A modulation recognition method and device for digitally modulated signals with multi-level magnitudes are provided. The modulation recognition method includes selecting plural quantization sizes used to construct plural statistic histograms related to the magnitude of a sequence of data, setting up an off-line processing to extract plural useful feature patterns for each modulation type of interest, receiving a sequence of samples of a modulated object signal and constructing plural statistic histograms related to the magnitude of these samples, and adopting a hierarchical classification method for modulation recognition. It can be applied to the adaptive-modulation communication system, software defined radio, digital broadcasting systems and military communication systems. It can also be integrated with modulation recognition techniques for other types of modulated signals to function in a universal demodulator. It recognizes digitally modulated signals of multi-level magnitudes with low computational complexity in advancing the efficiency of communication systems.

For efficient management of bandwidth and maintenance of service quality, a communication or broadcasting transmitter should be able to adaptively adjust transmission data rate according to channel's conditions. Specifically, different channel conditions may lead to the transmitted signal modulated with different types of modulation techniques or a type of modulation technique with different levels, such as quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) with different levels. Correspondingly, the receiver must be able to automatically recognize the type of modulation technique or the level of the modulation technique used in the transmitting side so that the demodulation process can demodulate the signal correctly. This associated technique required by the receiver is known as modulation recognition.
There have been numerous research reports and patents on modulation recognition since 1984. Among them, the developed algorithms can be categorized, based on their techniques or theories used, into five basic types: (1) pattern recognition, (2) decision theory, (3) second- and higher-order statistics, (4) neural networks, and (5) ad hoc. On the other hand, the aforementioned techniques can also be categorized, based on the type of the modulated signal that can be recognized, into only on digital modulation, and simultaneously on digital and analog modulations. Note that the types of digitally modulated signals include amplitude shift keying (ASK), phase shift keying (PSK), amplitude-phase shift keying (APSK), frequency shift keying (FSK), and QAM.
Specifically, Dominguez et al. ("A General Approach to the Automatic Classification of Radio-communication Signals," Signal Processing, vol. 22, no. 3, Mar. 1991) disclosed a universal modulation recognition method by utilizing the histograms of the magnitude, phase and frequency of the received signals followed by a linear pattern recognition procedure, as shown in FIG. 1. This method could recognize almost all types of analog and/or digitally modulated signals. However, its performance is sensitive to phase error for the case of recognition of QAM signals.
QAM is a modulation technique that simultaneously places magnitude and phase of digital data onto a carrier. Because of its high spectrum efficiency, QAM is widely adopted by the standards of high-speed wired and wireless digital communication or broadcasting systems, such as V.29, V.34, DVB-C, DVB-T and ISDB-T, etc. Thereby, the QAM-related technologies, including modulation recognition technique, become the core technologies of designing receivers for communication and broadcasting systems with high-speed transmission and flexible bandwidth management allowed. However, recognition of the QAM signals with different levels (such as 64-QAM and 256-QAM) is far more difficult than that of the digitally modulated signals with different types of modulation techniques, such as those with ASK and PSK, or with PSK and QAM. The difficulty lies in that the modulated signals using different types of modulation techniques have significantly different features, whereas the differences between the features of the QAM signals for different levels are too small to discern easily.
For example, the method developed by Swami and Sadler ("Maximum-likelihood Modulation Classification for PSK/QAM," IEEE Trans. Communications, vol. 48, no. 3, March 2000) uses the higher-order statistics of signals as the features. It can recognize the ASK, PSK, and QAM signals successfully, but fails to recognize the QAM signals of different levels due to the close similarity of the higher-order statistics of the QAM signals for different levels. In addition, with simultaneous utilization of the degrees of freedom of both the magnitude and phase, the QAM signals may appear more complicated compared to the ASK (simply utilizing the degree of freedom of magnitude) and PSK (simply utilizing the degree of freedom of phase) signals. For example, the constellations of higher-level QAMs (256-QAM or 1024-QAM) may have constellations overlapping those for lower-level QAM. This causes the confusion among the QAM signals of different levels and increases the difficulty of modulation recognition.
Another problem often in designing a receiver for a wired or wireless environment is the imperfect frequency (including phase) synchronization problem. The imperfect frequency synchronization comes from either the residual frequency offset or the phase offset for any practical frequency synchronization procedure, or the unpredictable phase noise created by some components, such as crystals and oscillators. Some frequency synchronization algorithms, such as the phase-lock loop (PLL) based carrier recovery algorithm, require the information about the modulation type of the received signals. This means that the modulation recognition must be done before performing the frequency synchronization. On the other hand, the receiver always suffers from some sorts of noise and interference. At the moment, the power ratio of desired signal v.s. noise is defined as signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). The lower the SNR, the more serious effect the noise and interference produce on received signals. Both the effect of imperfect frequency synchronization and the effect of noise and interference on the receiver may cause the failure of modulation recognition. In particular, the imperfect frequency synchronization will make some conventional modulation recognition algorithms assuming perfect frequency synchronization fail to recognize the type of received signals.
To eliminate the impact of the imperfect frequency synchronization, techniques similar to the maximum likelihood methods have been developed either by averaging the phases of received signals or by considering only the magnitude information of received signals. However, these methods are based on the assumption that the noise must be white Gaussian distributed with known variance, i.e., the SNR must be known. Although these algorithms have optimal performance when the assumption is satisfied, these algorithms still have two serious disadvantages. First, when actual signals are different from the assumed signal model, the performance of the algorithm will be significantly degraded. Second, the large amount of computational load becomes a burden on the hardware implementation. In addition, without cooperation between transmitting side and receiving side, the variance of the noise can only be estimated from the received signals at the receiver. When the employed modulation technique is unknown, additional efforts, such as multiple receivers or oversampling techniques, must be paid for the estimation of the noise variance. This essentially limits the design of receivers. Besides, there always exists an error between the estimated variance and the actual variance of the noise.
On the other hand, under the pre-requirements that (i) no additional information about the noise variance is needed, (ii) the performance is free from the imperfect frequency synchronization effect, and (iii) the computational complexity is low, the aforementioned modulation recognition method shown in FIG. 1 can be modified by using only the histograms of the magnitude of the received signals followed by a linear pattern recognition procedure. However, its performance will not meet the requirement of a reliable receiver, especially for the case of low SNR. Because of the wide applications of the QAM in communication and broadcasting systems and because of the aforementioned problems in existing modulation recognition techniques, a modulation recognition method that can recognize digitally modulated signals of multi-level magnitudes with low computational complexity is imperative in advancing the efficiency of communication systems.

Method and device for modulation recognition of digitally modulated signals with multi-level magnitudes

Industrial Technology Research Institute


A circuit enabling the realignment of data is described. The circuit generally comprises an input multiplexer receiving a first plurality of input data bytes and a second plurality of input data bytes; a switching controller coupled to the input multiplexer and controlling the output of the data bytes from the input multiplexer; a delay register coupled to the input multiplexer and receiving predetermined bytes of the first plurality of input data bytes; and an output multiplexer coupled to the input multiplexer and the delay register. The output multiplexer receives the predetermined bytes of the first plurality of input data bytes and predetermined bytes of the second plurality of input data bytes.

Programmable devices are a class of integrated circuits that can be configured for a wide variety of applications. With programmable logic devices (PLDs), designers can use inexpensive design tools to quickly develop, simulate and test their designs. A design can then be quickly programmed into a device and implemented. Another benefit of using PLDs is that during the design phase customers can change the circuitry as often as desired until the design operates to their satisfaction. Complex programmable logic devices (CPLDs) generally include a small number of logic gates, for example 10,000 logic gates, and provide a low cost, low power solutions employing programmable logic. CPLDs can be used in conjunction with other components such as memory or microprocessors to implement a function in an electronic device.
In contrast, field programmable gate arrays (FPGA) are high logic density programmable logic devices having built-in features such as a microprocessor, memory, clock management systems, and support for device-to-device signaling capabilities. FPGAs have become commonly used in telecommunication, Internet, switching and routing applications, and a wide variety of other applications requiring the transfer of large amounts of data. Generally, an FPGA includes a programmable logic fabric and a programmable input/output section. Typically, the programmable input/output section includes a number of serial/deserial transceivers to provide access to the programmable logic fabric. Such transceivers include a receiver section that receives incoming serial data and converts it into parallel data and a transmitter section that converts outgoing parallel data into an outgoing serial data stream.
Since FPGAs are used in a wide variety of applications which are implemented with a variety of operating systems, the operation of the FPGA can vary depending upon the operating system. For most data transfers in a microprocessor system, bursting of data in the native bus data width is the most efficient mechanism for transmitting data. Data that is part of a burst transfer (such as that used by direct memory access (DMA) devices) are generally transferred in ascending address order. Valid data bytes are adjacent to each other during any transfer cycle such that no invalid data bytes are between valid data bytes. A transfer cycle is either a single data beat transaction or a single burst transaction comprised of multiple data beats.
DMA transfers performed in hardware as part of a microprocessor system are often inefficient when the source and destination data buffers are not address aligned to the native data width of the microprocessor data bus. This data buffer alignment problem is often encountered when off-the-shelf operating systems, such as MontaVista Linux by Montavista Software and VxWorks 5.x by Wind River, are used. These operating systems, while quite popular with microprocessor system implementers, generally do not allow the end user to specify data buffer alignment within a system implementation. Such a realignment in a conventional microprocessor system requires the user to include additional programming to detect the unaligned buffer situation, and then employ the microprocessor to copy the unaligned buffer to an aligned buffer prior to initiating a DMA transfer of that buffer. Alternatively, users may opt to bypass the DMA function entirely in these situations. Another option (if the host bus supports it) is to employ a DMA function that will transfer data in bit widths that are less than the microprocessor data bus width but are guaranteed to meet all possible buffer alignment situations. However, this is extremely inefficient from a data throughput and system resource utilization perspective.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved methodology of aligning data in an integrated circuit that incorporates or interfaces to a microprocessor based system.

Circuit for and method of realigning data


A transmission line apparatus includes: a substrate 101 with a ground conductor plane; and first and second signal strips 102a, 102b supported on the substrate 101 in parallel with each other. The apparatus further includes at least one additional capacitance element 301 that connects the first and second signal strips 102a, 102b together. The element 301 includes: a first additional conductor 303 spaced from the first signal strip 102a; a second additional conductor 305 spaced from the second signal strip 102b; and a third additional conductor 307 connected to the first and second additional conductors 303, 305 at respective points. When measured in a signal transmission direction, the smallest width W3a of the third additional conductor 307 is shorter than the length L1 or L2 of the first or second additional conductor 303 or 305. And the additional capacitance element 301 has a resonant frequency that is higher than the frequency of a signal being transmitted.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a transmission line apparatus for transmitting an analog RF signal or a digital signal that has a frequency falling within a microwave band or a milliwave band.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 15A illustrates the cross-sectional structure of a microstrip line, which is used as conventional transmission line. In FIG. 15A, a signal strip 102 is formed on a substrate 101 made of a dielectric material or a semiconductor, while a ground conductor layer 105 is formed on the back surface of the substrate 101. When radio frequency power is supplied to this microstrip line, an electric field is generated between the signal strip 102 and the ground conductor layer 105. On the other hand, a magnetic field is generated perpendicularly to the electric lines of force so as to surround the signal strip 102. And the radio frequency power propagates in the longitudinal direction in which this electromagnetic field crosses the width direction of the signal strip 102 at right angles. In the microstrip line, the signal strip 102 and the ground conductor layer 105 do not have to be formed on the surface and back surface of the substrate 101. Alternatively, if the substrate 101 is implemented as a multilayer circuit board, then the signal strip 102 and ground conductor layer 105 may be formed on an inner conductor plane of the circuit board.
The transmission line described above is used to transmit a single-ended signal. However, if two microstrip wiring circuit structures are arranged parallel to each other as shown in the cross-sectional view of FIG. 15B and if signals of mutually inverse phases are supplied to those two lines, the pair of microstrip lines may be used as a differential transmission line. In that case, since signals of inverse phases are supplied to, and transmitted through, a pair of signal strips 102a and 102b, a virtual ground plane is produced between the signal strips 102a and 102b. Therefore, a differential transmission line could be formed without the ground conductor layer 105, theoretically speaking. Actually, however, a differential transmission line often has a circuit configuration including the ground conductor layer.
As shown in FIGS. 16A and 16B, two or more signal strips 102a and 102b are often densely arranged side by side and parallel to each other in an analog circuit or a high-speed digital circuit. In FIGS. 16A and 16B, W is the distance between two or more signal strips 102a and 102b, G is the gap between the signal strips and D shows the distance between the center of the signal strips. As a result, crosstalk will often occur between the adjacent transmission lines, thus causing the problem of a decreased degree of isolation.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-257509 attributes the crosstalk phenomenon to a difference in intensity between a negative induced voltage caused by the mutual inductance of a pair of transmission lines and a positive induced voltage caused by the mutual capacitance thereof. An equivalent circuit of a pair of transmission lines per unit length is defined by the series inductance L, ground capacitance C and mutual inductance M of the transmission lines and the mutual capacitance Cm between the transmission lines as shown in FIG. 17.
If an RF voltage Vo is supplied to the input terminal 106a shown in FIG. 17 so as to travel through the signal strip 102a, then induced voltages Vi and Vc are caused in its adjacent signal strip 102b due to mutual inductance and mutual capacitance, respectively. Vi and Vo have the opposite signs but Vc and Vo have the same sign. Terminals 106b and 106c are shown in FIG. 17. As a result, a far-end crosstalk voltage with an intensity Vc-Vi is produced at a far-end crosstalk terminal 106d. On normal conditions on which signal strips are arranged densely, Vc has a lower intensity than Vi, and therefore, the far-end crosstalk voltage eventually has the sign opposite to that of the input voltage Vo. Such a crosstalk problem is non-negligible if the coupled line length Lcp of multiple adjacent transmission lines is equal to or greater than one-fourth of the effective wavelength at the transmission signal frequency.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication Nos. 2001-257509 and 2004-015534 disclose methods for suppressing this crosstalk phenomenon. Both of those methods follow the principle of offsetting the difference in intensity between Vi and Vc by decreasing an additional induced voltage Vadd and increasing Vc. That is to say, the far-end crosstalk is minimized by newly providing a so-called "additional capacitance element" that increases the mutual capacitance between the transmission lines. As shown in the equivalent circuit diagram of FIG. 18, a capacitance Ca between the transmission lines is newly added to the equivalent circuit of the pair of transmission lines shown in FIG. 17.
As to the method of implementing Ca, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-257509 discloses two specific configurations as examples. According to a first one of the two configurations, Ca to be inserted between first and second signal strips 102a and 102b is implemented by capacitors 317 as shown in FIG. 19. On the other hand, according to the second configuration, the gap between the signal strips is narrowed by broadening the respective widths of the signal strips of the transmission lines.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2004-015534 discloses configurations that introduce additional members called "crosstalk suppressing components". Specifically, as shown in the perspective view of FIG. 20, crosstalk suppressing components 319, each partially making a plane contact with the first and second signal strips 102a and 102b and connecting the first and second signal strips 102a and 102b together with a conductor, are arranged. A sufficient capacitance is produced in the intersecting area between each of the crosstalk suppressing components 319 and the first or second signal strip 102a, 102b. And those capacitances are connected in series together, thus achieving the same effects as those achieved by Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-257509. Examples of the crosstalk suppressing components 319 disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2004-015534 include a rectangular one as shown in the top view of FIG. 21A and a one with a shape that is designed to include a phase advancing area 313c between a capacitance area 313a intersecting with the first signal strip and a capacitance area 313b intersecting with the second signal strip as shown in the top view of FIG. 21B. In the following description, the crosstalk suppressing components shown in FIGS. 21A and 21B will be respectively referred to herein as Configuration Examples Nos. 1 and 2 of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2004-015534. Their equivalent circuits are also disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2004-015534. As shown in FIG. 22, the additional capacitance Ca of the equivalent circuit disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-257509 is implemented by a circuit in which capacitances C1 and C2 are connected in series together. In Configuration Example No. 2 of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2004-015534, inductance Lp is intentionally added between the capacitances C1 and C2.
Those conventional pairs of transmission lines that are specially designed to suppress the crosstalk, however, have the following three problems, for example, and are actually unable to suppress the crosstalk effectively.
Firstly, Configuration Example No. 1 of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-257509 needs additional external circuit components in capacitors, thus requiring increased component and assembling costs. The crosstalk suppressing components disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2004-015534 also have a similar problem. Also, even though the thickness of the circuit should be reduced as much as possible, the thickness of the chip component needs to be added to that of the circuit board. As a result, the volume of the circuit increases. Furthermore, if the external chip components or the external components called the "crosstalk suppressing components" are used in a pair of transmission lines to transmit a high-speed signal, then the transmission performance itself varies due to some variations in either assembling or in the characteristics of the chip components.
Thus, first of all, a transmission line apparatus that can suppress the crosstalk using some component that has been integrated with the circuit board, not the external components, needs to be provided. To realize high-speed transmission and connection with functional components, the transmission lines are preferably formed on the surface of a substrate. That is why a method of suppressing crosstalk with an additional capacitance element arranged on either the surface of the substrate along with the transmission lines or on an inner surface of the substrate needs to be provided.
Secondly, if an additional capacitance element were arranged inside a circuit as taught in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-257509 or 2004-015534, then the crosstalk characteristic should be improved in an ideal equivalent circuit. In an actual circuit, however, it is difficult to improve that characteristic. Thus, the crosstalk suppressing effects need to be achieved in an actual circuit by correcting the imperfections of the principles of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication Nos. 2001-257509 and 2004-015534.
Thirdly, according to a method of increasing the mutual capacitance between the signal lines by locally increasing the line widths of the signal lines as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-257509, the characteristic impedances of the lines change, thus deteriorating the transmission characteristic. That is why a structure that never deteriorates the transmission characteristic needs to be provided.
In order to overcome the problems described above, an object of the present invention is to provide a transmission line apparatus that can improve the crosstalk characteristic of an actual circuit without using any additional component and with the influence of parasitic components of the circuit elements taken into consideration and that never deteriorates the transmission characteristic.

Transmission line apparatus having conductive strips coupled by at least one additional capacitance element

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A function expanding apparatus for electronic devices having a mechanism for supporting a connector body. Two elastic members hold a connector body which is freely slidable between the two elastic members. The connector body is movable in multiple directions so as to connect to the electronic apparatus.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a function expanding apparatus adapted to be connected with a portable compact electronic device, such as a laptop personal computer or word processor, thereby expanding the function of the electronic device, and also relates to a connector unit suitable for the apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
A compact electronic device has predetermined functions. If it requires further functions, it is used with a function expanding apparatus which is designed to ensure those additional functions. This expanding apparatus adapted to be fitted with the electronic device so that signals can be transferred between the two.
One such expanding apparatus is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,769,764. This apparatus comprises a housing which has a fitting recess as large as a compact electronic device. The whole electronic device is mounted in the recess so as to be removable from the front side of the recess. In this arrangement, the respective connectors of the expanding apparatus and the electronic device are connected to each other by plug-in connection. Thus, the compact electronic device is mounted on the expanding apparatus when it is used.
Since the fitting recess has the same size as the compact electronic device, however, the aforesaid conventional expanding apparatus is unsuited for use with other compact electronic devices which are different in depth, so that the range of its application is narrow.
Conventionally, the expanding apparatus and the electronic device are connected by means of a signal cable which is fitted with a plug-in connector on each end thereof. More specifically, they are connected by manually inserting a connector of the cable into that of the expanding apparatus or the electronic device.
In another known arrangement for connection, an expanding apparatus is fixedly fitted with a plug-in connector and an insertion guide continuous therewith, and a connector attached to the rear portion of a compact electronic device is connected directly to the connector of the expanding apparatus by means of the insertion guide.
In making connection according to the former arrangement, however, the connector of the signal cable must be grasped in hand, so that the connection work is troublesome. If the connectors have a large number of terminals, moreover, a great force is required to disconnect them manually from each other. Further, the connection or disconnection work requires a wide working space. When mounting the compact electronic device, which has the connector on its rear face, on the front portion of the expanding apparatus, therefore, it is difficult to secure the working space. Thus, this arrangement is not practical.
On the other hand, the latter arrangement for connection is used on the assumption that the position of the connector on the side of the electronic device relative to the connector of the expanding apparatus is fixed. Therefore, if this premise is not valid, that is, if the location of the connector of a electronic device is least deviated from that of the connector of the compact electronic device adapted for this arrangement, the connectors cannot be connected. Thus, the range of application of the expanding apparatus is limited.


A connector adapted for edge mounting on a circuit board employs a conductive shell with at least one insulating spacer mounted therein. A center contact is mounted in the spacer. The proximal end of the shell has an extension adapted to extend proximally and attach to the circuit board. The center contact and the extension are spaced to straddle the circuit board. The extension is disposed along most of its length entirely to the outside of a reference plane that is parallel to and spaced from the center contact. The extension for most of its length extends proximally beyond any portion of the shell located to the inside of the reference plane. A sleeve lining the shell is polished to avoid reflections of electromagnetic energy passing through the shell. A C-shaped clip is attached to the outside of the extension and then pressed into holes on the circuit board while compressing the clip to squeeze the extension.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to connectors having a conductive shell and a center contact, and in particular, to connectors that are mounted on a circuit board.
2. Description of Related Art
Some connectors are designed to mount on circuit boards. These connectors are often soldered in place on the board. In many cases the connector will have a metal shell with a coaxial metal contact. The distal end of the connector may also have a male (female) fitting that is externally (internally) threaded to accept a mating threaded connector at the end of a cable. Instead of threads, other connectors may have a bayonet fitting, friction fitting, etc.
Connectors must deal with advancing technology that has allowed electronic equipment to handle much higher frequencies. Great advances have been achieved in digital electronics with ever faster clock rates and pulse rise times. With the advent of high-definition television, higher frequency demands have become routine.
In such a high-frequency environment, transferring signals between a cable and a circuit board is more demanding. To transfer electromagnetic energy efficiently, discontinuities ought to be avoided at the connection between the cable and circuit board. For example, cables such as coaxial cables have a characteristic impedance and should be terminated into a matching impedance to avoid reflections. Also, the geometry of the transition should be a designed carefully to avoid irregularities that can cause reflections as well. In addition, one must take into account the dielectric coefficient of intervening elements, including the dielectric coefficient of relevant volumes of air.
The geometry of the connector can determine whether there are discontinuities or other mismatching effects. This geometry is especially important since high-frequency connectors often include metal components and these metal bodies can have capacitive and inductive effects. The undesired presence of such capacitance and inductance may produce a mismatch that can adversely affect the transfer efficiency of the connector.
While high-frequency connectors ought to work well under these demanding conditions, their structure should also be simple, rugged and dependable. Further-more, and assembler should be able to easily and reliably install the connector on a circuit board.
See also U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,404,117; 5,823,790; 5,897,384; 6,106,304; 6,254,399; 6,407,652; 6,457,979; 6,682,354; 6,791,317; 6,811,405; 6,957,980; 7,042,318; 7,048,547; and 7,344,381, as well as U.S. Patent Application Publication Nos. 2004/0038587; 2008/0045043; and 2008/0102654.

Connector with a conductive shell with an extension to stradle a circuit board


This invention relates to a system and method for identifying target individuals who possess certain characteristics statistically indicative of their ability to influence others in their decision making regarding consumer goods, consumer products, political issues or candidates, financial matters, investments, real estate, insurance, travel and leisure, by non-limiting example. The subject invention encompasses not only the identification of a key group of individuals in a population more likely to affect the decision making of others in the population (“Influentials” as discussed below), but also includes the identification of additional (“non-Influential”) informational data common to Influential individuals, as well as the application of this additional informational data to other populations. The advantage of employing this additional informational data to ascertain Influentials is that this data can be publicly available data (such as, for example, from the U.S. Census Bureau), thus facilitating the identification of Influentials without the necessity of undertaking any surveys to identify Influentials per se instead relying on pre-existing public demographic information.

The invention relates to analytical methodology for identifying individuals in a population possessing certain characteristics indicative of strong leadership and influence over others.
The drawbacks of prior art are best examined both in terms of 1) the changing role and influence of the media over the past many years; and 2) the lack of properly focused marketing. Companies offering products or services have attempted to use multiple channels of communication to reach consumers. These channels, for decades, have expanded with technology. Radios, television and, more recently, the Internet are a small list of examples.
While the expansion of technology is, in many ways, a marketing asset to companies, disadvantages also arise. For example, the increase of available television channels and programs now means that the most highly viewed program today now captures approximately 21% of the population (per the Neilson ratings—the standard statistical vehicle used to measure American viewing), instead of almost 68%, as was the case fifty years ago. Accordingly, advertisers who continue to pay enormous sums of money for air time during commercial intervals for the top-rated programs no longer have what was once tantamount to a monopoly of television viewers.
Expanding further on television as an example, studies have shown that a dramatically increasing number of Americans are changing the television channels or muting the television set's volume during commercials, and are thus starting to disregard advertisements. Although television advertising serves as a common example of the marketing problems companies have been facing, this scenario may apply to virtually any form of media (i.e., radio, newspapers, magazines, etc.), where the reading/listening/viewing options increase for consumers and the monopolies decrease, while the attention consumers pay to advertisements decreases.
While regard for official advertisements decreases in America, the emphasis on conversation increases. According to various studies, Americans are now beginning to converse more about making day-to-day decisions, including the purchase of products and services. Thus, the "official," broadcasted instructions merely to "Buy Brand X" are no longer sufficient without a more conversation-oriented approach to marketing, and advertisements are now focused on explaining exactly why the consumer should buy Brand X. In this respect, a company may invite the consumer to visit its website for more information about Brand X.
Significantly, word-of-mouth recommendations from consumer to consumer have increased, and have become the most effective form of influence in multiple categories of decision-making. Americans of varying ages are becoming active recommenders through sharing their experience and expertise with others. For example, a study shows that six out of ten Americans report recommending a restaurant to someone else in the past year, and about half have recommended a movie.
Companies have engaged in more targeted marketing, with the goal of reaching individuals whom they hope will purchase the product/service themselves, find the product/service useful and, in turn, inform other potential consumers about the product/service. A common manner in which companies engage in such marketing consists of purchasing data in the form of mass lists of individual names and data or information about them, which is statistically analyzed to determine the likelihood that such individuals would be willing to try the company's product or service. These lists may have been compiled based on extensive surveys, or perhaps based on consumer behavior (i.e., usage of related products). For example, a company producing a new video game might seek to acquire lists of individuals who have purchased video games within the past year. The company, of course, would not end their target marketing at that stage, but would perform statistical analyses using any other available information concerning the video game purchasers to determine other recipients of their advertising. Such an analysis might indicate that male teenagers who owned computers are statistically the most likely people who would buy the video game. The company would target its marketing efforts at individuals meeting those criteria, through whatever channels of communication it chooses to use (perhaps via the Internet, given the target population of computer owners). Thus, targeted research and the word-of-mouth theory combined with statistical analysis promote the dual goals of first, the targets purchasing their product/service, and second, the targets informing other potential consumers about the product/service.
While perhaps targeting the most statistically likely consumers for their particular product or service, prior art has not adequately employed the word-of-mouth theory into practice, because prior art has not targeted the individuals most likely, on a statistical level, to influence others to purchase the products or services. Instead, lists with significant amounts of individuals are purchased, costing the companies significant amounts of money, under the accepted theory that a high amount of targets will yield a high level of product awareness and usage, which in turn, will yield a high level of recommendations to other consumers. Referring again to the studies that Americans are beginning to place more emphasis on conversation in their daily decision-making, a new theory emerges: if a company wishes to succeed on word-of-mouth advertising, its most feasible avenue of success is to target a much narrower pool of individuals who are not only the most likely individuals to purchase the product, but are the most likely to share their approval of the product with others, and to be listened to by others.
In short, the prior art has consisted of market research tools that employ standard statistical methods to target the most likely consumers of particular products or services, but have not applied statistics to target those individuals who are most influential to other consumers, and are most likely to accomplish the word-of-mouth "advertising" goals of the companies through spreading their influence. The result has often been the expensive purchase of mass data lists and the failed word-of-mouth goals.

System and method of identifying individuals of influence


A new plant variety of the Zingerberacae family resulting from a discovery of a mutant attached to a stool (mat) of lesser galangal (Alpinia officinarum) in a cultivated field and subsequently asexually reproduced from stem cuttings. The most distinguishing characteristics of this new variety are the pungent cinnamon fragrance and flavor of its leaves (tea) and its physical differences with the parent plant. The new variety has valuable commercial potential and excellent post harvest prospects.

The present invention relates to a new and distinct variety of the Zingerberacae family. The new variety is named 'McghieJCG'. The new variety originated as a discovery of a mutant attached to a stool (mat) of a lesser galangal (Alpinia officinarum plant rhizome in a cultivated field, cultivar unknown (commercial nursery)) situated in the suburb of the town of Bog Walk in the parish of St. Catherine, Jamaica W.I.
Closest plant in resemblance to 'McghieJCG' is its parent plant Alpinia officinarum. The new variety develops into a fairly large mat with well-defined pseudostems bearing medium to large lanceolate leaves.
The first viewing of the 'McghieJCG' plant was in May 2012.
The Inventor subsequently asexually reproduced the new variety at the commercial nursery in Bog Walk by means of 'stem cuttings' and subsequently reproducing over three (3) generations of new plants. The distinguishing characteristics of the new plant have been retained through successive generations.
Growth was observed at nine (9) months to be impressive, as the plants exhibited consistent stable, healthy and vigorous growth characteristics with its roots, stems and leaves (entire plant) appearing to be disease free/pest resistant for the entire period of growth.
The stable mutants were reproduced under different natural conditions; i.e., partial cover, full cover, and full sunlight employing similar cultivation practices as per the mother plant; i.e. fertile, moist, and well drained soils employing the use of organic manure and moderate watering. Plants were also cultivated in pots under full and partial cover in the open field. It was observed that the best growth occurred in plants grown in the open field with partial cover and also full cover.
It was also observed that like the mother plant the leaves of the new variety had a pungent scent. The scent in either plant however, was different, and in the case of the new variety, this was Cinnamon like.
There are also significant physical differences between the new plant and its parent.
The new plant variety is suitable for commercial plant culture because of the potential valuable compounds and properties it is expected to yield when it attains maturity given its parentage.
New compounds derived so far from ongoing research of the mother plants Jamaica grown (Alpinia officinarum, cultivar unknown) are unique to this variety and appear not to be present in any other varieties of Alpiana officinarum grown previously or currently.
As a horticultural plant, the new variety exhibits adaptability as a natural indoor and outdoor plant and also because of its versatile growth patterns when grown under different environmental conditions, in pots or open fields. Other characteristics of this new variety such as its hardiness, attractiveness and general canopy, all together recommends it as a suitable plant for commercial production for the horticultural industry.
The absence of any traces of diseases/insects/and pests at this stage of its growth if maintained will also recommend it as an important agricultural plant in various crop protection programs such as barrier crops, inter-cropping, multi-cropping and landscaping.
The plant can be grown as an herb/spice in home gardens.


In a method for optically recording information in a system including a recording and reading device that includes a strategy part for conducting a strategy when optically recording information and an information processing apparatus that includes a strategy information storing part storing the strategy information for operating the strategy part, the strategy information for operating the strategy part of the recording and reading device is read from the strategy information storing part of the information processing apparatus and the strategy information is transmitted to the recording and reading device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a method for optically recording information to an optical disk and a computer-readable recording medium for causing a computer to optically record information.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, since optical disks capable of recording information have been developed, information processed by an information processing apparatus such as a personal computer or the like are recorded to an optical disk by a recording and reading device.
In order to record information to the optical disk, write pulses forming a 3T through 11T bit of an EFM (Eight to Fourteen bit Modulation) are emitted to the optical disk and then information is recorded.
A strategy process for compensating the write pulses forming the 3T bit through 11T bit is conducted to read the information written on the optical disk without any error.
It is required for the strategy process to correspond to a recording material of the optical disk and the recording and reading device.

Method for optically recording information according to a strategy and computer-readable recording medium for causing a computer to optically record information according to a strategy


An expansion seal for sealing pipe through which electrical cables are arranged to pass comprises an elastic ring, a plurality of upper clamping plates and a plurality of lower clamping plates each preferably of plastics or rubber material. The elastic ring is supported between a plurality of the upper and lower clamping plates, at the circumference of this elastic ring having a slit to allow insertion of cable therein and to cover the cable easily. The elastic ring and cable is locatable in a cable pipe and fixed at one end of the cable pipe by screw bolts. When the bolts are tightened addition a compressive force on the upper clamping plates the elastic ring extends inwardly to fill the space between the inner wall of the elastic ring and cable and outwardly to fill the space between the elastic sealing ring and inner surface of the cable pipe, to prevent liquid, mud and moisture from entering into the cable pipe. Conveniently, the expansion seal can be applied to pipes of different inner diameter and cable of different outer diameters.

This invention relates to an expansion seal for cable pipe.
An expansion seal can be applied to different diameter cable pipe by the expansion force of an elastic sealing ring hereinafter referred to as elastic ring to seal the pipe to prevent liquid or moisture entering into the cable pipe. The expansion seal can have a simplified structure and can be installed or separated quickly by fastening or loosening bolts without changing any element.
In general, the same nominal external diameter electric cable pipes or transmission pipes may have a different inner diameter because of different manufacturing tolerance, the difference ratio always being below 10%. The end of the cable pipe should be sealed to prevent liquid, mud or moisture entering the cable pipe, otherwise, the cable may be damaged and an operator's life put in peril. Thus it is necessary to provide seals of various sizes to apply for different diameters of cable pipe. This raises manufacturing costs and causes operative inconvenience or disturbance.


Application program interfaces (API) are provided for labeling strings while a user is creating a document and providing user actions based on the type of semantic label applied to the string. A recognizer API is provided and includes properties and methods or instructions which allow recognizer plug-ins to semantically label strings of text or cells or information. An action API is provided and includes properties and methods that are called upon when a user initiates particular actions such as opening a web browser, going to a particular URL, or opening an instance of a word processing or spreadsheet program. After the strings are annotated with a type label, application program modules may use the type label to provide users with a choice of actions. If the user's computer does not have any actions associated with a type label, the user may be provided with the option to surf to a download Uniform Resource Locator (URL) and download action plug-ins for that type label. One or more recognizer plug-ins perform the recognition of particular strings in an electronic document. The recognizer plug-ins may be packaged with an application program module or they may be written by third parties to recognize particular strings that are of interest. One or more action plug-ins provide possible actions to be presented to the user based upon the type label associated with the string.

Electronic documents such as word processing documents and spreadsheet documents typically include semantic information that would be helpful if the information was recognized as such. Recognition and use of this semantic information could result in increased interoperability between desktop software applications and other desktop applications and/or web-based applications.
The ability to recognize strings of text, such as in search engines, is well-known. Additionally, various information retrieval systems have capabilities to label documents. For example, the LEXIS-NEXIS service provides links in some of its documents for company names, famous people and stock ticker symbols.
However, none of the services described above allow strings of text to be labeled with semantic information on-the-fly, i.e., as a user is typing text into a document and creating a document. Thus, there is a need for a method and system for semantically labeling strings while a user is creating a document and providing user actions based on the type of semantic label applied to the string. There is further a need for application program interfaces (API) for labeling strings while a user is creating a document and providing user actions based on the type of semantic label applied to the string.
It is with respect to these considerations and others that the present invention has been made.

Application program interfaces for semantically labeling strings and providing actions based on semantically labeled strings


A method for controlling a DC-DC converter that achieves high conversion efficiency without using a linear regulator circuit. The DC-DC converter includes a main switching transistor, a first capacitor, a second capacitor, and a diode that is series-connected to the first capacitor. The series-connected diode and the first capacitor are connected between the source and drain of the main switching transistor. The second capacitor is connected in parallel to the first capacitor or disconnected from the first capacitor in synchronism with activation and inactivation of the main switching transistor to generate gate voltage for driving the main switching transistor.

The present invention relates to a DC-DC converter and a method for controlling a DC-DC converter.
In the prior art, electronic devices, such as a notebook computer or a game gadget, incorporates a plurality of semiconductor devices. To keep the operational voltage supplied to the semiconductor devices constant, a DC-DC converter is used to maintain constant battery voltage, which tends to fluctuate, by converting battery voltage to constant voltage (operational voltage) (e.g., Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication Nos. 2000-69746, 2000-184612, and 2001-352750).
The conversion efficiency of DC-DC converters must be improved for electronic devices to be used more widely. This is because the conversion efficiency of a DC-DC converter determines the battery operation time of an electronic device. For example, in an electronic device of which power consumption is 1 Wh, when operating the electronic device with a 10 Wh battery, if the ideal conversion efficiency of the DC-DC converter is 100%, the operation time of the battery is ten hours. However, if the conversion efficiency is 50%, the battery operation time decreases to five hours.
In a switching regulator type DC-DC converter, the conversion efficiency is improved by employing synchronous rectification or by employing a switching transistor, such as an n-type field effect transistor (FET) as a main switching transistor (e.g., Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2000-197349, pages 7–8, FIG. 8).
In synchronous rectification, an FET is used in lieu of a flywheel diode as a circuit for rectifying output in a DC-DC converter. Synchronous rectification decreases voltage drops and achieves high conversion efficiency. Synchronous rectification is necessary to achieve high conversion efficiency especially for a DC-DC converter having low output voltage.
Among switching regulator type DC-DC converters, a voltage drop type that converts high voltage to low voltage has a high conversion efficiency of 95% to 96%. A prior art example of a synchronous rectification voltage drop type DC-DC converter is shown in FIG. 1. The DC-DC converter 1 is incorporated in an electronic device (e.g., notebook personal computer) and converts input voltage from a battery (not shown) to an output voltage Vout, which is used to operate CPUs and their peripheral circuits.
The DC-DC converter 1 includes a control circuit 2 and a plurality of externally connected devices that are configured on a single chip of a semiconductor device. The control circuit 2 generates a first drive signal SG1, which is provided to the gate of a main switching transistor T1 (specifically, a p-type FET). The source of the transistor T1 is supplied with the input voltage Vin. The drain of the main switching transistor (hereafter referred to as main transistor) T1 is connected to the drain of a synchronous rectification transistor T2 (specifically, an n-type FET). The gate of the synchronous rectification transistor (hereafter referred to as rectifying transistor) T2 is provided with a second drive signal SG2 of the control circuit 2. The source of the transistor T2 is grounded.
The drain of the main transistor T1 is connected to an output terminal 3 via a choke coil L1. The output terminal is grounded via a smoothing capacitor C1. The drain of the main transistor T1 is further connected to the cathode of a flywheel diode D1, and the anode of the diode D1 is grounded.
The control circuit 2 includes voltage dividing resistors R1 and R2, an error amplifier 4, a triangular wave oscillator 5, a PWM comparator 6, and drive circuits 7a and 7b. Further, the control circuit 2 generates the first and second drive signals SG1 and SG2. The first and second drive signals SG1 and SG2 respectively control the operation of the transistors T1 and T2.
In the control circuit 2, the voltage dividing resistors R1 and R2 divide the output voltage Vout. The divisional voltage is supplied to the inverting input terminal of the error amplifier 4. The non-inverting input terminal of the error amplifier 4 is supplied with a reference voltage e1 (first reference voltage). The error amplifier 4 compares the divisional voltage, which corresponds to the output voltage Vout, to amplify the voltage difference between the divisional voltage and the reference voltage and generates an error output signal A1.
The error output signal A1 is provided to the non-inverting terminal of the PWM comparator 6. The inverting input terminal of the PWM comparator 6 is provided with a triangular wave signal, which has a predetermined cycle, from the triangular wave oscillator 5. The PWM comparator 6 compares the error output signal A1 with the triangular wave signal to generate a PWM output signal P1 having a predetermined duty ratio in accordance with the comparison result. The PWM output signal P1 controls the activation and inactivation of the main transistor T1 to maintain the output voltage Vout at a constant state.
FIG. 2 is a waveform diagram showing the operation of the control circuit 2. In the control circuit 2, the voltage fluctuation of the error output signal A1 is large when the difference between the divisional voltage and the reference voltage e1 is large and small when the voltage difference between the divisional voltage and the reference voltage e1 is small.
The PWM comparator 6 generates the PWM output signal P1 at a high level when the triangular wave signal is lower than the error output signal A1 and generates the PWM output signal P1 at a low level when the triangular wave signal is higher than the output signal A1. Accordingly, when the voltage of the error output signal A1 increases, the pulse width of the PWM output signal P1 increases (i.e., the pulse width during which the signal P1 is high).
The PWM output signal P1 is inverted by a drive circuit 7a (specifically, an inverter circuit) and provided to the gate of the main transistor T1 as the first drive signal SG1. Thus, when the pulse width of the PWM output signal P1 increases, the ON time of the transistor T1 increases. On the other hand, when the pulse width of the PWM output signal P1 decreases, the ON time of the transistor T1 decreases.
In the DC-DC converter 1, the PWM output signal P1 controls the activation and inactivation of the main transistor T1 so that the output voltage Vout becomes equal to the constant voltage set by the reference voltages e1 and the voltage dividing resistors R1 and R2.
The PWM comparator 6 generates an inverted PWM output signal P2 having a logic level that is inverted from the PWM output signal P1. That is, the output signals P1 and P2 are output as complementary signals from the PWM comparator 6. The inverted PWM output signal P2 is provided to the gate of the rectifying transistor T2 as the second drive signal SG2 via the drive circuit 7b.
Accordingly, the rectifying transistor T2 is inactivated when the main transistor T1 is activated, and the rectifying transistor T2 is activated when the main transistor T1 is inactivated. That is, the main transistor T1 and the rectifying transistor T2 are alternately activated by the first and second drive signals SG1 and SG2 provided from the control circuit 2.
The switching operation of the main transistor T1 smoothes output current of the main transistor T1 by means of the choke coil L1 and the smoothing capacitor C1. When the main transistor T1 is activated, the input voltage Vin is supplied to an LC circuit (i.e., smoothing circuit configured by the choke coil L1 and the smoothing capacitor C1) via the transistor T1. When the main transistor T1 is inactivated, a current path is configured with the flywheel diode T1. In this state, the energy stored in the choke coil L1 during activation of the main transistor T1 is released to the output terminal 3.
The output voltage of the output terminal 3 is represented by the next equation.Vout=Vin×Ton/(Ton+Toff)
In the equation, Ton represents the period during which the transistor T1 is activated (the activation time of the PWM output signal P1 in FIG. 2) and Toff represents the period during which the transistor T1 is inactivated (the inactivation time of the output signal P1 in FIG. 2).
Accordingly, even if the input voltage Vin fluctuates due to reasons, such as battery drainage or the environmental conditions of the electronic device, the controlling of the duty cycle of the PWM output signal guarantees that the output voltage Vout is maintained at a constant voltage.
In the DC-DC converter 1, when the main transistor T1 is inactivated, the second drive signal SG2 activates the rectifying transistor T2 and the voltage drop of the flywheel diode D1 in the forward direction is clamped. This decreases voltage drop and improves the smoothing efficiency.
In the DC-DC converter 1, a p-type FET is used as the main transistor T1. However, if an n-type FET is used as the main transistor T1 like in a DC-DC converter 1a as shown in FIG. 3, the ON resistance of the main transistor T1 decreases and reduces power loss.
When using an n-type FET as the main transistor T1, the first drive signal SG1 for driving the transistor T1 must have a voltage that is greater than the input voltage Vin. Thus, in the DC-DC converter 1a of FIG. 3, when the main transistor T1 is activated and inactivated, a charge pump generates the drive voltage of the transistor T1 by utilizing the fluctuation of the input voltage Vin between the source potential and ground potential of the main transistor T1.
More specifically, the PWM output signal P1 is provided via a drive circuit 8a to the gate of the main transistor T1. The inverted PWM output signal P2 is provided via a drive circuit 8b to the gate of the rectifying transistor T2 as the second drive signal SG2.
A series-connected circuit configured by a diode D2 and a capacitor C3 is connected between the drain and source of the main transistor T1. The cathode of the diode D22 is connected to the capacitor C3. A connection node between the diode D2 and the capacitor C3 is connected to a power supply terminal of the drive circuit 8a. The anode of the diode D2 is connected to a power supply terminal of the drive circuit 8b. Further, the anode of the diode D2 is connected to the ground via a capacitor C2.
In the DC-DC converter 1a, when the main transistor T1 is inactivated and the rectifying transistor T2 is activated, the source potential of the main transistor T1 is the ground potential. In this state, current flows via the diode D2 to the capacitor C3. The capacitor C3 is charged until its voltage becomes equal to the input voltage Vin. Then, the charged voltage of the capacitor C3 is used to output the drive signal SG1 from the drive circuit 8a and activate the main transistor T1.
When the main transistor T1 is activated, the source potential of the transistor T1 is increased to the input voltage Vin. In this state, the capacitor C3 is connected to the source of the transistor T1. Thus, the voltage supplied from the capacitor C3 to the drive circuit 8a increases and becomes greater than the input voltage Vin. Even if the source potential of the transistor T1 increases, the voltage of the first drive signal SG1 for the source potential does not change and is equal to the input voltage Vin.
The first drive signal SG1 drives the main transistor T1. In this state, the capacitor C3 has a voltage that is greater than the input voltage Vin. Further, the diode D2 functions as a reversed current prevention circuit for preventing charges of the capacitor C3 from reversely flowing towards the side of the input voltage Vin (battery voltage).
The input voltage Vin drives the main transistor T1 of the DC-DC converter 1a. In this case, power loss resulting from the gate capacitance of the main transistor T1 is represented by the next equation.PW=½×f×C×Vin^2
In the equation, f represents the switching frequency, and C represents the gate capacitance of the main switching transistor T1. Further, ^ indicates that Vin is to be raised to an exponential power (2 in this case).
The power loss PW resulting from the gate capacitance C of the transistor T1 is proportional to the switching frequency f and is proportional to the square of the input voltage Vin. Thus, a linear regulator is employed to decrease the input voltage Vin to an appropriate voltage value and use the decreased input voltage Vin in order to reduce power loss PW.
FIG. 4 shows a prior art example of a DC-DC converter 1b using a linear regulator 9. In the DC-DC converter 1b, the linear regulator 9 is provided with the input voltage Vin. The output terminal of the linear regulator 9 is connected to the anode of the diode D2 and to the power supply terminal of the drive circuit 8b.
However, when the output is increased and the frequency is raised in the DC-DC converter 1b, the gate current flowing to the gate of the main transistor T1 increases. This produces heat in the linear regulator 9.
To reduce power loss, as shown by the broken line in the DC-DC converter 1b of FIG. 4, a diode D3 may be added between the linear regulator 9 and the output terminal 3. In this case, when the DC-DC converter 1b is activated, the output voltage of the linear regulator 9 is used as the drive voltage. When the output voltage Vout is output from the output terminal 3 at a constant voltage, the output voltage Vout is used as the drive voltage. This is preferable for reducing the power loss PW when the output voltage Vout of the DC-DC converter 1b is the optimal voltage value for the drive voltage of the main transistor T1.
In the DC-DC converter, the voltage dividing resistors R1 and R2 are arranged outside the control circuit 2 as externally connected devices. The resistance of each of the resistors R1 and R2 is altered to set the output voltage Vout as desired. In this case, the output voltage Vout is not necessarily the optimal value for the drive voltage of the main transistor T1. Thus, the technology of FIG. 4 in which the diode D3 is added cannot be employed.
In recent years, the power efficiency of semiconductor devices incorporated in electronic devices has increased. Further, the voltage of the DC-DC converter is decreasing year by year. Thus, the output voltage of the DC-DC converter cannot be used directly as the drive voltage of the main transistor T1.

DC-DC converter and method for controlling DC-DC converter


A clean space having a desired total volume is formed by coupling unit room bodies in sequence. Alterations in the configuration of clarifying and air-conditioning facilities are carried out easily and quickly, even if the structure and disposition of the clean space are altered. Each of the unit room bodies includes an air-circulator such as a fan unit and a dust catcher such as an air-filter. Each of the unit room bodies also includes an air conditioner-setting space shut off from the clean space in the interior of the unit room body.

The present invention relates to a coupling type clean space apparatus. More precisely, clean space apparatuses are used for making a clean space of almost no dust pollution and the like, that is a so-called clean space, to carry out various types of processes and operations which should not be carried out in a dust filled environment. The present invention relates to a coupling type clean space apparatus which easily makes a clean space route of an optional size by coupling unit room bodies having specific interior volumes in sequence.
In a production line to carry out production of semiconductor apparatuses and other ultraprecise articles, if minute dust is present in the air, the quality and capability of produced articles are affected very badly. Therefore, in a production line of this kind, the various types of processes and operations are carried out in a so-called clean room, from which the dust in the air has been eliminated at a high standard.
In a common production line, accompanied with alteration in the kind of articles and the production process, an alteration in arrangement of the production line or an addition to withdrawal from the production line are frequently carried out. If there is an alteration in the production line, the clean room is desirably rebuilt. However, it is extremely expensive to rebuild the whole clean room in all cases when the production line is slightly altered and also, to design, build and construct the clean room in all cases is time-consuming.
Therefore, a clean space having the necessary volume and shape to be arranged has been constructed by producing clean room units of specific interior volumes beforehand and then, coupling these clean room units in sequence. Doing this, even if there is an alteration in the production line, the arrangement of the clean room units is sufficiently adjustable, and an economical load and time loss accompanied with alteration in the production line is much reduced.
Practically, a continuous long clean space route is constructed by linearly and successively coupling clean room units of a tube type, which have opened ends in both terminals, and defined process and operation are carried out by transferring articles to be processed through this clean space route. A structure which exemplifies this type clean space apparatus has been disclosed in Japanese Official Patent Provisional Publication, 61-107735.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


Methods, computer-readable media, and apparatuses for network flow state preservation include migration of at least one application hosted on a first server device to a second server device coupled to a second traffic management device is detected at a first traffic management device. At least a portion of connection state information associated with a network connection between at least one client device and the application is communicated by the first traffic management device to the second traffic management device via a communication channel between the first and second traffic management devices. The application is provided by the first traffic management device to the at least one client device during the migration based upon the connection state information.

Migration of a virtual machine application from one server in a first data center to another server in a second datacenter, results in disruption of existing traffic flows (e.g., TCP connections) and connection states that are not preserved during this transition. This results in degradation of network performance and inconsistent provisioning of services to requesting client devices.

Methods for preserving flow state during virtual machine migration and devices thereof


A dope containing cellulose acylate as a main content of polymer is cast on a front surface of a moving belt in a method of producing a film from a solution. A drying apparatus is confronted to a back surface of said belt to evaporate a solvent in the gel-like film. Further, a condensers are confronted to a cast surface of said gel-like film to condense a solvent vapor for recovery. A wind speed above and near the gel-like film is from 0.01 m/s to 0.5 m/s, and the belt is transported downwards at the casting position PS. When d (mm) is a distance between the casting surface and each condenser, Tw (° C.) is a temperature of each condenser, and Ts (° C.) is a temperature of the casting dope, conditions are satisfied: Q=(Ts−Tw)/d and 5<Q<100. The obtained film is excellent in thickness uniformity and optical properties, and therefore adequate for the optical film.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical polymer film, a method and an apparatus for producing the a film, and more particularly to an optical polymer film with optical properties, a method and an apparatus for producing the optical polymer film, which is used as a protective film for a polarizing filter, in an optical functional film and in a liquid crystal display.
2. Description Related to the Prior Art
The liquid crystal display (hereinafter LCD) is constructed of a liquid crystal cell, a polarized element and an optical compensation sheet (birefringence sheet). In the transmittance type of the LCD, two polarized elements are provided in both sides of the liquid crystal cell, and one or two optical compensation sheet is disposed between the liquid crystal cell and the polarized element. In the reflection type of the LCD are superimposed a reflecting sheet, a liquid crystal cell, one optical compensation sheet, one polarized element in this order.
The liquid crystal cell is constructed of rod-like liquid crystal molecules, two substrates for including them, and electrode layers for applying an electric voltage to the rod-like molecules. There are several displaying mode types of the liquid crystal cell, which are used depending on situations of orientations of the liquid crystal molecules to be used. For example, as a transmitting type, there are TN (Twisted Nematic), IPS (In-Plane Switching), FLC (Ferroelectric Liquid crystal), OCB (Optically Compensatory Bend), STN (Super Twisted Nematic), VA (Vertically Aligned) and the like, and as a reflecting type, there are TN (Twisted Nematic), HAN (Hybrid Aligned Nematic) and the like. The polarizing element usually has a structure that two transparent protective films are attached to both surfaces of a polarized film.
Further, the optical compensation sheet is used in several liquid crystal displays for reducing the irregular coloring of the displayed image, or for enlarging the view angles. In the optical compensation sheet, a birefringent film which is obtained by stretching or drawing was priory used. Instead of the optical compensation sheet including the birefringent film, it is proposed in recent years to use the optical compensation sheet having optical anisotropy which liquid crystal molecules (especially discotic liquid crystal molecules) on the transparent substrate provides.
In order to provide the optical anisotropy, the orientation of liquid crystalline molecules are made and fixed. In this case, the liquid crystalline molecules have polymerizable groups, and the polymerization of the liquid crystalline molecules is performed for the fixing. The liquid crystalline molecules have large birefringence, and show several orientations. The utilization of these characters can provides the optical compensation sheet with optical properties, which could not obtain by using the prior birefringent film.
The optical properties of the optical compensation sheet are determined according to optical properties of the liquid crystal cell, concretely the above described displaying modes. Accordingly, when the liquid crystalline molecules, especially discotic liquid crystalline molecules, are used, the produced optical compensation sheet can have several optical properties corresponding to the displaying modes of the liquid crystal cell. The optical compensation sheets for several displaying modes, in which discotic liquid crystal molecules are used, are proposed in several patent applications. For example, Japanese Patent Laid Open Publication No. 6-214116, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,583,679, 5,646,703 and German Patent Application Publication No. 3911620A1 teach an optical compensation sheet for the TN-mode liquid crystal cell. Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 10-54982 teaches the optical compensation sheet for the IPS-mode or FLC-mode liquid crystal cell. Further, U.S. Pat. No. 5,805,253 and International Patent Application No. 96/37804 teaches the optical compensation sheet for the OCB-mode liquid crystal cell & the HAN-mode liquid crystal cell, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 9-26572 teaches the optical compensation sheet for the STN-mode liquid crystal cell, and Japanese Patent No. 2866372 teaches the optical compensation sheet for the VA-mode liquid crystal cell.
However, although there are several ways of orientations of liquid crystal molecules, and only the above anisotropies of the liquid crystal sometimes cannot optically compensate the liquid crystal cell. U.S. Pat. No. 5,646,703 supposes that both the liquid crystal molecules and the transparent substrate of the optical compensation sheet is provided with the optical anisotropy. Thus the liquid crystal cell is optically compensated.
It is extremely progressed to provide several functions with the above products for several optical uses. In this progress of the products for the optical use (such as these LCDs), it is necessary for the film constructing each layer of the product to have the thickness uniformly controlled with high accuracy and the uniformity of optical properties. For example, the thickness nonuniformity (or thickness-mura) in the protective film for a polarizing filter causes wrinkle which occurs when being attached to the polarizing element, a curled shape of the polarizing filter after attachment, and the like. Further, the optical film is coated with a hard coating layer for surface protection and an anti-reflection layer for preventing the reflection. The thickness nonuniformity often causes the nonuniform coating (or coating-mura). Especially, when the nonuniformity (or mura) cyclically occurs, the quality of images displayed by the LCD becomes extremely worse. Each Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2002-234042 No. 2002-1745 teaches a solution casting method as a method of producing a film, in which the thickness uniformity is improved moreover.
However, recently, while the thinner thickness and the larger number of superposed films and the improvement of productivity are increasingly required, it is necessary to control the thickness of the film produced from the polymer with higher accuracy. Accordingly, the productivity is not enough improved and the produced film cannot have the uniform thickness and the uniform optical property. Further, when the optical properties, especially retardation values Re, Rth in birefringence are not uniform, the influence on the products is large. For example, the tinting and the inversion sometimes occur in the LCD, and when such an optical compensation sheet for enlarging view angle is used in the LCD, the change of the view angle and the color inversion sometimes occur.

Method and apparatus for producing film from polymer solution, and optical polymer film


Disclosed are a transmitter capable of cancelling simultaneous switching noise while ensuring low costs and a small area and a data transmission method in the same. The transmitter includes an encoder configured to convert input data of two levels (1 and 0) into data of three levels (+1, 0, and −1) and an output unit configured to output the data converted by the encoder. Here, the encoder adds 1 bit to the input data such that the number of bits corresponding to logic 1 becomes an even number. In addition, a specific correlation is established between currents or voltages corresponding to at least two levels of levels “+1”, “0”, and “−1” so that “+1” and “−1” corresponding to the logic 1 are alternately arranged and a current flowing through a power line or a ground line is constant regardless of the input data.

A conventional transmitter uses an inverter-type single-output transmitter. That is, in order to transmit data, one signal line per data bit was used. In this case, an amount of currents flowing through a power line and a ground line varied according to a pattern of input data, and as a result, simultaneous switching noise occurred.
In order to cancel such simultaneous switching noise, a transmitter having a differential output structure was used. However, the differential output structure has large power consumption as compared to a single output structure and requires twice signal lines. As a result, there is problem that the number of chip pins is increased and thus an area and cost are increased.

Transmitter for cancelling simultaneous switching noise and data transmission method in the same

Industry-University Cooperation Foundation Hanyang University


The present invention provides a simple and inexpensive process for preparing glycerol carbonate. Namely, according to the present invention, glycerol carbonate is prepared by reacting glycerol with urea.

The present invention relates to an inexpensive process for preparing glycerol carbonate.
Glycerol carbonate is applied to use in various fields, e.g. raw materials for synthesis of polymers such as polyester, polycarbonate, polyurethane and polyamide, surfactants and lubricating oils. For example, German Patent No. 19756454 discloses application to an emulsifier for cosmetics and a lustering agent. Furthermore it is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,856,413 that it can be easily converted to glycidol.
A reaction thereof with phosgene and an exchange reaction with a dialkyl carbonate are known as a conventional method of preparing glycerol carbonate from glycerol. A method of reacting glycerol with carbon monoxide and oxygen at a high pressure in the presence of a catalyst is also known in JP-A 6-157509, corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 5,359,094. A less expensive, simpler method using a highly safe material, however, has been desired. It has been therefore asked to conduct the reaction with a catalyst easily treated or without catalyst.
The purpose of the present invention is to provide a process for preparing glycerol carbonate simply at a low cost.
The present inventors have found that glycerol carbonate can be synthesized by reaction of glycerol with urea.
The present invention provides a process for preparing glycerol carbonate by reaction of glycerol with urea.
More specifically, the invention provides a process for preparing glycerol carbonate, comprising reacting glycerol with urea in the presence of a metal oxide catalyst or in the absence of any catalyst.
The reaction is preferably carried out in the presence of a dehydrating agent.
It is preferable to feed urea in a 0.2 to 2.0 times as many moles as glycerol.
The reaction may be preferably carried out in the presence of anhydrous magnesium sulfate, anhydrous sodium sulfate, anhydrous calcium sulfate or a molecular sieve.
The catalyst is desirably used in an amount of 0.001 to 10 wt % based on glycerol.
The reaction is preferably conducted at a temperature between 100xc2x0 C. and 140xc2x0 C., more preferably at a temperature between 100xc2x0 C. and 120xc2x0 C., in particular preferably at a temperature between 110xc2x0 C. and 120xc2x0 C.
In the present process comparatively inexpensive glycerol and urea are used as starting materials. Glycerol carbonate can be easily produced just by reacting them with each other. The feeding mole ratio of urea to glycerol may be preferably 0.2 to 2.0, particularly 0.5 to 1.0.
The invention reaction does not essentially need a catalyst. The reaction proceeds smoothly by using as catalyst a metal oxide such as zinc oxide and an alkaline earth metal oxide, e.g. magnesium oxide. A preferred amount of the used catalyst is 0.001 to 10 wt % based on glycerol.
In the present process, it is desirable to use a sufficiently dehydrated glycerol. In the reaction dehydrating agents such as anhydrous magnesium sulfate, anhydrous calcium sulfate, anhydrous sodium sulfate and molecular sieve may be preferably used. The reaction may be conducted preferably in passing of nitrogen gas or at a reduced pressure in order to remove out generated ammonia efficiently. The passing amount of nitrogen gas is not specified as long as ammonia and excess water can be removed. Nitrogen gas may be preferably introduced into the glycerol liquid phase. The reaction may be conducted at a reduced pressure, for example, in the range of 13.3 to 101 kPa.
A preferred reaction temperature ranges from 80xc2x0 to 160xc2x0 C., more preferably from 100xc2x0 to 140xc2x0 C. and particularly preferably from 110xc2x0 to 120xc2x0 C.
According to the present process, comparatively inexpensive materials can be used. No high pressure equipment is not required. Glycerol carbonate can be prepared simply. Glycerol carbonate obtained by the present process can be easily converted to glycidol by known means.

Process for the preparation of glycerol carbonate


An improved lip product applicator for applying a pasty or semi soft lip product to a user's lips comprising a body is described. The body has a product reservoir extending therefrom. The product reservoir is generally hollow and has a tip extending from an end of the reservoir opposite the body. The reservoir is designed so as to allow for discharging product contained therein through an orifice in said tip. The tip is made of a clear material that permits the user to view the color of the product contained therein. The tip is also tapered and retains its tapered shape as lip product is applied to a user's lips.

There are many lip cosmetic and other lip products on the market. These may include, for example, lip gloss, lip sticks, lip balm and others. While some lip products may be applied by a finger or a brush from a container, many more are dispensed through the use of a lip applicator. Lip sticks are usually applied through the use of a lip applicator that has a receptacle for the stick of a lip product. The receptacle is usually a recessed member designed to hold a portion of one end of the lip stick. The remainder of the stick extends from the receptacle. The receptacle reposes in a mechanism for extending and retracting the lip stick from the applicator as product is to be used or to store the delicate stick when it is not being applied. There is also a cover over the applicator for further protecting the stick. In some instances the cover may be made of a clear material to permit the purchaser to be able to view the color of the stick break off if the proper care is not taken. Another problem with lip sticks arises when the user fails to return the stick to a recessed position after use. In these situations, the stick can become smudged, smashed or lose its shape if the cap is placed on the extended lip stick. When a lip stick is initially purchased, the stick is pre-shaped to a point or the stick is angled to permit the user to apply the lip stick in the desired manner. As time goes on, however, the lip stick, because it is relatively soft, has a tendency to lose the crisp point or angle it arrived with. As a result, it becomes more difficult for the user to obtain the clean lines that are usually sought. One effect of such abrasion is that the user either disposes of the product before it is completely used or attempts to reshape the tip.
Another issue with respect to lip sticks or pomades relates to color selection. Many consumers are very particular in selecting the color of their lipstick. Color is important for a number of reasons. One important factor in color selection is each person's individual tastes. People have preferences for certain colors over others. One person may like one color more than another. A person may think that one color looks better than another on them. Skin coloring can also enter into the equation. One color may look better with one person's skin tone but not another's. Also, a fashion sense also becomes a factor. There are some colors that may be "in" at one point of time but not another.
Cosmetic companies try to inform the consumer of the color that a lipstick may have in a number of ways. One approach is to provide the lipstick applicator with a clear cover that permits the consumer to view the lipstick through the cover. Because lip stick applicators are not only a product dispenser but also can be a fashion accessory, a clear cover is not always desired by the manufacturer or the purchaser for many reasons including aesthetic or styling reasons. Another approach is to use a color sample on the package, on the applicator or elsewhere. While this gives the consumer some color information there are issues with the color card or sample. First, the color is printed on paper. Paper while reproducing the color to a certain extent does not identically match the color in the applicator. The difference caused by the paper can also be exacerbated depending on the type of paper the color is reproduced on. Depending on whether the paper has a matte finish or a glossy finish and what the background color is that the color swatch has around it the eye may perceive a difference between the color on the paper and the actual color of the product in the package. Some manufacturers attempt to avoid this discrepancy by permitting the user to remove the cap and see the actual product contained therein. While this solves the color selection concern there are other sometimes more serious issues caused by this approach. The manufacturer runs the risk that the consumer does more than just view the product and actually samples it by applying it to the lips. For some reason, many consumers after sampling the product in this manner do not purchase the specific item sampled but rather pick an unused one to purchase. Permitting the consumer to have access to the product can raise very serious safety concerns due to the risk of product tampering. Also, when the consumer has access to the product in the store, there is also the possibility that the product can become contaminated from the use. Even apart from these issues, when the product is available in this manner, the consumer is not always careful in replacing the cap, retracting the product into the applicator prior to replacing the cap, etc.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A feature symbol triplets object instance recognizer and method for recognizing specific objects in a query image. Generally, the recognizer and method find repeatable features in the image, and match the repeatable features between a query image and a set of training images. More specifically, the recognizer and method finds features in the query image and then groups all possible combinations of three features in to feature triplets. Small regions or “patches” in the query image, and an affine transformation is applied to the patches to identify any similarity between patches in a query image and training images. The affine transformation is computed using position of neighboring features in each feature triplet. Next, all similar patches are found, and then pairs of images are aligned to determine if the patches agree in the position of the object. If they do, then it is said that object is found and identified.

Object instance (or known object) recognition is the task of recognizing a specific object. Object instance recognition does not recognize categories of objects, but instead a particular object from a category. By way of example, these specific objects may include specific artwork (such as the Mona Lisa), a specific photograph, the front of a restaurant, or an object on a supermarket shelf.
Object instance recognition remains a challenging problem in computer vision. Literally millions of objects exist, and finding a computationally feasible method for recognizing a particular object can be difficult. Some of the most promising approaches to object instance recognition are feature-based techniques. Feature-based techniques extract local feature descriptors from salient points in an image. Recognition is achieved by matching feature descriptors from a query image with those found from a set of training images. Ambiguous matches are eliminated in a verification stage by matching objects using a global affine transformation.
One problem, however, with feature-based techniques is the difficulty of matching found features with those in the database. The size of the feature database can be quite large. In addition, the feature database scales linearly with the number of known objects. One way commonly used to reduce the computational complexity of this search is to use an approximate nearest neighbor (ANN) technique or a hashing technique. However, the limitations of these two techniques become apparent as the number of objects in the database increases. Another problem is that as the feature space becomes more crowded it becomes increasingly difficult to find correct matches, because several good matches might exist for any feature within a query image.
In large feature databases, the ambiguity of the correctly matching feature most likely is unavoidable. If it is assumed that the feature space will be densely populated, then each feature can be assigned to a cluster instead of finding its single closest match within the database. The set of clusters can be created using a modified K-means clustering algorithm during training. The number of possible clusters can range from 1,000 to over 10,000.
This set of cluster means creates a vocabulary of features. However, one problem is that the resulting symbols can be quite generic and are rarely object dependent. Another problem with the vocabulary of features approach is ensuring that corresponding features across images are assigned to the same symbol. If the feature appearance varies due to image noise or misestimation of position, scale or rotation, differing symbols maybe assigned.

Object instance recognition using feature symbol triplets


The sheet feeder of a recorder includes a sheet support, a shaft extending over the support, a feed roller rotatable on the axis of the shaft, and collars mounted rotatably around the shaft. Disks may be formed on the shaft. Each of the collars is supported rotatably on one of the disks. The inner periphery of at least one of the collars in the widthwise middle area of the support is spaced from the periphery of the associated disk. Even if the support is curved in such a manner that it is convex toward the roller, the distance between the shaft axis and the point or line where the at least one of the collars is in compressive contact with the top one of the sheets stacked on the support is shorter than the distances between the axis and the points or lines where the collars near the lateral ends of the support are in compressive contact with the top sheet. All of the collars can keep the roller and the sheet spaced at a predetermined distance from each other. Consequently, the sheets can be fed properly.

An ink jet printer or another conventional printer is fitted with a sheet feeder for feeding one by one the sheets of paper stacked on a sheet support. The feeder includes a rotatable shaft extending horizontally over the support. Fixed to the shaft are semi-cylindrical feed rollers for feeding the sheets one after one. The support is urged toward the rollers by an urging means. A rear portion of the support is covered normally with a cover. The shaft includes disks formed on it. A collar is fitted rotatably on the periphery of each disk. The collars on the disks are smaller slightly in diameter than the rollers. When the cylindrical surfaces of the rollers are away from the support, the collars are in contact with the top sheet so as to keep the sheet spaced at a predetermined distance from the axes of the rollers.
Some sheet feeders of this type each include a sheet cassette fitted with a cover and a sheet support which interlock or work with each other. When the cover opens, it pushes the right and left ends of the support, thereby moving the support against the force of the urging means away from the horizontal rotatable shaft. Consequently, when the cylindrical surfaces of the rollers are away from the support, the support is spaced from the collars so that sheets of paper can be stacked on the support. When the cover closes, the urging means returns the support toward the rollers. This brings the collars into contact with the top one of the sheets stacked on the support. Consequently, the sheet is spaced at a predetermined distance from the axes of the rollers. As a result, when the rollers turn, the sheets can be fed one by one.
The sheet support tends to curve in such a manner that its right and left ends are lower than its middle.
In general, a sheet support is made of synthetic resin, and includes walls protruding down from its periphery and/or ribs extending longitudinally and laterally on its back in order to improve its rigidity. It is not avoidable for the support to curve in such a manner that the support is convex upward due to the distortion or deformation of the support, which may be caused by the contraction of the peripheral walls after the support is molded.
As stated above, some sheet feeders each include a sheet cassette fitted with a cover and a sheet support which interlock with each other. When the cover opens and closes, the support moves. When the cassette is removed from the feed rollers, and packed and/or kept, the cover keeps pressing the right and left ends of the support urged in the opposite direction at a position or positions inward from these ends. The urging force curves the support in such a manner that the support is convex upward. If the support keeps curved for a long time while it is packed, it may be permanently curved.
When the cover is closed and the cylindrical surfaces of the feed rollers are away from the sheet support, with the support curved in such a manner that its right and left ends are lower than its middle, the only collars positioned near the middle are in contact with the top one of the sheets stacked on the support. As a result, the top sheet is spaced farther than the predetermined distance from the axes of the rollers. Therefore, the rollers may not be able to feed the sheets securely.

Sheet feeder having collar structure for improved feeding and printer therefor


There is provided an information processing apparatus including a display control section that controls a second display device present in a second space. The second display device displays a first captured image obtained by imaging at least one or more first users present in a first space. The display control section superimposes and displays a second user object on the first captured image in accordance with line-of-sight relevant information of each of the first users. The second user object corresponds to each of at least one or more second users present in the second space. This makes it possible to achieve more realistic communication.

In remote video communication in which a first user and a second user are present in different remote locations, the positional relationship between the first user displayed on a display device and a camera that images the first user may cause the first user displayed on the display device to have a line of sight shifted. This line of sight that is shifted sometimes causes failure in eye contact or the like. Accordingly, a variety of techniques have been developed to avoid such an occasion and allow the first user and the second user to experience realistic communication in eye contact with each other.
For example, PTL 1 discloses a technique used in a case where a plurality of users present in different locations performs communication. According to the technique in PTL 1, a user who has been called rotates an imaging device that images a user who has made a call and a display device in accordance with the gazing direction of the user who has been called, thereby achieving more realistic communication.

Information processing apparatus, information processing method, and program