The present technology relates to an encoding device and method, a decoding device and method, and a program, which are adapted to be capable of improving convenience.

Conventionally, audio encoding technologies such as advanced audio coding (AAC), and moving picture experts group 2 audio layer 3 (MP3) are known (for example, refer to Non-Patent Document 1, and Non-Patent Document 2).
These audio encoding technologies such as AAC and MP3 are used for various uses including music distribution, and have achieved actual results from the viewpoint of sound quality and implementation.

Encoding device and method, decoding device and method, and program

Abstract: The decoding device is provided with: a decoding unit that decodes audio data including an object audio, the audio data being included in an encoded bit stream, and reads metadata of the object audio from an area in which arbitrary data of the encoded bit stream can be stored; and an output unit that outputs the decoded audio data on the basis of the metadata. The present technology can be applied to the decoding device.


The computerized auction couples with bidder computers and an auction clearinghouse computer displaying data for the auction goods. The clearinghouse computer accepts bids, sorts bids by value, creates a bid paddle display showing the then highest bid and a bidder identifier. Bidders can incrementally increase bids substantially in real time and clearinghouse displays these further bids. The clearinghouse also accepts high value override bids. The system processes all bids until a maximum bid is accepted and displayed for a predetermined period of time. An auctioneer character figure executes a closing sale routine, first, second and third and final call, for additional bids. In the absence of a higher bid, the auctioneer closes the auction with a sold item routine. The sold item display routine visually and audibly identifies that the auction item is sold. If an additional bid is received during close sale, the system restarts the routine.

Computerized auction systems such as the system administered by e-Bay, classically accept electronic bid data from a plurality of bidders. The bidders on networked computers coupled to the e-Bay auction clearinghouse computer, see the goods subject to the auction and bid thereon. At a certain time at the close of the auction, the highest bidder is awarded the goods or services subject to the auction. Thereafter, back office processing systems enable the seller to be paid by the buyer (successful bidder) and facilitate the transfer of the goods or services from the seller to the winning bidder or buyer.
However, the excitement of a live auction is oftentimes not present in the prior art computerized auction systems.

Auction program with auctioneer character figure, closeout countdown and bid paddle displays


The invention is a window glazing assembly having a series of segmented and non-segmented intersecting muntins for supporting glass panes. The non-segmented muntins incorporate a continuous carbon fiber insert that is disposed interior of the non-segmented muntin which rests directly against a perimeter edge of the glass panes. The glazing assembly safely disperses wind load or other forces acting against the glass panes.

Historic landmark criteria require the wooden sash and doors of designated buildings be fabricated using traditional techniques and construction materials. These traditional construction methods, although aesthetically pleasing and architecturally correct, do not provide adequate wind load and impact resistance. Because building codes in many states now require door and window assembly to meet specific hurricane resistance requirements, a need has existed in the art for a glazing system that meets historic landmarks requirements in terms of construction methods and traditional materials yet at the same time provide hurricane level wind load and impact resistance. The present invention is an effort to meet those needs.
The present invention relates to window and door structures and in particular, an improved muntin assembly for securing and sealing glass panes within a window or door frame.

Window glazing assembly having a carbon fiber insert member


A seating device in the form of seat furniture or for placing on seat furniture. The device comprises a seating element which can be pivoted transversally to the seating direction in relation to a support element about at least one axis. The seating element can be moved in the seating direction (X) in relation to the support element by means of at least one actuatable regulating device, and a regulated self-locking position is fixed.

The present invention relates to a seating arrangement as a piece of seating furniture or for placing on a piece of seating furniture, having a seat part which can be pivoted about at least one shaft, transversely to the seating direction, in relation to a support element.
Such seating arrangements are available on the market, and in common use, in a wide variety of different forms and configurations. For this purpose, you are referred to German Utility Model DE 299 01 774 and to German Patent Application DE 100 03 843. These describe a similar seating arrangement for placing on a piece of seating furniture, for example, as a dynamic seating aid. The disadvantage is that, in particular, a linear movement of the seat part only takes place with very high outlay in terms of equipment, which is undesirable. For this purpose, a very large number of components are necessary in order for an adjustment of the seat part in a linear manner in relation to a support element to be allowed and, at the same time, secured.
DE 299 01 774 describes a seating arrangement which is intended for placing on a piece of seating furniture and in the case of which the seat part can be displaced with latching action in three different steps in relation to the support part.
FR 1 318 720 describes a piece of seating furniture of which the seat surface can be inclined about an axis.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,024,485 discloses a support for a piece of seating furniture, on the support surface of which two separate seat parts can be inclined independently of one another about an axis. A similar piece of seating furniture is described in WO 93/19648.
The object of the present invention is to provide a seating arrangement of the type mentioned in the introduction which does away with the abovementioned disadvantages and by means of which it is easily possible for the seat part to be moved in relation to the support element, with the result that the seat part is easy to operate and cost-effective to produce. It is further intended for damping and adjustment of the inclination of the seat part in relation to a support element to be possible in a very cost-effective, straightforward and effective manner.

Seating device in the form of seat furniture or for placing on seat furniture


Embodiments include but are not limited to apparatuses and systems including microelectronic devices including a package substrate, a plurality of electronic components disposed on and electrically coupled with the package substrate at one or more sides of the package substrate, one or more hollow cavity sheet molds surrounding the plurality of electronic components and coupled with one or more sides of the package substrate, and a plurality of through-mold vias to couple the package substrate with an external surface of at least one of the one or more hollow cavity sheet molds. The microelectronic device may be a chip-scale package or module. Methods and systems for making the same also are described.

In the current state of integrated circuit technology, an integrated circuit device will often be in the form of a die or a chip. One or more die sometimes will be mounted onto a carrier substrate to form a packaged microelectronic device. Integrated circuit (IC) packages may include a variety of components (e.g., dies and/or passive components) coupled with a package substrate using solderable material. For example, solder joints may be formed to electrically and/or mechanically couple the components to the package substrate. Mobile electronic devices such as cell phones benefit from size reductions in their component electronic parts such as packaged microelectronic devices, allowing decreased size and/or weight or additional room for other components in a fixed footprint.

Ultrathin flip-chip packaging techniques and configurations


A pneumatic tire is mounted on a 5° rim. A bead core includes a bottom inclined 0°-5° in a direction in which the bottom diverges outward in the radial direction as the bottom extends from an inner side toward an outer side in the width direction. A bead includes a base, a toe, a heel, and a back surface. The heel connects to the back surface by an arc. The base includes a region between a core lower inner end position on an inner circumferential surface of the bead and being identical to a position of a bead core inner end and a core lower outer end position on an inner circumferential surface of the bead and being identical to a position of a bead core outer end in the width direction. The base has a curved line projecting toward the inner side in the radial direction in a cross-section.

A pneumatic tire is mounted on a rim wheel by fitting, to a rim of a rim wheel, a bead portion with a bead core corresponding to an annular member including a plurality of bead wires bundled. The bead portion is a portion that is actually mounted on the rim wheel in a case where the pneumatic tire is mounted on the rim wheel, and thus, in some known pneumatic tires, various improvements are made to the bead portions to achieve desired performance.
For example, in the pneumatic tire described in Japan Patent No. 5629275, the bead cores are shaped to be wider in the tire width direction to reduce localized pressure, suppressing damage to the rim. Additionally, in the tire described in Japan Patent No. 5629275, a bead heel portion of the bead base portion in a meridian cross-section has a round contour with a large radius of curvature, thus ensuring easiness of mounting on the rim. Additionally, in a heavy duty pneumatic radial tire described in Japan Patent No. 4934241, a predetermined range is set for the ratio, to the volume of rubber chafer displaced and deformed by a rim bead sheet, of a space in which rubber chafer displaced and deformed due to mounting, is received, the space being located in a corner where the rim bead sheet is continuous with a rim flange. This configuration prevents separation of the rubber chafer.
Here, pneumatic tires are mounted on various types of vehicles, and in construction vehicles, corresponding to a type of such vehicles, a large torque may be transmitted to the wheels during construction operations. For example, in a wheel loader, which is an example of a construction vehicle, in a case where a bucket provided at a front end of the vehicle is used to scoop up the earth and sand and the like, a large load acts on the front wheels, and thus traveling in this state causes the large torque to be transmitted to the front wheels. In recent years, in this type of wheel loader, high horsepower has been achieved, leading to a tendency toward an increase in torque transmitted to the wheels, and thus the wheels are often used under stringent conditions. Thus, in the wheels mounted on the construction vehicle such as a wheel loader, so-called rim slippage, corresponding to slippage between the rim and the bead portion, may occur due to the increased horsepower of the vehicle. In other words, the torque transmitted to the wheels is transmitted from the rim wheel to the pneumatic tire via the bead portion, and an excessively high torque transmitted from the rim wheel to the bead portion may cause slippage between the rim and the bead portion. The rim slippage thus occurring between the rim wheel and the pneumatic tire may wear rubber in a bead base portion corresponding to an inner circumferential surface of the bead portion and coming into contact with the rim, leading to damage to the bead base portion.
A possible cause of such rim slippage is an insufficient fastening force exerted on the rim by the bead portion. A possible method for increasing the fastening force of the bead portion is to reduce the inner diameter of the bead core of the bead portion or to reduce the circumferential length of the bead heel portion of the bead base portion. However, the reduced inner diameter of the bead core or the reduced circumferential length of the bead heel portion increases the fastening force of the bead portion, but may degrade mountability of the pneumatic tire on the rim in a case of mounting on the rim wheel. The degraded mountability on the rim may cause an eccentric fitting in which the bead portions are fitted eccentrically to the rim wheel, defective seating of the bead portion on the rim wheel, or the like, leading to a reduced fastening force.
Additionally, in a case where the pneumatic tire is mounted on the rim wheel, the contact pressure exerted on the rim by the bead portion is often not uniform, and the increased fastening force of the bead portion may locally excessively increase the contact pressure in portions where the contact pressure is originally large. In this case, the excessively increased contact pressure exerted on the rim by the bead portion may damage the bead portion. However, in a case where the inner diameter of the bead core or the circumferential length of the bead heel portion is set in order to emphasize the mountability on the rim or to ensure durability of the bead portion, the fastening force exerted on the rim by the bead portion may be insufficient, leading to the likelihood of rim slippage. As described above, suppressing rim slippage without degrading the mountability on the rim or bead durability has been very difficult.


A system, method, and computer-readable medium are disclosed for separating the installation of an operating system from the fulfillment, installation, and entitlement of other digital assets. Information associated with the purchase of a system and digital assets to be processed by the system is received, including the system's unique system identifier. The unique system identifier is associated with the digital assets to generate digital assets entitlement data. A personalization agent installed on the system determines the system's unique system identifier and automatically downloads the purchased digital assets, which comprises an operating system (OS), and their associated digital assets entitlement data. Once downloaded, the personalization agent uses the digital assets entitlement data to first install the OS according to any restrictions imposed by the OS manufacturer, and then the remaining digital assets, on the system, which is then entitled to process the installed digital assets.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the management of information handling systems. More specifically, embodiments of the invention provide a system, method, and computer-readable medium for separating the installation of an operating system from the fulfillment, installation, and entitlement of other digital assets.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
In recent years, it has become common for manufacturers to offer standardized configurations of these systems bundled with an operating system (OS) and a selection of software applications, digital content, and associated services. Some of these same manufacturers also offer purchasers the ability to order a system custom-configured to their specification. These custom-configured systems, which are often ordered on-line, allow the purchaser to select the OS of their choice along with a selection of software and other digital assets to meet their individual needs. In some cases, the manufacturer may preinstall the OS and the selected digital assets on the system prior to delivery. In addition, the system may be further personalized (e.g., desktop themes and colors, etc.) as a service to the customer. Such customizations and personalizations may be limited only by the customer's patience and willingness to define or describe their ideal system.
However, the manufacture of custom-configured systems, commonly referred to as Custom Factory Integration (CFI), has begun to take longer and longer as the number of system options has grown. What used to be produced in a matter of days may now take weeks. As a result, system vendors are increasingly moving away from the CFI model to an Original Design Manufacturer (ODM) model where standardized system configurations are preloaded with a standard software image. Moreover, even large retailers may not have all of the digital assets desired by the customer, causing them to go to other retailers or on-line to complete their system purchase.
Furthermore, some OS vendors are known to impose various restrictions on system vendors as to what they can and cannot do. In some cases, these restrictions are intended to protect the OS vendor's brand, the user's out-of-box experience (OOBE), and the ability to be the first to make up-sell or cross-sell offers. Due to these restrictions, system vendors are generally not allowed to alter the initial user experience presented to the customer nor pre-install customer-desired changes, even when that information is available or could be provided by the customer. In view of the foregoing, there is a need for performing the fulfillment of digital assets while adhering to any restrictions imposed by an OS or digital assets vendor. Furthermore, there is also a need for separating the purchase of digital assets from their fulfillment resulting from transactions that are made on-line, at a physical Point of Sale (POS), those made After Point Of Sale (APOS), and those made within an enterprise business environment.

System and method for manufacturing and personalizing computing devices


A method for remote programming of a program-controlled device, and a system having an interface to receive program data and a legitimization, as well as a remotely programmable, program-controlled device, which includes a processor and a program memory, are provided. In the method, program data are remotely transmitted from a control station to the interface and buffer-stored there in a buffer store. Subsequently, a legitimization is transmitted from the control station to the interface, and from there to the program-controlled device. The device checks the legitimization and imports the program data from the buffer store if the legitimization check is positive.

Modern vehicles increasingly use electronic control units to control and regulate a wide variety of vehicle functions. In particular, the operation of vehicle engines is controlled by means of such control units. Electronic control units require an EDP program to execute their functions. Often, this EDP program must be modified retroactively because program faults are discovered or else predefined values for operating parameters of a device controlled by the control unit need to be updated, or because functions of the EDP program are expanded or restricted. For this purpose, the control unit has an interface, so that corresponding modifications of the EDP program are able to be input into the control unit and stored there in a program memory. However, the vehicle must visit a service facility for this purpose, where the new program data are imported into the control unit using a so-called service facility tester. Since the program is usually of a confidential nature and, in addition, any unauthorized manipulation of the control unit's method of operation must be prevented, e.g., for reasons of liability and/or operating safety of the vehicle, the transmission of the program data is implemented with the aid of encoding mechanisms or codes specified by the vehicle manufacturer. The manufacturer stores the confidential codes in the service facility tester, which uses them prior to the reprogramming of the control unit as its legitimization (i.e., security code) vis-à-vis the control unit. This protects the control unit from direct manipulation, so that it is impossible to obtain, via unauthorized access to the control unit, its identification algorithms for the legitimization and to derive the legitimization therefrom. In order to avoid a complicated and time-consuming visit to a service facility, it is expedient to have the ability of programming the control unit remotely without, however, jeopardizing the access security in the process.
Published German patent document DE 100 01 130 describes a system and a method for the remote programming of a control unit, which controls a vehicle and is able to be programmed remotely. An interface for receiving program data from a remote control station via a wireless long-distance connection is part of the system. Program data to be transmitted to the control unit of the vehicle are buffer-stored in a buffer store at the interface and then transmitted into a program memory of the control unit. The buffering of the program data is necessary due to the often unstable wireless long-distance connection in which malfunctions such as a faulty data transmission or interruptions in the connection are quite common. Only when the program data have been received in their entirety are they able to be input into the memory of the control unit since the operation of the vehicle is interrupted while the program data are input into the memory of the control unit. If the program data were directly input into the memory of the control unit, without buffering, the operation of the vehicle would be interrupted during the entire time required for the remote transmission of the program data from the control station into the buffer store, which sometimes may take a relatively long time due to interruptions in the remote transmission.
However, a problem arises here with respect to the legitimization that must be transmitted to the control unit in order for it to accept the program data transmitted thereto from the buffer store. The manufacturer does not wish this legitimization to be physically and permanently stored in the vehicle itself, since the manufacturer thus loses control over the confidentiality or the dissemination of the legitimization.

Method and system for remote programming of a program-controlled device using a legitimization code


A light emitting device having a die that includes a light source that generates light of a first wavelength and a layer of phosphor particles covering the die is disclosed. The phosphor particles convert a portion of the light of the first wavelength to light of a second wavelength. The light source can be fabricated by attaching the light source to a substrate, and converting the light source by applying a light converting layer that includes a volatile carrier material and particles of a phosphor that convert light of the first wavelength to light of the second wavelength over the light source. The volatile carrier material is then caused to evaporate leaving a layer of the phosphor particles over the light source. A binder material can be incorporated in the volatile carrier for binding the phosphor particles to one another after the volatile carrier material is evaporated.

For the purposes of the present discussion, the present invention will be discussed in terms of a "white" emitting light-emitting diode (LED); however, the methods taught in the present invention can be applied to wide range of LEDs. A white emitting LED that emits light that is perceived by a human observer to be "white" can be constructed by making an LED that emits a combination of blue and yellow light in the proper ratio of intensities. High intensity blue-emitting LEDs are known to the art. Yellow light can be generated from the blue light by converting some of the blue photons via an appropriate phosphor. In one design, a transparent layer containing dispersed particles of the phosphor covers an LED chip. The phosphor particles are dispersed in a potting material that surrounds the light-emitting surfaces of the blue LED. To obtain a white emitting LED, the thickness and uniformity of the dispersed phosphor particles must be tightly controlled.
In one prior art method for constructing such a device, the phosphor is mixed with a resin material such as epoxy or silicone and the slurry is put over the LED chip. The phosphors are typically in the form of fine particles and usually have a distribution typically ranging from 1 um to 20 um. When the slurry is used to cover the LED chip, the phosphor particles are initially distributed throughout the coating layer and occupy a volume greater than the LED chip.
Such devices have a number of problems. First, if the resin does not cure quickly, the phosphor particles tend to settle, and hence, there is a non-uniform distribution of particles that often has a boundary between the region of the resin having the particles and the upper portions of the resin coating. This boundary can cause the coating to split into two layers at some point in the life of the light source.
Even if the resin sets before the particles have time to settle, the resulting light source is a three-dimensional source of a size that is much larger than the underlying LED chip. Such a source presents problems in applications in which an optical system must be used to image the light source onto an object that is to be illuminated. The light source is essentially a compound light source having a first point source that emits blue light and a broader diffuse source that emits the yellow light. Consider an optical system that images this compound source onto a scene that is to be illuminated with white light. To be perceived as white light, each area of the scene must receive the same amount of blue and yellow light. Consider a collimating lens that has the LED at its focal point. The blue light will be formed into a beam having a more or less uniform intensity. The yellow light will, in general, not be uniformly distributed across this beam, since the yellow light source is not at the focal point of the lens and consists of a broad three-dimensional source. Hence, a human observer will see a source that varies in color across the source.

Method of applying light-converting material and device thereof

Avago Technologies ECBU IP (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.


A method of handling intercell interference applies physical layer (L1) scheduling decisions to ensure that L1 hybrid automatic repeat request (H-ARQ) retransmissions will not experience the same interference conditions. The retransmission is scheduled in a sub-frame portion that does not include previously tracked allocations of a plurality of users. Potential intercell interference is also handled by applying a time-shift of the L1 H-ARQ retransmissions, such that the bit positions impacted by inter-cell interference will change and thus assure a more robust performance.

The telecommunications industry is in the process of developing a new generation of flexible and affordable communications that includes high-speed access while also supporting broadband services. Many features of the third generation mobile telecommunications system have already been established, but many other features have yet to be perfected.
One of the systems within the third generation of mobile communications is the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) which delivers voice, data, multimedia, and wideband information to stationary as well as mobile customers. UMTS is designed to accommodate increased system capacity and data capability. Efficient use of the electromagnetic spectrum is vital in UMTS. It is known that spectrum efficiency can be attained using frequency division duplex (FDD) or using time division duplex (TDD) schemes. Space division duplex (SDD) is a third duplex transmission method used for wireless telecommunications.
As can be seen in FIG. 1, the UMTS architecture consists of user equipment 102 (UE), the UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network 104 (UTRAN), and the Core Network 126 (CN). The air interface between the UTRAN and the UE is called Uu, and the interface between the UTRAN and the Core Network is called Iu.
The UTRAN consists of a set of Radio Network Subsystems 128 (RNS), each of which has geographic coverage of a number of cells 110 (C), as can be seen in FIG. 1. The interface between the subsystems is called lur.
Each Radio Network Subsystem 128 (RNS) includes a Radio Network Controller 112 (RNC) and at least one Node B 114, each Node B having geographic coverage of at least one cell 110. As can be seen from FIG. 1, the interface between an RNC 112 and a Node B 114 is called Iub, and the lub is hard-wired rather than being an air interface. For any Node B 114 there is only one RNC 112. A Node B 114 is responsible for radio transmission and reception to and from the UE 102 (Node B antennas can typically be seen atop towers or preferably at less visible locations). The RNC 112 has overall control of the logical resources of each Node B 114 within the RNS 128, and the RNC 112 is also responsible for handover decisions which entail switching a call from one cell to another or between radio channels in the same cell.
LTE, or Long Term Evolution (also known as 3.9G), refers to research and development involving the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) aimed at identifying technologies and capabilities that can improve systems such as the UMTS. The present invention is related to LTE work that is taking place in 3GPP.
Generally speaking, a prefix of the letter "E" in upper or lower case may signify LTE, although this rule may have exceptions. The E-UTRAN consists of eNBs (E-UTRAN Node B), providing the E-UTRA user plane (RLC/MAC/PHY) and control plane (RRC) protocol terminations towards the UE. The eNBs interface to the access gateway (aGW) via the S1, and are inter-connected via the X2.
An example of the E-UTRAN architecture is illustrated in FIG. 2. This example of E-UTRAN consists of eNBs, providing the E-UTRA user plane (RLC/MAC/PHY) and control plane (RRC) protocol terminations towards the UE. The eNBs are interconnected with each other by means of the X2 interface. The eNBs are also connected by means of the SI interface to the EPC (evolved packet core) more specifically to the MME (mobility management entity) and the UPE (user plane entity). The SI interface supports a many-to-many relation between MMEs/UPEs and eNBs. The S1 interface supports a functional split between the MME and the UPE. The MMU/UPE in the example of FIG. 2 is one option for the access gateway (aGW).
In the example of FIG. 2, there exists an X2 interface between the eNBs that need to communicate with each other. For exceptional cases (e.g. inter-PLMN handover), LTE_ACTIVE inter-eNB mobility is supported by means of MME/UPE relocation via the S1 interface.
The eNB may host functions such as radio resource management (radio bearer control, radio admission control, connection mobility control, dynamic allocation of resources to UEs in both uplink and downlink), selection of a mobility management entity (MME) at UE attachment, routing of user plane data towards the user plane entity (UPE), scheduling and transmission of paging messages (originated from the MME), scheduling and transmission of broadcast information (originated from the MME or O&M), and measurement reporting configuration for mobility and scheduling. The MME/IUPE may host functions such as the following: distribution of paging messages to the eNBs, security control, IP header compression and encryption of user data streams; termination of U-plane packets for paging reasons; switching of U-plane for support of UE mobility, idle state mobility control, SAE bearer control, and ciphering and integrity protection of NAS signaling.
The present invention is related to intercell interference in LTE, although the solution of the present invention may also be applicable to present and future systems other than LTE. One possible access technique in LTE for the downlink connection is orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), applying different system bandwidths from 1.25 MHz to 20 MHz. OFDM splits the datastream into multiple radio frequency (RF) channels, each of which is sent over a subcarrier frequency. The signal-to-noise ratio of each of those very precisely defined frequencies is carefully monitored to ensure maximum performance.
According to this OFDM approach, the frame structure would divide a frame of 10 ms into a number of sub-frames, each having a duration of 0.5 ms. Each of these sub-frames will consist of a number of OFDM symbols, which will be either 6 or 7. The 7 OFDM symbols per sub-frame will carry unicast transmissions, while the 6OFDM symbols subframe will carry multicast transmissions. However, it should be borne in mind that the multicast/unicast definiton could potentially be altered in the future (e.g. 6 OFDM symbols could be used for unicast transmission).
The present invention is concerned primarily with unicast transmission, but in principle multicast transmission could be addressed in a similar way, especially in the unlikely event that hybrid automatic repeat request (H-ARQ) for multicast is implemented. The current working assumption is that the first OFDM symbol within a sub-frame will hold the essential information to ensure proper operation of a cell (that is, the pilot symbols for proper channel estimation as well as allocation information-which describes the allocation of the physical resources to the different users within the cell). This first OFDM symbol will carry common information as well as shared control information, and in order to ensure that this information is provided to the entire coverage area of the cell, this OFDM symbol has to be transmitted at relatively high power, and will have to be transmitted for every sub-frame. One of several ways to arrange this system is for a transmission time interval (TTI) to consist of a sub-frame pair (1 ms duration), and for the control channel information to be located within the first 3 OFDM symbols (or even less), although many other arrangements are possible (as will be understood by a person skilled in the art).
It is possible for the physical layer (providing access to the radio channel) to provide hybrid automatic repeat request (H-ARQ) to recover from reception errors. This is a well-known technique in modern communications, and will compensate for errors in the radio channel as well as measurement errors in the feed-back loop. Furthermore, it is currently assumed that the Node B's of the network are operating in unsynchronized mode to simplify the network. Hybrid automatic repeat request (H-ARQ) retransmissions should preferably experience a lower amount of interference conditions than is currently possible according to prior art technology.
A problem with the prior art is that the "first OFDM symbol within a sub-frame" from other cells will typically be offset in time relative to the current reception from the serving cell. This means that the interference for a single user or cell will typically be bursty, but periodical and with a constant time offset. Furthermore, when there is more than a single interfering cell, it might be difficult to circumvent the problem in a simple way.
This problem will be most clear in lightly loaded cells, but can also occur whenever (or if) slow power control is applied in the downlink. One case of interest is the case of Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP), where many users may be multiplexed. In this case the control symbol—or the first OFDM symbol—needs to be "filled" out to do the addressing, but the required data amount (e.g. maximally 10-15VoIP packets) will not fill out the other data symbols. Thus, we have some multiplexing freedom available, but the prior art has not exploited that freedom.
When considering the control channel overhead for the situation with many low-data rate users, it is important to keep in mind that the control channel (and the common/broadcast channels) needs to be transmitted all the time. Also, for instance, the synchronization channel and the pilot channel need to be transmitted using quite high power levels in order to assure proper detection by all mobiles within the cell.

Method, apparatus, software and system for handling intercell interference


The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for the separation and purification of charged and neutral compounds in an analyte solution by electrophoretic means using a plurality of compartments (1) to contain the analyte solution, an chemical buffering system (2) to fix a pH value or a pH gradient in its portion(s) contacting the analyte solution and an electrical field imposed by electrical means (4) disposed in at least two of said compartments. This invention allows one to differentially separate charged and neutral compounds, to extract the migrating compounds from the chemical buffering system (2), to recover the purified compounds mainly in solution and to collect them in the various compartments (4), preferably at various pI.

In the expending field of proteomics, complex biological samples that can contain up to 30,000 different proteins have to be separated and analyzed.
Up to now, two-dimensional (2D)-gel electrophoresis has been the technique of choice to identify and classify proteins according to their isoelectric point (pI) and mass (Wilkins, M. R. et al., Proteome Research: New Frontiers in Functional Genomics; Springer, 1997). Indeed, with 2D-gel electrophoresis, proteins are separated first by an isoelectric focusing (IEF) step according to their pI. Secondly, proteins are separated as a function of their molecular mass by a polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) step. The proteins can thus be classified in databases according to their pI and mass.
However, despite its extraordinary resolving power, it appears that 2D-gel electrophoresis has reached a plateau in the number of proteins that can be separated and detected in a single map. Moreover, with 2D-gel electrophoresis, only protein separation and classification according to pI and mass can be achieved. Further analysis of the proteins is required in order to obtain more specific information, such as for example peptide composition or biological activity. For this purpose, the proteins have to be extracted out of the gel matrix and analyzed with the appropriate technique. Extraction procedures such as blotting or spot cutting are time consuming and/or risky for protein recovery and activity.
Once a protein has been extracted, the most powerful analytical technique is mass spectrometry (MS), which allows one to analyze peptide composition. However, for MS analysis, the purity of the samples is critical and they generally have to be treated before measurements, which complicates the procedure. Indeed, if the sample contains salts or other impurities, disadvantages can arise for MS analysis. Thus, a sample with a high concentration of salt needs to be desalted by means such as a dialysis procedure before MS analysis. Moreover, the extraction method is not favorable for MS analysis since it leads to a high concentration of undesired compounds in the recovered sample. Some methods to avoid undesired compounds in the samples have been developed. For example, a direct laser desorption technique from the 2D-gel was described by Ogorzalek Loo R. R. et al. (Analytical Chemistry, 1996, 68, 1910-1917) and an electroblotted 2D-gel was developed by Eckerskorn C. et al. (Analytical Chemistry, 1997, 69, 2888-2892). So the major problem with 2D gel-electrophoresis is that the compounds to be analyzed are trapped within a gel and must be extracted and purified before further analyses.
Another efficient technique to separate complex biological samples is isoelectric separation as for example isoelectric focusing (IEF). There are two major types of IEF devices: free flowing buffered systems and immobilized buffered systems.
The free flowing systems (Soulet, N. et al., Electrophoresis, 1998, 19, 1294-1299; Fuh, C. B. and Giddings, J. C., Separation Science and Technology, 1997, 32, 2945-2967, Bier, U.S. Pat. No. 5,540,826) are based on the use of a buffer (carrier ampholytes or isoelectric buffers). In this case, the major disadvantage is that the final separated fractions contain a certain amount of undesired buffering species or ampholytes. This is a problem since these additional compounds have to be removed before further analyses.
In the case of the immobilized buffering systems, the major disadvantage is that the final separated fractions are trapped in a gel or a membrane, which complicates further analyses. However, a "segmented immobilized pH gradients" device based on the use of multiple compartments separated by immobiline isoelectric membranes was developed by Righetti et al. (Journal of Chromatography, 1989, 475, 293-309). The advantage of this technique is that proteins are recovered in an ampholyte-free solution. However, this method requires the use of multiple compartments, multiple immobilized membranes and segmented pH gradients.
Therefore, the development of new high throughput techniques that allow the separation of complex biological samples and the direct recovery in solution of the compounds to analyze is required. These techniques should minimize separation times, be easy to use and result in a high degree of purity.
Recently, a novel method and apparatus was developed and described by Ros et al. (WO 01/86279). In this case, it is possible to purify compounds that are globally neutral from charged species in a sample which does not need to be buffered. The principle of this method is to flow proteins under an immobilized pH gradient (IPG) gel through which an electric field is applied perpendicular to the direction of the flow. Thanks to the buffering capacity of the IPG gel, proteins in solution close to the gel are extracted with respect to their isoelectric point. Only the proteins with a pI close to the pH of the IPG gel stay in the flowing solution. This technique can be used as a prefractionation step before further analysis, and can also be used as a gel loading method. This technique provides a very high separation rate since the molecules migrate in solution and not in a gel as in IEF systems. The device developed for this OffGel®) electrophoresis is made of:                a chamber above which an immobilized chemical buffering system (e.g. an IPG gl) is inserted, to close the chamber and buffer it at the desired pH range.        two platinum electrodes (placed at each extremity of the device) for producing an electrical current along the IPG gel, above which apertures are made to serve as cathodic and respectively anodic reservoirs and to let the possible gas produced during the purification escape out of the device, and        optionally, an inlet and an outlet, connected via tubing to a peristaltic pump to recirculate the sample.
In this case, the potential difference is only applied through at least a portion of the chemical buffering system. This electrophoresis technique offers extraordinary potentialities and allows the direct recovery of the compounds of interest in solution. However, the device is not very convenient for modem life sciences such as proteomics, which requires high throughput techniques, with short purification time and optimized compound recovery. Furthermore, the strong drawback of Off-Gel electrophoresis is that only components of pI=pH of the gel in contact with the chamber are recovered in solution. It is indeed clear that any other proteins with pI close to the pH of the gel will migrate inside the gel and will be lost for further analysis. Furthermore, preconcentration of sample is probably difficult to realize with Off-Gel electrophoresis, which is one of the bottlenecks of proteomics for analysis of low abundant proteins.
Various systems have been developed for electrophoretic separation purposes. Even though many of them do use either a multi-compartment device or a gel- or membrane-based support (as e.g. the apparatuses described in EP 0776700, GB1422118, EP 0173081, U.S. Pat. No. 5149418 or U.S. Pat. No. 3719580), they refer to conventional electrophoresis separation systems. Indeed, these systems are based on the classical principles of electrophoretic migration of molecules in an electrical field, and they are generally devoted to the separation of molecules according to their size or mass as as widely used for the separation of DNA molecules or fragments. Indeed, such compounds do not have amphoteric properties (in contrast to e.g. proteins) and hence they always exhibit the same charge during the separation. These electrophoretic separation systems therefore do not allow one to separate compounds according to their respective isoelectric point. Indeed, the gels or membranes used in these systems do not comprise any buffering means to fix the pH, and these electrophoretic separation systems are thus fundamentally different from the aforementioned IEF apparatuses, since they are based on totally different separation principles.

Apparatus and method for separating an analyte


A centrifugal compressor includes first and second impellers coupled to opposite ends of a drive shaft. Each impeller includes a hub with a plurality of blades on a front face. The blades compress a fluid, while forcing the fluid off an outer periphery of the hub. At least one of the impellers includes a plurality of uniformly shaped pressure attenuating grooves provided around its outer periphery. The pressure attenuating grooves reduce an axial load applied to the impeller, and act to balance the overall resultant axial load applied to the drive shaft by the two impellers, thereby reducing wear on thrust bearings engaging the rotating drive shaft.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a centrifugal compressor capable of compressing a fluid, in particular to a centrifugal compressor structure with impellers adapted to convert kinetic energy generated from a motor into pressure energy, in which each of the impellers adjusts an axial load, thereby appropriately adjusting a load applied to a thrust bearing.
2. Description of the prior Art
Generally, compressors are adapted to convert mechanical energy generated by a motor into pressure energy, thereby increasing the pressure of a fluid. In particular, centrifugal compressors, to which the present invention relates, are adapted to conduct a compression for a fluid by use of the rotating force of an impeller while sucking the fluid in an axial direction, and discharging the sucked fluid in a centrifugal direction. Typically, such centrifugal compressors include multiple stages so that they operate in a multi-stage compression. In particular, two-stage centrifugal compressors including two stages of compression are mainly used.
Such centrifugal compressors are mainly used in air conditioners and specific military equipment. In accordance with the capacity of a fluid to be compressed, centrifugal compressors are classified into those of a large capacity and those of a small capacity.
FIG. 1 is a sectional view illustrating the structure of a conventional two-stage centrifugal compressor.
Referring to FIG. 1, the conventional two-stage centrifugal compressor is of a back-to-back type in which impellers face each other at their back surfaces. Now, the structure of this centrifugal compressor will be described in conjunction with FIG. 1.
As shown in FIG. 1, the centrifugal compressor includes a motor case 1 having a desired shape to receive units including a motor while isolating those units from the outside. The motor, which is denoted by the reference numeral 2, is also included in the centrifugal compressor. The motor 2 is disposed in the motor case 1 and adapted to convert electric energy into mechanical kinetic energy.
The centrifugal compressor also includes a drive shaft 3 axially coupled to the motor 2 to rotate along with the drive shaft 3. A pair of impellers, that is, a first impeller 4 and a second impeller 5, are coupled to opposite ends of the drive shaft 3, respectively, and convert a rotating movement of the drive shaft 3 into kinetic energy to be applied to a fluid. The centrifugal compressor further includes thrust bearings 6 disposed at a portion of the drive shaft 3 in the vicinity of a first end of the drive shaft 3. The thrust bearings 6 are adapted to gently support a thrust load axially applied to the drive shaft 3.
A pair of radial bearings 7 and 8 are respectively disposed at portions of the drive shaft 3 in the vicinity of opposite ends of the drive shaft 3. The radial bearings 7 and 8 are adapted to radially support the drive shaft 3, thereby gently supporting a radial load. A pair of bearing plates, that is, a first bearing plate 9 and a second bearing plate 10, each interposed between the motor case 1 and an associated one of the radial bearings 7 and 8, are adapted to allow the associated radial bearing to be supported by the motor case 1.
A bearing cover 11 is fitted around the first end of the drive shaft 3 installed with the trust bearings 6 while being fitted in a first end of the motor case 1 corresponding to the end of the drive shaft 3. The bearing cover 11 seals the interior of the motor case 1. A pair of diffusers, that is, a first diffuser 12 and a second diffuser 13, are arranged at respective discharge ends of the impellers 4 and 5 in order to convert kinetic energy, possessed in the fluid discharged at a high velocity from the impellers 4 and 5, into pressure energy.
A first volute case 14 is mounted to the outside of the first diffuser 12. The first volute case 14 has a desired shape to collect the fluid discharged in a compressed state from the first diffuser 12 while reducing the pressure energy possessed in the discharged fluid. A connecting tube 15 is connected at one end thereof to the first volute case 14 to guide the fluid discharged from the first volute case 14 toward the second impeller 5. A second volute case 16 is mounted to the outside of the second diffuser 13. The second volute case 16 is connected to the other end of the connecting tube 15 to temporarily collect the fluid emerging from the connecting tube 15, and then being compressed again while passing sequentially through the second impeller 5 and the second diffuser 13.
The centrifugal compressor further includes a plurality of uniformly-spaced fluid passages 17. The fluid passages 17 extend axially through the second bearing plate 10 and are adapted to allow the high pressure fluid collected in the second volute case 16 to be discharged from the second volute case 16. A motor chamber 18 is defined between the first and second bearing plates 9 and 10 in the interior of the motor case 1. The motor chamber 18 receives the fluid discharged through the fluid passages 17 and allows the received fluid to stay temporarily therein while cooling the motor 2.
The centrifugal compressor also includes a labyrinth seal 19 formed at a surface of the bearing cover 11 contacting the drive shaft 3. The labyrinth seal 19 is adapted to prevent the high pressure fluid filled in the motor chamber 18 from being leaked outwardly from the motor chamber 18. A discharge tube 20 is connected at one end thereof to a desired portion of the motor case 1, while communicating with the motor chamber 18 and adapted to discharge the high pressure fluid from the motor chamber 18. A suction tube 21 is connected to the first volute case 14 upstream from the first impeller 4.
The operation of the two-stage centrifugal compressor will now be described in brief. A fluid to be compressed is introduced into the centrifugal compressor via the suction tube 21. The introduced fluid is primarily compressed by the first impeller 4, and then forced to pass through the first diffuser 12, so that it is highly pressurized. The high pressure fluid is then collected by the first volute case 14 without any loss of pressure. The collected fluid is introduced into the second impeller 5 which, in turn, secondarily compresses the fluid. The secondarily compressed fluid is then further compressed to a higher pressure while passing through the second diffuser 13, and then collected in the second volute case 16. The high pressure fluid is then introduced into the motor chamber 18 via the fluid passages 17, so that it cools the motor 2 heated to a high temperature. After cooling the motor 2, the fluid is outwardly discharged from the motor chamber 18 via the discharge tube 20.
During the above operation, considerably high pressure is applied to the first and second impellers 4 and 5. Due to such high pressure, a high load is applied to the thrust bearings 6. Now, effects resulting from such a load will be described in detail.
FIG. 2 is a plan view illustrating one of the impellers used in the above mentioned conventional centrifugal compressor, that is, the impeller 4.
Referring to FIG. 2, the impeller 4 has a structure in which a plurality of blades 4b are mounted around a cylindrical hub 4a. Once an external fluid is axially introduced into the center of the impeller 4 during a rotation of the impeller 4, it is then forced to move in a centrifugal direction along the blades 4b conducting a rotation. As the fluid moves in the centrifugal direction, it possesses kinetic energy, so that it is converted into a fluid having high energy, that is, a high pressure fluid flowing at a high velocity.
FIG. 3 is a sectional view illustrating the impeller 4 used in the conventional centrifugal compressor.
As shown in FIG. 3 and mentioned above, the impeller 4 includes the hub 4a forming a body of the impeller 4. The blades 4b are mounted to a front surface of the hub 4a. The fluid, which has been changed into a high pressure fluid flowing at a high velocity while passing the blades 4b, is further compressed at the back side of the impeller 4, so that an increased axial load is applied to the impeller 4.
The load applied to the impeller 4 due to the above mentioned operation is schematically illustrated in FIG. 4.
As apparent from FIG. 4, the fluid exerting its pressure on the impeller 4 strongly pushes the impeller 4 in a forward direction while slightly pushing the impeller 4 in a backward direction because the fluid reaching the back surface of the impeller 4 after passing the blades 4b has a pressure considerably higher than the pressure of the fluid exerting on the front surface of the impeller 4. As a result, the impeller 4 generates a force urging it in a direction from the back surface thereof to the front surface thereof. Such an urging force is also generated at the impeller 5. These pushing forces are vector-summed, thereby leaving a force F which is, in turn, applied to the drive shaft 3.
At this time, the fluid pressures respectively radially applied to the impellers 4 and 5 disappear because they are offset by each other by virtue of the symmetrical arrangement of the impellers 4 and 5.
In the above mentioned configuration, the axial load applied to each impeller is supported by the thrust bearings (denoted by the reference numeral 6 in FIG. 1). That is, the axial load is continuously applied to the thrust bearings 6. As a result, the thrust bearings 6 may be eventually damaged.
In order to solve this problem, a method has been proposed in which respective outer diameters of the impellers 4 and 5 are adjusted, based on a difference between the pressures respectively applied to the impellers 4 and 5 arranged at opposite ends of the drive shaft 3, to offset axial loads respectively applied to the impellers 4 and 5. However, such an adjustment for the diameters of the impellers 4 and 5 results in an undesirable variation in compression ratio. For this reason, there is a difficulty in determining an appropriate compression ratio when the centrifugal compressor is designed.
Therefore, the present invention has been made to overcome the above mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a centrifugal compressor structure with impellers, in which the axial load generated from each of the impellers respectively coupled to opposite ends of a drive shaft can be adjusted without any reduction of the outer diameter of the impeller, so that errors generated during the manufacture of the compressor are reduced, thereby allowing the compressor to be more conveniently manufactured.
In accordance with the present invention, this object is accomplished by providing a centrifugal compressor structure including at least one impeller, the impeller comprising: a hub coupled to a drive shaft and adapted to receive a rotating force from a motor via the drive shaft so that it rotates; a plurality of blades provided at a front surface of the hub and adapted to receive a rotating force from the hub, thereby compressing an external fluid while forcing the fluid to flow from an upstream end of the hub to a downstream end of the hub; and a plurality of uniformly-shaped pressure attenuating grooves provided at an outer peripheral edge of the hub and adapted to reduce an axial load applied to the impeller.
The pressure attenuating grooves are formed while having no influence on the blades. These pressure attenuating grooves serve to reduce a load resulting from a high hydraulic pressure exerted on the back surface of the impeller.

Centrifugal compressor structure with impellers


An encoder of the present invention includes: G storage sections for storing G groups of data; a selection section for selecting one of H Huffman codebooks having codebook numbers for each of the groups of data; G encoding sections Huffman-encoding the G groups of data by using the selected Huffman codebook; and an encoding section for encoding the codebook number of each Huffman codebook selected. The selection section includes a calculation section for calculating a code length and a control section for selecting one of the Huffman codebooks. When the Huffman codebook selected is an unsigned codebook, a number of bits required for sign information has previously been added to the calculated code length.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an encoder using Huffman codes. More particularly, the present invention relates to an encoder capable of selecting the optimal Huffman codebook from among a plurality of Huffman codebooks so as to encode digital data by using the optimally selected Huffman codebook.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, efficient audio signal compression methods encode spectral data of quantized audio signals by using a Huffman encoding scheme. A conventional data compression method, for example, a data compression method disclosed in the MPEG2-AAC standard will now be described (see ISO/IEC 13818-7).
First, an input PCM (Pulse Code Modulation) signal is converted through an MDCT (Modified Discrete Cosine Transform) operation into 1024 elements of frequency spectral data. This process is described in detail in xe2x80x9cISO/IEC 13818-7 ANNEX B 2.3 FilterBank and block switchingxe2x80x9d and will not be discussed below. xe2x80x9cISO/IEC 13818-7 ANNEX B 2.3 FilterBank and block switching is incorporated by reference in its entirety.
Then, the 1024 elements of frequency spectral data are quantized (converted into integers) by using a non-linear quantization method. This process is described in detail in xe2x80x9cISO/IEC 13818-7 ANNEX B 2.7 Quantizingxe2x80x9d and will not be discussed below. xe2x80x9cISO/IEC 13818-7 ANNEX B 2.7 Quantizingxe2x80x9d is incorporated by reference in its entirety.
Next, the 1024 elements of quantized frequency spectral data are grouped into a number of scale factor bands (in this specification, a scale factor band (SFB) may also be referred to as a xe2x80x9cgroup of dataxe2x80x9d). Using a sampling frequency of 48 kHz, for example, the 1024 elements of quantized frequency spectral data would be grouped into 49 SFBs. Referring now to FIG. 14, the grouping of frequency spectral data is performed as shown in a table 450. For example, the frequency spectral data is grouped into SFBs so that SFB0 includes four elements 0-3 of the frequency spectral data (as shown in row 451), SFB1 includes four elements 4-7 of the frequency spectral data (as shown in row 452), and SFB2 includes four elements 8-11 of the frequency spectral data.(as shown in row 453) (see xe2x80x9cISO/IEC 13818-7 3.8 Tablesxe2x80x9d).
Referring to FIG. 15, a table 500 illustrating frequency spectral data which has been quantized and grouped into a number of SFBs (SFB0 to SFB(Gxe2x88x921)) in a process as described above is shown. In FIG. 15, left column 501 designated xe2x80x9cSFBxe2x80x9d shows a number of SFBs (SFB0 to SFB(Gxe2x88x921)), center column 502 designated xe2x80x9cspectrumxe2x80x9d shows frequency spectral data numbers, and right column 503 designated xe2x80x9cvaluexe2x80x9d shows the absolute value of each frequency spectral data.
Then, the quantized and grouped frequency spectral data is Huffman-encoded for each SFB. The Huffman encoding operation is performed based on one Huffman codebook which is selected for each SFB from among a plurality of Huffman codebooks. According to the MPEG2-AAC standard, a Huffman codebook is selected from among eleven Huffman codebooks (Huffman codebooks 1-11). In the following description, however, only four Huffman codebooks (Huffman codebooks 3-6) are used for the sake of simplicity.
FIGS. 16 to 19 illustrate Huffman codebooks 3-6, respectively. In the Huffman codebooks 3-6 illustrated in FIGS. 16 to 19, respectively, the leftmost column designated xe2x80x9cindexxe2x80x9d shows the index number of each data to be encoded, the second column designated xe2x80x9clengthxe2x80x9d shows the code length of each encoded data, and the third column designated xe2x80x9ccodeword (hexadecimal)xe2x80x9d shows a hexadecimal representation of each encoded data (codeword). The Huffman codebooks 3-6 illustrated in FIGS. 16 to 19 each contain the code length of each encoded data (length) and a hexadecimal representation of each encoded data (codeword) for index numbers 0-80.
In SFB0 shown in FIG. 15, the largest absolute spectral data value is 4. According to the MPEG2-AAC standard, Huffman codebooks that can be selected for an input signal are limited by the largest absolute value of the input signal. This limitation is determined by LAV (largest absolute value) as shown in FIG. 20. LAV of a Huffman codebook denotes the largest absolute value of input data that can be encoded by using a particular Huffman codebook. According to the table shown in FIG. 20, when the largest absolute spectral data value in SFB0 is 4, Huffman codebooks 5 and 6 are the candidate Huffman codebooks. The code length which would result when encoding data with the candidate Huffman codebook 5 is compared with the code length which would result when encoding data with the candidate Huffman codebook 6. The candidate Huffman codebook that gives the smaller code length is selected. In this example, where the Huffman codebooks 5 and 6 are candidates, the code length which would result when Huffman-encoding data with the candidate Huffman codebooks is calculated as follows:
First, two index values xe2x80x9cindex0xe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cindex1xe2x80x9d are calculated from Expressions (1) and (2) below:
index0=(D0+LAV)*(2*LAV+1)+(D1+LAV)xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(1)
index1=(D2+LAV)*(2*LAV+1)+(D3+LAV)xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(2)
where D0, D1, D2 and D3 respectively denote the four spectral data elements (values) of SFB0. The calculated values of xe2x80x9cindex0xe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cindex1xe2x80x9d are used as the index values. The code length xe2x80x9clengthxe2x80x9d for the candidate Huffman codebooks 5 and 6 is obtained based on the index values.
Referring to FIG. 15, substituting the following values into Expressions (1) and (2), D0=4, D1=-2, D2=0, D3=3 and LAV=4, result in index0=74 and index1=43. Referring to the Huffman codebook 5 shown in FIG. 18, a length=12 for index0=74 and a length=8 for index1=43 can be determined, indicating that the code length would be 20 (12+8) bits when Huffman-encoding data with the Huffman codebook 5. Referring to the Huffman codebook 6 shown in FIG. 19, a length=9 for index0=74 and a length=7 for index1=43 can be determined, indicating that the code length would be 16 (9+7) bits when Huffman-encoding data with the Huffman codebook 6. Therefore, it is more advantageous to select the candidate Huffman codebook 6 for encoding each spectral data included in SFB0. Thus, the Huffman codebook 6 is selected.
Similarly, for SFB1, the code length would be 18 bits when encoding data with the Huffman codebook 5, and 13 bits when encoding data with the Huffman codebook 6. Therefore, it is more advantageous to also select the Huffman codebook 6 for encoding each spectral data included in SFB1. Thus, the Huffman codebook 6 is selected.
For SFB2 shown in FIG. 15, whose largest absolute spectral data value is 1, the Huffman codebooks 3-6 are the candidate Huffman codebooks. For the Huffman codebooks 5 and 6, the code length of Huffman-encoded data can be determined as described above; 9 bits for the Huffman codebook 5 and 8 bits for the Huffman codebook 6.
For the Huffman codebooks 3 and 4, the code length of Huffman-encoded data is calculated as follows. The Huffman codebooks 3 and 4 are so-called unsigned codebooks which are used for encoding data without a sign (unsigned data). When using an unsigned codebook, the absolute value of input data is Huffman-encoded, while the number of ignored signs are separately counted and added to the code amount of the Huffman encoding operation. The number of ignored signs corresponds to the number of non-zero elements (elements that require a sign) of the data to be encoded. The code length which would result when Huffman-encoding data with such an unsigned Huffman codebook can be obtained as follows.
First, an index value xe2x80x9cindex0xe2x80x9d is calculated from Expression (3) below:
index0=abs(D0)*(k{circumflex over ( )}3)+abs(D1)*(k{circumflex over ( )}2)+abs(D2)*k+abs(D3)xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(3)
where D0, D1, D2 and D3 respectively denote the four spectral data elements (values) of SFB2, xe2x80x9cabs(x)xe2x80x9d denotes an absolute value of x, xe2x80x9c0xe2x80x9d denotes an exponentiation, and k=LAV+1.
The calculated value of xe2x80x9cindex0xe2x80x9d is used as the index value for obtaining xe2x80x9clengthxe2x80x9d for each of Huffman codebooks 3 and 4. For SFB2 shown in FIG. 15, for example, D0=1, D1=xe2x88x921, D2=1, D3=0 and LAV=2. Thus, index0=39. Referring to the Huffman codebook 3 shown in FIG. 16, a length=6 is determined for index0=39. Since the sign information bits are not included in the codeword obtained from the Huffman codebook 3, sign information is needed to restore the code bits. The number of sign information bits needed is equal to the number of non-zero elements among the four elements in the spectral data of SFB2. SFB2 shown in FIG. 15 includes three non-zero elements. Therefore, three sign information bits need to be added to the Huffman-encoded codeword. As a result, the code length of the Huffman-encoded data is 9 (bits) (length=6+three sign information bits).
Referring to the Huffman codebook 4 as shown in FIG. 17, a length=4 can be determined for index0=39. Again, three sign information bits need to be added to length=4. Therefore, the code length of the Huffman-encoded data is 7 (bits) (length=4+three sign information bits).
Thus, the code lengths which would result when Huffman-encoding SFB2 with the Huffman codebooks 3, 4, 5 and 6 are 9, 7, 9 and 8, respectively. Therefore, the Huffman-encoded 4 is selected, with which the smallest code length is obtained.
Similarly, the optimal Huffman codebook is selected and used for Huffman-encoding each of the other SFBs. The Huffman encoding operation, which is simple by itself, is effected by outputting as encoded data a codeword (hexadecimal) for each index number (e.g., index0, index1, etc., which can be obtained as described above) from the selected Huffman codebooks.
Then, for each SFB, the codebook number of the selected Huffman codebook is encoded. This operation of encoding a Huffman codebook number is performed as follows according to the MPEG2-AAC standard. The codebook number of the Huffman codebook selected for the SFB of interest is encoded with four bits. Then, a value indicating whether the same Huffman codebook is selected for any other SFB which is contiguous with the SFB of interest is encoded with five bits. In the example shown in FIG. 15, the Huffman codebook 6 is selected for contiguous SFBs (SFB0 and SFB1). Therefore, for SFB0, the codebook number of the Huffman codebook 6 (i.e., xe2x80x9c6xe2x80x9d) is encoded with four bits (0110), and the value (xe2x80x9c1xe2x80x9d) (which indicates that the same Huffman codebook is also selected for the following SFB (SFB1)) is encoded with five bits (00001). Next, for SFB2, the Huffman codebook 4 is selected. Therefore, the codebook number of the Huffman codebook 4 (i.e., xe2x80x9c4xe2x80x9d) is encoded with four bits (0100). The following bit stream is dependent on the Huffman codebook selected for the following SFB (SFB3), and will not be discussed below. The codebook number of the selected Huffman codebook is similarly encoded for the subsequent SFBs.
A problem associated with the above-described conventional method is that the process of selecting the optimal Huffman codebook for each SFB takes a large amount of computation. This problem can be attributed in part to the calculation of the number of sign information bits, which is performed each time an unsigned codebook is selected. The problem can also be attributed to the operation of obtaining a code length which would result when encoding the SFB of interest with a Huffman codebook, which is performed separately for each of the candidate Huffman codebooks.
Another problem associated with the conventional method is that the method may not always select a Huffman codebook that is optimal for an SFB in view of the code amount needed to encode the codebook number of each selected Huffman codebook. In other words, the conventional method selects a Huffman codebook for each SFB so as to minimize the code amount of encoded data of that SFB. The conventional method cannot select the optimal Huffman codebook so as to minimize the total code amount of all encoded SFBs while taking into consideration the code amount needed to encode the codebook number of each selected Huffman codebook.
According to one aspect of this invention, there is provided an encoder including: a number G of storage sections (G is an integer equal to or greater than 1) for storing a number G of groups of data; a Huffman codebook selection section for selecting one of a number H of Huffman codebooks (H is an integer equal to or greater than 1) for each of the groups of data stored in the respective storage sections, each of the Huffman codebooks having a codebook number: a number G of Huffman encoding sections, each of the Huffman encoding sections Huffman-encoding a corresponding one of the G groups of data by using one of the Huffman codebooks which is selected by the Huffman codebook selection section for the one group of data: and a codebook number encoding section for encoding the codebook number of each Huffman codebook selected by the Huffman codebook selection section. The Huffman codebook selection section includes a code length calculation section for calculating a code length which would result from a Huffman encoding operation of each of the G groups of data using each Huffman codebook, and a control section for selecting one of the Huffman codebooks which is suitable for the group of data based on the code length calculated by the code length calculation section. When the Huffman codebook selected is an unsigned codebook, a number of bits required for sign information has previously been added to the code length calculated by the code length calculation section.
In one embodiment of the invention, the code length calculation section has a table of data including a code length previously calculated for each Huffman codebook.
According to another aspect of this invention, there is provided an encoder including: a number G of storage sections (G is an integer equal to or greater than 1) storing a number G of groups of data; a Huffman codebook selection section for selecting one of a number H of Huffman codebooks (H is an integer equal to or greater than 1) for each of the groups of data stored in the respective storage sections, each of the Huffman codebooks having a codebook number; a number G of Huffman encoding sections, each of the Huffman encoding sections Huffman-encoding a corresponding one of the G groups of data by using one of the Huffman codebooks which is selected by the Huffman codebook selection section for the one group of data; and a codebook number encoding section for encoding the codebook number of each Huffman codebook selected by the Huffman codebook selection section. The Huffman codebook selection section includes a code length calculation section for calculating a code length which would result from a Huffman encoding operation of each of the G groups of data using each Huffman codebook, and a control section for selecting one of the Huffman codebooks which is suitable for the group of data based on the code length calculated by the code length calculation section. The code length calculation section is capable of simultaneously obtaining code lengths for a plurality of Huffman codebooks.
In one embodiment of the invention, the code length calculation section is adapted to output respective code lengths which would result from Huffman encoding operations of the one group of data, for a plurality of Huffman codebooks. The control section selects one of the Huffman codebooks for which a smallest code length is output from the code length calculation section.
In one embodiment of the invention, the code length calculation section is adapted to output respective code lengths which would result from Huffman encoding operations of the one group of data, for a plurality of Huffman codebooks. The control section selects one of the Huffman codebooks based on the code length of the Huffman codebook output from the code length calculation section and in view of the codebook number of the Huffman codebook.
In one embodiment of the invention, the control section selects one of the Huffman codebooks for a (g+1)th group of data (g is an integer such that 1xe2x89xa6gxe2x89xa6Gxe2x88x921) by first obtaining a code length Bmin and another code length Bg, the code length Bmin being a code length which would result from a Huffman encoding operation of the (g+1)th group of data using a Huffman codebook Hmin for which a smallest code length is output from the code length calculation section, and the code length Bg being a code length which would result from a Huffman encoding operation of a gth group of data using a Huffman codebook Hg which has been selected for the gth group of data, and then selecting the Huffman codebook Hmin if Bmin less than (Bgxe2x88x92A) (A is a predetermined integer) or the Huffman codebook Hg if Bminxe2x89xa7(Bgxe2x88x92A).
In one embodiment of the invention, the control section selects one of the Huffman codebooks for which a smallest code length is output from the code length calculation section as a Huffman codebook for a first group of data.
In one embodiment of the invention, the control section selects one of the Huffman codebooks for a (gxe2x88x921)th group of data (g is an integer such that 2xe2x89xa6gxe2x89xa6G) by first obtaining a code length Bmin and another code length Bg, the code length Bmin being a code length which would result from a Huffman encoding operation of the (gxe2x88x921)th group of data using a Huffman codebook Hmin for which a smallest code length is output from the code length calculation section, and the code length Bg being a code length which would result from a Huffman encoding operation of a gth group of data using a Huffman codebook Hg which has been selected for the gth group of data, and then selecting the Huffman codebook Hmin if Bmin less than (Bgxe2x88x92A) (A is a predetermined integer) or the Huffman codebook Hg if Bminxe2x89xa7(Bgxe2x88x92A).
In one embodiment of the invention, the control section selects one of the Huffman codebooks for which a smallest code length is output from the code length calculation section as a Huffman codebook for a Gth group of data.
In one embodiment of the invention, when a same Huffman codebook is selected for two or more contiguous groups of data, the codebook number encoding section encodes the codebook number of the Huffman codebook and the number of the contiguous groups of data with a number of bits equal to the predetermined integer A.
In one embodiment of the invention, the H Huffman codebooks are eleven Huffman codebooks used for Huffman-encoding of spectral data as defined in the MPEG2-AAC standard.
In one embodiment of the invention, the code length calculation section is adapted to output respective code lengths which would result when encoding data using Huffman codebooks 1-4 defined in the MPEG2-AAC standard. The code length calculation section has a first table including respective code lengths which would result when encoding data by using Huffman codebooks 1 and 2 for a common index value and a second table including respective code lengths which would result when encoding data by using Huffman codebooks 3 and 4 for the common index value.
In one embodiment of the invention, a number of bits required for sign information has previously been added to each of the code lengths for Huffman codebooks 3 and 4 which are included in the second table.
In one embodiment of the invention, the first table includes respective values of T1(F1(a, b, c, d)) and T2 (F1(a, b, c, d)) for i1, and the second table includes respective values of T3(F2(a, b, c, d))+nonz(a, b, c, d) and T4(F2(a, b, c, d))+nonz(a, b, c, d) for i2, where: nonz(w, x, y, z) is a function which gives the number of non-zero values among w, x, y and z; F1(w, x, y, z) is a function defined as follows: F1(w, x, y, z)=27*(w+1)+9*(x+1)+3*(y+1) +(z+1) (where an absolute value of each of w, x, y and z is 1 or less): F2(w, x, y, z) is a function defined as follows: F2(w, x, y, z)=27*abs(w)+9*abs(x)+3*abs(y)+abs(z) (where an absolute value of each of w, x, y and z is 2 or less); abs(x) is a function which gives an absolute value of x; T1(index) to T4(index) are each a function which gives a code length which would result when encoding data by using Huffman codebooks 1 to 4, respectively; a, b, c and d are integers representing a group of data; and i1 and i2 are index values calculated as a function of the integers a, b, c and d.
In one embodiment of the invention, i1=(X{circumflex over ( )}3)*(a+1) +(X{circumflex over ( )}2)*(b+1)+X*(c+1)+(d+1), where: X is a positive number equal to or greater than 3; i2=(Y{circumflex over ( )}3)*abs(a)+(Y{circumflex over ( )}2)*abs(b) +Y*abs(c)+abs(d), where: Y is a positive number equal to or greater than 3; and the symbol xe2x80x9c{circumflex over ( )}xe2x80x9d denotes an exponentiation.
In one embodiment of the invention, the index value i1 is obtained through a bit connecting operation of a, b, c and d each of which is represented with X bits or more, where X is a positive number equal to or greater than 2. The index value i2 is obtained through a bit connecting operation of abs(a), abs(b), abs(c) and abs(d) each of which is represented with Y bits or more, where Y is a positive number equal to or greater than 2.
In one embodiment of the invention, the code length calculation section is adapted to output respective code lengths which would result when encoding data using Huffman codebooks 1-4 defined in the MPEG2-AAC standard. The code length calculation section has a table of data including respective code lengths which would result when encoding data by using Huffman codebooks 1 to 4 for a common index value.
In one embodiment of the invention, a number of bits required for sign information has previously been added to each of the code lengths for Huffman codebooks 3 and 4 which are included in the table.
In one embodiment of the invention, the table includes respective values of T1(F1(a, b, c, d)), T2(F1(a, b, c, d)), T3(F2(a, b, c, d))+nonz(a, b, c, d) and T4(F2(a, b, c, d))+nonz(a, b, c, d) for j, where: nonz(w, x, y, z) is a function which gives the number of non-zero values among w, x, y and z; F1(w, x, y, z) is a function defined as follows: F1(w, x, y, z)=27*(w+1)+9*(x+1)+3*(y+1) +(z+1) (where an absolute value of each of w, x, y and z is 1 or less); F2(w, x, y, z) is a function defined as follows: F2(w, x, y, z)=27*abs(w)+9*abs(x)+3*abs(y)+abs(z) (where an absolute value of each of w, x, y and z is 2 or less); abs(x) is a function which gives an absolute value of x; T1(index) to T4(index) are each a function which gives a code length which would result when encoding data by using Huffman codebooks 1 to 4, respectively; a, b, c and d are integers representing a group of data; and j is an index value calculated as a function of the integers a, b, c and d.
In one embodiment of the invention, the index value j is obtained through a bit connecting operation of a, b, c and d each of which is represented with Y bits or more, where Y is a positive number equal to or greater than 2.
In one embodiment of the invention, the code length calculation section is adapted to output respective code lengths which would result when encoding data using Huffman codebooks 5-10 defined in the MPEG2-AAC standard. The code length calculation section has a first table including respective code lengths which would result when encoding data by using Huffman codebooks 5 and 6 for a common index value, a second table including respective code lengths which would result when encoding data by using Huffman codebooks 7 and 8 for a common index value, and a third table including respective code lengths which would result when encoding data by using Huffman codebooks 9 and 10 for a common index value.
In one embodiment of the invention, a number of bits required for sign information has previously been added to each of the code lengths for Huffman codebooks 7 and 8 which are included in the second table. A number of bits required for sign information has previously been added to each of the code lengths for Huffman codebooks 9 and 10 which are included in the third table.
In one embodiment of the invention, the first table includes respective values of T5(F3(a, b)) and T6(F3(a, b)) for i3, the second table includes respective values of T7(F4(a, b))+nonz(a, b) and T8(F4(a, b))+nonz(a, b) for i4, and the third table includes respective values of T9(F5(a, b))+nonz(a, b) and T10(F5(a, b))+nonz(a, b) for i5, where nonz(x, y) is a function which gives the number of non-zero values among x and y; F3(x, y) is a function defined as follows: F3(x, y)=9*(x+4)+(y+4) (where an absolute value of each of x and y is 4 or less); F4(x, y) is a function defined as follows: F4(x, y)=8*abs(x)+abs(y) (where an absolute value of each of x and y is 7 or less); F5(x, y) is a function defined as follows: F5(x, y)=13*abs(x)+abs(y) (where an absolute value of each of x and y is 12 or less); abs(x) is a function which gives an absolute value of x; T5(index) to T10(index) are each a function which gives a code length which would result when encoding data by using Huffman codebooks 5 to 10 defined in the MPEG2-AAC standard, respectively; a and b are integers representing a group of data; and i3, i4 and i5 are index values calculated as a function of the integers a and b.
In one embodiment of the invention, i3=X*(a+4)+(b+4), where X is a positive number equal to or greater than 9; i4=Y*abs(a)+abs(b), where Y is a positive number equal to or greater than 8: and i5=Z*abs(a)+abs(b), where Z is a positive number equal to or greater than 13.
In one embodiment of the invention, the index value i3 is obtained through a bit connecting operation of a and b each of which is represented with X bits or more, where X is a positive number equal to or greater than 4. The index value i4 is obtained through a bit connecting operation of a and b each of which is represented with Y bits or more, where Y is a positive number equal to or greater than 4. The index value i5 is obtained through a bit connecting operation of a and b each of which is represented with Z bits or more, where Z is a positive number equal to or greater than 5.
In one embodiment of the invention, the code length calculation section is adapted to output respective code lengths which would result when encoding data using Huffman codebooks 5-10 defined in the MPEG2-AAC standard. The code length calculation section has a table including respective code lengths which would result when encoding data by using Huffman codebooks 5 to 10 for a common index value.
In one embodiment of the invention, a number of bits required for sign information has previously been added to each of the code lengths for Huffman codebooks 7 to 10 which are included in the table.
In one embodiment of the invention, the table includes respective values of T5(F3(a, b)), T6(F3(a, b)), T7(F4(a, b))+nonz(a, b),T8(F4(a, b))+nonz(a, b),T9(F5(a, b))+nonz(a, b) and T10(F5(a, b))+nonz(a, b) fork, where: nonz(x, y) is a function which gives the number of non-zero values among x and y; F3(x, y) is a function defined as follows: F3(x, y)=9*(x+4)+(y+4) (where an absolute value of each of x and y is 4 or less); F4(x, y) is a function defined as follows: F4(x, y)=8*abs(x)+abs(y) (where an absolute value of each of x and y is 7 or less); F5(x, y) is a function defined as follows: F5(x, y)=13*abs(x)+abs(y) (where an absolute value of each of x and y is 12 or less); abs(x) is a function which gives an absolute value of x; T5(index) to T10(index) are each a function which gives a code length which would result when encoding data by using Huffman codebooks 5 to 10 defined in the MPEG2-AAC standard, respectively; a and b are integers representing a group of data: and k is an index value calculated as a function of the integers a and b.
In one embodiment of the invention, the index value k is obtained through a bit connecting operation of a and b each of which is represented with Z bits or more, where Z is a positive number equal to or greater than 5.
In one embodiment of the invention, the code length calculation section is adapted to output an invalid signal which indicates that a Huffman codebook is invalid when an input data value is outside a variable range within which a code length can be calculated using the Huffman codebook. The control section is adapted not to select a Huffman codebook when the control section receives an invalid signal for the Huffman codebook.
In one embodiment of the invention, the value of the function T1(F1(a, b, c, d)) and the value of the function T2(F1(a, b, c, d)) are stored respectively on a MSB side and on a LSB side with respect to the index value i1, with at least m1 bits of xe2x80x9c0xe2x80x9d (m1 is a positive integer) being inserted between the value of the function T1 and the value of the function T2. The value of the function T3(F2(a, b, c, d))+nonz(a, b, c, d) and the value of the function T4(F2(a, b, c, d))+nonz(a, b, c, d) are stored respectively on a MSB side and on a LSB side with respect to the index value i2, with at least m1 bits of xe2x80x9c0xe2x80x9d being inserted between the value of the function T3 and the value of the function T4.
In one embodiment of the invention, the value of the function T1(F1(a, b, c, d)), the value of the function T2(F1(a, b, c, d)), the value of the function T3(F2(a, b, c, d))+nonz(a, b, c, d) and the value of the function T4(F2(a, b, c, d))+nonz(a, b, c, d) are stored in this order from a MSB side to a LSB side with respect to the index value j, with at least m1 bits of xe2x80x9c0xe2x80x9d (m1 is a positive integer) being inserted between the value of T1 and the value of T2, between the value of T2 and the value of T3, and between the value of T3 and the value of T4.
In one embodiment of the invention, the value of m1 is an integer value obtained by rounding up a value of the logarithm of 2 to the base of n1 (log2(n1)), where n1 is a value obtained by dividing a maximum number of data included in each group among the G groups of data by 4.
In one embodiment of the invention, the value of the function T5(F3(a, b)) and the value of the function T6(F3(a, b)) are stored respectively on a MSB side and on a LSB side with respect to the index value i3, with at least m2 bits of xe2x80x9c0xe2x80x9d (m2 is a positive integer) being inserted between the value of the function T5 and the value of the function T6. The value of the function T7(F4(a, b))+nonz(a, b) and the value of the function T8(F4(a, b))+nonz(a, b) are stored respectively on a MSB side and on a LSB side with respect to the index value i4, with at least m2 bits of xe2x80x9c0xe2x80x9d being inserted between the value of the function T7 and the value of the function T8. The value of the function T9(F5(a, b))+nonz(a, b) and the value of the function T10(F5(a, b))+nonz(a, b) are stored respectively on a MSB side and on a LSB side with respect to the index value is, with at least m2 bits of xe2x80x9c0xe2x80x9d being inserted between the value of the function T9 and the value of the function T10.
In one embodiment of the invention, the value of the function T5(F3(a, b)), the value of the function T6(F3(a, b)), the value of the function T7(F4(a, b))+nonz(a, b), the value of the function T8(F4(a, b))+nonz(a, b), the value of the function T9(F5(a, b))+nonz(a, b) and the value of the function T10(F5(a, b))+nonz(a, b) are stored in this order from a MSB side to a LSB side with respect to the index value k, with at least m2 bits of xe2x80x9c0xe2x80x9d (m2 is a positive integer) being inserted between the value of T5 and the value of T6, between the value of T6 and the value of T7, between the value of T7 and the value of T8, between the value of T8 and the value of T9, and between the value of T9 and the value of T10.
In one embodiment of the invention, the value of m2 is an integer value obtained by rounding up a value of the logarithm of 2 to the base of n2 (log2(n2)), where n2 is a value obtained by dividing a maximum number of data included in each group among the G groups of data by 2.
Thus, the invention described herein makes possible the advantages of providing an encoder capable of selecting the optimal Huffman codebook from among a plurality of Huffman codebooks so as to encode digital data by using the optimally selected Huffman codebook. The encoder is also capable of selecting the optimal Huffman codebook within a reduced amount of time and efficiently encoding the digital data with a small amount of calculation.
This and other advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the following detailed description with reference to the accompanying figures.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.