A semiconductor device includes a controlled oscillator and a control unit. The controlled oscillator includes a resonance circuit, an amplification unit, and a current adjustment unit. The resonance circuit includes one or a plurality of inductors and a first capacitive unit having a variable capacitance value. The amplification unit is connected to the resonance circuit, and outputs a local oscillation signal having an oscillation frequency corresponding to a resonance frequency of the resonance circuit. The current adjustment unit adjusts a value of a drive current to be supplied to the amplification unit. The control unit controls the capacitance value of the first capacitive unit and the current adjustment unit. When the control unit instructs the current adjustment unit to change the value of the drive current to be supplied to the amplification unit, the control unit also changes the capacitance value of the first capacitive unit.

An RFIC (Radio Frequency Integrated Circuit) for use in communications is mounted with a Phase Locked Loop (PLL) circuit required for modulation and demodulation. The PLL circuit is mainly composed of a controlled oscillator, a frequency divider, a phase comparator, and a filter. The PLL circuit is a circuit which keeps an oscillation frequency constant by controlling a control voltage (or a digital code) to be supplied to the controlled oscillator, using a feedback loop. Since the oscillation frequency can be changed by changing a frequency division ratio of the frequency divider, the PLL circuit with the above configuration is also called a frequency synthesizer.
Specific configurations of the PLL circuit are described in, for example, a paper written by Robert Bogdan Staszewski et al. ("All-Digital PLL and Transmitter for Mobile Phones", IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, Vol. 40, No. 12, December 2005 (Non Patent Document 1)) and a paper written by Pin-En Su et al. ("Fractional-N Phase-Locked-Loop-Based Frequency Synthesis: A Tutorial", IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON CIRCUITS AND SYSTEMS, Vol. 56, No. 12, December 2009 (Non Patent Document 2)). The former document discloses an All Digital PLL (ADPLL) circuit, and the latter document discloses a Fractional-N PLL synthesizer. In the Fractional-N PLL synthesizer, an oscillation frequency can be continuously changed by equivalently setting a frequency division number to a non-integer, using ΔΣ modulation.
Of the components constituting the PLL circuit, the controlled oscillator is described in, for example, Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 3-196706 (Patent Document 1) and Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2007-74436 (Patent Document 2). In an oscillation circuit described in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 3-196706 (Patent Document 1), at least one of capacitive units determining an oscillation frequency includes a plurality of capacitors connected in parallel. By selecting one or more capacitors from the plurality of capacitors, a capacitance value of the capacitive unit is controlled, and thereby the oscillation frequency is controlled.
Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2007-74436 (Patent Document 2) discloses a configuration of a voltage-controlled oscillation circuit for obtaining a wideband oscillation frequency. Specifically, the voltage-controlled oscillation circuit in this document includes: a plurality of switched capacitors each having a MOS (Metal Oxide Semiconductor) switch and a fixed capacitor connected in series, the MOS switch being turned ON/OFF by a first external control signal; a variable capacitor capable of making a capacitor value variable by a second external control signal; an inductor; and semiconductor current control elements constituting a differential pair.
In a PLL circuit, a state having a constant oscillation frequency is called a "locked state", and a state having an unstable oscillation frequency is called an "unlocked state". For an RFIC for use in mobile communications for mobile phones and the like, specifications have been established on the frequency at which a mounted PLL circuit enters a locked state, and on the period of time taken from when the PLL circuit is unlocked to when the PLL circuit is relocked, and values thereof should fall within the ranges of the specifications.
For example, a technique described in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2002-314408 (Patent Document 3) is intended to keep an oscillation frequency within the range of the specifications, by preventing overlapping of an unwanted frequency component on a locked output signal in a PLL circuit employing a fractional frequency division system.
Techniques described in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2002-118461 (Patent Document 4) and Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2003-158452 (Patent Document 5) are intended to achieve a faster lock-up time. Specifically, a faster lock-up time is achieved by increasing the amount of current to be supplied to a charge pump circuit.
A technique described in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2005-109608 (Patent Document 6) is also intended to achieve a faster lock-up time. Specifically, a lock-up time is controlled by making a cut-off frequency of a loop filter variable.
In mobile communications in which a plurality of terminals are connected to one base station (for example, WCDMA: Wideband Code Division Multiple Access), it is necessary to keep electric power from each terminal received by the base station constant by adjusting transmission power of each terminal in accordance with a distance between the base station and each terminal, in order to increase the number of terminals that can communicate at one time. At each terminal, transmission power is controlled by adjusting a gain of an amplifier at an output unit of an RFIC (for example, Kurt Hausmann and six others, "A SAW-less CMOS TX for EGPRS and WCDMA", IEEE Radio Frequency Integrated Circuits Symposium, pp. 25 to 28, May 2010 (Non Patent Document 3)). As the distance between each terminal and the base station is decreased, power consumption in the RFIC is reduced (for a battery life measurement method, see, for example, GSM Association Official Document DG.09 v5.1 (Non Patent Document 4)).


A data transportation/reception apparatus and method in a mobile communication system. The data transportation apparatus and method divides transport data bits into bits having higher priority and bits having lower priority, maps the bits having higher priority to bit positions having higher reliability, and maps the bits having lower priority to bit positions having lower reliability. The data reception apparatus and method demodulates received modulated symbols, divides the demodulated coded bits into two coded bit groups according to priority, deinterleaving the coded bit groups using different deinterleavers, and decodes the deinterleaved coded bits.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an apparatus and method for transporting/receiving data in a CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) mobile communication system, and in particular, to a data transportation/reception apparatus and method for improving reliability of transport data bits.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a communication system, it is actually impossible to receive a transported signal without any distortions or noises. In particular, when the signal is transported/received over a wireless network, the effects of the distortions or noises are more serious as compared with when the signal is transported/received over a wired network.
Therefore, many efforts have been made to minimize the effects of the distortions or noises. An error control coding technique has been proposed as a typical method of minimizing the effects of the distortions or noises. Codes used for the error control coding technique are classified into a memoryless code and a memory code. For example, the memoryless code includes a linear block code, while the memory code includes a convolutional code and a turbo code. A device for generating such codes is called a "channel encoder", and its outputs can be divided into systematic bits and parity bits based on the error control coding technique. The turbo code is a code typically used for the error control coding technique that separates its outputs into the systematic bits and the parity bits. In addition to the turbo code, there exists a systematic convolutional code of the convolutional code, as a code used for the error control coding technique.
Herein, the "systematic bits" mean an actual transport signal, while the "parity bits" mean a supplemental signal added to correct a possible error that occurred during transportation in a decoding process. However, even though a signal is subjected to the error control coding, if a burst error occurs in the systematic bits or the parity bits, it is not easy to correct the burst error. Such a phenomenon frequently occurs while the signal passes through a fading channel, and an "interleaving" technique is typically used to prevent this phenomenon. The interleaving technique disperses a damaged part in several places rather than concentrating it on a single place, thereby complementing the error control coding technique.
Such interleaved signal is subject to mapping in a symbol unit in a digital modulator. The number of bits included in one symbol increases with the order of the modulator. Particularly, in the case of high-order modulation of over 16QAM (16-ary Quadrature Amplitude Modulation), one symbol includes information of over 4 bits, and the bits can be classified according to reliability. Here, the "reliability" can be represented by a probability that the bit values will be changed during transportation. For example, when one 16QAM-modulated symbol is subject to mapping on coordinates, information of leading two bits in the symbol has higher reliability since the leading two bits determine a quadrant of the coordinates, to which the symbol is to be mapped. This means that there is a lower probability that the information of the leading two bits will be changed during transportation. However, information of the remaining two bits in the symbol has lower reliability, since the remaining two bits determine one of the four regions obtained by dividing the determined quadrant. This means that there is a higher probability that the information of the remaining two bits will be changed during transportation. That is, of at least 3 bits included in one symbol, the bits determining a wider region have higher reliability and the bits determining a narrower region have lower reliability.
A transmitter of a common HSDPA (High-Speed Downlink Packet Access) radio communication system is comprised of a channel encoder, an interleaver and a modulator, as illustrated in FIG. 1.
Referring to FIG. 1, a tail bit generator 110 receives N transport blocks and adds associated tail bits to the respective transport blocks. A channel encoder 112 encodes the N tail bit-added transport blocks from the tail bit generator 110 and outputs coded symbols. The channel encoder 112 has at least one coding rate in order to encode the N transport blocks. The coding rate may be ½ or ¾. When the channel encoder 112 supports a plurality of coding rates through symbol puncturing or symbol repetition using a ⅙ or ⅕ mother encoder, an operation of selecting a coding rate from the available coding rates is required. In FIG. 1, the channel encoder 112 determines (selects) the coding rate under the control of a controller 120.
A rate matcher 114 rate-matches the coded symbols from the channel encoder 112. The rate matching is performed by repeating or puncturing the coded symbols, when a transport channel is subject to multiplexing or when the number of the output symbols of the channel encoder 112 is not identical to the number of symbols transported over a radio channel. An interleaver 116 interleaves the rate-matched coded symbols from the rate matcher 114. The interleaving is performed to minimize a possible data loss during transportation. An M-ary modulator 118 modulates the interleaved coded symbols by QPSK (Quadrature Phase Shift Keying), 8PSK (8-ary Phase Shift Keying), 16QAM or 64QAM modulation. The controller 120 controls an operation of the channel encoder (or turbo encoder) 112 and a modulation mode of the modulator 118 according to a current state of the radio channel. The HSDPA radio communication system uses AMCS (Adaptive Modulation and Coding Scheme) for the controller 120 in order to select the modulation modes (QPSK, 8PSK, 16QAM and 64QAM) according to the radio environment. Though not illustrated in the drawing, the CDMA mobile communication system spreads transport data using a Walsh code W and an orthogonal code PN, so that a corresponding mobile terminal (or UE (User Equipment)) can identify a channel and a base station (or Node B) transporting the data.
The structure of the transmitter has been described on the assumption that coded symbols are not divided into the systematic bits and the parity bits. However, the coded symbols output from the channel encoder 112 of the transmitter can be divided into the systematic bits and the parity bits. Of course, the systematic bits and the parity bits output from the channel encoder 112 have different priorities. Namely, in the case where errors occur in the transport data at a given rate, it is possible to perform relatively correct decoding when the errors occur in the parity bits rather than in the systematic bits. The reason is, as stated above, because the systematic bits are actual data bits while the parity bits are supplemental bits added to correct errors occurred during transportation in a decoding process.
However, the interleaver 116 of the conventional transmitter in the communication system performs interleaving regardless of the priorities of the systematic bits and the parity bits. That is, the conventional transmitter performs symbol mapping irrespective of the systematic bits and the parity bits.
Hence, the conventional radio communication system has a high error occurrence probability regardless of the priorities of the systematic bits and the parity bits, when transporting data over the wireless network. Accordingly, there is a need for a technique capable of reducing a probability that errors will occur in the systematic bits having higher priority than the parity bits, thereby improving system performance.

Apparatus and method for transporting/receiving data in a CDMA mobile communication system


A golf training device including flat, web material having a transverse dimension of about 1/2 to 3 feet, and a single internal target hole having a diameter of about 4 1/4 inches. The softness, flexibility and thinness of the web material is such that, with the web material placed on a holeless surface, a golf ball rolling thereto by a putting stroke, will be only slightly impeded by both the peripheral boundary of the web material, and the circumferential boundary of the target hole.

The game of golf is certainly a challenge to play, but a frustration to many. Oftentimes, the average player becomes most frustrated in his poor performance around the hole.
In an 18-hole round of golf, par for the course usually is allotted to include some thirty-six putts on the greens. How many occasional, weekend, or even frequent golfers fail to obtain the standard two putts per green, but instead blow up to a 3-putt, 4-putt, or unspeakably-higher-putt hole, is, most mercifully, actually unknown. However, that number is widely acknowledged to be exceedingly high, and the prime cause of many a high final score.
The standard theory is, with the first putting stroke, from the far away lie, to putt up to a position close around the hole, and on the next stroke tap the ball into the cup. Many golfers, though, feel compelled to go straight for the hole, often bypassing or falling short of it by a great distance, if even lined up with the hole. Rolling terrain or imperfections on the green complicate matters, of course.
The chip shot may be considered in appropriate circumstances to be a long putt, with the first portion of the shot causing the ball to be in flight rather than to roll along the ground. The object of the chip shot is to position the ball fairly close to the cup so that a short putt may be taken. However, like the putt, many golfers aim for the pin or hole, and have little touch with this type of shot, when it is touch that is needed. Consequently, their short game falters, and their score mounts.
In addressing the problem, golf instructors usually stress practice, and this is indispensable. However, with ineffective practice comes ineffective play on the course.
One method of practice involves putting on a putting practice green which has grass or sand to match that on the actual course. The putting practice green has a number of holes, generally of the same size as those on the actual course, set therein, at which the golfer aims and into which the ball may drop. However valuable this practice may be, and it can be of high value, especially immediately before beginning an actual game, it in itself usually facilitates any development of touch slowly over a long time through much repeated practice. It is the trial and error method, unmodified, and unless the theories are kept well in mind while putting, which can be very difficult, the student of the game finds that he has developed little putting skill.
Another method involves the use of devices such as rug, brush or artificial turf mats, with a hole cut out for the cup, into which the ball drops. These may be of some value, as with the putting practice green, but suffer from similar drawbacks, if not worse, depending on design, and so forth.
Other methods involve using portable, artificial cups.
For example, a well-known artificial putting cup, in general, has a flat, disc-like base with tiltable, levered leaves about its perimeter. Each leaf rests with its outer edge down and its inner part up. A golf ball can roll over the leaves to enter the disc center but cannot exit from the center of the disc to the outside. However, drawbacks of this device include an unnatural appearance; the necessity of ball speed to achieve enough momentum to ram the ball into the cup; and the inability to develop touch, which is to say that achieving a correct putting distance remains a problem, particularly when the ball is shot so hard.
As another example, a commercially available wedge putting cup has a truncated oval shape and forms a ramp onto which a ball rolls up when putted. A hole in the ramp is present, and it is into the hole which has a back wall about 1/2-inch in height that the ball is to be contained. A flag may be inserted behind the hole for a marker. This device, too, has its drawbacks, which include its wedge shape which requires the ball to have enough speed to achieve enough momentum to roll up the ramp to the hole, and the high walled hole design. Thus, this device has an inability to develop touch.
Although some of the foregoing devices may help develop aim, again, none effectively develops touch, especially over a relatively short period. What accordingly is lacking and needed in the art are ways and means to develop touch with putting, chipping, and so forth shots, especially putting.


A raised portion of a seat cushion is formed by attaching a sub-cushion portion including a pair of notches formed so as to allow a pair of connectors to pass therethrough to a seat cushion pad. In the state where the sub-cushion portion is attached to the seat cushion pad, a pair of through holes, through which the pair of connectors provided for a child safety seat inserted from the front face of the vehicle seat can pass to project from the back face of the vehicle seat, are formed. At the same time, fixation anchors, to which the connectors projecting from the through holes are connected, are provided on axes of the through holes. Thus, a vehicle seat is provided, in which the workability at the installation of the child safety seat can be improved even for the vehicle seat including the seat cushion with a raised rear end.

The present invention relates to a vehicle seat, and more specifically, to a vehicle seat on which a child safety seat can be installed.
The present application claims priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 2002-319331, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
Generally, an ISOFIX child safety seat involves the connection of a connector of a child safety seat to a fixation anchor attached to a vehicle body. As shown in FIG. 4A, since such a child safety seat simplifies its installation onto a vehicle seat and prevents erroneous attachment, the number of types of vehicle in compliance with the ISOFIX system tends to increase.
Another system, which is partially different from the above-described ISOFIX system, has also been proposed. According to such a system, instead of providing a fixation anchor at the side of the vehicle body, the fixation anchor is embedded in a rear end of a seat cushion as shown in FIG. 4B (for example, see pages 3 to 4 and FIGS. 1 to 3 of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-122004).
In the former conventional system, as shown in FIG. 4A, in order to install a child safety seat 1 onto a vehicle seat 2, it is necessary to first insert a pair of connectors 6 (only one of them is shown) extending backwardly from a base seat 5 into a gap between a seat cushion 3 of the vehicle seat 2 and a seat back 4 while connecting the connectors 6 to fixation anchors 7 attached to a vehicle body so as to fix the base seat 5. However, since the fixation anchors 7 are provided in the rear of the seat back 4, the fixation anchors 7 are hard to see. Therefore, the alignment between the connectors 6 and the fixation anchor 7 needs the proficiency of a driver or a fellow passenger.
Therefore, without the proficiency in alignment, it is necessary to put a hand into the gap between the seat cushion 3 and the seat back 4 so as to confirm the positions of the fixation anchors 7 for installation of the child safety seat 1. Therefore, there is a possibility that the child safety seat 1 may not be installed as quickly as desired.
In addition, if a rear end of the seat cushion 3 of the vehicle seat 2 is formed so as to be upwardly raised, there will be a problem in that the connectors 6 may be caught by the rear end when the connectors 6 are to be inserted into the gap.
Moreover, the rear end of the seat cushion 3, which is upwardly raised, is integrally formed with a seat cushion pad 3A. Furthermore, a cushion wire 8 for keeping the shape of the seat cushion 3 is provided in the rear end of the seat cushion 3. Thus, it is difficult to form a concave portion and a guide hole in such a manner that the connectors 6 are not caught by the cushion wire 8 at the insertion of the connectors 6 in view of prevention of degradation in esthetic quality and the structure of a shape of the seat cushion pad 3A.
In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the following method has been proposed. According to the method, a pair of hollow guide cups 9 as shown in FIG. 4C are inserted between the seat cushion 3 and the seat back 4 so as to be connected to the fixation anchors 7 in advance, thereby allowing an easy check of the positions of the fixation anchors 7. With such a method, although the workability at the installation of the child safety seat 1 can be improved, the appearance is not preferred when the child safety seat 1 is not installed. Moreover, each time an adult sits on the vehicle seat 2, the guide cups 9 should be detached.
According to the latter conventional method described in the above-mentioned patent document, since the fixation anchors 7 are provided in the gap between the seat cushion 3 and the seat back 4 as shown in FIG. 4B, the connectors 6 of the child safety seat 1 can be somewhat easily connected with the fixation anchors 7. However, a lower end of each of the fixation anchors 7 is connected to the rear end of a seat cushion frame 10 forming a framework structure of the seat cushion 3. Accordingly, the child safety seat 1 is directly connected and fixed to the seat cushion frame 10 via the fixation anchors 7.
Thus, a forward load, which is applied onto the child safety seat 1 when the child safety seat 1 is subjected to an impact, is entirely applied to the seat cushion frame 10. Therefore, not only a connected portion between the fixation anchor 7 and the seat cushion frame 10 but also the seat cushion frame 10 itself must be significantly reinforced in rigidity.


A field case housing has a substantially cylindrical wall segment, an end segment and a flange all having a substantially constant wall thickness. The flange has reinforcing ribs connected to the wall segment and aperture reinforcing bosses. The end segment, the wall segment and the flange are formed as a single, integral part adapted to reduce warping of the housing during molding. A cylindrical guide member is located in the field case housing and a conical guide member is located in the fan baffle. The cylindrical guide member is adapted to insure a screw passing through the cylindrical guide member is guided to a point within the conical guide member. The fan baffle has a transverse wall with an aperture and guide walls extending adjacent the aperture. The guide walls are adapted to guide an armature past the magnets without contacting and damaging them.

Electric motors are used in a variety of applications, including power tools. Such electric motors typically include a motor shaft, a motor armature, magnets, a fan baffle, a commutator assembly, brush holders and electrical leads. The electrical leads selectively link brushes to a power source. The motor armature is fixed for rotation with the motor shaft and a series of copper conducting wires are wound in various patterns about peripheral slots. Ends of the wires are fused to the commutator. The commutator is fixed for rotation with the motor shaft and provides an electrical connection between the rotating armature and the stationary brushes.
These components are generally housed within a field case housing. Performance is improved by accurately locating the armature and magnets with respect to each other within the field case housing. Consequently, it is desirable to form the housing so that warping during the injection molding process of the housing is reduced. It is also desirable to locate the armature and magnet into their close proximity without the armature impacting upon and damaging the magnets during assembly. Additionally, it is desirable that the assembly process be facilitated by guiding screws from insertion apertures to receiving apertures without being drawn off course by the effects of the magnets. One or more of these, as well as other desirable features, may be selectively accomplished by using various aspects of the present invention.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A switching power converter includes an inductor coupled to a terminal operably supplied with an input voltage. A semiconductor switch is coupled to the inductor and configured to enable and disable an input current passing through the inductor in accordance with a drive signal. A current sense circuit is coupled to the inductor or the semiconductor switch and is configured to generate a current sense signal representing the input current passing through the inductor or the semiconductor switch. A control circuit receives the current sense signal and is configured to: close the semiconductor switch regularly in accordance with a clock frequency, to integrate the current sense signal thus providing an integrated current sense signal to compare the integrated current sense signal with a threshold that is a function of the input voltage.

Switched mode power supplies (SMPS) are becoming increasingly common as power supplies for a great variety of applications. For example, SMPS may be used as power supplies for driving LEDs, which may be used to replace incandescent lamps for illumination purposes. However, many other applications for switching power converters exist as practically any electric and electronic device which requires a DC power supply voltage (or current) can be connected to the power grid using SMPS.
Switching power converter may be operated in various modes. For example, switching converters may be operated, inter alia, with a fixed switching frequency and a variable on-time of the switch and with a fixed on-time of the switch and variable frequency. Regardless of whether a switching power converter operates with a fixed or a variable frequency, switching power converters may operate in continuous current mode (CCM) or discontinuous current mode (DCM). As different modes of operation (DCM with fixed on-time, DCM with fixed frequency, CCM with fixed frequency, etc.) usually require different concepts of controlling (regulating) the output voltage or the output current, some switching power converters are designed to operate only in a single mode (e.g., CCM, fixed frequency). However, switching power converters are often required to be able to provide a specific constant DC output voltage (or current) for a great range of AC input voltages (e.g., from 85 to 270 volts). In this case, the switching power converter is usually designed to handle both modes of operation, DCM and CCM, and a mode-switch from CCM to DCM occurs when the AC input voltage exceeds a defined threshold voltage, which is pre-set by circuit design.
To accomplish the control task mentioned above the input current (which is switched on and off by a power semiconductor switch) of the power switching converter is usually measured, e.g., using a measurement resistor that provides a voltage drop proportional to the current passing through it. The measured input current is usually compared to a reference value and a switch-off of the power semiconductor switch is triggered when the input current exceeds a threshold defined by this reference value. However, the power semiconductor does not switch-off the input current (sometimes also referred to as primary current) immediately with zero delay. Not only the power semiconductor switch exhibits an inherent switch-off delay. Furthermore, the comparator circuit (which compares the measured input current with the mentioned threshold) and other circuit components included in the control circuit (which controls the switching operation of the power converter) cause additional delays. As a result an over-shot of the input current (primary current) occurs, which may lead to excessive power dissipation in the semiconductor switch.
To avoid the mentioned excessive power dissipation, the effect of the mentioned delays should be eliminated (or at least partly compensated for). However, in known solutions this delay time compensation is either designed for DCM or for DCM. Thus, it would be useful to improve the control circuit of a SMPS such that excessive power dissipation is avoided independent form the mode of operation (DCM, CCM) of the switching power converter.


A simple and cost effective enrichment process for enhancing antioxidant content of rice bran oil from crude rice bran oil (CrRBO) is described. The process comprises extracting the CrRBO using alcohol at 25-77.degree. C., obtaining the enriched rice bran oil (ERBO) from alcohol extracts which contain 74 to 300 percent more antioxidants than the starting CrRBO. The anti-oxidant enriched rice bran oil is useful in pharmaceutical, therapeutic, and dietary preparations.

Rice bran oil has been touted to have a number of healthful benefits and uses. For example, House, U.S. Pat. No. 5,213,026, discloses the use of rice bran oil as a cooking oil. Hammond, U.S. Pat. No. 5,153,019, discloses a beverage product of rice bran and honey which is substantially free of spores, proteins, and coliform bacteria, and a whey protein concentrate. Taylor, U.S. Pat. No. 5,552,167, discloses a method for stabilizing high linolenic edible oils, such as soybean oil and canola oil, by blending the oils with rice bran oil in amounts effective to render the oils stable to oxidation. Imai, U.S. Pat. No. 5,514,398, discloses an additive for cholesterol-containing food that contains a rice bran component and/or derivative thereof as an active ingredient. Imai discloses that the rice bran oil component helps control blood cholesterol levels. Other studies disclose that a higher ratio of rice bran oil in a blended oil has a higher effectiveness for lowering cholesterol levels than the individual oils. Rice bran oil is also being promoted as an edible oil in China, Korean, Japan, and India. Studies done in these countries have shown a significant reduction in serum cholesterol and triglyceride levels within 15 to 30 days after including rice bran oil in one's diet. In Japan it has been reported that the effect can be seen within seven days.
Tocopherol and tocotrienols, collectively referred to as tocols, are monophenolic as well as lipophilic compounds and are present abundantly in rice bran oil as well as palm oil, soybean oil, sunflower oil and other oils. Tocols also occur widely in many plant tissues and other oil seeds.
Tocopherols are important biological anti-oxidants with vitamin E activity. Tocopherols that exhibit maximum vitamin E activity help prevent oxidation of lipids including polyunsaturated fatty acids. In addition, tocopherols are free radical scavengers and quench lipid free radicals. The antioxidant and free radical quenching properties coupled with the vitamin E activity of tocols make tocols useful in the treatment of various degenerative diseases such as aging, cancer, arthritis, damage to cells caused by air pollution and also in preventing coronary heart diseases.
It is well known that tocotrienols exhibit strong anti-oxidant activities or physiological activities. Pearce, U.S. Pat. No. 5,204,373, discloses that tocotrienols have been shown to inhibit cholesterol biosynthesis and cause a subsequent drop in LDL cholesterol, apolipo-protein B, thromboxane B2, platelet factor 4 and glucose levels. Kato, GB Pat. No. 2,117,381 A, discloses that tocotrienols have long been utilized as an antisterility drug for animals. Wright, U.S. Pat. No. 5,348,974, discloses the antioxidative activity of tocotrienols, which are known to play pivotal roles in the genesis of atherosclerotic plaques, thrombotic episodes, ischemic damage, cancer, aging, dementia, and inflammatory conditions. Physiological actions attributed to tocotrienols include decreasing serum cholesterol, decreasing hepatitic cholesterol synthesis and anti-tumor activity.
Gamma oryzanol (.gamma.-oryzanol) is another important biological anti-oxidant present in rice bran oil in significant quantities. Important effects resulting from .gamma.-oryzanol intake include decreasing plasma cholesterol, decreasing platelet aggregation, decreasing hepatitic cholesterol biosynthesis, increasing fecal bile acid excretion and decreasing cholesterol absorption. Gamma-oryzanol has also been used in treatments for nerve imbalance and menopause disorders.
Some definitions of terms which may be used throughout this patent:
Tocol--A mixture of one or more compounds selected from tocopherols (T), tocotrienols (T3), and tocotrienol-like (T3-like) compounds.
Tocotrienol-like compounds--Any biologically active compound that is contained in or derived from a biological source, and (1) which is released, or whose release is facilitated, upon stabilizing that source, or (2) whose recoverable amount in that source is increased by stabilizing that source. Such tocotrienol-like compounds include any biologically active compound displaying the biological activity of a tocotrienol which inhibits the activity of HMG-COA reductase as measured by an in-vitro HMG-COA reductase assay.
Tocotrienol-like compounds include, but are not limited to, any electron transfer ring compounds, anti-oxidant type compounds, redox compounds and compounds similar to or containing the three structural features that characterize the tocotrienols generally. Specific examples of T3-like compounds are ubiquinones, plastoquinones, isoquinones, phylloquinones, benzoquinones, flavanols, flavanoids, coumarins, unsaturated terpenoids and unsaturated isoprenoids. The term "T3-like compound" also encompasses analogues, homologs, isomers and derivatives of such compounds, such as prenylated derivatives or pyrolytic derivatives.
Gamma oryzanol (.gamma.-oryzanol)--any ferulic acid ester of triterpenyl alcohols. As used herein, .gamma.-oryzanol is any fraction containing ferulate esters of triterpene alcohols and plant sterols.
Common sterols include cholesterol, beta sitosterol, campesterol, cycloartenol, 24-methylene cycloartenol.
Enhanced--The state of a stabilized biological source, wherein the recoverable amount of the anti-oxidants, including tocols and .gamma.-oryzanol, are increased beyond that normally recoverable from the biological source prior to stabilization.
General methods of obtaining crude rice bran oil from rice bran are known. For example, a process for extracting rice bran oil from rice bran is disclosed in Gastrock, U.S. Pat. No. 2,727,914. The process disclosed in Gastrock involves mildly cooking the rice, crisping the cooked particles, and then mixing with a solvent, such as hexane, and subjecting the resulting slurry to filtration. Imai, U.S. Pat. No. 5,514,398, discloses the following conventional method for extracting the components of rice bran: extracting oily components from rice bran with a solvent such as hexane, degumming, dewaxing and alkali refining these oily components, subjecting the oil to solid/liquid separation and distilling the residue, followed by a solvent-extraction and column treatment.
Mamuro, British Pat. No. GB 2 090 836 A, discloses a method for the preparation of a tocotrienol concentrate from oleaginous material, such as rice bran oil, comprising the following steps:
(a) dissolving or extracting an oleaginous material containing tocotrienols in or with a nonpolar organic solvent such as hexane to form a tocotrienol-containing solution; PA1 (b) contacting the tocotrienol-containing solution with an anion-exchange resin whereby the tocotrienols are absorbed on the anion-exchange resin; and PA1 (c) eluting the tocotrienols with an eluant out of the anion-exchange resin to give an eluate solution containing the tocotrienols.
More recently, Lane, U.S. Pat. No. 5,591,772, disclosed two separate protocols for extracting rice bran oil from stabilized rice bran using hexane and steam. Additionally, Lane discloses techniques for enhancing the yield of tocotrienol compounds by dissolving a tocotrienol rich fraction in hexane, and then binding the dissolved tocotrienol rich fraction to an amino column (1 ml) and then selectively eluting compounds using a solvent that does not elute impurities. However, this process is limited to selectively eluting a few tocotrienols and does not enhance the overall tocol content of rice bran oil.
Given the benefits of anti-oxidant products and the potential uses for rice bran oils, there is a need for a rice bran oil that is enriched with anti-oxidant products, including .gamma.-oryzanol and tocol products, so that the benefits of rice bran oil are better realized.

Process for obtaining micronutrient enriched rice bran oil


The present invention relates to a water purifier having a non-drinkable water inlet (I) and a drinkable water outlet (O1), and comprising at least a boiler (8) having a water inlet and a steam outlet, a fluids separating filter (5) operating by flow and float, having an inlet and an outlet, and a heat exchanger (4) adapted to exchange heat between a first and a second separated fluid flows, having an inlet and an outlet for a first water flow to be heated as well as an inlet and an outlet for a second water flow to be cooled; the non-drinkable water inlet (I) is coupled to the first flow inlet of the heat exchanger (4), the first flow outlet of the heat exchanger (4) is coupled to the inlet of the fluids separating filter (5), the outlet of the fluids separating filter (5) is coupled to the inlet of the boiler (8), the outlet of the boiler (8) is coupled to the second flow inlet of the heat exchanger (4), the second flow outlet of the heat exchanger (4) is coupled to the drinkable water outlet (O1).

There are many natural sources of water in the world (rivers, ponds, lakes, seas, springs, surface and underground water tables, rain, . . . ), but the water coming from these natural sources is generally non-drinkable; moreover, growing environmental pollution makes the water of these natural sources increasingly less drinkable.
The majority of countries in the world have artificial water sources, i.e. public and private water distribution networks, but the water coming from these artificial sources is not always drinkable or truly drinkable (this is often the situation in some regions of countries such as Brazil, Russia, India, China, . . . ).
Non-drinkable water can contain, for example, large (gravel) and small (sand) solid particles, heavy metals, hydrocarbons, fertilizers, detergents, acids, ammonia, hydrazine, bacteria, microbes, viruses, . . . ; depending on the circumstances, one or more of these elements can be present. To make non-drinkable water drinkable the undesirable elements present must be removed.
Although there are various types of water purifiers on the market, none of these are completely satisfactory.
The Applicant has carefully studied water purifiers and has reached the following conclusions.
A first desirable feature for a water purifier is that it is capable of removing all possible undesirable elements or at least a high percentage thereof; in fact, it is not easy to predict which undesirable elements will be present in the water coming from a water source; moreover, the undesirable elements may vary in time.
A second desirable feature for a water purifier is that it is capable of completely or almost completely removing the undesirable elements, i.e. that the residual quantity thereof is extremely low.
A third desirable feature for a water purifier is that it is capable of removing the undesirable elements using only a small amount of energy or, in other words, that uses energy (in general this is electric energy) in a very efficient way; in fact, energy is required to remove the undesirable elements.
A fourth desirable feature for a water purifier is that it has a low running cost, and in particular that it requires few and inexpensive consumable materials; it would be ideal for there to be no consumable materials.
A fifth desirable feature for a water purifier is that it is easy to maintain, in particular to wash.
A sixth desirable feature for a water purifier is that it is of simple structure and construction and therefore of limited cost.
A seventh desirable feature for a water purifier, in certain situations, is that it is capable of operating without being connected to a powerful source of electric energy and, more specifically, that it is able to operate only or almost only using solar energy; in fact, in many situations in which there is no drinkable water there is also no public or private electric energy distribution network.


A trailing edge bonding cap for use with a rotor blade of a wind turbine is disclosed. The trailing edge bonding cap may include a body projecting outwardly from a blade shell of the rotor blade. The body may have a first outer surface and a second outer surface. The first outer surface may intersect the second outer surface to define a trailing edge of the rotor blade. Additionally, the first and second outer surfaces may have a profile configured to correspond to an aerodynamic profile of the blade shell.

Wind power is considered one of the cleanest, most environmentally friendly energy sources presently available, and wind turbines have gained increased attention in this regard. A modern wind turbine typically includes a tower, generator, nacelle, and one or more rotor blades. The rotor blades capture kinetic energy of the wind using known airfoil principles. The rotor blades transmit the kinetic energy in the form of rotational energy so as to turn a shaft coupling the rotor blades directly or indirectly to the generator. The generator then converts the mechanical energy to electrical energy that may be deployed to a utility grid.
The typical configuration of a conventional rotor blade generally includes a root section, a blade tip, and a blade shell extending between the root section and blade tip. The blade shell generally defines the aerodynamic airfoil shape of the rotor blade and may be formed from a fiber-reinforced material, such as glass fiber, carbon fiber, or the like. Additionally, the blade shell is typically a composite design, being manufactured from separate shell components which are bonded together. To bond the shell components, a thick layer of adhesive is typically applied to one or both of the shell components. The shell components are then brought into contact with one another (e.g., by placing the shell components on top of each other) to form a thick adhesive bond line around the edge of the blade shell (i.e., the leading and trailing edges of the rotor blade).
The use of adhesive bonding to combine the shell components of the blade shell often leads to significant performance penalties, particularly with respect to the trailing edge of the rotor blade. For example, due to the layer of adhesive, the trailing edge is inherently thicker resulting in a reduction of the aerodynamic efficiency of the rotor blade. This increased thickness also generates additional pure tone noises during operation of the wind turbine. Moreover, exposed portions of the adhesive are often very sensitive to erosion occurring in the field, which can lead to a weakening of the bond between the shell components. Further, it is often very difficult to apply the adhesive in controlled amounts, which results in rotor blades with poor tolerances, varying trailing edge thicknesses, and reduced efficiencies.
Accordingly, there is a need for a trailing edge bonding cap for use with a wind turbine rotor blade that results in reduced performance penalties.

Trailing edge bonding cap for wind turbine rotor blades


According to one disclosed embodiment, a smart powering and pairing system includes a power conversion unit (PCU) having a communication module, a power management module and a pairing module. The PCU can convert mains power into a form that can be used to power a plurality of electronic devices. In one embodiment, the PCU can transparently pair a connected electronic device to a group of subsequently connected electronic devices by accepting pairing information from the connected electronic device and using it to pair the subsequently connected devices. In another embodiment, the PCU can transparently pair a group of connected electronic devices by applying generated security data to all the connected devices. In another embodiment, a power conversion unit can use security data to un-pair connected electronic devices.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is generally in the field of electronic devices and systems. More particularly, the present invention is in the field of delivery of power to electronic devices and systems.
2. Background Art
The use of personal electronic devices permeates almost all aspects of daily life. Many such devices are kept in a mode of constant readiness for use, and the cumulative effect of this mode and the ever-increasing number of devices can be a heavy burden on existing energy resources. Further, as more and more feature innovations are brought to market, the complexity in leveraging those features often surpasses the conveniences they offer.
One such feature is the act of pairing one electronic device to one or more other electronic devices in order to combine features without requiring that one device incorporate all desired features all the time. While the distributed functionality opens up a wide range of new, desired cooperative features, pairing devices to enable the cooperative features can entail many individual manual steps that may require more than just a general comfort level with new technology to complete.
Moreover, conventional power supplies for electronic devices are typically unconfigurable and feature-poor, possibly just to reduce manufacturing cost, but perhaps also because general safety and liability concerns steer manufacturers towards designing their power supplies to be physically differentiated from product to product so as to limit the risk of damage due to incompatible voltage and current specifications. Because each power supply is typically designed to serve only a very limited market for a limited amount of time (e.g., the life of a single product), on the whole, there can be little incentive to design efficiency or convenience features into each iteration of a generic power supply. Additionally, in the case of portable electronic devices, the lack of interchangeability frequently leads to consumers having multiple collections of power supplies at, for example, home and work, which can serve to compound the waste and inconvenience normally indicative of conventional power supplies and powering systems.
Thus, there is a need to overcome the drawbacks and deficiencies in the art by providing a powering system that can be readily adapted to power various electronic devices efficiently and accurately while increasing the convenience of using those electronic devices.

Smart powering and pairing system and related method


The present invention discloses an encoding apparatus using a Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) scanning, which includes a mode selection means for selecting an optimal mode for intra prediction; an intra prediction means for performing intra prediction onto video inputted based on the mode selected in the mode selection means; a DCT and quantization means for performing DCT and quantization onto residual coefficients of a block outputted from the intra prediction means; and an entropy encoding means for performing entropy encoding onto DCT coefficients acquired from the DCT and quantization by using a scanning mode decided based on pixel similarity of the residual coefficients.

According to video compression standards for encoding/decoding video data, a frame is divided into a plurality of macro blocks and a macro block may be divided into a plurality of sub-blocks. The encoding/decoding is performed on the basis of a macro block unit or a sub-block unit based on temporal prediction and spatial prediction.
Herein, the temporal prediction is to predict motion of macro blocks or sub-blocks of a current frame by referring to blocks of adjacent frames.
The spatial prediction is to predict motion of macro blocks or sub-blocks of a current frame to be encoded by using boundary pixels of already recovered adjacent blocks.
The spatial prediction is also called intra prediction. The intra prediction takes advantage of a characteristic that when a pixel is predicted, pixels adjacent to it are highly likely to have similar values.
H.264/Advanced Video Coding (AVC) standard technology can compress video about twice as high as Moving Picture Experts Group 2 (MPEG-2) and about one and a half times as high as MPEG-4 by using such technique as intra prediction encoding, ¼-pixel based variable block motion prediction and compensation, Context-based Adaptive Variable Length Coding (CAVLC), and Context-based Adaptive Binary Arithmetic Coding (CABAC).
The H.264/AVC standard predicts pixel values of a current block by using prediction modes of 9 directivities.
FIG. 1 illustrates 9 prediction modes used for intra prediction of 4×4 blocks.
As illustrated in FIG. 1, the 9 prediction modes used for intra prediction of 4×4 blocks include a vertical mode (mode 0), a horizontal mode (mode 1), a direct current (DC) mode (mode 2), a diagonal_down_left mode (mode 3), a diagonal_down_right mode (mode 4), a vertical_right mode (mode 5), a horizontal_down mode (mode 6), a vertical_left mode (mode 7), and a horizontal_up mode (mode 8).
Herein, in the DC mode (mode 2), intra prediction is performed using a mean value of adjacent pixels. The arrows indicate prediction directions.
Meanwhile, intra 16×16 prediction encoding includes a total of four modes, which are a vertical mode, a horizontal mode, a DC mode, and a plane mode.
Also, intra 8×8 prediction encoding includes a total of 9 modes, just like the intra 4×4 prediction encoding. As for color difference signals, intra 8×8 prediction encoding is performed, and the intra 8×8 prediction encoding includes a DC mode, a vertical mode, a horizontal mode, and a plane mode and so on.
Hereinafter, prediction methods in the vertical and horizontal modes for intra prediction of 4×4 blocks will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3.
FIG. 2 exemplarily illustrates a pixel prediction method in a vertical direction in a 4×4 block 200.
As shown in FIG. 2, pixel a 201, pixel e 202, pixel i 203, and pixel m 204 are predicted based on an adjacent pixel A in the vertical direction.
Also, pixels b, f, j and b are predicted based on an adjacent pixel B in the vertical direction, and pixels c, g, k and o are predicted based on an adjacent pixel C in the vertical direction. Pixels d, h, l and p are predicted based on an adjacent pixel D in the vertical direction.
FIG. 3 exemplarily illustrates a pixel prediction method in a horizontal direction in a 4×4 block 200.
As illustrated in FIG. 3, pixel a 205, pixel b 206, pixel c 207, and pixel d 208 are predicted based on an adjacent pixel I in a horizontal direction.
Also, pixels e, f, g and h are predicted based on an adjacent pixel J in the horizontal direction, and pixels i, j, k and l are predicted based on an adjacent pixel K in the horizontal direction. Pixels m, n, o and p are predicted based on an adjacent pixel L in the horizontal direction.
An encoder performs Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) and quantization onto residual signals (which are of a pixel area) acquired by calculating differences between the predicted pixels and the current pixels. Subsequently, the encoder performs zigzag scanning and entropy encoding onto the transformed coefficients obtained from DCT and quantization.
Herein, although the zigzag scanning takes advantage of an energy compaction characteristic of a transformed coefficient that energy converges into low frequency components and energy appears little in high frequency components, the energy compaction after intra prediction is not always effective.
In short, the zigzag scanning is a method of scanning a transformed coefficient from low frequency components to high frequency components. When distribution of transformed coefficients appears more in the low frequency components, the zigzag scanning is effective. However, when spatial prediction having directivity is used, the distribution of transformed coefficients is influenced by the direction of prediction. Therefore, it is ineffective to apply the zigzag scanning to the prediction of all directions.

Apparatus for encoding and decoding image using adaptive DCT coefficient scanning based on pixel similarity and method therefor

Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute

Kwangwoon University Research Institute for Industry Cooperation

Industry-Academia Cooperation Group of Sejong University


The invention is a device mounted on a forklift to provide the operator with information of the distance from the pallet load to the upright part of the fork/tines. The invention has a source of a range determining signal such as sonic waves but other signals such as infra red or radar waves may be used. The emitted signals hit the palletized goods and are reflected to a detector or sensor and processed. The range information is transferred to a distance display device. The range/distance between the upright part of forklift tines and the palletized load combined with knowledge of the length of floor parallel tines of the forks will provide information to prevent any excessive penetration of the pallet hollow which excessive penetration can cause damage to either truck trailer walls, warehouse structures, or other palletized loads.

The rapid and efficient movement of most commercial goods is wholly dependent upon powered industrial vehicles known as forklifts. Forklifts for the most part have short cast steel bodies with a short turn radius and an electric or internal combustion engine. The forklift has a pair of forks/tines that can be adjusted so that the base and floor perpendicular tines can be raised and lowered as desired. Likewise the operator may adjust to different widths between the forks.
Forklifts are used for goods that are to be moved from point A to point B such as from the hollow of a truck trailer to a storage area in the warehouse. Ordinarily, such goods are on a pallet which is a raised platform with a hollow underneath to receive the forks. In operation, the forklift driver will approach the pallet and after squaring up will move the floor parallel forks into the pallet hollow. The forks, with the load, are then raised and forklift is driven to the receiving place for the pallet of goods. After the loaded pallet is lowered, the forklift backs up and the driver seeks new load.
While the process is essentially simple, there are numerous problems with the generic system. For example, the pallet may be 42 inches long/deep and the forklift parallel forks may be 60 inches long. If the pallets are back to back an unwary operator may drive through the first pallet hollow into the second pallet hollow and begin to raise his forks. The second pallet will then tip over. Such an accident may injure an unwary worker or damage the goods such as spilling raw materials. This can cause a difficult to clean up mess along with other economic costs.
Additionally, if the unwary driver is unloading a truck the potential exists for the operator to punch holes through the thin walls of a truck trailer or damage the walls of a building. With Range ALERT™ the driver has a digital readout on his dashboard that tells him the distance he is into his load.
An early version of Range ALERT™, Pallet Distance Ranging Device for Forklift was developed by Process Automation in the fall of 2001 for General Motors. This design had 3 preset ranges and hence was limited to three container sizes. The present inventors were approached in October of 2004 by the R. E. Michel Company to design a version of Range ALERT™ that would work when moving many different sized containers and products. The inventors worked with R. E. Michel to develop the current Range ALERT™. The invention has a digital display that can be used with many different sized containers and loads. The first prototype system of this product was delivered for evaluation to R. E. Michel on Jan. 29, 2005. The present inventors developed a product brochure and began showing the Range ALERT™ with the Digital Display to the public at the Ohio BWC Safety Congress in Columbus on Mar. 23, 2005.

Pallet distance ranging device for forklift


A catalyst useful for hydroprocessing a hydrocarbon-containing oil contains at least one hydrogenation component on an amorphous, porous refractory oxide containing delta alumina. The catalyst is prepared by impregnating support particles having a narrow pore size distribution and a median pore diameter greater than about 185 angstroms with a solution containing a precursor of the hydrogenation components, followed by drying and calcining. The catalyst is useful for promoting a number of hydrocarbon hydroprocessing reactions, particularly hydrogenative desulfurization, demetallation and denitrogenation, and most particularly, hydrodemetallation of residuum-containing oils.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to hydrocarbon hydroprocessing catalysts, such as those utilized to catalyze the reaction of hydrogen with organonitrogen, organosulfur and organometallic compounds. More particularly this invention is directed to a catalyst useful for the hydrodesulfurization, hydrodenitrogenation and hydrodemetallation of hydrocarbon-containing feeds, such as residuum oils, and to a method for preparing such catalysts with porous, amorphous refractory oxide supports.
2. Description of Prior Art
In the refining of hydrocarbons, it is often necessary to upgrade a hydrocarbon-containing oil, such as a residuum, by hydroprocessing. Among the known hydroprocesses are hydrodesulfurization, hydrodenitrogenation and hydrodemetallation wherein feedstocks such as residuum-containing oils are contacted with catalysts under conditions of elevated temperature and pressure and in the presence of hydrogen so that the sulfur components are converted to hydrogen sulfide, the nitrogen components to ammonia, and the metals are deposited (usually as sulfides) on the catalyst.
Hydroprocessing is usually carried out with a catalyst containing Group VIB and Group VIII hydrogenation metal components on a refractory oxide support.
Generally, hydroprocessing catalysts having a substantial number of pores of diameter less than 120 angstroms are effective for catalyzing desulfurization and denitrogenation reactions in residuum feedstocks, while catalysts having a substantial amount of pore volume in relatively larger pores (particularly pores of diameter greater than about 150 angstroms) are effective for removal of contaminant metals (such as nickel and vanadium) from such feedstocks. In other words, bydroprocessing catalysts having pores of relatively large size have demonstrated greater effectiveness for demetallation of a residuum feedstock than catalysts of smaller sized pores.
Although conventional catalysts are active and stable for hydrocarbon hydroprocessing reactions, catalysts of yet higher activities and stabilities are still being sought. Increasing the activity of a catalyst increases the rate at which a chemical reaction proceeds under given conditions, and increasing the stability of a catalyst increases its resistance to deactivation, that is, the useful life of the catalyst is extended. In general, as the activity of a catalyst is increased, the conditions required to produce a given end product, such as a hydrocarbon of given sulfur, nitrogen, and/or contaminant metals content, become more mild. Milder conditions require less energy to achieve the desired product, and catalyst life is extended due to such factors as lower coke formation or the deposition of less metals. The search continues for catalysts which are still more active for catalyzing both demetallation and desulfurization reactions during hydrocarbon hydroprocessing, yet are also stable.

Hydroprocess utilizing a delta alumina-supported nickel and molybdenum catalyst


An interface device and interface device control method that switches a transmission rate to enable high-speed transmission when necessary. In devices (nodes) provided with an interface device, a transmission rate control circuit decreases the frequency of a clock signal to only enable low-speed transmission operations during low-speed transmission and when a transfer operation is not being performed. A node requiring switching to a high-speed transmission rate negotiates with each node included in a route to a transfer destination and reads the device information stored in the register to confirm whether or not each node has a transmission capacity applicable for high-speed transmission. Then, when the transmission capacity is applicable for high-speed transmission, the transmission rate control circuit increases the frequency of the clock signal to change the operating speed of its node and each of the nodes requiring the switching of the transmission rate to high-speed transmission.

The present invention relates to an interface device and an interface device control method, and more specifically, to an interface device having a plurality of regulated transmission rates, and a method for controlling the interface device.
In recent years, interface devices have been provided with a function for performing communication at different transmission rates, which are determined depending on when and how the standard of each transmission rate is established. Further, standards enabling data transmission at higher speeds are being added. These interface devices employ a proper transmission rate based on the data transmission requirements and power consumption requirements of the apparatus in which the interface device is installed. As a result, apparatuses with installed interfaces having different maximum speed transmission rates (transfer capabilities) are connected to networks. In such interface devices, the devices capable of high-speed data transmission are all capable of low-speed data transmission. In this way, data can be transferred between various devices connected to the network regardless of the maximum transmission rate of each device.

Interface device and interface device control method


A hand-held interface couples fill level detection switch terminals on a tank barge with current source terminals of a dockside facility. The interface includes a dockside connector adapted to be connected to the dockside terminals and a barge connector adapted to be connected to the barge terminals and test circuits for respectively testing the lading level detection switches. Each test circuit includes a battery connected in series with the light source of an optocoupler across a pair of terminals of the barge connector. Also connected across the battery are the light-sensitive switching element of the optocoupler, the coil of a normally-open relay and an indicator LED, the contacts of the relay being connected across a pair of terminals of the dockside connector. When the interface connectors are respectively connected to the barge and dockside terminals, the level detection switch under test completes the circuit across the battery through the optocoupler light source so that the optocoupler is energized. Current is drawn from the battery only when the interface is connected to the barge terminals and the level detection switch is closed. The condition of the relay contacts mirrors the condition of the level detection switch under test. Each optocoupler is of a type which responds only to voltage above a predetermined threshold level.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to circuitry for testing alarm switches used in overfill control systems of tank barges. The invention relates in particular to test systems usable in connection with dockside facility alarm and load/unload control systems.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Typically, the tanks of tank barges are equipped with overfill control systems which include liquid level sensing devices for detecting when significant levels of liquid lading in the tank are reached. Each detection device includes one or more normally-closed switches, which are opened when the liquid level reaches a corresponding level. Such devices typically include an overfill switch, which corresponds to an overfill condition of the tank, and may optionally include a high level switch, corresponding to a liquid level below the overfill condition but approaching it. These level sensing devices are used during the loading of the tank at a dockside facility.
There is typically no power source on the barge, for safety reasons in the event of highly volatile or combustible ladings. Accordingly, the level sensing device is coupled to a connector which can be connected to a dockside test and alarm system when the barge is at a dockside facility for loading or unloading. The dockside system applies a low current to each level sensing switch which, by government regulation, must normally be closed. The barge is typically provided with a manual system for operating the level sensing device to simulate an overfill or alarm condition and thereby open the switch. The tankerman performs this manual test while connected to the dockside facility and, if the switch opens properly the current will be interrupted. If the current is not interrupted, this indicates that there is a defect in the level sensing system and the barge will not be permitted to be loaded until the situation is remedied. This can be very time consuming and expensive, particularly where a barge has multiple tanks, since it may not be apparent which is the source of the problem, so each may have to be checked. During loading the level sensing device remains connected to the dockside alarm system and, if an alarm condition occurs during loading, the filling equipment will automatically be shut down.
While, by government regulation, there is a maximum voltage and current which can be applied to the barge fill level switches by the dockside alarm and test system so as to maintain an intrinsically safe condition on the barge, there is no minimum. Thus, different dock facilities utilize different voltages and currents, some of which currents can be as low as 0.1 mA (100 microamps). A signal current of 100 microamps may be insufficient to reliably detect tank barge fill level switch opening during certain conditions, such as high humidity conditions. If, for example, the maximum output voltage is 9.0 VDC, an impedance of as much as 90,000 ohms between the fill level switch conductors can result in a 100 microamp leakage current. The presence of this leakage current prevents the dock facility from detecting the barge level fill level switch opening.
Midland Manufacturing Company sells a transportable high level and overfill alarm system, which can be carried onto a barge and has its own built-in battery power supply for applying a test signal to the fill level switch circuits for purposes of testing same. It can also be connected to a dockside facility for actuating the dockside alarm and automatic shutdown system in the event of an overfill condition during loading. It applies a test signal current which is high enough to reliably detect level sensing switch opening in any conditions. It also uses optocouplers for optically isolating the tank alarm circuitry from the dockside facility alarm panel when the unit is connected to the dockside facility. More particularly, the light source of the optocoupler is connected in circuit with the barge level sensing switch, while the light-responsive switching element of the optocoupler is connected in circuit with the coil of a relay, the contacts of which are connected with the dockside facility, so that the condition of the relay contacts mirrors the condition of the barge level sensing switch.
While this prior transportable system works well, it has certain drawbacks. It incorporates its own alarm system, including strobe lights and a siren and it is rather heavy and bulky and may require two men to carry on board. Furthermore, it is rather expensive, costing several thousand dollars. Also, because it uses logic gate optocouplers, it requires two separate supply voltages, one to provide the test signal to the barge level sensing switches and another supply voltage to the logic circuitry. This requires that the system be connected to the power supply during the entire time that it is in operation and, since the optocouplers have a relatively high output leakage current of about 500 microamps and require a logic supply current of 4.8 mA, an ON-OFF switch is necessitated to avoid undue battery drain.


A mechanism to adjust far-end signal loudness based on environmental noise levels and device speaker characteristics has a noise-level analyzer that receives feedback from an intelligent speaker-boosting logic circuit that provides a signal to a class-D amplifier to drive the speaker. The noise-level analyzer analyzes near-end environmental noise levels and far-end speech input signal levels across critical frequency bands. The noise-level analyzer performs a masking analysis of the far-end and near-end signals, and guides the speaker-boosting logic circuit to apply determined signal boosting levels over selective bands. The speaker-boosting logic circuit monitors system activity along with the selective band boosting guidance from the noise-level analyzer. Using device speaker information and the speaker excursion pattern, the speaker-boosting logic circuit adjusts far-end speech signal loudness without over excursion of the speaker and damage to the speaker hardware.

This disclosure relates generally to device speaker loudness control, and more specifically, to a mechanism for selectively enhancing the loudness of a far-end input speech signal audibly provided by a device speaker in response to near-end noise.
Portable voice telephone devices are often used in noisy environments, such as outdoors, near streets, in automobiles, and the like. Successfully engaging in a voice call in such environments can be challenging, especially when the far-end speech signal is not loud enough for the listener to make it out over near-end noise levels. Further complicating this scenario, enhancing the loudness of the far-end speech signal beyond a certain level can cause speaker damage, especially for the small speakers present in many handheld devices.
Some devices provide a speaker-boost protection system whose goal is to enhance the acoustical output of a speaker while limiting speaker membrane excursion and voice coil temperature to levels that will not damage the speaker. Speaker-boost protection systems are intended to ensure that speaker membrane excursion stays within its rated limit. Such speaker-boost protection systems can be used in conjunction with an adaptive loudness control that increases the far-end signal in response to near-end loudness. But systems using such methods often result in decreased intelligibility of the boosted speech signal, especially in environments where the near-end noise levels fluctuate. Further, there may be redundant hardware in the systems to provide this functionality, which results in increased size and power consumption.
The use of the same reference symbols in different drawings indicates identical items unless otherwise noted. The figures are not necessarily drawn to scale.

Method and system for speaker loudness control


An image system, notably an X-ray system and an ultrasound system, is provided in which images or sequences of images are generated and used to automatically change or optimize the operational behavior of individual image system components. Measurement fields are defined in the images of an image sequence by means of a data processing unit. Information is extracted from the measurement fields in order to adapt the system components. More specifically, in the course of a sequence of images the measurement fields are adapted or shifted in conformity with the motion of objects.

The invention relates to an X-ray system and an ultrasound system which generate images or sequences of images and modify or optimize the operational behavior of individual system components. The invention also relates to a method of controlling such system components.
During a medical X-ray examination by means of a series of X-ray images, the physician is often confronted with the problem of having to adjust, in addition to carrying out the actual examination, also the operational behavior of individual components of the X-ray examination system in order to achieve an optimum quality of the X-ray images in the image regions of interest. Optimum adjustment of the X-rays is of particular importance. On the one hand, an increase of the radiation dose usually enhances the image quality, but on the other hand the object to be examined should be exposed to an as small as possible radiation dose only. The requirements imposed on the image quality as a result thereof are normally defined by the type of examination while minimizing at the same time the radiation dose for the object to be examined. Various possibilities are known for automatic control of the X-ray dose by the system. To this end, during operation the system usually extracts information from images or image regions in order to readjust the dose automatically on the basis thereof. When the X-ray dose is controlled on the basis of the complete image contents, such control often leads to unsatisfactory results because the control is adversely affected by changing image regions and image regions which are strongly overexposed or underexposed because of properties that are inherent of the system. Therefore, for example, the documents EP 0435528 and EP 0748148 disclose X-ray systems which extract information for dose control from predetermined image regions, that is, so-called regions of interest or ROI, instead of from the entire image.
These systems, however, have the drawback that the ROI is predetermined and hence static. This gives rise to the problem that the object region to be examined must be imaged in the image region of the ROI. If this is not the case, the dose will be controlled on the basis of incorrect image data. When a moving object is examined by means of series of images, the object is liable to leave the static ROI because of its motion, so that the dose control again operates on to basis of incorrect image data. In order to mitigate this problem, for example, the object or the system could be positioned anew, usually implying an unacceptable amount of additional work for the staff, or the ROI could be enlarged, be it at the expense of a degradation of control. For the adjustment of different system parameters it is necessary to use information from different ROIs.
The document JP 04002332 discloses an X-ray examination system for use during heart catheterizations; this system supports the physician in positioning a catheter on the basis of a rectangular image section which is taken from a larger image and which shows the tip of the catheter at the center and automatically follows the catheter during its motion. The selection and shifting of the rectangular section are carried out by means of a simple motion analysis in which two successive images are subtracted. Further aids, notably means for simplifying the operability of the system, are not made available to the physician. This system has the drawback that the images wherefrom the image section is taken must always be larger than the image section which contains the information of interest to the physician. Consequently, an unnecessarily large region of the patient is exposed to X-rays. Moreover, the image quality is not changed.

System and method with automatically optimized imaging


Various technologies described herein pertain to a time of flight lidar sensor system that uses a coherent detection scheme. The lidar sensor system includes a laser source, a semiconductor optical amplifier, a combiner, and a balanced detector. The laser source emits an input optical signal. The semiconductor optical amplifier receives a first portion of the input optical signal and outputs a modulated optical signal (amplified and modulated). The combiner receives a second portion of the input optical signal and a returned optical signal received responsive to transmission of at least a portion of the modulated optical signal. The combiner coherently mixes the second portion of the input optical signal with the returned optical signal and outputs mixed optical signals. The balanced detector detects the mixed optical signals and generates an output signal (e.g., a differential photocurrent), which can be used to detect a distance to a target.

Autonomous vehicles are currently in development, where an autonomous vehicle includes various sensor systems that output sensor signals as well as a computing system that controls operation of the autonomous vehicle based upon the sensor signals outputted by the sensor systems. The sensor systems of the autonomous vehicle may include a lidar sensor system configured to generate a three-dimensional point cloud of surroundings of the autonomous vehicle. Points in the point cloud represent distances between the lidar sensor system and objects in a field of view of the lidar sensor system. A conventional lidar sensor system typically includes a laser source that emits an optical signal that is transmitted into an environment nearby the lidar sensor system and a photodetector that detects a returned optical signal, where the returned optical signal is based upon the optical signal reflecting from an object in the environment nearby the lidar sensor system. Based upon a parameter of the returned optical signal, a distance between that the lidar sensor system and the object can be computed. The computing system of the autonomous vehicle can control operation of the autonomous vehicle based upon the computed distance.
Some autonomous vehicles include time of flight lidar sensor systems. As noted above, an optical signal can be transmitted into the environment and a returned optical signal can be detected by the lidar sensor system. A time of flight lidar sensor system can measure a time duration for a light pulse (e.g., the optical signal) to propagate through a medium, reflect off the object, and return back to the lidar sensor system through the medium. A distance to the object that reflects the light pulse from the lidar sensor system can be determined based on the time duration (e.g., a path length for the propagation can be determined based on the time duration and a speed of light in the medium).
Conventional time of flight lidar sensor systems commonly rely on a direct detection scheme in which a returned optical signal reflected from a target is to be larger than a noise equivalent power of photodetector(s) utilized for detecting the returned optical signal. For long-range detection sensitivity, traditional time of flight lidar sensor systems commonly include avalanche photodiodes (APDs) and transmit optical signals at relatively high optical power. However, APDs may be noisy, which can detrimentally impact conventional time of flight lidar sensor systems. Moreover, it may be desirable to reduce background light noise, size, weight, power consumption, and cost of lidar sensor systems for various autonomous vehicle applications.
By way of illustration, it may be difficult to detect a low signal level of a returned optical signal with conventional time of flight lidar sensor systems that include APDs, since the signal level may not be above a noise level of the APDs. Thus, objects located at farther distances from the lidar sensor systems may not be able to be detected utilizing conventional time of flight lidar sensor systems, since the objects that are at the farther distances may return lower levels of signal (compared to objects at closer distances), which can make it more difficult to detect the objects at the farther distances. The foregoing can limit the range able to be detected with conventional time of flight lidar sensor systems.

Time of flight lidar system using coherent detection scheme


A process for manufacturing an electrochemical cell comprising the steps of providing an electrode and applying electrolyte to the electrode using an ink-jet printer. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, an ink-jet printing process is utilized to print the electrolyte onto the surface of the electrodes and separators or the electrode/separator bilayers. The ink-jet printing accurately meters and uniformly distributes the electrolyte throughout the pore structure of the separator and the electrode without contaminating the cell gasket. Preferably, a drop-on-demand ink-jet printing head is used to facilitate the electrolyte printing process. The ink-jet printing head is electronically pulsed to form and eject the electrolyte droplets from a nozzle of printing-head. The volume and the distribution of each electrolyte droplet are accurately determined and controlled by varying the pulse width and the pulse frequency of the printing head.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to electrochemical cell design and fabrication and, more particularly, to techniques for filling the electrochemical cells with electrolyte solutions.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the manufacture of electrochemical power supplies, there is a great deal of interest in developing better and more efficient methods for storing energy in electrochemical cells having high energy density and high power density. Increasing power per unit volume and increasing discharge characteristics depends on the ability to fabricate thinner electrodes and thinner separators. Accordingly, there has been an increasing effort to develop such thin and improved performance electrochemical cells using cost-effective methods.
An electrochemical cell uses its cathode and anode electrodes to generate an electric current. The electrodes are separated from one another by a porous separator element. During the manufacture of the electrochemical cell, the anode, the separator and the cathode are laminated together to form a laminated cell structure. This laminated electrochemical cell structure is then filled with an electrolyte solution to maintain the flow of ionic conduction between the electrodes. The amount and the distribution of electrolyte within the cell volume is important for the cell's overall performance. In fact, flooding or depletion of the cell electrolyte severely impairs cell performance and may cause failures.
In the prior art, there are several methods for filling electrochemical cells with electrolyte. In one exemplary prior art process, the laminated cell structure is rolled on a mandril to yield a cylindrical spiral wound roll, which is referred to as "jelly roll". The roll is then placed into a container having an electrolyte fill port. Once the container is sealed, electrolyte is injected into the container through the fill port and subsequently the fill port is sealed. In another prior art process, the laminated cell structure is maintained in a flat prismatic configuration and soaked in an electrolyte solution until the porous laminated structure is flooded. Subsequently, the cell is placed into a cell container and the container is sealed.
However, as state-of-the-art electrodes and separators get thinner to increase the power density of the cell, such established prior art processes for filling cells become less efficient. The state of the art thin electrochemical cells include micro-porous cell components (i.e., separators and electrodes). These components contain smaller pores which inhibit the transport of liquid electrolyte throughout the cell. For example, the transport of the electrolyte in the porous cell structure may be significantly reduced or inhibited if the surface tension of the electrolyte is not significantly lower than the surface energy of the porous media. Additionally, as liquid electrolyte enters the pore structure of the electrodes and separator, gas (typically air) in the pore structure must be displaced with the electrolyte. However, thin separators also restrict the egress of gas from the cell. These conditions greatly increase the amount of time required to fill the cell with electrolyte, and the difficulty in assuring a uniform filling of the separator material.
In order to overcome these problems, several modifications in the prior art processes have been suggested. In one technique, the thin laminated structure is placed into a container having an adequate headspace. The head space is to accommodate the overflow of electrolyte above the cell until the electrolyte is drawn into the separator and porous electrode structures. However, due to the slow displacement of gas in the porous structure, this technique is time consuming and increases the manufacturing cost.
Alternatively, to decrease the amount of time required for this filling process, surfactants can be added to the electrolyte to reduce the surface tension of the electrolyte and improve the wetting of the porous cell components in the cell. In addition, cosolvents may also be added to the electrolyte to reduce the viscosity of the liquid and thereby increase the flow of electrolyte into the porous cell components of the cell. However, preparing electrolyte solutions with such chemistry adds materials to the electrolyte that do not contribute to the electrochemical performance of the cell, but do add to the manufacturing cost. In an alternative approach, a cell may be filled under vacuum to eliminate the slow displacement of gas from the pore structure when the electrolyte is added.
Additional complication, each current collector in the stack of cell must be filled. In this type of construction, each current collector in the stack (except the collectors at the ends of the stack) must serve as a positive electrode on one side and as a negative electrode on the other side. In bipolar stacks, the electrolyte on the positive side of the collectors must be isolated from the electrolyte on the negative side of the collectors to prevent ionic shunt currents between adjacent cells. Furthermore, the electrolyte in each cell must be isolated from all other cells in the stack to prevent electrolysis of the electrolyte. It is also very important that each cell in the bipolar stack receive the same amount of electrolyte, as cells with disproportionately less electrolyte exhibit slightly higher resistance, and cycle between slightly larger voltage limits. These cells fail prematurely with respect to other cells in the stack and cause a failure of the entire stack. Electrolyte deficient cells may also be driven into reversal by the other cells in the stack leading again to premature failure of the entire stack. These conditions warrant that each cell in the stack must have a perimeter seal at the edge of the current collectors to retain the electrolyte in the cell.
For the above reasons, the process of adding electrolyte to the bipolar stacks of cells require special methods. In one prior art method, a fill port is included in each perimeter seal of the stack of cells. A manifold of tubing connects each fill port to an electrolyte supply-reservoir. During the filling process, the electrolyte from the reservoir is injected under pressure via fill ports into each cell. In this approach, cells may be evacuated prior to injection of the electrolyte to remove trapped gas and to aid in the distribution of the electrolyte throughout the cell. Once cells are filled with electrolyte, the manifold can be left in place. However, valves to each cell must be can be removed and, each fill port can be sealed individually.
In another prior art method, a fill port is included in each perimeter seal of each cell. The aligned fill ports in the bipolar stack ate submerged in electrolyte and a vacuum is applied to extract the gas from the cell components. As the stack is brought back to atmospheric pressure, the electrolyte is drawn into the individual cells. The excess electrolyte is then cleaned from the outside of the cell stack, and each fill port is sealed.
In yet another prior art method, each side of the bipolar current collector is fitted with an elastic gasket to form a shallow cup which contains the anode and cathode materials on either side of the current collector. In this method, the anode or the cathode or both electrodes may be prepared as slurries comprising an active electrode material and an electrolyte. Carbon powder may also be added to this slurry to enhance the electronic conductivity of the electrode. These electrolyte soaked bipolar electrodes are stacked between porous separators under pressure. The elastic gaskets hold the separators in place and seal the perimeters of the cells. Alternatively, the gaskets are made of thermal plastics which are thermally sealed after the bipolar electrodes are stacked in series with the separators. In these cases fill ports are not required.
For all of these methods, attention must be directed to the distribution of the electrolyte in the cell during closure of the cell and closure of the fill ports. Typically, cells and fill ports are closed or sealed with adhesives, thermal plastics, elastomers (crimp seals), or by welding when metal containers (cans) are used. In order to provide a leakage free seal, all joining surfaces must be free of electrolyte.
There is a need in the electrochemical cell manufacturing industry for processes for filling thin electrochemical cells with electrolyte without using fill ports or evacuation apparatus. Such processes must quickly and accurately meter and uniformly distribute the electrolyte throughout the pore structure of the electrodes and separator without contacting the surfaces of the perimeter seals or other joining surfaces.

Process for filling electrochemical cells with electrolyte


Technologies are generally described for methods and systems effective to reduce glare in augmented reality. In some examples, a method for producing a modified image of an object may include receiving first image data. The first image data may correspond to a first light reflected from the object through a clear filter. The method may further include receiving second image data. The second image data may correspond to a second light reflected from the object through a polarized filter. The method may further include combining the first image data and the second image data to generate modified image data. The method may further include producing the modified image of the object based on the modified image data. The method may further include rendering the modified image on an augmented reality display. The modified image may be different from the first image and different from the second image.

Unless otherwise indicated herein, the materials described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
A wearable device may be in a form of eyeglasses. The wearable device may include one or more augmented reality displays. The augmented reality displays may be positioned near the eyes of a user wearing the wearable device. The augmented reality displays may be configured to be in communication with a processor and may display content to the user. In some examples, each augmented reality display may be further configured to be in communication with additional devices such as a camera.


An audio sound modification system for modifying the output sound signals of a sound synthesizer comprises a microcomputer connected to receive signals from the synthesizer and to output modified sound signals. The microcomputer comprises a display device, and displays an image on the display device that has motion, color and shade characteristics. An operator input is also provided. The microcomputer is responsive to first, second and third different input signals from the operator input for modifying first, second and third different characteristics of the received signals and for modifying the motion, color and shade characteristics of the image, respectively.

This invention is directed to audio signal generation, and relates more in particular to a method and apparatus for modifying synthesized sound signals.
Synthesizers are well known for the generation of sound signal, such as music, sound effects, etc. Such devices are generally quite large and expensive, however, and have a finite capacity for varying the sound signals. For example, it may be readily possible for the devices to simulate specific instruments, but limited capacity is generally provided for further modifying the signals as desired by an operator.

Method and apparatus for modifying synthesized sound signals


The present invention relates to a ball practice device, which comprises a frame, a net, a base bracket and a supporting assembly. The supporting assembly is interposed between the frame and the base bracket, and is configured for supporting the frame together with the base bracket. The net is attached to the frame and is connected to the frame by a connecting member which the net can be disassembled from.

At present, sports have become an important part of people's daily life. Specifically, a variety of sports and games afford pleasure in people's life. In general, when people want to take some sports, for example, football, hockey ball, baseball, tennis ball and golf, etc., they have to go to special grounds to practise or have these sports. How ever, it is time-consuming and inconvenient for people to do sports in special grounds because the grounds always are crowded, as a result, people cannot concentrate on in their practice or sports due to external disturbance. More unfavorably, the players have to be weighed down with picking up balls. It is rather time-consuming and arduous for the players to picking up the tennis balls or golf balls. Consequently, the practicers have been fatigue due to frequently picking-up behave before they achieve sufficient exercise.
Therefore, a number of suspension curtain nets are applied in many superior stadiums and gymnasiums to buffer and capture the flying balls. However, the nets are too big and heavy and thus require corresponding broad space. Further, once the nets are suspended and fixed, it is inconvenient to move the nets to other place. A traditional ball practice device typically includes a frame and a back for supporting the frame. A net is attached to the frame, for capturing balls which is struck by the practicer. The frame is typically made of, e.g., flexible material, and is defined to be desired shape by being wrapped with a fabric tape. The net is sewed in the fabric tape and thus is configured as a whole together with the frame. As such, when one of the net and the frame is breakage, the entire ball practice device needs to be cast off and be replaced with a new one. Actually, the net is prone to be broken up due to long-term strike by the balls, accordingly decreasing the service period.
There is a need for, therefore, a ball practice device which is provided with a substitutable net and has a perfect availability.