An automatic pool cleaner is provided of the type for random travel over submerged floor and side wall surfaces of a swimming pool or the like to dislodge and collect debris. The pool cleaner includes an electric-powered traction drive system for rotatably driving cleaner wheels, and an electric-powered water management system including a water supply pump and related manifold unit for venturi-vacuuming and collection of settled debris within a porous filter bag. A directional control system including an on-board compass monitors turning movements of the pool cleaner during normal random travel operation, and functions to regulate the traction drive system in a manner to prevent, e.g., excess twisting of a conduit such as a power cable tethered to the pool cleaner.

This invention relates generally to pool cleaner devices for dislodging and/or collecting debris within swimming pools and the like. More particularly, this invention relates to an improved pool cleaner of the type designed for generally random travel along submerged floor and side wall surfaces of a swimming pool to dislodge and collect fine sediment and other particulate debris accumulated thereon. The improved pool cleaner is adapted for electric powered operation, and/or includes a directional control system for monitoring cleaner movements in a manner to prevent, e.g., excess twisting of a conduit such as a power cable to which the pool cleaner is tethered.
Automatic swimming pool cleaners are well known in the art for use in maintaining a swimming pool in an overall state of cleanliness. In this regard, residential and commercial swimming pools normally include a standard water filtration system including a main circulation pump and related main filter unit for filtering the pool water. The filtration system is typically operated for several hours on a daily basis to draw water from the pool for flow through the main filter unit and subsequent return circulation to the pool, wherein the filter unit includes an appropriate filter media for collecting and thus removing solid debris such as fine grit and silt, twigs, leaves, insects, and other particulate matter suspended within the pool water. Although such filtration systems function efficiently to collect suspended particulate, it has been recognized that some particulate tends to settle onto submerged pool floor and wall surfaces and thus is not removed by the standard filtration system. Automatic swimming pool cleaners have been developed and are widely used to assist in a more thorough cleaning of the pool by directly collecting such settled matter, and/or by re-suspending the settled matter so that it can be collected by the main filter unit.
More specifically, in one common form, the automatic swimming pool cleaner comprises a relatively compact wheeled housing adapted to travel randomly over submerged floor and wall surfaces of the pool. The cleaner is normally connected by a water supply hose or the like to the standard filtration system, such as by connection to the positive pressure discharge side of the system as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,665,900; 5,863,425; 4,558,479; 4,589,986; and 3,822,754. The filtration system provides a water flow through the supply hose to the cleaner, wherein this water flow is typically used to create or induce an upwardly directed suction flow through a suction mast for vacuuming grit and debris through the suction mast into a porous filter bag mounted on an upper or downstream end thereof. Exemplary filter bags of this general type and related techniques for removable mounting onto the pool cleaner suction mast are shown and described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,618,420; D288,373; 4,575,423; D294,963; 4,589,986; 5,863,425; 6,740,233; 6,908,550; D409,341; and D468,067; and in copending U.S. Ser. Nos. 10/911,188; 10/917,790; and 11/103,714. The water flow through the pool cleaner may also be used to power a hydraulic drive means which causes the cleaner to travel about within the swimming pool.
In alternative hydraulically powered pool cleaner designs, the pool cleaner is adapted for connection to the suction side of the filtration system, whereby water is drawn through the pool cleaner to operate a drive mechanism for transporting the cleaner within the pool while vacuuming settled debris to the filter canister of the pool filtration system. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,803,658; 4,023,227; 4,133,068; 4,208,752; 4,643,217; 4,679,867; 4,729,406; 4,761,848; 5,105,496; 5,265,297; 5,634,229; 6,094,764; and 6,112,354.
Some pool cleaners have been developed for electric-powered operation to travel over submerged surfaces of a swimming pool or the like to dislodge and/or collect settled debris. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,518,437; 4,786,334; 5,569,371; 6,299,699; 6,412,133; 6,652,742; 6,758,226; 6,815,918; 6,842,931; and 6,908,550; and U.S. Publications 2003/0159723; 2004/0168838; and 2004/0168299; and PCT Publication WO 2005/0045162. In some such designs, these electric-powered pool cleaners are tethered to a power cord which is coupled in turn to a suitable electric power source or power module at a deckside or other dry site location near the swimming pool. Other electric-powered pool cleaners envision an on-board rechargeable battery power source.
The present invention relates to improvements in automatic pool cleaner devices of the electric powered type, including, e.g., an improved traction drive system and related pressurized water management system for vacuuming and collecting settled debris by venturi action, and further including an improved directional control system for preventing, e.g., excess twisting of a tether conduit such as a power cable.


An apparatus and a method for the binaural reproduction of audio sonar signals, which can be direction-selectively received by a sonar system having a receiving antenna provided with a plurality of transducers, and at least one direction generator, and which can be modified by binaural audio signal processing. The apparatus comprises a portable sound reproduction device, particularly a headphone, and a head tracking sensor connected to the sound reproduction device for registering position changes of the sound reproduction device. Signals, associated with the position changes, are generated, which are transferred to the direction generator, in order to select a direction of the sound waves to be received.

The invention relates to an apparatus and a method for the binaural reproduction of audio sonar signals according to the preamble of claim 1 or 2 and 5 or 6.
Known sonar installations can be used to determine the position, speed and course of a destination by means of waterborne sound signals emitted from the destination. In this regard, the waterborne sound signals are conventionally received by means of a reception antenna which has a multiplicity of electroacoustic or optoacoustic transducers for receiving sound waves and producing electrical received signals.
In addition, a corresponding sonar installation has not only the reception antenna but also at least one beamformer, in which the received signals from the transducers are delayed on the basis of the arrangement of transducers on the antenna and are combined to form group signals or to form direction signals. Each direction signal has an associated principal reception direction, which can be pivoted by electronic measures, however.
DE 15 66 857 C3 discloses the processing of binaural information in audio sonar signals. For an operator (user) of a sonar installation, not only a visual presentation of the received signals or signals derived therefrom but also the acoustic reproduction of the received signals is relevant. The reason is that, in the case of acoustic observation of the waterborne sound signals from an observation sector of the sonar installation, missing direction information has a disadvantageous effect. This is because simultaneously hearing the signals from a multiplicity of directions ultimately results in interference which can cover a relatively weak signal from one particular direction. With appropriate direction information, however, the human hearing can distinguish sounds on the basis of their direction and hence can also differentiate soft sounds from different directions. This allows the performance capability of the operator to be increased by virtue of faster detection and classification of the destinations. In addition, the binaural information from the audio sonar signals makes it easier to distinguish closely adjacent destinations.
In addition, DE 15 66 857 C3 discloses the practice of taking the direction signals from the beamformer and generating a left and a right audio signal for reproduction via a binaural reproduction device, particularly headphones. To this end, a predetermined observation sector is sensed by means of the sonar installation, the center of said observation sector containing a principal listening direction pointing perpendicularly to the longitudinal axis of the reception antenna. The received signals from the sound sources which are situated to the left or right of this principal listening direction are weighted and/or delayed differently for forming the left audio signal and for forming the right audio signal in order to produce the binaural effect. This results in a listening impression which is different at the sides of the principal listening direction.
In a natural environment, humans unconsciously turn their head in order to ascertain the exact position of a sound source. These sometimes minimal head movements are important for natural hearing. In order to allow the operator to perceive the audio sonar signals satisfactorily from an acoustic point of view, however, it is not sufficient for the received signals to be separated on a right/left basis.
The invention is therefore based on the problem of improving the perception of audio sonar signals, particularly of providing a simple way for the operator to determine the hearing direction.
The invention solves this problem by means of an apparatus having the features of claims 1 and 2 and a method having the features of claims 5 and 6.
A reception antenna in a sonar installation is used by means of a multiplicity of electroacoustic or optoacoustic transducers to receive waterborne sound signals and to produce electrical received signals. The reception antennas used in this context are linear antennas, cylinder bases or conformal antennas, for example. In the case of linear antennas, the transducers are arranged regularly along a straight line. In the case of a cylinder base, the transducers are arranged circularly. Conformal antennas include horseshoe bases, for example. At least one downstream beamformer is used to receive sound waves on a directionally selective basis.
The direction signals from the beamformer or the beamformers are produced by delaying the timing of the received signals from the transducers on the reception antenna differently in accordance with a principal reception direction associated with a direction signal and summing them in phase, possibly taking account of an amplitude stagger. In this case, the timing delay is dependent not only on the desired principal reception direction but also on the arrangement of the transducers on the reception antenna.
The sonar installation is used to sense a predetermined observation sector and to acoustically map it onto a mapping sector. To this end, one or more associated direction signals is/are selected and possibly summed, specifically such that two summed signals are formed corresponding to a left audio signal and a right audio signal. In this case, the selected direction signal or the summed selected direction signals is/are delayed and/or weighted differently according to the listening direction for the left and for the right audio signal.
Preferably, the principal reception directions associated with the direction signals are situated in a (two-dimensional) horizontal acoustically monitored observation plane in three-dimensional space. Hence, a direction for a sound source in the real space is projected, preferably perpendicularly, into the observation plane, and the observation sector is acoustically mapped onto a two-dimensional mapping plane.
A sound source in the observation plane is located by processing binaural information to produce the audio sonar signal. Two important binaural features are the interaural time difference (ITD) and the interaural level difference (ILD). These determine the lateral direction of incidence of the sound signal. In this case, the ITD describes the delay difference and the ILD describes the level difference for the sound signal between the two ears. These binaural features can be used to recreate the attenuation response of the human hearing and the orientation of the human ears relative to a sound source. When the audio signals are reproduced by means of headphones, the operator is provided with the impression that he is looking or listening in the principal listening direction and is perceiving incoming waterborne sound signals as airborne sound signals via both ears. Appropriate weighting and/or delaying of the incoming direction signals can therefore produce a two-dimensional acoustic hearing impression. In this case, both the weighting and the delaying of the direction signal or of the direction signals are effected on the basis of the position of the chosen principal listening direction.
In line with the invention, two direction signals for the binaural reproduction of audio sonar signals are formed, specifically a respective direction signal for one of the two audio channels. Suitable delaying and summation of the received signals from the transducers of the reception antenna produce two direction signals by means of the beamformer. In this case, the two direction signals are produced such that they have two different acoustic centroids which are at an interval from one another, but the respective associated principal reception directions run parallel to one another. In this case, these direction signals are produced by combining respective different groups of transducers. Hence, stereo sound pickup is advantageously already effected in water.
The sound signals from a sound source arrive on the transducers at different times and produce a stereo impression as a result of the delay difference and level difference. If a sound signal is received precisely from the center of the two direction signals, however, the signal is distributed identically. The listener perceives the sound source as being precisely from the center.
An independent aspect of the invention relates to the insight that humans have the opportunity for direction formation using their own body. They are able to determine the direction of a sound source by virtue of—possibly even only small—head movements. When the two-dimensional audio signal is reproduced using headphones, however, the problem arises that the sound source follows the head movements. The invention therefore provides electronic sensing of the head movements of the operator. What is known as a head tracking sensor, i.e. a sensor for detecting or sensing head movements, in a portable sound reproduction device, particularly headphones, is used to sense changes in the position of said sound reproduction device.
Preferably, the head tracking sensor has an acceleration sensor. This senses accelerations in movements of the sound reproduction device or of the head of the operator who is carrying the sound reproduction device. This makes it possible to ascertain changes in position and, when a starting position is used, hence also a precise position for the sound reproduction device or for the head. The advantage of using an acceleration sensor is that no external reference system is needed. Advantageously, the acceleration sensor is connected telemetrically to the sonar system so that the operator has unrestricted freedom of movement. Advantageously, the acceleration sensor is a 3D acceleration sensor, i.e. a sensor which can sense accelerations in all spatial directions. Preferably, it is also capable of sensing rotary accelerations.
It is therefore advantageously possible to select a direction for the principal listening direction of the sonar installation. To this end, the head tracking sensor has an interface which is designed such that the measurement data captured by the head tracking sensor are transmitted to the sonar installation. Therefore, the audio signals are generated on the basis of movement and/or positional data from the head tracking sensor and hence from the head for the purpose of improved acoustic perception.
In a further embodiment of the invention, the signals which are caused by different movements of the sound reproduction device each control different functions. Primarily, the sensing of the head movements is used for direction selection of the principal listening direction for the sonar installation. If the head tracking sensor is able to sense further movements as measurement data, the signals from the head tracking sensor can have predetermined functions assigned to them.
There are six degrees of freedom available for describing the head movements—three translational degrees of freedom and three rotational degrees of freedom. It is therefore possible to control six different functions by means of the head movement. Exemplary possibilities would be pointer movements on a display or zooming-in by an audio magnifier, i.e. synthetic spreading of the mapping sector.
In a further embodiment of the invention, an input device is provided. This may be an eye tracker, a touch screen or any other device which can be used to produce a signal.
For the direction selection by means of head movement, an input device which can be used to produce a signal is first of all used to make a coarse preliminary selection for the listening direction. This signal from the input device is transferred to the sonar installation as a starting signal and is used to stipulate a starting position for the head tracking sensor. Hence, a principal listening direction which can be pivoted relative to a reference direction which is fixed in relation to the reception antenna is stipulated, or an observation sector is selected. When the head tracking sensor subsequently moves within the horizontal plane, sound sources which are present can be located within a predetermined observation sector.
FIG. 1 shows a block diagram to illustrate the manner of operation for binaural reproduction of audio sonar signals.
A sonar installation 1 (shown only in part) has a reception antenna 2, which has a multiplicity of electroacoustic and/or optoacoustic transducers, with at least one downstream beamformer 4, which can receive the sound waves on a directionally selective basis and can produce electrical received signals 6.
Direction signals associated with directional characteristics 10 are produced by delaying the timing of the received signals 12 from the transducers on the reception antenna 2 and summing them in phase. In this case, each direction signal has an associated principal reception direction. The delaying of the timing of the received signals 12 is in this case dependent on the desired principal reception direction and the geometry of the reception antenna 2 and particularly of the arrangement of the transducers on the reception antenna 2. For a particular principal reception direction, the timing delay between two adjacent transducers is chosen specifically such that it corresponds to the delay with which a wavefront coming from a principal reception direction arrives at two adjacent transducers.
The axes 14 of the directional characteristics 10 represent the principal reception directions thereof. They are determined by a horizontal pivot angle relative to a reference direction 16 which is fixed for the antenna, and can be varied electronically by altering the timing delays for the received signals, i.e. by timing delay coefficients.
Direction signals for selected directional characteristics 10 are transferred to an audio signal processing unit 18. This takes one or more direction signals and generates binaural audio signals 20, which are weighted and/or delayed in accordance with a desired listening direction and, when there are a plurality of direction signals to be processed, are summed separately for each of the two audio signals for the left and right channels. They are reproduced by means of a portable sound reproduction device 22. The sound reproduction device 22 is connected to a head tracking sensor 24 for the purpose of sensing movements of the sound reproduction device 22. In the present case, it is assumed that the sound reproduction device 22 is headphones, for example, which are worn on the head by an operator. The further statements therefore relate to the head of the operator.
The head tracking sensor 24 is capable of using an appropriate algorithm to determine the current position of the head of the operator. It has a 3D acceleration sensor which produces appropriate signals 26 which are associated with the positions of the head. These signals 26 are transferred to the beamformer 4, which then takes these signals 26 as a basis for making a fresh selection of the direction signals which corresponds to the current head position.
The invention is not limited to selection of individual direction signals, however. On the contrary, it is likewise possible to select direction signals in groups, which are processed by means of the audio signal processing unit 18 to produce a right and a left audio signal 20.
FIG. 2 shows a representation of an observation sector 28 which is formed by the selected directional characteristics 10. In the center, there is a principal listening direction 30 pointing perpendicularly to the longitudinal axis of the reception antenna 2. This observation sector 28 is acoustically mapped onto a mapping sector 32. In this exemplary embodiment, the observation sector 28 and the mapping sector 32 have the same aperture angle 33.
If a sound source is in the center of the observation sector 28, then the direction signal associated with the principal listening direction 30 is processed by means of the audio signal processing unit 18, and the left and right audio signals 20 are essentially identical. If the sound source is to the left or right of the principal listening direction 30, then the left and right audio signals 20 are formed by weighting and/or delaying the relevant direction signal(s) in order to produce two different audio signals 20 for the two ears in accordance with the natural hearing impression.
While the principal listening direction 30 of the mapping sector 32 is always in the center thereof, it can be pivoted in the observation plane 28. According to the invention, the principal listening direction 30 can advantageously be controlled by means of a head movement.
To describe the movement of the head in space, a fixed coordinate system is used. Preferably, this is a Cartesian coordinate system. The movement of the head has three degrees of rotational freedom and, depending on the training condition of the cervical spine, one, two or three degrees of translational freedom.
FIGS. 3A-C show the possible degrees of rotational freedom for a head movement. The x axis 34 describes a horizontal axis and the y axis 36 describes a vertical axis.
FIG. 3A shows a rotary movement for a head 38 about the y axis 36. This movement is provided in accordance with the invention for determining the direction of the principal listening direction. The signals 26 produced by this movement are transferred to the beamformer 4 for the purpose of selecting those direction signals 10 which are output via the headphones 22 downstream of an audio signal processing unit 18.
Since the head tracking sensor 24 of the portable sound reproduction device 22 contains a 3D acceleration sensor, it is possible to sense further movements.
In FIG. 3B, the head 38 describes a tilting movement from left to right or from right to left about a z axis which is perpendicular to the plane of the drawing. This movement produces signals 26, which can, by way of example, control left/right movements (or right/left movements) of a pointer on a display, for example in order to coarsely actuate or select a principal listening direction or an observation sector.
FIG. 3C shows a rotary or nodding movement of the head 38 about the x axis 34. This nodding movement is provided for a selection function, for example. Following a pointer movement on the display in accordance with the movement shown in FIG. 3B, it is thus possible to make a selection by nodding the head 38 in accordance with the movement shown in FIG. 3C, for example.
FIGS. 4A-C show the possible degrees of translational freedom for a head movement. The figures show the head 38 and a Cartesian coordinate system comprising an x axis 40, a y axis 42 and a z axis 44. The 3D acceleration sensor is capable of sensing not only the rotary or nodding or tilting movements shown in FIGS. 3A-C but also translational movements in the direction of the three coordinates.
In FIG. 4A, the head 38 describes a movement along the z axis 44. This forward and back movement of the head 38 is provided for a zoom-in function of an audio magnifier, for example. When an observation sector 28 is acoustically mapped onto a mapping sector 32 at 1:1, the aperture angle 33 of the observation sector 28 corresponds to the aperture angle 33 of the mapping sector 32. However, provision is advantageously made for the aperture angle 33 of the mapping sector 32 to be chosen to be greater or less than the aperture angle 33 of the observation sector 28 by a spread factor Ψ. This allows an acoustic magnifier or an acoustic reduction means to be provided. The advantage is more precise direction resolution within an observation sector 28, the aperture angle 33 of which is less than the aperture angle 33 of the mapping sector 32. It is therefore possible to establish whether a single sound source or a plurality of sound sources is/are involved. The signals 26 from the head tracking sensor 24 which are produced by the head movement are transferred to an audio signal processing unit 18 in order to determine the spread factor Ψ using the head movement.
FIGS. 4B and C describe two further possible degrees of freedom for the head movement; FIG. 4B describes a movement in the direction of the y axis 42 and FIG. 4C describes a movement in the direction of the x axis 40. Since these movements can also be sensed by means of the 3D acceleration sensor, appropriate function assignment is possible. However, an up/down movement and a right/left movement of the head 38 is dependent on the mobility of the head of an operator.
The method described above can be modified to the extent that stereo sound pickup is already effected in water.
FIG. 5 shows a cylinder base 48 for producing two directional characteristics 10, the principal reception directions 50 of which run parallel to one another, but have been swiveled relative to the respective line of symmetry I or II for a selected group of transducers 54. In this way, the principal reception directions 50 can be oriented to the same destination 52.
A directional characteristic 10 is formed by using a respective group of transducers 54 on the reception antenna 2. If these transducers 54 are arranged circularly, as in the case of cylinder base 48, for example, the received signals 12 from the transducers 54 can be delayed for each group as though the transducers 54 were arranged on the respective associated chord 56. This chord 56 is situated perpendicular to the line of symmetry I or II of the respective group. In this case, the principal reception directions run along the respective lines of symmetry. Hence, the principal reception directions would not run parallel to one another, however. Therefore, the received signals 12 from the transducers 54 need to be delayed in another way, specifically such that the principal reception directions of two different transducer groups run parallel to one another.
The invention is not limited to cylinder bases 48. In alternative embodiments, other reception antennas 2, such as horseshoe bases or linear antennas, are used. Other antenna arrangements are treated on the basis of the same principle. However, it is always necessary to take account of the geometric arrangement of the transducers 54.
The head 34 of the operator has two natural signal sensors by virtue of the ears. Separate calculation of the direction signals for the two signal sensors recreates a natural acoustic sense of hearing. A binaural audio sonar signal 20 is produced by using the beamformer 4 to form two directional characteristics 10 with transducer groups with different acoustic centroids S1 and S2 which are at an interval from one another. To this end, a respective number of transducers 54 is combined to form two groups and the received signals 12 therefrom are delayed such that two direction signals are produced with respective principal reception directions 50 running parallel to one another. In order to be able to direct both directional characteristics at the same destination 52, the principal reception directions 50 of said directional characteristics must not cross, or must cross only at a maximum reception distance. Therefore, the principal reception directions 50 are swiveled electronically such that they have an essentially parallel course. As a result, these direction signals already contain the binaural information such as delay difference and level difference and are transferred to two channels of the audio signal processing unit 18. The latter contains filters, such as equalizers and the like, in order to suppress noises, for example.
When the head of the operator moves to determine a direction, the chords 56 are swiveled on the cylinder base 48 accordingly. Further fine direction finding is undertaken by the operator by means of the opportunity for using his own body to form a direction. A head tracking sensor 24 therefore allows even better resolution of direction finding.
All the features cited in the aforementioned description of the figures, in the claims and in the introductory part of the description can be used either individually or in arbitrary combination with one another. The invention is therefore not limited to the feature combinations which are described or claimed. On the contrary, all feature combinations can be considered to have been disclosed.

Apparatus and method for the binaural reproduction of audio sonar signals


A control channel of a communication method and an apparatus includes at least one timeslot, and the method includes: obtaining, according to a first data symbol sequence to be transmitted in a timeslot and coefficients a(i) and d(i), a second data symbol sequence and a third data symbol sequence, where, in a(i)+d(i), at least one pair of a(u)+d(u) and a(v)+d(v) have moduli unequal to each other; and using the same extension sequence [w(0), w(1), . . . , w(N−1)] to process the second data symbol sequence and the third data symbol sequence, mapping the processed data respectively onto the same time-frequency resources corresponding to a first antenna array and a second antenna array, and transmitting the data, where i, u, and v are integers, 0≦i≦M−1, and u≠v.

In a long term evolution advanced (Long Term Evolution Advanced, LTE-A for short) system, uplink physical channels include: physical uplink shared channel (Physical Uplink Shared Channel, PUSCH for short) and physical uplink control channel (Physical Uplink Control Channel, PUCCH for short). In general, uplink control signaling is transmitted over a PUCCH, and types of uplink control signaling mainly include: channel quality indicator (Channel Quality Indicator, CQI for short) signaling, acknowledgement/non-acknowledgement (Acknowledged/non-acknowledged, ACK/NACK for short) message, and scheduling request indication message.
In an LTE/LTE-A system, when uplink control signaling is transmitted over a PUCCH, different types of control signaling are transmitted in different formats (or carriers), such as PUCCH format 1/1a/1b, format (format) 2/2a/2b, and format (format) 3. Each PUCCH format is formed by two timeslots. Each timeslot (slot) occupies a physical resource block (Physical Resource Block, PRB for short) defined by LTE/LTE-A. From the time perspective, a PRB includes seven or six single-carrier frequency division multiple access (Single Carrier-Frequency Division Multiple Access, SC-FDMA for short) symbols; from the frequency perspective, a PRB occupies 12 consecutive subcarriers defined by LTE/LTE-A. A specific PUCCH format is intended for transmitting certain uplink control signaling, and, for simplicity, a PUCCH format is herein called a PUCCH. One PRB can accommodate multiple PUCCHs of the same PUCCH format, and different PUCCHs are distinguished by different sequences. Generally, different PUCCH formats are not distinguishable from each other within one PRB.
It is assumed that one PRB can accommodate up to D PUCCHs of a specific format, which are distinguished from each other by D different sequences. In the prior art, if a transmitting terminal has only one transmitting antenna and each terminal needs to transmit a different PUCCH, one PRB can support up to D transmitting terminals to transmit uplink control signaling simultaneously. In the prior art, if a transmitting terminal has two transmitting antennas, where each antenna of each terminal needs to transmit a different PUCCH, that is, each transmitting terminal requires two PUCCHs, one PRB can support up to D/2 transmitting terminals. With the increase of antennas, the number of transmitting terminals supported by one PRB is decreased. Therefore, the transmitting terminals borne in one PRB are limited, which leads to a low rate of resource utilization.

Communication method for control channel and apparatus


A method to simulate operations of a manufacture plant comprising a plurality of machines, the method including receiving a capacity function and an elapsed time function associated with a first machine of the plurality of machines, wherein the capacity function and elapsed time function is defined by one or more parameters characterizing the first machine, receiving a record of historical production data associated with the first machine, calculating, based on the capacity function and the record of historical production data, an augmented capacity function and an augmented elapsed time function that is defined by the one or more parameters and a quantity relating to parts waiting for processing (WIP), and simulating the operations of the plant based on the augmented capacity function and augmented elapsed time function.

A plant may include different types of machines to perform a series of steps of a manufacturing process that produces the eventual products. For example, the manufacture process to fabricate semiconductor products may include the steps of wet clean, photolithography, ion implantation, dry etching, wet etching, plasma ashing, thermal treatments, chemical vapor deposition (CVD), physical vapor deposition (PVD), molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), electrochemical deposition (ECD), chemical-mechanical planarization (CMP), wafer testing, and wafer back grinding. Each of these steps (or sub-steps) may be performed once or repeatedly during the manufacture process. Each step may be performed by one or more semiconductor manufacture machines (or groups of machines), and each machine may participate in one or more than one steps. Thus, a piece of raw wafer may undergo the steps (and sub-steps) of the manufacture process to produce the eventual products (e.g., the ICs).

System and method for improving simulation accuracy of manufacturing plants


The present invention relates to microparticles comprising: at least one type of a platinum-based catalyst; and a thermoplastic polyolefin resin with a Z-average (Mz) of a weight average molecular weight (Mw) of at least 2500 and Mz/Mw of not more than 2.0, wherein the platinum-based catalyst is dispersed in the thermoplastic polyolefin resin. The microparticles make it possible to obtain a one-component curable organopolysiloxane composition having characteristics such as excellent storage stability.

In order to cure certain types of compositions, contact between a curable component contained in the composition and a catalyst is sometimes necessary. For example, in the case of a hydrosilylation reaction-curable organopolysiloxane composition, the curable component in the composition is crosslinked by a hydrosilylation reaction catalyst such as a platinum-based catalyst, but curing begins when the catalyst and the curable component come into contact, so it may be necessary to prevent the catalyst and the curable component from coming into contact with one another during storage, for example, until curing is required.
One mode for avoiding contact between the catalyst and the curable component is a so-called two-component composition, a first part of which contains the catalyst and a second part of which contains the curable component. However, two-component compositions have poor workability due to the need to mix the two components immediately before use, for example. Moreover, two-component compositions are complicated to handle and sometimes even require a complex device for mixing.
Therefore, so-called one-component compositions have been proposed in which the catalyst and the curable component are present in the same system. In a one-component composition, the catalyst is coated or micro-encapsulated to ensure that the catalyst and the curable component do not come into contact. For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication Nos. S64-45468, S64-47442, S64-51140, H02-9440, H02-117960, H07-26147, H07-70442, H11-236508, 2006-002093 and WO2007/032481 disclose one-component curable organopolysiloxane compositions containing a platinum-based catalyst enclosed in a thermoplastic resin such as polyethylene, polystyrene, or a silicone polymer.
However, the present inventors discovered that such one-component curable organopolysiloxane compositions containing so-called encapsulated catalysts have problems in that the storage stability over time is insufficient and in that increases in the viscosity of the composition over time cannot be sufficiently avoided. For example, in a conventional one-component curable organopolysiloxane composition, it has been observed that the platinum-based catalyst and the polysiloxane component come into contact during storage and that changes occur over time due to a hydrosilylation reaction. The viscosity of the composition increases as a result, which causes the composition to cure.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to obtain an encapsulated catalyst with which a one-component curable organopolysiloxane composition can demonstrate better storage stability.
Another object of the present invention is to obtain a one-component curable organopolysiloxane composition which demonstrates favorable storage stability by avoiding increases in viscosity over time.

Microparticles and curable organopolysiloxane composition containing the same


The invention is related to a method and a monitoring system for sample-analysis of data comprising a multitude of data packets. Defined parent population numbers (N) of data packets are sampled by an out of N sampling and classified or vice versa. Classification is done by classification rules to create sample-flow-groups of specific flows. Each sample-flow-group consists of a sample-flow-quantity of data packets having a sample-flow-size. According to the invention in each sample-flow-group sample-flow-variances and sample-flow ratios defined by the sample-flow-quantity in proportion to the sample number (n) are determined. Furthermore, an estimated flow size defined by an estimated sum of data sizes of data packages in a flow of the parent population number of data packets and its variance are calculated. For the calculation the parent population number, the sample number and at least one of the sample-flow-ratios, the sample-flow-mean-sizes and the sample-flow-variances are used, comprising the step of determination of at least one of parent population flow-ratios parent population flow-mean-sizes and parent population flow-variances for each flow in the parent population number of data packets.

1) Field of the Invention
The invention is related to a method for sample-analysis of data comprising a multitude of data packets showing the steps according to the body of claim 1 and claim 2 respectively. Furthermore, the invention is related to a monitoring system for sample-analysis of data comprising a multitude of data packets showing the features according to the body of claim 14.
2) Description of the Prior Art
In order to monitor data, in particular data streams (traffic) in Internet Protocol (IP) networks, a number of methods and devices are known in the art. An increasing data rate of the data stream necessarily leads to higher computing power required to analyze the single data packets of the stream. Therefore, a number of methods propose not to analyze each data packet but to apply sampling to a data stream for the measurements in IP networks.
Such a sampling method has been described for instance by Nick Duffield et al. in "Properties and Prediction of Flow Statistics from Sampled Packet Streams", ACM SIGCOMM Internet Measurement Workshop 2002, Marseille, France, Nov. 6-8, 2002. Calculation rules for probabilistic sampling and for estimating the overall volume are introduced. Nevertheless, the problem in this situation is that the sampling method is applied on the traffic mix (e.g. all traffic that is observed on an interface), but the estimation accuracy is required per 'flow'. Furthermore, the results for volume measurements of the aforementioned article apply to probabilistic and not to so-called n-out-of-N sampling.
Several definitions of the term 'flow' exist. Within the scope of the instant invention a definition following the IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) RfC 3917 (Request for Comments) is relevant:
Data packets belonging to a particular flow have a set of common properties. Each property is defined as the result of applying a function to at least on of the values of:                1. one or more packet header fields (e.g., protocol, destination address, source address, Type of Service (TOS) in IP data packets), transport header field (e.g., destination port number, source port number), or application header field (e.g., Real-time Transfer Protocol (RTP) header fields);        2. one or more characteristics of the packet itself (e.g., number of Multi Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) labels, etc.) and        3. one or more of fields derived from packet treatment (e.g., next hop address, the output interface, etc.)
A packet is defined to belong to a particular flow if it completely satisfies all the defined properties of the flow.
For the simplest case the function being applied to the values of the properties given above is a multiplication with the factor one. However, every kind of mathematical function being suitable for the values of the given properties may be applied instead.
This definition of a flow covers the range from a flow containing all packets observed for example at a network interface to a flow consisting of just a single packet between two applications.
It is emphasized that the flow definition does not necessarily match a general application-level end-to-end stream. However, an application may derive properties of application-level streams by processing measured flow data. Furthermore, although packet properties may depend on application headers, no requirement related to application headers is defined.
In the following it is described how further important terminology is to be understood within the scope of the instant invention.
Observation Point:
An observation point is a location in a network where data packets can be observed. Examples are a line to which a probe is attached, a shared medium in particular such as an Ethernet-based LAN (Local Area Network), a single port of a router, or a set of interfaces (physical or logical) of a router.
It is emphasized that one observation point may be a superset of several other observation points. For example one observation point can be an entire line card. This would be the superset of the individual observation points at the line card's interfaces.
Flow Record:
A flow record contains information about a specific flow that was metered at an observation point. A flow record contains measured properties of the flow (e.g., the total number of bytes of all packets of the flow) and usually characteristic properties of the flow (e.g., source, in particular IP, address).
Metering:
The metering process generates flow records. Input to the process are packet headers observed at an observation point and packet treatment at the observation point, for example the selected output interface. The metering process consists of a set of functions that comprise packet header capturing, time stamping, sampling, classifying, and maintaining flow records.
The maintenance of flow records may include creating new records, updating existing ones, computing flow statistics, deriving further flow properties, detecting flow termination, passing flow records to the exporting process, and deleting flow records.
In the following a number of exemplary applications are described for the benefit of which information on different flows of the data is necessary.
Traffic Profiling:
Traffic profiling is the process of characterizing flows in particular in IP-networks by using a model that represents key parameters of the flows such as flow duration, volume, time, and burstiness. It is a prerequisite for network planning, network dimensioning and other activities. It depends heavily on the particular traffic profiling objective(s), which statistics, and which accuracy are required from the measurements. Typical information needed for traffic profiling is the distribution of used services and protocols in the network, the amount of packets of a specific type and specific flow profiles.
Since objectives for traffic profiling can vary, this application requires a high flexibility of the measurement infrastructure, especially regarding the options for measurement configuration and packet classification.
Traffic Engineering:
Traffic Engineering (TE) comprises methods for measurement, modeling, characterization and control of a network. The goal of TE is the optimization of network resource utilization and traffic performance. Since control and administrative reaction to measurement results requires access to the involved network nodes, TE mechanisms and the required measurement function usually are performed within one administrative domain. Typical parameters required for TE are link utilization, load between specific network nodes, number, size and entry/exit points of the active flows and routing information.
Attack/Intrusion Detection:
Capturing flow information plays an important role for network security, both for detection of security violation, and for subsequent defense. In case of a Denial of Service (DOS) attack, flow monitoring can allow detection of unusual situations or suspicious flows. In a second step, flow analysis can be performed in order to gather information about the attacking flows, and for deriving a defense strategy.
Intrusion detection is a potentially more demanding application which would not only look at specific characteristics of flows, but may also use a stateful packet flow analysis for detecting specific, suspicious activities, or unusually frequent activities. Such activities may be characterized by specific communication patterns, detectable by characteristic sequences of certain packet types.
QoS Monitoring:
Quality of Service (QoS) monitoring is the passive measurement of quality parameters in particular for IP flows. In contrast to active measurements, passive measurements utilize the existing traffic in the network for QoS analysis. Since no test traffic is sent, passive measurements can only be applied in situations where the traffic of interest is already present in the network. One example application is the validation of QoS parameters negotiated in a service level specification. Note that passive/active measurement is also referred to as non-intrusive/intrusive measurement or as measurement of observed/synthetic traffic.
Passive measurements cannot provide the kind of controllable experiments that can be achieved with active measurements. On the other hand passive measurements do not suffer from undesired side effects caused by sending test traffic (e.g., additional load, potential differences in treatment of test traffic and real customer traffic).
QoS monitoring often requires the correlation of data from multiple observation points (e.g., for measuring one-way metrics). This requires proper clock synchronization of the involved metering processes. For some measurements, flow records and/or notifications on specific events at the different observation points must be correlated, for example the arrival of a certain packet. For this, the provisioning of post-processing functions (e.g., the generation of packet IDs) at the metering processes would be useful. Since QoS monitoring can lead to a huge amount of measurement result data, it highly benefits from mechanisms to reduce the measurement data, like aggregation of results and sampling.
On the market there are systems available (e.g. NetFlow of Cisco™ Systems) that in particular perform methods of sample-analysis of data comprising a multitude of data packets. In a first step a parent population number of data packets represented by a defined number of data packets from the data is provided. Simultaneously or afterwards a sample number is set, wherein then a sample group comprising the sample number of data packets is sampled from the parent population number of data packets. Usually, this is done by random sampling. The sample group of data packets is classified by classification rules into sample-flow-groups representing different flows. These classification rules divide the parent population number of data packets by at least one of the foregoing properties that may characterize specific flows. Each sample-flow-group then consists of a sample-flow-quantity of data packets. Finally, sample-flow-mean-sizes defined by the mean data size of the data packets in each sample-flow-group are determined.
The described first situation, showing a first step of sampling and after this the step of classification is not compelling.
A second situation is conceivable, showing a first step of classification of all data packets of the data by classification rules into at least one parent population flow group. The quantity of generated parent population flow groups depend on the parameters of the classification rules as described above. Each of these parent population flow groups represent a particular parent population number of data packets belonging to a particular flow. Simultaneously or afterwards, for each parent population number of data packets a particular sample number is set. Using the respective sampling number, from each parent population number of data packets a sample-flow-group of data packets is sampled. Each sample-flow-group consists of a sample-flow-quantity of data packets that is equal to the respective sample number. Finally, sample-flow-mean-sizes defined by the mean data size of the data packets in each sample-flow-group are determined.
The outcome of the step of classification for the first situation and the step of sampling for the second situation is one entry per flow in the so-called flow cache. Furthermore, this entry is registered in the corresponding flow record. This entry comprises the value of the fields used to distinguish different flows (flowspec) and the total number of packets and bytes for the sampled flow. The values known to the user are only those available after the classification process. That means only the summary per flow (number of packets and bytes) is known. The individual characteristics per packet (bytes xi per packet i) are not known any longer at this stage. As n-out-of-N sampling is applied to the data that are in particular represented by a traffic mix in a data network, the data of the generated sample-flow-groups may be used to estimate the volumes of the flow groups in the parent population number of data packets (parent population flow groups).
Nevertheless, it is desirable that the user gets as much information as possible on the properties of the one or of the plurality of flow groups in the parent population flow groups.

Method and monitoring system for sample-analysis of data comprising a multitute of data packets

Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Forderung der Angewandten Forschung E.V.


Disclosed is a variable gain semiconductor circuit enjoying a low insertion loss, good distortion characteristic, and large variable gain range. The variable gain semiconductor circuit comprises: a first kind of variable gain circuit that inputs an input signal and changes a gain on the basis of a first control signal; a second kind of variable gain circuit, installed in a stage succeeding the first kind of variable gain circuit, for changing a gain on the basis of a second control signal; and a control signal producing unit for producing the first and second control signals using an attenuation value control signal. When the attenuation value control signal falls within one of two variation ranges instructing a large gain, the control signal producing unit produces the first and second control signals so that the first kind of variable gain circuit decreases a gain according to the variation of the attenuation value control signal, and the second kind of variable gain circuit produces a constant gain. When the attenuation value control signal falls within the other variation range instructing a small gain, the control signal producing unit produces the first and second control signals so that a decrease in gain produced by the first kind of variable gain circuit is saturated and the gain remains unchanged, and a gain produced by the second kind of variable gain circuit decreases according to the variation of the attenuation value control signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a variable gain semiconductor circuit that is a variable gain circuit employed in a variable gain amplifier such as an automatic gain control (AGC) circuit or the like and realized with a semiconductor circuit. More particularly, this invention is concerned with a variable gain semiconductor attenuator whose distortion characteristic deteriorates very little, whose insertion loss is limited, and whose maximum attenuation is large.
In a receiving apparatus for radio communications or the like, a radio-frequency received signal is amplified by an amplifier, and then mixed with an oscillating signal, of a certain frequency, output from a local oscillator in order to produce an intermediate-frequency signal. For mixture, the received signal is required to have a constant amplitude. The amplitude of the received signal varies markedly depending on a receiving situation. The amplification factor of the amplifier is controlled by feeding back an output signal of a mixer so that a signal with a constant amplitude can always be output from the amplifier. This function is referred to as automatic gain control (AGC). For realizing the AGC function, the amplifier must have a variable gain capability for varying a gain. The present invention relates to a circuit for realizing the variable gain capability for varying the gain of a radio-frequency amplifier.
An example to be described below is a circuit employed in a receiving apparatus for radio communications or the like. In the example, an MES field-effect transistor (MESFET) is used as a semiconductor device. However, the present invention is not limited to this type of transistor. A MOSFET or the like can also be used.
2. Description of the Related Art
The performance of a circuit with a variable gain capability is required to provide a large variable gain range, a small insertion loss, a good distortion characteristic, and easiness in using the capability of the circuit. Amplification circuits whose amplification factors are variable all operate as circuits capable of varying their gain. Various circuits are used as circuits capable of varying gain. In general, a circuit referred to as an attenuator type is widely adopted. In the attenuator type circuit, an FET is connected between an input signal line and ground via a capacitive element and resistor. A control signal is applied to the gate of the FET. However, if this kind of attenuator type circuit is designed so that the quantity of attenuation dependent greatly on the properties of the transistor employed becomes large, the insertion loss of the circuit increases. In other words, the variable gain range and insertion loss have a trade-off relationship. This poses a problem that there is difficulty in greatly increasing the quantity of attenuation.
Another circuit capable of varying a gain includes a type of variable gain circuit that changes a quantity of attenuation, that is, a gain by varying the drain voltage of an FET operating as an amplifier, or a type of variable gain circuit that changes a gain by varying the gate voltage of an FET operating as an amplifier. In the type of variable gain circuit for varying the drain voltage, a control signal used to control the on or off state of the amplifier is usually output from a CMOS LSI needing a low current consumption. However, since an output signal of the CMOS LSI has poor driving ability, the control signal cannot be input directly to the drain of the FET. This type of variable gain circuit must therefore adopt such a method that a switch having a large current capacity is inserted between a power supply and the drain of the FET, and controlled using the control signal in order to change the quantity of attenuation. This poses a problem that the circuit becomes complex. In the type of variable gain circuit for varying the gate voltage of the FET, for increasing the quantity of attenuation, it is necessary to set a gate bias of the FET so that the operating point of the FET becomes as close to a pinch-off point thereof as possible. This poses a problem that the distortion characteristic of the circuit deteriorates. An actual circuit is realized by connecting pluralities of these types of circuits in series or connecting another circuits in series, but it still has the above problems. Even a combination of these types of circuits suffers from the same problems.


A new Vehicle Animal Repelling System for repelling unwanted animals from a vehicle. The inventive device includes a control unit, a plurality of exterior speakers electrically connected to the control unit, a solar panel electrically connected to the control unit and a frequency controller electrically connected to the exterior speakers.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to Animal Repelling Devices and more particularly pertains to a new Vehicle Animal Repelling System for repelling unwanted animals from a vehicle.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of Animal Repelling Devices is known in the prior art. More specifically, Animal Repelling Devices heretofore devised and utilized are known to consist basically of familiar, expected and obvious structural configurations, notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the crowded prior art which have been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and requirements.
Known prior art Animal Repelling Devices include U.S. Pat. No. 5,208,787; U.S. Pat. No. 4,484,315; U.S. Design Pat. No. 344,319; U.S. Pat. No. 4,616,351; U.S. Pat. No. 4,163,966 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,001,817.
While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives and requirements, the aforementioned patents do not disclose a new Vehicle Animal Repelling System. The inventive device includes a control unit, a plurality of exterior speakers electrically connected to the control unit, a solar panel electrically connected to the control unit and a frequency controller electrically connected to the exterior speakers.
In these respects, the Vehicle Animal Repelling System according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in so doing provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of repelling unwanted animals from a vehicle.


A sheet discharge mechanism arranged for preventing improper sheet transfer includes discharge rollers for moving a sheet held in contact therewith, and barrier members for preventing the sheet from being transferred in an unintended direction. Each barrier member includes a blocking portion, a looped portion continuous with the blocking portion, and a fixing portion continuous with the looped portion. The fixing portion is attached to the blocking portion by adhesive tape. The sheet discharge mechanism further includes a rotary shaft extending through the looped portion. The looped portion of the barrier member is greater in diameter than the rotary shaft.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sheet discharge mechanism used in a printer or facsimile machine for example. In particular, the present invention relates to a sheet discharge mechanism capable of discharging paper sheets without causing sheet transfer errors. The present invention also relates to apparatus incorporating such a sheet discharge mechanism.
2. Description of the Related Art
As is well known, a typical sheet discharge mechanism may include a rotatable shaft driven by a suitable actuator, and a plurality of discharge rollers fixed to the shaft. The discharge mechanism may also include urging members arranged in facing relation to the discharge rollers for contacting paper sheets with the discharge rollers. In use, the discharge rollers are rotated together with the shaft, so that a paper sheet held in contact with the discharge rollers is moved in a predetermined direction to be discharged into a tray for example.
The conventional sheet discharge mechanism has the following problem. Specifically, to be properly discharged into the tray, the paper sheet, once detached from the discharge rollers, needs to keep a sufficient distance from the rotating discharge rollers. However, it may occur that the rear end portion of the paper sheet, once released, is accidentally brought back into contact with the discharge rollers. When this happens, the paper sheet is unduly drown back into the printer, which may lead to breakdown of the printer.

Sheet discharge mechanism and apparatus incorporating the same


An isolated structural Bacillus sp. TB-90 (FERM BP-795) urease gene, which comprises base sequences encoding the amino acid sequences of three subunits of urease. A recombinant DNA comprising Bacillus sp. TB-90 (FERM BP-795) urease gene capable of replicating in Escherichia coli. A process for producing urease, which comprises cultivating Escherichia coli carrying a recombinant DNA comprising Bacillus sp. TB-90 (FERM BP-795) urease gene capable of replicating in Escherichia coli and recovering urease from the culture mixture

The present invention relates to a novel isolated structural gene of urease, to a recombinant DNA capable of replicating in Escherichia coli carrying a vector into which said structural gene has been introduced, and to a process for producing urease, which comprises cultivating Escherichia coli carrying said recombinant DNA and recovering urease from the culture mixture.
Urease (EC 220.127.116.11) is an enzyme which catalyzes decomposition of urea to form ammonia and carbon dioxide, and is widely found in plants, animals and microorganisms.
Those derived from jack beans (Canavalia ensiformic) and from microorganisms have already been produced industrially (Japanese Patent Kokai No.86081/1983 and No.17987/1984) and are used as a drug for clinical diagnosis.
In addition, structural genes have been reported with the urease derived from Proteus mirabilis, [Bradley D. Jones & Harry L. T. Mobley; J. Bacteriol., 171, 6414-6422 (1989)], Staphylococcus saprophyticus [Soren Garermann & Reihard Marre; Infect. Immun., 57, 2998-3002 (1989)], Klebsiella pneumoniae [Gerald F. Gerlach, et al.; FEMS Microbiol. Lett., 50, 131-135 (1983)], Providencia stuartii [Harry L. T. Mobley, et al.; Infect. Immun., 54, 161-169 (1986)], Escherichia coli [Carleen M. Collins & Stanley Falkow; J. Bacteriol., 170, 1041-1045 (1988)], and Bacillus pasteurii [Kor. J. Appl. Microbiol. Bioeng., 13, 297-302 (1985)]. Expression of urease gene in Escherichia coli is reported with Staphylococcus saprophyticus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Providencia stuartii and Bacillus pasteurii among the literatures shown above.
The present inventors formerly reported a novel urease more stable than known enzymes [Japanese Patent Kokai No.175174/1987].
However, production of said highly stable urease utilizing the techniques of genetic engineering has not been reported yet.

Gene and process for producing a thermostable urease


Filter arrangements for mist removal include a barrier media, usually pleated, and treated with a deposit of fine fibers. Filter arrangements may take the form of tubular, radially sealing elements; tubular, axial sealing elements; forward flow air cleaners; reverse flow air cleaners; and panel filters and can have multiple layers of fine fiber containing pleated media.

Gaseous streams often carry particulate material derived from the environment or from some physical operation. Commonly oil mists can be formed from synthetic petroleum or natural oils. In many instances, removal of some or all of the particulate material from a volume of gas or from gas flow stream, (i.e.) the atmosphere in a work locus, is important for aesthetic or operational purposes. In the case that a lubricant mist is entrained in the air, such mist removal can be essential for worker safety or operating efficiency. For example, in an environment wherein a thermal process involves liquid processing or a mechanical or machine operation uses a stream or film of liquid lubricant, the energy of these operations can, as a byproduct, produce an airborne mist of the lubricant liquid. Such airborne mists can be an irritation or harmful to human operators or any personnel coming into contact with important amounts of the mist. Such mists can also impact efficiency of or harm equipment.
In the past, filter structures have been used with fan driven air streams in housings and ductwork to attempt to remove such mists from the environment. We have found, however, that many installed mist collection systems are not as effective as needed in many environments. Many and return a substantial proportion of the mist to the atmosphere. Other more efficient systems, that trap and remove a substantial proportion of the mist, can become quickly saturated and rendered ineffective after a brief period of effective mist removal. This is particularly true in the case of an effective installation system utilizing a HEPA filter in a final stage. If the filtering stages preceding the final HEPA filter are not sufficiently efficient, the final HEPA filter stage can become rapidly saturated, requiring uneconomical, rapid replacement.
Accordingly, a substantial need exists for an efficient filter medium and a filter structure containing the media that can provide improved properties for filtering gaseous streams carrying a mist. The improved systems will remove substantially all mist and have an extended life. The pupil mist will have a particle size about 0.1 to 3 microns, often 0.2 to 0.8 and commonly 0.3 to 0.5 microns. Such a media and the filter structure containing the media can be used in a staged mist collection system having an initial barrier and a pre-filter prior to the filter of the invention. A high efficiency (HEPA) filter can follow the filter of the invention. In such a system, an initial stage can remove large liquid or solid particulate, a subsequent stage can collect substantially all of the mist components (at least 75%, preferably 88% or more) and a final stage utilizing a HEPA filter can polish the gaseous stream removing a substantially all traces of the mist components. Such systems should maintain an effective life, useful lifetime or effectiveness for more than two weeks, preferably more than a month.

Mist filtration arrangement utilizing fine fiber layer in contact with media having a pleated construction and floor filter method


A silver halide color photographic material comprising a transparent support having thereon at least one blue-sensitive silver halide emulsion layer, at least one green-sensitive silver halide emulsion layer, at least one red-sensitive silver halide emulsion layer and at least one light-insensitive layer, wherein said red-sensitive silver halide emulsion layer contains at least one compound which releases a development inhibitor having a diffusion parameter of 0.3 or more upon reaction with the oxidation product of a color developing agent, and when development processing I and development processing II each defined in the specification are carried out, the gradients of yellow, magenta and cyan obtained by said two kinds of development processing satisfy the following conditions:. 0.8.ltoreq..gamma..sub.II (Y)/.gamma..sub.I (Y).ltoreq.1.2 PA1 0.8.ltoreq..gamma..sub.II (M)/.gamma..sub.I (M).ltoreq.1.2 PA1 0.8.ltoreq..gamma..sub.II (C)/.gamma..sub.I (C).ltoreq.1.2. wherein .gamma..sub.I (Y), .gamma..sub.I (M), .gamma..sub.I (C), .gamma..sub.II (Y), .gamma..sub.II (M) and .gamma..sub.II (C) each is defined in the specification.

Every endeavor has been made to shorten the development processing time of a color photographic material. The development processing time of a color negative light-sensitive material has been extremely reduced by the introduction of C-41 processing by Eastman Kodak in 1972. The wet processing time exclusive of drying process has been shortened to 17 minutes and 20 seconds, and in recent years, the processing time has been speeded up to 8 minutes and 15 seconds by the introduction of rapid processing CN-16FA of Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd. for a minilab market.
On the other hand, in the processing method of a light-sensitive material, in general, color development, desilvering, washing and stabilization steps are carried out. Taking development processing of a color negative film as an example, the reduction of the time of these development processing steps has been conducted mainly by the shortening of desilvering step, therefore, the speedup of the color development processing time is desired.
The shortening of the color developing time is feasible by raising the processing temperature of a color development processing solution and the concentration of a developing agent. However, it has been found that raising only the activity of the color development by these methods causes various problems. For example, the development of a red-sensitive layer of a color negative film, which is generally the lowermost light-sensitive emulsion layer, is relatively delayed, as a result, the balance of gradation is lost, and the deteriorations of color reproducibility and sharpness due to the lowering of an interlayer effect occur.
The present inventors further investigated and have found that a DIR compound having a high diffusibility is very effective for solving the above problems concerning the rapid processing. With respect to the technique of using a high diffusible DIR compound, various techniques have been disclosed in the past, for example, in JP-A-59-129849 (the term "JP-A" as used herein means an "unexamined published Japanese patent application") and JP-B-5-49090 (the term "JP-B" as used herein means an "examined Japanese patent publication"). However, there is no suggestion of the deteriorations of color reproducibility and sharpness at the time of rapid processing in these specifications, and the effect of the present invention cannot be foreseen from these patents. Further, there are disclosed in JP-B-5-84891 and JP-A-62-170955 the methods of improving graininess by processing a photographic material containing a DIR compound at 120 seconds or less color developing time. Although graininess is certainly improved according to these methods, the above problems, that is, the degradation of the balance of gradation, the deterioration of color reproducibility and the deterioration of sharpness are not improved.
In the meanwhile, a roll film having a magnetic layer containing grains of a magnetic substance on the back side of the film which is capable of magnetic recording and a camera for photographing having a magnetic head are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,947,196 and WO 90/04254. According to these improved techniques, printing quality can be improved and printing works and office works of labs can be expedited by magnetically inputting/outputting various informations to and from magnetic layers of films, such as identification information of the kind and manufacturer of a photographic material, information concerning the conditions at the time of photographing, information about customers, and information about the printing conditions and the number of sheets of reprinting. However, it has been found that when such a photographic material having a magnetic recording layer is processed with a processing solution of a developing agent of high concentration as described above, the capability of a magnetic recording layer is extremely deteriorated and satisfactory information cannot be offered.

Silver halide color photographic material and method for forming image


A guitar fulcrum is described herein which is used as an elbow rest for the elbow of a right or a left arm of a guitar player when playing a guitar. A standard guitar is designed for a person having an average height of 5 feet 10 inches. The fulcrum is designed for guitar players having a height greater than 5 feet 10 inches and/or with longer forearms and longer hands than people of this height. The guitar fulcrum allows for the proper placement of the player's fingers on the guitar strings adjacent a sweet spot above the sound hole of the guitar. Also, the guitar fulcrum positions the wrist lower than the elbow in a passive position. The passive position of the wrist relieves muscular tension produced in the forearm when having to hold up the hand in an active position. The guitar fulcrum includes an ergonomically designed elbow pad adapted for comfortably engaging a portion of the user's elbow. The elbow pad is pivotly mounted on upper ends of a pair of adjustable struts. The struts are used to adjust the height of the elbow pad above a hip of the body of the guitar. Lower ends of the two struts are attached to either suction cups or clamps used to secure the guitar fulcrum to the side of the guitar body. The fulcrum may also include an adjustment plate attached to the underside of the elbow pad and the upper ends of the strut. The adjustment plate allows for adjustment of the elbow pad on the guitar.

(a) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an accessory for a musical string instrument and more particularly but not by way of limitation to a fulcrum for mounting on the side of a guitar, a banjo and like string instruments.
(b) Discussion of Prior Art
Heretofore, there have been a variety of different types of attachments for musical string instruments. In U.S. Pat. No. 491,755 to Le Valley, an arm rest and support for guitars is described. The support is designed to rest the right arm thereon and allow the left arm to be free to perform fingering without holding a portion of the weight of the guitar. There is no teaching in this patent of an adjustable fulcrum for holding a guitar player's lower arm in a passive position to prevent plodding during the playing of the musical instrument.
In U.S. Pat. No. 914,660 to Hartnett and U.S. Pat. No. 1,020,491 to Gough, a hand support and an arm rest for banjo players are described. These patents do not disclose the use of an adjustable fulcrum for a lower arm of a banjo player. In U.S. Pat. No. 1,753,006 to Haaf and U.S. Pat. No. 3,619,470 to Harris, a wrist support and a hand position device for violinists are described. Again these two patents do not teach the use of an adjustable fulcrum for attachment to the side of the musical string instrument.
In the study of a right hand technique related to the playing of a guitar, an important area of emphasis is often overlooked. This area of emphasis is fulcrum placement of the arm on the hip of the body of the guitar and active and passive resources related to the hand and the optimal effective use of the hand when playing the instrument. A Fulcrum is defined in Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary as a prop or a support used as a wedge about which a lever turns. More specifically, a fulcrum in regards to the right hand technique is the forearm placement on the side of the guitar at a specific point of contact. The forearm maintaining contact with the wood of the guitar which allows leverage and transference of weight. A metaphor would be a wheel of a wheelbarrow maintaining contact with a ground surface at a specific point. The wheel itself is the fulcrum while a handle on the wheelbarrow provides the range of motion.
Active resources are specifically defined as the degree of effort required by the muscles to overcome a certain resistance or gravity to maintain hand and arm positioning. In other words, active resources involves increasing tension in the muscles of the arm, wrist and hand. Passive resources are defined as using less muscular tension in the playing wrist and hand. The more the muscles of the entire arm can relax the more efficient and faster the muscle contractions and flexing in the playing fingers can occur.
A guitar pedagogy of Ricardo Iznaola describes two basic and general views on fulcrum positioning. A first view is described as the short arm approach. The placement of the fulcrum on the short arm approach is found approximately midway between the elbow and the wrist on the highest point on the side of the guitar. The point of contact becomes like a "teeter-totter" working one way and then the other. The bigger mechanism (i.e. back of the fulcrum towards the elbow, biceps, and triceps) acts upon the fulcrum in a specific manner. Since the majority of the weight rests behind the fulcrum towards the elbow, the effect on the hand is that the point of repose uses passive resources, or has a balanced state of the hand being in the air and not on the strings. Using the analogy of the teeter-totter, the elbow is the "bigger" child and thus creates a balanced passive positioning of the hand in the air above the strings. Since the natural point of repose for the hand is in the air, active resources are needed to bring it downwardly and into contact with the strings. Therefore, flexion of the wrist is required to bring the hand into contact with the strings and active resources are required to maintain hand positioning. Effort or flexion is also required to maintain contact with the strings, thus creating tension. This approach uses constant flexion and tension in the wrists which requires constant use of active resources. Although this approach is very useful, extreme caution must be given in regards to the degree of active resources used to maintain arm position and the dysfunctional tension that flexing produces in the wrist.
A second view on fulcrum positioning is termed the long arm approach. The fulcrum in the long arm approach is found approximately 1 inch from the elbow in the direction of the hand. The fulcrum on this approach again is found on the highest point on the side of the body of the guitar. A major difference in the long arm approach when compared to the short arm approach is that the long arm approach does not allow the teeter-totter like effect as in the short arm approach. Instead the fulcrum acts more like the fulcrum in the example of the wheelbarrow, thus projecting the weight towards the strings and allowing the point of repose, or relaxation and state of rest, to be on the strings instead of upwardly in the air. This approach uses more passive resources. The muscles of the entire right arm are allowed to more completely relax so the propitious weight upon the strings is achieved by the fingers using rest strokes and free strokes. More efficient manipulation of weight in playing and connecting stroke types is greatly increased if the muscles continue to draw upon their passive resources.
Another major difference is the degree of relaxation in the wrists. Since no effort or flexion is needed from the wrist in the long arm approach to maintain contact with the strings, the wrist is more relaxed, less flexed and greatly reduces the muscular tension in the wrists. In fact, because the wrist is so relaxed, a slight "listing" or tilting downward is created.
Therefore, a main issue when comparing the two techniques is where is the weight distribution of the playing hand/arm and how to control it. In the long arm approach, the weight of the hand goes forward and eventually to the strings using passive resources to maintain hand positioning. In the short arm approach, the weight rests backwards and active resources are involved to maintain handarm playing position. So one's musculature counteracts those tendencies for the measure of technical competence.
The ideal positioning of the right arm using the long arm approach is achieved when PIMA is placed on strings 4, 3, 2 and 1. PIMA being right hand finger symbols derived from Spanish. The letters "P" for pulgar or thumb, "I" for indicio or index finger, "M" for medio or middle finger and "A" for anular or ring finger. The right hand is placed on these strings in respective order towards the portion of the sound hole closest to the bridge of the guitar. This portion of the sound hole called herein the "sweet spot". Playing the strings closest to the "sweet spot" produces a "standard" tone used by classical guitarist. It also provides for increased volume clarity and projection of the sounds from the guitar. Ideally the fulcrum will then be found at the widest portion of the hip of the guitar and 1 inch from the elbow towards the wrist. The shoulders of the musician will be horizontal and parallel with the floor so the elbow rests at the long arm fulcrum and there is a gently slope downward from the elbow-forearm-hand to a normal free stroke positioning of PIMA on strings 4, 3, 2 and 1, in respective order over the sweet spot. This is the ideal positioning, or poised positioning of the limb in regards to the long arm approach. The "ideal" positioning exists for those players who are approximately 5'10". A classical guitar is designed more readily to accommodate players of that size. For over a hundred years, this has been the standard size of the classical guitar.
When examining a "normal" hand/arm position for people who have bigger and/or longer forearms and hands and are above the approximate height standard of 5 feet 10 inches problems occur. In fact, an extreme height difference of 6 feet 3 inches may be used to illustrate "normal" free stroke positioning for large and tall players. An example might be that typically someone who is 5 feet 10 inches tall will typically have a forearm length from elbow to wrist in a range of 9 to 10 inches plus 3 inches from the wrist to the first knuckles in the hand. A player who is taller than 6 feet will typically have a forearm length from elbow to wrist in a range of 11 to 12 inches plus 3 to 4 inches from the wrist to the first knuckles in the hand. Also, players may have longer hands and fingers which will influence the proper positioning of the fingers on the strings next to the "sweet spot" of the sound hole.
A player who is 6 feet 3 inches who may have long hands and fingers and who chooses to employ the long arm technique encounters many difficulties when using this approach. For example, using the previous guidelines for placement of the fulcrum on the hip of the body of the guitar places the hand above the sound hole next to the frets and not next to the "standard" position or the "sweet spot". The "sweet spot" being above a lower portion of the sound hole. Therefore, this is unacceptable positioning for the playing hand. Standard guitar tone colors, clarity and volume are achieved when the fingers are positioned on the strings over the "sweet spot" of the sound hole.
In order for a player, whose stature is 6 feet 3 inches, to achieve proper hand positioning over the sound hole several concessions are made. First the fulcrum must be lowered from the hip of the body of the guitar. The resulting action is a change in the angle of the forearm in relation to the strings. The shoulder is also lowered from the horizontal to accommodate this new position resulting in an imbalance of "poise" or parallelism of the shoulders. The main problem is that because of this lowered elbow positioning a bigger forearm mechanism is no longer supporting a smaller hand mechanism. In other words, instead of having balanced "poised" shoulders, and having the direction of the limbs gravitate steadily downwards to the strings, the wrist becomes higher than the elbow. This increases the amount of effort and muscular tension in the forearm and in turn the fingers thereby decreasing flexibility of the fingers and decreasing muscle fiber contraction and speed and once again active resources are used to maintain this positioning.
Another problem encountered in this positioning of the elbow downwardly from the hip of the body of the guitar is that all the energy that is stored in the forearm tendons and fingers when applied to the strings are transferred onto the strings. In other words "bigger" people or people with long forearms and long hands and fingers tend to "plod" on the guitar in this position. This is a direct result of holding too much energy and muscular tension in the forearm and fingers and transferring the energy to the string whenever a finger stroke type is produced. An easier to understand analogy can be applied to the piano. It would be similar to a pianist who had 5lb. weights attached to the top of his or her wrists. Every time a key would be struck, the weight would be transferred to the key producing a louder "plodding" sound.
Second, if a player continues to use the highest point or the hips on the body of the guitar as the fulcrum for the long arm approach, the only way of playing "over" the sound hole is to create an extreme angle between the hand and the forearm. This positioning creates tension in the wrist and can be very painful.
Since the classical guitar size has been standardized for over 100 years, bigger classical guitars are unavailable for the taller player or the player with long arms and hands. They simply are not mass-produced. Until now, the only solution for the tall player or the player with long forearms and hands has been to employ the short arm approach using active resources, deal with the problems created by the long arm approach, or commission a guitar luthier to customize a guitar to that player's special fulcrum. Large individuals adjust their stature/physique to the guitar. The ideal solution is that the guitar should rise to meet the player in the long arm approach. On anyone above 5 feet 10 inches, this fulcrum is found at a different height adjustment above the body of the guitar. Since custom guitars are out of the price range for the average player or beginner, the only solution in the past has been for the large guitarist to adapt to the guitar. Since classical guitarists tend to be traditionalists, the larger guitar option is usually dismissed.
Another major problem large and tall individuals and players with long forearms and long hands and fingers encounter with the classical guitar in the long arm approach is being able to distinguish and to develop an awareness of the minimal amounts of effort needed from the right hand fingers to properly play the guitar. If one is constantly holding muscular tension in the forearm tendons, which transfers to the fingers, a more relaxed "poised" limb is impossible to achieve mainly due to this held tension in the limb. Achieving a balanced sense of "poise" for the body is the answer for large framed individuals who wish to pursue virtuositic levels of playing. The solution is to adjust the fulcrum on these individuals, and again the height adjustment from the hips of the body of the guitar fulcrum is different for every individual's height.


The present invention presents a novel application of a wavelet-based multiscale method in a nanomachining process chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) of wafer fabrication. The invention involves identification of delamination defects of low-k dielectric layers by analyzing the nonstationary acoustic emission (AE) signal collected during copper damascene (Cu-low k) CMP processes. An offline strategy and a moving window-based strategy for online implementation of the wavelet monitoring approach are developed.

Some of the critical requirements facing semiconductor device manufacturing are continual feature-size reduction, introduction of new materials for higher processing speeds and improved reliability, multilevel metallization (MLM), or interconnections, and increased productivity through larger wafer sizes. Wafer polishing using chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) is a key nanoscale manufacturing step that can significantly impact how the above requirements are met by the industry. However, the increased sophistication of the CMP process has brought difficult manufacturing challenges including the identification of defects such as delamination, dishing, under/over polishing, process monitoring, and process control.
Industrial practices currently used in the art for the identification of delamination defects suggests offline methods such as noncontact capacitance probe measurements, photothermal techniques, and examination of finished wafers under optical and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). However, such offline methods do not provide real-time information that can be used to improve productivity and implement online process monitoring and control. Moreover, offline analysis also increases cost of ownership. Currently there are no efficient in situ tools and detailed implementable procedures known in the art to detect delamination defects.
In recent years, acoustic emission (AE) technology has emerged as a viable means to examine and characterize chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) processes. The AE signal arising out of the CMP process, where material removal takes place at the nanoscale level, has a very high signal to noise ratio and, as such, a high sensitivity. Also, the frequency of the AE signal is very high compared to those of machine vibrations and other environmental noises and, thus, provides a good representation of the material removal process of planarization. The above properties of the AE signal make it very suitable in extracting critical information about the state of the CMP process and in building detection and control strategies.
The acoustic emission signal is nonstationary and its strength, measured in volts, is high at the beginning of the CMP process and subsides as polishing progresses. The signal spans over a broad range of high frequencies and contains an abundance of time-based characteristics and noise. Consequently, visual inspection of time plots of AE signals fails to provide any meaningful information. Thus, to extract meaningful information from the acoustic emission signal, a systematic time-frequency analysis is required.
Acoustic emission signal analysis techniques known in the art include time-domain methods involving descriptors such as peak level, root-mean-square (RMS) value, crest factor, kurtosis analysis, and pulse count. These conventional time-domain analysis methods are sensitive to impulsive oscillations, but have limited utility in extracting hidden patterns and frequency related information in the AE signals. It is known in prior art that this problem is partially overcome by spectral (frequency) analysis such as Fourier transform, the power spectral density, and the coherence function analysis. However, many spectral methods rely on the implicit fundamental assumption of signals being periodic and stationary and are also inefficient in extracting time related features. Moreover, Fourier transform of nonstationary signals results in averaging of the frequency components over the entire duration of the signal. This problem has been addressed to a large extent through the use of short time Fourier transform (STFT) methods. However, this method uses a fixed tiling scheme, i.e., it maintains a constant aspect ratio (the width of the time window to the width of the frequency band) throughout the analysis. As a result, one must choose multiple window widths to analyze different data features localized in time and frequency domains. Hence, the STFT is badly adapted to signals where patterns with different scales appear, and it resolves short time phenomena associated with high frequencies poorly. In recent years, time-frequency methods, such as wavelet-based multiresolution analysis have gained popularity in analysis of both stationary and nonstationary signals. These methods provide excellent time-frequency localized information, which is achieved by varying the aspect ratio. Hence, time and frequency localized features are analyzed simultaneously with high resolution and the scheme is more adaptable to transient signals.
It is known in prior art that wavelet analysis could be used to process acoustic emission but no detailed step-by-step procedure that can implement both in-situ and ex-situ has been presented. Accordingly, what is needed in the art is a systematic wavelet-based time-frequency approach having the potential to analyze nonstationary acoustic emission signals and provide useful insight into the chemical mechanical planarization process for the purpose of identifying defects both online (in-situ) and offline (ex-situ) as required.

System and method for the identification of chemical mechanical planarization defects