since the alignment regions of the liquid crystal have different viewing angle characteristics, a spotted pattern may appear when the liquid crystal device is viewed from an oblique direction. In addition, it is considered that alignment regulators, such as projections, are provided in the reflective display regions. However, since the reflective display region has a narrower gap than the transmissive display region, alignment disorder of the liquid crystal occurs due to the alignment regulators when the alignment regulators are provided in the narrow gap.

Liquid cyrstal display device and electronic apparatus including dielectric projections for liquid crystal alignment