A thermal development apparatus is provided with: a thermal development section for heating a photosensitive thermal developable recording material to elicit a latent image recorded on an image-forming layer on both faces of the photosensitive thermal developable recording material by a heating unit, a cassette holder section for holding a cassette that houses the photosensitive thermal developable recording material therein, a conveyor unit for taking the photosensitive thermal developable recording material out of the cassette held in the cassette holder section and conveying the photosensitive thermal developable recording material to the thermal development section, and a control unit for controlling at least one of a heating temperature and a conveyance speed in the heating unit in the thermal development section, wherein the control unit is provided with a moisture correction information of the photosensitive thermal developable recording material and the control unit suitably corrects and controls the at least one of the heating temperature and the conveyance speed in the heating unit from a moisture content of the photosensitive thermal developable recording material on the basis of the moisture correction information thereof during thermal development of the photosensitive thermal developable recording material.

1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a thermal development apparatus for heating a photosensitive thermal developable recording material having a latent image formed thereon, to thereby visualize the latent image recorded on the image-forming layer on both faces of the photosensitive thermal developable recording material.
2. Description of the Related Art
Heretofore, there is known an image-forming apparatus in which a photographic material is imagewise exposed, then attached to an image-receiving material and heated for thermal development to transfer the developed image onto the image-receiving material, as in JP-A 2000-221654. In the apparatus of JP-A 2000-221654, water is used as the image-forming solvent for transferring the image from the photographic material to the image-receiving material, and therefore the apparatus is provided with a moisture sensor for moisture control therein.
An image-forming apparatus that is referred to as a medical imager is for forming a print of a visible image from the image analyzed by a medical analyzer such as CT, MRI, etc. In the image-forming apparatus of the type, a photosensitive thermal developable recording material having a photothermographic image-forming layer on a support of PET film or the like is used. In this, briefly, such a photosensitive thermal developable recording material is imagewise exposed with light beams that have been modulated in accordance with the image data fed from the image data supply source such as MRI or the like, thereby forming a latent image on it, and then the exposed material is thermally developed in the built-in thermal development unit in the apparatus to give colored hard copies, and this does not require water at all for an image-forming solvent.
FIG. 6 shows an image-forming apparatus equipped with an ordinary thermal development unit such as medical imager.
The image-forming apparatus 300 basically is provided with a recording material supply section 310, an image exposure section 320 and a thermal development section 330 in that order in the conveyance direction of recording material A.
In the recording material supply section 310, one uppermost sheet of recording material is taken out of the magazine 311 with the pickup roller unit 312, and conveyed to the image exposure section 320.
The image exposure section 320 is a section for imagewise exposing the recording material by scanning exposure of light beams, and the image exposure is performed by imagewise scanning using the laser beams L from the exposure unit 321.
The recording material with a latent image recorded thereon in the image exposure section 320 is then conveyed to the thermal development section 330. In the thermal development section 330, the recording material is heated by a heating unit of curved heat plates 331(a, b, c) for thermal development to convert the latent image into a visible image. A number of conveyor rollers 332 are disposed along the inner face of the curved heat plates 331. The edges of these conveyor rollers 332 are rotated with a large rotary disc 333, whereby the recording material is slid, heated and conveyed between the inner face of the curved heat plates 331 and the conveyor rollers 332 along the inner face of the heat plates 331. In this case, the recording material is heated on its one face by the curved heat plates 331.
Thus kept in contact with the heat plates 331, the recording material is thermally developed by the heat of the heat plates 331, and then this is led to the take-out tray 360 via the pre-cooling section 340 and the cooling section 350, and is thus taken out.
In the drawing, 370 is a power/control unit for power supply to the operation units, for light control in the image exposure unit and for control of the conveyance speed through the units.
In the method of recording a latent image on a recoding material through exposure of the material to light beams that are modulated in accordance with the image data fed from an image data supply source such as MRI, the recording material generally has an image-forming layer formed on one face thereof. In the method, therefore, only one face of the material having the image-forming layer is an object for heating relating to the thermal development of the recording material, as shown in the above-mentioned related-art examples. Even in the thermal development section (thermal development apparatus) of the type for double-sided photosensitive films, heating may be performed also on the face of the recording material not having an image-forming layer thereon (by the auxiliary heat source provided on the side of the material not having an image-forming layer thereon) In this case, however, the temperature control is merely for auxiliary heat control of the image-forming layer formed on one face of the material.
On the other hand, in a double-sided photosensitive pick-up method where an object is put between an X-ray tube and a film and a latent image of the object is recorded on the film by the X-ray having passed through the object, a fluorescent intensifying screen is disposed on both faces of the film (however, when the double-sided photosensitive film has a fluorescent sensitizer layer therein, the sheet is not disposed) and the film is housed in a cassette. When exposed to X-ray, the film may form an image thereon by the action of the fluorescent intensifying screen capable of being excited to give fluorescence through exposure to X-ray. Different from the films for the above-mentioned medical imagers such as CT and MRI, the double-sided photo sensitive films are characterized in that they have an image-forming layer formed on both faces of the support thereof.
If those films having an image-forming layer formed on both faces thereof are processed with the ordinary thermal development apparatus where only one face of films is heated, then the heat transfer to non-heated side of the image-forming layer may be delayed. The development delay often causes discoloration of the image-forming layer into brown or the like. In addition, if sufficient heat could not be transferred to the image-forming layer on the non-heated side, then the development will be insufficient and it may cause image density reduction or fluctuation.
Given that situation, a thermal development apparatus capable of uniformly heating both faces of double-sided photosensitive films has been developed.
FIG. 7 shows the thermal development apparatus capable of uniformly heating both faces of double-sided photosensitive films.
In the drawing, 400 is a thermal development apparatus for double-sided photosensitive films; P (P1, P2, P3 . . . ) is a double-sided photosensitive film; 10′ is a cassette; 11 is an openable lid; 20 is a conveyor unit; 21 is a sucker; 22 is a conveyor roller pair; 23 is a conveyor guide; 30 is a thermal development section; 31 is a first heating unit (heat roller); 32 is a built-in heater; 35 is a second heating unit (heat plate); 36 is a surface heater; 40 is a pre-cooling section; 50 is a cooling section; 60 is a conveyor unit; 61 and 62 are take-out roller pairs; 63 is a conveyor guide; and 70 is a tray. 80 is a power/control unit for power supply to the operation units and for conveyance speed control; 90 is a cassette holder section for holding the cassette 10′.
In the thermal development apparatus 400 of FIG. 7, the double-sided photosensitive film P (in the drawing, P is changed to P1, P2, P3, . . . in accordance with the site where the double-sided photosensitive film is put) (recording material) is heated and the latent image recorded on the image-recording layer of the film is thereby visualized. The double-sided photosensitive film P to be processed in the thermal development apparatus 400 has an image-forming layer of a photosensitive material on both of one and the other faces of the support thereof.
The double-sided photosensitive film P1 having a latent image formed on the image-forming layer on both faces thereof is housed in the cassette 10′, and the cassette 10′ with the film therein is inserted into the cassette holder section 90 of the thermal development apparatus 400. When the cassette 10′ is inserted into the cassette holder section 90, then the openable lid 11 of the cassette 10′ is automatically opened, and the double-sided photosensitive film P1 is taken out of the cassette 10′ by a take-up unit with the sucker 21 or the like (it may be a pickup roller).
The thermal development apparatus 400 may be provided with a magazine (not shown) capable of housing therein a number of double-sided photosensitive films P each with a latent image formed thereon. In this case, double-sided photosensitive films P each with a latent image formed thereon are taken out of the cassette 10′ in a dark room or the like, and piled up in the magazine. The double-sided photosensitive films P1 thus piled up and housed in the magazine is also taken out one by one by the sucker 21.
Thus taken out, the double-sided photosensitive film P2 is conveyed toward the thermal development section 30 existing downstream in the conveyance direction, via the conveyor unit that has the conveyor roller pair 22 and the conveyor guide 23. Between the conveyor roller pair 22 and the thermal development section 30, there may be provided a positioning unit of correctly positioning the taken-out double-sided photosensitive film P2 in the direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction thereof to thereby correctly control the position of the double-sided photosensitive film P3 in the thermal development section 30 that is downstream of the apparatus.
In the thermal development section 30, there are provided the first heating unit 31 for heating the first face of the double-sided photosensitive film P3 and the second heating unit for heating the back thereof, in such a manner that they sandwich the conveyance route of the double-sided photosensitive film P3 between them. In this, the first heating unit 31 is provided with a number of heat rollers 31 each having a built-in heater in the center thereof; and the second heating unit 35 is a curved plate heater with a built-in surface heater 35 therein. As illustrated, nine heat rollers 31 are disposed at regular intervals along the inner face of the curved plate heater 35. These nine heat rollers 31 are driven to rotate in the clockwise direction by a common driving disc (not shown) at their edges.
Accordingly, the double-sided photosensitive film P3 having been conveyed to the inlet of the thermal development section 30 is led into the conveyance route formed by the distance between the first heating unit 31 and the second heating unit 35, and conveyed through them while its first face is heated by the heat rollers 31 and the opposite face is heated with the curved plate heater 35.
After both faces of the double-sided photosensitive film P3 has been uniformly heated in the thermal development section 30 in that manner as above, the film is then led to the pre-cooling section 40 disposed downstream in the conveyance direction. The pre-cooling section 40 is provided with a number of cooling roller pairs 41, in which the thermally-developed double-sided photosensitive film P4 is gradually cooled so that it is not wrinkled.
Thus gradually cooled in the pre-cooling section 40, the double-sided photosensitive film P5 is further cooled with the metal plates in the cooling section 50 so that it does not cause skin burns. The double-sided photosensitive film P thus finally cooled so that it gives not hot feel is further led downstream of the conveyance direction by the conveyor unit 60 that is provided with the take-out roller pairs 61 and 63 and the conveyor guide 63, and then taken out in the tray 70.
Since both the face and the back of the double-sided photosensitive film are subjected to simultaneous thermal development in the manner as above, there occurs no temperature difference between the two faces of the film, and therefore the double-sided photosensitive film can be developed uniformly with neither discoloration nor density fluctuation of the image formed thereon.
However, we the present inventors have found that, when the thermal development apparatus as described in FIG. 7 is used, then the image density is delicately unstable in that the image formed may be thick in some cases while it may be thin in some other cases. Having investigated the reasons for it, we have found that the moisture data in the apparatus are not reflected on the thermal development temperature therein.
On the other hand, the imager as described in FIG. 6 is free from the density instability of the images formed. The reason is because, in the imager of FIG. 6, films are set in the tray and their moisture content is relatively stable in one and the same pack.
As opposed to this, in the apparatus of FIG. 7, one double-sided photosensitive film is set in one cassette and brought out to various positions and the film in the cassette is imagewise exposed and developed in different environments. Accordingly, the double-sided photosensitive film is influenced by the humidity of the environment in which it is put, and the moisture content of the film therefore changes in different environments. Accordingly, since the heat of moisture vaporization from the films varies and it has some influence on the thermal development efficiency and, as a result, the image density becomes unstable.


This invention is suitable for use in the field of integrated circuits. It provides a type of power source circuit. Said power source circuit includes: a charge pump circuit used to operate the charge pump to produce driving voltages; a first control circuit, used in the closed-loop control of said charge pump circuit to produce a positive high voltage; a bias-ratio circuit, used with the positive high voltage and the zero-potential voltage produced by the first control circuit to produce a positive sub-high voltage and a lowest positive high voltage; and a second control circuit, used in accordance with the positive sub-high voltage and the lowest positive high voltage produced by said bias-ratio circuit in the closed-loop control of said charge pump circuit to produce a negative high voltage. Using this invention, the system contains no voltage higher than the liquid crystal's driving voltages, and also does not contain any lower negative voltage than the liquid crystal's highest negative driving voltage, thereby reducing the circuit's electrical consumption.

Liquid crystal display screens occupy a broad market in the field of portable displays. Consumers are increasingly requiring low power consumption and high resolution in portable visual switches. The display quality of liquid crystal screens is related to the power source voltages of their liquid crystal drive units. Therefore, liquid crystal drive units must have low power consumption, and liquid crystal drive voltages should be symmetrical. Additionally, in order to broaden the practical applicability of liquid crystal drive units, there should be a wide range of options in choosing power source voltages. Liquid crystal drive units need to provide high drive voltages, so in terms of reliability, stability, and cost, power source circuits that produce high voltages are normally integrated into the liquid crystal drive units. Power source circuits include boost circuits that can achieve low electrical consumption levels by using charge pump circuits that boost voltage through the use of charge pumps along with the accompanying control circuits.
When applying DC voltages to the electrodes of a liquid crystal screen, the liquid crystal molecules' reactivity will be reduced, as will the life of the liquid crystal; therefore, AC voltage must be applied to the electrodes of the liquid crystal screen, i.e. constantly reversing voltage applied to the liquid crystal screen's electrodes. However, it must be ensured that the voltage dropouts during the periods before and after reversing are equal; that is, the consistency and symmetry of voltage changes must be ensured.
In most charge pump circuits, the produced voltage is a whole-number multiple of an externally-provided system voltage (in theory), and an appropriate liquid crystal drive voltage cannot be directly produced. A low dropout regulator (LDO) or another structure is further required to regulate the production of stable high voltage for use in driving the liquid crystal. This type of chip may contain a voltage higher than the highest liquid crystal drive voltage, thereby leading to a complex circuit structure and high power consumption. The production of the highest negative driving voltage is also normally performed by first using a charge pump circuit to produce a highest negative voltage, then using a subtractor to produce a smaller negative voltage for use as the highest negative driving voltage for the liquid crystal. Thus the existence in a chip of a negative voltage even greater than the negative liquid crystal driving voltage can also lead to circuit complexity and high energy consumption.
Therefore, it would be desirable to have a type of power source circuit aimed at resolving the problems of circuit structure complexity and high power consumption currently plaguing the generation of liquid crystal driving voltages.

Power source circuits for driving liquid crystal displays


In a method for cold-working a piping component (10) with a pipe branch (16), particularly a valve housing of stainless steel, the pipe branch (16) is provided its length and final bore by forcing at least one ball or a drawing tool with partially spherical surface in direction from an inner cavity in the component and outwards.

In most process plants with piping in which fluids are transported, a number of valves are used so that the liquid flow can be controlled, stopped and/or conducted from one pipe system to another.
The valves include a valve housing in which valve body, valve seats etc. are mounted. The valve housing is typically made by a machining process as this is a well-known and tested manufacturing process. However, there are drawbacks in using the machining process as it e.g. requires application of large and complicated machines, e.g. CNC-machines, cutting or machining, starting with a piece of work and proceeding to the finished valve housing. Furthermore, there is a great waste of material in machining operations, as the cuttings are not recyclable and thus treated as waste material.
In the food industry, it is very important that fittings, e.g. pipe transitions, valves, pipe connections and similar used in the process plants, fulfill strict quality requirements. They are to be equipped with special internal even and cleaning-friendly surfaces, as edges, projections, holes and the like otherwise may constitute a possible contamination trap and thus impede good hygiene. This also applies to valve housings, which are to have smooth inner surfaces so that liquid residues cannot be accumulated and thereby constitute a trap for residues and impede cleaning of the pipe system.
The drawbacks in connection with machining processes may be avoided by using cold-working processes. Cold-working processes are advantageous in that they provide the finished article with smooth transitions without edges or rough faces that may trap fluid residues and which are also cleaning-friendly. Besides, cold-working may provide dimensionally accurate details, something which is not so easy with articles worked at high temperatures. Furthermore, cold-working is possible with the stainless steel alloys most often used in the food industry. Finally, the cold-working process does not leave much, if any, waste material.
Such cold-working methods for the valve housings and other components for pipe systems are known. A circular blank is formed into a pot with largely rotational/symmetrical shape, the pot is provided with a number of openings in its side and/or end faces, and at least one of the openings is drawn into a pipe branch by forcing a ball from an inner cavity in the component and outwards. In the process, material from the central parts of the components are drawn out into the wall of the pipe branch, the process thus distributing material from central regions to peripheral parts of the component.
An example of such a method is known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,083,219 where a drift forces the ball down through a cut opening opposite an already made pipe stub. The component in question is supported by a saddle-shaped female die. The internal parts of the die are rounded so that the material around the opening through which the bore is forced assumes an outer shape corresponding to the rounded details of the die. However, this method only provides a very short pipe stub around the opening, and further molding and extending of the pipe stub is difficult or impossible as the material around the deformation zone will be distorted, and since there is no control of the deformations, there is a risk of unacceptable dimensional changes, excessive thinning of the wall material, or even breaking of the material of the component.

Abstract: The inventive feature of the method is that before the drawing of an opening, there is performed clamping of the component (10) in a matrix tool composed of several parts (2, 4, 6, 8), the parts of the matrix tool fitting closely to the greater part of the external surfaces of the component, so that surfaces at the parts of the component to be cold-worked are fixed during the drawing operation. Thereby, the drawing action will not distort the external or adjacent parts of the component or change the dimensions of the component, and control of the form and dimensions of the component is provided during the drawing action. Finishing treatment in the form machining is thus greatly reduced and material is saved by the method.


Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a method comprising coupling an apparatus to a peripheral device and coupling the apparatus to a computing device. The apparatus is configured to (i) receive a first job request from the computing device to be performed by the peripheral device and (ii) transmit the first job request to the peripheral device. The method further comprises instructing a user of the computing device to create a first predetermined situation at the peripheral device. The method further comprises In response to the apparatus transmitting the first job request to the peripheral device, waiting, by the apparatus, for a first status message from the peripheral device. The first status message corresponds to the first predetermined situation created by the user at the peripheral device.

A peripheral device is a device that is connectable to an input/output interface of a computing device such as a computer. Examples of peripheral devices include, for example, a single-function printer, a multi-function printer including print, scan, and/or fax capabilities, a speaker, a monitor, a mouse, an external hard drive, and so on. A newer model of a device (peripheral device or computing device) typically has increased features and/or capabilities relative to an older model of the device. For example, many newer model computing devices have wireless connection capabilities while older model peripheral devices may not include or support such wireless connection capabilities. Thus, a user of a newer model computing device may be unable to wirelessly interact with an older model peripheral device without replacing the older model peripheral device with a newer model that supports wireless connection capabilities. Additionally, newer model peripheral devices may include printing codes and/or languages that are not recognizable by various computing devices. This can be due to a printing device being from an unknown manufacturer or the printing model is an unknown or unrecognizable model from a known manufacturer.

Methods and apparatus for determining the status of a peripheral device using a coupling device that interfaces a host device with the peripheral device


A method of transferring a thin film is a method of transferring a thin film formed on a first substrate to a second substrate, the method including: allowing the first substrate to come into contact with a liquid to swell the first substrate; allowing the second substrate and the thin film to come into contact with each other via the liquid; and drying the liquid to allow the thin film to adhere to the second substrate.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of transferring a thin film, a method of manufacturing a thin film transistor, a method of forming a pixel electrode of a liquid crystal display device.
Background
An oxide semiconductor film is a material having both visible light transparency and electrical conductivity, and therefore has been used as a transparent electrode of a flat panel display (FPD), a thin film solar cell, or the like.
On the other hand, an oxide semiconductor film has semiconductor properties and therefore is used also as a semiconductor layer of a thin film transistor. The oxide semiconductor film is generally deposited by a vacuum deposition method such as a sputtering method. Since the vacuum deposition method requires a large-scale vacuum apparatus, the manufacturing cost increases.
As a further simple deposition method of the oxide semiconductor film, wet deposition methods such as a sol-gel method, an electroless deposition method, and an electrolytic deposition method are known. However, although in the deposition methods, growth (deposition) is performed at high temperatures by heating a substrate or the like, and thereby an oxide semiconductor film having a high crystalline quality can be obtained, it is difficult to obtain an oxide semiconductor film having a high crystalline quality at low temperatures (about 100 to 200° C.) which a resin substrate represented by polyethylene terephthalate (PET) or the like is able to withstand.
Examples of a method of obtaining an oxide semiconductor film having a high crystalline quality such as one obtained by a vacuum deposition method at low temperatures and at normal pressures include a transfer method. For example, Japanese Patent Application, Publication No. H8-160424 discloses a technique of using a transfer foil obtained by sequentially forming at least a transparent conductive layer and an adhesion layer directly or via a release layer on a plastic film and transferring the transparent conductive layer to a substrate.

Method of transferring thin film, method of manufacturing thin film transistor, method of forming pixel electrode of liquid crystal display device


A scuba tank caddy that includes a vertically-extending frame, a base assembly connected to the frame, and an axle assembly having an axle, a pair of spaced wheels mounted on the axle, and a pair of connecting arms pivotally interconnecting the axle to the base assembly. The frame has a plurality of slots formed in the frame at its lower end, and the axle assembly is adjustably connected to the frame via the slots such that the axle and wheels can be adjusted between several operational positions to accommodate different types of terrain. The axle and wheel can also be switched to a stowed position in which the wheels are positioned upwardly against the tank so that the caddy can remain on the tank during a dive.

Tanks or cylinders containing compressed gases are used in various applications including scuba diving, fire fighting and in various chemical environments. Large tanks weighing hundreds of pounds and more are typically handled using special material handling equipment. Small tanks such as residential fire extinguishers can be handled easily by a single person and need no additional equipment. In-between these sizes are a variety of tanks that are used in a number of different applications, such as compressed air scuba tanks, oxygen tanks used for hospital and home-based health care, and other such tanks in which the weight is greater than some nominal amount (e.g., over 15 pounds), but not too heavy that they cannot be handled by a single person using a hand truck (i.e., a caddy).
For scuba diving, transporting an air tank and dive equipment by hand can be difficult and even impossible for some divers to carry any distance. The weight of an air tank with dive gear can be as high as 80 lbs. For diving in remote areas, the divers have to transport their gear to and from the dive location, and the weight and difficulty of transporting the equipment can be an obstacle to diving in certain locations.
A standard caddy generally includes a base for receiving and supporting the tank, a vertical support frame having a handle and a pair of wheels connected with the support member at the base. The tank is placed on the base, often then secured in place using a strap, and then transported by tilting the caddy back until the base lifts off the ground and the full weight of the caddy and tank is placed on the wheels. Once the desired location has been reached by the user, the tank is removed from the caddy.
For scuba tanks, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,393,080 to Ross and 6,565,103 to Wilson, and U.S. Published Patent Application No. 2004-0104550 to Do each disclose a scuba tank caddy or dolly that is designed to remain on the tank during a dive. The Do application is directed to a boot having fixed wheels integrated into the boot and the Ross patent discloses a dolly having side rails and a pair of fixed wheels. The Wilson patent discloses a scuba tank caddy having retractable wheels for facilitating usage of the caddy in water and storage of the caddy when not in use. Wilson states that the wheel retracting means can be an over-center cam lever, and the drawings from the Wilson patent indicate that the wheels are mounted on a straight axle such that the wheels and axle can undergo rectilinear translational motion between the lowered (in use) and upper (storage) positions.


An example device includes a housing including a first surface facing a first direction and a second surface facing a second direction; a transparent cover formed on at least a portion of the first surface of the housing; a display disposed between the transparent cover and the second surface; a sensor disposed between the display and the second surface; and a control circuit, electrically connected to the sensor, for controlling the sensor, wherein the display can include: a first region including a plurality of pixels capable of displaying color; and a second region aligned on at least a portion of the sensor such that light acquired from the outside of the electronic device passes through the sensor.

An electronic device such as an ordinary smart phone may include at least one display. The display is a data output device, and is capable of displaying input data. Further, the display may be provided with a touch sensitive panel so as to operate as a touch screen.
Such a display is usually mounted as a large screen on the front face of the electronic device. For example, an ordinary organic light-emitting display (OLED) may be a self-emission-type display device which includes an organic light-emitting element including an organic light emitting layer, and which generates light when an exciton, which is generated as a hole injected from the hole injection electrode and an electron injected from an electron injection electrode are coupled to each other in the organic light-emitting layer, falls from an excited state to a ground state.
Since an organic light-emitting display device, which is a self-emission type display device, does not require a separate light source, the organic light-emitting display device can be driven at a low voltage and can be configured in a lightweight and thin type. Further, the organic light-emitting display device is excellent in characteristics such as a viewing angle, contrast, and response speed, the application range thereof is expanding from a personal electronic device such as an MP3 player to a television (TV).
The above-described organic light-emitting display device may be employed on the front face of an electronic device so as to display various pieces of information.
However, the display employed on the front face of the electronic device has to employ functional components such as a home key, a sensor, a front camera, and the like, and these functional components are disposed in a non-display area. Therefore, there is a limitation in maximizing the area of the display mounted on the front face of the electronic device.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


The present application provides a method and apparatus for configuring a transmission bandwidth, and a device, for accelerating an activation speed of a carrier/BWP, reducing waiting time of a UE, and saving power consumption of the UE. The method comprises: determining a first carrier/first BWP; and sending a PDCCH to a user terminal UE by means of a second carrier/second BWP, the PDCCH being used for bearing instruction information for activating the first carrier/first BWP and sending a reference signal over the first carrier/first BWP, so that the UE may activate the first carrier/first BWP and receive the reference signal, and the reference signal is used by the UE for performing channel measurement and synchronous tracking on the first carrier/first BWP.

In the 5th-generation (5G) New Radio (NR) system, the power-saving design of the User Equipment (UE) is very important, mainly because the 5G supports the larger bandwidth and more complex services. The power-saving optimal design can save the UE's power consumption, extend the battery life and improve the user experience.
In order to ensure the low power consumption of the UE, in the 5G NR system, the UE can work on the relatively small bandwidth when transmitting small data packets, and the UE can quickly switch to a large bandwidth or multi-carrier mode when a large data packet arrives, so that the working bandwidth of the UE is matched with the service model, obtaining the power saving effect.
In the prior art, when the working bandwidth of the UE is switched, a new carrier is generally activated through Medium Access Control (MAC) layer signaling, but this method has the problem of slow switching, where the UE needs to take a long time to wait for and measure the reference signal for synchronization tracking and channel measurement, and the power consumption is large.

Method and apparatus for configuring transmission bandwidth, and device

DATANG MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS EQUIPMENT CO., LTD.


Among other things, while a primary video program is being presented through a primary communication channel on a video device, a remote sewer receives, through a secondary communication channel from a handheld wireless device that is within viewing distance of the video device, identification information that is generated automatically and sent in response to an action at the handheld wireless device of selecting the primary video program presented on the video device, the identification information not based on information received electronically from the video device, and interactivity material is delivered from the remote sewer through the secondary communication channel to the handheld wireless device, the interactivity material delivered from the remote server being matched with the primary video program based on the identification information, and being delivered for presentation on a display of the handheld wireless device, the secondary communication channel comprising a wireless local area network.

This invention relates to video interaction with a mobile device and a video device.
One rudimentary level of television interaction, for example, is achieved with a simple remote controller, which enables local control of the channel, volume, picture quality, and other aspects of the television presentation.
A variety of schemes also have been proposed to enable a user to interact more actively with the television program content.

Video interaction with a mobile device and a video device


A technique for fabricating the required surface shapes for micro optical elements, such as curved micro mirrors and lenses, starts with a simple, binary for example, approximation to the desired surface shape. Then polishing, e.g., chemical mechanical polishing (CMP), is used to form the smooth optical surface. Specifically, starting with a mesa or blind hole, with a mesa profile, a smooth mirror or lens structure is fabricated.

Slight irregularities on the wafer surface—or on deposited films—can distort semiconductor patterns as they are transferred by a lithographic process to the wafer. Chemical mechanical polishing or planarization (CMP) has become the process of choice for preventing this distortion by first planarizing the wafer surface to a flat, uniform finish.
To planarize the wafer, CMP systems use an abrasive suspended in chemical slurry that levels wafer topography during mechanical polishing. In a common configuration, the wafer is held by a spinning pressure ring against a polishing pad that is held on a spinning platen.

Method for fabricating micro optical elements using CMP


A surgical marking pen may include a pen body, a first chamber within the pen body containing at least one powdered dye, a second chamber within the pen body and separated from the first chamber, and a tip in fluid communication with the first chamber or the second chamber. The second container contains a solvent, and the first chamber and the second chamber are selectively placeable into fluid communication with one another. The at least one powdered dye and the solvent, when mixed, form a dye solution which is disposable upon a skin or tissue surface and is able to be visualized simultaneously by a user in ambient light and with a fluorescence imager.

There are several surgical procedures, such as cardiac bypass, fat grafting, and flap reconstruction to name a few, whose success relies heavily upon the revascularization or reprofusion of the surgical site.
One technique for evaluating the vascularization or reprofusion of the surgical site or area of interest is to use near infrared fluoroscopy equipment such as the SPY® Imaging System (Novadaq Technologies, Inc., FL) which is used to visualize blood flow in vessels and micro-vessels in real-time during a surgical procedure.
The SPY® Imaging System exposes an area of interest with near infrared light and records and displays the fluorescence stimulated by the light. For vascularization studies, the fluorescence comes from an intravenous injection of the fluorescent dye, i.e., Indocyanine Green (ICG), that bonds with the proteins in blood. Once in the circulatory system, the infrared light from the SPY® system penetrates deep into the area of interest causing the dye in the area to fluoresce. The camera viewing the area detects the invisible fluorescence and the system processes the information and displays it for the surgeon. The brighter the displayed area, the more blood flow while the darker the area, the lower the blood flow, if any.
One short coming of the system is the integration of the image on the display to that of the surgical site. Because the camera is tuned to be most sensitive to the invisible fluorescence wavelength, normally visible features such as skin anatomy or markings from surgical pens are not viewable on the display of the system simultaneously with the fluorescent image. As a result, it is difficult for the surgeon to relate the exact area of interest to the image on the SPY® display. More importantly however, any images or data recorded/stored from the SPY® system can't be related to features or planning marks made by surgical pens.
Without the requirement for the mark from a pen to be simultaneously visible to both a user and a fluorescence camera, the need for such a device for a surgical application may be unnecessary. Use of the SPY® Imaging System to evaluate and document the revascularization of a surgical site has created such a need.


A diaper is provided with an adhesive fastening tab of the Y-configuration type which includes a welded joinder at the branching point between the fastening tape and release tape portions of the tab, the welded joinder being free of the diaper. The welded joinder comprises a direct weld between the substrates of the fastening tape and release tape portions of the tab, or welds between each of those two substrates and an intermediate junction substrate.

Tapes of this general kind are combined in long lengths to provide rolls of diaper tab stock. A diaper manufacturer then dispenses and transversely severs the combined tapes in a sequential manner to form individual diaper tabs and apply them to the edges of diapers being manufactured. This operation forms the permanent "factory" joint between each individual refastenable tab and its associated diaper. When the tab is used to fasten the diaper on a user, the tab's free end is deployed for adhesive fastening directly to another part of the diaper, or to a reinforcing tape (also called a target tape or a landing zone tape) carried on such other part of the diaper. Fastening establishes a temporary "user" joint between the tab and such other part of the diaper.
When applied to a diaper, the fastening tape portion of the tab is generally folded around the diaper edge in a storage position, with the free end of the fastening tape portion carried on a release coating provided on the outside of the release tape portion of the tab. The free end of the fastening tape portion is lifted from the release coating to deploy the tab for fastening. In this deployed condition of the tab, the fastening tape portion extends from its distal end back past the edge of the diaper and is adhesively anchored to the backsheet of polyethylene or the like at the outside face of the diaper. Beyond the diaper edge, the release tape portion of the tab is joined to the fastening tape portion at a branching point. From this branching point, the release tape portion of the tab extends over and is adhesively anchored to the facesheet of moisture-pervious nonwoven fabric or the like at the inside face of the diaper. Tabs of this branching configuration type are of several different sub-types, including direct Y-bond, Y-bond junction, peel junction, and Adam (an acronym derived from "Area Divarication Adhesive Means", the title of Reed et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,833,456 of common assignee, now expired). These various sub-types are referred to below in more detail.
The bond between the fastening tape and release tape portions of the tab at the tab's branching point strongly contributes to the distribution and absorption of tab tension forces imposed at the factory joint of the tab when the product is in use. If the bond at the branching point yields or fails, these forces are not properly distributed, and can destroy the relatively weak elements of the diaper to which the tab is attached at its factory joint, i.e., the thin backsheet of polyethylene or the like at the outside face of the diaper and the thin facesheet of moisture-pervious unwoven fabric or the like at the inside face.

Diaper fastening system using welded branching type tabs


The present invention relates to a regulating device (1) for control of flow and/or pressure, including a housing (3) enclosing a movable inner member (2) which is provided with a passage corresponding to the housing inlet. The inlet comprises at least two ports (4,5,6,7) which are spaced apart with a circumferentially equal distance, and the passage comprises apertures (8,9,10,11) positioned correspondingly. The inner member (2) is fitted with radial play inside the housing so that in operation a leakage of the liquid to be regulated will enter between the inner member and the housing so that these elements are in a floating relationship, whereby the inner member is relieved from radial forces in operation. The invention also concerns a dynamometer testing device.

Regulating devices that are intended for control of liquid flow and/or pressure, are known in various embodiments.
In certain applications there exists a need to control the flow and/or pressure so that the flow and/or pressure may be accurately set to a desired value. One such application is the field of dynamometer testing of motor vehicles.
Here a testing device is adapted to be drivingly connected to a driven vehicle output shaft and comprises means for measuring one or more quantities significant to the performance of the engine and the transmission, such as the torque that the driven shaft applies to a power-absorbing device forming part of the device.
EP 0 210 979 discloses an device comprising load absorbing means in the form of a hydrostatic pump assembly which has an input shaft adapted to be in engagement with a driven vehicle shaft using a rigid coupling. The pump assembly consists of two pumps that are drivingly interconnected and thus are both driven by the shaft. An adjustable control valve is controlled such that the valve allows the passage of a liquid flow, the volumetric rate of which being related to the desired rotational speed of the rotor, i.e. of the driven vehicle shaft.
A problem with known regulating devices, however, is that they do not provide an accurate control fast enough for certain applications. For example, the known dynamometer testing device can not be used for precise testing of an engine during rapidly changing dynamic processes, such as rapid accelerations, since the response from the control valve cannot be controlled sufficiently fast.
In WO 01/86113 a sleeve valve is described, wherein a sleeve is arranged movably inside a housing. The sleeve and the housing are provided with corresponding apertures for adjustment of the flow by bringing the apertures in and out of correspondence with each other by rotation of the sleeve relative to the housing. This known device is, however., not suitable for dynamic regulation of liquid flows.

Liquid flow regulating device and dynamometer testing device


The need for silicas with large pore sizes can be met by hydrothermal treatment of a silica powder with a mineralizing agent. Pore sizes in the range 300-25,000 angstroms, and more particularly in the range up to 10,000 angstroms, are readily obtained using mineralizing agents such as hydroxide, carbonate, and fluoride at temperatures in the range 85-300.degree. C. A narrow, unimodal distribution of pores is typical.

Silica long has been used, either per se or coated with an organic material, as a stationary phase in chromatography, and as such has enjoyed broad success and applicability. As new chromatographic needs arose, these often were met by changing the properties of silica, so that several discrete kinds of silica have been used as a stationary phase. For example, Okamoto and his group recently have described chiral stationary phases, i.e., stationary phases coated with a chiral organic material and used in the chromatographic separation of racemic mixtures to afford chiral components, and has found that such separations are effected particularity well using a large-pore silica as a support, i.e., silica having pores on the order of 300-1,000 angstroms. See, for example, Y. Okamoto and Y. Kaida, J. Chromatography A, 666 (1994) 403-419.
Silicas containing large pores are available, but routes to their preparation result in high cost, low reproducibility, and limited availability. For example, a pore-filling/melt procedure has been successfully used to prepare large-pore silica with pore sizes 1,000 angstroms and greater. In this procedure silica is impregnated with a salt, such as sodium chloride, by an incipient wetting technique, so the pores are filled with a solution of sodium chloride. The wetted materials are carefully dried, then heated to a temperature where sodium chloride liquefies and the pore structure of silica is disrupted. Upon cooling, the silica recrystallizes around the salt, generating pores within the bulk silica of large size (.gtoreq.1,000 angstrom pores). Subsequently the salt is washed out to leave silica having the aforementioned large-pore structure.
It has been observed that the silicas prepared by the foregoing method have a bimodal pore distribution. Secondly, we have observed that the resulting silicas have little, if any, silanol functionality, which may be important where silica is used as a support for an organic coating. This observation is reasonable given the high calcination temperatures used. Last, the method is somewhat inconvenient to apply in making commercial sized batches.
What we required was a silica having large pores (at least 300 angstroms) with a narrow pore size distribution, a relatively low surface area (20-30 square meters per gram (m.sup.2 /g)) and particles at least within the 50-150 micron range. It was required of any method of making such materials that the method be readily adaptable to commercial-size runs, that it afford control over pore size so as to give a reproducible pore size and distribution, that it was applicable to silicas generally, and that it was relatively inexpensive and did not require specialized equipment or a severe heat treatment.
What we have found is that when a silica powder is contacted with a mineralizing agent in the temperature range of 85-300.degree. C. for a time as short as four hours and up to several days, one introduces into the silica large pores with a unimodal size distribution. This offers a general route to large pore silicas whose pore size can be readily controlled, which can be practiced effectively without specialized equipment, which avoids the high temperatures of prior art methods, and which is readily practiced on a large, commercial scale.
Araya et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,354,548, prepared a porous silica by forming an oil-in-water emulsion whose oil phase was greater than 50 volume percent from an aqueous solution of a silica precursor and a suitable water-immiscible liquid, and then gelling the continuous aqueous phase of the emulsion. Kislev et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,888,972, subjected a silica xerogel to hydrothermal treatment at 100-380.degree. C. and 1-100 atmospheres followed by drying at 100-300.degree. C. to obtain silicas with an average pore diameter in the 230-30,000 angstrom range. Xerogels are dried gels with high surface areas (typically 500-900 m.sup.2 /g) with small pore sizes typically in the 10-100 angstrom range. The patentee of U.S. Pat. No. 3,975,293 treated silica gel in an ammoniacal medium under pressure to obtain pores up to about 2000 angstroms. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,869,409 the patentees teach preparation of large pore silicas by preparing an aqueous suspension of silica containing an alkali, alkali or alkaline earth metal salt, or carbon black, then drying the suspension (i.e., evaporating all the water) to form a xerogel with enlarged pores. Acker, U.S. Pat. No. 3,526,603, made intermediate density gels by washing an acid-set silica hydrogel with a hot ammonia solution, neutralizing the base washed hydrogel, washing, and then drying the hydrogel. Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 4,474,824 teaches methods of preparing and treating hydrous silica gels to increase their abrasiveness by contacting the gels with an alkaline medium or with an aqueous acidic solution at temperatures of 80-100.degree. F.(27-38.degree. C.).
A distinguishing feature of our invention which separates it from the foregoing art is our use of a silica powder in the preparation of large pore silicas. In this application "silica powder" means a collection of discrete, solid silica particles with a size (i.e., diameter or long dimension) in the range of 25 microns to about 5 mm. Our use of a silica powder is a glaring departure from the teachings of the prior art, and makes our method of preparing large pore silicas far more general, more convenient, and more susceptible to commercial-scale manufacture than previous approaches. The process which is our invention does not proceed via a hydrogel and does not occur via gelatinization, which is a critical distinction over the prior art. Instead the treated silica powders may be directly separated, washed, dried, and used per se.

Unimodal, large-pore silicas by hydrothermal treatment of silicia powders


An examination reserve system receipts a reserve request for an examination using a medical imaging apparatus. The examination reserve system receives information concerning a failure from the medical imaging apparatus. When a failure occurs in the medical imaging apparatus, the system lists receipted examination reserve requests.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an examination reserve system for managing examination reserve requests for a medical imaging apparatus such as an X-ray diagnostic apparatus or X-ray CT apparatus (X-ray computed tomography apparatus), a maintenance service system for a medical imaging apparatus, a medical imaging apparatus, an examination reserve method, and a maintenance service method.
2. Description of the Related Art
When a failure occurs in a medical imaging apparatus such as an X-ray diagnostic apparatus or X-ray CT apparatus (X-ray computed tomography apparatus), examination operation is stopped until the cause of the failure is removed.
Upon reception of a notice of the occurrence of a failure, a maintenance service company dispatches a customer engineer as soon as possible. The dispatched customer engineer is required to check the operation state of each component of the apparatus and estimate the cause of the failure. The customer engineer is also required to cooperate with a user, a person in charge of repair, a person in charge of parts management, and the like and quickly make a repair schedule on the site, if possible.
When a repair schedule is determined, a person in charge of examination reserve management on the hospital side inputs, to an ordering system or examination reserve system, information required to stop the receipt of reserve requests for examinations that use the broken-down medical imaging apparatus until the apparatus recovers from the failure.
In addition, a person in charge in the hospital lists examination reserve requests that have been already receipted until the recovery time, and makes contact with physicians as order sources, patients to be examined, and the like so as to cancel the listed examination reserve requests.
As described above, once a failure occurs in a medical imaging apparatus, the person in charge becomes very busy with work other than routine work. In addition, if a person in charge of examination reserve management is notified of the occurrence of a failure with a delay, an erroneous examination reserve request may be receipted or the examination reserve request may not be canceled in time, resulting in reserving an examination. As a result, the person in charge becomes further busy in handling such problems.

Examination reserve system, maintenance service system, medical imaging apparatus, examination reserve method, and maintenance service method


A method for producing a soluble conductive polymer having acidic groups, which comprises subjecting to electrolytic polymerization (a) at least one compound selected from the group consisting of acidic group-substituted anilines, acidic group-substituted pyrroles, acidic group-substituted thiophenes, acidic group-substituted furans, acidic group-substituted selenophenes, acidic group-substituted tellurophenes, acidic group-substituted isothianaphthenes, acidic group-substituted isobenzofurans, acidic group-substituted isoindolines, acidic group-substituted isobenzoselenophenes, acidic group-substituted isobenzotellurophenes, and their metal salts, ammonium salts and substituted ammonium salts in a solution containing (b) a basic compound.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method for producing a soluble conductive polymer which is soluble in a solvent.
A solution comprising this soluble conductive polymer as the main component can be used for forming a conductor by a simple method such as a spray coating method, a dip coating method, a roll coating method, a gravure coating method, a reverse roll coating method, an air-knife coating method, a curtain coating method or the like on various substrates. The above solution can also be used in admixture with a suitable binder polymer for increasing the adhesiveness of a conductive film and the strength of a coating film.
As the substrate to be coated, there are mentioned various plastics, for example, polyester resins such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyethylene-naphthalate (PEN) and the like, polyethylene, polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride, nylon, polystyrene, polycarbonate, epoxy resins, fluoroplastics, polysulfone, polyimide, silicone resins, polyurethane, phenol resins, and the like; molded articles and films of these plastics such as synthetic papers and the like; paper; iron; aluminum; copper; zinc; nickel; stainless steel; and the like. The coating step may be conducted in the course of the production of these substrates, for example, before or during a monoaxial stretching step, a biaxial stretching step, a molding step, an embossing step or the like, or can be applied to a substrate which has been subjected to these treatment.
Moreover, a composition comprising the above soluble conductive polymer as the main component can be applied to various antistatic agents, condensers, batteries, EMI shields, chemical sensors, display devices, nonlinear molding materials, anticorrosive agents, adhesives, fibers, antistatic coating compositions, electro-coating compositions, plating primer, electrostatic coating primer, electric prevention for corrosion, enhancement of the storing capacity of battery and the like. In addition, the above polymer is excellent in applicability to various antistatic uses because it has no moisture-dependency of conductivity, has a high transparency and can be subjected to stretching, molding, embossing and the like.
The application of the soluble conductive polymer to antistatic uses includes packaging materials, magnetic cards, magnetic tapes, magnetic discs, photographic films, printing substrates, heat seal tapes and films, IC trays, IC carrier tapes, cover tapes and the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
Doped polyaniline has been well known as a soluble conductive polymer; however, it is insoluble in almost all general solvents except some nonprotonic polar solvents and hence has a difficulty in molding.
Moreover, though a process for producing a polyaniline by electrolytic oxidation polymerization [JP-A-60-235,831 and J. Polymer Sci. Polymer Chem. Ed., 26, 1531 (1988)] can form a film of polyaniline on an electrode, but has such a problem that its isolation operation becomes complicated and its mass production is difficult.
Proposals have recently been made for an alkali-soluble sulfonated polyaniline which develops conductivity without adding a doping agent and its synthesis method and for a carboxylated polyaniline and its synthesis method.
As a method for the synthesis of a sulfonated polyaniline, there are known, for example, a method for the synthesis of a sulfonated polyaniline by electrochemically polymerizing aniline and m-aminobenzenesulfonic acid (Journal of The Chemical Society of Japan, 1985, 1124 and JA-A-2-166,165), a method for the synthesis of a sulfonated polyaniline by electrochemically polymerizing an o-, m- or p-aminobenzenesulfonic acid alone [Lecture Preprint II in the 64th Autumn Annual Convention of The Chemical Society of Japan, 706 (1992)], a method for the synthesis of a sulfonated polyaniline by chemically polymerizing aniline and an o- or m-aminobenzenesulfonic acid (JP-A-1-301,714), a method for the chemical oxidation polymerization of an aminobenzenesulfonic acid compound or monomers comprising an aminobenzenesulfonic acid compound and an aniline compound (JP-A-6-56,987), a method for the sulfonation with conc. sulfuric acid of an emeraldine type polymer (polyaniline) obtained by chemical or electrochemical polymerization (JP-A-58-210,902), a method for the sulfonation with sulfuric anhydride/triethyl phosphate complex (JP-A-61-197,633), a method for the sulfonation with fuming sulfuric acid [J. Am. Chem. Soc., (1991) 113, 2665-2671, J. Am. Chem. Soc., (1990) 112, 2800 and WO91-06887], a method for the synthesis of a sulfonated polyaniline of the N-substitution type by chemically polymerizing diphenylamine-4-sulfonic acid (sodium salt) [Polymer, (1993) 34, 158-162] and the like.
In J. Am. Chem. Soc., (1991) 113, 2665-2671, it is reported that the chemical and electrochemical polymerization of o- or m-aminobenzenesulfonic acid was tried but was not successful.
Furthermore, JP-A-6-56,987 states that when an aminobenzenesulfonic acid compound is or an aminobenzenesulfonic acid compound and an aniline compound are subjected to chemical oxidative polymerization in all of the acidic, neutral and alkaline solutions, a soluble conductive polymer which is soluble in water is obtained, and shows polymerization examples in sulfuric acid-acidic solution. However, in said publication, there is no statement of the molecular weight and other physical properties of the polymer, and hence, it is not clear what physical properties the polymer has. According to the present inventors' duplication, no polymer having a sufficiently large molecular weight for forming a film was able to be obtained. Moreover, when the present inventors have tried polymerization in an aqueous solution containing a protonic acid using sodium peroxodisulfate as an oxidizing agent, a polymer soluble in water was obtained but the molecular weight of the polymer was low and no practicably usable polymer for forming a film was able to be obtained.
Furthermore, the present inventors have duplicated the method for chemically polymerizing aniline and m-aminobenzenesulfonic acid with ammonium peroxodisulfate stated in JP-A-1-301,714 and the method for chemically polymerizing aniline and m-aminobenzenesulfonic acid with potassium permanganate stated in JP-A-6-56,987, to find that the sulfonic acid group has been introduced only in a proportion of about one sulfonic acid group per 5 aromatic rings in the polymer, and the polymer exhibited high conductivity but was completely insoluble in neutral or acidic water and substantially insoluble in an alkaline aqueous solution such as ammonia water. Moreover, when the sulfonation has been effected according to the method of JP-A-61-197,633, the solubility of the polyaniline in the sulfonation solvent has not been sufficient and the sulfonation reaction has proceeded in the dispersion state of the polymer, so that the sulfonic acid group has been introduced only in a proportion of about 1 group per 5 aromatic rings as described on page 7 of the same publication. The thus obtained sulfonated polyaniline in which the proportion of the sulfonic acid group introduced is small has such a problem that the conductivity and solubility are not sufficient.
In addition, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 113, 2665-2671 (1991) and J. Am. Chem. Soc., 112, 2800 (1990) state that when polyaniline is sulfonated with fuming sulfuric acid, the sulfonic acid group is introduced in a proportion of about one sulfonic acid group per two aromatic rings. However, when the polyaniline has been tried to be sufficiently sulfonated according to the above-mentioned method, a large excess of fuming sulfuric acid has become necessary because the solubility of the polyaniline in fuming sulfuric acid has not been sufficient. Moreover, there is also such a problem that when the polyaniline is added to fuming sulfuric acid, the polymer is easy to solidify. In addition, there is such a problem that the polymer synthesized by the above-mentioned method and its sulfonated product are dissolved in an aqueous solution containing a base such as ammonia, an alkylamine or the like but not dissolved in water alone.
Also, Polymer, 34, 158-162 (1993) describes that when diphenylamine-4-sulfonic acid (sodium salt) is polymerized, an N-position-substituted type sulfonated polyaniline in which the benzenesulfonic acid group has been introduced in a proportion of one group per aniline skeleton is obtained, and this is dissolved in water alone, but ultracentrifugal operation is required for the isolation of the polymer. According to the present inventors' duplication, the yield of the polymer taken out of the polymerization solvent has been low because of the high solubility of the polymer in the solvent, and when no high speed centrifugal operation has been effected, it has been impossible to isolate the polymer. Furthermore, since the polymer is of an N-position-substituted type, it has been lower in conductivity than the polymer synthesized by the method of J. Am. Chem. Soc., 113, 2665-2671 (1991).
As a method for the synthesis of a carboxylated polyaniline, JP-A-4-268,331 proposes, for example, a production method in which 2- or 3-carboxyl group-substituted aniline or its salt is subjected to oxidative polymerization and then treated with a basic material to obtain a product in which the carboxyl group is in the form of a salt; however, the amount of the oxidizing agent used is required to be at least 2 equivalents per equivalent of the starting material and the electrical conductivity is low. From this fact, it is considered that the reactivity of monomer be low and a low molecular weight polymer have been produced.
JP-A-5-226,238 proposes a synthesis method in which methyl anthranilate (methyl ester of anthranilic acid) is polymerized in the presence of ammonium peroxodisulfate in an aqueous acidic medium and thereafter the methyl ester is saponified with alcoholic potassium hydroxide. However, since the reaction is effected two steps, the operation is very much complicated.
Further, the present inventors have tried to polymerize 2-carboxyl group-substituted aniline in an aqueous solution containing a protonic acid using ammonium peroxodisulfate as an oxidizing agent, but have not been able to obtain any product. They have also tried to polymerize aniline and a 2-carboxyl group-substituted aniline in an aqueous solution containing a protonic acid using ammonium peroxodisulfate as an oxidizing agent. However, a copolymer has been obtained, but the solubility and conductive thereof have been low. From this fact, it is considered that the copolymerization ratio of 2-carboxyl group-substituted aniline be low in the copolymer obtained.
When the moldability including film-formability by coating and the like are taken into consideration, particularly in order to make the polymer coatable on both hydrophilic and hydrophobic substrates, it is desired that the polymer is soluble in both water and organic solvent. However, the sulfonation product of polyaniline is soluble in alkaline aqueous solutions but insoluble in neutral to acidic aqueous solutions, and it cannot be said that the solubility in an organic solvent is sufficient.
As a method for solving these various problems, the present inventors have considered that in order to allow a polymer to exhibit conductivity without adding a doping agent and allow its solubility to be enhanced, it is necessary to introduce more acidic groups such as sulfonic acid groups or carboxyl groups into the main chain aromatic ring, and have proposed a process for producing a sulfonation product of an aniline copolymer by copolymerizing at least one compound selected from the group consisting of aniline, N-alkylanilines and phenylenediamines with aminobenzenesulfonic acid using an oxidizing agent in an acidic solvent and further sulfonating the resulting copolymer with a sulfonating agent (JP-A-5-178,989). However, the above process has had a problem of treatment of wasted acid because the sulfonation operation is effected in conc. sulfuric acid. Incidentally, the copolymers synthesized are all inferred to have the structures represented by the general formula (7): ##STR1## wherein each of R.sub.11 to R.sub.14 is a group selected from the group consisting of hydrogen and sulfonic acid group; R' is a group selected from the group consisting of hydrogen and alkyl groups having 1 to 4 carbon atoms; the number of the sulfonic acid group is 40 to 80% of the number of the aromatic ring; x represents any number of 0 to 1 and n is a numeral of 2 to 1,500 showing the degree of polymerization.
In addition, the present inventors have proposed a process for producing an aniline copolymer, characterized by copolymerizing at least one compound selected from the group consisting of aniline, N-alkylanilines and phenylenediamines with an alkoxy group-substituted aminobenzenesulfonic acid. Thereby omitting the sulfonation operation which causes a large amount of waste (JP-A-6-293,828). Incidentally, the copolymers synthesized are all inferred to have the structures represented by the general formula (8): ##STR2## wherein each of R.sub.15 to R.sub.22 is a group selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, alkoxy groups and sulfonic acid group; the number of the sulfonic acid group is 25 to 50% of the number of the aromatic ring; the alkoxy group and the sulfonic acid group are contained in one and the same aromatic ring; R' is a group selected from the group consisting of hydrogen and alkyl groups having 1 to 4 carbon atoms; x represents any number of 0 to 1 and n is a numeral of 2 to 1,500 which shows the degree of polymerization.
Furthermore, the present inventors have proposed a process for producing a soluble conductive polymer of the soluble aniline type by polymerizing an acidic group-substituted aniline such as a sulfonic acid group-substituted aniline, a carboxyl group-substituted aniline or the like in a solution containing a basic compound (JP-A-7-196,791 and JP-A-7-324,132). According to this process, contrary to the conventional established theory that it is difficult to polymerize alone anilines having sulfonic acid groups or carboxyl groups, it is possible to produce a high molecular weight polymer. In addition, the soluble conductive polymer obtained exhibits a high conductivity and also exhibits an excellent dissolvability in both acidic and alkaline aqueous solutions. However, when the soluble conductive polymer is separated from the by-product salt of the oxidizing agent used in the oxidative polymerization, the operation thereof has not been easy on a commercial scale because the dissolvability of the soluble conductive polymer per se is very excellent. Incidentally, the copolymers synthesized by the above-mentioned processes are inferred to have the structures represented by the general formula (9): ##STR3## wherein each of A.sub.1 to A.sub.4 is a group selected from the group consisting of sulfonic group, carboxyl group and their alkali metal salts, ammonium salts and substituted ammonium salts; each of B.sub.1 to B.sub.4 is a group selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, straight chain or branched chain alkyl groups having 1 to 4 carbon atoms; straight chain or branched chain alkoxy groups having 1 to 4 carbon atoms, acidic groups, hydroxyl group, nitro group and halogen groups; x represents any number of 0 to 1; and n represents a numeral of 2 to 5,000 which shows the degree of polymerization.
On the other hand, there have been reported a process for synthesizing a sulfonated polyaniline by electrochemically polymerizing aniline and m-aminobenzenesulfonic acid (Journal of The Chemical Society of Japan, 1985, 1124 and JP-A-02-166,165) and a process for electrochemically polymerizing aminobenzenesulfonic acid [Preprint II of the 64th Autumn Annual Convention of The Chemical Society of Japan, 706 (1992)]. However, in these processes, an inorganic salt is added as an electrolyte, and hence, there is such a problem that the operation for separating the soluble conductive polymer from the electrolyte after the polymerization is complicated and the application of the processes to the mass production on a commercial scale is very difficult.

Method for producing soluble conductive polymer having acidic group


A method and system for providing information to an individual using an electronic sign in which the sign displays information in response to the identity of the tag or an account associated with the tag. The information is displayed when the tag, which may be carried by the individual or in a vehicle, approaches the sign. A user can preselect from among various information types he wishes to receive, such as news, weather, sports and personal messages. The user can also select a priority for each information type.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to providing visual information to persons who are mobile, such as vehicle drivers and pedestrians.
2. Description of the Related Art
Drivers of automobiles and other road vehicles receive information from a number of sources, both internal and external to the vehicle. Internal sources include not only the vehicle's instrumentation but also the vehicle's radio and similar devices. Radio broadcasts can provide news, weather, road conditions, and similar information of use to the driver. Drivers can even receive information from the Internet using a suitably equipped device. External sources include road signs. Drivers are continually bombarded with information from road signs. Some road signs, such as signs informing the driver of the speed limit and hazards, are of critical importance to the driver. Others, such as signs informing the driver of distances to various points and signs informing the driver of rest stops and points of interest may be of lesser importance. Still others, such as advertising billboards and the like, may be of little or no interest to a particular driver.
It would be desirable to provide information to drivers by means of road signs that is consistent with an individual driver's interest in or need for that type of information. The present invention addresses these problems and deficiencies and others in the manner described below.

Virtual signs for improving information communicated to the automotive driver

International Business Machines Corporation


Techniques for compacting an ML model by replacing a linear transformation layer and a convolutional layer with a modified convolution layer. Determining the modified convolutional layer may include determining a modified bias and/or a modified filter. In some examples, before merging the layers, an output of the linear transformation layer may be provided as input to the convolution layer (e.g., the linear transformation layer may precede the convolutional layer). The linear transformation lay may include, for example, a batch normalization layer, a pooling layer, and/or the like.

Machine-learning (ML) models may be trained to perform various algorithms, such as to infer a truth, state, or condition from a data set. For example, an ML model may be trained to receive an image and classify objects in the image and/or identify where the objects are located with the image. Other ML models may be trained to determine a likelihood that a transaction is fraudulent, determine whether a cell is cancerous, predict the weather, convert audio to text, etc.
A machine-learning (ML) model, once trained, may comprise computationally expensive components that increase the time it takes for the ML model to output an inference and/or require processing bandwidth that exceeds processing budgeted for the ML model and/or otherwise available on computing device(s) running the ML model.

Machine-learning model structural merging


A method for transmitting a signal in broadcasting and communication systems is provided. The method includes dividing source data into two or more streams and respectively coding the two or more streams through coders, selecting two or more symbols from among coded codeword symbols, mapping the selected two or more symbols to one signal constellation for modulation, and transmitting a modulated signal, in which the codeword symbols include one or more non-binary codewords, and a product of orders of finite fields on which the codeword symbols are defined is equal to an order of the signal constellation.

Next-generation communication systems need to maximize data rates thereof and meet various needs of users in an ever-changing channel environment. To this end, a need is being emphasized for channel codes having a strong error correction capability, thereby raising a performance level required for the channel codes.
A Low-Density Parity-Check (LDPC) code proposed by Gallager in 1962 is known as having superior performance that is close to a channel capacity of Shannon through repetitive decoding. However, for a binary LDPC code, a code length N has to be sufficiently long to obtain performance that is close to the channel capacity of Shannon. When an LDPC code is designed in a non-binary finite field, performance that is close to a channel capacity may be obtained for a relatively short length, and for a codeword length considered in an actual communication system, superior performance may be provided when compared to a binary LDPC code. As the non-binary LDPC code is known as providing better performance than a general binary LDPC coding scheme, the non-binary LDPC code is attracting much attention as one of channel codes suitable for next-generation communication systems.
A general non-binary coding scheme is configured to properly map one non-binary code to a signal constellation, thus maximizing performance. However, studies have not been conducted regarding a signal constellation mapping scheme when a plurality of coding schemes are used to support a service of various qualities.
Recently, various multimedia services are configured compositively, such that a number of attempts have been made to provide one new service. Because services need different qualities, research has been conducted to provide different robustness properties for different services. One of such methods for providing different qualities is to use a plurality of coding schemes. However, typically, one modulator and one demodulator are used for convenience of implementation in a system, such that for application of the plurality of encoding schemes to the system, a signal constellation mapping scheme suitable for the plurality of encoding schemes needs to be studied. In particular, as the non-binary encoding scheme has become important, a need is also increasing for studies on combining the non-binary encoding scheme with the signal constellation mapping scheme.
The above information is presented as background information only to assist with an understanding of the present disclosure. No determination has been made, and no assertion is made, as to whether any of the above might be applicable as prior art with regard to the present disclosure.

Apparatus and method for transmitting and receiving signal in broadcasting and communication systems


The present invention provides an insertable compact disc tray for standard single CD jewel boxes. The tray allows for conversion to multiple disc retention and has first and second sides with rosettes, for examples, for engaging and for holding first and second CDs. The tray has a shelf which fixedly attaches between first and second outer hinges of the box, and an attached leaf. A living hinge is provided between the shelf and the leaf for allowing rotational movement therebetween, with the user accessing the oppositely mounted CDs through rotation of the leaf around the living hinge. Upward rotation of the leaf allows for the insertion of a graphics card under the shelf and tray before or after the shelf and tray are inserted in the box. The shelf traps and holds the upper edge of the graphics card end and cooperates to hold the graphics card in fixed position during raising and lowering of the cover and the tray.

The present invention relates to compact disc containers, typically known as CD jewel boxes. Specifically, the present invention relates to CD retaining jewel boxes capable of holding more than one compact disc.
Prior art multiple disc containers have taken several forms. One popular multiple disc storage container has an unmovable center leaf having upper and lower rotatable leaves, which rotate upon upper and lower hinges and close upon the center leaf to store up to four compact discs. Another provides a photo album-type container having flexible leaves which can be insertable and which engage discs. However, both of those apparatuses are extremely bulky and are not compatible in thickness with the present single disc jewel boxes. A need exists for forming a compact disc container which is the same size as single disc containers, but which is capable of holding two discs. A need also exists for a means of converting standard single disc jewel boxes covers and bases into multiple disc jewel boxes without having to alter these standard pads.

Insertable tray for providing a multiple disc container


A device comprising: a hollow sleeve; and a leg slidable in the sleeve; the leg having a retracted position in the sleeve and an extended position in the sleeve, the leg having one or more auxiliary wheels or a continuous track at an end of the leg; the device being configured for attachment to a wheelchair between a front wheel of the wheelchair and a back wheel of the wheelchair.

Wheelchairs are commonly used to assist individuals whose ability to walk is impaired, or who are completely unable to walk. When the individual seated in the wheelchair has use of his or her hands, he or she can propel himself or herself in the wheelchair by means of hand rings attached to the rear wheels of the wheelchair. Hand grips are also provided in the rear of the wheelchair to allow a caregiver to push the wheelchair.
When a wheelchair arrives at step, it becomes necessary to raise or lower the wheelchair together with the individual seated in the wheelchair. Various devices have been proposed for facilitating the movement of a wheelchair up or down a step.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,962,942, for example, discloses a wheelchair which can negotiate curbs and other obstructions. The wheelchair has first auxiliary support wheels located between the front and rear wheels, and second auxiliary wheels behind the rear wheels. The front wheels and the rear wheels are structured to be raised or lowered by the wheelchair occupant. When a curb is encountered, the occupant propels the wheelchair forwardly until the first auxiliary wheels are at the edge of the curb, and the front wheels are suspended in air. The front wheels are then lowered to the bottom of the curb and the wheelchair is propelled forward until the second auxiliary wheels are at the curb edge. The large rear wheels are then lowered to curb level, and the wheelchair is propelled by the occupant to the opposite curb, where the curb is ascended by turning the wheelchair 180° and performing the wheel adjusting process in the opposite sequence.
Wheelchairs designed for assisting in negotiating a step are also disclosed in Chinese Patent CN202179644, and U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,811,966, 5,228,709, 8,167,317.

Devices for enabling movement of a wheelchair on stairs and a wheelchair including the devices


In addition to other aspects disclosed, in response to being informed by a controller of a flow for transmission to at least one access terminal in a wireless network, a master base station router assigns the flow to one of a plurality of slave base station routers to process the flow for transmission to the access terminal.

This description relates to distributing multicast flows.
Multimedia content may be passed and shared among devices such as cellular phones and computing devices (also referred to as Access Terminals or ATs).
This multimedia content may be implemented to comply with one or more standards such the EV-DO Rev A standard (also written as 1×EV-DO Rev A or 1× Evolution-Data Optimized Revision A), which is herein incorporated by reference. EV-DO Rev A is included in a family of standards that are promoted by the Third Generation Partnership Project 2 (3GPP2), a collaborative Third Generation (3G) telecommunications specification-setting project associated with the development of the next generation Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) wireless communications.
The 1×EV-DO protocol is an EVolution of the 1×RTT standard for high-speed data-only (DO) services and has been standardized by the Telecommunication Industry Association (TIA) as TIA/EIA/IS-856, "CDMA2000 High Rate Packet Data Air Interface Specification", 3GPP2 C.S0024-0, Version 4.0, Oct. 25, 2002, which is incorporated herein by reference. Revision A to this specification has been published as TIA/EIA/IS-856, "CDMA2000 High Rate Packet Data Air Interface Specification", 3GPP2 C.S0024-A, Version 2.0, June 2005, which is also incorporated herein by reference.
When exchanging multimedia content, a series of setup-messages are sent between a user's AT and structures included in a Radio Access Network (RAN). These structures include Radio Nodes (RNs), Radio Network Controllers (RNCs) and Packet Data Serving Nodes (PDSNs), which act as a link between the ATs and content servers (and controllers) that provide the multimedia content.
In some RANs, services provided by RN, RNCs and PDSNs are integrated into a single unit referred to as a Base Station Router (BSR) that reduces space needs and power consumption. However, as multimedia content traffic increases, BSRs (similar to individual RNCs and RNs) are susceptible to overload conditions and potential failure.


A block interleaver (212) suitable for communication over fading channels with convolutionally coded signals as input is disclosed. The block interleaver (212) implements multiple interleaving distances which are matched to the particular convolutional code to provide better performance than conventional block interleavers.

Block interleavers are widely used in communication systems employing block coding. Such interleavers are also used for block-terminated convolutionally coded communication signals such as those implemented in the spread spectrum communication standard TIA/EIA/IS-95A, Mobile Station-Base Station Compatibility Standard for Dual Mode Wideband Spread Spectrum Cellular System, July 1993 available from the Telecommunication Industry Association (TIA). It is well known that for block coding, the interleaver should be designed such that the minimum time span between any two bits in a code word should be maximized. For example, assuming that the size of the block code is M and the size of the block interleaver is L=kM, the minimum distance between any two bits in a code word cannot be larger than k. Thus, the optimal block interleaver for such a code has the form of a matrix with k rows and M columns. Within a transmitter which implements the interleaver, the matrix is filled in column-by-column and read out row-by-row and the minimum distance between any two bits in a code word is clearly k, which is optimal.
When the block interleaver is used for interleaving a convolutionally coded signal, however, the optimal design of the interleaver is unclear. In a rate 1/r convolutional code, the lengths of code words start from the constraint length Kr of the code to infinity. Since errors are most likely to occur for the few shortest code word lengths, it is often to select the number of rows to be equal to or slightly greater than Kr where r is the coding rate. However, such a design criterion is by no means optimal for an interleaver to be used in conjunction with the convolutional code.
Thus, a need exists for an interleaver which attains optimal performance for an associated convolutional code.

Method of interleaving a convolutionally coded signal in a spread spectrum communication system


A moving belt conveyor dough press is provided with a pair of vertically opposing platens, at least one of which is movable toward and away from the other. A continuous belt is arranged to pass between the pair of platens, and to carry on an upper surface thereof, a supply of dough masses to be pressed by the platens. At least one of the platens is formed of a cast metal material, and an electrical resistance heating element is cast in place within the at least one platen.

The present invention relates to presses used to flatten dough-like material, for example edible dough materials used in tortillas, pizzas and similar food items.
Presses for dough material are well known and one type comprises a stationary press, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,559,002, in which individual dough pieces are placed under a vertically movable platen, the platen compresses and spreads out the dough and then the platen is moved away revealing a flattened dough piece which must be manually removed. Typically such stationary presses utilize a relatively small platen since only one, or a small number of dough pieces are being pressed at a single time.
Another type is an automated dough press which typically comprises an intermittently moving belt and a vertically reciprocating platen, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,231,919 and 5,396,833. In an indexing belt press, the belt is stopped, and while stopped the platen moves downwardly to engage and flatten a dough piece against the belt and then the platen moves upwardly. Subsequently the belt indexes to the next position to present a new series of dough pieces to the platen. Generally a large number of dough pieces, such as 12 to 20 individual dough pieces are pressed simultaneously by the platens, which are relatively large in comparison to the size used in stationary presses. Another type of automated dough press utilizes a continuously moving belt for receiving and carrying the large number of dough pieces into the press area for simultaneous flattening, and from the press area to a point of further utilization, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,951,451. Vertically reciprocating platens are used to press the dough pieces into flattened shapes and one or both of the platens can be heated so as to provide heat into the dough product.
The heating of the platens has been provided by electrical resistance heating elements. In stationary presses, utilizing a relatively small platen, the heating elements have been cast in place in the platen as it is formed. However, in moving belt presses, either indexing or continuously moving belt presses, the platens are substantially larger and the heating elements are provided separately, in rod shapes, and are inserted into bore holes formed in the platens after they are formed. The bore holes must be drilled with precision. That is, the bore holes must be very straight and have very tight tolerances, in order to allow the rod shaped heating elements to be inserted and later removed, as well as to be positioned very close to the wall of the bore holes. If there is too much clearance between the heating element and the wall of the bore hole, conduction of the heat from the heating element is reduced causing the heating element to overheat and prematurely fail. When a heating element fails, it must be removed, which, due to the very close tolerances, sometimes is very difficult or impossible to do, thereby requiring a new bore hole to be drilled into the platen, at a now less than optimal location for a new heating element. In the past, the concept of using cast in place heating elements in a moving belt press has not been considered at least for the reason that due to the relatively large size of the platens used in the moving belt presses, and thus the very high cost of replacing a platen should a heating element fail.

Moving belt dough press with heated platen


A liquid flow distribution system comprises a flow chamber and a rotor. The flow chamber has a flow chamber inlet, a flow chamber outlet and a chamber flow path extending from the flow chamber inlet to the flow chamber outlet. The flow chamber path is curved so as to generate a generally vortical flow in liquid passing through the chamber flow path. The rotor has a plurality of rotor blades rotatably mounted about a rotor axis. The rotor is mounted in proximity to the flow chamber outlet and positioned such that a flow of liquid exiting the flow chamber outlet impacts one or more of the rotor blades to rotationally drive the rotor. Rotational driving of the rotor in turn disperses liquid impacting the rotor blades.

Various forms of water treatment units are known for treating waste water and aquaculture water. One form of such water treatment units is bioreactors which utilise biomass cultures to absorb waste nutrients from the waste water or aquaculture water. An example of a membrane bioreactor form of water biotreatment unit is disclosed in International (PCT) Publication No. WO 2015/161335, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by cross reference. FIG. 1 depicts such a water biotreatment unit 1, in exploded form. Membrane bioreactors, such as the water biotreatment unit 1 of FIG. 1, utilise permeable membranes carrying a biomass culture that is exposed to the waste water and oxygen, which is required for the biomass culture to treat the waste water to remove waste nutrients from the same. The waste water being treated must be distributed across the membranes to allow the necessary interaction between the waste water and biomass culture.
The water biotreatment unit 1 specifically has a housing defined by four perforated inner walls 2 and four outer walls 3 which encase the inner walls 2 to define the exterior of the housing. A plurality of biotreatment membranes 4 are draped over and supported by hangers 5 that extend across the treatment cavity defined by the inner walls 2. For clarity, only three membranes 4 are depicted in FIG. 1, although a large number of membranes 4, typically forty to eighty, are provided and mounted closely side by side across the treatment cavity. Each of the biotreatment membranes 4 carries a biomass culture which removes waste nutrients from waste water passing vertically through the treatment cavity, in a manner described in WO 2015/161335. Waste water to be treated is distributed across the top of the membranes 4 by way of a water distribution system comprising an inlet pipe 6, tubular distribution ring 7 and an array of nozzles 8 spaced along the distribution ring 7 that disperse the waste water in the form of a spray across the top of the membranes 4. The water distribution system is mounted to the underside of a cover 9 of the housing. The spray nozzles 8, however, may be subject to clogging from biological growth of waste nutrients on interior surfaces of the narrow apertures of the nozzles, or otherwise be clogged by solids in suspension flowing in the waste water to be treated. Similarly, other known forms of water distribution system may also be subject to clogging by solids in suspension.
Liquid flow distribution systems as used in various other applications, where water or other liquids may be laden with solid materials in suspension, may also suffer from the same difficulties in clogging from the solid materials in suspension. An example of such an application is the distribution of liquid fertiliser, which has a high nutrient load, in agribusiness.


Embodiments of the present invention provide a method, an apparatus and a system for multi-antenna transmission, wherein a third precoding matrix determined by a sending end device is a function of a first precoding matrix and a second precoding matrix. That the first precoding matrix has a block diagonal structure and that sub-matrices corresponding to two blocks are Hermitian matrices enable the above-mentioned third precoding matrix to match with a transmit spatial autocorrelation matrix of a cross-polarized antenna or a distributed antenna, thereby enhancing precoding performance and improving system throughput effectively.

In multi-antenna transmission of a communication system, such as a long term evolution (Long Term Evolution, LTE for short) system and a long term evolution advanced (Long Term Evolution Advanced, LTE-A for short) system, a user equipment (User Equipment, UE for short) feeds back channel state information (Channel State Information, CSI for short) to a base station, such as an evolved node B (Evolved NodeB, eNB for short). The CSI includes a rank indicator (Rank Indicator, RI for short), a precoding matrix indicator (Precoding Matrix Indicator, PMI for short) and other information, for example, a channel quality indicator (Channel Quality Indicator, CQI for short). The eNB may determine a precoding matrix according to the RI and the PMI fed back by the UE, and precoding data to be transmitted using the precoding matrix. Similar to this, the base station may determine and indicate an RI and a PMI used by the UE for uplink data transmission by measuring an uplink channel.
However, an existing codebook is mainly designed based on a conventional co-located antenna configuration. With regard to a distributed antenna configuration or a large-spacing cross-polarized antenna configuration, a precoding matrix obtained according to the above-mentioned design method can not match with a transmit spatial autocorrelation matrix, thereby resulting in a degradation in precoding performance.

Method, apparatus and system for multi-antenna transmission