The present invention provides an electrical connector assembly and a method of mating the same. The electrical connector assembly includes a panel sub-assembly which mates to at least one electrical connector body. Preferably two cam leveraging devices which rotate in opposing directions are mounted rotatably to the panel sub-assembly for sliding engagement of respective cam studs engaged rigidly to the electrical connector body. Opposing rotations of the cam leveraging devices along respective and parallel rotation axes causes the panel sub-assembly to move linearly along a mating axis disposed orthogonally to the rotation axes and toward the electrical connector body to a staged position. During linear panel sub-assembly movement from the disconnected position to the staged position, the cam studs slide against a first portion of a track carried by respective cam levers and which generally spirals radially inward toward the rotation axis. Reversing rotation of both cam leveraging devices causes the panel sub-assembly to continue linear movement toward the electrical connector body from the staged position and to a mated position. During linear panel sub-assembly movement from the staged position to the mated position, the cam stud lifts off of the first portion, and is caught by and slides along a second portion of the track to a mated end.

Electrical connector assemblies, such as a simple electrical connector or a multi-functional electrical distribution center, are widely used. The electrical distribution centers are generally a central junction box or block system designed as a stand-alone assembly. The electrical connectors typically electrically connect at least two wire harnesses together and thus house a plurality of mated male and female terminals. The distribution centers perform a similar function as the electrical connectors, but may also house various fuses, relays and other electrical devices in a central location. Electrical distribution centers not only reduce cost by consolidating various functions and/or electrical connections into one block, but the centers also reduce the number of cut and spliced leads which increases reliability. Such electrical distribution centers include provisions for electrically connecting a power source and electrical devices housed in the junction block to electrical wiring harness connectors for supplying power and control signals to various electrical systems.
In many electrical distribution center applications, such as that used in the engine compartment of a vehicle, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,715,135, to Brussalis, incorporated by reference, devices such as fuses and relays of the electrical distribution centers are accessible from the top with mating connectors protruding from a bottom side. Unfortunately, due to this orientation, access to the connectors is often difficult for mating and unmating. In many cases, the electrical distribution center has to be flipped upside down, the connectors assembled, and the entire assembly with protruding wire harnesses flipped again into a final position.
Known electrical distribution centers such as that in the '135 Brussalis reference, typically mount the fuses, relays and electrical devices to a top side of an upper electrical distribution panel. A plurality of double ended terminals are engaged to and extend through a tray located below the panel. A top end of each terminal projects through a respective slot of the upper panel for engagement to the fuse, relay or electrical device. A bottom end of the male terminal projects downward through respective slots of yet a second lower tray for electrical engagement to terminals locked into at least one electrical connector body which is engaged to a lower support structure of the distribution center. Unfortunately, the panel, trays and connector bodies are all held together by a plurality of threaded fasteners which is costly to manufacture and requires special tools for assembly and maintenance purposes.
Known improvements to this conventional distribution assembly are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,788,529 to Borzi issued Aug. 4, 1988 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,739,889 B1, to Daggett, issued May 25, 2004, and incorporated herein by reference. In '529 Borzi and '889 Daggett, the distribution assembly is not flipped when assembling internal connectors and does not require the use of threaded fasteners or bolts thus does not need special assembly tools to secure various housings of the distribution assembly together. Instead, an engagement mechanism or leverage device having four independent cam levers applies a normal force when the cam levers are rotated to mate the distribution assembly. Simultaneous rotation of the four levers also produces a moment which is countered by various structural and alignment features incorporated into this known distribution assembly to maintain alignment of the terminals during mating.


A vending machine has one or more resilient members placed in each row from which products are vended. As product moves through the row, the product abuts against the resilient member and is forced into an upright and aesthetically pleasing orientation. Further forward movement forces the resilient member out of the path of the product's movement.

Vending machines ubiquitously decorate the daily lives of many people. Early machines had an opaque face usually emblazoned with a company or product logo. The opaque face allowed (and continues to allow for those machines so equipped) the product to be stacked in a manner that lacks aesthetic appeal. The advent of vending machines with a transparent front required operators to arrange the product in a manner that provided some aesthetic appeal. While some vending machines use tilted shelves to provide for gravity feed vending, more commonly used dispensing mechanisms include a spiral feed mechanism or a push plate mechanism. All three mechanisms allow for ready viewing of the entire row of the product by a prospective customer. However, because the mechanisms have to be sized for the largest item to be vended, the mechanisms lend themselves to additional aesthetic concerns. For example, product that leans or has folded may create the impression that the product may not vend properly. This appearance may lead the customer to make a different purchase or forego a purchase. The popularity of bottled water with its ever changing packaging has exacerbated the need for vending machines which support the product to provide the desired aesthetic appearance. Spiral column dispensers and push plate dispensers are not well suited for dispensing the contemporaneous generation of soft packaged products. Rather than replace the vending machines with dispensing mechanisms adapted to accommodate the current packaging styles, a need exists for an improvement which allows product to be presented in an aesthetically pleasing manner and diminishes the likelihood of misvended product.


Video analytics may be used to assist video encoding by selectively encoding only portions of a frame and using, instead, previously encoded portions. Previously encoded portions may be used when succeeding frames have a level of motion less than a threshold. In such case, all or part of succeeding frames may not be encoded, increasing bandwidth and speed in some embodiments.

This relates generally to computers and, particularly, to video processing.
There are a number of applications in which video must be processed and/or stored. One example is video surveillance, wherein one or more video feeds may be received, analyzed, and processed for security or other purposes. Another conventional application is for video conferencing.
Typically, general purpose processors, such as central processing units, are used for video processing. In some cases, a specialty processor, called a graphics processor, may assist the central processing unit.
Video analytics involves obtaining information about the content of video information. For example, the video processing may include content analysis, wherein the content video is analyzed in order to detect certain events or occurrences or to find information of interest.

Memory controller for video analytics and encoding


Methods and apparatus for determining a level of performance of a first application in a computer system are disclosed. A selection of a second one of a plurality of applications is received. The second application is then executed, thereby producing data indicating one or more levels of performance of the first application. Documentation is then provided, where the documentation is associated with the second application and indicates at least one of a manner of interpreting data indicating one or more levels of performance of the first application and suggesting one or more of the plurality of applications that can provide additional information to assess one or more levels of performance of the application.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to computer software. More particularly, the present invention relates to methods and apparatus for performing software performance tuning.
2. Description of Related Art
Software engineers are often under significant time constraints during the generation of a software tool or product. However, even once the software has been generated, the software cannot yet be released or shipped. In fact, one of the most time consuming phases of the software generation process is often the software testing process.
The process of assessing and tuning the current level of performance of software is often referred to as "software performance tuning." For instance, software performance tuning may be used to test a software application that is run on the underlying computer system or that is a part of the underlying system (e.g., operating system). The resulting data is then analyzed to ascertain the causes of undesirable performance characteristics, such as the speed with which the particular software application is executed.
Software performance tuning has been long considered an art more than a science. Primarily, it typically requires tremendous expertise of its practitioners to both diagnose performance issues and resolve them. Performance issues may be caused by poor software application implementation or algorithms. However, often, performance issues may be caused by idiosyncratic behavior due to hardware, operating environment (e.g., operating system), or even compilers. Accordingly, the mastery of such an art often requires significant breadth and depth of knowledge and experience.
Various monitoring tools are currently available for the purpose of assessing the software performance of a software application being executed. These monitoring tools often generate a significant amount of runtime data. This runtime data is then manually assessed in order to identify undesirable performance characteristics of the software. Software performance tuning has therefore traditionally been a time-consuming process.
Many operating systems are shipped to customers with built-in monitoring tools that are used to assess software performance issues of software being executed on these operating systems. However, since these monitoring tools are designed to run with a particular operating system and each vendor platform varies, a software developer is often unfamiliar with these monitoring tools. As a result, the software developer may have difficulty running the monitoring tool. In addition, the amount of data generated by these monitoring tools is often inappropriate for the purpose needed. For instance, a particular monitoring tool may produce an unnecessarily large amount of data, or an insufficient amount of data. Moreover, it is often difficult to understand the runtime or output data that is generated by these monitoring tools. Software tuning engineers are therefore often needed in order to gain expertise in executing these monitoring tools, as well as analyzing the data that is generated by these monitoring tools.
Another shortcoming of existing monitoring tools is the type and quality of the data that is generated by the monitoring tools. Specifically, often the data that is generated is absolute data (e.g., number of bits) rather than relative or derived data (e.g., number of bits per second). In other words, the data often requires further analysis in order to ascertain the performance (e.g., speed) of the software being tested. In addition, runtime data may be obtained in accordance with a variety of methods, and therefore the data that is generated is often inaccurate.
Existing software monitoring tools are often referred to as "profilers." These software profiles generally collect runtime performance data during the execution of a particular software application, and then presents the runtime data. Exemplary profilers include the Collector and Analyzer bundled with SunONE Studio software, available from Sun Microsystems, Inc. located in Menlo Park, Calif., the Jprobe Java™ profiler available from Sitraka/Quest located in Irvine, Calif., and OptimizeIt available from Borland located in Scotts Valley, Calif. Through the use of such profilers, it is possible to ascertain those portions of the software functionality that consume the most system resources and/or time.
Some profilers currently available run similarly to many debugging tools. Specifically, it is possible to interactively step through software being executed. However, such a process is often time-consuming. The user then individually and manually identifies those portions of the software that are problematic. In addition, the user has limited control over the testing process. In fact, many software profilers are run in batch mode without enabling the user to control the software testing process. The user is then left to the tedious and time consuming process of analyzing the large amount of data generated. In addition, such profilers typically generate data in a specific manner. Due to the rigid requirements of conventional profilers, it is difficult to customize the software performance tuning process.
In view of the above, it would be desirable to simplify the performance tuning process. Moreover, it would be beneficial if the accuracy of the data generated during software performance tuning process could be improved.

Systems and methods for software performance tuning


Methods and nodes, for assignment of uplink control channel resources for providing HARQ feedback for data transmitted on a downlink data channel associated with a downlink control channel. The downlink control channel comprises at least a set of downlink control channel resources, which is configurable over a subset of available time frequency resources. The method comprises dividing the set of downlink control channel resources into at least two subsets of references, comprising indices to the respective downlink control channel resources. Also, the method comprises defining, for each such subset of references, an associated subset of references comprising indices to unique uplink control channel resources. Furthermore, the method comprises associating each element in the subset of references with a subframe and an element in the subset of references. Additionally, the method further comprises transmitting data on the downlink data channel associated with the downlink control channel.

A receiver, also known as User Equipment (UE), mobile station, wireless terminal and/or mobile terminal is enabled to communicate wirelessly in a wireless communication system, sometimes also referred to as a cellular radio system. The communication may be made e.g. between two receivers, between a receiver and a wire connected telephone and/or between a receiver and a server via a Radio Access Network (RAN) and possibly one or more core networks.
The receiver may further be referred to as mobile telephones, cellular telephones, computer tablets or laptops with wireless capability. The receivers in the present context may be, for example, portable, pocket-storable, hand-held, computer-comprised, or vehicle-mounted mobile devices, enabled to communicate voice and/or data, via the radio access network, with another entity, such as another receiver or a server.
The wireless communication system covers a geographical area which is divided into cell areas, with each cell area being served by a radio network node, or base station e.g. a Radio Base Station (RBS), which in some networks may be referred to as transmitter, "eNB", "eNodeB", "NodeB" or "B node", depending on the technology and terminology used. The radio network nodes may be of different classes such as e.g. macro eNodeB, home eNodeB or pico base station, based on transmission power and thereby also cell size. The geographical area where radio coverage is provided by the radio network node/base station at a base station site is sometimes referred to as a cell. Cell may more generally be referred to as a logical concept transmitting radio signals without having any physical meaning. One radio network node, situated on the base station site, may serve one or several cells. The radio network nodes communicate over the air interface operating on radio frequencies with the receivers within range of the respective radio network node.
In some radio access networks, several radio network nodes may be connected, e.g. by landlines or microwave, to a Radio Network Controller (RNC) e.g. in Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS). The RNC, also sometimes termed Base Station Controller (BSC) e.g. in GSM, may supervise and coordinate various activities of the plural radio network nodes connected thereto. GSM is an abbreviation for Global System for Mobile Communications (originally: Groupe Spécial Mobile).
In 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Long Term Evolution (LTE), radio network nodes, which may be referred to as eNodeBs or eNBs, may be connected to a gateway e.g. a radio access gateway, to one or more core networks.
In the present context, the expressions downlink, downstream link or forward link may be used for the transmission path from the radio network node to the receiver. The expression uplink, upstream link or reverse link may be used for the transmission path in the opposite direction i.e. from the receiver to the radio network node.
Contemporary wireless systems, such as the 3GPP LTE such as e.g. Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) and/or Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN), utilize packet based transmissions. Upon reception of a data packet, the receiver (UE in 3GPP terminology) transmits Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) messages to the radio network node (eNodeB in 3GPP terminology). These messages may for example comprise an acknowledgement (ACK) or a negative ACK (NACK). New packet transmission or packet retransmissions could subsequently be initialized by the transmitter once the HARQ feedback is obtained. HARQ feedback signalling will require uplink transmission resources and it is essential to minimize the amount of time-frequency resources to be allocated for HARQ feedback since unused uplink resources could be utilized for transmitting user data instead. A further problem is to assign the uplink HARQ resources to the receiver without incurring significant signalling in the downlink and typically uplink resources may only be assigned when there is an actual data packet transmitted and HARQ feedback is expected. The assignment of the set of uplink resources also has to assure that there are no uplink resource conflicts, i.e., each receiver/UE must be assigned a set of unique uplink resources for HARQ.
In order to divide forward and reverse communication channels on the same physical communications medium, when communicating in the wireless communication system, a duplexing method may be applied such as e.g. Frequency-Division Duplexing (FDD) and/or Time-Division Duplexing (TDD). The FDD approach is used over well separated frequency bands in order to avoid interference between uplink and downlink transmissions. In TDD, uplink and downlink traffic are transmitted in the same frequency band, but in different time intervals. The uplink and downlink traffic is thus transmitted separated from each other, in the time dimension in a TDD transmission, possibly with a Guard Period (GP) in between uplink and downlink transmissions. In order to avoid interference between uplink and downlink, for radio network nodes and/or receivers in the same area, uplink and downlink transmissions between radio network nodes and receivers in different cells may be aligned by means of synchronization to a common time reference and use of the same allocation of resources to uplink and downlink.
Thus, when applying FDD, the same numbers of uplink and downlink subframes are available during a radio frame, why HARQ feedback may be provided in an uplink subframe for each received downlink subframe and vice versa. In other words, every downlink subframe can be associated to a specific later uplink subframe for feedback generation in way that this association is one-to-one, i.e. to each uplink subframe is associated exactly one downlink subframe. However, in TDD the number of uplink and downlink subframes may be different in some configurations, for example comprising more downlinks subframes than uplink subframes, as illustrated in FIG. 1A.
Generally, one HARQ message is associated with each downlink subframe, since a data packet (e.g., transport block in LTE) is transmitted in one subframe. This implies that HARQ messages from multiple downlink subframes may need to be transmitted in a single uplink subframe, which requires allocation of multiple unique uplink resources for HARQ. In such scenario, comprising e.g. four downlink subframes for each uplink subframe, the receiver has to provide HARQ feedback for all the four downlink subframes in one single uplink subframe, as illustrated in FIG. 1B. When doing so, the HARQ feedback may occupy a significant amount of the uplink communication resources. Hence, in particular for TDD, where an uplink subframe may comprise HARQ messages for many users and from multiple subframes, it is essential that the network nodes can make an efficient uplink resource assignment. This becomes particularly important when there are fewer uplink subframes than downlink subframes in a radio frame, since the amount of reserved uplink control channel resources impacts the available resources for data transmission.
A further constraint for TDD is that a unique allocation is needed for uplink resources that are associated with downlink data transmissions in different downlink subframes.
It is thus a problem to allocate uplink transmit resources for HARQ feedback in a TDD system, such that resources are unique for different subframes while minimizing the uplink resource overhead.
In LTE, the smallest time-frequency entity that may be used for transmission is referred to as a Resource Element (RE), which may convey a complex-valued modulation symbol on a subcarrier. A Resource Block (RB) comprises a set of REs (e.g., 7*12=84 REs) and is of 0.5 ms duration (e.g., 7 Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbols) and 180 kHz bandwidth (e.g., 12 subcarriers with 15 kHz spacing). The transmission bandwidth of the carrier is divided into a set of RBs. Typical LTE carrier bandwidths correspond to 6, 15, 25, 50, 75 and 100 RBs. Data may be transmitted in the downlink on the Physical Downlink Shared Data Channel (PDSCH), which is scheduled by an associated Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH). The PDCCH is first detected and contains information on the transmission format of the PDSCH. Each transmission of user data (i.e., a transport block) on the PDSCH is performed over 1 ms duration (which is also referred to as a subframe) on one or several RBs and a radio frame consists of 10 subframes.
OFDM is a method of encoding digital data on multiple carrier frequencies. OFDM is a Frequency-Division Multiplexing (FDM) scheme used as a digital multi-carrier modulation method. A large number of closely spaced orthogonal sub-carrier signals are used to carry data. The data is divided into several parallel data streams or channels, one for each sub-carrier.
OFDM has developed into a popular scheme for wideband digital communication, whether wireless or over copper wires, used in applications such as digital television and audio broadcasting, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL; originally: Digital Subscriber Loop) broadband internet access, wireless networks, and 4G mobile communications.
In the LTE system, HARQ feedback may be transmitted on the Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH). Here, the notion of PUCCH resource relates to a transmit sequence, a modulation symbol (such as e.g., a Quadrature Phase-Shift Keying (QPSK) or Binary Phase-Shift Keying (BPSK) complex-valued symbol) and a time-frequency resource (e.g., a set of REs or RBs). In general, the more PUCCH resources that are needed for HARQ feedback the less available time-frequency resources for transmitting data on the uplink. In some instances, there is a need to transmit multiple HARQ messages in a subframe, e.g., for TDD as explained above. Another example is for downlink carrier aggregation, where the receiver/UE is simultaneously receiving data from multiple carriers and where independent HARQ messages should be fed back for each carrier. However, the LTE system does not allow HARQ feedback by simultaneous transmission on multiple PUCCH resources since that requires large power back-off in the receiver/UE which causes smaller coverage and worse reliability. Instead, multiple HARQ messages may be fed back on a single PUCCH resource by means of so called channel selection which implies that a set of multiple PUCCH resources (i e., channels) is allocated to the receiver/UE and HARQ information from multiple messages is encoded by which PUCCH resource the receiver/UE selects from the set, together with the modulation symbol transmitted on the selected resource. Channel selection is applicable in LTE for TDD with and without carrier aggregation and for FDD with carrier aggregation.
One type of PUCCH resource allocation for TDD with channel selection is based on implicit reservation. That is the PUCCH resources are not signalled to the receiver/UE, but the receiver/UE determines the resources implicitly from the downlink control channel that schedules the downlink data (PDCCH). This is possible since the PDCCH may be transmitted on one or several Control Channel Elements (CCEs), which denote a set of time-frequency resources. Each PDCCH occupies a unique set of CCEs and a one-to-one mapping may therefore be made from an occupied CCE (the index of the first CCE of the PDCCH is used) to a PUCCH resource, without any resource conflict. An advantage of this is that uplink resources are only reserved when data is transmitted and HARQ feedback is expected, while avoiding introducing uplink resource signalling in the downlink control channel.
As a further development of the LTE system, an Enhanced PDCCH (EPDCCH) is supported. The EPDCCH structure is fundamentally different from that of the PDCCH, e.g., it is based on receiver-specific demodulation reference signals instead of cell-specific reference signals. This enables the use of precoded (i.e., receiver-specifically beam formed) reference signals. While the PDCCH is defined (and can thus be transmitted) over the whole system bandwidth, the EPDCCH may be confined to a configurable receiver-specific set of RBs (i.e., EPDCCH set) and the receiver/UE may be configured with multiple EPDCCH sets. This enables that inter-cell interference coordination could be performed for the EPDCCH by arranging disjoint EPDCCH sets in different cells. Each EPDCCH set comprises a group of (e.g., 2, 4 and 8) Physical Resource Block (PRB) pairs and each PRB pair comprises a set of (e.g., 16) Enhanced Resource Element Groups (EREGs). In turn, the set of EREGs in a PRB pair constitute Enhanced CCEs (ECCEs). The number of ECCEs per PRB pair may typically be 2 or 4 (i.e., corresponding to 8 and 4 EREGs, respectively), depending on the subframe type, i.e., it may be time-varying. Depending on the radio link conditions, an EPDCCH may be transmitted on a set of ECCEs, e.g., 1, 2, 4, 8, 16 or 32 ECCEs, located either within one or a few PRB pairs (i.e., localized transmission), or on all PRB pairs of the EPDDCH set (i.e., distributed transmission). The more ECCEs (or EREGs) that are used to transmit the EPDCCH, the more robust the control channel transmission becomes since a lower code rate could be utilized. The ECCEs are enumerated per each EPDCCH set. The EPDCCH also supports Multi-User Multiple Input Multiple Output (MU-MIMO), such that several EPDCCHs could be transmitted on the same set of ECCEs using different antenna ports.
For localized transmission, an EPDCCH would occupy all EREGs associated with the ECCEs designated for its transmission. However, for distributed transmission, an EPDCCH may not utilize all EREGs of an ECCE in a PRB since it may be transmitted over several PRB pairs and use only a few EREGs per PRB pair. For example, distributed transmission may use 4 EREGs from 4 different PRB pairs (1 EREG per PRB pair), instead of 4 EREGs corresponding to 1 ECCE in 1 PRB pair for localized transmission.
For TDD, the frame structure comprises, in addition to normal subframes, special subframes which contain a first part for downlink transmissions; Downlink Pilot Time Slot (DwPTS), a second part for Guard Period (GP) and last part for uplink transmissions; Uplink Pilot Time Slot (UpPTS), see FIG. 2A. The duration of the different parts may vary and may be configurable by the system.
A downlink subframe is illustrated in FIG. 2B and an uplink subframe is illustrated FIG. 2C.
Moreover, in the LTE system, there is a downlink control region where control channels (e.g., PDCCH) may be transmitted in the 3 (or 4, for small system bandwidths) first OFDM symbols of the subframe, see FIG. 2B. In the special subframes for TDD, the downlink control region is shorter than in normal subframes.
TDD is an attractive multiplexing method as it allows flexible allocation of the resources to uplink or downlink, depending on deployment scenario and traffic load. The EPDCCH has several attractive features that makes it useful in terms of downlink inter-cell interference coordination and beamforming. It would therefore be an advantage if the system could operate with the EPDCCH and in TDD mode. However, it must then be assured that efficient HARQ feedback can be arranged; otherwise the overhead in the uplink control channel will be a significant drawback.
Hence, it is a general problem to assure that there is a reasonable trade-off between control channel overhead and performance.

Methods and nodes in a wireless communication system


An EAS system having a protection zone in which tags are to be detected and a transition zone outward of the protection zone beyond which tagged articles for sale and/or monitoring can be displayed. The EAS system includes a receiving and processing unit which processes received signals in accordance with first and second different criteria to develop a first signal which can, be used to indicate the presence of a tag in the protection zone and a second signal which can be used to indicate the presence of a tag in the transition zone. Visual indication of the tags in the transition zone is also selectively provided.

This invention relates to electronic article surveillance (EAS) systems and, in particular, to methods and apparatus for improving these systems.
In a typical EAS system, a protection zone is established through which articles must pass and which is under surveillance by the system. If an article having an EAS tag passes through the protection zone, the system detects the tag and, therefore, the article. The system then activates an alarm, thereby indicating the presence of a tagged article in the protection zone.
As can be appreciated, the reliability of an EAS system depends upon the system alarming only when tags within the protection zone cause the system to alarm. In order to promote reliability, most systems are configured so that a transition zone is provided between the protection zone and the other areas of the site or premises, i.e., the unprotected areas containing tagged articles for display and sale. The transition zone is devoid of such articles. Accordingly, the transition zone allows for a certain degree of expansion of the transmitted EAS signal beyond the protection zone, without the worry of false alarming the EAS system, i.e., alarming the system with tagged articles being displayed for sale.
While the use of a transition zone is beneficial for preventing false alarms, there is also a desire to minimize this zone so as not to waste valuable selling floor space. Realizing a transition zone of minimum extent concurrently with minimizing false alarming has not been easy to achieve.
One reason for this is that the transmitted signal is usually in the form of a transmitted field, i.e., a magnetic, electric or electromagnetic field or a combination thereof. Such, fields change in size and, therefore, may expand or contract with time.
These changes may occur due to environmental conditions such as temperature and power line levels. They may also occur due to field reflecting or absorbing objects (e.g., metal racks and doors as well as non-metal objects such as human beings) which interact with the transmitted field.
Another reason is that the distance of the tagged articles to the transition and protection zones may change. This occurs because the tagged articles may be moved by personnel not aware of these zones. However, moving the tagged articles for display into the transition zone can result in false alarms.
In present day EAS systems, the transition zone is usually determined on-site. Articles with tags are first brought into the protection zone until the EAS system alarms. The tagged articles are then moved slightly out of the zone, until the alarming stops. This establishes the desired transition zone.
Unfortunately, this procedure does not always account for the above-described expansion which might occur in the transmitted field. As a result, false alarms may likely result. These are usually corrected for by dispatching EAS personnel to the site. At the site, the transition zone is again reestablished by the EAS personnel by slightly moving the tagged articles further away from the protection zone until any false alarming stops. While this procedure offers a way of establishing and maintaining a transition zone, it is manpower intensive and, therefore, costly.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide an EAS system and method which do not suffer from the above disadvantages.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an EAS system and method in which a transition zone can be established in a manner which preserves selling floor space as well as minimizes false alarms.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide an EAS system and method in which a transition zone can be easily and readily established and maintained.

Electronic article surveillance system with transition zone tag monitoring


A method for the extraction and isolation of the terpene and isoprenoid compounds from plant material, followed by a centrifugal force induced selective crystallization of isoprenoids resulting in a separation of terpene and isoprenoid fractions. This this method is suitable for the extraction of cannabinoids from Cannabis and the enrichment tetrahydrocannabinolic acid and reduction of tetrahydrocannabinol in an extract.

Terpenes and isoprenoids are the major constituents of the essential oils of plants and flowers. Plant essential oils are used in fragrances as additives to food products and perfumery. These essential oils are also used in medicine and alternative medicines.
Terpenes are hydrocarbon compounds that account for many of the aromas in evergreen trees or citrus, as well as other aromatic plants such as lemongrass or hops used in beer brewing. Major terpenes include myrcene (herbaceous, citrus-like aroma), β-pinene (piney aroma), β-caryophyllene (peppery or clove-like aroma), farnesene (green apple aroma), and α-humulene (hoppy aroma). The structures of these terpenes are shown in FIG. 1. In addition to aroma, some of these terpenes have been found to have medicinal effects. Myrcene has an analgesic effect (Lorenzetti et al 1991). Humulene has been shown to have anti-inflammatory and anti-allergic effects (Passosa et al, 2007). Caryophyllene has been shown to have an anti-inflammatory effect in mice (Gertsch et al, 2008).
Isoprenoid compounds are chemically similar to terpenes, though isoprenoid compounds contain additional (non-hydrocarbon) functional groups such as carbonyl, carboxylic acid, or phosphate moieties. Plant isoprenoid compounds have been used extensively for their aromatic qualities in cooking, contributing to the flavors and scents such as cinnamon, cloves, ginger, eucalyptus, and mustard seed, as well as to the colors of plants such orange turmeric or red tomatoes. Medicinal isoprenoids including cannabinoids found in Cannabis, ginkgolide and bilobalide found in Ginkgo biloba, and the curcuminoids found in turmeric.
In recent years, the use of Cannabis and Cannabis extracts for medicinal purposes has increased. However, the complex chemical composition of Cannabis and Cannabis extracts presents several complications for medicinal use. First, while some components of Cannabis have medically useful characteristics, other compounds result in the undesirable psychoactive and narcotic effects that limit the medical usefulness of Cannabis in many applications and patients. Further, the mixed composition of plant-based materials (which varies due to strain, cultivation method, preparation, or age) makes safety and efficacy testing difficult, as various compounds may have synergistic or interfering effects. In addition, while numerous compounds in Cannabis have been shown to have medicinal use, a small number of psychoactive compounds from Cannabis are scheduled by the federal government as controlled substances. Without isolated and purified compounds of medicinal value from Cannabis, pharmaceutical usage of specific Cannabis-derived compounds is greatly limited.
The structures of the isoprenoid compounds tetrahydrocannabinolic acid (THCA, also known as 2-COOH-THC) and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC, also known as Δ9-THCA) are shown in FIG. 2a and FIG. 2b, respectively. THC is the primary psychoactive compound in Cannabis, while THCA is neither psychoactive nor federally scheduled as a controlled substance (Stark, 1990, Marijuana Chemistry: Genetics, Processing, Potency). Academic studies have shown that isolated THCA has a number of medically useful characteristics, such as anti-inflammatory properties, anticancer effects, and antiemetic effects. A table of these studies is shown in FIG. 3.
THC is a chemical degradation product of THCA. FIG. 4 shows the reaction by which THCA is decarboxylated and converted to THC (and carbon dioxide). The reaction shown in FIG. 2 is greatly accelerated by heat; while the THCA is the predominant compound in living and freshly harvested Cannabis, THC is formed rapidly as Cannabis is burned (e.g., by smoking). Small amounts of THC are formed slowly from THCA as Cannabis is dried or aged. In addition to heat instability, the degradation of purified THCA to THC is accelerated by ultraviolet light, oxygen, or acidic conditions (Zoller et al., 2000). Notably, THCA is stable in vivo, as shown by mass spectrometry in a study of THCA metabolism in rat by Jung et al., 2009.
Current methods for purification of THCA from THC involve expensive and time intensive methods that do not scale well, such a high-pressure liquid chromatography. While current THCA purification methods are suitable for the production of analytical or research quantities of THCA, medicinal or pharmaceutical production would require a less expensive and more robust process.
There is currently a lack of data available with respect to the effects of various plant-based medicines, remedies or health-promoting agents—even widely used remedies may not have undergone substantial clinical testing. The lack of data is particularly acute with respect to historically controlled substances, such as Cannabis. The effects of plant-based products may vary significantly between strains, between preparations, and between delivery routes. The lack of highly purified and stable plant based medicinal compounds is one of the primary impediments to meaningful testing of the medicinal properties of these compounds, or to any pharmaceutical use.
There exists an unmet need to develop a method for the rapid extraction of THCA from Cannabis, followed by purification of THCA from THC and other Cannabis compounds, psychoactive or otherwise. There further exists an unmet need that this purification method be inexpensive and robust, so as to be suitable to scaled production.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Methods for extraction and isolation of isoprenoid and terpene compounds from biological extracts


A receiver for a HARQ communication system includes a buffer for storing a signal derived from a message. The signal is transmitted to the receiver at a first coding rate. The receiver also includes a decoder which accepts signals having a second coding rate, and a rate dematcher which converts signals from the first coding rate to the second coding rate. The rate dematcher is arranged to process either a combination of the received signals (in the case that the received signals are noisy versions of identical signals transmitted within the communications network) or simply the set of received signals. In either case, the dematcher forwards the results to the decoder. Provided that the second coding rate is lower than the first coding rate, the amount of memory required by the buffer is reduced by locating the buffer before the rate dematching unit.

It is extremely common in modern communication systems that a unit which is to transmit a message (here referred to as a "transmitter") to a unit at a distance ("receiver") uses the message to generate an encoded signal and transmits the signal (e.g. as a data packet) to the receiver. For this reason, the transmitter includes an encoder and the receiver includes a decoder. Many coding schemes are known, and coding schemes differ in the ratio of the number of bits input to the encoder to the number of bits output from the encoder (the "coding rate"). One well known coding scheme is called Turbo Coding. Many decoders function by a well known process known as forward error correction (FEC).
In the case that the receiver does not correctly receive a signal, it is well known for the receiver to trigger an automatic retransmission of a signal derived from the message. This triggering is known as an automatic repeat request (ARQ). For example, the receiver may trigger the second signal by transmitting to the transmitter a NACK ("no acknowledgement") signal. The receiver stores the multiple signals it receives, and uses them in combination to try to reconstruct the message ("joint decoding"). Note that the second and subsequent signals may simply be identical to the first signal (in which case the joint decoding is by a process called Chase combining), or they may be different but still derived from the same message (Incremental Redundancy).
Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) signal transmission is defined as any data communication method which combines automatic repeat requests (ARQ) with forward error correction (FEC) and which saves failed decoding attempts for future joint decoding. The principle of HARQ is to buffer data that were not decoded successfully and subsequently combine the buffered data with retransmissions.
To meet the different demands of different services, many modern communication systems need to support a set of coding rates to provide different coding gains for different services. A straightforward method to implement this is to employ multiple encoders in the transmitter and multiple decoders in the receiver, but this method results in huge complexity in the communication equipment. Another more practical method is to employ only one encoder and decoder. The encoder provides a pre-chosen coding rate, and other desired coding rates can be obtained by "rate matching". That is, when it is desired to transmit data at a coding rate higher than that of the encoder, bits puncturing (i.e. simple omission of bits produced by the encoder) is performed to obtain the desired coding rates. When it is desired to transmit data at a coding rate lower than the pre-chosen coding rate, bit repetition will be conducted to obtain the desired coding rate.
FIG. 1 shows the structure of such a known transmitter. An encoder 1 receives a message to be encoded (from the left of the diagram), encodes it, and transmits it to a rate matching unit 3, which performs puncturing or bit repetition to produce a desired coding rate. The resultant data is then transmitted to an signal transmission unit 5 for transmission. For example, in the case that the transmission is by radio, the signal transmission unit 5 may be an aerial unit, but the present invention is not limited in this respect.
The corresponding known receiver is shown in FIG. 2, and corresponds to what is shown in the standard document "3GPP TR25.848: Physical layer aspects of UTRA high speed downlink packet access" (the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety). It includes a decoder 13 selected correspondingly to the encoder 1. The receiver further includes a signal reception unit 7 (e.g. including an aerial unit in the case the transmission is by radio) which receives the signal transmitted by the signal transmission unit 5, and transmits it to a rate dematching unit 9, which converts the rate to one acceptable to the decoder 13. The results are stored in buffer 11, and transmitted to the decoder 13. In the case that the decoder 13 determines (by known algorithms) that there is a fault in the reconstruction of the message, the receiver sends a NACK signal (using components which are not shown in FIG. 2) to the transmitter of FIG. 1. The transmitter then sends the next signal derived from the message. The newly received signal is added to the buffer 11. The decoder 13 then performs joint decoding of the multiple received versions of the signal.
The buffer 11 requires quite a large memory size for high data rate communications. For example, 3rd generation mobile wireless communications will support peak data rate of 2 Mbps to 10 Mbps. Therefore, this extra buffer memory will introduce a lot of cost to the user equipment.

Communication systems with hybrid automatic repeat requests (HARQ) and rate matching


A chloroprene type rubber composition which comprises a chloroprene type rubber, a carbon black having an average stacking height Lc of at least 2 nm in a C axis direction of the layer planes in the crystallites, and a zinc powder.

The present invention relates to a chloroprene type rubber composition. More particularly, it relates to a chloroprene type rubber composition which provides a vulcanizate having a significantly improved heat resistance.
Heretofore, several methods have been proposed to improve the heat resistance of a vulcanizate of a chloroprene rubber composition. For example, JP-A-50-87437 discloses a method to improve the heat resistance by adding a zinc powder and water to a chloroprene rubber, JP-A-2-34645 discloses a method to improve the heat resistance by adding a zinc powder and thermal black, and JP-A-3-81350 discloses a method to improve the heat resistance by adding a zinc powder and 4,4xe2x80x2-(xcex1,xcex1-dimethylbenzyl)diphenylamine to a chloroprene rubber. However, the requirement for the heat resistance becomes strict with applications for e.g. rubber components for automobiles. Accordingly, the heat resistance is not always satisfactory with such known methods, and it has been desired to improve the heat resistance.
The present invention resides in a composition comprising a chloroprene type rubber and a specific carbon black and zinc powder incorporated in said rubber, and it is an object of the present invention to improve the heat resistance of a vulcanizate thereof.
Namely, the present inventors have conducted extensive studies to improve the heat resistance of a vulcanizate of a chloroprene type rubber composition and as a result, have found it possible to achieve the object by a combination of a chloroprene type rubber, a carbon black having an average stacking height Lc of at least 2 nm in a C axis direction of the layer planes in the crystallites, and a zinc powder. The present invention has been accomplished on the basis of this discovery.
Now, the present invention will be described in detail.
The chloroprene type rubber in the chloroprene type rubber composition of the present invention contains a chloroprene rubber as the main component, but may contain in addition to the chloroprene rubber, e.g. natural rubber, SBR, butyl rubber, BR, NBR or EPDM, as the case requires.
The chloroprene type rubber of the present invention may be a homopolymer of chloroprene or a copolymer (hereinafter often referred to as a chloroprene type rubber) obtained by polymerizing a mixture (hereinafter referred to as a chloroprene type monomer) comprising chloroprene and at least one other monomer copolymerizable with chloroprene.
Monomers copolymerizable with chloroprene include, for example, 2,3-dichloro-1,3-butadiene, 1-chloro-1,3-butadiene, sulfur, styrene, acrylonitrile, methacrylonitrile, isoprene, butadiene as well as acrylic acid, methacrylic acid and esters thereof, and they can be used within a range to satisfy the purpose of the present invention.
With respect to the polymerization method to obtain the chloroprene rubber to be used in the present invention, there is no particular limitation, and a conventional polymerization method may be employed. Namely, the chloroprene type monomer may be emulsion-polymerized by a conventional method in the presence of a polymerization initiator which is commonly used for polymerization of chloroprene, to obtain the chloroprene rubber.
The emulsifier to be used for this emulsion polymerization is not particularly limited, and an emulsifier which is commonly used for the emulsion polymerization of chloroprene, such as an alkali metal salt of a C6-22 saturated or unsaturated fatty acid, an alkali metal salt of rosin acid or disproportionated rosin acid, or an alkali metal salt of a formalin condensate of xcex2-naphthalene sulfonic acid, may, for example, be used.
Chloroprene rubbers are classified into a sulfur-modified type, a mercaptan-modified type and a xanthogen-modified type, depending upon the type of the molecular weight modifier. The sulfur-modified type is one obtained by copolymerizing sulfur and chloroprene to obtain a polymer and plasticizing the polymer with thiuram disulfide to have a predetermined Mooney viscosity. The mercaptan-modified type is one obtained by using as a molecular weight modifier an alkyl mercaptan such as n-dodecyl mercaptan, tert-dodecyl mercaptan or octyl mercaptan. Likewise, the xanthogen-modified type is one prepared by using as a molecular weight modifier an alkylxanthogen compound.
As the chloroprene type rubber of the present invention, any modified type may be used. Further, a chloroprene type rubber modified by a combination of sulfur, mercaptan and xanthogen may also be used. However, the sulfur-modified type has a poor heat resistance of the polymer itself as compared with the mercaptan-modified or xanthogen-modified type, and accordingly, it is preferred to use the mercaptan-modified or xanthogen-modified type in the case where a higher heat resistance is required.
Specific examples of the alkylxanthogen compound to be used for the xanthogen-modified type include dimethylxanthogen disulfide, diethylxanthogen disulfide, diisopropylxanthogen disulfide and diisobutylxanthogen disulfide.
The amount of the alkylxanthogen compound is selected so that the molecular weight of the chloroprene type polymer (or the Mooney viscosity of a chloroprene type rubber obtainable by isolating the polymer) will be proper. It is used usually in an amount within a range of from 0.05 to 5.0 parts by weight, preferably from 0.3 to 1.0 part by weight, based on 100 parts by weight of the chloroprene type monomer, although the amount may vary depending upon the structure of the alkyl group or the desired molecular weight.
As the polymerization initiator, known potassium persulfate, ammonium persulfate, sodium persulfate, hydrogen peroxide or an organic peroxide such as t-butyl hydroperoxide, may be used, which is commonly used for emulsion polymerization of chloroprene.
In the present invention, the polymerization temperature and the final conversion of the monomer are not particularly limited. However, the polymerization temperature is preferably from 0 to 50xc2x0 C., more preferably from 20 to 50xc2x0 C. Further, the polymerization is preferably carried out so that the final conversion of the monomer will be within a range of from 50 to 90%, and when this conversion has been reached, a small amount of a polymerization inhibitor may be added to terminate the polymerization.
As the polymerization inhibitor, a commonly employed inhibitor such as thiodiphenylamine, 4-tert-butylcatechol or 2,2-methylenebis-4-methyl-6-tert-butylphenol, may, for example, be used.
An unreacted monomer may be removed, for example, by steam stripping, and then the pH of the latex is adjusted, followed by e.g. conventional freeze solidification, washing with water and hot air drying to isolate the polymer.
The carbon black to be incorporated to the chloroprene type rubber composition of the present invention may be any one of thermal black and acetylene black prepared by a thermal decomposition method and furnace black and channel black prepared by an incomplete combustion method. However, such carbon blacks are required to have an average stacking height Lc of at least 2 nm in a C axis direction of the layer planes in the crystallites, and particularly preferred is one having an average stacking height Lc of at least 2.5 nm in a C axis direction of the layer planes.
Further, a preferred carbon black is one having an average particle size of at most 60 nm, and having a DBP oil absorption of preferably from 100 to 350 ml/100 g, more preferably from 120 to 300 ml/100 g, particularly preferably from 140 to 300 ml/100 g.
If the average stacking height Lc is less than 2 nm in a C axis direction of the layer planes in the crystallites, the heat resistance of a vulcanizate obtained by vulcanizing the chloroprene type rubber composition will be inadequate.
Further, acetylene black is a carbon black obtained by thermally decomposing acetylene gas, and the chloroprene type rubber composition using acetylene black is most preferred as the effect to improve the heat resistance of its vulcanizate is significant, since the crystallization is significantly advanced, the structure is highly developed, and the oil absorption is large.
The amount of the carbon black is preferably from 10 to 70 parts by weight, more preferably from 20 to 60 parts by weight, based on 100 parts by weight of the chloroprene type rubber. If the amount exceeds 70 parts by weight, the processability tends to be poor, scorch is likely to take place, and the embrittlement temperature of the vulcanizate tends to be high. If the amount is smaller than 10 parts by weight, the tensile strength and the modulus tend to be low.
With respect to the grain size of the zinc powder to be used in the present invention, preferred is one which passed through a 200-mesh screen. The amount of the zinc powder is preferably from 1 to 30 parts by weight, more preferably from 2 to 20 parts by weight, based on 100 parts by weight of the chloroprene type rubber. If the amount of the zinc powder is smaller than 1 part by weight, the heat resistance of the vulcanizate will not adequately be improved, and if it is larger than 30 parts by weight, the mechanical properties of the vulcanizate tend to be low.
The vulcanizer to be used in the present invention is not particularly limited, but is preferably a metal oxide. Specifically, zinc oxide, magnesium oxide, lead oxide, trilead tetraoxide, iron trioxide, titanium dioxide or calcium oxide may, for example, be mentioned. They may be used in combination as a mixture of two or more of them. The amount of such a vulcanizer is preferably from 3 to 15 parts by weight based on 100 parts by weight of the chloroprene type rubber.
Further, by using said vulcanizer in combination with the following vulcanization accelerator, vulcanization can be carried out more effectively.
As the vulcanization accelerator, a vulcanization accelerator of thiourea type, guanidine type, thiuram type, thiazol type or triazine type, which is commonly used for vulcanization of the chloroprene type rubber, may be used. However, one of thiourea type is preferred. As the vulcanization accelerator of thiourea type, ethylenethiourea, diethylthiourea, trimethylthiourea, triethylthiourea or N,Nxe2x80x2-diphenylthiourea may, for example, be mentioned, and trimethyl thiourea is particularly preferred. Further, a vulcanization accelerator such as a mixture comprising 3-methylthiazolidine thione-2 or thiadiazole and phenylenedimaleimide, or dimethylammonium hydrogen isophthalate or a 1,2-dimercapto-1,3,4-thiadiazole derivative, may also be used. The above vulcanization accelerators may be used in combination as a mixture of two or more of them. Further, a peroxide vulcanization type may also be used. The amount of such a vulcanization accelerator is preferably from 0.5 to 5 parts by weight based on 100 parts by weight of the chloroprene type rubber.
To the chloroprene type rubber composition of the present invention, various additives such as a softening agent, a plasticizer, a processing aid, an aging-preventing agent, a lubricant, a filler, etc., may be incorporated as the case requires.
As the aging-preventing agent, a common aging-preventing agent of e.g. amine type, imidazole type, a metal carbamate, phenol type or wax type, may be used. As an aging-preventing agent species having a significant effect to improve the heat resistance, the amine type such as 4,4xe2x80x2-bis (xcex1,xcex1-dimethylbenzyl) diphenylamine or octylated diphenylamine may, for example, be mentioned. Particularly, 4,4xe2x80x2-bis (xcex1,xcex1-dimethylbenzyl) diphenylamine may further improve the heat resistance of the chloroprene type rubber composition of the present invention. These aging-preventing agents may be used alone or in combination as a mixture.
As the softening agent, a common softening agent such as a petroleum type softening agent such as lubricating oil, process oil, paraffin, liquid paraffin, Vaseline or petroleum asphalt, or an alphatic softening agent such as rapeseed oil, flaxseed oil, castor oil or coconut oil, may be used. As the plasticizer, a common plasticizer such as dioctyl phthalate or dioctyl adipate, may be used. As a plasticizer which will not inhibit or will increase the heat resistance of the chloroprene type rubber composition of the present invention, an ether/thioether type plasticizer such as Vulkanol TO (trade name, manufactured by Bayer Ltd.), a vegetable oil or an ester type plasticizer, or an ether/ester type plasticizer such as Adekacizer RS-700, RS-735 (trade names, manufactured by Asahi Denka Kogyo K.k.), may, for example, be mentioned. Particularly, an ether/thioether type plasticizer is preferred since it has effects to improve the low-temperature resistance as well as to increase the heat resistance, and it is excellent in the balance between them. Such plasticizers may be used alone or in combination as a mixture of two or more of them, depending upon the properties required.
With respect to the methods of kneading and vulcanizing the rubber composition in the present invention, methods which are commonly carried out in rubber industry, may be employed. Commonly, the rubber composition is mixed by a kneading machine such as a kneader, a Banbury mixer or a roll mill, followed by molding into a desired shape to obtain a molded vulcanizate. Specifically, various components are kneaded at a temperature of not higher than the vulcanization temperature, and the kneaded product is molded into a desired shape, followed by vulcanization. The temperature and the time for vulcanization may suitably be set. The vulcanization temperature is preferably from 140 to 190xc2x0 C., more preferably from 150 to 180xc2x0 C.
The vulcanizate obtained from the chloroprene type rubber composition of the present invention is excellent in, in addition to the mechanical properties of the rubber, the heat resistance, the oil resistance and the low-temperature resistance. Accordingly, it is suitable for industrial components, for which the heat resistance, the oil resistance and the low-temperature resistance are required, such as boots, hoses, belts, rubber vibration insulators, vibration dampers, electrical wires, gaskets, oil seals and packings, particularly for rubber components for automobiles, for which quality assurance and the heat resistance are strictly required.
Now, the present invention will be explained in detail with reference to Examples. However, it should be understood that the present invention is by no means restricted to such specific Examples.


A uniform coding system for a flash memory is disclosed. A statistic decision unit determines a coding word according to a plurality of inputs. An inverse unit controllably inverts input data to be encoded. The input data are then encoded into encoded data according to a statistic determined by the statistic decision unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a flash memory, and more particularly to uniform coding for a multi-level cell (MLC) flash memory.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Flash memory is a non-volatile solid state memory device that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed, and is a specific type of electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM) device. Conventional flash memory stores a single bit of information in each memory cell such that each memory cell can be programmed to assume two possible states. The conventional flash memory is thus commonly referred to as single-level cell (SLC) flash memory or single-bit cell (SBC) flash memory. Modern flash memory is capable of storing two or more bits of information in each memory cell such that each memory cell can be programmed to assume more than two possible states. The modern flash memory is thus commonly referred to as multi-level cell (MLC) flash memory or multi-bit cell (MBC) flash memory.
In the flash memory, data of different state are written to the flash memory (which is commonly referred as programming the flash memory) by storing different amount of charge in the floating gate of the flash memory. As the charge in the floating gate specifically determines the corresponding threshold voltage, the data can then be read from the flash memory according to their different threshold voltage. Due to variations among the memory cells during the manufacture, operation or according to other factors, the threshold voltage of each state is not a constant value but a range. FIG. 1A shows a common distribution of the threshold voltage for a typical MLC flash memory (a two-bit cell flash memory is exemplified here). The entire voltage range is divided into a number of regions (e.g., four regions in the example), each region corresponding to one state. The number of cells of each threshold voltage is collected as illustrated. When the flash memory is being read, the threshold voltage of a cell is compared to reference voltages or read thresholds (e.g., V1, V2 and V3 in the figure) to determine its state. Specifically, the threshold voltage is firstly compared with a low-byte read threshold (e.g., V2 in the exemplary figure), followed by subsequently comparing with high-byte read thresholds (e.g., V1 and V3 in the exemplary figure).
However, partial distribution of threshold voltages may become widened, such as the state (0,0) shown in FIG. 1B, when the low-byte data and the high-byte data in the same word line have substantially the same value. As a result, the read margin decreases and error rate increases.
For the reason that conventional flash memory, particularly the MLC flash memory, could probably result in read errors due to widened distribution of threshold voltages of one or more states, a need has arisen to propose some novel schemes to cause the threshold voltages more uniformly distributed.

Uniform coding system for a flash memory


In a method for stabilizing an optical output of a semiconductor laser: the semiconductor laser is heated with a heater when the semiconductor laser is not in operation; and the heating of the semiconductor laser is stopped, or the amount of heat supplied to the semiconductor laser is lowered, almost simultaneously with startup of the semiconductor laser.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for stabilizing the optical output of a semiconductor laser (laser diode).
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, semiconductor lasers are used in various fields. Since the semiconductor lasers are more responsive than gas lasers and the like, for example, the semiconductor lasers are often used as light sources in image exposure apparatuses and the like. In such cases, sometimes the semiconductor lasers are intermittently driven. For example, a semiconductor laser is driven for 15 seconds for image exposure, and stopped for 10 seconds for replacement of an exposed photosensitive material with a new photosensitive material.
When a semiconductor laser is driven as above, it is desired that the output power of the semiconductor laser reaches a predetermined level immediately after start of driving (for example, within one second), and thereafter the predetermined level is maintained.
In a conventionally known method for stabilizing the optical output of a semiconductor laser, variations of a laser-light output corresponding to a control signal for a laser light source is measured in advance, the variation pattern is recorded, and the control signal is corrected according to the variation pattern, as disclosed in, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 11 (1999)-284284.
However, in the above method disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 11 (1999)-284284, it is very difficult to stabilize the optical output immediately after (within about one second of) startup of the semiconductor laser. Further, although GaN-based compound semiconductor lasers which oscillate in the blue wavelength range are known, it is particularly difficult to stabilize the optical outputs of this type of GaN-based compound semiconductor laser immediately after their startup.

Method for stabilizing optical output of semiconductor laser


The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method thereof for adjusting a luminance of an image signal. The apparatus includes a complementary circuit, a statistical circuit, a calculating circuit, and a blending circuit. The complementary circuit receives an image signal to generate a complementary luminance according to the luminance of the image signal. The statistical circuit receives the image signal to generate a statistical signal according to the luminance of the image signal. The calculating circuit receives the image signal, the complementary luminance, and the statistical signal to generate a calculated luminance of the image signal. The blending circuit generates an output image signal according to the calculated luminance and the luminance of the image signal. A video display device can thereby displays optimum pictures according to the output image signal.

Display devices are indispensable necessities for people in daily life. No matter the display devices installed on mobile phones or the display devices for displaying television programs, they are a part of people's daily lives. Due to their great popularity and importance, users regard the quality of display devices as an important issue gradually. The luminance of frames displayed by display devices is one of the key factors for enhancing display qualities. Thereby, luminance adjustment becomes an important issue in research and development for display manufacturers. In the past, adjustment of the luminance for display devices usually needs a complex process in order to get a better luminance. The conventional adjustment technique utilizes a plurality of linear oblique lines to form a line with many connecting points for representing the corresponding relation between an input luminance and an output luminance in rectangular coordinate. Next, the conventional adjustment technique adjusts luminance of image signal according to the line. Due to the process mentioned above, the boundary effect will be occurred. In addition, it needs more process at the connecting points of the plurality of linear oblique lines in the line. That is why the conventional adjustment technique is so complex that it has the slow process and serious distortion. Thereby, the picture quality presented by the display device is reduced.

Image adjustment apparatus and method thereof


A security luggage bag having multi layered walls defining a storage volume and at least one of the walls has a reinforcing layer comprised of a fabric with a reinforcing wire strand on a surface of the fabric, the reinforcing strand being fixed to the fabric as with stitching, tape or welds extending lengthwise along the reinforcing strand.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a softside luggage bag having a reinforced cover defining the storage volume thereof and in which the cover is resistant to being sliced open by anyone attempting to steal or surreptitiously remove the contents of the luggage bag through such a sliced opening. Ads utilized herein, the term "luggage bag" is defined to include all forms of storage bags which are generally carried by the user, often during traveling, and utilized for temporarily retaining in the volume various articles and items and includes, but is not limited to, backpacks, suitcases, shoulder bags, Gladstone bags, duffle bags, purses, brief cases, computer or other electronic device cases, and the like.
2. Background of the Invention
The use of reinforcement such as a flexible wire mesh in the cover of flexible or softside luggage bags provides an increased level of security against theft, particularly that which achieved by some unauthorized person slicing open the bag and stealing the contents of the storage volume. The mesh can be held adjacent the fabric or other flexible material walls of the luggage bag for greatly enhanced security, while still retaining the advantages of traditional softside un-reinforced products. For luggage bags of this construction, it is convenient to have a fabric outer layer providing, if desired, a waterproof shell about the mesh layer. To prevent the bag's contents snagging, or being damaged by the wire mesh layer exposed on the inside, a liner, such as an inner fabric layer is used and the inner fabric layer is typically of relatively lighter material than the outer fabric layer.
The wire mesh layer may be formed in the shape of the bag from a single wire strand arrayed in a preselected pattern, or from separate sheets of the cover material which may be appropriately joined together to form the luggage bag and, if desired a frame may be included over which the cover is attached.
Fastenings may, if desired, join adjacent portions of the wire mesh, which is generally has as strand of wire in a sinusoidal pattern, with the strand extending generally longitudinally and being turned back upon itself to form closed loops at each of the opposing edges of the wire mesh layer. Due to the construction of the mesh bag or sheet of the cover in this manner, when the wire mesh layer is in a relaxed state the wire mesh ends to collapse, closing the open spaces between the strands.
In many of the prior art wire mesh reinforced luggage bags the reinforcing cover or separate reinforcing sheets from which the luggage bag was assembled, were a composite reinforced textile, comprising inner and outer fabric bags laminated together to enclose the reinforcing wire mesh layer, or two layers laminated together with the mesh layer held therebetween. Such cover structures often included multi layer arrangements including the wire mesh layer and the various layers may be bonded together to provide additional desirable features to the luggage bag.
Bonding the wire mesh layer to the fabric layers by lamination, while effective to retain the wire mesh layer in place avoids the problems resulting from the mesh separating from the outer fabric layer and the liner fabric layer due to the tendency of the mesh to collapse. However, the manufacture of laminated luggage bags or sheets of cover material has proven to be relatively costly.
It is an object of the present invention to overcome or substantially ameliorate the above cost of lamination and the disadvantages inherent therein and, in general to provide an improved reinforced luggage bag in which the cover is a multi layer configuration providing an improved arrangement for securing the wire mesh layer to at least one of the fabric layers in the construction of softside luggage bags.


A three-dimensional metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitor is formed in an integrated circuit structure. The 3D MIM capacitor may include a bottom conductor including a bottom plate portion (e.g., formed in a metal interconnect layer) and vertically-extending sidewall portions extending from the bottom plate portion. An insulator layer is formed on the bottom plate portion and the vertically extending sidewall portions of the bottom conductor. A top conductor is formed over the insulating layer, such that the top conductor is capacitively coupled to both the bottom plate portion and the vertically extending sidewall portions of the bottom conductor, to thereby define an increased area of capacitive coupling between the top and bottom conductors. The vertically extending sidewall portions of the bottom conductor may be formed in a single metal layer or by components of multiple metal layers.

A metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitor is a capacitor constructed with a metal top plate, a metal bottom plate, and an insulator (dielectric) sandwiched between the two metal plates.
MIM capacitors are important components in many electrical circuits, for example many analog, mixed-signal, and radio-frequency complementary metal-oxide semiconductors (RF CMOS) circuits. MIM capacitors typically provide better performance than alternatives, such as POP (Poly-Oxide-Poly) capacitors and MOM (Metal-Oxide-Metal Lateral Flux) capacitors, due to lower resistance, better matching, and/or better signal/noise ratio.
MIM capacitors are typically provided built just below the top metal layer, for example, using the existing Top-1 Metal layer as the bottom plate, constructing a top plate with a different metal (e.g., Titanium or Titanium Nitride (Ti/TiN), Tantalum or Tantalum Nitride (Ta/TaN), or Tungsten (W)), and connecting an overlying Top Metal layer to the top and bottom plates of the capacitor through respective vias. The top plate typically has a higher resistance then the bottom plate, e.g., because the top plate may be limited by thickness constraints and the material of choice for integration, thus limiting the performance of conventional MIM capacitors.
FIGS. 1A and 1B show two examples of conventional MIM capacitor structures. FIG. 1A shows a conventional MIM capacitor 100A built on an aluminum interconnect. MIM capacitor 100A includes an insulator layer 112A formed between an aluminum bottom plate 114A (Top-1 Metal layer) and a metal top plate 116A (e.g., Ti, TiN, or Aluminum (Al)). The Al bottom plate 114A and metal top plate 116A are each connected to a respective contact 120A and 122A (Top Metal layer) by one or more vias 124A and 126A, e.g., each formed by filling a via hole with tungsten (W) or other suitable metal. The insulator layer 112A may be an SiN layer having a thickness of about 500 Å, for example.
FIG. 1B shows another conventional MIM capacitor 100B built on a copper (Cu) interconnect. MIM capacitor 100B includes an insulator layer 112B formed between a Cu bottom plate 114B (Top-1 Metal layer) and a metal top plate 116B (e.g., Ta, TaN, or TiN). The Cu bottom plate 114B and metal top plate 116B are each connected to a respective contact 120B and 122B (Top Metal layer) by one or more vias 124B and 126B, e.g., each formed by filling a via hole with tungsten, copper or other suitable metal. As with capacitor 100A built on an Al interconnect, the insulator layer 112B of capacitor 10B built on a Cu interconnect may be an SiN layer having a thickness of about 500 Å, for example. Layer 112B also acts as a dielectric diffusion barrier for the copper of bottom plate 114B.
As used herein, a "via" refers to a conductive via formed by plugging or otherwise depositing a conductive material (e.g., tungsten) in a via hole having a small diameter or width, e.g., a diameter or width below 1 μm, and thus having a relative large resistance, e.g., a resistance of at least 1 ohm per via. For example, conventional vias (e.g., vias 124A, 126A, 124B, and/or 126B shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B) typically have a small diameter in the range of 0.1 μm to 0.5 μm, and may have a resistance of about 10 ohms/via, for example, especially for vias formed from tungsten or other highly resistive material. Thus, conventional MIM capacitors often include multiple vias (e.g., multiple vias between the top plate and top plate contact and/or multiple vias between the bottom plate and bottom plate contact) to reduce the overall resistance to some extent. As used herein, a "via connection" in the context of an MIM capacitor refers to a via extending from a capacitor plate (top plate or bottom plate) to an overlying conductive contact.
In addition, MIM capacitors are typically expensive to build, e.g., as compared with other certain types of capacitors. For example, MIM capacitors typically require additional mask layers and many additional process steps, as compared with POP capacitors and MOM capacitors. MIM capacitors also typically require relatively large areas of silicon, resulting in inefficient area usage, particularly with large MIM capacitors.
In addition, in conventional MIM capacitor 100B, the insulator layer 112B is in direct contact with an upper surface of copper bottom plate 114B, typically resulting in a low breakdown voltage due to Cu hillocks (bumpy surface) at the upper surface of bottom plate 114, e.g., as indicated at "H" in FIG. 1B. Further, in a conventional MIM capacitor, the top plate is thin and thus provides a high series resistance, as the vertical thickness of the top plate is limited by the vertical distance between the adjacent metal layers in which the MIM capacitor is formed, (e.g., top metal layer and top-1 metal layer).
There is a need for MIM capacitors that can be manufactured at lower cost, with improved spatial density, and/or with improved breakdown voltage.

Three-dimensional metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitor


A determination method for determining a frame header mode of a DMB-TH system data structure and a determination apparatus thereof. The determination method comprises generating a signal when signal frequencies at a transmitting terminal and a receiving terminal are identical, providing a predetermined process to process the signal, such that the signal forms a peak when a frequency offset occurs, and determining a type of the frame header mode according to the predetermined process.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates in general to an automatic detection device for a frame header and a method thereof, and in particular, to a detection device and method for a DMB-TH communication protocol or PN signal mode in TDS OFDM systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
In DMB-TH systems, a data frame typically comprises a 4-layer structure, in which a basic frame is known as a signal frame, including a frame header and a frame body. In DMB-TH systems, the frame header comprises three modes: the frame header signal PN420 with a length of 420 symbols; the frame header signal PN595 with a length of 595 symbols; and the frame header signal PN945 with a length of 945 symbols. During signal transmission, the receiver determines the mode of the frame header of the signal frame, to accordingly perform different processing.
Conventionally, the method of determining the frame header mode is based on distance between two peaks generated by the cross correlation of the frame header sequence when frequencies of the transmitter and the receiver are synchronous.
However when a specific frequency offset occurs between the transmitter and the receiver, for example, frequency offset exceeding 30 KHz in the PN420 mode, and frequency offset exceeding 15 KHz in the PN945 mode, combining multipath effect and low signal to noise ratio (SNR), disturbance to the signal peaks for determining frame header mode renders inaccurate determinations.
As shown in FIG. 1(a), FIG. 1a illustrates the peak generation when the signals at the transmitter and receiver are synchronized, where the distance between two adjacent peaks 10a and 10b can be used to determine the header mode. Please refer to FIG. 1b, FIG. 1b illustrates the peak generation when a frequency difference exists between the signal frequencies at the transmitter and receiver and the peaks are unclear (12b), resulting in difficulty of frame header mode determination.
Thus, a need exists for an amplifier amplifying an input signal without introducing noise to the amplified signal.

Device for automatically determining PN code and related method


In the present invention a completely different approach for modeling of non-linear devices or processes is used. A cascade of blocks each depending on a non-linearity parameter are utilized both in non-linear modeling and a pre-distorter design. The new non-linear model description can be used for characterization of a non-linear system or for linearizing a non-linear system. Application to a Communications System Multi-carrier Amplifier is shown as an application example. Also for other application areas of the new mathematical method is feasible echo-canceling, non-linear communications channels etc. Parameter extractions and tables for the new model do not give multiple dimensional mathematical solutions for parameter extractions as in prior art.

Mobile communication systems, such as those used for cellular telephone communication, divide the spectrum into a multiplicity of individual signaling channels or frequency bands. Particular channels are allocated to individual users as they access the system. Each user's communication path is routed through the system through the channel allocated to that user. Signals broadcast by the system must be carefully regulated so that they remain within the channels allocated to the various users. Signals "out of band" can spill over from one channel to another, causing unacceptable interference with communications in the other channels. In order to increase the data transfer in such channels linear modulations like QAM, 8-PSK and others containing amplitude modulation are utilized in contrary to older systems using constant amplitude phase or frequency modulation. The new 3G systems will need multi-carrier amplifiers. Those new modulations require high linearity amplifiers and up-converters not to cause interference to other channels in the cellular system. Although combining of a plurality of carriers of any modulation into a single RF-power amplifier (MCPA) means that the amplifier will require very high demand on linearity in order to avoid spectral re-growth spreading RF-power into regions of the spectrum not appearing in the input signal.
Normal RE-power linearization techniques are utilizing the known Feed-Forward technique (FF) and variants thereof. In order to improve the performance of the concept various attempts of improving the FF-architecture by pre-distorting the signal to the main power amplifier are utilized. This is done to reduce the distortion in the main amplifier before applying the correcting signals in the feed forward loop thus achieving better efficiencies and less correcting needed in the FF-loop. Examples of such patents are WO97/37427, WO99/23756, WO99/45640 and WO99/45638 which shows a general increase of analogue complexity of generating the pre-distortion signals to the Main Power amplifier in a Feed-Forward Application or only using pre-distortion linearization of an RE-amplifier without the feed-forward loop for less demanding applications. With the semiconductor technology improving in both DSP- and ADC- and DAC- techniques a strive has been taken of doing the pre-distortion in the digital domain instead of the analogue. Various patents on digital predistortion have been filed. First the digital predistortion patents were covering linear modulation single carrier amplifier improvements. References to be mentioned here are U.S. Pat. No. 4,291,277, U.S. Pat. No. 5,049,832 et al. Technical articles like James Carver-IEEE Transactions on Vehicular technology, Vol. 39 No. 4, November 1990: "Amplifier Linearization using Digital Pre-distorter with fast adaptation and Low Memory requirements" and Andrew S. Wright and Willem Durtler, IEEE Transactions on Vehicular technology, Vol. 41, No 4, November 1992:"Experimental Performance of an adaptive Digital Linearized Power Amplifier" gives good insight in the preceding history for the evolution of Digital Pre-distortlon. In FIG. 1 is illustrated a digital pre-distorter outline as described by Carvers et al.
RF-power multi-carrier power amplifiers (MCPA) require very high demand on linearity in order to avoid spectral re-growth spreading RF-power into regions of the spectrum not appearing in the input signal. In analogy with the known analogue feed-forward technique, different patents of digital pre-distortion and post-distortion implementations are disclosed in for instance patent documents WO97/30521, WO98/51005, U.S. Pat. No. 5,923,712 by Leyondecker and WO98/12800.
FIG. 2 shows a basic outline for a digital pre-distortion (DPD) application applied to a wireless system. However, DPD can be applied to other systems needing digital linearization. The mentioned patents deals with the implementation of the so called digital real time circuit and then in smaller content with the calculation routines (algorithms) used in the DSP for up-dating look-up tables and other steering parameters. A practical design must take care of both the hardware and the software for the ease of the practical implementation.
All mentioned patents relies on the basic structure illustrated in FIG. 1 with some functional additions to handle and compensate for more than the basic gain and phase non-linearity transfer function, that a real physical device has. The digital model for the non-linear device like an amplifier (PA) must incorporate models containing more dimensions of data taking account for the so called "Memory effects". By integration of the input signal over a certain time a measure of the input signal Peak to Average signal level is made. This is then utilized to create tables describing the device performance dependence not only dependent of the actual input signal strength. The patent document WO98/12800 from Spectrian describes one way of from measured amplifier performance by use of a so called "leaky integrator" get information of the moving average magnitude of the signal and from that create a function to describe the performance of the amplifier combined into one table. The Spectrian patent used the signal magnitude as input to the "leaky integrator", which is basically wrong as the claims are for power dependence. The "leaky integrator" shall work on the squared magnitude representing the signal power instead. The above mentioned patent as well as U.S. Pat. No. 5,949,283 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,959,500 are different implementations of how to create tables from observations of the amplifier output signal. The observations are used to create tables to pre-distorted input signals to the amplifier in order to improve the distortion at the output of the amplifier. By adding complexity in the pre-distorters the look-up table (LUT) dimension are often increased drastically. The patents also deals with the scenarios of using the created look-up tables to create signals to be used as a post-distortion that is subtracted from the main amplifier by another amplifier up-converter at the output of the main amplifier. This adds complexity to the solutions.
The present invention only applies to the design of the digital parts needed to make distortion cancellation of a non-linear device like a RF-power amplifier (PA) and the algorithms for achieving the results. The power amplifier is considered to be the non-linear device for the rest of this paper. Different outlines and patents have been granted for this issue. Worth mentioning is the following. The results achieved in those patents are that very large multidimensional memory size is needed and the algorithms for calculating the needed memory contents are unclear. The available distortion cancellation in applying these patents are also unknown as the structures and algorithms does contaminate different PA performances of a real device like phase delay, power dependence and bias dependence in the same function blocks of the implemented digital block diagrams. U.S. Pat. No. 5,923,712 describes a method of tables containing extracted several weighting taps in some peculiar manner combining both power and magnitude samples with different delays to decide some average performance. The result is combined with direct inverse pre-distortion modeling. FIG. 8 in U.S. Pat. No. 5,923,712 shows how complex the implementation becomes for a practical case if memory predictions are going to be used. Multidimensional tables are also implemented for power dependence predictions disclosed in other patents.
The basic for all these patents are that the compensating gain calculations to be put into the LUT is done by a direct inverse division of the observed RF-power output signal and a time delayed (adjusted) input signal. There are a lot of special designed algorithms needed to be applicable to each particular patent for improving the basic failures from direct inverse calculations and the particular outlines used like signal noise sensitivity reduction and algorithm convergence.
Recently published patents: US2001/050592 A1 and US2002/0008578 A1 are the most promising approach based on Volterra analysis and clever mathematics of solving the Volterra kernels (See references [1] and [2]). The result is multiple Look up tables where each table dimension is read from a different steering parameter and the result is added and applied to coefficients of a FIR-filter to handle memory effects.
Thus there is still a need for a simple and efficient method for providing RF-power amplifier distortion minimizing (i.e.; linearization or pre-distortion). Therefore the present invention does not perform direct inverse calculations as outlined above and which will be explained in the description of the present new procedure.


In a method, a computer program and a system for carrying out a project from a plurality of differently located electronic data processing (EDP) devices, which are connected via a data network with a main server serving the central data loading for the purpose of data exchange and whereby, during individual working time intervals, respectively one other from the plurality of EDP devices for carrying out the project is at least partially activated. A method, computer program and system provide that employees at other sites, located at a distance from the main server, are permitted full cooperation in a project. The data network is configured in a cross-locational manner, and that the individual EDP devices are located distributed at least partially in a cross-locational manner.

In many larger companies, EDP devices at differently located workplaces are networked with one another, for example by a Local Area Network LAN. Employees then have the opportunity to store their respective work results for a project, which they have acquired during a working time interval, e.g. during an 8-hour working day, on a main server via the EDP device at their workplace and the LAN. These work results can then also be retrieved again at any time, in particular at the start of a subsequent working time interval, from other EDP devices connected to the LAN in order to continue the project work from there.
Hitherto, however, such methods for carrying out projects have been provided solely for spatially limited applications, in particular solely related to a company site. This has the drawback that employees at other sites cannot readily be involved in the project work.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a method, computer program and system in which employees at other sites, located at a distance from the main server, are permitted full cooperation in a project.

Method, computer program, and system for carrying out a project


A receiver measures strength of magnetic field generated by a transmitter and supplies it to a computer. The computer detects a viewpoint of a viewer based on the strength. The computer sets each pixel-displaying element arranged on the display portion of image display as a subject pixel-displaying element in turn. The computer obtains set pixel data from multiple items of pixel data constituting image data of one screen as pixel data corresponding to the subject pixel-displaying element. The image data has been obtained by a camera arranged for a position on an imaged plane corresponding to the split area in the display portion including the subject pixel-displaying element and stored in data storage. The set pixel data corresponds to a beam of light irradiated from the object along a straight line connecting the viewpoint and the subject pixel-displaying element. The computer supplies the set pixel data to a display.

This application claims the benefits under 35 USC 119 to Japanese priority application 2003-297635, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image-displaying apparatus and a method for obtaining pixel data therefor. More specifically, it relates to an image-displaying apparatus and the like for displaying an actual image thereon.
2. Description of the Prior Art
On a conventional image-displaying apparatus using a cathode ray tube, a liquid crystal display, a projector or the like, an image 10 of object 20 imaged by any video camera 30 is displayed. Such the image 10 is only the one viewed from a position of the camera 30 as a viewpoint thereof, as shown in FIG. 1. If a user (viewer) moves his or her head to alter the viewpoint when he or she sees the image 10 displayed on the display portion 40, the image 10 is remained unchanged as being the image viewed from a center of lens in the camera 30 (hereinafter properly referred to as "camera's viewpoint"). Thus, regarding the conventional displaying apparatus using the cathode ray tube and the like, it has not been successfully performed that the image 10 displayed on the display portion 40 can be altered according to an alteration of the user's viewpoint.
Regarding a technology using a hologram, there has been a chance that the image displayed on the display portion can be altered according to an alteration of the user's viewpoint. For example, it is called as "zebra imaging". Such the zebra imaging, however, requires a large amount of operation and time therefor to create it because it uses the hologram and displays holographic images.
As another technology that the image displayed on the display portion can be altered according to an alteration of the user's viewpoint, a virtual reality (VR) system using immersive projection technology (IPT) or immersive projection display (IPD) has been developed by university of Illinois. For example, it is called as "CAVE" system. Such the VR system, however, is subject to displaying computer graphics (CG) so that it is difficult to be subject to displaying an actual image imaged by video camera.
An image-displaying apparatus such that the actual image can be displayed on the display portion according to an alteration of the user's viewpoint has been developed. For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 09-236880 discloses such the apparatus. In such the apparatus, when a viewer's viewpoint is altered to another view area, image contents to be displayed on the display portion such as liquid crystal display are altered with reflecting a difference of the movement based on alteration of the viewer's viewpoint.
In this case, in order to alter the image contents to be displayed on the display portion, image data corresponding to each of the view areas, for example, is previously provided. Thus, limited is the viewer's viewpoint alteration so that it is impossible for the viewer to alter his or her viewpoint to optional one.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an image-displaying apparatus and the like wherein an actual image corresponding to the optional viewpoint can be displayed on the display portion having its surface of a predetermined shape in good condition.

Image-displaying apparatus and method for obtaining pixel data therefor