A device and method for configuring an UL-DPCCH. One or more UL-DPCCHs, especially a UL-DPCCH for supporting HSDPA, are constructed in code division multiplexing and transmitted according to the characteristics of control information. The UL-DPCCH of the present invention that delivers various kinds of control information can be configured flexibly and operate in compatibility with a conventional asynchronous mobile communication system.

1. Field of the-Invention
The present invention relates generally to a device and a method for transmitting a downlink/uplink control channel in CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) mobile communication system, and in particular, to a device and a method for transmitting a downlink/uplink control channel, which provide compatibility between an HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) mobile communication system and a non-HSDPA mobile communication system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Mobile communication systems have been developed to additionally provide high-speed, high-quality packet data for data service or multimedia service as well as voice service. The 3rd generation mobile communication systems, which are divided into asynchronous ones (3GPP) and synchronous ones (3GPP2), are being standardized to realize high-speed, high-quality wireless data packet services. For example, HSDPA is undergoing standardization within the 3GPP and the 1×EV/DV within 3GPP2. Efforts to find ways to provide high-quality wireless data packet services at a data rate of 2 Mbps or higher have driven these standardization activities, and the 4th Generation mobile communication systems will be designed to provide higher-speed, higher-quality multimedia services.
HSDPA requires advanced technology improving the capability of adapting to channel conditions beyond the technology needed to implement the existing mobile communication systems. The following three schemes have been introduced to HSDPA to support high-speed packet transmission.
(1) Adaptive Modulation and Coding Scheme (AMCS): A modulation and coding scheme (MCS) for a data channel is determined according to the channel condition between a cell and a user, thus increasing the overall use efficiency of the cell. The MCS is a combination of modulation and coding schemes and there are defined a plurality of MCSs numbering level 1 to level n. The AMCS is an optimum MCS chosen among the MCSs according to the channel status between the cell and the user.
(2) N-channel Stop and Wait Hybrid Automatic Re-transmission Request (n-channel SAW HARQ): This is a kind of HARQ. In conventional ARQ, an ACK (acknowledgment) signal and a retransmission packet are exchanged between a UE and a node B controller, while in HADPA, the exchange occurs between the UE and a high-speed downlink shared channel (HS-DSCH) in the MAC layer of the node B. Another feature of the n-channel SAW HARQ is that when an ACK signal not received, a plurality of packets can be transmitted on n logical channels. The node B does not transmit the next packet until it receives an ACK signal for the previous transmitted packet from the UE in typical Stop and Wait ARQ. In other words, the node B must await the ACK signal although it can transmit the next packet. On the contrary, in the n-channel SAW HARQ the node B can transmit a plurality of next packets successively even if it does not receive the ACK signal for the previous transmitted packet, thereby increasing channel use efficiency. That is, if n logical channels are established between the UE and the node B and those logical channels can be identified by their channel numbers or their transmission time, the UE can determine on what channel a packet is received at some point in time and also rearrange received packets in the right reception order.
(3) Fast Cell Selection (FCS): The FCS scheme allows an HSDPA UE in a soft handover region (SHR) to receive packets from only a cell in the best channel condition, so that the overall interference is reduced. If another cell exhibits the best channel condition, the UE receives packets from the cell on an HS-DSCH with minimum communication interruption.
Due to the introduction of the new schemes above, new control signals are configured between the UE and the node B in HSDPA. For AMCS, the UE reports the channel condition between the UE and the node B. The node B then notifies the UE of an MCS level determined based on the channel condition. For n-channel SAW HARQ, the UE transmits an ACK/NACK (Negative Acknowledgment) signal to the node B. For FCS, the UE transmits a signal indicating the best cell to a node B that offers the best-quality channel. If the best cell is changed, the UE reports its packet reception status to the new best station. Then, the new best node B provides necessary information to aid the UE in selecting the best cell correctly.
As described above, since additional related information is required for supporting HSDPA, different UL-DPCH (Uplink Dedicated Physical Channel) structures are adopted depending on whether HSDPA is supported or not.
A description will first be made of a conventional UL-DPCH structure not supporting HSDPA. FIG. 9 illustrates the frame structure of the conventional UL-DPCH when HSDPA is not supported.
Referring to FIG. 9, one UL-DPCH frame is comprised of 15 slots, from slot #0 to slot #14. The UL-DPCH contains the UL-DPDCH (Uplink Dedicated Physical Data channel) and the UL-DPCCH (Uplink Dedicated Physical Control Channel). The UL-DPDCH carries higher-layer frame data to a node B in each slot. The UL-DPCCH carries control information such as a pilot symbol, TFCI (Transport Format Combination Indicator) bits, an FBI (Feedback Information) symbol, and a TPC (Transmit Power  Control Commander) symbol in each slot. The pilot symbol is a channel estimation signal by which uplink data is demodulated. The TFCI bits indicate in what TFC channels are transmitted for the duration of the current frame. The FBI symbol transmits feedback information in the case of transmit diversity. The TPC symbol is used to control downlink transmission power. The UL-DPCCH is spread with an SF=256 orthogonal code all the time. SF represents a spreading factor.
The above-described UL-DPCCH cannot transmit necessary information if HSDPA is supported. Therefore, a novel UL-DPCCH should be configured for HSDPA. FIG. 10 to FIG. 11D illustrate conventional UL-DPCCH structures for support of HSDPA.
FIG. 10 illustrates a conventional UL-DPCCH supporting HSDPA, which is a modification to the UL-DPCCH illustrated in FIG. 9. Referring to FIG. 10, an SF=128 orthogonal code is applied to the UL-DPCCH so that more bits (20 bits) can be transmitted at the same chip rate in each slot than in the UL-DPCCH illustrated in FIG. 9. As a result, the UL-DPCCH carries HSDPA control information as well as UL-DPDCH control information. Each slot is the same in structure in an UL-DPCCH frame. In each slot, the UL-DPCCH carries ACK bits and Meas bits in addition to the pilot symbol, the TFCI bits, the FBI symbol, and the TPC symbol illustrated in FIG. 9. The ACK bits indicate whether an error has been detected in received downlink HSPA data and the Meas bits indicate the downlink channel condition measured at the UE to determine an appropriate MCS level in the node B.
FIG. 11A to FIG. 11D illustrate the structure of another conventional UL-DPCCH supporting HSDPA, which is another modification to the UL-DPCCH illustrated in FIG. 9. Referring to FIG. 11A to FIG. 11D, an SF=128 orthogonal code is applied to the UL-DPCCH so that more bits (20 bits) can be transmitted at the same chip rate in each slot than in the UL-DPCCH illustrated in FIG. 9. As a result, the UL-DPCCH can carry HSDPA control information as well as UL-DPDCH control information. Unlike the slot structure illustrated in FIG. 10, however, the UL-DPCCH adopts different slot structures within each TTI (Transmission Time Interval) having three slots. Thus, the UL-DPCCH carries control information in time division. In FIG. 11A, the UL-DPCCH delivers only UL-DPDCH control information in a TTI. In FIG. 11B, the UL-DPCCH delivers HSDPA control information in the first two slots and UL-DPDCH control information in the last slot of the TTI. In FIG. 11C, the UL-DPCCH delivers UL-DPDCH control information in the first two slots and ACK/NACK information in the last slot of the TTI. In FIG. 11D, the UL-DPCCH delivers HSDPA control information excluding ACK/NACK in the first two slots and the ACK/NACK information in the last slot of the TTI. As seen from FIG. 11A to FIG. 11D, each slot in a TTI may have a different structure, if necessary. This variable slot structure allows the node B to determine whether to retransmit HSDPA data by processing the ACK/NACK information and prepare substantially for retransmission because the UL-DPCCH carries the ACK information in one slot of a TTI and the remaining HSDPA control information or the UL-DPDCH control information in the other slots of the TTI.
When both the node B and the UE support HSDPA, they know the UL-DPCCH structure illustrated in FIG. 10 or FIG. 11A to FIG. 11D. On the contrary, when both the node B and the UE do not support HSDPA, the UL-DPCCH structure illustrated in FIG. 10 or FIG. 11A to FIG. 11D is not available. For example, if the node B does not provide an HSDPA service, it cannot receive the UL-DPCCH illustrated in FIG. 10 or FIG. 11A to FIG. 11D.
Meanwhile, the UE may enter an SHR in which the coverage areas of an HSDPA node B and a non-HSDPA node B overlap. In the soft handover situation, the UL-DPCCH structure illustrated in FIG. 10 or FIG. 11A to FIG. 11D is not known to the non-HSDPA node B. As a result, the node B cannot receive UL-DPDCH control information.
Accordingly, there is a need for designing an UL-DPCCH in such a way that even the non-HSDPA node B can receive control information from the HSDPA UE. In other words, the aim of designing the UL-DPCCH is to offer compatibility between the HSDPA UE and the non-HSDPA node B.
To support HSDPA, the node B should transmit the following control information to the UE.
1) HSDPA indicator (HI): this indicates whether there exists HSDPA data destined for the UE.
2) MCS level: the MCS level indicates a modulation and channel coding scheme used for an HS-DSCH.
3) HS-DSCH channelization code: the channelization code of an HS-DSCH used for the UE.
4) HARQ process number: this indicates on which logical channel a particular packet is transmitted when using n-channel SAW HARQ.
5) HARQ packet number: the number of a downlink data packet known to the UE so that the UE can report an HSDPA data reception state to a new best cell if a best cell is changed in FCS.
Besides the above control information, the node B transmits an uplink transmission power offset value to the UE so that the UE can transmit information indicating a selected best cell to neighboring nodes B using the uplink transmission power offset value.
FIG. 16 illustrates the structure of a conventional DL-DPCH (Downlink Dedicated Physical Channel) specified in the 3GPP Release 99 (R-99) specification for an existing non-HSDPA mobile communication system. Referring to FIG. 16, the DL-DPCH carries data needed support the operation of a higher layer or dedicated service data, like voice, in a first data field Data1 and a second data field Data2. A TPC field transmits a downlink transmission power control command by which uplink transmission power is controlled, a TFCI field transmits information about the TFC of the first data field Data1 and the second data field Data2, and a pilot field has a preset pilot symbol sequence by which the UE estimates downlink channels.
The DL-DPCH structure of FIG. 16 defined by Release 99 cannot provide an HSDPA service to the UE. Accordingly, there is a need for exploring a novel DL-DPCH structure to support HSDPA. Meanwhile, an HSDPA UE may simultaneously receive data packets on an HS-DSCH from an HSDPA node B and data on a DL-DPCH from a non-HSDPA node B. Therefore, a novel DL-DPCCH for HSDPA should be designed to support the traditional services provided by Release 99 as well as the HSDPA service.
If HSDPA is implemented, HSDPA and non-HSDPA mobile communication systems will inevitably coexist. Therefore, a novel UL-DPCH and a novel DL-DPCH must be defined with compatibility between the HSDPA and non-HSDPA mobile communication systems.

Method of transmitting control data in CDMA mobile communication system


The present invention relates to a novel chemical and oxidation resistant gasketing or sealing material, such as packing yarn. More particularly, there is provided packing yarn comprising carbonaceous fibers which can be used at temperatures over 400.degree. C. that derived from oxidized polyacrylonitrile fibers and have good dry lubricity.

Packing yarns are generally used as seals for shafts and other mechanical devices. Packing yarns during use in their environments undergo a variety of stresses and strains which cause fiber breakage. Fibers with improved elongability are capable of better withstanding these stresses and strains.
When carbon and graphitic fibers are produced from a stabilized acrylic precursor fiber, the extensibility or percent extension is typically in the range of 1.25 to 1.9%, depending upon the heat treatment, the degree of carbonization or graphitization and modulus of the fiber. Typical linear graphitic or carbon fibers are produced by processing tows of from 1,000 to 320,000 filaments through a zone temperature furnace which heat treats the fiber in a temperature range of from about 300.degree. C. graduated rapidly up to about a 1050.degree. to 1100.degree. C. temperature range. This treatment is generally followed by a subsequent heat treatment in a high temperature furnace where the fiber is taken up at a temperature of from about 1400.degree. to 2400.degree. C. The heat treatment is carried out under tension even in a low temperature furnace. That is, the fibers are suspended through the furnace with sufficient tension to pull the fiber tows through the furnace and keep them off the floor or bottom of the furnace. It is especially advantageous if one desires to utilize the carbonaceous fibers as packing yarn to have a percent elongation of from about 2.5% or greater. When a partially carbonized fiber, that is, a fiber which still has a nitrogen content of from 12 to 20%, is heat treated at from 550.degree. to 650.degree. C. under tension, the extensibility of the fiber is only 2.0% or less. This low extensibility is insufficient for use as packing yarn without encountering considerable fiber breakage when placed into a packing gland or recess.
Ideal packing yarns are those having the favorable characteristics of 1) not being friable, 2) resistant to chemicals, 3) high strength, 4) good lubricity, 5) good compressive properties, and 6) can be used at temperatures over 350.degree. C.
Current fibers which are not used for packing yarn, such as Kevlar, Nomex and Teflon, cannot be used at temperatures over 350.degree. C. because they undergo decompostion or soften. Even with glass fibers it is advisable not to exceed temperatures over 400.degree. C. Asbestos is suitable for use as packing yarn but it is being replaced in most systems.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,347,297 to Mishima et al discloses a process for the preparation of carbon fibers by two preoxidation treatments of polyacrylonitrile fibers under tension and the carbonizing of the oxidized fibers under tension.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,279,612 to Saji et al discloses a method for producing carbon fibers which includes the step of thermally stabilizing the fibers under tension before heat treatment to carbonize the fibers.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,541,582 to Fainborough et al which discloses the preparation of woven carbon cloth by first oxidizing continuous yarns of polymeric fibers while under tension. The carbonization step is performed either while under tension or without tension. However, the woven cloth inherently places the fibers under tension.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,837,076 to Mc Cullough et al which is herein incorporated by reference discloses a process for preparing non-linear carbonaceous fibers, yarns and tows having a reversible deflection greater than 1.2:1. The conditions for heat treatment described in the patent can be used to provide similar electrical conductivity to linear fibers. However, non-linear fibers form yarns that are too bulky for use as packing yarn.
The term "carbonaceous fibers" is understood to mean fibers, which have been heated to have an increased carbon content, namely, a carbon content of greater than 65% as a result of an irreversible chemical reaction.
It is to be understood that the percentage stated relate to percent by weight of the total composition unless stated otherwise.


In a method and apparatus for generating a fat-reduced, spatially resolved magnetic resonance spectrum of an examination subject, first measurement data are acquired to generate a spatially resolved spectroscopy measurement, second spatially resolved measurement data are generated that essentially have only fat signal contributions, and the second measurement data are subtracted from the first measurement data to generate the fat-reduced, spatially resolved magnetic resonance spectrum.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns a method to generate a fat-reduced, spatially resolved magnetic resonance spectrum of an examination subject and a magnetic resonance system for implementing such a method.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The modality of spatially resolved MR spectroscopy differs from the modality of MR imaging in that, in addition to the spatial resolution of the MR signals, the chemical shift should also be spatially resolved in spectroscopy. ("Spatial resolution" and "spatially resolved" mean assigning values to the signal in question for associated positions in space.) In general, spectroscopic MR methods must in particular account for the circumstances that the metabolic products of interest exhibit a concentration that is approximately four orders of magnitude lower than the water and fat molecules shown in MR imaging. The significant information of spatially resolved MR spectroscopy lies in the spectral range between the line of free water at 0 ppm and the lines of the fat protons at approximately 3 ppm. For example, these lipid signals appear outside of the examined region or VOI (volume of interest) in the brain spectrum of the region and make the interpretation and quantification of the lines of metabolites (such as NAA, choline, GABA and inositol) more difficult. The method designated as the CSI (Chemical Shift Imaging) method is known in spectroscopic imaging. In CSI mammo-spectroscopies, as well as in prostate spectroscopies, the determination of the citrate/choline/creatine ratio can be very strongly distorted by the contamination of the dominating fat spectrum, assuming it is not made impossible in the first place.
In the prior art it is known to suppress the contribution of the fat spectrum by the application of pulses that excite the fat signals outside of the examined range and destroy their magnetization, so that these fat signals make no or only a slight signal contribution in the subsequent imaging spectroscopy. However, in many applications these saturation bands that are to be spatially placed can only be insufficiently adapted to the anatomy. The magnetization of the signal is additionally restored again in part by the refocusing effect of the many pulses on the magnetization in the overlap range of the saturation pulses, so artifacts can arise. Furthermore, the placement of the many different saturation bands to define the saturated regions is time-consuming.

Method and magnetic resonance system to generate a fat-reduced, spatially resolved magnetic resonance spectrum


In order to provide a treatment apparatus for treating workpieces or groups of workpieces that are conveyed from an inlet to an outlet of the treatment apparatus, wherein the treatment apparatus comprises a plurality of treatment levels and with said treatment apparatus the workpieces to be treated are passed from level to level in a safe and controlled manner, it is proposed that the treatment apparatus comprises a housing and receiving chambers, which rotate relative to the housing, for receiving the workpieces or groups of workpieces, wherein the receiving chambers are disposed in at least two different chamber levels and an outlet opening in the housing is associated with a first chamber level, through which the workpieces or groups of workpieces travel first, and an inlet opening is associated with a second chamber level, through which the workpieces or groups of workpieces travel after the first chamber level, and wherein the treatment apparatus comprises at least one transfer apparatus, which moves the workpieces or groups of workpieces from the outlet opening to the inlet opening.

Such an apparatus is known, for example, from DE 44 42 152 A1.
In the treatment apparatus known from DE 44 42 152 A1, the parts to be treated are fed to so-called "virtual chambers" and in these virtual chambers are conveyed through processing treatments. This treatment apparatus comprises a plurality of circular bases disposed with spacing one above the other, which are enclosed by a wall cylinder and between which there is in each case a system of blades disposed at uniform angular intervals. The blade systems rotate jointly relative to the bases, wherein each base has a window and the windows of successive bases in the direction of passage of the workpieces are disposed offset relative to one another counter to the direction of rotation of the blade systems so that the workpieces, which are fed in each case into a "virtual chamber" delimited by two blades, complete in each case a partial circuit along the bases to the window of the relevant base and, there, then fall onto the base situated underneath, where they then complete the next partial circuit. The chambers in this apparatus are described as "virtual" because in the course of conveying the workpiece they continuously exchange their real bottom and top walls.
The treatment apparatus known from DE 44 42 152 A1 is provided for the processing treatment of small workpieces, which are not damaged by the drop through a base window from one level to the next level of the treatment apparatus.
Particularly in the case of heavier workpieces having a surface that should not be damaged, an uncontrolled drop from one level to another level of the treatment apparatus does however present a considerable risk.

Treatment apparatus for treating workpieces or groups of workpieces


Methods and apparatus to transmit and receive information bits encoded in duobinary, multilevel pulse-amplitude-modulated (PAM) optical signals. The transmitted optical signal has a narrow optical spectrum and a low symbol rate. Information bits are encoded in a M-ary PAM symbol sequence, where M≳2. A subtraction-based encoder precodes and duobinary filters the M-ary PAM symbol sequence, yielding an encoded sequence. The encoded sequence is lowpass filtered and modulated onto an optical electric field. The receiver processes a received optical electric field to obtain an electrical signal proportional to the received optical intensity, and performs M-ary symbol-by-symbol decisions to recover the transmitted information bits, without potential error propagation.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to optical communication systems and, more particularly, to transmission and reception of digital information bits encoded in duobinary, multilevel pulse-amplitude modulation optical signals which, for a given bit rate, have a narrow optical spectrum and low symbol rate, and enable the information bits to be recovered from the intensity of the received optical signal without potential error propagation.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is well known that in optical communication systems conveying digital information, whether they transmit a single signal at a single carrier wavelength or transmit multiple signals at different carrier wavelengths (i.e., employ wavelength- division multiplexing), for a fixed bit rate per carrier wavelength, it is beneficial to design the transmitted signal to have a narrow optical spectrum and to use a long symbol interval. Throughout this patent, the term xe2x80x9coptical spectrumxe2x80x9d refers to the power spectral density of the transmitted optical electric field.
Furthermore, implementation of optical communication systems is simplified greatly if the transmitted signal is designed so that the transmitted information bits can be recovered at the receiver simply by extracting from the received optical signal an electrical signal proportional to the intensity of the received optical signal (i.e., the absolute square of the received optical electric field), and performing symbol-by-symbol decisions. Currently, almost all practical optical communication systems use direct detection, in which a photodetector generates a photocurrent proportional to the received optical signal intensity. It is also possible to extract an electrical signal proportional to the received optical signal intensity through other means, e.g., asynchronous homodyne or asynchronous heterodyne detection.
Single-sideband amplitude modulation is a traditional means to narrow the spectrum of a modulated signal by a factor of two, and involves modulation of a signal and its Hilbert transform onto quadrature carriers at the same carrier frequency. A few prior works have described single-sideband modulation of optical signals, but the single-sideband optical modulation schemes proposed to date are very difficult to implement in practice. Vestigial-sideband amplitude modulation is essentially an imperfect practical implementation of single-sideband amplitude modulation. Optical vestigial-sideband amplitude modulation can be implemented by first generating an amplitude-modulated optical signal and then filtering it with an optical filter having a sharp cutoff centered at the optical carrier frequency but, in practice, it is difficult to fabricate filters having sufficiently sharp cutoff and to match the optical carrier frequency and filter cutoff frequency with sufficient accuracy.
Multiple-subcarrier modulation (also called subcarrier multiplexing) represents a well-known approach to increasing the symbol interval. In this approach, the information bit stream is divided into multiple substreams at lower bit rates, and each substream is modulated onto an electrical subcarrier at a different subcarrier frequency. The modulated subcarriers are summed to form a frequency-division-multiplexed electrical signal, which is then modulated onto an optical carrier, usually by intensity modulation. While multiple-subcarrier modulation lengthens the interval of symbols transmitted on individual subcarriers, it does not necessarily reduce the total optical bandwidth of the transmitted signal. Multiple-subcarrier modulation offers poor average optical-power efficiency (e.g., compared to on-off keying, which is the same as 2-ary pulse-amplitude modulation), and this efficiency decreases further as the number of subcarriers is increased. Multiple-subcarrier modulation requires transmitters and receivers significantly more complicated than those required by baseband modulation techniques, such as on-off keying and M-ary pulse-amplitude modulation.
Modulation of information bits onto optical signals using M-ary phase-shift keying (for M≳3) or using M-ary quadrature-amplitude modulation (for M≳4) represent other well-known means to narrow the optical spectrum and lengthen the symbol interval of the transmitted signal. However, very complicated phase-sensitive detection techniques are required to recover the transmitted bits, such as synchronous homodyne or synchronous heterodyne detection.
It is well-known that M-ary pulse-amplitude modulation, in which information bits are encoded in one of M intensity levels during each symbol interval, where M≳3, represents a means to narrow the optical spectrum and lengthen the symbol interval as compared to on-off keying (which is equivalent to 2-ary pulse-amplitude modulation). It is well-known that for a given information bit rate, as M is increased, the spectrum narrows and the symbol interval increases. A key drawback of M-ary pulse-amplitude modulation is that for a given M, it does not offer the maximal spectral narrowing that can be achieved.
M-ary pulse-amplitude modulation with duobinary encoding is a well-known modulation technique that has been widely studied for a variety of communication media. For reasons to be described below, to date, only M=2 has been chosen in optical communication systems. In this technique, a sequence of M-ary pulse-amplitude modulation symbols, Im, where m is a time index of symbol intervals, is encoded to yield a duobinary symbol sequence Bm=Im+Im-1, which is transmitted. Duobinary encoding narrows the spectrum of the transmitted signal, and choosing M greater than 2 provides additional spectral narrowing and lengthens the symbol interval. A duobinary M-ary pulse-amplitude modulation signal takes on 2Mxe2x88x921 possible levels, including M-xe2x88x921 negative levels, Mxe2x88x921 positive levels, and zero. Optimal detection of duobinary M-ary pulse-amplitude modulation signals requires maximum-likelihood sequence detection, but at high bit rates, this is difficult to implement, so that symbol-by-symbol detection is typically performed, and the symbol sequence Im is precoded to avoid error propagation in the recovered information bits.
Numerous patents and research papers have documented the use of 2-ary pulse-amplitude modulation (which is equivalent to on-off keying) with duobinary encoding in optical communication systems. To our knowledge, all of these works have utilized precoding to permit symbol-by-symbol detection without error propagation. While these works have described many different techniques to implement precoding, duobinary encoding and modulation of the duobinary signal onto the optical carrier, all of these techniques result in transmission of equivalent optical signals, which take on one of three possible electric-field amplitude values, e.g., {xe2x88x92a,0, a}. Using precoded, 2-ary pulse-amplitude modulation with duobinary encoding, it is possible to recover the transmitted information bits by performing symbol-by-symbol detection on a signal proportional to the received optical intensity, such as the photocurrent in a direct-detection receiver. 2-ary pulse-amplitude modulation with duobinary encoding offers essentially the same average optical-power efficiency as on-off keying. While this technique narrows the optical spectrum by about a factor of two (as compared to on-off keying), it does not provide the narrowing that would be possible for M greater than 2, nor does it lengthen the symbol interval (as compared to on-off keying).
It is highly desirable to employ duobinary M-ary pulse-amplitude modulation, M  greater than 2, in optical communication systems, to achieve both a narrower optical spectrum and a longer symbol interval. However, with all previously known preceding techniques, it is not possible to recover the transmitted information bits using symbol-by-symbol detection on a signal proportional to the received optical intensity, such as the photocurrent in a direct-detection receiver, without potential error propagation. Using all previously known precoding techniques, for M greater than 2, it would be necessary to employ a complicated, phase-sensitive detection technique to receive the optical signal, e.g., synchronous homodyne or synchronous heterodyne detection. Hence, to date, it has not been possible to use duobinary M-ary pulse-amplitude modulation, for M greater than 2, in practical optical communication systems using direct-detection receivers.
There is a need for methods and apparatus to transmit and receive duobinary M-ary pulse-amplitude-modulated signals in optical communication systems, for any choice of M greater than 2, and for any choice of the M intensity levels, where the signals are precoded such that the transmitted information bits can be recovered using symbol-by-symbol detection on a signal proportional to the received optical intensity, e.g., by using a simple direct-detection receiver, without potential error propagation.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide methods and apparatus to transmit and receive duobinary M-ary pulse-amplitude-modulated optical signals, for M greater than 2, in optical communication systems.
Another object is to provide methods and apparatus to precode duobinary M-ary pulse-amplitude-modulated optical signals, for M greater than 2, such that the transmitted information bits can be recovered using symbol-by-symbol detection on a signal proportional to the received optical intensity, e.g., by using a simple direct-detection receiver, without the potential for error propagation.
Briefly, in a preferred embodiment of a duobinary M-ary pulse-amplitude modulation optical transmission system, information bits to be transmitted are formed into blocks of k bits, where k≲log2M. Blocks of k bits are input to a M-ary pulse-amplitude modulation symbol encoder, which encodes each block into a pulse-amplitude modulation symbol taking on one of M equally spaced levels, where M≳2. This encoding is performed using Gray coding. The encoder output is a M-ary pulse-amplitude modulation symbol sequence Dm, where m is a time index counting symbol intervals. When M greater than 2, the duration of each symbol interval is longer than the symbol interval using 2-ary pulse-amplitude modulation (which is equivalent to on-off keying).
The M-ary pulse-amplitude modulation symbol sequence Dm, is input to a precoder, which includes a multiplier, summer, one-symbol delay, polarity inverter and sign-computing device. The output of the precoder is a precoded pulse-amplitude modulation symbol sequence Im, which is related to the M-ary pulse-amplitude modulation symbol sequence Dm by:
Im=Dmsgn(Im-1)-Im-I.
The precoded pulse-amplitude modulation symbol sequence Im has 2Mxe2x88x922 equally spaced levels. The purpose of precoding the symbol sequence is to allow the receiver to recover the transmitted information bits using symbol-by-symbol detection on a signal proportional to the received optical intensity, without potential error propagation. The precoded pulse-amplitude modulation symbol sequence Im is input to a duobinary filter, which uses a one-symbol delay and a summer to implement a delay-and-add function. The output of the duobinary filter is a duobinary, precoded symbol sequence Bm, which is related to the precoded pulse-amplitude modulation symbol sequence Im by:
Bm=Im+Im-1.
The duobinary, precoded symbol sequence Bm has 2Mxe2x88x921 equally spaced levels. The purpose of duobinary filtering is to introduce temporal correlation into the symbol sequence, which narrows the optical spectrum of the transmitted optical signal by approximately a factor of two as compared to a M-ary pulse-amplitude modulation signal that has not been duobinary filtered. The duobinary, precoded symbol sequence Bm is input to a symbol remapper, whose output is another duobinary, precoded symbol sequence Bxe2x80x2m, which has 2M- l unequally spaced levels. The symbol remapper performs a one-to-one mapping of the 2Mxe2x88x92l levels taken on by the sequence Bm to a different set of 2Mxe2x88x921 levels taken on by the sequence Bxe2x80x2m. This remapping is performed because implementation of the precoder and duobinary filter is simplified if Dm, Im and Bm have equally spaced levels, but it is often desirable for Bxe2x80x2m to have unequally spaced levels. The duobinary, precoded symbol sequence Bxe2x80x2m is lowpass-filtered, resulting in the duobinary precoded pulse-amplitude modulation signal s(t), which has 2Mxe2x88x921 unequally spaced levels.
The duobinary precoded pulse-amplitude modulation signal s(t) is then modulated onto an optical carrier using a modulation subsystem. In the modulation subsystem, a laser or other light source generates an unmodulated optical carrier, which is input to a dual-drive, push-pull, Mach-Zehnder interferometric intensity modulator. The intensity modulator is driven by complementary drive signals V1(t)=Gs(t) and V2(t)=xe2x88x92Gs(t), each of which takes on values between xe2x88x92Vxcfx80/2 and Vxcfx80/2, where Vxcfx80 is the drive voltage required to produce a phase shift of xcfx80. The intensity modulator is biased by a d.c. bias chosen so that the modulator output is approximately zero when the drive signals V1(t) and V2(t) are zero. The modulator output is a duobinary M-ary pulse-amplitude-modulated optical signal described by the transmitted optical electric field Etrans(t), which has 2Mxe2x88x921 levels, including Mxe2x88x921 positive levels, Mxe2x88x921 negative levels (which are the negatives of the Mxe2x88x921 positive levels), and one level that is approximately zero. The transmitted optical electric field Etrans(t) is launched into the optical transmission medium, which may be a fiber or free-space optical medium.
At the output of the optical transmission medium, the received duobinary M-ary pulse-amplitude-modulated optical signal is described by the received optical electric field Erec(t). The transmitted information bits can be recovered from the received optical electric field Erec(t) using a direct-detection receiver, an asynchronous homodyne receiver, or an asynchronous heterodyne receiver. While each of these three receiver designs is implemented differently, each extracts from the received optical electric field Erec(t) a M-ary pulse-amplitude modulation signal v(t), which depends on Erec(t) only through the received optical intensity Irec(t)=|Erec(t)|2. Accordingly, the M-ary pulse-amplitude modulation signal v(t) has Mxe2x88x921 positive levels and one level that is approximately zero. The M-ary pulse-amplitude modulation signal v(t) is input to a M-ary pulse-amplitude modulation decision device, which performs M-ary symbol-by-symbol decisions by comparing the M-ary pulse-amplitude modulation signal v(t) to a set of Mxe2x88x921 thresholds. Because the M-ary pulse-amplitude modulation decision device does not perform decisions by comparing values of the M-level pulse-amplitude modulation signal v(t) in successive symbol intervals, decisions are not subject to error propagation. The M- ary pulse-amplitude modulation decision device yields at its output blocks of k recovered information bits, which are converted to a serial sequence of recovered information bits by a parallel-to-serial converter.
An advantage of the present invention is that the transmitted optical signal has a narrow optical spectrum, so that in wavelength-division-multiplexed systems, which utilize some form of optical or electrical filters to select the desired signal at the receiver, the spacing between carrier frequencies can be reduced subject to some constraints on the tolerable distortion to the desired signal caused by these filters and the tolerable crosstalk from undesired signals not rejected by these filters, thereby increasing the spectral efficiency of the system.
Another advantage of the present invention is that the transmitted optical signal has a narrow optical spectrum, reducing pulse spreading caused by chromatic dispersion in systems using single-mode fiber as the transmission medium.
Another advantage of the present invention is that the transmitted optical signal has a long symbol interval, improving the receiver""s ability to recover the transmitted information bits in the presence of dispersion (i.e., pulse spreading) originating from several sources, including chromatic dispersion or polarization-mode dispersion in single- mode fiber, modal dispersion in multi-mode fiber, and multipath propagation in free- space links.
Another advantage of the present invention is that the transmitted optical signal has a long symbol interval, reducing the electrical bandwidth required of electrical-to- optical converters, optical-to-electrical converters and electrical components in the transmitter and receiver.
Another advantage of the present invention is that the transmitted optical signal has a long symbol interval, reducing the clock speed required in the transmitter and receiver.
Another advantage of the present invention is that the transmitted information bits can be recovered using symbol-by-symbol detection on a signal proportional to the received optical intensity, such as the photocurrent in a direct-detection receiver.
These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after having read the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments, which are illustrated in the various figures.

Transmission and reception of duobinary multilevel pulse-amplitude-modulated optical signals using subtraction-based encoder


Detecting so-called “navigation bars” (or “nav bars”) in a (Web) document by determining whether or not nodes of a parse tree of the (Web) document are “anchor-heavy”. Generally, a navigation bar can be thought of as text, such as a hyper-text link or anchor text for example, without any immediate content. Once a navigation bar is detected, objectionable navigation bars (i.e., navigation bars, the rendering of which would be objectionable to users without special re-authoring), can be distinguished from non-objectionable navigation bars (i.e., navigation bars which would not be objectionable to users with no special re-authoring). Objectionable navigation bars may be distinguished from non-objectionable navigation bars by: (a) determining whether the navigation bar is so small that normal rendering would not be objectionable; (b) determining whether the navigation bar presumably conveys meaningful content; and/or (c) determining whether the navigation bar is a component of a non-objectionable navigation bar (where all components of the non-objectionable navigation bar are navigation bars themselves).

§ 1.1 Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns reformatting content. In particular, the present invention concerns reformatting content intended to be rendered on a larger display screen (such as typical 15 inch to 21 inch monitors used with personal computers for example), for rendering on a smaller screen. The present invention also concerns identifying navigation bars in general. Such general navigation bar identification may be useful in other applications, such as for purposes of determining whether or not to index text, or whether or not to show text in a snippet search result, for example.
§ 1.2 Related Art
The description of art in this section is not, and should not be interpreted to be, an admission that such art is prior art to the present invention. The Internet and traditional modes of Internet access are introduced in § 1.2.1 below. The growth of information access via portable (e.g., wireless) devices having smaller display screens, as well as challenges related to such access and rendering, are then introduced in § 1.2.2 below.
§1.2.1 The Internet and Traditional Modes of Internet Access
In recent decades, and starting in the 1990s in particular, computers have become interconnected by networks by an ever increasing extent; initially, via local area networks (or "LANs"), and more recently via LANs, private wide area networks (or "WANs") and the Internet. The proliferation of networks, in conjunction with the increased availability of inexpensive data storage means, has afforded computer users unprecedented access to a wealth of content. Such content may be presented to a user (or "rendered") in the form of text, images, audio, video, etc. Such content is referred to as "documents" or "pages" without loss of generality.
Since the Internet permits many different computers, platforms, and applications to access information, standard "markup languages" have been adopted so that documents retain formatting, indexing, and linking information, without regard to the type of computer, platform, or application supported on the device accessing and rendering the documents. The most common markup languages are briefly introduced below.
Initially, the standard generalized markup language (or "SGML") was adopted by the International Organization for Standardization ("the ISO") in 1986 as a means for providing platform and application independent documents that retain formatting, indexing, and linked information. SGML does so by providing a grammar-like mechanism for users to define the structure of their documents, as well as tags used to denote the structure in individual documents.
The hypertext markup language (or "HTML") is an application of SGML used for documents on the World Wide Web. HTML uses tags to mark elements (such as text and graphics for example) in a document to indicate how Web browsers should display such elements, as well as to indicate how Web browsers should respond to user actions, such as the activation of a link (such as by a mouse click for example).
Finally, the extensible markup language (or "XML") is a condensed form of SGML which lets Web developers and designers create customized tags that offer greater flexibility in organizing and presenting information than is possible with HTML.
§ 1.2.2 The Growth of Content Access Via, and Content Rendering on, Devices with Smaller Display Screens
The markup languages introduced above permit Web document authors and designers to format their documents to effectively communicate information to their intended audience. Web document authors and designers often consider many design factors, such as ease of navigation, logical organization, consistency, efficient downloading, etc. The display device on which the intended audience is expected to render such Web documents is a major consideration in the design and authoring of Web sites and Web documents. Traditionally, most access to documents on the World Wide Web has been by means of personal computer, most of which are equipped with 15 inch to 21 inch monitors, and many of which support resolutions of 640-by-480 pixels, and beyond. Accordingly, most documents on the World Wide Web are designed for display on desktop computers with color monitors having at least 640-by-480 resolution.
Internet access and the rendering of Web documents by devices with smaller displays, such as personal electronic devices, cell phones, mobile phones, and other portable and/or untethered information access and communication devices, is rapidly increasing. The wireless markup language (or "WML") has been introduced to facilitate authoring documents for rendering on devices with limited display area, limited memory and processing resources, and lower bandwidth connections.
§ 188.8.131.52 Challenges Related to Reformatting Content for Rendering on Smaller Display Screens
The intended audience for many Web sites and Web documents will often include users accessing and rendering such Web sites and web documents with traditional desktop computers having larger displays, as well as users accessing and rendering such Web sites with devices having smaller displays (as well as users who will use both types of devices). Such a heterogeneous audience using various types of devices presents a dilemma for web authors and web designers—how can different intended audiences, using different access and/or rendering devices be satisfied?
The article, T. Bickmore et al., "Digestor: Device-independent Access to the World Wide Web," Proc. Of the Sixth World Wide Web Conference, downloaded from http://decweb.ethz.ch/WWW6/Technical/Paper177/Paper177.html (hereafter referred to as "the Digestor article", which is expressly incorporated herein by reference), notes that there are four general approaches to displaying Web documents on devices with small display screens: namely, device-specific authoring, multiple-device authoring, client-side navigation, and automated re-authoring.
As their names imply, device-specific authoring and multiple-device authoring involves authoring separate Web documents for specific devices and groups of devices, respectively. Obviously, such approaches require more labor for authoring multiple versions of the same underlying content, require more storage to store such multiple versions of the same underlying content, and require special signaling protocols to determine which device is requesting the Web document.
In the client-side navigation approach, the user can interactively navigate a single web page by altering the portion of it that is displayed at any given time (e.g., by scrolling, zooming, panning, expanding, collapsing, etc.). However, it is believed that such approaches are not well suited for devices with limited memory and processing resources, as well as limited bandwidth access. Further, it is believed that such required user interaction would become annoying to many users.
Automated re-authoring involves transforming an arbitrary Web document, such as a Web document designed for a desktop computer with a typical display device, to a document that can be appropriately displayed on a target display device. This transformation may take place on the client device, on a server, and/or on an intermediate proxy server. Many factors should be considered in designing a satisfactory automated re-authoring tool. For example, it may be desirable for the re-authoring process to treat different individual components of a Web document differently.
It is a goal of the present invention to provide a utility that could be used as a part of a re-authoring process. In this regard, it is a goal of the present invention to detect special components, such as navigation bars and/or objectionable navigation bars for example, of Web documents, so that such components may receive special treatment by a re-authoring process.

Identifying navigation bars and objectionable navigation bars


A rim and a method of producing a rim for bicycles and the like includes a rim body and a rim base provided thereon and lateral rim flanks provided with rim flanges. The rim flanges include a fibrous composite material having at least one fiber layer. The rim flanges include inwardly overhanging bulges of squashed fiber layers between which a tire can be accommodated at the rim body.

The invention relates to a rim provided with rim flanges and a method for producing such a rim, in particular of a fibrous composite material.
In the field of amateurs in particular many bicycle rims comprise rim flanges between which a tire can be attached to the rim. In the field of professional cycling and again in the field of amateurs, the weight and the stress tolerance of the components are a decisive factor since quality-conscious users set great store by high-quality, lightweight components.
In the prior art, rims of fiber-reinforced plastics have been disclosed by means of which the rims may be reduced in weight. Concurrently these rims, while being reduced in total weight, achieve a stability comparable to that of metal rims. One drawback of rims of fiber-reinforced materials is the complicated production since many production steps must be performed manually which increases the costs.
Many rims are produced by way of positioning resin-impregnated woven fiber mats in a mold wherein after curing, finishing is required at least in the region of the rim flanges to give the rim flanges the desired shape.
For example EP 1 231 077 B 1 has disclosed a method for producing a rim for a bicycle and a corresponding apparatus for producing a rim according to which, to produce a hollow rim provided with rim flanges, multiple layers of a structural woven fiber which includes a plastic matrix, are successively, one by one applied on the inner part of a mold. The applied, predetermined quantity of layers forms the inner wall, the outer wall, the two side walls, and the rim flanges of the rim. Subsequently an inflatable bag is applied on the layers. A predetermined quantity of layers is folded back on the bag. A core is positioned on the folded back, first layers, the remaining layers being folded on top. After closing the mold, said mold is heated up to an increased temperature to generate reticulation of the plastic matrix. The rim is removed from the mold, overhanging rim flanges are trimmed and in a subsequent mechanical, cutting machining step given the desired shape.
A drawback of the known method is the high extent of work in producing the nm.
Therefore it is the object of the present invention to provide a rim and a method for producing a rim by means of which a lightweight though robust rim is provided while the production steps required are reduced.


The invention relates to an integrated memory circuit having a memory cell array comprising memory cells arranged on word lines and bit lines, and having a repair circuit for repairing a single bit error in one of the memory cells, the repair circuit comprising: an error memory for storing an item of repair information, an assignment unit in order, when accessing an address of the memory cell array, depending on the repair information, to access either a memory area of the memory cell array or a redundancy memory area, and a test unit for determining the repair information. The test unit comprises a write unit, which successively writes first test data and second test data to a plurality of memory cells of a memory area of the memory cell array, a read-out unit which reads out data stored in the memory area, a modification unit in order to modify the bits of the read-out data in such a way that the position of each bit changes and each of the bits is inverted in order to provide the second test data, which are subsequently written to the memory area with the aid of the write unit, and a comparator unit in order to compare the data read out after the writing of the second test data with expected data and to provide the repair information depending on the comparison result.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an integrated memory circuit having a memory cell array and a repair circuit for repairing a single bit error. The invention furthermore relates to a method for repairing a single bit error in an integrated memory circuit.
2. Description of the Related Art
Memory cells of integrated memory circuits, in particular of DRAM memory circuits, may be subject to degradation if they are exposed to method steps with high temperatures, such as may occur for example during packaging or soldering. It can happen, therefore, that in the case of previously tested and error-free memory circuits, after assembly to form a module, memory cells fail and single bit errors thereby occur which render the module unusable and have a considerable effect on the yield in the production of memory modules. Such memory modules are therefore repaired by means of a repair circuit, these then being programmed manually with the aid of an electrical fuse and subsequently being tested anew. The repair with the aid of an electrical fuse is carried out by means of an external access. The repair usually requires a renewed test, the storage of an error address in an error address memory and the subsequent repair by writing to the fuse in order to repair the defective memory cell determined previously. This procedure is complicated and represents a considerable cost factor in the production of a memory module having a plurality of memory circuits.

Integrated memory circuit and method for repairing a single bit error


A device for reducing traumatic brain injury comprises a first sensor, a first linkage element, and a processing element. The first sensor is coupled to a head component and configured to measure an acceleration of a user's head as a result of an impact on the head component and to generate corresponding first sensor measurements. The first linkage element is configured to connect the head component to a body component and is able to switch between a first state in which it is relatively flexible and a second state in which it is relatively rigid. The first linkage element is switched from its first state to its second state by a locking signal. The processing element is configured to receive the first sensor measurements and to generate the locking signal when a value of the first sensor measurements is greater than or equal to an injury level.

1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the current invention relate to devices and systems configured to reduce traumatic brain injury.
2. Description of the Related Art
Closed-head traumatic brain injury (TBI) is typically a result of the brain impacting the interior of the skull. Forces acting on the body or the head generally accelerate the brain. High positive acceleration or negative acceleration may cause the brain to contact the skull with enough force to cause damage. The types of damage may be categorized as concussive TBI, blast TBI, or mild TBI. Concussive TBI may be suffered by athletes in sports such as hockey, boxing, or American football. Blast TBI may be experienced by military or law enforcement personnel while on patrol or traveling in a vehicle. Mild TBI may be experienced by anyone suffering a fall, a minor vehicular accident, or the like. Furthermore, the direction and location of the impact and the resulting motion of the head may determine the severity of the injury. Studies have shown that a side impact to the head, or the body, that results in the head rotating (about the roll axis) to the left or right shoulder may lead to a greater chance of suffering a TBI, as compared with impacts from other directions.
Helmets are available to athletes, military personnel, law enforcement personnel, and the like. While helmets generally provide protection for skull fractures upon direct impact, they do not provide protection from rotational forces to the head and may not reduce the occurrence or severity of a concussive TBI (cTBI). Even when wearing a helmet, the head, and the brain within, may experience an acceleration of a great enough magnitude to cause a cTBI.
Implementing a rigid linkage between the helmet and the body of the helmeted person has been proposed in prior art as a means to reduce concussive traumatic injuries [e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 7,941,873 to Nagely et al. or U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0204628 to Ghajar]. In concussions, however, impact energy can act on the head within 20-50 milliseconds of impact [Rowson S, Brolinson G, Goforth M, Dietter D, Duma S (2009) Linear and angular head acceleration measurements in collegiate football, J Biomech Eng 131: 061016, doi: 10.1115/1.3130454].

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Device and system to reduce traumatic brain injury


A sensor apparatus to sense when an aircraft pilot has ejected is provided for safe actuation of a rescue locator radio. The ejection sensor apparatus (20) has a microphone (40), an accelerometer (35) and logic for determining that a pilot ejection event has occurred. The microphone (40) detects the differences in sound level (30) from normal cockpit noise to those during ejection and after deployment of a rescue chute. The accelerometer (35) detects the differences in acceleration level (25) during ejection and after deployment of a rescue chute. Pre-programmed acceptance templates (55) are compared in a digital processor (60) to ensure that ejection has occurred before a rescue radio (90) is activated. A manual turn on delay or turn off capability for the rescue radio is provided for facilitation of communications. Encrypted GPS location information and a pilot code are also included in the rescue radio transmission.

The present invention relates generally to downed pilot rescue and more particularly to a method and apparatus for sensing aircraft pilot ejection for rescue radio actuation.
When a pilot has a problem that forces the pilot to ejection from an airplane, automatic actuation of a radio transmission for position locating the pilot is desirable. Location information such as obtained by GPS can also be determined without pilot involvement. The location information or position data can then be encrypted and transmitted along with an identifying code of the pilot and messaging for local search and rescue.
Present downed pilot rescue systems use a mechanical device that turns on rescue locator transmitters. Once turned on after ejection, these devices stay on until reset or switched off. The problem created by this approach is that the pilot might not be conscious or unable to turn off the device. If there is always a constant radio beacon, unfriendly forces might be able to home in on the radio beacon and find the downed pilot. Pull cords, lanyards and cable devices have always been considered unacceptable by flight safety authorities.
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to have a method and apparatus for sensing ejection with a non-contact sensor, e.g. other criteria for sensing actual injection is preferred. A way of manually turning off or on the rescue radio would also be desirable in the pilot ejection sensor for radio activation system.

Method and apparatus to sense aircraft pilot ejection for rescue radio actuation


A wire-saving optical encoder having servomotor identification information is applied to a wire-saving transmission design to provide a circuit and a method for processing servomotor identification information and encoded feedback control signals. With a microprocessor, a multiplexer and the servomotor identification information stored in the microprocessor, an output device and a driver for the feedback signals of the encoder constitute a wire-saving signal transmitting circuit. The microprocessor and multiplexer switch a signal transmission mode to transmit the servomotor identification information and phase change signal produced by the servomotor control parameters stored in a firmware by a serial output mode, and the same transmitting wire is used to transmit a rotor operating signal after the transmitting mode is switched, so as to save wires and lower costs for transmitting feedback signals and correctly identifying and effectively controlling a servomotor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a servomotor, and more particularly to a servomotor having a wire-saving serial output of servomotor identification information and encoded feedback control signals to improve the match control and misconnection of a diversified servomotor and a driver as well as the control of the servomotor.
2. Description of Prior Art
At present, a servomotor is operated, driven and controlled mainly by related information including motor rotor position, speed and rotating direction required by the servo optical encoder and the feedback driver, and thus a good design or a good control method for an optical encoder and its signal processing circuit can enhance the matching, the control, and the wiring cost between the motor and the driver.
The structure of a traditional servo optical encoder applied to a servomotor usually includes an optical transmitter, an optical receiver, a rotary coding disc, a fixed coding plate, a processing circuit and a mechanical body as disclosed in R.O.C. Pat. No. I232631, and the difference of a servo optical encoder from a general encoder resides on that the servo optical encoder uses the design of tracks on a coding disc 8 for outputting a phase change signal as shown in FIG. 1, in addition to providing a rotor operating signal (A, B, Z), wherein a stripe 81 corresponds to signals A, B, and tracks 82, 83, 84 correspond to phase change signals U, V, W, and a different quantity of magnetic pole rotors of a servomotor corresponds to a different distribution of phase change signals for the digital coding of a disc. Referring to FIG. 2, the digital coding of a disc corresponding to a servomotor having ten magnetic poles further provides a phase change signal (U, V, W), wherein the rotor operating signal (A, B, Z) provides related information including the feedback operating position, speed and loop number to facilitate an accurate control of the driver, and the phase change signal (U, V, W) feeds back the rotor magnetic field position before starting and provides the phase change strategy for the driver, and these signals vary with the quantity of magnetic poles of the servomotor according to the design of the coding disc and the distribution of the pattern.
Further, most of the signals of a prior art servo optical encoder are outputted in pairs as shown in FIG. 3, and a total of 14 wires including the power input is needed, wherein the phase change signal (U, V, W) mainly provides the positions of the magnetic poles of a motor rotor, so that the driver can rotate the motor in the same direction of the magnetic field, and thus the phase change signal (U, V, W) is usually provided before the operation of the motor starts. In other words, the transmission of phase change signals (U, V, W) in pairs through six transmission lines will be idled after the motor is started and operated normally, and thus such arrangement incurs an additional cost for installing the transmission line, and there is a need to save the wires and reduce the cost for the wiring requirement.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,684,373 mainly uses electronic components such as a timer and a multiplexer to send out the phase change signal (U, V, W) after the power is turned on for approximately several hundreds of milliseconds, and then after the signals are transmitted, the same transmission line is used to send out the rotor operating signal (A, B, Z) and feed back the required operating control related information to the driver. Therefore, only eight transmission lines are needed for transmitting signals, so as to save the wiring and lower the cost.
As servomotors become increasingly popular, there are different combinations of driver and motor for different occasions, and motors of different features have different control parameters to control the motors effectively. Particularly, related information for identifying the motor including rated speed, power, external look and geometric size are included into the transmitted signals of the servo optical encoder. With the transmission of such related information, the driver can correspond to the related motor parameters to facilitate the related controls of the motor. On the other hand, the driver also can determine whether or not the motor is matched to avoid a misuse by users. However, the information provided by the prior art servo encoder and the foregoing cited U.S. patent is insufficient, and does not provide additional motor identification related information. If it is necessary to use the general wiring output method adopted by the prior art servo optical encoder to provide additional motor identification related information, then the quantity of wires will be increased accordingly. Of course, the wiring and its cost will be increased as well. As to the foregoing cited U.S. patent that emphasizes on wire-saving, it is necessary to use more electronic components if additional motor identification related information is provided without installing additional wires. Regardless of adopting the processing circuit architecture and signal transmission control method for the wire-saving optical encoder according to the prior art servo optical encoder or the foregoing cited U.S. patent, these prior arts cannot cope with different changes without changing the current existing architecture.

Wire-saving optical encoder having servomotor identification information


A basket assembly for a three-wheel pushcart having a leg brace includes a clamp for attachment to the brace. The clamp has a block with a notch for receiving the top of the brace. The block has bore extending from its top to its bottom and opening into the notch and another bore extending from one side of the block to the other. A clamping plate, for engagement with the bottom of the brace, is secured to the block by a first threaded fastener passing through the bore. A basket is releasably attached to a supporting bracket attached to the clamp and has an openwork box adapted for support by forwardly facing hooks at the bottom of a lower segment of laterally spaced members of the supporting bracket. A second threaded fastener extends through each apertured flange and the other bore to attach the bracket to the clamp.

As was noted in my previous patent, U.S. Pat. No. 6,079,600, carts have long been used by golfers to tote their club-filled bags while golfing. However, transporting other necessaries like food, drinks, jackets, gloves and hats has always been difficult. One cart manufacturer, Sun Mountain Sports, sells a zippered, fabric pouch for toting a few, small items that attaches to its three-wheel pushcarts. When desired, Sun Mountain's pouch can be detached from a cart and carried away by means of a built-in handle. Sadly, the pouch cannot transport bulky items that golfers normally carry.
In the '600 patent, I disclosed an assembly with a basket that can be sturdily mounted upon a motorized cart or "motorcaddy" to transport a variety of large items yet can be quickly and easily detached when a user desires. The detached basket can be carried by a golfer into his home, garage, locker room, or automobile for loading or unloading. It is presently believed that golfers that utilize three-wheel pushcarts such as those marketed by Sun Mountain would find the basket assembly that was developed for use with motorcaddies desirable. Unfortunately, the means originally developed for mounting basket assembly on a motorcaddy are not adequate for mounting the assembly on a three-wheel pushcart.


An intelligent notification system configured for receiving and processing any suitable input message, determining whether or not an output notification should be sent and for sending such output notifications with the appropriate information to the appropriate parties according to predetermined business rules.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to automated response systems. More particularly, this invention relates to automated response systems that provide preconfigured responses based on variable inputs. Still more particularly, the invention relates to an intelligent notification system and method.
2. Description of Related Art
Emergency response and alert systems that can be activated in the event of an emergency, e.g., medical, security, accident, fire, public safety, etc., are well known. For example, US RE44,535 to Zimmers et al. discloses an alert notification system for providing alert notifications to multiple persons or to a plurality of related geographic locations. The alerts of the Zimmers et al. system may be initiated by authorized personnel via telephone or Internet interaction with the system, or may be generated automatically from data feeds such as the Emergency Managers Weather Information Network (EMWIN) system of the National Weather Service and then delivers the alerts via telephone, pager (voice or text), e-mail, Internet or other media.
Systems for tracking assets are also well known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 8,531,294 to Slavin et al. discloses a moving asset location tracking system that may include a mobile device application that enables a user to observe and provide alerts related to the location of assets, e.g., car, trailer, motorcycle, boat, all-terrain vehicle (ATV), tractor, kid's backpack, grandma's purse, etc. The system of Slavin et al. may include a data feed from a security/sensor network installed in a fixed location, such as a home or business, and location data provided by moving assets for tracking, reporting and alerting.
However, the systems of Zimmers et al. and Slavin et al. are tailored for specific uses and do not lend themselves to more general processing of input or sensor data against business rules for generating one or more output notifications when such notifications are warranted.
Accordingly, it would be highly advantageous to provide an intelligent notification system configured for receiving and processing any suitable input message, determining whether or not an output notification should be sent and for sending such output notifications with the appropriate information to the appropriate parties according to predetermined business rules. A method for intelligent notification is also desirable.

Intelligent notification system and method


The child's bowling aid device resembles a portable bowling ball holding rack with attached bowling ball launching ramp and is adapted to permit a child to easily hold the bowling ball on the rack and then ease it forward off the rack through the launching ramp, after aiming the ramp, in order to roll it onto a bowling lane and knock down bowling pins. The device includes first and second spaced parallel vertical side plates, each with a flat bottom, elevated rear end, a dish-shaped bowling ball-retaining top portion and a front top portion which slopes down and forwardly to serve as a launching ramp. Spaced rear and front transverse vertical crossplates interconnect the side plates. The rear transverse plate is taller than the front transverse plate. Preferably, all plates are flat and releasably connectable and form a kit capable of being transported in disassembled condition in a bag or the like and then being assembled at a bowling alley for use. Preferably each plate is light in weight and the side plates bear finger grooves to facilitate movement of the assembled device into aimed position adjacent a bowling lane. An improved method of aiding a child in learning to bowl involves the use of the device with a bowling ball in a game simulating conventional bowling.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to sports devices and more particularly to a device specifically designed to aid a child in learning to bowl.
2. Prior Art and Discussion
Bowling is a favorite year-round pastime and is particularly popular at those times of the year and in those portions of the country which have habitual inclement weather, since bowling is usually performed indoors in sheltered lanes.
Bowling involves the use of a relatively large and heavy ball which is hard for youngsters to lift and throw, even if made of lighter weight material than normal. It is an impossibility for very young children who would like to participate in the sport but cannot either lift or throw the ball.
There remains a need for an improved child's bowling aid device which will help the child to be able to bowl and thus learn its general techniques, rules and form. Such device should provide the means for supporting the heavy bowling ball, permit it to be aimed by the child and facilitate its release towards the target, the ten pins at the far end of the bowling lane. Such device should be sturdy, inexpensive, easy to assemble, disassemble and use and easy to aim.

Collapsable ramp for projecting bowling balls


A control system for a power transmission unit of a vehicle transmitting power outputted from a prime mover is disclosed. The control system includes a resonance detecting/predicting device which detects or predicts a generation of a resonance of the power transmission unit resulting from a power transmission; a driving condition detecting device which detects a driving condition of a vehicle in case the generation of a resonance is detected or predicted by the resonance detecting/predicting device; and a resonance dampening control selecting device which selects a control for dampening the detected or predicted resonance on the basis of the driving condition of the vehicle detected by the driving condition detecting device.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a system for controlling a power transmitting condition of a power transmission unit mounted on a vehicle, and more particularly, to a control system for dampening a resonance resulting from a transmission of power.
The disclosure of Japanese Patent Application No. 2006-053622 filed on Feb. 28, 2006 including specification, drawings and claims is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
2. Related Art
An internal combustion engine such as a gasoline engine is conventionally used as a prime mover of a vehicle, and a power transmission system for transmitting a power to a driving wheel is composed mainly of a speed change mechanism. As a speed change mechanism, a geared transmission varying a speed change ratio stepwise, and a continuously variable transmission varying a speed change ratio continuously are widely known. Additionally, in recent years, an apparatus, in which a speed change ratio is substantially varied by changing a distribution rate of a power distributed from an internal combustion engine to a motor generator and to an output side through a differential mechanism, has been come into practical use. One example of apparatus of this kind is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-127681. According to a drive unit for hybrid vehicles suggested by Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-127681, an internal combustion engine is connected to a carrier of a planetary gear mechanism, a first motor generator is connected to a sun gear of the planetary gear mechanism, and a ring gear is connected to a member of an input side of an automatic geared transmission. The member of the input side of the automatic transmission is connected to a propeller shaft, and a second motor generator is connected to the propeller shaft. Thus, according to this drive unit for hybrid vehicles, the planetary gear mechanism functions as a distribution mechanism distributing a power of an engine to the first motor generator and to the transmission.
In case the vehicle is driven by the power of the aforementioned internal combustion engine, a revolution frequency of the internal combustion engine can be set to a value for a preferable fuel economy by using the first motor generator as a generator and controlling the speed thereof. An electric power generated by the first motor generator is fed to the second motor generator so as to operate the second motor generator as a motor. The driving force generated by the second motor generator is applied to the member of the output side, and surplus electricity is stored in an accumulator device. In case the vehicle decelerates, the second motor generator is used as a generator to regenerate energy. In case the vehicle is driven only by the electric power, the vehicle is driven by the power of the second motor generator by feeding the electric power to the second motor generator from the accumulator device. According to the apparatus suggested by Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-127681, additionally, the speed change ratio of the distribution mechanism is varied continuously by changing the revolution frequency the first motor generator, and the revolution frequency individual motor generators are varied also in case of carrying out a speed change of the geared transmission. Therefore, the electric power is exchanged among the motor generators and the accumulator device when carrying out a speed change.
On the other hand, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-264762 discloses a power transmission unit comprising a power distribution mechanism functioning as an electrical continuous transmission, and a geared transmission mechanism functioning as a geared mechanical transmission. The apparatus suggested by Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-264762 is provided with a locking mechanism for inhibiting a differential action of the power distribution mechanism, and an engine thereof is started by rotating a motor generator connected to the power distribution mechanism and an another motor generator connected to the geared transmission mechanism in the same direction when the geared transmission mechanism is neutral.
In the apparatuses disclosed in the aforementioned documents, the internal combustion engine is employed as a prime mover so that a torque inputted from the internal combustion engine changes periodically. Moreover, no small clearance should exist in some part of the power transmission line and this causes a chattering. Further, a road surface is bumpy and not always flat, therefore, the torque inputted from a driving wheel side also fluctuates periodically. As a result, a resonance phenomenon may occur to amplify vibrations and noises.

Control system for power transmission unit of vehicle


A synthetic route is provided to prepare poly(ω-hydroxycarboxylic acid) polymers via the ring-opening polymerization of ω-hydroxycarboxylic acid cyclic oligomers. The cyclic oligomers can be prepared directly from biorenewable sources, such as 3-hydroxypropionic acid. The method can be used to prepare high molecular weight polymers from the cyclic oligomers. Good molecular weight control can be obtained for both solution state and melt polymerizations.

The necessity of environmentally friendly replacements for commodity plastics has stimulated the development of polymers from bio-renewable sources. A notable example is polylactide, a commercially important material derived from lactic acid. Recent efforts in the chemical industry have been focused on new bio-derived starting materials that can be used for the preparation of new plastics, as well as other useful products and precursors. One example of an important bio-derived starting material is 3-hydroxypropionic acid (3-HP), a structural isomer of lactic acid, which comprises the repeat unit of a useful polymer, poly(3-hydroxypropionic acid) (P[3-HP]). High molecular weight P[3-HP] has attractive mechanical properties, such as rigidity, ductility, and exceptional tensile strength in drawn films. In addition, P[3-HP] is enzymatically and hydrolytically degradable, thus enhancing its environmental appeal.
P[3-HP] has been prepared by the condensation of 3-HP esters and the ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of β-propiolactone, but both methods suffer from disadvantages. Relative to condensations, ROP generally provides a greater degree of control over molecular weight, co-monomer incorporation, and end group definition. Yet while highly strained β-propiolactone can readily be ring opened to yield high molecular weight P[3-HP], it is carcinogenic and its large-scale synthesis is difficult, especially when starting with the preferred precursor 3-HP. Thus, it would be desirable to develop an alternative ROP route to P[3-HP] that avoids the use of β-propiolactone. Additionally, it would be desirable to develop new methodology for the preparation of high molecular weight P[3-HP] that is derived directly from bio-renewable sources such as 3-HP.


A system for holding a personal object for a motor vehicle is described. The system includes a segmented surface having a plurality of adjacent surface elements. The system also includes a plurality of actuators, each actuator associated with a surface element and configured to extend and/or retract the associated surface element. The system also includes a sensor system configured to detect circumstances affecting the holding of the personal object by the segmented surface. The system also includes a controller operably coupled to the actuators and the sensor system, the controller configured to selectively control the actuators to extend and/or retract associated surface elements based on the detected circumstances so as to form a holding area appropriate for holding the personal object.

Modern motor vehicles often include several structures in which personal objects are held during use of the motor vehicle. It has indeed become commonplace for motor vehicles to include cup holders, key and/or phone trays, door panel cubbies, loose change compartments, and other structures for holding personal objects within the motor vehicle.
The effective use of such traditional personal object holders is limited, however, by their predefined static "standard" geometries to holding specific objects, or those of similar geometry. This is problematic for users who find that their cup is too big, their bottle too small, or their mobile phone/smart device is too oddly shaped to fit satisfactorily in a holder with a "standard" geometry. The limited geometry is also problematic for vehicle manufacturers who sell vehicles among nations with different "standard" geometries for similar objects. For example, the standard size of a drive-thru restaurant cup in the United States of America is larger than the standard size of a drive-thru restaurant cup in Europe. The current response to this problem is for vehicle manufacturers to equip vehicles with multiple holders according to several different "standard" geometries, e.g., cars with both U.S. sized cup holders and European sized cup holders. This leads to increased costs and wasted space.
Moreover, in the future, the driving experience is more and more likely to involve switching between different modes of operation for which the circumstances relating to holding the object are changed during driving. A coffee mug may be held less securely under some circumstances (e.g., when the vehicle is in an autonomous cruising mode) than others (e.g., when the vehicle is in a racetrack or turbo mode). The evolving driving experience may also result in what is thought of as the typical driving position (i.e., the driver sitting upright in the driver side chair with his/her hands on/near the steering wheel and feet on/near the pedals) also evolving to be more dynamic. In such instances, static geometries for holding objects may also limit the driving experience.
As such, there is a need for systems and methods for holding personal objects, which do not suffer from the above-noted drawbacks.

Personal object holder having an adaptive shape

Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft


Imitation bricks made of molded plastic are linked by hinged connectors to form edging strips for flower beds, lawns or garden paths. Compressible rectangular washers between the bricks simulate mortar joints. Anchoring prongs with barbed tips are used to implant the blocks into the soil.

In the landscaping arts, it is customary to delineate flower beds, lawns and pathways with masonry edgings made from a series of bricks, masonry blocks or a combination of edging elements cast out of cement. The installation of those types of edgings requires considerable time and a variety of building elements, as well as some masonry skill.
There is a need for a more efficient medium for creating effective and esthetically pleasant borders between flower beds, lawns and garden paths.


A digital phase lock loop circuit for synchronizing the phase of clock signals delivered to devices through clock tree circuitry with the phase of input clock signals including a first delay line, a second delay line, a phase detector circuit, apparatus for transferring the input clock signals through the first delay line to the phase detector circuit, apparatus for transferring the input clock signals through the second delay line and the clock tree circuitry to the phase detector circuit, apparatus responsive to the difference in phase detected between the clock signals transferred through the first and second delay lines for varying the delay of one of the delay lines to bring the clock signals transferred through the first and second delay lines into phase with one another.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to circuitry for locking internally-generated system clock signals of a computer system to function with externally-provided clock signals and, more particularly, to methods and apparatus for locking internally-generated clock signals to function with externally-provided clock signals which may vary over an extremely wide range of frequencies.
2. History of the Prior Art
When a computer system functions with an external peripheral device, it must utilize data provided by that external device. In order to use that data, it must receive not only the data but the clock signal which is used to distinguish the elements of the data signal train one from another. To derive meaning from the elements of the data signal train, a computer generates internal clock signals at the same frequency as the clock frequency of the peripheral device supplying the data. If each pulse of the internal clock train begins and ends at the same time as do the pulses of the external clock train, the data signals may be properly interpreted.
However, because the substrates of the integrated circuits upon which circuit elements are placed differ, because the circuits operate in different environments, and because the distances conductors must traverse from the source of the clock signals to the devices using the clock signals differ and exhibit different resistance and capacitance, the internal clock signals so generated may start and end at different points in time than do the external clock signals. Basically, the circuitry through which the clock signals are distributed to the circuit elements provides undesirable delay which causes the internal clock signals to reach the circuit elements delayed by some time. In order to make sure that the clock signals reach all of the elements which they affect at essentially the same time, the conductors carrying the clock signals are made, as nearly as possible, to have the same length. The typical manner in which this is accomplished is by branching the circuitry like a tree from the original source of the clock signals to the devices using the clock signals. Consequently, such circuitry is often referred to as a clock tree.
Thus, the internal clock signals generated from external clock signals are delayed (exhibit clock skew). When clock frequencies become very high so that the time during which data signals are present is quite short, clock skew becomes very significant. To eliminate clock skew, a typical computer will, therefore, sample the incoming clock signals and provide internal system clock signals the pulses of which are phase-locked (when measured at the devices using the clock signals) to the external clock signals. In this manner, both the peripheral device and the system operate at the same clock frequency so the externally provided data signals mean the same thing to the system as they do to the peripheral device.
Normally, this is not too difficult to accomplish. However, modern desktop computers are being designed as so-called "multimedia" stations in which television, stereophonic sound, and many other sources are all to be used to provide input signals. The requirement that a computer system operate with television and real time signals tends to force the internal frequency of the system to be quite high so that it can handle the copious amounts of information presented in those media. Many of the peripheral devices used for such multimedia functions themselves operate at quite high clock frequencies. On the other hand, many useful and proven peripheral devices function at much lower clock frequencies. Thus, a modern computer may have input signals arriving from peripheral devices which function on clock signals which vary from one megahertz to fifty megahertz. Providing internal system clock signals for such a range of frequencies and locking those internal clock signals to all of the external clocks over such a wide range creates a monumental problem.
For example, in order to assure that a peripheral device and a system operate on the same clock signals, a phase-locked loop circuit is normally provided. This circuitry may be analog or digital in nature, but the preference is for a digital circuit which can be placed in the same integrated circuit with other circuits and may conceivably use standard circuit layouts. To create a digital phase-locked loop circuit to synchronize the pulses of internal clock signals to external clock signals, circuitry of some sort for providing a delay must be used. Typically this circuitry provides a single delay line that generates a delay which when added to the clock skew delay equals one cycle of clock operation. The clock skew delay tends to be only a small part of the total clock period so that the internal clock signals actually operate approximately one full cycle behind the external clock signals. The phase of the signals provided through the delay line and the clock tree is compared at the device using the signal to the phase of the original clock signals, and the delay is adjusted to make the phases identical.
In implementing such digital circuitry as an integrated circuit, a string of inverters is typically used to provide the single adjustable delay line. If the delay is very brief as it would be in dealing with external clock signals of fifty megahertz, then the circuitry for providing the delay might utilize a reasonable number of inverter elements such as one thousand. On the other hand, the string of inverters necessary to provide a delay for an external clock signals operating at one megahertz would be fifty times as large. Such a great number of circuit elements will render a delay circuit impractically large and expensive.

Apparatus for providing a system clock locked to an external clock over a wide range of frequencies


An optical reading apparatus and optical character recognition processing apparatus operating in conjunction with a magnetic ink character reading apparatus reduce the time in reading a string of characters formed in a line on a processed medium. This is done in the optical reading and recognition operations by selectively using a broad recognition area that allows for variation in character positions and a narrower recognition area where the probability of the desired character string being present is high depending on past results. An extracted image containing the character string is acquired from scanned image data and the recognition process is run. If recognition succeeds, the next matching area is set to a relatively narrow predicted range and the recognition process is applied to the predicted range. If character recognition succeeds within a specified distance, the next matching area is set to a relatively narrow predicted range. If character recognition does not succeed within the specified distance, the next matching area is set to the full width of the extracted image.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for optically reading characters printed on a check or other processed medium, and to a character recognition apparatus that is embodied in, or adapted to work with, the optical reading apparatus. The invention also relates to a method for reading characters printed on a check or other processed medium, and to a program for implementing this character reading method. The invention further relates to a magnetic ink character reading apparatus that includes the optical reading apparatus, and to a POS terminal apparatus that also includes the optical reading apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Business checks and personal checks (collectively referred to below as simply checks) are commonly used to make payment in a variety of circumstances, for example, in business-to-business transactions as well as for retail purchases in stores and restaurants. Checks are particularly common in the United States and Europe. A bank code, account number, and other information are printed with magnetic ink characters at a specific position (typically a line along the bottom) on each check. When a check is used for payment in a retail store, for example, the user (checking account holder) writes the name of the payee, the check amount in both numbers and words, and then signs the check before giving the check to the store as payment for a purchase. The store can then read the bank code and account number printed in magnetic ink characters, send the read data to the bank or other financial institution or clearing house for verification, and thus know if the presented check is valid or not. If the check is valid, the store prints an endorsement on the back of the check and thus accepts the check as payment.
The bank code and account number information printed in magnetic ink characters are required to settle check payment transactions and must therefore be correctly read. If the magnetic ink characters are incorrectly recognized, transaction processing will proceed based on incorrect data, potentially resulting in major post-processing problems such as the wrong account, that is, an account other than the account on which the check is actually drawn, being debited for payment. Correctly reading the magnetic ink characters is therefore essential when processing check transactions. The character recognition technologies used in magnetic ink character recognition (MICR) readers have therefore been tweaked to improve the recognition rate and reduce character recognition errors.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Appl. Pub. H7-182448 provides technology for improving the recognition rate by also using an optical character recognition (OCR) reader to optically read characters that could not be read magnetically.
Considering the potential for erroneously recognizing the content even though the characters can be read, Japanese Unexamined Patent Appl. Pub. 2000-259764 provides technology for reducing the false recognition rate by comparing the recognition output of the MICR reader and the recognition output of the OCR reader and accepting as correct only those results that are the same.
A problem with adding a process for reading characters using an optical reading apparatus is that more time is required for the reading process. Moreover, in order to ensure that all of the magnetic ink characters are optically read, a larger area than the actual area of the magnetic ink characters must be processed. A larger area must be processed because of variations, for example, in the printing position of the magnetic ink characters, variations in check dimensions, and variations in the dimensions of the MICR reader. Applying the character recognition process to a larger area, however, necessarily increases the time required to perform the process.

Optical reading apparatus, character recognition processing apparatus, character reading method and program, magnetic ink character reading apparatus, and POS terminal apparatus