A clock generator contains a reference oscillator (10), a digital closed delay chain (12), a digital frequency divider (14) and a digital phase comparator (16). The frequency divider (14) is connected between the output of the adjustable delay chain (12) and one input of the phase comparator (16). The output of the reference oscillator (10) is connected to a further input of the phase comparator (16). Between the output of the phase comparator (16) and the delay chain (12) a digital up-down counter (18) is connected, the counting direction of which is determined by the output signal of the phase comparator (16) and by means of which the corresponding length of the delay chain (12) is adjustable.

With conventional clock generators of this kind, a voltage-controlled oscillator is typically provided as an adjustable oscillator. A low-pass filter is additionally connected to the voltage-controlled oscillator from a phase comparator. In turn the output of the voltage-controlled oscillator is fed back to an input of the phase comparator to achieve a phase-locked loop (PLL).
A disadvantage in this respect is that a large number of external components is needed. In addition, the analog functional units employed--such as phase detector, low-pass filter and voltage-controlled oscillator--have a relatively complex configuration. The current consumption of such an analog clock generator is also relatively high.
An object of our invention is to create a clock generator together with a suitable phase comparator of the aforementioned kind which ensures reliable operation despite its simpler configuration and relatively low current consumption, enabling a more precise adjustment of the frequency.

Clock generator and phase comparator for use in such a clock generator


An open-wire detection system and method includes a current transmitter that can be connected to one or more wires, wherein the current transmitter provides a minimum current and/or a current that is greater than the minimum current. An anti-aliasing filter is connected to an analog-to-digital converter, such that the anti-aliasing filter receives the minimum current provided by the current transmitter and provides an output signal to the analog-to-digital converter. A noise filter is generally connected to an open-wire threshold detector, wherein the noise filter and the open-wire threshold detector permit detection of input levels below the minimum current provided by the current transmitter. An output from the open-wire threshold detector can be sampled multiple times at intervals that correlate with a frequency of a plurality of digital signals to produce sampled data, such that if the sampled data is below the minimum current, one or more of the wires (e.g., a return field wire and/or a field wire connected to a power supply) is reported as constituting an open-wire.

The most common method used to interface high-level analog field transmitters to a process control system is the 4-20 mA current loop. A 4-20 mA current loop can be implemented as a point-to-point or multi-drop circuit mainly used in the process automation field to transmit signals from instruments and sensors in the field to a controller. It sends an analog signal from 4 to 20 mA that represents 0 to 100% of some process variable. As a current loop signal, 4-20 mA also powers the sensor transmitter on the same wire pair, and 4-20 mA provides increased immunity against interference than a voltage-based line.
FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic diagram of a prior art system 100 that includes a 4-20 mA current loop 101. The configuration of system 100 depicted in FIG. 1 represents a common technique for transmitting sensor information via a sensor 106 in many industrial process-monitoring applications, including the use of a sensor to measure physical parameters such as temperature, pressure, speed, liquid flow rates, etc. Transmitting sensor information via the current loop 101 is particularly useful when the information has to be sent to a remote location over long distances (e.g., 1000 feet, or more).
System 100 generally includes sensor 106 in association with a transmitter 102, a power supply 108, and a process monitor/controller component 104 that includes an anti-aliasing filter 118 that is connected to and provides a signal to an Analog-to-Digital Converter (ADC) 120, which in turn provides a signal to a control system or control device 121. The transmitter 102 typically includes electronic circuitry 110, in communication with sensor 106. The operation of system 100 and its loop 101 is fairly straightforward: the output signal from sensor 106 is first converted to a corresponding current via the electronic circuitry 110, with, for example, 4 mA normally representing the zero-level output of sensor 106, and 20 mA, for example, representing the full-scale output of sensor 106. Then, a receiver at the remote end converts the 4-20 mA current into a voltage which in turn can be further processed by the process monitor/controller component 104.
Transmitting an output of sensor 106 as a voltage over long distance, however, has several drawbacks. Unless very high input-impedance devices are used, transmitting voltages over long distances produces correspondingly lower voltages at the receiving end due to wiring and interconnect resistances. High-impedance instruments, however, can be sensitive to noise pickup since the lengthy signal-carrying wires often run in close proximity to other electrically noisy system wiring. Shielded wires can be used to minimize noise pickup, but their high cost may be prohibitive when long distances are involved. Sending a current over long distances produces voltage losses proportional to the wiring's length. However, these voltage losses—also known as "loop drops"—do not reduce the 4-20 mA current as long as the transmitter and loop supply can compensate for these drops. The magnitude of the current in the loop 101 is not affected by voltage drops in the wiring of system 100 since all of the current (i.e., electrons) originating at the negative (−) terminal of the loop power supply has to return back to its positive (+) terminal.
In a configuration such as system 100 and loop 101, the transmitter varies the current to communicate the process variable. At the receiving end, the current is converted to a voltage by passing it through a precision resistor. This voltage is filtered to remove noise and prevent frequency aliasing, then periodically converted (at a frequency called the "scan rate" or "sampling rate") to a digital value and passed to the control system of control component 104.
If the field wiring opens, the current will drop to zero virtually instantly. The output of the anti-aliasing filter, however, drops at a rate determined by its time constant. This can result in control action on some number of bad input values before the control system can detect the open-wire condition.
It is believed that a solution to these problems can be achieved through the design and implementation of a new and novel technique for detecting an open wire detection by sensing the input signal with two different frequency responses at two or more different locations within the input circuit. Such a technique, including a method and system thereof, is described in greater detail herein.


A memory controller, an operating method of the memory controller, and a storage device including the memory controller are disclosed. The memory controller includes: a memory configured to store an address mapping table and a segment mapping table; and a mapping data management module configured to select at least two updated segments among a plurality of segments included in the address mapping table as page data to be stored in one page of a nonvolatile memory, wherein each of the plurality of segments includes a plurality of mapping entries representing mapping information between logical addresses and physical addresses, and wherein the segment mapping table includes physical addresses representing areas in which each of the plurality of segments is stored in the nonvolatile memory.

Example embodiments of the inventive concepts relate to a semiconductor device. For example, at least some example embodiments relate to a memory controller, an operating method of the memory controller, and/or a storage device including the memory controller.
As a nonvolatile memory, a flash memory may retain the stored data even when the power is turned off. Recently, storage devices including nonvolatile memory such as embedded Multi-Media Card (eMMC), Universal Flash Storage (UFS), Solid State Drive (SSD), NAND flash storage, and a memory card have been widely used. Since nonvolatile memory cannot be overwritten, when data corresponding to a logical address is to be updated, the storage device may write updated data in a writable area of the nonvolatile memory other than the existing area in which data has been written within the nonvolatile memory, and may update mapping information including the physical address and the logical address where the actual data has been written. On the other hand, the mapping information may also be stored in the nonvolatile memory for permanent preservation.

Memory controller, operating method of the memory controller, and storage device including the memory controller


Systems and methods are described for providing low-voltage triggering electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection in the context of integrated circuits. A low-voltage triggering electrostatic discharge protection circuit has a low trigger voltage and can turn on quickly to provide a low resistance path. The protection circuit can be employed in power bus, input, and input/output pin ESD protection configurations. This protection circuit is compatible with complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) processes. High ESD performance can even be achieved with devices fabricated in accordance with advanced CMOS processes.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to the field of electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection of semiconductor circuits. More particularly, in one embodiment, the invention relates to a low-voltage triggering (LT) N-channel metal oxide semiconductor (NMOS) that can turn on rapidly during an ESD event and provide a lower resistance, substantially uniform current density path for an ESD current, thereby effectively shunting substantially all of an ESD pulse.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Prior art electrostatic discharge protection devices are known to those skilled in the art. For example, a conventional approach to providing electrostatic discharge protection is to provide a circuit with a device that can intervene to deflect a potentially dangerous electrostatic discharge towards ground, and away from the remaining components of the circuit, during an electrostatic discharge event.
One way to provide ESD protection is to use a thick field device. For example, referring to FIG. 1, a conventional thick field device (TFD) is shown where an N+doped source 110 and an N+doped drain 120 are located within a P doped well 130. Isolation oxides 140 are located next to the N+doped source 110 and the N+doped drain 120 at the top of the P doped well 130. There is no gate in the TFD illustrated in FIG. 1, and this TFD simply turns on by avalanche breakdown across the drain/channel junction. The TFD shown in FIG. 1 is a conventional approach to providing Vdd/Vss ESD protection.
Another way to provide ESD protection is to use a grounded gate thin oxide NMOS. For instance, referring to FIG. 2, a grounded gate thin oxide NMOS (GGNMOS) is shown where the N+doped source 110 and the N+doped drain 120 are located within the P doped well 130. A gate 210 is located above and between the N+doped source 110 and the N+doped drain 120. Two n-doped regions 220 are located beneath the gate 210. A first of the two n-doped regions 220 is located adjacent the N+doped source 110 and a second of the two n-doped regions 220 is located adjacent the N+doped drain 120. Two spacers 230 are located next to the gate 210. Isolation oxides 140 are located next to the N+doped source 110 and the N+doped drain 120 at the top of the P doped well 130. The device shown in FIG. 2 is a conventional LDD NMOS, with n-implantation, approach to providing Vdd/Vss ESD protection. Unfortunately, even the trigger voltage of the LDD NMOS device shown in FIG. 2 is not low enough to protect many types of circuitry from damage.
Thus, two ways to provide Vdd vs. Vss power bus protection are represented by the thick field device (TFD) shown in FIG. 1 and the grounded gate thin oxide NMOS (GGNMOS) shown in FIG. 2. Both of these protection devices operate as NPN bipolar devices during an ESD event. The I-V characteristic of these NPN bipolar devices is represented in FIG. 3. More specifically, trace shown in FIG. 3 represents the snapback I-V characteristics of the GGNMOS illustrated in FIG. 2. Referring to FIG. 3, when the voltage reaches a trigger voltage (Vtri), the NPN device turns on and enters into snapback region of low impedance (Vsp) so as to permit the dissipation of high amounts of ESD energy.
An ESD protection device (e.g., a power bus protection device) with a lower (Vtri) can effectively turn on more quickly (first) to protect internal circuitry from damage. Further, an ESD protection device with a lower snapback voltage (Vsp) can dissipate higher current and achieve a higher ESD threshold. A good ESD protection circuit must have both i) a lower trigger voltage (Vtri) and ii) a lower snapback voltage (Vsp).
However, the ESD protection performance available using these prior art approaches has degraded in association with advanced processes, such as, for example, lightly doped drain (LDD) devices, the use of thinner oxide layers, and the salicide process, etc. As these, and other, advanced processes evolve, more and more ESD damage is occurring in sub-micron integrated circuits during ESD pulse stress despite the use of the TFD and GGNMOS approaches.
The conventional TFD and GGNMOS approaches are not a good way to provide power bus ESD protection in the context of advanced processes, such as, for example, the above-mentioned lightly doped drain (LDD) devices, thinner oxide layers, and salicide process, etc. Specifically, the higher trigger voltage levels that are inherent to the conventional TFD and GGNMOS approaches cannot protect weaker circuits against ESD damage.
In particular, a drawback of using the conventional LDD device shown in FIG. 2 is that such devices are very weak during ESD stress. In more detail, the LDD n-region induces non-uniform current distribution and local hot spots. As device sizes shrink into the sub-micron regime and beyond, these hots spots become more problematic. Therefore, the LDD NMOS device shown in FIG. 2 cannot, by itself, act as a good ESD protection circuit.
One unsatisfactory approach, in an attempt to solve the above-discussed problem of nonuniform current distribution involves using a non-lightly doped drain (non-LDD) device. A non-LDD NMOS device is shown in FIG. 4. Referring to FIG. 4, again the N+doped source 110 and the N+doped drain 120 are located within the P doped well 130. The gate 210 is again located above and between the N+doped source 110 and the N+doped drain 120 and two spacers 230 are located next to the gate 210. Isolation oxides 140 are again located next to the N+doped source 110 and the N+doped drain 120 at the top of the P doped well 130. The difference between the structures shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 4 is that the device shown in FIG. 4 has no n-doped regions. The absence of any n-doped regions obviates the hot spot problems inherent to the device shown in FIG. 2. The purpose of using such a non-LDD device was to improve the current distribution (compared to the device shown in FIG. 2), by making the current distribution more uniform. In the absence of n-doped regions, this limited purpose is achieved by the device shown in FIG. 4.
Unfortunately, the trigger voltage of the non-LDD device shown in FIG. 4 is not low enough to protect many types of circuitry from damage. The use of device shown in FIG. 4 in association with circuitry that is based on advanced processes, such as, for example, the above-mentioned lightly doped drain (LDD) devices, the use of thinner oxide layers, and the salicide process, etc., often results in damage from ESD stress due to the trigger voltage (Vtri) being inappropriately high.
Thus, one requirement of this technology has been that an ESD protection approach should be capable of switching on very quickly to protect the balance of the integrated circuit. Therefore, what is required is solution that has a low triggering voltage (Vtri), so as to exhibit a quick reaction time.
Another requirement of this technology has been that an ESD protection approach should be capable of conducting substantially all of an ESD pulse. Thus, what is also required is a solution that has a low snapback voltage (Vsp), so as to exhibit the ability to shunt substantially all of an ESD pulse.
Another requirement of this technology has been that such an ESD protection approach should be capable of conducting substantially all of an ESD pulse without developing any hot spots. Thus, what is also required is solution that has a uniform current distribution, so as to exhibit the ability to shunt substantially all of an ESD pulse.
Another requirement of this technology has been that such an ESD protection approach should be economical to implement. A disadvantage of the previous approaches represented in FIGS. 1-4 has been relatively high cost. Thus, what is also required is a solution that meets the above-discussed requirements in a more cost effective manner.
Therefore, what is needed to improve ESD protection performance is a low-voltage triggering protection approach that combines a low triggering voltage (Vtri) with a low snapback voltage (Vsp) and uniform current distribution, and is economical to fabricate in the context of a salicide integrated circuit. Heretofore, the requirements of low triggering voltage (Vtri), low snapback voltage (Vsp), uniform current distribution, and low cost referred to above have not been fully met. What is needed is a solution that simultaneously addresses all of these requirements.

Low-voltage triggering electrostatic discharge protection


An electronic device includes: a main body; a screen panel disposed on a surface of the main body and configured to display an image; a frame-shaped cover panel disposed on the surface of the main body to cover an outer periphery of the screen panel; a bone conduction vibrator incorporated in the main body and attached to a rear surface of the screen panel, and an adhesive layer fixedly attaching the cover panel at a rear surface thereof to an outer peripheral portion of the surface of the screen panel. The adhesive layer extends along the outer peripheral portion of the surface of the screen panel and has a missing portion in which an area to be located in the vicinity of the bone conduction vibrator is missing. The missing portion-provides a gap between the surface of the screen panel and the rear surface of the cover panel.

Various electronic devices have been proposed which include a bone conduction vibrator. For example, in a cell phone, a receiver configured by a bone conduction vibrator is disposed at an upper end of a main body while a transmitter configured by a microphone is disposed at a lower end of the main body, such that a call is established with the receiver pressed against an ear and the transmitter brought close to the mouth.
In a cell phone with a screen panel for image display disposed on a surface of a main body, it is conceivable to configure a receiver in such a way that a bone conduction vibrator is attached to a rear surface of the screen panel.
With such a cell phone, a surface of the screen panel is pressed against an ear, such that a call is established by way of bone conduction.
In such a cell phone, however, a frame-shaped cover panel is fixedly arranged on the surface of the main body to cover the outer periphery of the screen panel. Thus, the cover panel suppresses the vibration of the screen panel, causing lowering of bone conduction performance of the bone conduction vibrator.
It is thus desired to inhibit lowering of bone conduction performance in electronic devices that have a bone conduction vibrator incorporated therein and a cover panel arranged to cover the outer periphery of a screen panel.

Electronic device with bone conduction vibrator


Ergonomic gripping mechanisms of battery-operated electric cutting apparatus are provided. The electric cutting apparatus may include a cantilevered cutting head, an adjustable telescoping shaft, a rear grip portion, a pistol grip, and a forearm shaft. The adjustable telescoping shaft may be pivotally connected to the cantilevered cutting head. The rear grip portion may have a first end connected to the adjustable telescoping shaft. The pistol grip may have a first end extending at a first angle from the second end of the rear grip portion. The forearm shaft may extend from the second end of the pistol grip at a second angle. The forearm shaft may have a top side comprising a forearm pad having an exterior surface configured to receive a forearm of a user. The exterior surface of the forearm pad may be parallel to an axis defined by a longitudinal extension of the adjustable telescoping shaft.

Battery-operated electric cutting apparatuses having cantilevered cutting heads typically include: (1) a motor and cutting mechanism in a cutting head at a first end, and (2) a flat handle and battery at a second end. The weight of the cutting head having the motor and cutting mechanism usually substantially outweighs the flat handle and battery end, resulting in an unbalanced cutting apparatus that may be difficult, uncomfortable, and/or unnatural to hold by a user. Moreover, existing battery-operated electric cutting apparatuses having cantilevered cutting heads typically have limited, if any, adjustable features to provide a natural grip orientation.
Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional and traditional approaches will become apparent to one of skill in the art, through comparison of such systems with some aspects of the present disclosure as set forth in the remainder of the present application with reference to the drawings.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Ergonomic gripping mechanisms of an electric cutting apparatus


An expansion valve for an air conditioning system circulates refrigerant through a fixed-displacement compressor, a condenser, and an evaporator. An inlet is provided for receiving refrigerant liquefied in the condenser. An outlet of the expansion valve supplies refrigerant to the evaporator. A valve element controls flow of refrigerant between the inlet and the outlet, wherein the valve element is normally closed. A control assembly is coupled to the valve element and is responsive to at least one temperature or pressure in the air conditioning system to open the valve element to variably meter the refrigerant to the evaporator. A bleed passage bypasses the valve element to conduct refrigerant between the inlet and the outlet. The bleed passage is adapted to bleed refrigerant to the evaporator immediately after the compressor shuts off to prime the air conditioning system for a lower superheat when the compressor turns on, and the bleed path has a flow capacity substantially smaller than the flow capacity of the main valve aperture.

The present invention relates in general to automotive air conditioning systems, and, more specifically, to an expansion valve with reduced hissing noise.
A thermal, or thermostatic, expansion valve (TXV) is widely used in air conditioning systems to control the superheat at the evaporator outlet. A TXV throttles refrigerant and generates a hissing noise. The hiss noise is especially prominent when the TXV first opens, e.g., upon opening during normal cycling of the valve or when the compressor is first started. The repetitive nature of the cycling of the TXV during system operation makes the hiss noise especially undesirable.
To resolve this problem, the size of the valve opening may be reduced by design, but this may unduly limit the cool-down performance of the system. Furthermore, it does not resolve the issue of rapid valve opening at the compressor startup and thus has limited beneficial effect. Another solution to this problem has been to add screens at the TXV inlets and outlets, but empirical evidence shows that such screens have only a limited effect in reducing the hiss noise.
Another approach has been to slow down or delay the opening of the TXV, thereby allowing more time for the high pressure side of the refrigerant loop to rise up. The system reaches a more sub-cooled state before allowing a high rate of flow through the TXV, thereby absorbing residual vapor, reducing the initial refrigerant flow rate, and reducing hiss. As disclosed in Lou et al, U.S. application Ser. No. 11/893,691, filed Aug. 17, 2007, entitled "Thermostatic Expansion Valve," the use of a restricted flow between the evaporator outlet and the pressure chamber in the charge assembly controlling the opening of the TXV is one way to achieve the desired delay. Another solution is given by Lou et al, U.S. application Ser. No. 12/123,865, filed May 20, 2008, entitled "Air Conditioning Circuit Control Using a Thermostatic Expansion Valve and Sequence Valve," wherein a sequence valve is added in series with the TXV to prevent flow through the TXV until the desired sub-cooled state is reached.
Although the foregoing measures achieve desirable reductions in hiss noise, they add complexity and cost over expansion valves without these features. It would be desirable to reduce the added cost and complexity while maintaining the desirable reduction in hiss from the TXV.

Automotive thermostatic expansion valve with reduced hiss


[Problem] To increase adhesive strength between an aqueous base coat layer and a clear coat layer in a coating method by a two-coat one-bake system where an aqueous base coat paint is coated, then a clear coat paint is coated, and these two coated films are simultaneously hardened, in comparison with the conventional method.

In coating for steel plates and plastics of automobiles, home electric appliances and the like, for the purpose of shortening of coating process and energy saving, there have been a widely adopted coating method called a wet-on-wet system, or a two-coat one-bake system, occasionally, a three-coat one-bake system. In these coating systems, for the purpose of reducing volatile organic compound (VOC) reduction at the same time, for a paint used in a base coat layer of the two-coat one-bake system, and further for a paint used in a surfacer layer of the three-coat one-bake system, low VOC paints, for example, aqueous paints are often used.
However, since paints used in the aqueous base coat layer and aqueous surfacer layer have not reached the level of two-component reactive coated film in terms of coated film performance, there occur problems such as poor adhesiveness, solvent resistance, and water resistance, so methods for improving these drawbacks have been required.
In Patent documents 1 and 2, there is described a method in which a paint composed of a resin containing hydroxyl and carboxyl groups and a catalyst is coated as a base coat, next, a clear coat consisting mainly of a hydroxyl group-containing resin and a polyisocyanate compound is coated so that the isocyanate compound in the clear coat paint penetrates partly into the base coat layer to harden.
Patent document 3 describes that aiming at a similar effect of transferring an isocyanate compound in a clear coat partly into a base coat, as a hardener of the clear coat, a polyisocyanate containing 1 weight % or more, 70 weight % or less of dimer (also called uretdione) of 1,6-hexamethylene diisocyanate (hereinafter, also referred to as HDI) is used in a range of 1.2 to 3.0 in NCO/OH ratio.
In Patent documents 4 and 5, there is described a method for obtaining a water-dispersible polyisocyanate by reacting alkoxypolyalkylene glycol or a compound having an active hydrogen and a sulfo group with polyisocyanate.

Coating method and hardener for polyurethane paint

Abstract: [Solution] Provided is a coating method using a specific hardener in a clear coat paint. Namely, the hardener is characterized in that (1) it includes a reaction product of (i) a derivative of 1,6-hexamethylene diisocyanate including a trimer and virtually not including a diisocyanate monomer, and (ii) a compound having both an active hydrogen and a hydrophilic group; and (2) viscosity at 23° C. is not more than 1,000 mPa·s. The compound having both an active hydrogen and a hydrophilic group herein is a compound having an active hydrogen-containing group and a sulfo group represented by formula (I), and preferably the sulfo group in a hardener is neutralized with a tertiary amine.X—R—SO3H  Formula (I)(in the formula, X is an amino group, alkylamino group, cycloalkylamino group, or hydroxyl group, R is an aliphatic and/or alicyclic hydrocarbon group.)


Acoustic echo control and noise suppression is an important part of any “handsfree” telecommunication system, such as telephony or audio or video conferencing systems. Bandwidth and computational complexity constraints have prevented that stereo or multi-channel telecommunication systems have been widely applied. The advantages are very low complexity, high robustness, scalability to multi-channel audio without a need for loudspeaker signal distortion, and efficient integration of echo and noise control in the same algorithm. The proposed method for processing audio signals, comprises the steps of: —receiving an input signal, wherein the input signal is applied to a loudspeaker; —receiving a microphone signal generated by a microphone; —estimating the delay between the loudspeaker and the microphone signals and obtaining a delayed loudspeaker signal, —estimating a coloration correction values of the echo path on the delayed loudspeaker signal, —using information of the delayed loudspeaker signal, microphone signal, and coloration correction values to determine gain filter values, —apply the gain filter values to the microphone signal to remove the echo.

In the following, commonly used techniques for AEC, AES, and NS are described.
Acoustic Echo Canceler (AEC)
Traditionally, echo cancellation is accomplished by adaptively identifying the echo path impulse response and subtracting an estimate of the echo signal from the microphone signal. The far-end talker signal x(n) (loudspeaker signal) goes through the echo path, whose impulse response is modeled as an FIR filter, and adds to the microphone signal y(n) together with the near-end talker signal v(n) and the ambient noise w(n):y(n)=hTx(n)+v(n)+w(n),  (1)wherex(n)=[x(n), x(n−1), . . . x(n−J+1)]T,h=[h0, h1, . . . , hJ−1]T,
J is the length of the echo path impulse response, and T denotes the transpose of a vector or a matrix. To cancel the echo in the microphone signal, an echo estimate ŷ(n) is needed, which is generated by passing the far-end talker signal through an FIR filterĥ=[ĥ0, ĥ1, . . . ĥK−1]T  (2)of length K (generally less than J),ŷ(n)=[ĥT,0]x(n)  (3)
The FIR filter coefficients are estimated adaptively in time. Subtracting ŷ(n) from the microphone signal y(n) yields the error signale(n)=y(n)−ŷ(n)  (4)
The mean square error (MSE) can be expressed asE{e2(n)}=E{(y(n)−ŷ(n))2}  (5)where E{·} denotes mathematical expectation. The objective of the AEC is to estimate an ĥ that minimizes E{e2(n)}.
There is a vast literature addressing how to search for the optimum ĥ using adaptive techniques. Commonly used algorithms include normalized least-mean-square (NLMS), recursive least-squares (RLS), proportionate NLMS (PNLMS), affine projection algorithm (APA), etc.
During doubletalk (when the talker at the near-end is talking, i.e. v(n)≈0, usually the adaptive filter coefficients are "frozen" to prevent that the near-end signal v(n) has a negative effect on the adaptive filter in terms of estimating the acoustic echo path. For this purpose, a doubletalk detector is used.
Another solution was described to suppress the echo in an audio signal in the document US 2004/0057574. This is achieved by computing the spectral envelopes of the loudspeaker and microphone signals and determining the spectral envelope of the echo signal using adaptive filters. This approach attempts to continuously estimate the time varying spectral envelope of the echo signal. The problem with this technique is that the adaptive filters predicting the spectral envelopes need to re-converge every time when the properties of the loudspeaker signal change. That is, because the echo signal spectral envelope does not only depend on the loudspeaker signal spectral envelope but also on the loudspeaker signal itself. This signal dependence of the adaptive filters results in the problem that often the echo signal spectral envelope is not estimated precisely enough and the echo is not sufficiently removed.
Also this technique addresses the problem of acoustic echo removal in the microphone signal. It uses a stereo sampling unit for converting both, microphone and loudspeaker signals, to sample these signals. The transfer function between the loudspeaker and microphone signal is computed. Given the microphone signal, loudspeaker signal, and estimated transfer function ideally an interference free (echo free) microphone signal is generated, alternatively in the time or frequency domain. In the frequency domain, the loudspeaker spectrum is multiplied with the transfer function and then subtracted from the microphone signal to remove the echo. In the time domain, equivalently, the loudspeaker signal is convoluted with the filter (time domain version of the transfer function) and subtracted from the microphone signal.
In the document US2003/0156273, a cancellation approach is proposed in which the system should first determine the accurate echo path to subtract the echo signal from the microphone signal.
While it seems that this approach does consider only part of the true echo path, due to considering a single FFT spectrum of the loudspeaker and microphone signals, it relies similarly as AEC on CANCELLATION of the echo and not SUPPRESSION, as indicated by the subtraction operation of the filter unit in either frequency or time domain. This makes this approach, similarly as AEC, very sensitive to echo path changes. We are addressing this issue by not estimating a transfer function directly corresponding to the echo path, but merely estimating real valued gain factors (denoted coloration effect values) which only model the energy transfer from loudspeaker to microphone, and ignore phase information. Further, our approach increases robustness and decreases computation complexity by considering lower frequency resolution mimicking the frequency resolution of the auditory system. While, with our approach, CANCELLATION is not possible, due to the lack of a precise echo estimate (due to ignoring the phase), we are applying only spectral magnitude modification to suppress the echo (thus we do not, as the filter unit in the mentioned approach, subtract an echo estimate to remove the echo).

Method and device for removing echo in an audio signal

(EPFL) Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne


A wrapping apparatus applies a wrapping medium to an annular article such as a coil of a metal strip, to cover the inner surface as well as the outer surfaces thereof. The apparatus includes a rigid loop structure defining an endless T-sectioned track, and extends as a cantilever extending from a free standing columnar support. The support includes an elevator device for raising and lowering the loop structure. The loop structure includes a hinged gate portion that may be moved to an open position to enable the track to be linked with the annular article, and then reclosed. A self-propelled shuttle moves around the track and carries a dispensing device and a prestretching device that hold wrapping medium and enable the medium to be removed from the coil. A trolley with two power driven rollers continuously reorients the article as wrapping proceeds. A take-up accumulator device is disposed on the shuttle, and includes a plurality of fixedly positioned training rollers, a plurality of yieldably positioned training rollers, and a pneumatic loading device which resiliently loads the yieldably positioned rollers away from the fixedly positioned rollers, so as to maintain tension in the wrapping media.

Such packaging is discarded when the goods are put to use, and so it is desirable not only for the package itself to be inexpensive in so far as its materials and construction are concerned, but also for it to be applicable to and removable from the goods expeditiously and with a minimum of labour. Those desiderata are to some extent incompatible with the imperative that the package reliably exclude contaminants for what may be a lengthy period.
One widely adopted proposal to resolve that incompatibility has been to wrap or swathe the article or bundle in substantially impervious, pliable sheet or strip wrapping medium. An excellent wrapping medium for the purpose is so-called stretch wrap plastics film, which is chemically inert, proof to most liquids including water, and tends to cling to anything it contacts including itself. That film is stretched prior to or during its application to the article or bundle. It has the property known as "memory" which means it seeks to return to the unstretched state. As a result it tends to mould itself to the article and form a tight wrapping thereon.
One class of known apparatus for applying a pliable wrapping medium has comprised a turntable or the like on which the article is placed and a draw-off spool holder rotatably supporting a spool of the wrapping medium. In use, an end of the wrapping medium is taped or otherwise secured to the article and the article is rotated to draw wrapping medium from the spool holder and wrap itself therein. The spool holder includes tension regulating devices to maintain a suitable tension in the drawn-off medium and, in the case of stretch wrap film, to stretch it as it leaves the spool. The spool-holder (or the turntable) may be moved in the axial direction of the spool to cause successive turns of the wrapping medium applied to the article to overlap and so provide an uninterrupted coverage. As a general rule the article has to be reoriented on the turntable at least once during the wrapping to obtain full coverage. Alternatively, if the shape of the article permits, it may be continuously reoriented on the turntable as wrapping proceeds.
Disadvantages of this class of known wrapping apparatus are the limitations on the shapes of the articles that may be wrapped and the limitation on the mass of the article if the expense of providing a heavy duty turntable with high power drive and braking systems is to be avoided.
Another class of known apparatus which alleviates the last mentioned disadvantage provides a rotatable frame which supports the spool holder so that it may orbit about the article being wrapped. In this instance the article may be stationary except for such intermittent or continuous reorientation as may be needed for full coverage. For example, a cylindrical article may be supported on two spaced apart parallel rollers with their axes horizontal. At least one of those support rollers may be driven to cause the article to turn slowly about its own, also horizontal, axis. The spool holder may be set to orbit the article in a generally horizontal plane, but which may be raised or lowered, with the spool axis vertical. Depending on the altitude of the spool relative to the axis of the article, the drawn-off medium will cover the whole of the article or will leave uncovered a central circular area of greater or lesser diameter of each end face of the article. In the event that the cylindrical article is also annular, for example a coil of metal strip, those uncovered areas may be adjusted to substantially coincide with the ends of the bore of the coil.
The main disability of this last mentioned class of known apparatus is once again the limitation on the shape of the articles that may be conveniently wholly wrapped.
Another class of known wrapping apparatus particularly suited to wrapping elongate articles comprises a circular structure which carries a spool holder. That structure is caused to rotate about its own axis, which is horizontal, to produce orbital movement of the spool holder about that axis. The article to be wrapped is passed by appropriate conveyors through the structure along that axis.


Signals from a remote control device may be received in a first viewing area and retransmitted to a second viewing area to control customer premises equipment (CPE) devices in the second viewing area. In some embodiments, signals are translated for compatibility with the CPE devices in the second viewing area. A repeater in the first viewing area may receive infrared signals encoded with a remote control command and retransmit the remote control command with an RF signal to a receiver in the second viewing area. The repeater may be incorporated into a multimedia processing resource such as a set-top box.

1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to multimedia content distribution networks, and more particularly to transmission of remote control device commands.
2. Description of the Related Art
Multimedia content may be received over a multimedia content distribution network (MCDN) and processed by a multimedia processing resource (MPR) such as a set-top box (STB). A viewing site may have multiple viewing areas with each served by a separate MPR.

Remote control device signal distribution


A hydraulic arrangement is provided, including: a hydraulic cylinder that is provided with a first and a second chamber, a hydraulic reservoir, a hydraulic fluid feeder conveying hydraulic fluid, a hydraulic accumulator, a hydraulic line arranged between the hydraulic accumulator and the first chamber, a control valve arranged in the hydraulic line, a first supply line for the first chamber, a second supply line for the second chamber, and a controller with a lifting position, a lowering position, a neutral position, and a spring support position for controlling the hydraulic cylinder. The second supply line is fluidly connected to the hydraulic reservoir and the first and second supply lines are substantially prevented from being fluidly connected to the hydraulic fluid feeder when the controller is in the spring support position.

In agricultural machines, such as, for example, telescopic loaders, wheel loaders, or front loaders on tractors, it is known practice to apply a hydraulic spring support system that provides spring support for the boom or the linkage in order to attain an improved spring suspension comfort, particularly during the operation. Here the lifting side of the hydraulic cylinder is connected to a hydraulic accumulator by means of an appropriate hydraulic arrangement of valves, in order to provide spring support by the hydraulic accumulator. Furthermore the lowering side of the hydraulic cylinder is connected to a hydraulic reservoir, in order, on the one hand, to avoid cavitation during the lowering and, on the other hand, to permit free movement of the piston rod during the spring support process. To improve safety against a sudden sinking of the boom or the linkage, these spring support systems can be equipped with load holding valves to secure these systems against hose breakage. However it is then necessary, in order to permit a lowering of the hydraulic cylinder, to close the reservoir connection on the lowering side of the cylinder, so that a sufficient pressure is built up in order to open the load holding valve. Only after opening the load holding valve can hydraulic fluid drain off from the lifting side of the hydraulic cylinder.
A hydraulic arrangement for such a spring support system is disclosed in EP 1 157 963 A2. A spring support system is proposed for the boom of a telescopic loader that is provided with a load holding valve or an automatic shut-off valve in order to secure the boom against falling off. A separate selector valve is arranged in order to be able to open the load holding valve on the one hand, and on the other hand, to make available a spring support function even in the neutral position of the hydraulic cylinder. The valve must be closed so as to close a connection to the reservoir established for the spring support in order to be able to build up the pressure in the supply line needed to open the load holding valve. This condition makes it necessary for the "lowering" function of the hydraulic cylinder to be detected or monitored at an appropriate location and must be considered in the switching logic of the spring support arrangement for the closing of the control valve, which has been found to be particularly costly and problematical in the case of purely mechanically actuated controllers. In this connection EP 1 157 963 A2 points to a monitoring arrangement in the form of a sensor on the controller that is to determine whether or not the boom is to be lowered. Without a fixed monitoring arrangement or with a defective monitoring arrangement for the controller or for the "lowering function" switching errors could occur in the hydraulic arrangement.


A method and an apparatus for obtaining narrow tolerances of accuracy to pe and size of a rolled product rolled in a wire mill and/or bar mill including at least two sizing stands of high stiffness wherein, with the exception of the last stand, the stands are adjustable under load. The stands cooperate with a device for determining the geometrical data of the rolled product, as well as the relevant rolling operation data. The device is mounted in front of the next-to-last stand for detecting the geometrical data of the rolled product before it enters into the next-to-last stand. The measured values are processed with a sizing model for obtaining a desired exact profile shape in the last roll stand in a computer for forming a signal which is used for adjusting the next-to-last stand.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for obtaining narrow tolerances of the accuracy to shape and size of a product rolled in a wire mill and/or bar mill with the use of at least two sizing stands of high stiffness which, with the exception of the last stand, are adjustable under load. The stands cooperate with means for detecting the geometrical data of the rolled product and relevant rolling-operation data of the product, as well as with a computer in which a signal is calculated from stored data and measured data, wherein the signal is used to correct the adjustment of at least one of the stands.
The present invention also relates to an apparatus for carrying out the above-described method.
2. Description of the Related Art
The automatic control of rolling trains, particularly for rolling sheet products, is known. In sheet rolling trains, for example, the thickness of the product is measured continuously or periodically and the roll gap of one or more roll stands of the rolling train is changed on the basis of the measurement in accordance with a mathematical algorithm in order to obtain a product of the desired thickness.
When rolling sections, control of the train is more complicated. The change in the roll gap has more influence than in the case of a sheet on the circumferential dimension of the section, i.e., the width of the section changes. Effects of changes of diameter in longitudinal direction, for instance due to eccentricity of the rolls, changes in temperature in the rolled product, and changes in tensile stress or wear, can only be insufficiently compensated. This is because, in the known methods for controlling section rolling mill trains, the geometrical data of the rolled product are detected in order to determine an optimum correction in a computer on the basis of the relevant rolling operating data stored therein. However, the detection of the geometrical data takes place only behind the last stand of the train. As a result, mistakes can only be compensated after they have already occurred, so that a considerable part of the rolled product produced cannot comply with the necessary tolerance values (Federal Republic of Germany 28 11 778).
Because of the detection of differences in tolerance only behind the finishing stand, higher demands had to be placed on the preliminary cross section, particularly if-as is also known-the group of finishing stands has been operated with two rigid grooves. The temperature differences over the length of the bar also had to be kept very small in order to achieve results which comply with the tolerance. Even if the finishing stand were made adjustable, it could not be prevented that errors could only be corrected after they had already occurred.

Mannesmann Aktiengesellschaft A Corp. of the Federal Republic of Germany


An optical-electric connector (100) includes an insulating housing (10), a number of terminals, an optical element (40) and a shielding shell (30). The insulating housing (10) defines a mating face (11) having a mating hole (111) thereon, a receiving room (13) communicating with the mating hole and a number of terminal slots (15) receiving the terminals. The optical element is assembled in the insulating housing. The shielding shell substantially encloses the insulating housing and comprises a grounding tab (33) extending from an upper face thereof, the terminal comprises a grounding terminal and a detecting terminal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a connector, and particularly relates to an optical-electric connector for receiving an audio and an optical plug selectively.
2. Description of Prior Arts
Miniaturized audio visual apparatuses such as a DVD (Digital Versatile Disk) player/recorder, MD (Mini-Disk) player/recorder, etc., portable audio apparatuses such as an MD portable player/recorder, CD portable player/recorder, memory type audio apparatus (audio apparatus using a memory card), etc., personal computer, mobile communication apparatuses such as a mobile phone, pocket or portable telephone etc., or the like have been miniaturized more and more in their external configurations or shapes and dimensions or sizes, and accordingly, an input terminals and/or output terminals built in or mounted to these electronic apparatuses have been also miniaturized. Particularly, in recent years, with the advance of optical connector mounted on thereto as an optical signal input terminal for receiving an optical or light digital signal or an optical signal output terminals for outputting an optical connector to the optical cable.
An optical connector mounted to any one of various electronic apparatuses and appliances has a light receiving element or light emitting element housed in the connector body thereof, and for instance, one of two optical plugs mounted to an optical cable at opposed ends thereof respectively, that transmits an optical or light digital signal is directly plugged in the optical connector, so that an optical digital signal is transmitted from the optical cable to the optical connector or from the optical connector to the optical cable.
A conventional optical-electric connector usually comprises an insulative housing, a plurality of signal terminals received in the housing. And a grounding terminal received in the housing. But in the conventional optical-electric connector, signal terminals are engaged with signal portion of a corresponding plug before the grounding terminal contacts with grounding terminal of the plug connector. A noise may be produced before the grounding terminals contacting each other. Further the conventional optical-electric connector has not provided a detecting terminal for detecting whether an audio plug or an optical plug being plugged in.
Hence, it is desirable to have an optical-electric connector with an improved grounding terminal and detecting terminal to overcome the above-mentioned disadvantages of the prior art.


A handheld electronic apparatus including an upper base module is provided. The upper base module includes a proximity/light sensor and a touch controller. The proximity/light sensor detects a distance between the proximity/light detector and an external object according to a light. The touch controller is coupled to the proximity/light detector for controlling a touch control action on a touch sensor of the handheld electronic apparatus.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a handheld electrical apparatus, and more particularly, to a construction of a proximity/light sensor of a handheld electronic apparatus.
2. Description of Related Art
Following the development of electronic technology, handheld electronic apparatus have become an indispensible tool in people's life. Through the handheld electronic apparatus (e.g. handheld mobile phones), people can quickly obtain desired information or communicate with other people anywhere and anytime, which effectively increases the convenience in people's life.
Referring to FIG. 1, which is a cross-sectional view of a conventional handheld mobile phone 10. The handheld mobile phone 10 is usually mounted with a proximity/light sensor 13 which is used to detect whether the handheld mobile phone approaches an object by detecting a light. In brief, when the proximity/light sensor 13 detects that there is an object approaching the handheld mobile phone 10, it indicates that the handheld mobile phone 10 is in the state of a call connection. At this time, the screen of the handheld mobile phone 10 is not observed by the user and, therefore, the handheld mobile phone may shut off the screen to save power.
However, in the conventional mobile phone, the proximity/light sensor 13 is disposed in a lower base module 11 of the handheld mobile phone 10 and detects the light through an opening 14 formed through an upper base module 12. With such a construction, the error generated by assembly of the handheld mobile phone 10 causes the detection of the proximity/light sensor 13 to be inaccurate. In addition, when the handheld mobile phone 10 is re-assembled, the proximity/light sensor 13 needs to be re-calibrated. Furthermore, limited by the thickness of the upper base module 12, an overlarge air gap AG between the proximity/light sensor 13 and the opening 14 of the upper base module 12 affects the performance of the proximity/light sensor. In addition, an overlarge diameter of the opening 14 of the upper base module 12 also significantly affects the appearance of the handheld mobile phone 10.


An apparatus for MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) includes a scanner, a support for a patient, and a supporting bench for the scanner and for the patient support, wherein the scanner and said patient support are mounted on the supporting bench such that a position of at least one of the scanner and the patient support can be changed with respect to the other of the scanner and the patient support.

The invention relates to an apparatus for MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) including a scanner, a support for the patient, and supporting benches for supporting the scanner and the patient.
It is well known from prior art to make a Magnetic Resonance Imaging apparatus comprising means for supporting the patient in different ways, and having one or more degrees of freedom with respect to the scanner. It is also well known from prior art to use means for supporting and moving the scanner itself with respect to the room where the examination takes place and with respect to the patient himself. Prior art apparatus have some problems as regards the correct positioning of the patient: the patient often has to take unnatural positions during the examination in order to examine a particular part of his body, and he needs to be repositioned to scan the different body parts in the correct way. Especially in prior art MRI apparatus wherein the scanner is free to move with respect to the patient support, the examination needs a frequent and time-wasting initial phase of positioning, since the medical staff has to set the position of the scanner and the patient support in such a way to obtain the best results in imaging the part of the patient body under examination.
Moreover, prior art apparatus with the scanner joined to the patient support are often not optimized, since the volume that is used is larger than the necessary volume, this leads to have an examination room larger than necessary.
Particularly in known MRI apparatus there is often a part of the examination room whose function is to contain the data processor and its related devices for processing data and displaying results, as well as the control unit, i.e., the electric/electronic devices for controlling the scanner and the patient table motion. This fact leads to a non-optimal space management since a large part of the room is used to contain such devices.
Moreover, it has been found in prior art apparatus that there is another area that is not used, i.e., the area under the patient support and the area under the scanner. Usually in known apparatus two different benches are provided, one for supporting the scanner and one for supporting the patient support, both of them are made in such a way so that they can be used for supporting the scanner or the patient support. Even in the prior art apparatus wherein the scanner is moved together with the patient support, the benches are different, and their only function is to move the scanner and the patient support in their respective correct positions, in this case in fact they always include only means for moving, such as electric engine, guides and so on.
In the case of separated benches for individually supporting the scanner and the patient support that have to be moved together there is another problem, they need some lines to transmit the signals from the control unit from/to the scanner, from the control unit from/to the patient support, and from the scanner itself to/from the displaying devices and from/to all of the said elements, and this causes dedicated lines, that must be usually positioned under the wall or under the floor, having the evident drawback that they raise when the apparatus has to be moved or installed from a room to another dedicated one.

Apparatus for magnetic resonance imaging


A modular assembly for centrally locating electrical connections of cellular telephone accessories to a cellular telephone near a cellular telephone cradle. An adapter module containing electronics for effectuating the connections is located and mounted beneath the cellular telephone cradle. The adapter contains a plurality of connections for connecting to the cellular telephone accessories.

1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains in general to devices for mounting cellular telephone cradles to automobiles, and more particularly, to an adaptor module attached to a cellular telephone cradle for electrically connecting cellular telephone accessories to a cellular telephone.
2. Description of Related Art
Increasingly, cellular telephone accessories such as speaker phones, auxiliary handsets, and modems are being connected to cellular telephones. In addition, hand-held cellular telephones are frequently placed in a cradle or docking station when used in an automobile. These cradles allow hand-held cellular telephones to use hands free speakerphone equipment, vehicle power supplies, externally mounted antenna, and auxiliary transmitters having greater transmitting output power than the hand held cellular telephone transmitter. In the past, the use of cellular telephone accessories and the use of a cradle were mutually exclusive activities with the user having to choose between placing the hand-held cellular telephone in the cradle or attaching a cellular telephone accessory directly to the cellular telephone. To address this problem, the cellular telephone cradle and various cellular telephone accessories can be connected to each other via an interface system which connects and arbitrates between the various components. While such an interface system allows the various components to interface with one another, connections to the interface system are cumbersome and spread about the vehicle or located in inconvenient locations. It would be advantageous, therefore, to devise a modular assembly which centrally locates connections between the cellular telephone and the various cellular telephone accessories to a position near the cellular telephone cradle. Furthermore, it would be advantageous for the modular assembly to be easily mounted to a mounting surface together with a standard cellular telephone cradle.

Modular assembly for centrally locating cellular telephone accessory connections


Provided is a compact and bright imaging optical system having a high resolution. The imaging optical system includes three reflectors composed of a first reflector (1), a second reflector (2), and a third reflector (3) that are arranged in this order on an optical path of incident ray so as not to block the incident light. In the imaging optical system, in which light beams reflected by the three reflectors form an image plane (4), a convex mirror is used for any one of the first reflector (1) and the third reflector (3) and a concave mirror is used for the other thereof, and vertexes of a triangular dipyramid (6) are defined in terms of a central chief ray (5) by an appropriate point on the central chief ray (5) that is incident to the first reflection surface, a reflection point of each central chief ray on the first to third reflection surfaces, and an image forming point of the central chief ray. A plane containing three reflection points of the central chief ray on the first to third reflection surfaces coincides with a bonding plane between two triangular pyramids forming the triangular dipyramid (6).

A function required for an optical system used in an image capture apparatus is a function of gathering light incident from a subject by bending the light to thereby form an image of the subject on an image plane. Examples of an optical element having such an action of bending light include a lens that bends light by utilizing a difference in refractive indexes and a reflector that bends light through reflection.
As for the lens, light passes through an inside thereof, so it is required to use a material having sufficiently large transmittance with respect to a desired wavelength range. Further, a material is limited to an expensive material depending on a specific wavelength range such as ultraviolet rays or infrared rays, which leads to a problem in terms of cost.
In addition, there is chromatic aberration ascribable to variances in a magnitude of a refractive index of the material of the lens that generally occur depending on a wavelength of light, so in order to obtain constant image formation performance over a wide wavelength range, it is required to perform so-called achromatization that is a complicated correction in which, for instance, two or more lenses having different refractive index changes with respect to a wavelength are combined with each other.
As for the reflector, there is no limitation on a material thereof as long as a reflection surface can be coated with a reflection material having sufficient performance, so it is possible to obtain an inexpensive optical system with respect to every wavelength range. Also, a reflection action does not depend on the wavelength of light, so it is possible to obtain an optical system having no chromatic aberration over a wide wavelength band with ease.
In a reflection-type optical system, however, incident ray to a reflection surface and reflection light beams thereof appear on the same side with respect to the reflection surface, so a reflector of a next surface is also positioned on the same side as the incident ray. Therefore, a so-called "eclipse" that is a phenomenon in which the reflector of the next surface obscures the incident ray readily occurs. When the eclipse occurs, a light amount of the incident ray decreases, so it becomes impossible to obtain a bright optical system.
To prevent the eclipse from occurring, there is a method of giving an angle between a light beam incident direction and a light beam outgoing direction by using, for instance, incident ray inclined with respect to an axis of the optical system. As a matter of course, the reflector of the next surface is arranged in the light beam outgoing direction, so by changing a direction by giving an angle between the light beam incident direction and the light beam outgoing direction, it is possible to prevent overlapping of the reflector of the next surface with the incident ray, to thereby prevent the eclipse.
For instance, FIG. 13 is a cross-sectional view showing a conventional imaging optical system of a reflection type (see Non-patent Document 1 and Patent Document 1). A coordinate system in the figure is expressed with a right-handed coordinate system in which a righthand direction in the figure is set as a "+z direction", an upward direction in the figure is set as a "+y direction", and an upward direction vertical to a paper plane is set as a "+x direction".
The conventional imaging optical system shown in FIG. 13 uses light beams having predetermined inclinations in a y direction with respect to an axis 11 of the optical system as incident ray 12 incident to the optical system and bends the incident ray 12 in a zigzag manner on a plane, thereby enabling an arrangement in which the light beams do not overlap with a first reflector 1 having a convex spherical shape, a second reflector 2 having a concave rotation oval surface shape, a third reflector 3 having a concave spherical shape, an aperture diaphragm 10, and an image plane 4 in the y direction. As a result, the optical system realizes an angle of view of 30°×20° at a brightness of F/4.
Non-patent Document 1: Kenneth L. Hallam et al., "An all-reflective wide-angle flat-field telescope for space", Instrumentation in astronomy V; Proceedings of the Fifth Meeting, 1983
Patent Document 1: U.S. Pat. No. 4,598,981 (WIDE-ANGLE FLAT FIELD TELESCOPE)


A cache device may include a first storage unit configured to store first cache data, a second storage unit configured to store a cache file that stores copy of the first cache data as second cache data; a reading unit configured to select and read out one of the first cache data, which has been stored in the first storage unit, and the second cache data, which has been stored in the cache file stored in the second storage unit, in response to a reference request from outside, and an instructing unit configured to determine probability of expecting future referencing request based on the frequency of past referencing requests, the instructing unit being configured to instruct that either the first cache data or the second cache data is to be selected and read out based on the probability.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cache device, a communication apparatus, and a computer program product.
Priority is claimed on Japanese Patent Application No. 2012-009137, filed Jan. 19, 2012, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of the Related Art
All patents, patent applications, patent publications, scientific articles, and the like, which will hereinafter be cited or identified in the present application, will hereby be incorporated by reference in their entirety in order to describe more fully the state of the art to which the present invention pertains.
Conventionally, in order to implement a high level of automated operation in plants, factories, and the like, distributed control systems (DCSs), in which on-site equipment (measurement instruments and actuators) known as field devices are connected to device management apparatuses that manage and control the field devices via a communication bus have been implemented. In such a distributed control system, cache devices are often used to alleviate delay in data transfer to the minimum possible, and to improve transmission efficiency.
A cache device used in a distributed control system holds device property information obtained from field devices and parameter property information obtained from a DD (device description) file created using a DDS (data description specification) as cache data in a memory such as a RAM (random-access memory) or the like. In this case, the above-noted device property information is a tag indicating the ID (identifier) or name of a field device, the internal field device calculation time period, and information indicating other characteristics of the field device. The above-noted parameter property information is parameters used in the field device (for example, parameters into which measurement results are stored, or parameters for calculations), such as data length, sign, moniker, and information indicating other characteristics.
Specifically, when there is a parameter read or write request to a field device from a host device (for example, a device management apparatus), the above-noted cache device obtains and holds as cache data the device property information and parameter property information required for the execution of processing in response to the request from the field device and the DD file, and executes processing in response to the request. Then, if the same request is received again, by executing the processing in response to the request using device property information and parameter property information that are held as cache data, the time required for obtaining the device property information from the field device and the time required for analyzing the DD file to obtain the parameter property information are eliminated.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2003-333121 discloses a field device communication apparatus provided between a host device and a controller that controls a field device, which fully asynchronously communicates with a GUI means of the host device and which communicates with the field device via the controller. Additionally, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2006-91961 discloses a communication interface that has a request cache in which a request from a host application is registered and a response cache in which a response from a field device is stored.
As disclosed, for example, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2006-91961, requests from a host device and responses from a field device are without exception conventionally all held into memory as cache data. For this reason, even information for which there is no expectation of re-referencing is held as cache data in memory, this leading to unnecessary use of memory capacity. In recent years, communication apparatuses connectable to several thousand field devices have become practical and, with such communication apparatuses, a huge amount of memory to hold cache data is required.
Additionally, because responses and the like from the above-described field devices has conventionally been all held as cache data in memory, the maximum number of field devices to which connection could be made in accordance with a capacity of memory is limited. Although it can be envisioned that if an expansion of memory used for the cache is possible, an increase is possible in the maximum number of field devices, the maximum number of field devices cannot be increased if it is not possible to expand the memory.

Cache device, communication apparatus, and computer program product


An improved circuit board having a variety of electronic components mounted thereon and having disposed to the autumn side of the circuit board a backing plate having a variety of thicknesses wherein a thicker portion of the backing plate is disposed near portions of the circuit board or components on the circuit board which are of a higher heat generating nature, the circuit board further having a slot extending through the circuit board and inserted in the slot is a metallic shielding cover which contacts the backing plate. Also disclosed is a method for manufacturing the circuit board.

In the past, it has been proposed that heat dissipating properties for circuit boards be increased by affixing a thick metal plate or heat sink to the back of the printed circuit board. While this method has enjoyed much use in the past, it does have serious drawbacks. Since the metal plate is capable of absorbing heat from the components during normal operation of the circuit board, the metal plate is also capable of absorbing heat during any soldering process and thereby requiring an increased amount of time that the circuit board and plate combination is in a soldering machine which is known to be undesirable.
Also in the past, it has been proposed to provide for E/M shielding of various sections of a circuit board by placing a conductive cover on top of the circuit board over the area to be shielded. While this method of E/M shielding has received extensive use in the past, it too has serious drawbacks. Frequently the degree of E/M shielding is not sufficient for some purposes and consequently the performance of the circuit is degraded.
Also in the past it has been proposed to use a fixture device having several protuberances thereon for applying pressure to selective areas on a printed circuit board during the vapor phase soldering process. While this method has been used in the past, it too does have some drawbacks. The several protuberances often fail to provide an even distribution of pressure across the circuit board allowing for areas where the soldering process fails to be optimal.
Consequently, there exists a need for improving RF circuit boards and their method of manufacture.


A priority selector of a system including a plurality of processors and a shared source commonly used by the processors sets a priority of requests supplied from the processors for using the shared source and supplies a use permission to a single processor. The priority selector has a plurality of lock request priority setting circuits corresponding to the processors and a request selector. When a contention occurs between an own request from a processor and other request from another processor, the corresponding lock request priority setting circuit upgrades the non-permitted own request as a high priority request when the other request is permitted, and downgrades a following own request as a low priority request when the own request is accepted. The request selector receives requests from the processors, the priority of which is set by the lock request priority setting circuits, selects a high priority request prior to a low priority request, and selects a request in accordance with a predetermined priority when the received requests are of the same priority.

The present invention relates to a priority selector and, more particularly, to a priority selector for a data processing system in which a plurality of processors share a main memory, wherein the selector allows the processors to use the main memory in accordance with a predetemined priority in response to requests from the processors.
Various conventional priority selectors have been proposed for a data processing system. According to one conventional priority selector, when a plurality of processors use a main memory independently, they output lock requests. When a plurality of lock requests contend, one lock request is selected in accordance with a predetermined priority. In another conventional priority selector, priority is determined in accordance with a so-called LRU (Least Recently Used) scheme. According to this method, the history of selected processors when lock request contentions occurred is managed, and the past history is reflected when the next lock request contention occurs.
In the conventional priority selectors described above, the priority of the processors is preset to be constant. When lock requests are often supplied from processors of higher priorities, a lock request from a processor of lower priority is not accepted. As a result, the lock request success frequencies are not uniform among the processors. In addition, processing at a processor of lower priority must be delayed until its lock request is accepted, resulting in variations in the processing capacities of the processors. When the priority is determined in accordance with the LRU scheme or the like, hardware for compensating for lock contention is excessively large compared to the lock contention frequency.


The present disclosure relates to image processing and analysis and in particular automatic segmentation of identifiable items in an image, for example the segmentation and identification of characters or symbols in an image. Upon user indication, multiple images of a subject are captured and variations between the images are created using lighting, spectral content, angles and other factors. The images are processed together so that characters and symbols may be recognized from the surface of the image subject.

The advent of portable integrated computing devices has caused a wide proliferation of cameras. These integrated computing devices commonly take the form of smartphones or tablets and typically include general purpose computers, cameras, sophisticated user interfaces including touch sensitive screens, and wireless communications abilities through WiFi, LTE, HSDPA and other cell-based or wireless technologies. The wide proliferation of these integrated devices provides opportunities to use the devices' capabilities to perform tasks that would otherwise require dedicated hardware and software. For example, as noted above, integrated devices such as smartphones and tablets typically have one or two embedded cameras. These cameras generally amount to lens/camera hardware modules that may be controlled through the general purpose computer using downloadable software (e.g., "Apps") and a user interface including the touch-screen fixed buttons and touchless control such as voice control.
One opportunity for using the features of an integrated device is to capture and evaluate images. The resident camera allows the capture of one or more images and the general purpose computer provides processing power to perform analysis. In addition, any analysis that is preferred for a network service computer can be facilitated by simply transmitting the image data or other data to a service computer (e.g., a server, a website, or other network-accessible computer) by using the communications capabilities of the device.
These abilities of integrated devices allow for recreational, commercial and transactional uses of images and image analysis. For example, images may be captured and analyzed to decipher information from the images such as characters and symbols. The characters and symbols may be transmitted over a network for any useful purpose such as for use in a game, or a database, or as part of a transaction such as a credit card transaction. For these reasons and others, it is useful to enhance the abilities of these integrated devices and other devices for deciphering information from images.

System and method for assisting in computer interpretation of surfaces carrying symbols or characters


A method and apparatus allocates an IP address between terminals in a wireless communication network in which terminals directly communicate with each other in a wireless scheme without an AP. The method for allocating an Internet Protocol (IP) address of a wireless terminal capable of performing P2P communication, includes                a discovery step of discovering at least one external terminal capable of performing the P2P communication and connecting with the at least one discovered external terminal by the wireless terminal; and a negotiation step of negotiating and determining with the external terminal which external terminals become a group owner and a group client in a P2P group, respectively by the wireless terminal. One of the discovery step and the negotiation step includes transmitting an IP address to be allocated to the group client to the external terminal from the wireless terminal.

Among wireless communication technologies, a wireless fidelity (hereinafter referred to 'Wi-Fi') direct network technology is a technology which enables Wi-Fi terminals to be connected to each other in a peer-to-peer (hereinafter referred to as 'P2P') fashion without an AP being a medium of an infrastructure network. Most of existing Wi-Fi technologies are aimed at only connecting with Internet through a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) AP, consideration of direct communication between terminals is insufficient. Direct communication between terminals may be achieved by a Bluetooth technology. However, performances in transmission distance and transmission speed sides of the Bluetooth technology is deteriorated as compared with the Wi-Fi Direct technology.
An existing Wi-Fi technology supports a mode in which direct communication between terminals is possible, which called an Ad-hoc mode. However, since the Ad-hoc mode is disadvantageous in that supplement is weak, power consumption is high, and throughput is limited to 11 Mbps, it is hardly used in actuality.
The Wi-Fi direct technology supports Wi-Fi Protected Access® 2 (WPA2) to supplement weakness of security. Further, the Wi-Fi Direct technology supports simple connection between terminals using a Wi-Fi Simple Configuration (hereinafter referred to 'WSC'). Moreover, the Wi-Fi direct technology provides an improved power consumption algorithm by supporting IEEE 802.11n to significantly improve throughput as compared with the Ad-hoc mode.
The Wi-Fi direct technology is a protocol manufactured based on IEEE 802.11, and is compatible with a legacy client. The Wi-Fi direct technology may be upgraded in a terminal without changing hardware.
Although the Wi-Fi direct technology has considerable advantages as illustrated above as compared with the Bluetooth and the Ad-hoc technology, there is a need for improvement in connection speed between terminals. The terminals perform an IP address allocation procedure after connection between the terminals is completed. That is, since the IP address allocation procedure is further performed after the connection between the terminals is completed, there is a limitation on improvement in connection speed. In particular, when one of the terminals is determined as a Group Owner (hereinafter referred to 'GO'), a corresponding terminal performs an AP function. That is, the GO drives a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (hereinafter referred to 'DHCP') server to allocate an IP address to another terminal, namely, a group client (hereinafter referred to 'GC').

Method and apparatus for allocating IP address in wireless communication network


A method of assembling a tower section of a wind turbine tower is provided. The method includes arranging the tower section of the wind turbine tower in a horizontal orientation; transporting a damper unit to a position inside the tower section while the tower section is arranged in the horizontal orientation; and mounting the damper unit to the tower section, wherein the damper unit is configured to damp motions of the wind turbine tower. Further, a horizontal transport system is provided that is supported at least at one position by the tower section and that includes a movable part configured to support a damper unit and to transport the damper unit in a horizontal direction from a position adjacent to an end of the tower section to a position at or adjacent to a mounting position of the damper unit inside the tower section.

Wind turbines must withstand considerable wind forces that act on the rotor, the nacelle and the tower of the wind turbine. Wind turbines experience dynamic load conditions due to the random character of the applied wind forces. The tall and slender wind turbine tower carries the nacelle which comprises the generator and further components and which supports the rotor, so that the center of mass of the wind turbine is positioned high above the ground. The applied dynamic forces result in movements of the upper part of the wind turbine, including so called Fore-Aft movements and Side-to-Side movements. Oscillation modes of the wind turbine tower can be excited, in particular when the frequencies of such modes get close to the rotor induced vibrations. A wind turbine has to withstand such dynamic mechanical loads during its lifetime of more than 25 years.
Due to the forced movement and vibrations, the tower experiences fatigue under operation and standstill throughout the lifetime of the wind turbine. Therefore, the turbine tower has to be designed in a way to withstand these loads, which requires a higher thickness of the tower shell or of the diameter of the cylindrical tower. Such measures increase the amount of material required for the tower, which increases the weight and the cost of the tower and of its individual tower sections. Since the tower sections have to be transported on the road or by boat to the installation site, the weight and size of such tower sections is limited due to traffic, road or boat requirements.
To address the above problems, it is known to install a damper in the uppermost section of the wind turbine tower or inside the nacelle. The damper reduces the motion of the wind turbine tower and can tune the frequencies of the oscillation modes of the wind turbine tower in a favorable manner. An example of such damper is described in the document EP 2 899 397 B1, wherein a damper having a toroidal shape is placed at the top of the tower or at the nacelle. With the increasing size of wind turbine towers, the damper required to provide efficient damping has to increase significantly in weight and size. Accordingly, it becomes problematic to install such dampers in wind turbine towers or to transport tower sections with installed dampers.
In particular, damper units with individual weights of 8 t or more can no longer be lifted into place using telehandlers with telescopic booms, which have been used in the past to install such dampers. Also, current installation methods have an increased health and safety risk as the damper is generally installed as a suspended load, and work has to be performed in the area of the suspended damper.
Installing the damper prior to transport of the tower section can result in problems of transport safety. In particular, an uneven weight distribution can lead to a rocking and rolling of the trailer and can further lead to imbalances when the tower section is to be shipped by boat.
It is desirable to facilitate the mounting of a damper to a wind turbine tower and to make such mounting procedure more safe and efficient. It is in particular desirable to mount the damper such that the available space can be utilized in the best possible way while ensuring that the assembly is fast and efficient and minimizes safety risks.

Assembly of a tower section of a wind turbine tower


An instrument panel for a motor vehicle comprises a plurality of layers which have voided areas. The plurality of layers are fitted together to construct an instrument panel so that the voided areas cooperate to form one or more air ducts that can extend in three-dimensions.

European Patent 0 185 856 B.sub.1 discloses a known instrument panel formed by two panel parts each having walls forming a duct. The duct connects components of the ventilation and heating system, such as connections between a heating or air-conditioning system and the corresponding outlet nozzles. A disadvantage of known instrument panels is that the ducts are formed by thin, essentially vertical walls extending from the panel parts. The panel parts have to be accurately shaped so that the corresponding contact surfaces of the panel parts rest flush against one another. Furthermore, additional assembly is required to insert the individual components of the heating and ventilation system in specifically provided cutouts.


A liquid cosmetic product dispenser includes mainly a reservoir, an internal piston and an applicator nozzle provided with an end valve. The reservoir consists of a base provided with an axial rod on which the piston can move longitudinally by rotating the base in relation to the nozzle.

As regards lip-gloss, the difference in density and viscosity between traditional products and the new products make the telescopic stick dispensers unusable and require a modification of the distribution and application means in order to fulfil the conditions of dosage, watertightness and protection of the product.
Liquid product dispensers already exist of the types that comprise a reservoir, an internal piston and an application nozzle, generally provided with a valve.
However, for marketing reasons, it is important to preserve, at least partly, the overall appearance of the traditional packaging in order to avoid an abrupt break with the make-up habits of the users. In particular, it seems essential to perpetuate the use of a rotary movement for delivering the product.
And yet, due to the fluidity of the product, resorting to such a movement poses mainly watertightness and dispensing problems.
It is necessary, mainly, to guarantee the hermetic seal of the dispenser using an end valve that does not have any kind of retention area in which a residual volume of the product would be at a risk of remaining and drying up.


A system and method for ensuring a connection to a configuration server by a customer premises equipment. The customer premises equipment is connected to a data network via a network connection. The data network includes a connection to the data network. A temporary configuration server is included to respond to configuration messages from the customer premises equipment before the network connection is capable of sending messages over the data network.

A. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of network communications and, more particularly, with the configuration of network devices in a data network.
B. Description of Related Art
Cable television service providers are taking advantage of the extensive reach of the cable network infrastructure to offer high-speed data network access to users of computing equipment, such as personal computers. Channels on the cable television network may be allocated for use as data network access channels to exploit channel bandwidths of 6 MHz on a medium having a frequency range of up to 1 GHz.
Subscribers of cable service may access data network services by connecting computers to the cable network using cable modems. Subscribers may also access data networks via one or more cable modems connected on a local area network. A cable modem has a radio interface connection to a broadband coaxial cable infrastructure and a data interface connection to the computer, or to a computer network. When used to connect a computer to the cable network, the cable modem may operate internal to the computer in a card slot with a direct connection to the bus system in the computer. The cable modem may also operate external to the computer with an external connection (e.g. Ethernet, serial, etc.) to the cable modem data interface.
Data networks connected to a cable network form what are called Data Over Cable Systems. Data over cable systems use a device called a cable modem termination system as an intermediary between a number of cable modems connected over the coaxial communications medium and a data network. The data network may also include a connection to the Internet. The cable modem termination system operates along with other system components in a "head-end" of the cable network. A cable service provider uses the cable modem termination system to distribute services to the cable modems connected to it. The cable modem termination system also provides facilities that may be used to manage the resources available to the cable modems.
Cable modems may operate on a bi-directional cable system or on a uni-directional cable system. In a bi-directional cable system, the cable modems may communicate with the cable modem termination system over the coaxial medium in both directions. That is, the cable modems may transmit and receive data to and from the cable modem termination system over the coaxial medium.
In an uni-directional cable system, data is communicated over the coaxial medium in a "downstream" direction only. That is, the cable modem may only receive data from the head-end of the cable network over the coaxial medium. The cable modem may transmit data in the "upstream" direction to the head-end of the cable network using an alternative communications device; such as by a telephone connection over the public switched telephone network (PSTN). Because cable networks have been traditionally used as a broadcast medium for cable television, most data over cable systems are still unidirectional systems.
Uni-directional and bi-directional data over cable systems perform a procedure for configuring the cable modems to connect to a data network. The Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) is used by devices that are connected to networks, such as the Internet, to obtain configuration parameters and other information that make it possible for the devices to communicate on the Internet. The devices perform the DHCP protocol as clients that query a DHCP server during the initialization procedure performed by the device at boot up. Once the DHCP server responds with the appropriate parameters, the devices may begin to communicate by sending and receiving packets on the Internet. The DHCP may be used by client computers and by cable modems that are connected to a data over cable system.
The parameters that a device may obtain using the DHCP include an Internet Protocol address (IP address), a list of domain name servers, a domain name, the lease time of the IP address, a default gateway for the device, a trivial file transfer protocol (TFTP) server address and TFTP file name. The DHCP has been adopted by the industry as a standard protocol that is documented in RFC 2131. The RFC 2131 describes the many parameters that may be obtained from the DHCP server. The RFC 2131 also describes instructions for communicating with the DHCP server. In a data over cable system, client computers and cable modems each use configuration parameters from a DHCP server before communicating on a data network. The cable modems obtain parameters during the initialization and registration process. The client computers may also obtain configuration parameters during system initialization.
The client computer uses the cable modem to access the data network, and thus, to access the DHCP server. However, until the cable modem is properly initialized, registered and fully connected, it cannot perform communications functions for the client computer or computers to which it is connected. This may cause problems for client computers in a variety of scenarios. For example, a computer may attempt to use a bi-directional cable modem to issue DHCP messages before the RF cable has been connected to the cable modem. In addition, if the cable modem and the computer are on the same power strip or if an internal cable modem is used and powered by the computer's bus system, the two always power-up simultaneously. If it takes more time for the cable modem to power-up and to become initialized and registered than for the computers to perform DHCP messages, the DHCP messages will not be communicated. In such situations, the connection may become permanently shut down.
Moreover, any client computer that obtains configuration parameters from a DHCP server connected to a data network to which it accesses via a communications device, such as a modem, or a gateway, may experience the same difficulty. If the communications device takes more time to initialize than it takes the client computer to begin requesting configuration parameters, the client computer may not be able to access configuration parameters from the DHCP server. Because a failure to retrieve configuration parameters is typically treated as an error, the client computer may require a restart to begin another request for configuration parameters. Where the communications device is connected to the client computer system bus, the communications device is reset whenever the client computer is reset. The client computer may never obtain configuration parameters in such a scenario permanently shutting down its connection to the data network.
It would be desirable to ensure DHCP operation on a client computer without the risk of permanently losing the connection through the communications device if the communications device is also not yet ready or able to perform DHCP messages from the client to the server.
It would be desirable to ensure DHCP operation on a client computer without the risk of losing the connection through the cable modem permanently if the cable modem is not yet ready or able to perform DHCP messages from the client to the server.

System and method for insuring dynamic host configuration protocol operation by a host connected to a data network