Halftoning algorithms such as error diffusion, blue noise mask, and void and cluster mask are known to produce visually pleasing, random, homogeneously distributed patterns of dots on output devices such as color displays or printers, for example. These algorithms are extended to take advantage of the mechanisms of each that cause a homogeneous distribution of dots of one colorant to produce a substantially homogeneous distribution of dots when using multiple colorants. The number of dots of each colorant are combined to form an output dot level number of dots that is caused to be substantially homogeneously distributed.

In full-color images, the color value of each pixel may be specified by 24 bits which can uniquely specify each of over 16 million different colors. These images are typically displayed on output devices such as a color printer, for example, using primary colorants having a comparatively small number of intensity or density values to produce color.
For example, an ink jet color printer commonly combines cyan, magenta, and yellow inks, and optionally black ink, in varying proportions to produce the illusion of many of these 16 million colors when viewed at a normal viewing distance. The proportions of ink are varied by placing patterns of discrete amounts of each colorant over selected areas of the printed page.
As is common for a binary ink jet or laser printer, a dot of a specific colorant can either be placed or not placed at a given pixel location in a rectangular array. This produces a pattern that may be highly visible to the human eye.
Various halftoning algorithms have previously been used to produce patterns that are pleasing to the human eye. These algorithms have been traditionally applied independently for each colorant. While this results in dot patterns for each colorant being visually pleasing, the overall pattern of the dots is not normally pleasing when dots from all of the colorants are placed on the page. This is because the distributions of dots of the two or more colorants are not selected together to be visually pleasing.
The halftoning techniques of Blue Noise Mask and Void and Cluster Mask are known as point algorithms because the decision to place or not to place dots at a specific location (x, y) on an image plane depends only upon the color values at that location. With a grayscale image system using an 8-bit value to specify the grayscale image information and printing this image on a printer with a binary black printhead, the minimum grayscale value of 0 at a specific pixel location means that a dot should not be placed at the specific pixel location, and the maximum grayscale value of 255 at a pixel location means that a dot should be placed at the specific pixel location.
Each of the Blue Noise Mask and the Void and Cluster Mask consists of a large two-dimensional table of numbers, typically 128.times.128 or 256.times.256 square pixels, which are used to halftone full color images. The mask is tiled across a document so that every pixel location has associated with it a threshold value T(x, y) in the range of 0 to 255 from a mask or a matrix.
To decide whether or not to place a dot at a pixel location (x, y), the grayscale value of the image at that location, I(x, y), is compared against the threshold value T(x, y). If I(x, y)>T(x, y), a dot is placed at that location (x, y); otherwise, a dot is not placed at that location. The values of T(x, y) are chosen so that for any grayscale value I between 0 and 255, a pleasing pattern of dots results over a wide area provided that the masks are properly constructed.
The construction of a Blue Noise mask is discussed in "A Modified Approach to the Construction of a Blue Noise Mask," Dr. Kevin J. Parker, Journal of Electronic Imaging, January 1994. The construction of a Void and Cluster Mask is discussed in "Void and Cluster Halftoning Technique," Robert Ulichney, Proceedings of the SPIE, February 1993.
These masks have been used in several different ways to halftone color images. To correlate two colorants q and r, for example, at a pixel location (x, y), the image values I.sub.q (x, y) and I.sub.r (x, y) are compared against the same threshold value T(x, y). To decorrelate the two colorants q and r, one image value I.sub.q (x, y) is compared against the threshold value T(x, y) in the same manner as when correlating the two colorants, but the second colorant image value is compared against a different or inverted threshold value T(x+a, y+b); this implies that the original mask used to halftone the colorant q is shifted a pixels in the x direction and b pixels in the y direction to halftone the colorant r. To anticorrelate the two colorants q and r, one colorant image value I.sub.q (x, y) is compared against the threshold value T(x, y) in the same manner as when correlating the two colorants, but the second colorant image value I.sub.r (x, y) is compared against a different threshold value 255-T(x, y).
In general, when halftoned by each of these three techniques, the pattern of dots for each individual colorant is visually pleasing. However, the pattern of dots formed by combining the dots of each of the color planes is not necessarily visually pleasing because no effort is made to insure that the dots of each of the different color planes are distributed relative to the dots of the other color planes. Examples of producing a color composed of two colorants with each of these three methods follow.
Table 1 is assumed to represent an 8.times.8 square pixel mask for either a Blue Noise mask or a Void and Cluster mask.
TABLE 1 ______________________________________ 0 168 48 220 72 244 100 248 84 148 116 20 228 12 152 60 196 32 184 128 68 188 124 224 56 216 112 44 200 96 36 172 164 8 136 212 28 232 204 104 108 180 80 160 88 132 4 236 144 24 240 52 192 64 156 76 252 92 140 120 16 208 40 176 ______________________________________
A grayscale, binary, printing process forms a black and white image by either placing a dot or not placing a dot of black ink at each printable pixel location. An input value of I=0 at a pixel location (x, y) represents the lightest printable color, white, which is produced by printing no dot at the location (x, y). An input value of I=255 at the pixel location (x, y) represents the darkest printable color black, which is produced by printing a dot at location (x, y).
Shades of gray other than white or black cannot be produced at the pixel location by this printing process since at each location a dot is either printed or not printed. Therefore, the shades of gray must be simulated by printing a pattern of dots over a wider area than just one pixel.
Accordingly, an input shade of gray having a value of I is produced over a selected area by printing a dot at each location of the selected area with a probability of I/255. On average, I dots out of every 255 locations are printed. If the selected area is too small, it may be impossible to place exactly on average I dots out of 255 locations over this area. Therefore, the shade of gray is not accurately reproduced but only approximated. This accounts for much of the loss of detail of a full-color image when printed on binary devices.
It should be noted that the threshold values in Table 1 are uniformly distributed with the threshold values spaced every four units from 0 to 252. The threshold values of Table 1 can be used to govern the probability of a dot being printed.
For example, if a gray level value of I=33 is to be produced over an entire 8.times.8 square pixel area with the threshold values given by Table 1, nine dots will be printed at the positions having threshold values of 0, 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 28, and 32. Therefore, the gray level value of I=33 is approximated by 9 dots out of 64 where 9/64 locations is approximately equal to 33/255. The nine dots are placed at the locations marked by X in Table 2. It is assumed that Table 2 was constructed so that this pattern of nine dots is a desirable arrangement of nine dots for a gray level value of I=33.
TABLE 2 ______________________________________ X X X X X X X X ______________________________________
If a color is to be produced by a two color printing process employing cyan and magenta inks, for example, the color coordinates are specified by an ordered pair (C, M) where C and M specify the relative amounts of cyan and magenta colorants, respectively, to be placed at a pixel position in a range from 0 to 255. For example, if the color I=(23, 10) is to be produced over an entire 8.times.8 square pixel area, the threshold values of Table 1 are used initially to produce a correlated pattern of dots to produce this color. Table 1 is used to threshold both colorants; this results in cyan dots being placed at the locations marked c and magenta dots being placed at the locations marked m in Table 3, which shows a correlated pattern of cyan and magenta dots for color (C, M)=(23, 10).
TABLE 3 ______________________________________ c,m c c c,m c,m c ______________________________________
For this particular color, there are fewer magenta dots than cyan dots. Thus, the magenta dots are placed only at locations where there are also cyan dots when the color planes are correlated. This has the disadvantage that the blue dots, which result from placing both the cyan and magenta dots at the same pixel location, are more visually perceptible than the individual cyan or magenta dots.
If this color is produced by a decorrelated pattern of dots, the cyan dots are placed by comparing with the threshold values of Table 1 whereas the magenta dots are placed by comparing with the threshold values of Table 4, which is formed by shifting Table 1 a distance of a=4 pixels in the x direction and b=4 pixels in the y direction. The threshold values are "wrapped around" from right to left and top to bottom when shifted. Other values of a and b could be used, if desired.
TABLE 4 ______________________________________ 28 232 204 104 164 8 136 212 88 132 4 236 108 180 80 160 192 64 156 76 144 24 240 52 16 208 40 176 252 92 140 120 72 244 100 248 0 168 48 220 228 12 152 60 84 148 116 20 68 188 124 224 196 32 184 128 200 96 36 172 56 216 112 44 ______________________________________
The pattern of dots resulting from thresholding the value Cyan=23 against the values in Table 1 and Magenta=10 against the values in Table 4 is shown in Table 5, which shows a decorrelated pattern of cyan and magenta dots for color (C, M)=(23, 10).
TABLE 5 ______________________________________ c m m c c c m c c ______________________________________
The pattern of cyan dots is optimal since it is formed from a mask that was made to produce a pleasing pattern of dots for one colorant for any number of dots. The same is true for the pattern of magenta dots since it is formed from a shifted version of a mask that was prepared to produce a pleasing pattern of dots for one colorant, and shifting a mask with "wrap around" does not damage the ability of a mask to produce a pleasing pattern of dots. However, the pattern of dots resulting from combining the decorrelated cyan and magenta dots is not generally pleasing.
If the color I=(23, 10) is produced by an anticorrelated pattern of dots, each of the cyan dots is placed by comparing its value with the threshold value T(x, y) while each of the magenta dots is placed by comparing its value with the threshold value T'(x, y)=255-T(x, y). Since this example uses a small 8.times.8 square pixel mask and the largest value in this small mask is 252, the threshold values of T'(x, y) are formed by subtracting the threshold values T(x, y) from 252 instead of 255. The threshold values of T(x, y) are shown in Table 1, and the threshold values T'(x, y) are shown in Table 6.
TABLE 6 ______________________________________ 252 184 204 32 180 8 152 4 168 104 136 232 24 240 100 192 56 220 8 124 184 64 128 28 196 36 140 208 52 156 216 80 88 244 116 40 224 20 48 148 144 72 172 92 164 120 248 16 108 228 12 200 60 188 96 176 0 160 112 132 236 44 212 76 ______________________________________
The pattern of dots resulting from thresholding the value of cyan=23 with Table 1 and the value of magenta=10 with Table 6 is shown in Table 7, which shows an anticorrelated pattern of cyan and magenta dots for color (C, M)=(23, 10).
TABLE 7 ______________________________________ c m m c c c c m c ______________________________________
Although the individual cyan and magenta dot patterns will again be pleasing, the combined pattern of dots produced by combining the anticorrelated cyan and magenta dots is not generally pleasing.
The halftoning technique of error diffusion is generally attributed to Robert Floyd and Louis Steinberg as set forth in "An Adaptive Algorithm for Spatial Gray Scale," 1975 SID International Symposium, Digest of Technical Papers, pp. 36-37. This algorithm is unlike the Blue Noise mask and the Void and Cluster mask in that the decision to place or not to place a dot at a given location (x, y) depends on the image values at other pixel locations.
If a black-and-white image having image values of I(x, y) is to be printed on a binary printer, assume that each pixel has associated with it a threshold value T which is invariant for x and y values. If I(x, y) equals only either 0 or 255, the image can be reproduced as intended since not printing a dot corresponds to printing a value of I=0 while printing a dot corresponds to printing a value of I=255.
The problem occurs when I(x, y) is not equal to 0 or 255 for some x and y location; this is usually the situation with items such as photographs, for example. In this situation, printing or not printing a dot causes there to be an error from the intended colorant value. If a dot is placed at a position (x, y), an error equal to the amount of 255-I(x, y) is generated at the position (x, y). If a dot is not placed, an error equal to the amount I(x, y) is generated at the position (x, y).
The error diffusion algorithm calculates the error at a specific position as the result of quantization and diffuses this error to neighboring dots. If a dot is printed at the position (x, y), some amount of the error is subtracted from neighboring dots to decrease their probability of being printed to compensate for overprinting at the position (x, y). Similarly, if a dot is not printed at the position (x, y), some amount of the error is added to neighboring dots to increase their probability of being printed to compensate for underprinting at the position (x, y). The algorithm proposed by Floyd and Steinberg spreads 7/16 of the error generated at the position or location (x, y) to a location (x+1, y), 3/16 to a location (x-1, y+1), 5/16 to a location (x, y+1), and 1/16 to a location (x+1, y+1).
When the value I(x, y) is between 0 and 255, this value can be thought of as the number of dots out of 255 to printed. If I(x, y) is constant over a wide area, on average, I(x, y) dots out of 255 will be printed in this area.
Numerous enhancements have been suggested to enhance the output quality of error diffusion. These include varying the threshold value by some amount as a function of x and y, varying the order in which pixels are quantized, and varying the amount of error spread to neighboring pixels as well as the choice of pixels to which the error is spread. Additionally, error diffusion has been extended to output devices that can produce multiple levels of a given colorant.
When used to print color images, the Blue Noise mask, the Void and Cluster mask, and the error diffusion technique have traditionally been applied independently to individual color planes. As previously mentioned for the Blue Noise mask and the Void and Cluster mask, individual color planes can have pleasing patterns of dots, but the combined dot pattern from multiple color planes is not generally pleasing.
Traditional color error diffusion for a two color printing process using cyan and magenta dots can be expressed as follows:
______________________________________ if (Cyan(x, y) + Cyan Error(x, y) > Threshold) print Cyan dot CError = 255 - (Cyan(x, y) + Cyan Error(x, y)) } else { CError = 0 - (Cyan(x, y) + Cyan Error(x, y)) } Cyan Error(x + 1, y) = Cyan Error(x + 1, y) - CError * 7/16 Cyan Error(x - 1, y + 1) = Cyan Error(x - 1, y + 1) - CError * 3/16 Cyan Error(x, y + 1) = Cyan Error(x, y + 1) - CError * 5/16 Cyan Error(x + 1, y + 1) = Cyan Error(x + 1, y + 1) - CError * 1/16 if (Magenta(x, y) + Magenta Error(x, y) > Threshold) { print Magenta dot MError = 255 - (Magenta(x, y) + Magenta Error(x, y)) } else { MError = 0 - (Magenta(x, y) + Magenta Error(x, y)) } Magenta Error(x + 1, y) = Magenta Error(x + 1, y) - MError * 7/16 Magenta Error(x - 1, y + 1) = Magenta Error(x - 1, y + 1) - MError * 3/16 Magenta Error(x, y + 1) = Magenta Error(x, y + 1) - MError * 5/16 Magenta Error(x + 1, y + 1) = Magenta Error(x + 1, y + 1) - MError * 1/16 ______________________________________
U.S. Pat. No. 5,210,602 to Mintzer describes a method of coupled-color error diffusion involving communication between several color planes of a color printing process. A first color plane is processed as previously described. That is, the sum of the input colorant value for the first color plane at a position (x, y) and the error propagated in the same plane to the pixel at the same position (x, y) is generated and sent to a quantizer which chooses an output pixel value closest to this sum. After quantization of the pixel at the location (x, y) in the first color plane, an error value is computed and propagated to neighboring pixels in the first color plane.
A second color plane is processed in a similar manner in that the sum of the original colorant value for the second colorant at a position (x, y) and the error propagated in the same color plane to the pixel at the same location (x, y) is generated as before, but some fraction of the error at the position (x, y) in the first color plane is added to this sum prior to quantization. If a dot is placed at the position (x, y) in the first color plane, the fraction of the error generated at this position in the first color plane and passed to the second color plane has the effect of reducing the probability of printing a dot in the second color plane at this position. If a dot is not placed at the position (x, y) in the first color plane, the fraction of the error generated at this position in the first color plane and passed to the second color plane has the effect of increasing the probability of printing a dot in the second color plane at this position.
This method fails to employ the mechanisms of error diffusion that produce a pleasing pattern of some number of dots in a single color plane to produce a pleasing pattern of some number of dots that reside in multiple color planes. The algorithm in the aforesaid Mintzer patent fails to take into consideration the total number of dots to be placed when processing the first color plane. Thus, when processing the second color plane, quantization is biased by results from the first color plane, but the first color plane is processed without any influence from the second color plane. That is, the dots are placed optimally in the first color plane for the first color plane only without regard to the overall pattern of dots to be produced in the multiple color planes.


One or more high-order bit linear branches of a segmented DAC are implemented as R-2R networks geometrically down-scaled from the DAC binary portion by a selected factor. The resulting increase in closely-located mismatch is compensated for by implementing a trim circuit at a low-order end of each such linear branch. The trim circuit is designed with a number of trim steps to compensate for the selected linear branch down-scaling factor. Each trim step switches a resistance into the low-order end of the linear branch resulting in an even resistance increment or decrement at the lumped linear branch output. The trim circuit is calibrated to provide an amount of trim at the linear branch output such that the lumped resistance of the trimmed linear branch matches the lumped resistance of the binary portion within a selected tolerance (e.g., generally +/−0.5 LSB).

An analog output waveform generated by a DAC is ideally a linear function of a digital code appearing at the DAC input ("DAC code"). Indeed, the degree of linearity between the digital input and the analog output is considered to be a quality of merit of the DAC. Non-linearities in a DAC output may adversely affect applications utilizing the DAC. For robotics applications, for example, non-linearities in a DAC output may cause jerkiness in fine movements that could negatively impact the function being performed by a robotic device.
To illustrate two common forms of DAC non-linearity, the reader is invited to imagine a sequence of adjacent DAC codes presented at the input to a DAC. "Adjacent DAC codes" in this context means two codes representing the smallest analog output step that the DAC is designed for. For example, in the case of an 8-bit DAC with a binary input, 28=256 output levels may be created. Such a DAC may be designed with a 2.56 volt upper supply rail such that the input DAC code 00000000 corresponds to an analog output of zero volts and the input DAC code 11111111 corresponds to an analog output of 2.55 volts. It is noted that some DACs may be designed such that the output voltage associated with the largest binary input code is one least significant bit ("LSB") voltage step lower than the magnitude of the upper supply voltage rail. Doing so provides for 2N output voltage levels and 2N−1 steps beginning with 0.0 volts. Each level corresponds to one of the 2N combinations associated with the N-bit wide DAC input word. The voltage difference corresponding to adjacent DAC codes in such case is (2.56 volts/256 output levels)=0.01 volts. Sequentially presenting adjacent DAC codes of 00000000 and 0000001, for example, ideally result in a DAC output voltage step from 0.00 volts to 0.01 volts.
A magnitude vs. time waveform appearing at the output of the example DAC in response to the imagined sequence of increasing adjacent DAC codes is stair-stepped. Each step represents an increase in magnitude of the output quantity (e.g., typically voltage or current) that is equal to the increase in magnitude of the previous level. Differential non-linearity ("DNL") is defined as the difference between a measured step magnitude associated with adjacent DAC codes and the ideal (calculated) step magnitude associated with the same adjacent DAC codes. DNL is a measure of a DAC's resolution. A second measure of real-world and ideal DAC linearity is integral non-linearity ("INL"). INL is defined as the difference between the measured output level for a given DAC code and the ideal (calculated) output level for that same DAC code. INL is a measure of DAC accuracy and may be thought of as a summation of DNL non-linearities over some arbitrary sequence of adjacent DAC codes.
One skilled in the art will understand that modern DACs are commonly implemented by integrating matched-resistance switched resistor voltage divider networks as further described below. One source of DNL and INL non-linearities is the mismatching of resistors in the networks due to semiconductor process imperfections. Mismatching occurs as resistors are reduced in size such that the area occupied by a resistor becomes closer in size to the process width. Such "closely located" mismatching between two resistors is inversely proportional to the square root of the area occupied by each resistor. Accordingly, closely-located mismatching may be reduced by increasing the area occupied by a resistor in a DAC voltage divider resistor network. Doing so may easily be accomplished by proportionally increasing both the width and length of the resistive material in order to maintain a constant resistance.
As used herein, the term "1 UW" means one "unit-width" and is a process-dependent base width such as the process width. For example, a 1 UW resistor of a nominal resistance value R implemented with a width equal to the process width for a one micron process has a path width of one micron. It is not necessary that the base width be equal to the process width, however. A 1 UW resistor may, for example, be implemented with a path width of two microns using a one micron process. Multi-width resistors as referred to herein have a path width that is an integer multiple of the base width. For example, a 2 UW resistor of resistance R has a path width that is twice the path width of a 1 UW resistor of resistance R. The example 2 UW resistor also has twice the length of the 1 UW resistor in order to maintain the resistance constant at R. It is noted that the 2 UW resistor described occupies four times the area of the 1 UW resistor, given that both the width and the length must double in order to maintain a constant resistance R. Likewise, a 4 UW resistor is four times as wide and four times a long as a 1 UW resistor and occupies 16 times the area of the 1 UW resistor. It is also noted that resistor area may be increased by increasing the width and length of a single resistor of resistance R or by implementing a serial/parallel matrix of 1 UW resistors whose total resistance is equal to R. It is noted that, as used hereinafter and as illustrated on schematic diagrams associated with this application, the symbol "R" is used to indicate a resistor having a nominal resistance equal to R. However, the resistor R may be fabricated from a series/parallel network of resistors, each of the latter also having a nominal resistance value of R.
FIG. 1A is a prior-art schematic diagram illustrating a 2 UW resistor 102 implemented with a serial/parallel matrix 104 of four unit-width resistors 105, 110, 115, and 120. Each of the resistors 105, 110, 115, and 120 has a resistance R; and the equivalent resistance of the matrix 104 has a total resistance of R. The total area equals four times the area of a single UW resistor and is thus more costly in terms of semiconductor materials and process costs. The advantage of implementing a resistor using such a matrix, though, is that the resistor has double the closely-located matching capability of a single 1 UW resistor R.
FIG. 1B is a prior-art schematic diagram illustrating a 4 UW resistor 140 implemented with a serial/parallel matrix 150 of 16 unit-width resistors. Each of the sixteen single UW resistors has a resistance R, and the equivalent resistance of the matrix 150 has a total resistance of R. The total area equals sixteen times the area of a single UW resistor and has four times the closely-located matching capability of a single 1 UW resistor R. Resistors with a width of 8 UW, 16 UW, 32 UW, etc. may be implemented in a similar way. Each such expanded area resistor occupies an area that is a squared function of the UW multiplier and decreases the closely-located matching error by a factor equal to the UW multiplier. In summary, the resistor closely-located matching error σ∝
      1                  W                                                  L              ,where W and L are the width and length of the resistors. The resistors are sized to meet a selected circuit accuracy.
One problem with increasing resistor area to decrease closely-located mismatch is an increase of the so-called "long-distance mismatch" error which contributes to DNL and INL non-linearities. Components of long-distance mismatch are wafer gradients, stress gradients, and thermal gradients. The term "wafer gradient" refers to a non-uniformity of thickness across a semiconductor area of interest. Resistance values of semiconductor implemented resistors are a function of the width, length and thickness of the material (e.g., polysilicon) used to implement the resistor. Wafer gradients result in a resistance mismatch between resistors implemented across increasingly larger areas. Stress gradients may occur during semiconductor bonding and packaging processes and may result in resistance differences between resistors implemented across increasingly larger areas. Thermal gradients result from thermal emissions during device operation and may also result in resistance differences between resistors implemented across increasingly larger areas. Thus it can be seen that decreasing closely-located mismatch by increasing the area occupied by one or more resistors increases long-distance mismatch.
FIG. 2 is a prior-art schematic diagram of an example segmented resistor DAC 200. The DAC 200 is described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,013,772 B2, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. The DAC 200 is an example of a state-of-the-art compromise between increasing resistor area in certain portions of the DAC to decrease closely-located mismatch and decreasing resistor area in other portions of the DAC to decrease long-distance mismatch. The DAC 200 utilizes a binary weighted "R-2R" resistor ladder architecture for the least significant bits ("LSBs") (e.g., bits 0-9 in this example case) for a binary portion 210 of the overall resistor ladder. The DAC 200 utilizes an equally weighted resistor ladder architecture for the most significant bits ("MSBs") (e.g., bits 10 and 11 in this example case) of a linear portion 215 of the overall resistor ladder.
For the binary R-2R portion 210 of the DAC 200, each double resistance "rung" of the resistor ladder (e.g., the rung 218 including the resistors 219 and 220) in the case of bit<7>220) is connected between an intermediate node (e.g., the node NN7 222) and a switching node (e.g., the switching node N7 225. A single-R resistor (e.g., the resistor 228) is coupled between each intermediate node (e.g., the node NN7 222) and the next higher-order node (e.g., the node NN8 232).
The state of each bit of a DAC binary input word 235 determines which of two voltage levels the switching node of the corresponding double-resistance rung of the resistor ladder is switched to. For example, an active state of bit <7>220 switches the node N7 225 of the rung 218 to a voltage rail RV_TOP 236 of voltage V_TOP. An inactive state of bit<7> switches the rung 218 to a ground voltage rail RV_GND 240 of voltage V_GND. The above-described R-2R architecture results in each successively higher-order rung contributing double the DAC output voltage V_DAC_OUT (also referred to herein as the "weight") as the previous lower-order rung to a DAC analog output terminal DAC_OUT 243. The R-2R binary portion 210 of the resistor ladder DAC 200 is thus directly compatible with the binary numbering system. Each bit of the binary input word 235 switches a corresponding R-2R ladder rung to RV_TOP 236 when the bit goes active, causing the intermediate node voltage associated with the ladder rung to contribute to the output voltage V_DAC_OUT at the output terminal DAC_OUT 243. Likewise, an inactive bit switches the ladder rung to RV_GND 240 to remove the ladder rung voltage contribution from DAC_OUT 243.
It is noted that, for the example DAC 200, the series 2R combination of the lowest-order resistors 244 and 245 are permanently coupled to RV_GND 240. Doing so enables the DAC to operate properly for all input words and limits the maximum output voltage of the DAC 200 to the voltage V_TOP of the rail RV_TOP 236 minus (V_TOP/2N).
In contrast, the term "linear architecture," referring to the linear portion 215, means that each branch of the linear portion 215 (e.g., the branch 248 consisting of resistors 249 and 250) is connected to the DAC_OUT terminal 243 and is switched between DAC_OUT 243 and either RV_TOP 236 ("active") or RV_GND 240 ("inactive"). As such, each active branch of the linear portion contributes to the output voltage at DAC_OUT 243 by an amount equal to that of each of the other active branches of the linear portion 215. Also, each active linear branch contributes a percentage of the output voltage equal to the percentage contributed by the entire binary portion when all branches of the binary portion are active (all binary portion branches connected to RV_TOP 236).
Branches of the linear portion 215 are not switched directly by bits of the binary input word 235 as a consequence of being equally weighted and not binary weighted. Rather, a binary to thermometer decoder 253 decodes bits 10 and 11 in order to switch each of the linear branches 248, 257 and 260 between RV_TOP 236 and RV_GND 240 as the states of bits 10 and 11 change. Doing so causes each of the branches 248, 257 and 260 to contribute an equal percentage of the output voltage at DAC_OUT 243 when all three linear branches are switched to RV_TOP 236.
Said differently, the binary portion 210 of the DAC 200 and each of the linear branches 248, 257 and 260 contribute 25% of the output voltage at DAC_OUT 243 when input bits [0:11] are all set. It is noted that the total bit width of the input word 235 and the number of bits implemented in the binary portion 210 vs. the number of bits implemented in the linear portion 215 of the example segmented resistor ladder DAC 200 are merely examples and may vary from one implementation to another without altering the essence of the description herein.
The DAC 200 represents a compromise between increasing resistor area in certain portions of the DAC to decrease closely-located mismatch and decreasing resistor area in other portions of the DAC to decrease long-distance mismatch, as previously mentioned. Areas of resistive material used to implement resistive rungs of the binary portion 210 are upwardly scaled in binary fashion for successively higher-order bits beginning at a chosen bit level. Thus, for example, the rung resistors associated with bit 0-5 may be fabricated at 1 UW, bit 6 at 2 UW, bit 7 at 4 UW, bit 8 at 8 UW and so on. 1 UW is generally the minimum material width allowed for a given fabrication process. The resistor areas, a squared function of the UW factor as shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, are scaled upward to reduce closely-located mismatch error. The scaling is done in accordance with the contribution of the bit weight of a particular branch to the overall output voltage and thus to the overall closely-located mismatch error. This is done conservatively and in a bit-weight scaled fashion (rather than simply scaling all ladder resistor areas upward by a factor appropriate to the highest-order bit) in order to avoid undue increases in long-distance mismatch caused by the area increases.
The highest-order resistor 265 of the binary portion 210 of the example DAC 200 is scaled at 32 UW. Doing so limits the closely-located mismatch error of the highest-order branch of the binary portion 210 to a selected range matching that of lower-order branches. Each of the three branches 248, 257 and 260 of the linear portion 215 has the same influence on the output voltage as the binary portion 210, as previously mentioned. Therefor, it is desirable that the closely-located mismatch error of each linear branch 248, 257 and 260 be within the same excursion as that of the binary portion 210. Consequently, the branch resistors of the linear portion branches 248, 257 and 260 may each be scaled at 32 UW to maintain closely-located mismatch equivalency with the binary portion 210. If implemented with R-2R architecture, the bit 10 rung and inter-nodal resistors would be fabricated as 32 UW resistors. The bit 11 rung and inter-nodal resistors would be fabricated as 64 UW resistors. Taking into account the number of resistors of each UW and the UW squaring factor for an R-2R vs. a linear implementation of bits 10 and 11, the example segmented binary/linear DAC 200 consumes only one-half the area of a full binary 12-bit R-2R DAC. The aforesaid techniques of resistor size up-scaling and segmentation between binary and linear portions of the resistor divider networks associated with the example DAC 200 thus reduce total silicon area without increasing closely-located and long-distance mismatch error and negatively affecting DNL performance.
Taking the segmentation idea a step further, semiconductor area may be further reduced by implementing three MSBs (bits <11:9>) as seven linear branches, leaving the binary portion limited to nine R-2R branches to implement LSB bits <8:0>. However, doing so would increase the layout difficulty of locating paired objects next to each other. That is because the number of matched object pairs would increase from 6 (two-object combinations from three linear branches plus one binary portion) to 28 (two-object combinations from seven linear branches plus one binary portion).

Trim-matched segmented digital-to-analog converter apparatus, systems and methods


An arithmetic processing apparatus or circuit for performing charge redistribution by one or more capacitances connected to an input portion of each comparator are realized with improved arithmetic accuracy as suppressing dispersion and errors of gains of signals input into comparators, in such an arrangement that as the arithmetic processing apparatus is arranged to have a plurality of comparators, each having one or more capacitances connected to the input portion thereof, a sum of the capacitors connected to the input portions of each comparators 71 (or 72), C.sub.11 +. . .+C.sub.1n (or C.sub.81 +. . .+C.sub.8m), is substantially equalized among the plurality of comparators, or a ratio of the sum of the capacitors connected to the input portion of each comparator 71 (or 72), C.sub.11 +. . .+C.sub.1n (or C.sub.81 +. . .+C.sub.8m), and input capacitance C.sub.p1 (or C.sub.p2) of the comparator is substantially equalized among the comparators.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an arithmetic processing apparatus and an arithmetic processing circuit, and more particularly to an arithmetic processing apparatus and an arithmetic processing circuit which can be applied to signal conversion such as correlation arithmetic, A/D (analog-digital) conversion, and D/A (digital-analog) conversion or to various arithmetic processes such as majority logic.
2. Related Background Art
A charge-scaling D/A converter, for example as described in ALLEN, HOLBERG, "CMOS ANALOG CIRCUIT DESIGN" P 534, is an example of the arithmetic processing apparatus for executing various processes as performing charge redistribution by one or more capacitors provided in an input portion thereof.
Further, Nao SHIBATA and Tadahiro OHMI, Tohoku University, reported another device called a neuro device, arranged with capacitances connected to the input thereof to execute various arithmetic operations by charge redistribution based on the capacitances and input voltages thereinto in "New-concept MOS transistor, realizing neuron function by a single unit" (NIKKEY MICRODEVICES, January 1992, p 101-).
These arithmetic processing apparatus, however, had the following problem. Since input capacitance due to parasitic capacitance and wiring capacitance, etc. existed in the input portion of comparator, dispersion appeared in gains of signals input into a comparator through the capacitors connected to the comparator, which caused output signals to have error components.
Particularly, when a plurality of devices with capacitances at input were used, gains of the respective devices differed from each other, which resulted in a problem of degrading arithmetic accuracy.

Arithmetic processing apparatus and arithmetic processing circuit


In one embodiment, a smartwatch includes a processor and a memory storing instructions to be executed in the processor. The instructions are configured to cause the processor to obtain input comprising voice information; determine whether the voice information comprises interrogative keyword; and determine that the voice information is interrogative information in response to determining that the voice information comprises interrogative keyword. The instructions are configured to cause the processor to determine whether reply information corresponding to the interrogative information can be obtained from a memory of the smartwatch; and send the interrogative information to a server through a wireless network in response to determining that the reply information corresponding to the interrogative information cannot be obtained from the memory of the smartwatch. The instructions are further configured to cause the processor to receive reply voice information sent by the server, and play the reply voice information.

With continuous development of Internet technologies, application scenarios of man-machine interaction are increasingly widely used. For example, man-machine interaction has been applied to scenarios such as listening and spoken level tests of examinees, electronic commerce transactions, takeaway and fast food ordering, and intelligent navigation.
Specifically, a principle of man-machine interaction mainly is that a user sends voice information to an intelligent terminal (such as a smartphone or a smartwatch); the intelligent terminal sends the collected voice information to a cloud (or the intelligent terminal first performs semantic recognition on the voice information, and sends a semantic recognition result to the cloud). After collecting the voice of the user, the cloud performs semantic recognition on the voice, and initiates, according to a recognition result, a search in a database in which reply information corresponding to a large quantity of questions is stored (or the cloud directly performs searching according to the semantic recognition result sent by the intelligent terminal), to seek an appropriate reply and convert the reply into voice information (such as an artificial intelligence voice) and/or text information. Finally, the cloud delivers the converted-to voice information and/or text information to the intelligent terminal, so that the user listens to the voice and/or views the text.
However, when the cloud cannot understand a semantic meaning of the user, or the user needs to be provided with a personalized reply (for example, the user queries information about a relative of the user), it cannot be ensured that the cloud finds an appropriate reply in the database. When an appropriate answer cannot be found, the cloud usually replies with "Beyond the capability scope" or provides an irrelevant answer. Consequently, man-machine interaction quality is degraded and user experience is poor.

Information processing method, server, terminal, and information processing system


A substrate with touch function includes a plurality of scan lines and at least a touch device disposed thereon. The touch device includes at least a power line, at least a readout line, a light sensing circuit and a voltage divider circuit. The power line and the readout line are disposed on the substrate. The light sensing circuit is electrically coupled to a (N+1)th of the power lines, an Nth of the scan lines and an Nth of the readout lines, wherein N is an integer. The voltage divider circuit has an output terminal and is configured to output a first voltage to the light sensing circuit through the output terminal thereof according to a degree of illumination thereon or a degree of capacitance change. A display using the aforementioned substrate is also provided.

With the development of technology, flat display panels (such as liquid crystal displays, organic light emitting diode displays and plasma displays etc.,) have been widely used in a variety of consumer electronics products (such as mobile phones, notebook computers, desktop displays and televisions etc.,) due to the features of high quality, small size, light weight and wide range of applications, etc. In addition, flat display panels also have gradually replaced the traditional cathode ray tube (CRT) display devices and become the mainstream of display devices.
Moreover, with being implemented with touch function, flat panel displays with touch function are further capable of providing a human-computer interaction interface, which make users have more intuitive experiences.
Today's light sensing touch panel usually employ a light sensing circuit to detect whether there is a touch object (for example, a light pen or finger) or not. Specifically, the light sensing circuit is configured to detect a touch event by the degree of leakage current, which is generated and corresponding to the illumination thereon; wherein a working window, resulted by the degree of the leakage current and related to the material characteristics of amorphous silicon, is an important factor for the determination of a touch event.
However, if having a too small working window, a light sensing circuit may be too much sensitive to a variety of environmental factors (such as voltage or temperature) and accordingly may generate a wrong determination about whether there has a touch event or not.

Substrate with touch function and display using the same


A system may include a media processor that categorizes at least one scene of a media stream into a category. The media processor may further provide an output media stream that alters the at least one scene of the media stream based on the category, where the category may be shocking or scary scenes. A method may include categorizing, using a computing device, at least one scene of a media stream into at least one category. The method may further include altering, using the computing device, the at least one scene of the media stream based on the category.

As technology improves movies and television shows are also improving their use of high-definition high-quality visual and audio effects to make depictions of scary, shocking and bloody scenes more and more realistic. Some television series are known for often have scary, shocking and bloody scenes. Such scenes are intended to promote a physical response in the viewer, and in some situations may cause an undesirable negative outcome. In some situations, for example, increased stress and corresponding blood pressure may in some cases result in a heart attack in sensitive individuals. Moreover, graphic scenes may psychologically affect certain sensitive individuals as well as classes of viewers (e.g., younger viewers as well as more senior viewers). For such viewers, the memory of viewing a hyper-realistic audio-visual scene may disturb them and stay in their mind for a long time as a re-occurring and unpleasant memory.
Sometimes, it happens that a viewer catches such a scene unintentionally, perhaps while changing channels, or when watching a show they are not familiar with and not realizing scenes may occur that could be offensive or disturbing to them.
Alternatively, some users may have a predilection for being scared and may wish that such scenes remain unaltered.
What is desired is a way to avoid a person seeing scenes that will disturb their sensitivities or inadvertently result in either a physical or psychological trauma.


A bottle holder with an indented base, which has a body sized and shaped to receive a bottle. At least a portion of the body is radially expandable. A grip is attached to the exterior of the body and a securing base is located within the interior of the body. The securing base is sized and shaped to receive the indented base of a bottle and, when in use, to prevent radial movement of the bottle. When a bottle is inserted into the body, it is received by the indented base and is securely held in the bottle holder by the grip.

Modern commercially produced beverages such as soft drinks and juices are generally packaged in standard size, low-cost bottles or cartons for convenient storage and shipment. In the soft drink market in particular, standard, large-size, two-litre plastic bottles have been adopted across the industry. These bottles are constructed from a thin and highly elastic plastic, and have a bottom or base that is indented or ribbed.
Certain features of the standard two litre bottles, however, can be inconvenient for consumers. First, due to their wide diameter and highly flexible or elastic construction, they can be unwieldy and difficult to hold. A related problem is that when the bottles are gripped to perform common tasks such as opening or pouring, the soft elastic wall structure may compress excessively and cause the bottles to unexpectedly spurt or spill some of their liquid contents. This problem is generally more acute when using bottles that are closer to being full, and for users with smaller or weaker hands, such as seniors and children.
Another problematic feature of the standard soft drink bottles is their indented base, which limits their stability when placed on a flat surface. As a result, the bottles are susceptible to being inadvertently knocked or tipped over. This might occur, for example, at large gatherings or where children are present upon a slight jarring of a table surface. Similarly, bottle tipping often occurs in home refrigerators where the bottles stand on thin wire racks. While it is possible to avoid tipping in this case by storing bottles on their side, this is not entirely satisfactory since it results in a loss of usable refrigerator space.
An attempt to address these problems is provided by Pych, U.S. Pat. No. 5,921,431, which teaches a cannister with a handle and a flat base, and a detachable top. The detachable top threads onto the cannister and helps secure the bottle. However, the use of two separate pieces makes the Pych device more costly to manufacture and complicated to use. Also, in practice, some of the liquid soft drink may get on the cannister threads and harden, which is unsanitary and difficult to clean.
Some other devices have been attempted that are constructed from one piece. However, these generally use a type of ring that needs to be snapped into place to support the neck of the bottle when pouring. Such rings may break due to material deformation from repeated use, and may be difficult for some people to use.


A portable work light includes a main body having a light body and a power pack, and a hook implement that is detachably connected to the main body. The light body includes a head portion that retains a lighting element. The head portion is pivotally adjustable about an axis on a reference plane that is generally parallel to a bottom surface of the main body, and is pivotally adjustable to an angular position that is below the reference plane. A mount integrally formed with the main body is engageable with the hook implement to suspend the main body from the support. The mount has a slot that receives a boss portion of the hook implement and secures the boss portion in a detachably engaged position within the mount. The mount also has a maintaining means for maintaining connection of the hook implement to the mount when the work light is not being suspended. A second mount integrally formed with the main body may also be provided with the work light.

A portable work light is a light that has a dedicated power source and can be carried from one location to another without the use of an electrical cord. Portable work lights are available in a variety of designs. For example, a flashlight (one type of portable work light) typically has a cylindrical shape. One end of the flashlight retains a lighting element, and the opposite end houses several batteries. Flashlights and other portable lights may be used to illuminate work areas that are inaccessible to a fixed power source or cannot be reached by an extension cord. These lights may also be used to supplement or intensify the existing lighting at the work areas.
Traditional flashlights and other portable lights typically have a handle or grip by which the portable light may be engaged and positioned to illuminate an intended work area. In some situations, the desired work activity or task may be performed by one person while another person handles the portable work light and positions the light beam from the portable work light onto the work area. For some tasks, a person might hold the flashlight with one hand and hold a tool or work piece with the other hand.
There are also certain tasks that demand that the person use both hands to handle a tool and/or one or more work pieces. For these tasks, an ordinary flashlight may be propped up against a support and braced so as to direct the light beam from the light to the work area or work piece. If the work area or work piece is on a horizontal surface, the flashlight may also be laid down on the horizontal surface, near the work area or work piece, and braced against a solid support (e.g., between two books or next to a tool box) so as to maintain its position and so as to illuminate the work area or work piece. If the work area changes or the work piece must be moved, the flashlight must be repositioned and re-braced to illuminate the new work area or the new location of the work piece.

Portable light incorporating a multi-position hook


A navigation system includes: an image capture unit, configured to capture a gesture; a control unit, coupled to the image capture unit, configured to distinguish between a command motion and a natural motion based on the gesture, an auditory cue, and a contextual information; and generate a command combination for instructing the navigation system based on the command motion and the auditory cue.

Modern portable consumer and industrial electronics, especially client devices such as navigation systems, mobile phones, tablet computers, and combination devices, are providing increasing levels of functionality to support modern life including location-based services. Research and development in the existing technologies can take myriad directions.
As users become more empowered with the growth of portable location-based service devices, new and old paradigms begin to take advantage of this new device space. However, users often have difficulty operating such devices during requisite times.
Thus, a need still remains for a navigation system with a touchless command mechanism appropriate for today's devices. In view of the ever-increasing commercial competitive pressures, along with growing consumer expectations and the diminishing opportunities for meaningful product differentiation in the marketplace, it is increasingly critical that answers be found to these problems. Additionally, the need to reduce costs, improve efficiencies and performance, and meet competitive pressures adds an even greater urgency to the critical necessity for finding answers to these problems.
Solutions to these problems have been long sought but prior developments have not taught or suggested any solutions and, thus, solutions to these problems have long eluded those skilled in the art.

Navigation system with touchless command mechanism and method of operation thereof


The present invention is an apparatus and method for machining a laminate structure to form a selected shape. The method includes forming a first layer on a substrate. A first protective structure is defined that is attached to each of the first layer and the substrate. At least a portion of the protective structure has the selected shape. The laminate structure is then machined along the first protective structure thereby forming at least a portion of the selected shape.

The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for machining a laminate structure to form selected shapes and, more particularly, to a method for machining conductive structures on substrates to form selected shapes.
Conductive structures on substrates such as thin film circuits are presently in use in high performance, high density systems. These thin film circuits include a substrate or base material upon which conductive structures are deposited. This thin film circuit provides electrical interconnections for components that are electrically connected to the conductive structures. These components that are mounted to the thin film circuit are frequently very large scale integrated circuits (VLSI).
The thin film technology used in the manufacture of these thin film circuits provides relatively short interconnection distance and low interconnection capacitance between integrated components, which enhances the system performance. Thin film technology frequently makes use of multiple layers of thin film conducting material. Thin film conducting layers are separated by dielectric material such as polyimide. Each layer of conducting material is defined using known processes such as a photolithographic process. Thin film processing is generally described in the article entitled "Multichip Modules for High Performance Military Electronics" by T. A. Krinke and D. K. Pai from Electricon '91 proceedings, sponsored by the Electronics Manufacturing Productivity Facility, Indianapolis, Ind., Oct. 22 and 23, 1991, and incorporated herein by reference.
The thin film circuit is frequently mounted to a heat sink which provides mechanical strength and improved thermal conductivity between the substrate and a chassis in which the heat sink is mounted. Alternatively, the thin film circuit can be mounted directly to the chassis.
The chassis in which the thin film circuit is mounted may have a variety of external shapes in order to make optimal use of the space available for a given application. For example, a chassis may have a cylindrical exterior shape or form to make optimal use of a volume within a portion of a missile.
Because the thin film circuits are mounted within the chassis, these thin film circuits must be machined to conform with the interior shape or form of the chassis. One method that has been used for machining these thin film circuits is to saw the thin film circuit using a conventional high speed saw. These saws are frequently equipped with a circular carbide tipped saw blade. However, a major drawback of this sawing technique for machining the thin film circuit is that these saws are best suited for cutting relatively straight edges and are not well suited for cutting relatively small radius arcs or curves. The thin film circuit often must have at least portions thereof machined in relatively small radius arcs or curves.
Other techniques that have been used for machining thin film circuits are ultrasonic or laser techniques. A major drawback of both the ultrasonic and laser machining techniques is that each of these techniques tend to delaminate the thin film circuit. This delamination may be either between polyimide layers or between a polyimide layer and the substrate.
There is an ever present need for methods and apparatus for machining thin film circuits to form nonlinear portions such as relatively small radius arcs or curves therein. This machining should be capable of producing nonlinear sides of the thin film circuit that are free from nicks and delamination.

Apparatus and method for machining conductive structures on substrates

General Dynamics Information Systems, Inc.


A circuit link, and method for using link, for self initializing any device peratively connected to the link. An input signal is split into two portions, one of which is delayed so that the undelayed signal can transverse the circuit link before the delayed signal. A pair of quadrature splitters are operatively connected to one another to split and combine the undelayed and delayed signals in their turns, and recombine them in their turns, in a manner effective to cause one of the circuit link's outputs to be nonzero responsive to the delayed signal, and zero responsive to the undelayed signal, with the opposite result on the other circuit output. The undelayed signal is thus available to initialize any device requiring initialization, and the delayed signal, unperturbed by any such device, is thus available for use as the circuit link's ultimate output. The circuit is especially useful with frequency selective limiters (FSL's), which are commonly used as channelizers in multichannel communication systems, and which are ineffective before initialization.

Many classes of electromagnetic device require initialization. An example is the Frequency Selective Limiter (FSL), a magnetostrictive device which is used as an amplitude compressor in communication systems. Examples of FSL's appear in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,595,889 and 4,845,439 to Stitzer et al. The FSL's dipole domains tend to spin synchronously with the frequency of signals input to the device, and when driven into a non-linear regime, the FSL dissipates energy into its substrate and thus reduces the amplitude of signal at that frequency. This causes the FSL to act as a narrow band notch filter about a specific resonant frequency, and some FSL's have quite narrow linewidths. This in turn makes them valuable as narrowband filters such as are needed for channelized communication systems, e.g. receivers for radio, television, cable television, electronic warfare command and control systems, etc. Further, the dipole domains saturate at a specific input power. This causes the FSL to attenuate a larger signal more strongly than a smaller one. Together, these two attributes have resulted in FSL's being used as amplitude compressors, i.e. devices that narrow the amplitude gap between larger undesired signals and smaller desired ones, permitting easier detection of the desired ones. (Or, more to the point, permitting detection of the smaller desired signal possible with less complicated and expensive hardware.)
FSL's have a significant drawback. In order to be effective, an FSL's dipole domains must "spin up," i.e. become energized from their relaxation state. Before spin up, the FSL is largely ineffective, nominally for a time of 100-300 ns. For simplicity, systems with FSL's typically use the leading edge of the input signal to spin up the FSL's dipole domains. This means that the energy in the leading edge of the input signal is transmitted unattenuated, and thus no compression in the output signal results. This is of little consequence for continuous wave communication systems. It is, however, of considerable consequence for digital systems, particularly those whose inter-pulse period is of the same order as the spin-up time, about 10.sup.-7 sec and above, or about 0.01 GHz and below. In the spin-up period, FSL spin-up can cause a significant loss of data. The preferred operating range of the FSL comprehends a large portion of the RF spectrum, generally 2-6 GHz.

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy


A cloud service system includes at least one user device, a plurality of clouds for providing different cloud services, and a gateway connected between the user device and the clouds. The gateway selects at least one of the clouds according to predefined Service Level Agreement (SLA) information, and stores content provided from the user device to the selected cloud.

A cloud service or a cloud computing is a service allowing to use IT resources such as computing, storage, and network, via Internet necessary and to pay per use, and represents a computing technology for providing IT related services such as data storage, processing, network and content use all together from a server in the Internet represented in a cloud-like shape.
The home cloud environment provides cloud infrastructures (computing and storage) which interwork with the home using the network technology, and users pay a certain usage fee according to the provided resource amount and a service level to thus manage content. Such a home cloud does not merely store and manage digital content such as document, music, photo, and video used by devices such as computer, tablet PC, notebook, smartphone, and television (TV) in the home only to a home device and a local server of the limited size, but stores the content to a cloud storage server connected to a home cloud gateway server. Hence, unlimited virtual resources can be dynamically provided, and the user can store, view, and update the content by accessing his/her cloud storage from web-capable places in and outside the home. In addition, when an unpredicted home device trouble or damage arises, safe content management can be achieved by backing important content or data up to the cloud storage of high reliability.
Related art including Korean Patent Publication Application No. 2010-0137323 (Dec. 30, 2010) relating to the conventional home content management describes a structure for managing multimedia content in association with the home network and the web and connecting to the device such as digital TV, or suggests an abstract structure for determining whether the local server or the cloud server processes and stores the content when the user wants to store or view the content in association with the cloud infrastructure.
However, in recent, when using the cloud resources, the user usually utilizes different cloud resources rather than using, the single cloud resource of a particular company. The related arts which suggest the interworking method of the existing home and the cloud resource do not consider different service levels provided by the cloud resources.
Thus, what is needed is a method for not only storing and viewing the content when the content is managed in the home interworking with the heterogeneous cloud infrastructures but also automatically selecting the cloud server from various cloud infrastructures for the content storage by considering the user's required service level and preference. For the content viewing, a content provision method for selecting the cloud server of optimal Quality of Service (QoS) needs to be considered.

Apparatus and method for managing content for cloud computing

Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology


Processes and systems are directed to training a neural network of an object recognition system. The processes and systems record video streams of people. Sequences of object images are extracted from each video stream, each sequence of object images corresponding to one of the people. A triplet comprising an anchor feature vector and a positive feature vector of the same object and a negative feature vector of a different object of feature vectors are formed for each sequence of object images. The anchor, positive, and negative feature vectors of each triplet are separately input to the neural network to compute corresponding output anchor, positive, and negative vectors. A triplet loss function value computed from the output anchor, positive, and negative vectors. When the triplite loss function value is greater than a threshold, the neural network is retrained using the anchor and positive feature vectors of the sequences of object images.

Typical object recognition methods use machine learning algorithms that, in turn, require extremely large numbers of object images to train the learning algorithms. For example, a typical facial recognition method may require as many as 100 to 200 million training facial images, each facial image labelled with one of around eight million unique identities. These large collections of image data require significant time and large amounts of data storage to collect, label, and store images, which has become a barrier to building and training improved and reliable facial recognition methods.
Some facial image sets that are used to train facial recognition methods are publicly available, but are not representative of facial images of ordinary people. For example, certain facial recognition methods use publicly available images of celebrities and public figures, such as actors, actresses, politicians, and political activists, crawled from web pages to train facial recognition methods. However, facial images of celebrities and public figures are not representative of faces of ordinary people, because many celebrities have distinctive facial features, the facial images may be altered before uploading to the web, and celebrities and public figures are typically professionally photographed. Using facial images of celebrities and public figures that have been crawled from the web to train facial recognition methods creates a mismatch between identification of facial images of celebrities and public figures and identification of ordinary people. In other words, training facial recognition methods with facial images of celebrities and public figures lowers the performance of these facial recognition methods when these same trained methods are employed to recognize facial images of ordinary people. Those working in the object recognition industry seek object recognition methods and systems that require far less image data and avoid training with stock images, such as facial images of celebrities and public figures.

Unsupervised learning of object recognition methods and systems


The present invention includes an end use article (i.e., an article of manufacture) and a process for making the same, wherein the end use article has a relatively high gloss and exhibits excellent processability over a wide range of processing conditions. The end use article can be formed with glossy polyethylene having an “a” parameter less than or equal to about 0.40, and the glossy polyethylene can be a Metallocene polyethylene. The end use article can have a 60° specular gloss of at least about 40%, or from about 40% to about 80%, or from about 60% to about 80%. The end use article may be pigmented or unpigmented.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to polyethylene articles, and more particularly to high-gloss polyethylene articles having excellent properties.
2. Background of the Art
The number of consumer products or packaging for consumer products is that contain polymers continues to increase everyday. As such, there is a growing need to develop polymers that can be used to form more appealing products for consumers. Industry is concerned with forming end use polymer articles that exhibit a high level of gloss because consumers find the glossy appearance of certain products desirable. For example, it is believed that consumers are more likely to buy a product contained within a glossy plastic bottle because they correlate the glossy bottle with a higher quality product.
Technically speaking, gloss is defined as the ratio of the reflected light from a material to the scattered light at a specific angle of incidence, multiplied by 100 to yield a percentage ("%" is herein understood to mean percent). According to ASTM D2457, specular gloss is the ratio of the flux reflected in specular direction to incident flux for a specified angle of incidence and source and receptor angular apertures. Polypropylene (PP), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) formed according to conventional polymerization methods and fabricated into end use articles by equipment known in the art are considered to exhibit relatively high levels of gloss. Thus, PP, PET, and PVC are well suited for forming end use articles, such as health and beauty product bottles, for which a glossy appearance is desired.
In contrast, polyethylene (PE) produced according to conventional polymerization processes, e.g., using a chromium or Ziegler-Natta catalyst, typically does not achieve a sufficient level of gloss for use in such products. PE can have advantages over PP, PET and PVC due to one or more of the following attributes: recycle ability, toughness, chemical resistance, barrier properties, adaptability to various fabrication techniques and the ability to fine tune physical properties. Furthermore, polyethylene can be processed using common methods, e.g., blow molding or extrusion, whereas PET must be processed using stretchable molding, which requires special equipment. PVC has the additional drawback of environmental concerns.
Therefore, a need exists for PE articles having equivalent or higher gloss levels than those of the gloss levels of PP, PET, and PVC articles. The PE articles of the present invention meet this need because they have several desirable physical and processing properties, including relatively high levels of gloss.


An information recording device can function as a facsimile, a copy machine and a printer. The device receives plural kinds of information to be recorded and judges the kind of the information thus received. The information received is recorded onto a paper. The device is provided with a plurality of paper trays, and a delivering unit delivers a recorded paper on which the information is recorded to one of the paper trays which is determined in accordance with the kind of the information to be recorded. Thereby, the recorded paper on which same kind of information is recorded is delivered to same one of the paper trays, and a user can easily discriminate the recorded papers of different information.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information recording device which records different types of information, such as facsimile information and copy information, on recording papers.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Recently, there has been developed a multi-function information recording device including a printer function, a facsimile function and a copy function. The printer function serves to record information inputted by an information processing device such as an external computer onto predetermined papers and output the recorded papers. The facsimile function serves to record information inputted via external telephone lines onto predetermined papers and output the recorded papers. The copy function serves to record information inputted from an information reading device, such as a scanner, onto predetermined papers and output the recorded papers.
In the conventional multi-function information recording device described above, the recorded papers are delivered to identical paper tray or stacker and stacked up at an identical position, even if the type of information recorded on the papers are different.
However, if the recorded papers of different types of information are delivered to the same paper tray and stacked up at the same position on the tray, the following inconvenience takes place. Namely, in such a case, recorded papers of data from a computer and data from telephone lines are stacked up at the same position of the same tray in the mixed fashion, for example. Therefore, a user who wants to take out the recorded paper of computer data may also take out the recorded papers of the telephone line data erroneously, and the recorded papers of the telephone line data may sometimes be lost. If the data sent via the telephone line is important, the loss or missing of the recorded paper may result a serious problem.

Information recording device which selects paper tray and shifts output according to received image data or source


A process for producing acrylic acid from propane and oxygen gas through a vapor-phase catalytic oxidation reaction, said process comprising conducting the reaction using as a catalyst a metal oxide containing metallic elements Mo, V, Sb, and A (provided that A is at least one element selected from the group consisting of Nb, Ta, Sn, W, Ti, Ni, Fe, Cr, and Co). The metal oxide is prepared by a process including specific steps (1) and (2). The metal oxide may be supported on a compound containing specific elements.

Acrylic acid is generally produced by a two-step oxidation process which comprises catalytically reacting propylene with oxygen at high temperature in the presence of a catalyst to produce acrolein and then catalytically reacting the acrolein with oxygen.
In recent years, however, processes for producing acrylic acid from propane through one-step oxidation are being studied in order to reduce the cost of acrylic acid production. The main subject in these studies is to seek for catalysts which give acrylic acid in high yields. Oxidation reaction catalysts for obtaining acrylic acid from propane (hereinafter referred to as "catalysts for acrylic acid production") have been proposed.
Examples thereof include a Bi--Mo--V oxide (see U.S. Pat. No. 5,198,580), an Mo--V--Te oxide (see JP-A-7-10801 and JP-A-6-279351), an Mo--Sb--P oxide (see U.S. Pat. No. 4,260,822), a V--P--Te oxide (see JP-A-3-70445 and Catal. Today, Vol. 13, 679 (1992)), and a Bi--Mo--V--Ag oxide (see JP-A-2-83348). (The term "JP-A" as used herein means an "unexamined published Japanese patent application".)
Among the catalysts enumerated above, those with which acrylic acid is obtained in high yields are the Bi-Mo-V oxide and the Mo--V--Te oxide. In the references disclosing the former catalyst, there is a description to the effect that acrylic acid can be produced in a yield of 5% with a selectivity of about 28%. In the references disclosing the latter catalyst, there is a description to the effect that acrylic acid can be obtained in a yield of from 35 to 40% with a selectivity of from 55 to 60%.
In general, the performance of a catalyst does not solely depend on the kinds and proportions of the constituent metals, but considerably depends also on the valences and crystal structures of the constituent metals. It is generally known that the valences and crystal structures of constituent metals contained in catalysts vary depending on catalyst production processes.
The aforementioned Bi--Mo--V oxide catalyst or Mo--V--Te oxide catalyst for acrylic acid production is also produced by a technique intended to impart excellent catalytic performance. Specifically, the technique employed for producing the catalyst comprises evenly mixing telluric acid, ammonium paramolybdate, ammonium metavanadate, or bismuth triacetate, in a heated aqueous medium, evaporating the water to obtain a solid mixture, and calcining the solid mixture at 400 to 600.degree. C. A technique known to be effective in enhancing catalytic performance comprises mixing compounds of antimony, niobium, vanadium, and molybdenum in a heated aqueous medium to obtain a slurry and mixing this slurry with a separately prepared slurry containing a bismuth compound and a molybdenum compound (see U.S. Pat. No. 5,198,580).
On the other hand, catalysts produced from a vanadium compound/antimony compound mixture obtained through the reaction shown by the following scheme (1) are known as catalysts not for the production of acrylic acid, but for producing acrylonitrile by oxidizing propane in the presence of ammonia, i.e., as catalysts for the ammoxidation reaction of propane. Examples of these ammoxidation catalysts include a V--Sb metal oxide (see U.S. Pat. No. 5,498,588 and JP-A-2-180637) and an Mo--V--Sb metal oxide (see JP-A-9-157241). EQU V.sup.+5 +Sb.sup.+3 .fwdarw.V.sup.+3 +Sb.sup.+5 (1)
The above reaction is usually conducted using a compound of trivalent antimony, e.g., antimony trioxide, and a compound of pentavalent vanadium, e.g., ammonium metavanadate, in an aqueous medium at a temperature of 80.degree. C. or higher.
However, reaction (1) shown above has not hitherto been employed for producing a catalyst for acrylic acid production.


A cartridge from which a staple refill cannot be taken out until all sheet-like connected staple is discharged. A cartridge is drawably provided in a stapler body and has a receiving room for receiving a staple refill, an engagement member with which one side of the staple refill is engaged, and a lock member for locking the engagement member. The lock member has a contact portion that comes in contact with a sheet-like connected staple, discharged from a discharge opening of the staple refill, when the staple refill is received in the receiving room. When the contact portion is in contact with the sheet-like connected staple, the lock member locks the engagement member to prevent separation of the staple refill.

Conventionally, for example, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-200573 (Patent Document 1), the cartridge provided in the stapler is drawably attached to a stapler main body. The cartridge includes a storage chamber, and the staple refill is detachably attached to the storage chamber. A sheet-like connected staple wound in a roll shape is stored in the staple refill, and a leading end portion of the sheet-like connected staple is discharged from a discharge port of the staple refill. Accordingly, in usage of the stapler, the cartridge is drawn from the stapler main body to mount the staple refill on the cartridge, and the cartridge on which the staple refill is mounted is pressed into the stapler main body.
In the conventional cartridge, even if the sheet-like connected staple remains in the staple refill, the staple refill can be taken off. Therefore, the staple refill can be taken off from the cartridge while the sheet-like connected staple is partway discharged from the discharge port of the staple refill. In this case, the sheet-like connected staple is broken, which results in a problem that an obstacle such as clogging is generated.
In view of the foregoing, an object of the invention is to provide a cartridge in which the staple refill cannot be detached when the sheet-like connected staple remains and the sheet-like connected staple can be drawn from the staple main body while the staple refill is mounted when the obstacle such as the clogging is generated.


Methods, systems, and computer program products are included to provide a universal database driver, into which one or more driver implementations may be loaded. The universal database driver communicates with one or more databases using the appropriate driver implementation for each database. A driver manager is provided that requests driver implementations corresponding to the databases, and loads the driver implementations into the universal database driver.

A Java Database Connectivity (JDBC) Application Programming Interface (API) defines an interface for an application to interact with a database. For example, a user may use the JDBC API to connect to a database and insert data values into a database, locate data values in the database, delete data values from the database and/or retrieve data values from the database.
There are many different database types. Each database type may have a different communication protocol. Accordingly, a JDBC API that provides an interface for one type of database may not be compatible with another type of database.
Each JDBC API may be implemented in a JDBC driver. A database vendor that provides a database may distribute a JDBC driver to the users of the database in order for the users to access the database. As the number of database types continues to increase, the number of JDBC drivers released by database vendors also continues to increase as well.
For a user, this creates the problem of identifying, accessing and installing the correct JDBC driver for each database that the user would like to access. This problem is compounded as additional versions of databases and JDBC drivers are released. In many instances, a user may not have access privileges to install the required JDBC driver needed to access a database. For example, installing a driver may require system administrator access that the user does not have.


A water-cooled heat dissipation device for a notebook computer includes primarily a pad and a heat dissipation device at a bottom of the pad having an air through-hole. The heat dissipation structure has a fan below a U-shape plate, a groove of which is latched with parallel fins being transfixed with a metallic tube in a detouring way, with two ends of the metallic tube being connected to a water pump, allowing cooling water to circulate in the metallic tube to cool down the fins. The heat dissipation structure is fixed below the air through-hole of the pad with the two ends of the U-shape plate. In usage, a notebook computer is put on the pad, and temperature of the notebook computer is conducted to the pad. Furthermore, cold wind is blown to the pad by the fan, such that the notebook computer can be cooled down rapidly.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a water-cooled heat dissipation device for a notebook computer, and more particularly to a heat dissipation device which enables cooling water to circulate in a connected metallic tube for cooling down fins by an operation of a water pump, such that air blown out by a fan can form as cold wind through the fins to blow toward a pad, thereby dissipating heat rapidly.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
Due to the advanced development of semi-conductor technology, a notebook computer is becoming more and more compact for facilitating carrying. However, larger heat is also resulted. In particular, when the notebook computer has been used for a long time or when multiple application programs are executing at a same time in the notebook computer, temperature inside the computer will continue to rise up following the time of usage, and sometimes can even reach more than 70°. Although a heat dissipation device is also provided inside the computer, a heat dissipation effect is not significant due to a limitation of space.
Accordingly, there are vendors who have continuously developed multiple kinds of heat dissipation products for the notebook computers to improve the heat dissipation effect. For example, a heat dissipation pad made totally by a metallic heat conductive material is used to conduct high temperature of a casing of the notebook computer, or the notebook computer is put on a casing of a heat dissipation pad, with an interior of the casing being provided with a fan, such that the temperature in the casing of the notebook computer can be reduced by air convection.
Nevertheless, when practically using the aforementioned heat dissipation products, following shortcomings are available: (1) upon using the heat dissipation pad made totally by the metallic heat conductive material, although the temperature generated by the notebook computer can be effectively conducted to the pad, a heat deposition phenomenon will be resulted when time goes by, and therefore, a heat dissipation function will be lost; (2) the fan-type heat dissipation pad uses the air convection to reduce the temperature, yet the heat conductivity of the air is only 0.024 W/m° C., and hence the real heat dissipation effect is limited.

Water-cooled heat dissipation device for a notebook computer


An occlusion for use in a peristaltic pump includes independently movable occlusion fingers. The fingers are integrally formed as a single unitary body.

Peristaltic pumps are utilized to move liquid through tubes. Peristaltic pumps typically include a plurality of rollers which are rotated against fluid-filled tubes to compress the tubes against a plurality of occlusions to move the fluid within the tubes. Peristaltic pumps are very susceptible to the physical difference or gap between the rollers and the occlusion. If the gap is too large, the pump does not move fluid within the tubes. If the gap is too small, the tubes are excessively compressed which requires additional torque to move the pump and which increases wear of the tubes.
Known peristaltic pumps include adjustable occlusions for each tube through which fluid is being pumped. Manual adjustment of each occlusion relative to the rollers enables the user to accommodate manufacturing variances which result in varying gap distances between the rollers and the individual occlusions. Examples of such peristaltic pumps are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,063,060; 5,096,393; and 4,886,431.

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


Drug products adapted for nasal delivery, comprising a pre-primed device filled with a pharmaceutical composition comprising an opioid receptor antagonist, are provided. Methods of treating opioid overdose or its symptoms with the inventive drug products are also provided.

This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
Opioid receptors are G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) that are activated both by endogenous opioid peptides and by clinically important alkaloid analgesic drugs such as morphine. There are three principal types of opioid receptors: the δ-opioid receptor, the κ-opioid receptor, and the μ-opioid receptor. Opioids depress respiration, which is controlled principally through medullary respiratory centers with peripheral input from chemoreceptors and other sources. Opioids produce inhibition at the chemoreceptors via μ-opioid receptors and in the medulla via μ- and δ-opioid receptors. While there are a number of neurotransmitters mediating the control of respiration, glutamate and γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) are the major excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitters, respectively. Oxycodone and other opioid painkillers, as well as heroin and methadone are all implicated in fatal overdose.
In the United States, mortality rates closely correlate with opioid sales. In 2014, there were 47,055 drug overdose deaths in the United States, representing a 6.5% increase from 2013 as reported by Rudd et al. (2016) Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report 64(50):1378-82 (starting at page 10) "Increases in Drug and Opioid Overdose Deaths—United States, 2000-2014." Over 28,000 of those were overdoses of heroin or prescription opioids, which represents nearly a four-fold increase since 1999. Drugs classed as prescription opioids include both typical analgesics, such as OxyContin® (oxycodone HCl controlled-release) and methadone (used in the treatment of dependence on other opioids such as heroin and also prescribed for pain), but the increase in the rate of drug overdose in recent years has been driven mainlyby overdoses of prescription analgesics.
Naloxone is an opioid receptor antagonist that is approved for use by injection for the reversal of opioid overdose and for adjunct use in the treatment of septic shock. It is currently being used mainly in emergency departments and in ambulances by trained medical professionals. There have been efforts to expand its use by providing the drug to some patients with take-home opioid prescriptions and those who inject illicit drugs, potentially facilitating earlier administration of the drug.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,464,378 to Hussain reports a method for eliciting an analgesic or narcotic antagonist response in a warm-blooded animal, which comprises administering intranasally (IN) to said animal to elicit a narcotic antagonist response, a narcotic antagonist effective amount of naloxone.
WO 82/03768 to Hussain reports a composition that contains 1 mg of naloxone hydrochloride per 0.1 ml of solution adapted for nasal administration used in the treatment of narcotic induced respiratory depression (overdose) at a dosage approximately the same as that employed for intravenous (IV), intramuscular (IM) or subcutaneous (SQ) administration.
WO 00/62757 to Davies reports pharmaceutical compositions for IN or oral (PO) administration which comprise an opioid antagonist, such as naloxone for application by spray in the reversal of opioid depression for treatment of patients suffering from opioid over-dosage, wherein the spray applicator is capable of delivering single or multiple doses and suitable dosage units are in the range of 0.2 to 5 mg.
The use of nasal naloxone is not without controversy. For instance, Dowling et al. (Ther Drug Monit, Vol 30, No 4, August 2008) reported that naloxone administered intranasally displays a relative bioavailability of 4% only and concluded that the IN absorption is rapid but does not maintain measurable concentrations for more than an hour.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,192,570 to Wyse reports naloxone formulations for intranasal administration. Wyse reports (column 27, lines 29-37) that benzalkonium chloride is not suitable in such formulations, because it facilitates unacceptable degradation of the naloxone. Wyse recommends (lines 41-43) benzyl alcohol and paraben preservatives in place of benzalkonium chloride.
Thus, there remains a need for durable, easy-to-use, needleless devices with storage-stable formulations, that can enable untrained individuals to quickly deliver a therapeutically effective dose of a rapid-acting opioid antagonist to an opioid overdose patient. The therapeutically effective dose should be sufficient to obviate the need for the untrained individual to administer an alternative medical intervention to the patient, and to stabilize the patient until professional medical care becomes available.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Nasal drug products and methods of their use


It is disclosed a method (and related apparatus) comprising establishing a control session by transmitting and receiving control session-related messages, transmitting restart information indicating a restart of a network element, receiving at least one protocol-related message of a first control session including session-related detail information, transmitting a restoration request message based on the session-related detail information, receiving at least one session parameter necessary for restoring the at least one first session, and restoring the at least one first session based on the received session-related detail information and the at least one session parameter. It is further disclosed a method (and related apparatus) comprising receiving restart information indicating a restart of a network element, processing at least one protocol-related message of a first control session to include session-related detail information, and transmitting at least one session parameter necessary for restoring the at least one first session, and the at least one protocol related message.

When a network entity, such as a policy and charging rules function (PCRF), fails and/or restarts, the existing/ongoing user sessions may be maintained with no or minimal damage. This may be facilitated by the use of some kind of a recovery mechanism to restore the status and data of the ongoing sessions in the re-started network entity. When "hot redundancy" (i.e. every critical network entity is doubled, the second entity running active ("hot") beside the first entity and maintaining the session statuses and data) is not used, at least some of the other network entities connected to the re-started entity may be involved, actively or passively, in restoring the session statuses and data in the restarted entity.
There have been considerations on restoration procedures for a network element. For example, restoring a pre-failure status of user sessions e.g. in the PCRF may be achieved e.g. by fetching the session status information and the related parameters from the network elements connected to the PCRF. Furthermore, restoration procedures may use protocols (e.g. general packet radio service (GPRS) tunneling protocol (GTP)) that comprise different planes (e.g. control plane, user plane) that separate the control and management functions from the user plane/user session functions.
FIG. 1 shows a general network scheme being a deployment scenario for a network element recovery scheme. Thus, FIG. 1 shows a communication system 100 that may comprise a user equipment (UE) (not shown) and a network (not shown). In turn, the network may comprise a policy and charging enforcement function (PCEF) 1021, a PCRF 1022, an application function (AF) 1023, a subscription profile repository (SPR) 1024, a bearer binding and event reporting function (BBERF) 1025, an online charging system (OCS) 1026 and an offline charging system (OFCS) 1027.
However, in case of failure e.g. of the PCRF 1022, a backup instance is required, such as PCEF 1021, AF 1023, or BBERF 1025. The backup instance already contains at least some session state information, and is used after the failure. In that case, the failed and restarted entity is up-dated/restored with the latest/up-to-date session information.
In consideration of the above, according to examples of the present invention, methods, apparatuses and a related computer program product for network element recovery are provided.
In this connection, the examples of the present invention enable one or more of the following:                Alleviating the need for load and dedicated support for the restoration measures in the network elements connected e.g. to the PCRF, i.e. in AF/P-CSCF, the gateways (P-GW, S-GW) and the subscription profile repository (SPR);        Avoiding mixing the network management issues within the user plane/user session related diameter protocols, if/when the restoration principles are applied to the PCRF interfaces, thus avoiding complicated, non-layered/non-modular specifications and implementations;        Keeping complexity low, i.e. implementations of network elements will not suffer from any extra complexity brought by the recovery and restoration procedures;        Avoiding network incompatibilities, if some network elements support the recovery and restoration extras and some do not or they support different mechanisms;        Providing information, on when and where a fatal failure and/or restart has taken place, to all entities involved in restoring the session statuses and data of a restarting entity;        Providing certainty about what exactly is expected from the involved entities and what triggers the actions; which party initiates the session recovery and how; what information does the restarted entity need from the counterparts;        Allowing re-binding of user and control sessions and control sessions related to each other and guaranteeing seamless operation/continuation of the ongoing user sessions by specifying how user/UE related control sessions used, with all protocol related details/parameters, between the restarted entity and the other counterparts are re-established/refreshed;        Coping with a restarting entity having lost all its session information, i.e. session statuses are restored from zero to the restarted entity;        Allowing recovery/restoration after failure/restart of a network element with a minimum impact on ongoing sessions and neighboring network elements and interfaces with simple implementations and loading minimized during the recovery/restoration, i.e. no loading peaks;        Allowing the entity having experienced failure and restart to find its former/pre-restart peer network entities.

Methods, apparatuses, and related computer program product for network element recovery