A particular image written in a particular paper of a particular paper size is scanned by a scanner to produce image data, a format of the image data is changed to a mail format to change the image data to mail data, the particular paper size is added to the mail data, and the mail data is transmitted from a transmitting side to a receiving side through a LAN by an electronic mail. In the receiving side, the mail data is changed to reproduced image data, and it is judged whether or not the particular paper size of the particular paper is larger than a prescribed paper size treatable on the receiving side. In cases where the particular paper size is larger than the prescribed paper size, the reproduced image data is thinned but to produce adjusted image data, and a downsized image is printed on a prescribed paper of the prescribed paper size according to the adjusted image data. Accordingly, even though an image written in a paper of a paper size not treatable on the receiving side is transmitted from the transmitting side to the receiving side, because the image is downsized, the image can be reproduced on the receiving side.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image communicating method in which an image data communication is performed between an electronic mail apparatus and a facsimile apparatus, a facsimile type electronic mail apparatus in which a text obtained in an electronic computer originated mail is processed in the facsimile apparatus, and a facsimile apparatus in which facsimile data received in a facsimile is transmitted to an electronic mail apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
An apparatus installed in an office has been recently connected with a local area network (LAN) to efficiently conduct business. For example, a facsimile is connected to the LAN to use the facsimile as a printer. Also, a text or letter prepared in a personal computer is transmitted to a facsimile through the LAN. In a Published Unexamined Japanese Patent Application No. H7-143309 (1995), an apparatus in which a text prepared in a personal computer is transmitted by an electronic computer originated mail (hereinafter, called an electronic mail) to a facsimile apparatus through an LAN is proposed.
Also, a facsimile apparatus in which a facsimile is connected with the LAN and image data transmitted from the facsimile is transmitted to a destination by an electronic mail through the LAN is proposed. As an example, a facsimile apparatus connecting an integrated services digital network (ISDN) and an LAN is proposed in a Published Unexamined Japanese Patent Application No. H6-164645 (1994), and image data transmitted through the ISDN is transmitted to an address of an electronic mail indicated by a sub-address of the ISDN.
2.1. Previously Proposed Art
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a conventional facsimile apparatus in which an electronic mail is utilized.
As shown in FIG. 1, a facsimile apparatus 100 is composed of a central processing unit (CPU) 101 for controlling the facsimile apparatus 100, a read only memory (ROM) 102 for storing a program, a random access memory (RAM) 103 for storing data used for the program, a panel unit 107 for inputting an instruction indicating the transmission of data, a LAN control unit 109 for controlling the transmission of text data to a LAN or the reception of text data from the LAN, a character-to-image converting unit 120 for converting the text data of an electronic mail transmitted through the LAN to image data, a compressing and expanding unit 108 for compressing or expanding the image data obtained by the character-to-image converting unit 120, a facsimile communicating unit 113 for transmitting the image data compressed by the compressing and expanding unit 108 to a telephone line or receiving image data from the telephone line, a scanning unit 111 for reading a manuscript to obtain image data, and a printing unit 110 for printing the image data obtained by the character-to-image converting unit 120 or the scanning unit 111.
In the above configuration of the facsimile apparatus 100, an operation for receiving an electronic mail and transmitting the electronic mail to a facsimile is described.
When an electronic mail transmitted through the LAN is received by the LAN control unit 109, a text of the electronic mail is converted into image data by the character-to-image converting unit 120, and the image data is compressed by the compressing and expanding unit 108. Thereafter, a facsimile number written in a destination box of the electronic mail is read out by the facsimile communicating unit 113, and the compressed image data is transmitted from the facsimile. communicating unit 113 to an address indicated by the facsimile number through the telephone line.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a conventional facsimile apparatus in which facsimile data received through a telephone line is transmitted to an address of an electronic mail.
As shown in FIG. 2, a facsimile apparatus 120 is composed of a CPU 121 for controlling the facsimile apparatus 120, a ROM 122 for storing a program, a RAM 123 for storing data used for the program, a facsimile data receiving and transmitting unit 124 for receiving facsimile data transmitted through a telephone line or transmitting facsimile data to the telephone line, a format converting unit 125 for converting a format in the facsimile data received by the facsimile data receiving and transmitting unit 124 to a format of an electronic mail to obtain electronic mail data, and an LAN controlling unit 126 for receiving an electronic mail transmitted through an LAN or transmitting the electronic mail data obtained in the format converting unit 125.
In the above configuration of the facsimile apparatus 120, when facsimile data transmitted from a transmitting side through the telephone line is received in the facsimile data receiving and transmitting unit 124, an address of an electronic mail is retrieved according to a number of a sub-address of the ISDN by using a corresponding table of registered numbers and mail addresses, the facsimile data is converted to electronic mail data:by the format converting unit 125, and the electronic mail data is transmitted to a receiving side placed at the address of the electronic mail through the LAN controlling unit 126.
2.2. Problems to be Solved by the Invention
However, in the facsimile apparatus 100 according to a first prior art, because a text of the electronic mail is converted into the image data and is transmitted to a facsimile, in cases where a paper size treated on a transmitting side differs from that treated on a receiving side, the text of the electronic mail cannot be transmitted to the facsimile because a paper size adjustment cannot be performed.
Also, because any user can use the facsimile apparatus 100 as a relay unit relaying from the LAN to the facsimile, an owner of the facsimile apparatus 100 is required to pay a communication fee even though another person uses the facsimile apparatus 100 as a relay unit. Therefore, there is a probability that the facsimile apparatus 100 is against owner""s interests.
Also, in cases where a transmission error occurs in the facsimile apparatus 100, a user who transmits an electronic mail to a facsimile cannot know the occurrence of the transmission error.
In the facsimile apparatus 120 according to a second prior art, in cases where a transmission error of the electronic mail occurs, the facsimile apparatus 120 cannot inform the facsimile of the transmitting side that the transmission error occurs. Therefore, a sender cannot know whether or not a manuscript read by the facsimile is correctly transmitted to the receiving side.
A first object of the present invention is to provide, with due consideration to the drawbacks of such a conventional facsimile apparatus, an image communicating method and a facsimile type electronic mail apparatus in which a communication between a transmitting side and a receiving side is performed even though a paper size treated on the transmitting side differs from that treated on the receiving side. Also, the first object is to provide an image communicating method in which the facsimile type electronic mail apparatus is not used by a person other than an owner without permission. Also, the first object is to provide an image communicating method and a facsimile type electronic mail apparatus in which a user who transmits an electronic mail to a facsimile can know the occurrent of a transmission error.
A second object of the present invention is to provide a facsimile apparatus which informs a transmitting side of the occurrence of a transmitting error in cases where the transmitting error of an electronic mail occurs.
The first object is achieved by the provision of an image communicating method, comprising the steps of:
producing image data indicating a particular image written in a particular paper of a particular paper size on a transmitting side;
transmitting the image data from the transmitting side to a receiving side by an electronic mail through an internet;
judging whether or not the particular paper size of the image data received on the receiving side is larger than a prescribed paper size treatable on the receiving side;
adjusting the image data on the receiving side to reproduce the particular image on a paper having the prescribed paper size in cases where the particular paper size is larger than the prescribed paper size; and
printing the particular image on a prescribed paper of the prescribed paper size according to the adjusted image data on the receiving side.
The first object is also achieved by the provision of a facsimile type electronic mail apparatus, comprising:
reading means for reading a particular image written in a particular paper of a particular paper size on a transmitting side to produce image data at a particular image resolution;
transmitting and receiving means for transmitting the image data produced by the reading means by an electronic mail on the transmitting side and receiving the image data through an internet on a receiving side;
judging means for judging whether or not the particular paper size of the image data received by the transmitting and receiving means is larger than a prescribed paper size treatable on the receiving side;
adjusting means for adjusting the image data on the receiving side to produce adjusted image data indicating a downsized particular image reproducible on a paper of the prescribed paper size in cases where it is judged by the judging means that the particular paper size is larger than the prescribed paper size; and
printing means for printing the downsized particular image on a prescribed paper of the prescribed paper size according to the adjusted image data produced by the adjusting means on the receiving side.
In the above steps or the configuration, even though the particular paper size of a paper used on the transmitting side cannot be treated on the receiving side, because the image data is adjusted to reproduce the particular image on a paper having a prescribed paper size treatable on the receiving side, the particular image can be printed on a prescribed paper having the prescribed paper size.
The first object is also achieved by the provision of an image communicating method, comprising the steps of:
communicating between a transmitting side and a receiving side through an internet to transmit a prescribed page size treatable on the receiving side from the receiving side to the transmitting side;
judging whether or not a particular paper size of a particular paper used on the transmitting side is larger than the prescribed paper size;
optically downsizing a particular image written in the particular paper on the transmitting side to reproduce the particular image on a paper of the prescribed paper size in cases where the particular paper size is larger than the prescribed paper size;
producing image data indicating the downsized particular image on the transmitting side;
transmitting the image data from the transmitting side to the receiving side by an electronic mail through the internet; and
printing the particular image on a prescribed paper of the prescribed paper size according to the image data on the receiving side.
The first object is also achieved by the provision of a facsimile type electronic mail apparatus, comprising:
control means for controlling the communication between a transmitting side and a receiving side through an internet to transmit a prescribed page size treatable on the receiving side from the receiving side to the transmitting side and judging whether or not a particular paper size of a particular paper used on the transmitting side is larger than the prescribed paper size;
image downsizing means for optically downsizing a particular image of a manuscript written in the particular paper on the transmitting side to produce a downsized image reproducible on a paper of the prescribed paper size in cases where it is judged by the control means that the particular paper size is larger than the prescribed paper size;
reading means for reading the downsized image to produce image data indicating the downsized image on the transmitting side;
transmitting and receiving means for transmitting the image data produced by the reading means by an electronic mail on the transmitting side and receiving the image data through an internet on a receiving side; and
printing means for printing the downsized image on a prescribed paper of the prescribed paper size on the receiving side according to the image data transmitted by the transmitting and receiving means.
In the above steps or configuration, a prescribed page size treatable on the receiving side is transmitted to the transmitting side in advance, and a particular image written in a particular paper of a particular paper size is optically downsized on the transmitting side to reproduce the particular image on a paper of the prescribed paper size. Therefore, even though the particular paper size cannot be treated on the receiving side, the particular image can be reproduced on the receiving side.
The first object is also achieved by the provision of an image communicating method, comprising the steps of:
inputting a pass-word corresponding to a receiving side on a transmitting side;
ciphering the pass-word on the transmitting side;
producing image data indicating a particular image written in a particular paper on the transmitting side;
adding the ciphered pass-word to the image data on the transmitting side;
transmitting the image data from the transmitting side to the receiving side by an electronic mail through an internet;
deciphering the ciphered pass-word added to the image data eon the receiving sid;
judging on the receiving side whether or not the deciphered pass-word agrees with a prescribed pass-word peculiar to the receiving side; and
transmitting the image data to a facsimile to reproduce the particular image in cases where the deciphered pass-word agrees with the prescribed pass-word.
The first object is also achieved by the provision of a facsimile type electronic mail apparatus, comprising:
inputting means for inputting a pass-word corresponding to a receiving side on a transmitting side;
reading means for reading a particular image written in a particular paper of a particular paper size to produce image data indicating the particular image on the transmitting side;
ciphering means for ciphering the pass-word input by the inputting means on the transmitting side to produce a ciphered pass-word and adding the ciphered pass-word to the image data produced by the reading means on the transmitting side;
transmitting and receiving means for transmitting the image data produced by the reading means by an electronic mail on the transmitting side and receiving the image data through an internet on a receiving side;
deciphering means for extracting the ciphered pass-word added to the image data and deciphering the ciphered pass-word on the receiving side to produce a deciphered pass-word;
judging means for judging on the receiving side whether or not the deciphered pass-word agrees with a prescribed pass-word peculiar to the receiving side; and
facsimile communicating means for transmitting the image data received by the transmitting and receiving means to a facsimile to reproduce the particular image in cases where it is judged by the judging means that the deciphered pass-word agrees with the prescribed pass-word.
In the above steps or configuration, because the ciphered pass-word is transmitted from the transmitting side to the receiving side and the facsimile transmission of the image data is performed in cases where the deciphered pass-word agrees with a prescribed pass-word peculiar to the receiving side, there is no probability that the facsimile transmission is performed for a wrong purpose by an unspecified person to be against owner""s interests.
The first object is also achieved by the provision of an image communicating method, comprising the steps of:
inputting print data which is reproducible in a particular paper and is transmitted from a terminal to a transmitting side through a local area network;
inserting both an electronic mail address indicating an error information receiving apparatus and a facsimile number indicating a facsimile into the print data on the transmitting side;
transmitting the print data from the transmitting side to a receiving side through an internet;
analyzing the print data on the receiving side to extract the facsimile number;
transmitting the print data to the facsimile indicated by the facsimile number to output the print data;
judging whether or not an error occurs in the transmission of the print data to the facsimile;
analyzing the print data on the receiving side to extract the electronic mail address in cases where an error occurs in the transmission of the print data to the facsimile; and
informing the error information receiving apparatus indicated by the electronic mail address that the error occurs, by an electronic mail through the local net work.
The first object is also achieved by the provision of a facsimile type electronic mail apparatus, comprising:
inputting means for inputting print data which is reproducible in a particular paper and is transmitted from a terminal to a transmitting side through a local area network;
inserting means for inserting both an electronic mail address indicating an error information receiving apparatus and a facsimile number indicating a facsimile into the print data prepared by the preparing means on the transmitting side;
transmitting and receiving means for transmitting the print data, in which the electronic mail address and the facsimile number are inserted by the inserting means, by an electronic mail on the transmitting side and receiving the print data through an internet on a receiving side;
print data analyzing means for analyzing the print data received by the transmitting and receiving means on the receiving side to extract the facsimile number and the electronic mail address from the print data;
facsimile communicating means for transmitting the print data to the facsimile, which is indicated by the facsimile number extracted by the print data analyzing means, to output the print data;
control means for judging whether or not an error occurs in the transmission of the print data performed by the facsimile communicating means and informing the error information receiving apparatus, which is indicated by the electronic mail address extracted by the print data analyzing means, of the occurrence of an error by an electronic mail through the local net work in cases where the error occurs in the transmission of the print data to the facsimile.
In the above steps or configuration, the print data prepared by using a terminal such as a personal computer can be transmitted to the facsimile through the transmitting and receiving sides. Also, even though an error occurs in the facsimile transmission, the occurrence of the error can be immediately informed the error information receiving apparatus by an electronic mail.
The second object is achieved by the provision of a facsimile apparatus, comprising:
facsimile data receiving means for receiving facsimile data from a facsimile of a transmitter;
recognizing means for recognizing identification information of the transmitter and a receiver""s electronic mail address which are written in the facsimile data received by the facsimile data receiving means;
mail address generating means for generating a transmitter""s electronic mail address uniquely specifying the transmitter;
storing means for storing a set of the transmitter""s electronic mail address generated by the mail address generating means, the identification information of the transmitter recognized by the recognizing means and the receiver""s electronic mail address recognized by the recognizing means in correspondence to each other;
first changing means for changing the facsimile data received by the facsimile data receiving means to a transmitter""s electronic mail and inserting the transmitter""s electronic mail address generated by the mail address generating means into the transmitter""s electronic mail;
electronic mail transmitting and receiving means for transmitting the transmitter""s electronic mail changed by the first changing means to a receiver specified by the receiver""s electronic mail address recognized by the recognizing means through an internet and receiving a receiver""s electronic mail which denotes a reply or error information for the transmitter""s electronic mail and is transmitted from the receiver to the transmitter""s electronic mail address inserted into the transmitter""s electronic mail through the internet;
reading means for reading the identification information of the transmitter from the storing means according to the transmitter""s electronic mail address of the receiver""s electronic mail received by the electronic mail transmitting and receiving means;
second changing means for changing the receiver""s electronic mail received by the electronic mail transmitting and receiving means to receiver""s facsimile data; and
facsimile data transmitting means for transmitting the receiver""s facsimile data changed by the second changing means to the facsimile of the transmitter specified by the identification information of the transmitter read by the reading means.
In the above configuration, a transmitter prepares facsimile data in which identification information specifying the transmitter and a receiver""s electronic mail address are included. Thereafter, when the facsimile data is received by the facsimile data receiving means, the identification information and the receiver""s electronic mail address are recognized by the recognizing means, and a transmitter""s electronic mail address is generated by the mail address generating means. Also, a set of the transmitter""s electronic mail address, the identification information and the receiver""s electronic mail address is stored in the storing means in correspondence to each other. Thereafter, the facsimile data is changed to a transmitter""s electronic mail by the first changing means and the transmitter""s electronic mail address is inserted into the transmitter""s electronic mail, and the transmitter""s electronic mail is transmitted to a receiver specified by the receiver""s electronic mail address through an internet.
Thereafter, when a receiver""s electronic mail transmitted from the receiver to the transmitter""s electronic mail address as a reply or error information for the transmitter""s electronic mail is received by the electronic mail transmitting and receiving means, the identification information of the transmitter is read from the storing means according to the transmitter""s electronic mail address by the reading means, the receiver""s electronic mail is changed to receiver""s facsimile data by the second changing means, and the receiver""s facsimile data is transmitted to the transmitter specified by the identification information of the transmitter by the facsimile data transmitting means.
Accordingly, even though an error occurs in the transmission of the transmitter""s electronic mail, the error can be reliably informed the transmitter because the transmitter""s electronic mail address is generated by the mail address generating means and the transmitter is uniquely specified by the transmitter""s electronic mail address.
The second object is also achieved by the provision of a facsimile apparatus, comprising:
facsimile data receiving means for receiving facsimile data from a facsimile of a transmitter;
recognizing means for recognizing a transmitter""s electronic mail address and a receiver""s electronic mail address which are written in the facsimile data received by the facsimile data receiving means;
changing means for changing the facsimile data received by the facsimile data receiving means to a transmitter""s electronic mail and inserting the transmitter""s electronic mail address recognized by the recognizing means into the. transmitter""s electronic mail; and
electronic mail transmitting means for transmitting the transmitter""s electronic mail changed by the changing means to a receiver specified by the receiver""s electronic mail address recognized by the recognizing means through an internet to receive a receiver""s electronic mail denoting a reply or error information for the transmitter""s electronic mail in a terminal unit specified by the transmitter""s electronic mail address inserted into the transmitter""s electronic mail address by the changing means.
In the above configuration, because a transmitter""s electronic mail having a transmitter""s electronic mail address is transmitted to the receiver, the receiver can directly send a receiver""s electronic mail denoting a reply or error information for the transmitter""s electronic mail to a terminal unit of the transmitter.

Image communicating method, facsimile type electronic mail apparatus and facsimile apparatus

Matsushita Graphic Communication Systems, Inc.


A storage assembly is provided for the storage and easy access of goods within a refrigerator cabinet. The refrigerator cabinet includes a top wall, a bottom wall, a back wall, and opposed side walls. The storage assembly comprises a drawer, a swivel mechanism, and at least one bin. The drawer is supported by the side walls of the cabinet and is configured to extend outwardly relative to the back wall of the cabinet. The swivel mechanism is attached to the drawer and comprises a support member that is rotatable relative to the drawer. The at least one bin slidably supported by the support member.

1. Field of Invention
The present application relates generally to a storage assembly for a refrigerator, and more specifically, to a storage assembly with a full extension drawer and a swivel mechanism including a support member, wherein rotation of the support member relative to the drawer provides access to sliding bins on opposite sides of the support member.
2. Description of Related Art
Generally, a refrigerator is an electrical appliance that keeps food fresh in a storage compartment for a long time by maintaining an interior temperature thereof to be lower than an exterior temperature. The storage compartment is defined by a main body of the refrigerator. The refrigerator generates cool air as a refrigerant circulates a cooling cycle and supplies the cool air to the storage compartment to maintain the food in the storage compartment at a predetermined low temperature.
Often, a refrigerator will have multiple storage compartments. For example, a refrigerator may include both a fresh food compartment and a freezer compartment. The fresh food compartment is where food items such as fruits, vegetables, and beverages are stored and the freezer compartment is where food items that are to be kept in a frozen condition are stored. In some cases, the freezer compartment and the fresh food compartment will be vertically aligned, with one compartment above the other.
The necessarily compact interiors of the storage compartments inherently give rise to problems with regard to utilization of limited interior space and convenient access to stored items or goods. Further, in view of the conventional manner of stacking goods on and in relatively deep shelves and bins, it is not unusual for a user of the refrigerator to have to remove or displace several items in order to obtain access to a particular item.
Typically, storage bins are placed below a stationary shelf in the cabinet of a refrigerator for placement and storage of a variety of goods and items. The bins are pulled out by a user from a closed position to an open position for access to a particular item. The particular item may be buried or placed in the back of the bin, making it difficult for a user to access the particular item. For a variety of reasons, including aesthetics, the desirability of taking up as little as space as possible in the interior of the refrigerator and the ease of accessibility to goods and items within the storage bins is of concern.

Refrigerator drawer with swivel support for removable bins


Techniques for integrated circuit packaging in a flip chip configuration that ensures a migration path between related integrated circuits and utilizes core I/O (or area I/O) are provided. An integrated circuit, having a superset of functional circuit elements as compared to a reference integrated circuit, includes first and second sets of interconnection elements to connect to a package substrate. The first and second sets have matching arrangements, and corresponding interconnection elements of the first and second set have consistent functional assignments. The first and second sets include interconnection elements of mixed functional assignments. The first set is disposed within an area matching a size and shape of the reference integrated circuit, while the second set is disposed outside the area. In a specific embodiment, the first set includes an I/O signal and is located in the core area.

The present invention relates to the field of integrated circuit technology, and more specifically to techniques for integrated circuit packaging in a flip chip configuration.
Integrated circuits (ICs) or "chips" can be bonded to a package substrate using a flip chip technique. An IC device configured for flip chip bonding includes solder bumps formed on interconnection pads on the active side of the device. The IC device is then "flipped" and bonded to a package substrate with a matching set of interconnection pads. The solder bumps form solder joints between the chip and the package substrate, which provide both mechanical and electrical interconnects.
Flip chip bonding techniques have been applied to programmable logic devices (PLDs), a type of programmable logic integrated circuit. PLDs typically have numerous logic blocks that can be configured to implement various combinatorial and sequential functions. These logic blocks have access to a programmable interconnect structure. The programmable interconnect structure can be programmed to interconnect the logic blocks in almost any desired configuration. Many of today's PLDs have on-chip nonprogrammable application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) blocks. The ASIC blocks are also referred to as hard intellectual property (HIP) blocks.
The internal architectures of PLD's vary but frequently a number of PLD's will share the same internal architecture and operating characteristics and be marketed as a family. The distinction between members in the family is the total number of functional logic elements included in each member. It is not uncommon for a product to include a PLD having a smaller number of functional logic elements than another member of its device family. The smaller PLD may have been chosen to reduce costs. However, if performance demands increase, the smaller PLD is sometimes replaced by a larger device of the same family. Up until now, however, package pins may not serve the same device input/output (I/O) signals across a family, thus a redesign would be required. Despite their common internal architecture that allowed migration between different packages in the family, their external packaging did not readily support migration.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for integrated circuit packaging that ensures a migration path between related integrated circuits.

Techniques for flip chip package migration


A bicycle cover (10) comprising a first material piece (11), a second material piece (12), and a first resilient element, the first resilient element being provided about a periphery (13) of the first material piece, the bicycle cover having a folded configuration in which portions of the first material piece and the second material piece lie adjacent one another and an expanded configuration in which the cover is adapted to receive a bicycle between the first and second material pieces, the first resilient element being biased to urge the cover towards the expanded configuration.

Cycling is increasingly popular both as a way of commuting and as a pastime. Bicycles often become dirty through being used, such as becoming wet, muddy and/or dusty. Even when clean, the chain of the bicycle is typically oiled. Thus when storing or transporting the bicycle care must be taken that the bicycle does not contact other items with which it is stored or surfaces with which it may come into contact, so that these other items or surfaces do not become dirty.
This can be achieved by covering the bicycle in a plastic sheet, or placing a plastic sheet under the bicycle in a vehicle. This is inconvenient since the bicycle is liable to move away from the sheet and may therefore still make contact with another surface, making it dirty.
A bicycle may also be put into a bag. However, it can be cumbersome to put the bicycle in the bag, and a bicycle in a bag is not as easily moved around.
There is therefore a need for an improved cover.


A container managed persistent (CMP) enterprise java bean (EJB) framework includes support for accessing multiple data sources within one deployment. A CMP EJB includes a number of different attributes that can be a variety of values. A session EJB that acts as a front-end to the CMP EJP includes a resource reference for each of the different data sources that the entity CMP EJB may utilize. The application server environment includes a map that defines mapping information between the attributes of the CMP EJB and the resource references of the session EJB. Using the mapping information during runtime, the application server connects to the appropriate data source.

The Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) is an open and standard based platform for developing, deploying and managing n-tier, Web-enabled, server-centric, and component-based enterprise applications. Within this environment there are three types of enterprise java beans (EJB): entity beans, session beans, and message-driven beans.
Of particular interest are entity beans which are used to implement a complex business entity. An entity bean models a business entity or models multiple actions within a business process. Entity beans are often used to facilitate business services that involve data and computations on that data. For example, an application developer might implement an entity bean to retrieve and perform computation on items within a purchase order. The entity bean can manage multiple, dependent, persistent objects in performing its necessary tasks.
Thus, an entity bean is typically characterized as a remote object that manages persistent data, performs complex business logic, potentially uses several dependent Java objects, and can be uniquely identified by a primary key. Entity beans are normally considered coarse-grained persistent objects, because they utilize persistent data stored within several fine-grained persistent Java objects.
Entity beans are persistent because they are capable of surviving a server crash or a network failure. When an entity bean is re-instantiated, the states of previous instances are automatically restored.
Each entity bean has a persistent identity associated with it. That is, the entity bean contains a unique identity that can be retrieved if one has the primary key—given the primary key, a client can retrieve the entity bean. If the bean is not available, the container instantiates the bean and repopulates the persistent data.
The persistence for entity bean data is provided both for saving state when the bean is passivated and for recovering the state when a failover has occurred. Entity beans are able to survive because the data is stored persistently by the container in some form of data storage system, such as a database. Entity beans persist business data using one of the two following methods: a) Automatically by the container using a container-managed persistent (CMP) entity bean, or b) Programmatically through methods implemented in a bean-managed persistent (BMP) entity bean. These methods use JDBC or SQLJ to manage persistence in a relational database; or use any API to manage persistent data in non-relational store.
While there are various trade-offs when determining how to manage persistence for an EJB, one of these trade-offs involves how to manage EJB references to data sources. For example, an EJB may retrieve different fields of data from various tables of a database. Within the coding of the EJB application, the code specifies the identity of this database or data source.
A BMP EJB can connect to multiple data sources by defining within itself multiple data sources and then looking up these data sources during run time. However, in contrast, during deployment, a CMP EJB can only specify one data source in the persistence data that is managed for it. Thus, for a CMP EJB to connect to multiple, different databases, the CMP EJB must be deployed for each different database and bound to one data source at a given runtime. Multiple deployments of a CMP EJB add to the complexity of the application server environment and unnecessarily utilize resources within this environment. Thus, there remains the need within current J2EE Applications for a manner of enabling one deployment of a CMP EJB to access multiple data sources.

Framework to allow one CMP EJB to connect to multiple data sources

International Business Machines Corporation


A codec aware adaptive playout method estimates playout delays for a current packet based on a loss mean opinion score (LMOS), a delay mean opinion score (DMOS), and a mean mean opinion score (MMOS) of packets with reference to the codec used in voice over Internet protocol (VoIP), streaming audio, and streaming video transmissions. The method selects an estimated playout delay having an optimum MMOS, or playout quality, from the plurality of estimated playout delays, and delays the playout of the current packet by the selected estimated playout delay. A codec aware adaptive playout device includes a playout controller for controlling playout of packets in a playout buffer. The playout controller references network delay estimates provided by a network delay estimator, and codec information such as the LMOS, DMOS, and MMOS provided by a codec detector to determine playout delays for the packets of the playout buffer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to network data transmission, and more specifically, to optimizing a playout delay for packets transmitted in a network, said packets comprising data for playout in a stream and compressed according to a codec (compressor/decompressor).
2. Description of the Prior Art
The popularity of the Internet has led to the development of technologies that allow real-time streaming of voice, audio, and video transmissions. Nearly everyone who has used the Internet has at one time or another listened to streaming audio or watched streaming video. More recently, other methods of communication through the Internet have been developed such as voice over Internet protocol (VoIP). Using software that implements VoIP is becoming a popular and economical way for people to communicate with each other through the Internet and other computer networks.
One of the major obstacles in the communication of packets belonging to a streaming transmission, such as VoIP packets, is variance in network delay known as jitter. Jitter is typically reduced by delaying the playout of packets according to a playout delay. As network delay is not constant, reducing the amount of jitter in a transmission requires reasonable measurements of network delay and accurate estimations of playout delay. However, the playout delay cannot be too long, as the transmission is intended to be real-time streaming and long playout delays defeat this intention.
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram that shows packets of data of a voice data 20 being sent across a network 10. The data 20 includes audible ranges 20a, 20c, and 20e where there is discernable audio information and silent ranges 20b and 20d where there is an absence of discernable audio information. A sender 12, being a PC or other device, sends packets P1–P15 in order at regular intervals, but because of network delay delaying the transmission of the packets P1–P15, some of the packets P1–P15 arriving at a receiver 14, a similar PC or device, must be further delayed by different amounts to form a cohesive voice data 22. The voice data 22 includes audible ranges 22a, 22c, and 22e and silent ranges 22b and 22d corresponding to the ranges 20a–20e of the sent data 20.
The packet P1 is sent by the sender 12 at a given time. The packet P1 is delayed by the network 10 for any number of reasons, said delay and further delays being indicated in FIG. 1 by a shaded block having a label "D". The packet P1 is further delayed by the receiver 14 so it can be played contiguously with the packet P2 that is also delayed by the network 10. If the packet P1 is not further delayed by the receiver 14, packets P1 and P2 would not be played contiguously, and an audible break in the data 22 would occur. The audible break in the data 22 would be heard by a listener at the receiver 14, which translates to poor audio quality of the playout data 22.
The packets P2–P5 are all delayed by the network 10 by the same amount of time and do not have to be further delayed by the receiver 14 to be played in sequence with proper timing. However, the packet P7 arrives before the packet P6. The receiver 14 must delay the playout of the packet P7 until the packet P6 is received. This delay is added to the silent range 22b of the data 22 so that the audible range 22c is not affected. The packets P8 and P9 arrive simultaneously as do the packets P10 and P11 because of network delay and packet bursting. Playout of the packets P9 and P11 is accordingly delayed, however, no further delay of the data 22 results. The packets P13 and P14 suffer a similar disorder as the packets P6 and P7. The packets P12 and P15 arrive at the receiver 14 normally.
The above description with reference to FIG. 1 is a simplification. The packets P1–P15 were assumed to arrive at the receiver delayed by an integer multiple of their packet length. In reality, a substantially large number of packets in a given transmission must be delayed, as network delay and jitter are essentially continuous in time and packet length is digital.
FIG. 1 shows that the entire received data 22 is delayed by three blocks by a combination of network delay and additional playout delay added by the receiver 14. If this additional delay were not added by the receiver 14, some packets would be played out of order and others would not be played at all. The prior art teaches a number of ways to estimate the delay required to be added by the receiver 14.
A fundamental and arguably most useful method of estimating playout delay is the mean delay and variance (MDV) method described in R. Ramjee, J. Kurose, D. Towsley, and H. Schulzrinne, "Adaptive Playout Mechanisms for Packetized Audio Applications in Wide-Area Networks", Proceedings of IEEE INFOCOM, Toronto, Canada, pp. 680–686, June 1994, which is incorporated herein by reference. The MDV method is further described in Marco Roccetti, Vittorio Ghini, Giovanni Pau, Paola Salomoni, and Maria Elena Bonfigli, "Design and Experimental Evaluation of an Adaptive Playout Delay Control Mechanism for Packetized Audio for use over the Internet", November 1998, which is also incorporated herein by reference. Briefly, the MDV method estimates playout delay from a variance of a mean network delay in conjunction with a smoothing factor. This simple adaptive approach offers significant improvement over other non-adaptive approaches.
Another method of estimating playout delay is described in the real-time transport protocol (RTP) standard. H. Schulzrinne, S. Casner, R. Frederick, V. Jacobson, "RTP: A Transport Protocol for Real-Time Applications", RFC 1889, January 1996 details the RTP standard and is incorporated herein by reference. The RTP method of estimating delay is essentially the MDV method applied with a fixed smoothing factor. While simpler than the MDV method, the RTP method offers a less accurate estimation of network delay.
Other prior art methods of estimating playout delay include a spike detection method described in "Adaptive Playout Mechanisms for Packetized Audio Applications in Wide-Area Networks", and a related gap-based method described in Jesus Pinto and Kenneth J. Christensen, "An Algorithm for Playout of Packet Voice based on Adaptive Adjustment of Talkspurt Silence Periods", 1999, http://citeseer.nj.nec.com/pinto99algorithm.html, which is incorporated herein by reference. Both the spike detection method and the gap-based method offer little significant improvement over the MDV method at the expense of added complexity.
Finally, the prior art offers a normalized least mean square (NLMS) method that is described in Phillip DeLeon and Cormac J. Sreenan, "An Adaptive Predictor for Media Playout buffering", Stanford, March, 2001, http://citeseer.nj.nec.com/deleon99adaptive.html, which is incorporated herein by reference. The NLMS is a complicated method that offers no readily apparent advantages over other methods.
In addition, the prior art has numerous patents relating to the playout of digital information and performance monitoring of the playout. For instance, Daum et al. teach stream synchronization for MPEG playback in the comprehensive U.S. Pat. No. 5,815,634, and Jain describes a real-time receiver and method for receiving and playing out real-time packetized data in U.S. Pat. No. 6,259,677, both of which are included herein by reference. Additionally, Schulman in U.S. Pat. No. 5,600,632 teaches performance monitoring in a network using synchronized network analyzers relating to packet delay, and Agrawal et al. provide a predictive approach to synchronization using a method for maintaining and updating statistical trends of network delay in U.S. Pat. No. 6,072,809, both of which are include herein by reference.
The prior art methods mentioned and described above share a common characteristic, that is, they optimize the playout delay from network statistics only. The prior art methods do not adequately consider the codec used in compressing data for playout and resulting actual playout quality.

Codec aware adaptive playout method and playout device


An ink jet recording apparatus has at least one ink chamber having an orifice through which ink drops are ejected, each ink drop having a variable amount of ink and being ejected at a timing corresponding to the amount of ink; and a controller for causing said ink chamber to eject ink drops therefrom in accordance with print data. The ink drop has an amount of ink in accordance with the level of gradation of the print data and is ejected at a timing in accordance with the amount of ink. The ink chamber may includes a plurality of ink chambers, i.e., black, yellow, magenta, and cyan. A black ink chamber is located at a first distance away from the print medium and ejects black ink drops along line k1. Color ink chambers of yellow, magenta, and cyan are aligned in a plane parallel to the surface of the print medium and oriented so that the color ink drops are ejected toward the print medium along lines k1, k3, and k4, respectively. The color ink chambers eject ink aiming at a point at which the ink drops are merged before they reach the print medium. The point is located at a second distance, which is shorter than the first distance away from the color ink chambers.

The present invention relates to an ink jet recording apparatus used for printing.
For example, with conventional ink jet recording apparatuses used for color printing, the ink drops of four color inks, i.e., yellow, magenta, cyan, and black are ejected through orifices in the ink jet head. The respective color ink drops adhere to the print medium one over the other, forming a dot of a desired color.
The ink jet head has an ink drop generating mechanism made of, for example, a heater or a piezoelectric material. The ink drop generating mechanism is driven in accordance with color information to eject the corresponding color ink drops. Further, each pixel is in the form of, for example, a 4-by-4 dot matrix and the gradation of a printed image may be achieved by varying print density on a pixel-by-pixel basis.
The ink drops are ejected at a timing in accordance with the print resolution (e.g., 300 dpi) of the ink jet recording apparatus. The amount of ink of each of the ejected ink drops is in accordance with the gradation of the print data.
However, the ink drops ejected from the moving ink jet head travel toward the print medium at different initial velocities depending on the amount of ink contained in the ink drop. Therefore, the aforementioned prior art ink jet recording apparatus suffers from a drawback that it is difficult to print an image with the respective color dots accurately registered on the print medium. Inaccurate registration results in ink-spread, misregistration of color inks on each dot location, and deviation of printed dots from correct positions, all of which are the sources of poor print quality. Effecting gradation of color on a pixel-by-pixel basis lowers the resolution of the ink jet recording apparatus by the size of a pixel.
In one method of accurately aiming color ink drops at the same dot location on the print medium that has been proposed, two or three ink drops are deposited consecutively one over the other at the same dot location on the print medium. Each of the color ink drops has the same amount of ink as an ink drop required for printing a full sized single color-dot. Thus, a large amount of ink adhering to one dot location requires a longer time for the ink to dry, resulting in a problem such as ink spread.


The invention relates to a device for monitoring the safety of a bending pole (22) in a large manipulator, whereby the arms (23-27) of the mast can be pivoted in relation to each other by means of a drive unit (34-38). The relative position of the arms of the mast in relation to the respective adjacent arm of the mast or frame of the mast (21) is measured for adjusting the position thereof. According to the invention, the positing measuring values (εI) of the arms of the mast are used in order to control the safety of the drive units (34-38) or the actuators thereof (80-84) in relation to a variation of predefined safety values.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention concerns a device for operating an articulated boom, more particularly a concrete placement boom, linked to a boom block, which articulated boom includes at least two boom arms which are respectively limitedly pivotable relative to the boom block or relative to an adjacent boom arm about respective horizontal articulation axes, which articulation axes are parallel to each other, by means of a preferably hydraulic operated drive unit, via a preferably remote control device including a position controller for movement of the boom with the aid of the individual actuating elements associated with the individual drive units, and with sensors associated with the individual boom arms, articulation axes and/or drive axes for the path or angle measurement for position control. The invention further concerns a large manipulator, in particular for concrete pumps, with an articulated boom linked to the boom block and with a device for operating thereof of the type described above.
2. Description of the Related Art
Mobile concrete pumps are conventionally operated by an operator, who is responsible not only for the control of the pump but also for the positioning of the distribution hose which is provided at the tip of the articulated boom. The operator must control multiple rotational degrees of freedom of the articulated boom via the associated drive units with movement of the articulated boom in non-structured three dimensional work space with due consideration of the boundary conditions existing at the construction site. In order to simplify the manipulation or operation in this respect, and operating device has already been proposed (DE-A-430627) in which the redundant articulated axes of the articulated boom are controllable collectively with one single control manipulation of the remote control device in any rotational position of the boom base, independent of the rotation axis thereof. Therein the articulation boom carries out an extension and retraction movement which can be observed by the operator, wherein in addition the elevation or height of the boom tip can be maintained constant. In order to make this possible, the control device includes a remote control device controllable, computer supported coordinate transformer for the drive units, via which the drive units of the articulated boom are actuated in the one main adjustment direction of the remote control device independently of the drive unit for the rotation of the boom base with accomplishment of an extension or retraction movement of the articulated boom while maintaining a predetermined height of the boom tip. In a different main adjustment direction of the remote control device the drive unit or drive unit of the rotation axis of the boom base is operable independent of the drive units of the articulated axis with carrying out a rotation movement of the articulated boom, while in a third main adjustment direction the drive units of the articulated axis are operable independently of the drive units of the rotation axis while carrying out a raising and lowering movement of the boom tip. A basic precondition for such an operation of the articulated boom is a position controller which includes among other things a sensor or sensor logic for the path or angle measurement associated with the individual boom arms, articulation axes and/or drive units. Since faults in technical systems of this type, which include not only mechanical but also electronic and hydraulic components, cannot be completely avoided, there is a need for a safety monitoring system which warns the user and when necessary takes action for safety purposes. Therein it is necessary, to recognize and evaluate the occurring problems by sensing with the objective to overcome the faults at least temporarily and to prevent undesired faulty operations and damage. A turning off of the boom and pump functions has until now been possible using an emergency turnoff switch, which is operated by the user.

Device for actuating a bending mast in a large manipulator and a large manipulator comprising said device


Methods and associated systems using probabilistic methods for selecting among a plurality of diagnostic procedures to recover from an error condition in a managed device. Operation of a managed device is overseen by a management device. A management client process operable within the management device communicates with a management service operable within the managed device. Upon detection of an error condition within the managed device, the management service propagates an event to the management client so indicating an error condition. The management client in the management device responds to the event by requesting the managed device to determine the best options for recovery procedures. The managed device then computes a probability of success for each known recovery procedure based upon the present state of the managed device and based upon past successes or failures of recovery procedures for particular error conditions. A list of each recovery procedure and its associated probability is returned to the management device. A user or client process then selects a desired procedure to attempt to correct the error condition in cooperation with the managed device. The process then repeats, recomputing the probability values for each recovery procedures, as needed until the problem is successfully resolved by a selected recovery procedure.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to error recovery procedures in managed devices and more specifically relates to automated methods and systems to apply probabilistic calculations to dynamically select error recovery and diagnostic procedures for resolving error conditions in a managed device.
2. Description of Related Art
As computing systems of various types have grown in complexity, so to has grown the complexity of diagnosing problems with such complex computing systems. Even users of home personal computer systems are familiar with the frustrations of trying to diagnose difficult problems on such relatively simple home systems. Such frustrations are magnified many fold in larger, more complex computing systems and large peripheral subsystems.
In general, diagnosing such problems entails selecting from among a plurality of diagnostic and test procedures (also referred to herein as recovery procedures) to determine the nature and underlying cause of an error condition and to suggest an appropriate solution thereto. Manual procedures for such diagnostics involve a human reviewing such a plurality of diagnostic procedures based upon their observation of the nature of problem. The user chooses a first option from such a plurality of diagnostic procedures and based upon the results of performing this procedure determines whether other procedures are necessary and appropriate. The process then continues in an iterative manner until the error condition is eventually resolved.
In general, the device in which an error condition has been sensed is referred to herein as a managed device. A management device is a device coupled to the managed device on which a management client process interacts with a user to help resolve the recognized error condition. It is also generally known that such a management client process interfaces with a user to direct diagnostic procedures in conjunction with a corresponding management server operable within the managed device.
The managed device may be, for example, another computer system in which an error condition requires further diagnosis or may be any of a variety of devices including computer peripheral storage subsystems such as disk array storage systems.
It is generally known in such computing systems to provide automated assistance to a user in performing such diagnostic error recovery procedures. Presently known automated systems are generally one of two types. Help systems provide suggestions and prompts in response to user input describing the nature and symptoms of the error condition. Exemplary of such help systems are the help systems associated with personal computing products such as Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office. The user enters a textual explanation of the problem including one or more keywords identifying the nature and symptoms of the problem. The help system searches its database for potentially relevant information and presents a list of such potentially relevant information to the user. The user then selects from the list information that appears to be most relevant and attempts to correct in the problem using recovery procedures in the supplied information. If the supplied information successfully corrects the error condition, the user proceeds with normal operation. If not, the user may select another recovery procedure from the list of potentially relevant information in hopes of further diagnosing and resolving the identified problem.
A second type of automated diagnosis system adds some degree of artificial intelligence or expert knowledge processing to help the user identify the most likely relevant recovery procedures from its database of potential diagnostic information. Such systems are often referred to as knowledge bases as distinct from mere databases. Such xe2x80x9cintelligentxe2x80x9d systems utilize a number of heuristic techniques and artificial intelligence techniques in an attempt to determine more accurately the nature of the problem from the user""s description and to thereby refine the list of potential diagnostic procedures to those most likely to resolve the user""s problem.
A first problem with all such presently known systems arises in the need for manual user interaction in describing the nature of the problem. Such manual procedures are prone to error both in terms of mis-characterizing the nature of the problem as well as mis-understanding detailed technical aspects of the problem. Present help systems and knowledge bases generally rely on the user to provide input (often in response to prompts from the help system) to describe the nature of the problem to be resolved. Such human input may misrepresent the nature of the error condition because the user fails to recognize the existence of or significance of particular aspects of the error.
A second problem with current help or diagnosis systems arises from their static nature. The databases or knowledge bases searched by present help or diagnosis systems generally are static in nature in that they are not dynamically adapted to particular states of the system being diagnosed. A recovery procedure for a particular error condition may be useful in one state of the managed device but less useful in another state of the managed device with the same error condition.
In view of the above discussion, it is evident that a need exists for improved management systems that provide additional automation to reduce human error in diagnosing error conditions. It is further desirable that improved management systems include a dynamic aspect to adapt their operation to the dynamic status of the managed device to be diagnosed.
The present invention solves the above and other problems, thereby advancing the state of the useful arts, by providing improved methods and systems for diagnosing problems in a managed device. In particular, a management client is operable to interact with the user and with a management server. The management server is operable within the managed device. The management server is operable to detect the present status of the managed device and to therefrom compute which recovery procedures are most likely to resolve the presently recognized problem in the managed device. Specifically, the server calculates a probability value associated with each possible recovery procedure. A list of recovery procedures is supplied to the user""s management client. A user then selects a recovery procedure to be performed from the listed recovery procedures with associated computed probability indices in hopes of resolving the detected error condition. A feedback mechanism provides feedback to the management server such that subsequent calculations to select recovery procedures will recognize success or failure (or partial success or failure) of the performed recovery procedure as applied to the present status and error condition of the managed device.
A first aspect of the present invention is therefore its application of probabilistic or xe2x80x9cfuzzyxe2x80x9d techniques to aid the user in diagnosing and resolving problems in a managed device.
A second aspect of the present invention is its use of dynamic information regarding the present status of the managed device for selecting among the plurality of recovery procedures. Further, this status information is applied within the managed device to determine probabilities associated with each known recovery procedure.
Still another aspect of the present invention is its use of a feedback loop to adapt future probabilistic computations in recognition of success or failure (or partial success or failure) of a particular selected recovery procedure as applied to a particular error condition in a particular state of the managed device.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide improved methods and associated systems for managing recovery procedures associated with a managed device.
It is another object of the present invention to provide methods and associated systems for resolving error conditions in a managed device using an iterative feedback loop process.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide methods and associated systems for dynamically determining preferred recovery procedures for resolving error conditions in a managed device.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide methods and associated systems to apply probabilistic techniques to identify recovery procedures most likely to successfully recover from an error condition in a managed device.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide methods and associated systems for a dynamically selecting preferred recovery procedures for resolution of a problem in a managed device by computing a probability of success for each of a plurality of recovery procedures.
The above and other objects, aspects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description and the attached drawings.

Methods and systems for dynamic selection of error recovery procedures in a managed device


Method and apparatus are disclosed for adapting linguistic speech models in automatic speech recognition systems using speech recognition results obtained during operation of such systems, in which, during the adaptation, a list of N-best recognition result alternatives with N greater than 1 for a speech utterance to be recognized is evaluated. To improve such an on-line adaptation of the linguistic speech models, a combination of a plurality of recognition result alternatives of the list is included in the adaptation.

The invention relates to a method of adapting linguistic speech models in automatic speech recognition systems by means of speech recognition results obtained during operation of the systems, in which, during the adaptation, a list of N-best recognition result alternatives with N greater than 1 for a speech utterance to be recognized is evaluated.
A corresponding on-line adaptation of speech models is particularly required in dialogue systems using automatic speech recognition. Such dialogue systems provide the possibility of, for example, speech-controlled data bank inquiries. Examples are train timetable information systems, telephone information systems, airport information systems and information systems for bank clients.
The speech recognition is performed by means of stochastic models. Both acoustic models, based on HMM models (Hidden Markov Model) and linguistic speech models which represent probability values of the occurrence of speech elements of a semantic and syntactic nature are used. Notably in dialogue systems, the problem often occurs that there is not enough training material available for training the linguistic speech models used for the speech recognition before the system is taken into operation. For this reason, it is desirable to provide an on-line adaptation in dialogue systems in which the speech recognition results obtained during operation are used for further improvement of the used linguistic speech model or for adaptation to the relevant fields of application. Such an adaptation is designated as being unsupervised because only the speech recognition result found is available to the speech recognizer, rather than safe information about the actually provided speech utterance.
It is known from S. Homma et al, xe2x80x9cImproved Estimation of Supervision in Unsupervised Speaker Adaptationxe2x80x9d, ICASSP 1997, pp. 1023-1026 to use the best recognition result alternative, i.e. the one having the greatest probability, only for the on-line adaptation in the case of unsupervised on-line adaptation of linguistic speech models from a list of N-best recognition result alternatives defined for a speech utterance, when the difference between this probability and the probability of the second best recognition result alternative exceeds a given predetermined threshold value.
It is an object of the invention to improve the on-line adaptation of the linguistic speech models.
This object is solved in that a combination of a plurality of recognition result alternatives of the list is included in the adaptation.
This has the advantage that a compensation is created for those cases where the element of the list of N-best recognition result alternatives evaluated as the best recognition result alternative does not correspond to the actually provided speech utterance. This will be regularly represented by at least another recognition result alternative of the list. By combining a plurality of recognition result alternatives of the list in accordance with the invention, an error-reducing compensation is achieved in such cases, which eventually leads to an improved on-line adaptation regarding linguistic speech modeling.
Particularly when recognizing sequences of single speech elements, which are combined to a speech utterance, the invention benefits from the fact that single speech elements of the actual speech utterance may not be represented in the best recognition alternative but with great probability in at least one of the other list elements of the list of N-best recognition result alternatives. In on-line adaptation, such parts of recognition result alternatives are not ignored but taken into account with a given weight. Furthermore, in cases where speech elements are represented in the best recognition result alternative of the list of N-best recognition result alternatives, which speech elements were not part of the actual speech utterance, it is very probable that such speech elements are not represented in the other list elements. Here, too, the fact that further list elements are taken into account provides a compensation for an error which would occur when only the best list element were taken into account.
The inventive idea is realized in that, in the combination of recognition result alternatives of the list, probability values assigned to these alternatives are weighted with a given numerical value, and an adaptation weight for a recognition result alternative used for the adaptation is formed in that the weighted probability value assigned to this recognition result alternative is related to the sum of the weighted probability values assigned to the other recognition result alternatives of the list. This implementation, which can easily be realized and leads to satisfactory adaptation results, is made more concrete in that the adaptation weights are defined in accordance with the formula       ω    i    =            l      i      λ                      ∑                  j          =          1                N                          l        j        λ
in which
xcfx89i is the adaptation weight relating to the ith element of the list of N-best recognition result alternatives, and
li is the probability value of the ith element of the list of N-best recognition result alternatives. The weight xcex can be determined heuristically for each case. When the probability values li are present in a logarithmic form, this formulation has the advantage that the involution with the weight xcex changes over to a multiplication by this weight.
The invention relates to a speech recognition system wherein a linguistic speech model used for speech recognition is adapted in accordance with any one of the methods described above.

Method of adapting linguistic speech models


We have developed a method of registration of a particle beam to internal alignment targets present within photoresist areas which are to be imaged. The method does not affect the photoresist, so the quality of pattern produced in the resist after imaging is not affected. The method used for registration of the particle beam to internal alignment targets also can be used to align a pattern in real time, while the pattern is being created, with the internal alignment targets. The real time alignment during creation of a pattern image in the photoresist can be used to correct for drift, or thermal expansion, or gravitational sag, by way of example.

A method which has typically been used to register a particle beam to a photoresist-coated blank substrate or to an existing pattern employs use of the particle beam itself. This approach typically utilizes a back-scatter detector, where particles that experience high-angle scattering events with the target are collected. The particle beam is scanned in a raster pattern over an alignment target, and a back-scatter "image" is generated from the detector signal, where the brightness of each pixel is determined by the number of particles striking the detector in a time period corresponding to that pixel. This self-alignment method is limited by poor contrast with respect to noise. Further, to avoid incidental exposure of a photoresist-coated blank substrate, the alignment targets must be placed outside of the portions of the photoresist which are to be imaged.
When the substrate is a lithographic mask, and the particle beam is comprised of electrons, in a region of a mask covered with chrome, relatively few back-scattered electrons result from the chrome, because the chrome is thin and the scattering cross-section is small, owing to the high electron beam energy. Many more back-scattered electrons result from the underlying silicon dioxide (and other oxides) present in the mask structure, because the silicon dioxide portion of the structure is very thick compared to the chrome layer (about 50,000 times thicker). Consequently, a target area where no chrome is present scatters nearly as many electrons as a region where chrome is present. As a result, use of this technique to determine whether a pattern which is being created is in alignment with alignment targets present inside an area of photomask which is being imaged is difficult, since the back-scatter image of the targets typically provides poor contrast which makes determining of a centroid location of an alignment target difficult. Further, use of an alignment target which is present in an area of photoresist which is being imaged causes exposure of the photoresist, and the pattern which is generated suffers.
When the particle beam used to create the pattern is an electron beam, another problem is the thermal expansion of the substrate during creation of the pattern. This makes it difficult to register an electron beam to write a pattern in a proper relationship to a planned pattern alignment on the substrate, using the electron beam itself as a reference. U.S. Pat. No. 6,424,879 to Chilese et al., issued Jul. 23, 2002, describes an electron beam writing system which includes an electron beam patterning machine operable to emit an electron beam to form a pattern on a substrate. A computer control system, coupled to the electron beam patterning machine, has a plurality of pre-computed distortion maps. Each distortion map describes expected distortions of the substrate caused by exposure of the substrate to the electron beam. The computer control system controls the electron beam patterning machine using the distortion maps in order to adjust for the expected distortions. The invention makes use of one or more pre-computed distortion maps which describe the thermal and/or mechanical responses of a substrate to electron beam patterning. The distortion maps are used, in conjunction with pattern writing data, to determine the distortions expected in a patterning process, so that adjustments can be made. Because the distortion maps are pre-computed, the computational time required to calculate the thermal distortions is significantly reduced.
The concept of correcting for distortions which will occur during writing of an image on a substrate based on data obtained during writing of that same image on an equivalent substrate at an earlier time is also discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,883,138 issued to Sandstrom et al. on Apr. 19, 2005. In particular, the invention is said to relate to a method and a system for predicting and correcting geometrical errors in lithography using masks, such as large-area photomasks or reticles, and exposure stations, such as wafer steppers or projection aligners. The method comprises the steps of collecting information about a mask substrate, mask writer, an exposure station, and/or about behavior of a processing step that will occur after the writing of the mask. Further the method comprises predicting, from the combined information, distortions which will occur in the pattern when it is subsequently printed on the workpiece; calculating from the prediction a correction to diminish the predicted distortion, and exposing the pattern onto the mask substrate while applying the correction for the predicted distortions.
Fabrication of a semiconductor device or a photomask/reticle is a complicated process involving a number of interrelated steps which affect the feature placements or the critical dimensions of various patterns produced. Whether the feature placements or the critical dimensions at issue are those of patterns on a semiconductor wafer, or those of patterns on a reticle used to pattern a semiconductor wafer, the semiconductor device may not meet specification if related patterns of materials on multiple layers within the device are not properly aligned. An ability to adjust the alignment of a newly forming pattern relative to alignment targets present inside an area of substrate to be patterned permits compensation for changing process conditions during imaging of the pattern in a photoresist. This makes it possible to correct for drift, thermal expansion, or gravitational sag, for example, during imaging of the photoresist, whether the process is direct semiconductor device manufacturing or reticle (photomask) fabrication. The reproducibility of the manufacturing process itself may be improved, including the process window. Process window refers to the amount process conditions can be varied without having a detrimental outcome on the product produced. The larger the processing window, the greater change permitted in processing conditions without a detrimental affect on the product. Thus, the ability to adjust a pattern alignment to a target present in an area of pattern formation, during that pattern formation is especially valuable in terms of processing window. A broader processing window generally results in a higher yield of in-specification product produced.
It would be highly desirable to be able to use internal pattern alignment targets which are present within areas of a substrate which are to be patterned. It would also be desirable to be able to periodically reassess the relative geometrical locations of a pattern being formed relative to internal alignment targets, so that more precise corrections can be made for drift, thermal expansion, gravitational sag, or other changes which affect the alignment of a forming pattern (an, image in a photoresist, for example) during fabrication.

Method of registering a blank substrate to a pattern generating particle beam apparatus and of correcting alignment during pattern generation


A magnetic circuit has a yoke base, a pole formed on the yoke base, an annular magnet mounted on the yoke base, an annular plate having an inclined surface mounted on the magnet. The annular plate has an inwardly downwardly curved sectional shape toward a periphery. A frame for a conical diaphragm is secured to the plate. A plurality of platforms each having a flat surface are formed on the inclined surface, and a plurality of staking projections are formed on the flat surfaces of the platforms. The frame is secured to the plate by staking the staking projections.

The present invention relates to a plate of a magnetic circuit in a loudspeaker.
In an electrodynamic loudspeaker, which is widely used, an electric signal is converted into an acoustic signal by magnetic flux generated by a magnet and by the magnetic force caused by the electric signal.
Referring to FIG. 1, a cone loudspeaker, which is one type of electrodynamic loudspeaker, has a yoke 12 with an integral center pole 11 and a yoke base 13, an annular magnet 14 mounted on the yoke base 13, and an annular plate 15 mounted on the magnet 14, thereby forming a magnetic circuit. On the plate 15 is mounted a conical frame 20 which supports a conical diaphragm 23 around an upper edge thereof at an edge 21. A lower edge of the diaphragm 23 is disposed in a magnetic gap G formed between the center pole 11 of the yoke 12 and the plate 15 and secured to a voice coil 22 which is supported by a damper 24. The voice coil 22 is disposed in the magnetic gap G to be moved in the direction shown by arrows a and b. A lead 30 connects the voice coil 22 to an external terminal 31 which is connected to an external source to feed audio current to the voice coil 22. When applied with the audio current, the voice coil 22 generates a magnetic force, which moves the voice coil 22 itself. The diaphragm 23 is thus caused to vibrate to produce sound waves.
In the speaker, the base 13 has a uniform thickness as shown in FIG. 1. In such a speaker there is a large leakage flux, which causes the magnetic flux generated in the magnetic gap G to reduce. Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 46-8272 discloses a yoke where the thickness is reduced toward the peripheral portion thereof to prevent the reduction of the magnetic flux.
The inventors of the present invention have proposed a magnetic circuit in Japanese patent application no. 2-280773 (U.S. Ser. No. 666,763) which is shown in FIG. 2. A yoke 12a and a plate 15a are slanted toward the periphery. The upper surface of the plate 15a has an inwardly curved sectional shape 17 and the lower surface of a yoke base 13a has also a curve 16 so that each of the peripheral portions thereof is extremely thinned down. A loudspeaker having such an arrangement is advantageous in that the magnetic flux flows mainly through the gap G so that a leakage flux .phi.1 between the plate 15a and the yoke base 13a, detouring the magnet 14, is decreased. A leakage flux .phi.2 which flows from the plate 15a to the center pole 11 is also decreased.
At the same time, the circuit becomes thinner and lighter in weight.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 3-155777 also proposed by the inventors discloses a method for manufacturing a plate by cold forging. In the method, a die having a draft on the periphery thereof is used for producing the plate, thereby ensuring the dimensional accuracy of the plate. Thus, the plate having a thin peripheral portion is manufactured with accurate dimensions, and the magnetic circuit having the intended characteristic in the design of the speaker is obtained.
The plate 15 of FIG. 1 is secured to a base portion of the frame 20 with adhesive or bolts. However, the plate 15a of FIG. 2 has the surface inwardly curved without a flat portion. Consequently, it is difficult to secure the frame 20 to the plate 15a.
In order to secure the frame 20 to the curved plate 15a with screws, threaded holes are formed in the base portion of the frame and the plate. Furthermore, in order to form a horizontal surface on the plate 15a, it is necessary to provide an element which has a surface corresponding to the inclined surface of the plate, thereby causing an increase in the number of parts.


The object of the present invention is to provide a negative-positive, two-group type zoom lens system having a uniquely high zoom ratio of about 3.5, and having relatively small diameter and compactness with small number of lens element. According to one aspect, a zoom lens system includes, in order from an object-side, a first lens group having negative refractive power and a second lens group having positive refractive power. Zooming is carried out by varying the space between the first lens group and the second lens group. The first lens group includes, in order from the object side, a negative lens group G1F composed of one or two negative lens element, and a positive lens group G1R. The following conditional expressions are satisfied:

The disclosures of the following priority applications are herein incorporated by reference:
Japanese Patent Application No. 2000-119853 filed Apr. 20, 2000
Japanese Patent Application No. 2001-113513 filed Apr. 12, 2001
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a very-low-priced and high-zoom-ratio standard zoom lens system having lens construction of a negative-positive two-group type zoom lens system, or a three-group type zoom lens system having very simple lens construction similar to the aforesaid zoom lens system such as a negative-positive-negative type, a negative-positive-positive type, or the like, and relates to a photographic device equipped thereof
2. Description of Related Art
It has recently become common for a so-called standard zoom lens equipped with a single lens reflex camera to be used as a common-use lens instead of a standard lens. Accordingly, since this kind of zoom lens is always carried in a state equipped with a camera, it is necessary for the zoom lens to be light and compact as well as to have sufficient optical performance and cost performance. In order to satisfy the necessary condition, a two-group type zoom lens system consisting of a negative and a positive lens groups is the best choice, so that a lot of zoom lens system of this type have been proposed.
However, it has been thought to b difficult for a two-group type zoom lens system to satisfy both a large aperture ratio and a high zoom ratio. In order to realize especially a high zoom ratio, it is necessary to extremely increase the power of each lens group, which exists only two, within a practical range of a dimension and a diameter as a so-called standard zoom lens. Therefore, it has been the upper limit according to prior art to keep the zoom ratio about 2.8. Above all, a zoom lens disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open patent application Ser. No. 8-334694 applied by the same assignee of the present patent application has been known for realizing the highest possible zoom ratio of 2.83 as this type of compact zoom lens.
Moreover, in a standard zoom lens for a 35 mm film format, the range of variable focal length obtained by a two-group type zoom lens or a three-group type zoom lens (such as a negative-positive-negative type, a negative-positive-positive type, or the like) which is a modification of the two-group type zoom lens has been nominally about 2.8 such as 35-80 mm, 28-80 mm, or the like. Accordingly, it has been necessary for a zoom lens whose zoom ratio is three or over such as 28-105 mm to employ zoom lens construction of a four-group type or a five-group type. The four- or five-group type zoom lens naturally has complicated construction and increases the number of moving groups Moreover, the number of lens elements has become excessively large; for example, it has been generally 13-18 lens elements. Furthermore, the increase of the lens elements has caused the increase of the dimension and the weight. In addition, a technical hurdle of assembling technique has become high, and, finally, the all items have become factors of cost increase. Therefore, a four- or five-group type zoom lens has not been able to be provided cheaper than a two-group type.
In a zoom lens disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 8-334694, although the zoom lens is compact and has a small number of lens element, in order to satisfy both the zoom ratio of about 3.5 and the compactness and low cost, it has been necessary to develop optimum power arrangement and lens construction.
The present invention is made in view of the aforementioned problems and has an object to provide a two-group type zoom lens system consisting of a negative and a positive lens groups having an extremely high zoom ratio of about 3.5, which has been unique so far in any prior art, with very simple lens construction, compactness and a small diameter, and to provide a photographic device equipped with the zoom lens system.
According to one aspect of the present invention, a zoom lens system includes, in order from an object side, a first lens group having a negative refractive power, and a second lens group having a positive refractive power. Zooming is carried out by varying the space between the first lens group and the second lens group. The first lens group includes, in order from the object side, a negative lens group G1F composed of one or two-negative lens element, and a positive lens group G1R. The following conditional expressions are satisfied;
4.5xe2x89xa6|X2|xc2x7ft/fw2xe2x89xa615xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(1)
xe2x80x830.7xe2x89xa6|f1|/(fwxc2x7ft)xc2xdxe2x89xa61.3xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(2)
where X2 denotes the maximum moving amount of the second lens group while zooming, f1 denotes the focal length of the first lens group, fw denotes the focal length of the zoom lens system in a wide-angle end state, and ft denotes the focal length of the zoom lens system in a telephoto end state.
In one preferred embodiment of the present invention, the following conditional expression is satisfied:
0.6xe2x89xa6f2/BFwxe2x89xa62xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(3)
where f2 denotes the focal length of the second lens group, and BFw denotes the back focal length of the zoom lens system in the wide-angle end state.
In one preferred embodiment of the present invention, the second lens group further includes an aperture stop for defining an f-number of the zoom lens system, a positive lens group G2F including at least two positive lens element located to the object side of the aperture stop, and a negative lens group G2R including at least one negative lens element located to an image side of the aperture stop. The following conditional expression is satisfied:
xe2x88x921xe2x89xa6f2F/f2Rxe2x89xa6xe2x88x920.05xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(4)
where f2F denotes the focal length of the positive lens group G2F, and f2R denotes the focal length of the negative lens group G2R.
In one preferred embodiment of the present invention, the negative lens group G1F in the first lens group includes at least one aspherical surface. The aspherical surface is defined by the following expression:
S(y)=(y2/R)/[1+(1xe2x88x92xcexaxc2x7y2/R2)xc2xd]+C3xc2x7|y|3+C4xc2x7y4+C5xc2x7|y|5+C6xc2x7y6+C8xc2x7y8+C10xc2x7y10+C12xc2x7y12+C14xc2x7y14
where y denotes the height in a vertical direction relative to the optical axis, S(y) denotes displacement (sag amount) in the optical axis direction from the tangent plane on the vertex of the aspherical surface at the height y, R denotes a paraxial radius of curvature, xcexa denotes the conical coefficient, and Cn denotes n-th order aspherical surface coefficient. The conical coefficient xcexa satisfies the following conditional expression;
0xe2x89xa6xcexa less than 1xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(5).
According to another aspect of the present invention, a photographic device is equipped with the zoom lens system described above.

Zoom lens system and photographic device equipped therewith


A siloxane mitigation system for a machine system having an internal combustion engine includes a siloxane trap having a plurality of adsorbent cartridges fluidly in parallel with one another, an air precleaner fluidly connected to a trap housing inlet, and a blower structured to blow intake air to the siloxane trap to compensate for a pressure drop across the siloxane trap. A trap performance sensor of the siloxane mitigation system is structured for monitoring an exhaust pressure to indicate performance degradation of the siloxane mitigation system and activate an operator-perceptible alert.

Internal combustion engines generally operate to combust a mixture of a fuel and air, producing a rapid rise in pressure and temperature within engine cylinders to drive pistons coupled with a rotatable crankshaft. Engine intake systems commonly include various apparatus for removing potential contaminants from a flow of intake air. Certain contaminants can pass through an internal combustion engine system with little effect. Others, including relatively larger particles, combustible gases, and various other materials encountered in an operating environment can have deleterious effects on engine performance or even lead to failure.
In certain environments, notably waste handling and landfill environments, siloxane contaminants may be airborne and carried into an engine intake system. Siloxanes mixed into engine intake air can undergo reactions during the combustion process and produce silicates that can become trapped within the engine or downstream exhaust components, and ultimately risk severe performance degradation. Silicates may adhere to surfaces inside the engine and interfere with motion of components, plug aftertreatment components and produce increased backpressure, or cause other problems. At minimum, machines operating in environments where high concentrations of airborne siloxanes are encountered may require service at a greater frequency than desired. U.S. Pat. No. 9,803,598 to Clayton is directed to an air intake system for an engine. The air intake system includes multiple air intake conduits, with one of the air intake conduits having a siloxane adsorber and a second intake conduit providing air to the engine while the siloxane adsorber is regenerated.

Siloxane mitigation in machine system having blower for pressure drop compensation