A rectangular vibrating plate 10 in which a piezoelectric element and a reinforcing plate are stacked is supported on a main plate by a support member 11, and is urged toward the rotor 100 by an elastic force of the support member 11. This brings a projection 36 provided on the vibrating plate 10 into abutment with an outer peripheral surface of the rotor 100. In this construction, when the vibrating plate 10 vibrates in the horizontal direction in the figure by an applied voltage from a driving circuit (not shown), the rotor 100 is rotated in a clockwise direction in accordance with the displacement of the projection 36 due to the vibration.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a piezoelectric actuator, and to a timepiece and a portable device including the piezoelectric actuator.
2. Description of the Related Art
Since piezoelectric elements have excellent responsiveness and conversion efficiency from electrical energy to mechanical energy, various types of piezoelectric actuators utilizing the piezoelectric effect of piezoelectric elements have been developed in recent years. The piezoelectric actuators have been applied to the fields of piezoelectric buzzers, ink-jet heads of printers, and ultrasonic motors.
FIG. 61 is a plan view schematically showing an ultrasonic motor using a conventional piezoelectric actuator. As shown in the figure, the ultrasonic motor of this type is called a poking type in which a rotor surface is slightly inclined and brought into contact with a tip of a vibrating piece connected to a piezoelectric element. In such a construction, when the piezoelectric element is expanded and contracted by an alternating voltage from an oscillator, and the vibrating piece reciprocates in a longitudinal direction, a force component is generated in a circumferential direction of the rotor and the rotor is rotated.
In addition, a technique has been known in which two ultrasonic vibrators (piezoelectric elements) are included, the ultrasonic vibrators vibrate with their own electrical resonance frequencies, and a vibrating piece is displaced by the vibration (Japanese Unexamined Application Publication No. 10-25151).
However, while the displacement of the piezoelectric element depends on the applied voltage, it is very small, usually about sub-micron, and this also applies to a case where the piezoelectric element vibrates with the above-described resonance frequency. For this reason, the displacement is amplified by a certain amplification mechanism, and is transmitted to the rotor. When the amplification mechanism is used, however, energy is consumed to operate the amplification mechanism, efficiency is lowered, and the size of an apparatus increases. In addition, when the amplification mechanism is used, it may be difficult to stably transmit a driving force to the rotor.
In addition, since a small portable device, such as a wristwatch, is driven by a battery, it is necessary to lower the consumption of electrical energy and the drive voltage. Therefore, when a piezoelectric actuator is incorporated into such a portable device, it is particularly required that the energy efficiency be high and the drive voltage be low.
Incidentally, in a calendar display mechanism for displaying the date, the day, and so forth in a timepiece or the like, it is common for the rotational driving force from an electromagnetic stepping motor to be intermittently transmitted to a date indicator or the like via a watch-hand-driving wheel train so as to advance the date indicator or the like. On the other hand, since the wristwatch is carried by being strapped on a wrist, a reduction in thickness for convenience of carrying has long been demanded. In order to pursue the reduction in thickness, it is also necessary to reduce the thickness of the calendar display mechanism. However, since the stepping motor is constructed by incorporating parts, such as a coil and a rotor, thereinto in an out-of-plane direction, the reduction in thickness of the calendar display mechanism is limited. For this reason, there is a problem in that the conventional calendar mechanism using the stepping motor is not structurally suited for reducing the thickness.
In particular, in order to share a mechanical system (a so-called movement) between a timepiece with a calendar display mechanism and a timepiece without such a display mechanism, it is necessary to construct the calendar display mechanism on the side of a dial. However, it is difficult for an electromagnetic stepping motor to achieve a reduction in thickness to such an extent that the calendar mechanism can be constructed on the side of the dial. Therefore, it is necessary for a conventional timepiece to be manufactured by separately designing watch-hand-driving mechanical systems according to whether there is a display mechanism, and this becomes a problem when improving the productivity thereof.
The present invention is made in consideration of the foregoing circumstances, and an object is to provide a piezoelectric actuator that facilitates a reduction in size by simplifying conductive construction, and to provide a timepiece and a portable device including the same. In addition, it is an object to provide a piezoelectric actuator that is able to efficiently transmit vibrations of a piezoelectric element, that is suited for a reduction in size and thickness, and that is able to stably transmit a driving force, and to provide a timepiece and a portable device including the same.

Piezoelectric actuator, timepiece, and portable device


A data conversion processing apparatus provides flexible and multifunctional resampling processing using the general-purpose setting method of direct memory access (DMA) setting. In the data conversion processing apparatus, in response to a CPU setting parameters such as input channel information and output channel information including an address for identifying each channel, the transfer amount, and so forth, for a DMA unit, the DMA unit performs data transfer via an input channel and output channel in accordance with the parameters specified by a CPU. A transfer from a first input section to a resampling section via the DMA unit can be specified, including transfer contents from a memory to a first output section. A transfer from the first input section to the first output section is performed by two DMA transfers.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a data conversion processing apparatus that performs resampling processing of digitally sampled voice and images.
2. Description of the Related Art
Digitally sampled voice and images require various kinds of processing for connection to a speaker and CRT or similar display apparatus respectively. For example, in the case of voice, if the sampling frequency is different for input and output, resampling of the input data is necessary using a low pass filter and linear interpolation, and if it is wished to obtain one output from a plurality of inputs, superimposition of the respective data is also necessary after resampling.
An example of a conventional data conversion processing apparatus is given in Patent Document 1 (Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication No. HEI 8-321745). A conventional data conversion processing apparatus will be described using FIG. 11.
The conventional data conversion processing apparatus shown in FIG. 11 has memory 1, a resampling section 2, a superimposition section 3, and a control section 4.
Resampling section 2 selects one of a plurality of inputs, performs high-frequency component cutting by means of a low pass filter and arithmetic computation using linear interpolation or spline interpolation, and writes the result to memory 1. Filter processing in resampling section 2 is possible for a number of samples of an M/N integral ratio with good frequency characteristics using zero point insertion and thinning-out, but fine adjustment of the number of samples is not possible. Therefore, a filter processing result is converted to an arbitrary number of samples using linear interpolation or spline interpolation. Also, a low pass filter is selected as the filter, and in order to perform distortion-free processing in voice processing and so forth, this is normally limited to a finite impulse response (FIR) and bilaterally symmetrical linear phase type. The above work is executed by time division, and processed data is stored in areas of memory 1 corresponding to the plurality of inputs.
Superimposition section 3 adds and outputs results after a plurality of resamplings stored in memory 1 as being of the same frequency. Superimposition section 3 performs not only addition but also multiplication for gain adjustment of the respective input sequences. These are processed by time division.
Control section 4 performs time division control of resampling section 2 and superimposition section 3 according to the input data. By the above-described means, a plurality of input data are subjected to time division processing and output data is obtained efficiently.
However, a problem with the above-described conventional technology is a lack of flexibility in that control of input and output is fixed, and therefore a plurality of outputs cannot be obtained, and neither can resampling processing be repeated with output data as input data, for example.
For example, two-dimensional—that is, image-processing is possible if one-dimensional processing results are stored and one-dimensional image processing is performed again in the orthogonal component direction, but to do so requires the addition of control enabling use of the data conversion processing apparatus again.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A circuit for converting frequency domain information to time domain information includes an Inverse Fast Fourier Transform circuit having a length of N coefficients. The Inverse Fast Fourier Transform circuit is adapted to receive input data of length N coefficients and generate output data of length N coefficients that are circularly shifted by m coefficients. The circuit also includes Cyclical Prefix Insertion circuit adapted to insert a cyclical prefix of length m. The Cyclical Prefix Insertion circuit includes a first switch, connected to the Inverse Fast Fourier Transform circuit, a buffer, having an input connected to the first switch and an output, the buffer having a length m, and a second switch, coupled to the first switch and to the buffer. The first and second switches selectively couple the output of the buffer and the Inverse Fast Fourier Transform circuit to an output of the second switch. The buffer is reduced to length m.

Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing ("OFDM") is a multi-carrier data transmission technique that is advantageously used in radio-frequency based transmitter-receiver systems. These systems may include, for example, computer WiFi (IEEE 802.11a) data systems. Other standards where OFDM based system is used are IEEE 802.16 for a Fixed Wireless Access (FWA), HiperLAN2, Digital Audio Broadcast (DAB), Digital Video Broadcast (DVB) and Digital Subscriber Line (DSL).
OFDM systems typically divide available radio spectrum into many carriers. Each of the many carriers has a narrow bandwidth and is modulated with a low rate data stream. The carriers are closely spaced without causing inter-carrier interference (ICI) by ensuring that the carriers are orthogonal to each other.
When generating an OFDM signal, each carrier is assigned a data stream. The data streams are converted into symbols depending on the modulation scheme. For each symbol to be transmitted, phase and amplitude are calculated in the frequency domain. The phase and amplitude are determined according to the modulation scheme, which may be, for example, Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM), Quadrature Phase Shift Key (QPSK), or any other suitable modulation scheme. Once the phase and amplitude are determined, they must be converted to time domain signals for transmission. Typically, OFDM systems use an Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) to perform this conversion. The IFFT is an efficient way of mapping the data on to orthogonal carriers. The time domain signal is then up converted to the radio frequency of the appropriate carrier before transmission.
One of the problems associated with radio transmissions is inter-symbol interference (ISI) due to multi-path delay interference. A reflected radio signal follows a longer path than a line of sight radio signal. The difference in delay caused by reflected signals may obscure the direct signal. OFDM systems are well-suited to cope with multi-path delay problems because the low data rate of each carrier generates long symbol periods. Tolerance to multi-path delay is enhanced by the addition of Guard Intervals (GI) separating the symbols. If the Guard Intervals are as long or longer than the differential delays expected from multi-path sources, then multi-path interference is effectively eliminated. To achieve a reasonable throughput, the OFDM symbol duration may be at least five times the Guard Interval. In order to avoid inter-carrier interference (ICI), the OFDM symbol is cyclically extended in the GI.
Guard Interval insertion may be achieved as follows. An IFFT has an associated "length" corresponding to a number of coefficients for the transform. The Guard Interval is generated by outputting the last few IFFT output coefficients at the beginning of the symbol to form a cyclic prefix (CP). The size of the cyclic prefix varies for different applications. For example, for an IFFT with a length of 64, the output corresponding to the last 16 coefficients may be transmitted first as the cyclic prefix, and then the output corresponding to the 64 coefficients of the entire IFFT output in regular order.
For the addition of this CP in known systems, the IFFT output requires relatively large buffers. If the output of the IFFT is in bit-reversed time order, then two buffers of size N (N is length of IFFT) are required. If the output of the IFFT is in time order, then a single buffer of the length of the IFFT (N) is required. Buffers add expense to the system.
What is required is an IFFT and Guard Interval insertion stage that achieves the required signal processing with less buffer requirements.

Combined inverse fast fourier transform and guard interval processing for efficient implementation of OFDM based systems


Methods and systems for forecasting in sparse data streams. In an example embodiment, steps or operations can be implemented for mapping a time series data stream to generate forecast features using a neural network, transforming the forecast features into a space with transformed forecast features thereof using metric learning, clustering the transformed forecast features in a cluster, initializing a forecast learning algorithm with a combination of the transformed forecast features in the cluster corresponding to a sparse data stream, and displaying forecasts in a GUI dashboard with information indicative of how the forecasts were achieved, wherein the mapping, the transforming, the clustering, and the initializing together lead to increases in a speed of the forecasting and computer processing thereof.

Real world datasets often occur with timestamps (e.g., as a time series). Examples of datasets include crime data collected over a period time in various cities of a country, purchases of various products from an online or retail departmental store, and so on. One of the most useful learning problems associated with such datasets is the ability to forecast future crimes or future product purchases, etc. Such forecasts can directly lead to actionable insights for the crime department (e.g., 'employ more patrol vehicles in a particular area of the city') or a sales department of an online/retail store (e.g., 'stock more of product X before next week as there is an expected increase in purchases). Such actionable insights can directly affect cost, productivity or other key performance metrics. Hence, forecasting is an important problem particularly in the context of time series analysis.
Certain types of time series data streams may be sparse in nature. By sparse, we mean that the number of occurrence of an event of interest (e.g., crimes in a city or a purchase of a particular product X) is sparsely distributed over time. Such data streams might still exhibit patterns of interest even though the number of data points is small. For instance, certain crimes might only be committed during a particular time of the year (e.g., when there is more inflow into a tourist city for instance) or certain products might be bought only during certain time of the year (e.g., greeting cards for Christmas). When the number of data points available for forecasting is less, it is often a challenge for traditional time series based approaches to engage in accurate forecasting. In addition, conventional forecasting is slower, which slows down the processing time of, for example, processors utilized in a data-processing system. Because conventional forecasting with computing systems is slow, this leads to decreases in processing speed, slower computer memory management, and increased power consumption. Improving the speed of forecasting with computing systems can lead to improved efficiencies in processing time and processor speed, along with improved memory management and lower power consumption.

Method and system for forecasting in sparse data streams via dense data streams


The invention relates to a catheter kit comprising a catheter and a urine bag stored in a package wherein flow is prevented between the catheter and urine bag when stored but enabled when the kit is used.

Catheter packages exist in which a hydrophilic coated catheter is stored in liquid swelling medium. When such a catheter package is combined with a urine collecting bag into a catheter kit, it is undesirable that the swelling medium enters the bag. This makes it uncertain how large an amount is present in the container for wetting catheter. If there is not enough swelling medium present then the catheter may dry out. Furthermore, swelling medium often evaporates into a crystalline structure which may clog the construction, thereby preventing liquid from flowing through the catheter and into the bag. Finally, swelling medium in the urine bag is perceived unhygienic, and for a user where hygiene is important such perception may deter him from using the product.
Thus, there exists a need for a catheter kit as described where it is prevented that liquid flows from the catheter and into the urine bag before use of the catheter kit.


A music signal processing apparatus includes a frequency spectrum transform unit, a filter, a frequency feature amount generation unit, and a melody feature amount sequence acquisition unit. The frequency spectrum transform unit is configured to transform a music signal into a frequency spectrum, the music signal being a signal of a musical piece containing a part with a melody. The filter is configured to remove a steep peak of the frequency spectrum. The frequency feature amount generation unit is configured to generate, from a signal output from the filter, a frequency feature amount in which a fundamental frequency component of the part is emphasized. The melody feature amount sequence acquisition unit is configured to acquire, based on the frequency feature amount, a melody feature amount sequence that specifies a fundamental frequency of the part at each time.

The present disclosure relates to a music signal processing apparatus and method, and a program, and more particularly, to a music signal processing apparatus and method, and a program that are capable of precisely extracting a singing voice without increasing a processing load.
Recently, there has been an increasing demand for search for a melody related to a singing voice from a lot of musical pieces. For example, a humming search to search for a musical piece based on a user's singing voice or humming, a cover song search to search for the original version of a cover-version musical piece, and the like are performed.
As a method of estimating a feature amount of the melody related to the singing voice, i.e., a fundamental frequency of the singing voice, from a voice signal of the musical piece, a method of estimating the feature amount from a maximum peak of a frequency spectrum is proposed (see, for example, M. Goto, "A real-time music-scene-description system: predominant-F0 estimation for detecting melody and bass line in real-world audio signals", Speech Communication (ISCA Journal), Vol. 43, No. 4, pp. 311-329, September, 2004).
Additionally, a method of extracting a singing voice by using pitch fluctuations of the singing voice is also proposed (see, for example, H. Tachibana, T. Ono, N. Ono, S. Sagayama, "Melody line estimation in homophonic music audio signals based on temporal-variability of melodic source", in Proc. of ICASSP 2010, pp. 425-428, March, 2010).
In the technology of "Melody line estimation in homophonic music audio signals based on temporal-variability of melodic source", energy in frequency direction and energy in temporal direction are analyzed to extract the feature amount of the fundamental frequency of the singing voice and the like.

Techniques of audio feature extraction and related processing apparatus, method, and program


A setter for firing in a plate which is used for firing a honeycomb formed body and interposed between the honeycomb formed body and a shelf plate, wherein the setter for firing has a setter lower surface section facing the shelf plate, the setter lower surface section including: a central region part formed by a region including a lower surface center of the setter lower surface section; and a peripheral region part formed by a peripheral region of the central region part, and the peripheral region part has at least four or more setter groove parts each having a recessed cross sectional shape and extending radially from the lower surface center respectively in a direction from a boundary with the central region part toward a setter outer circumferential section.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a setter for firing and a method for producing a honeycomb structure using the setter for firing. More specifically, the present invention relates to a setter for firing laid under a honeycomb formed body for firing an unfired honeycomb formed body in a firing furnace, and to a method for producing a honeycomb structure using the setter for firing (hereinafter, simply referred to as a "method for producing a honeycomb structure").
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, ceramic honeycomb structures have been used for various applications, such as catalyst carriers for purifying automobile exhaust gas, diesel particulate removing filters, or heat storage bodies for combustion device. The ceramic honeycomb structure (hereinafter, simply referred to as "honeycomb structure") is produced by adjusting a molding material (kneaded material), extruding the molding material into a desired honeycomb shape by using an extruder, subjecting the extruded material to raw cutting, drying, and finish cutting, and then passing the resultant material through a firing step of firing it at a high temperature.
In the firing step carried out in the method for producing the honeycomb structure, the honeycomb formed body is placed on a shelf plate with one end face of the formed body directed downwardly and is thrown into a firing furnace together with the shelf plate. At this time, for preventing the honeycomb formed body from adhering to the shelf plate and for improving a quality of an end face of a product, between the shelf plate and the honeycomb formed body, a planking for firing called "setter" is interposed to prevent the honeycomb formed body and the shelf plate from directly contacting with each other. As the setter, for example, a setter called "press setter" obtained by press molding a ceramic material and firing the molded material is sometimes used. Here, in this Description, setters including "press setters" are collectively called "setters for firing" and are defined. In addition, the molding material from the extrusion until before the firing is called a "honeycomb formed body", and the honeycomb formed body fired after passing through the firing step is called a "honeycomb structure".
Note that, of setters for firing to be used for firing the honeycomb formed body, there is also proposed a setter for firing that suppresses occurrence of failures, such as partition wall cutting in the honeycomb formed body or deformation of cell, by decreasing the difference in heat stress or firing shrinkage between the honeycomb formed body and the setter for firing at the time of firing and can maintain a high yield (refer to Patent Document 1). According to this, a concave portion is provided on a surface facing the shelf plate and further a ratio of a contact area with the shelf plate or the like is prescribed in a predetermined range.

Setter for firing, and method for producing honeycomb structure using setter for firing


A process for producing fuel-range organic oxygen-containing compounds is provided. The process includes converting glycerol in the presence of a metal oxide catalyst. The fuel-range organic oxygen-containing compounds can be deoxygenated to produce gasoline and jet fuels or fuel blending components.

As the demand for gasoline and jet fuel increases worldwide, there is increasing interest in feedstock sources other than petroleum crude oil.
Glycerol (1,2,3-propanetriol) is produced in large quantities as a by-product in the production of biodiesels. With an increasing focus on the use of biofuels to at least partly replace petroleum fuels, the production of glycerol has increased to levels far higher than current demand. As a result, crude glycerol is a cheap and readily available material, particularly in countries where production of biofuels is prevalent, and there has been an increased focus on the development of suitable applications of glycerol.
Increased production of biodiesel made by transesterification of lipids with light alcohols such as methanol has resulted in production of large volumes of glycerol in a somewhat dilute form and containing varying amounts of dissolved non-volatile salts and other impurities. In this form, glycerol is not suitable in renewable fuels and because of its high content of water and impurities the technical quality formed in biodiesel it needs costly purification before being useful in most chemical applications.
Glycerol may be hydrotreated to form propane, which is useful as renewable LPG fuel, but the conversion required large amounts of hydrogen and the technical glycerol by-product from biodiesel production needs extensive purification before it can be hydroprocessed. LPG also has limited applications and there would thus be greater value if the glycerol could be converted to liquid transportation fuels such as gasoline, jet or diesel.
A need exists for a glycerol conversion process that can be used either to convert raw glycerol from soap or bio-diesel production into renewable transportation fuels, such as sustainable aviation fuels (SAF), or to renewable chemicals. The process herein enables the processing of raw low-cost glycerol with high impurities and water content without any significant pretreatment or water removal, while converting the glycerol into a product that can be processed directly in a hydrotreater without additional pre-treatment.

Conversion of glycerol to fuel-range organic compounds


The present invention provides optically active esters of 7-substituted 3,5-difunctionalized 6-heptenoic acids represented by the following formula: ##STR1## wherein R is a substituted or unsubstituted aromatic group, a substituted or unsubstituted heteroaromatic group or a substituted vinyl group;. Ar is a condensed aromatic group; PA0 X.sup.1 and Y.sup.1 are not the same and each is a hydrogen atom or a hydroxyl group, or may be combined to represent an oxygen atom which forms a carbonyl group together with the carbon atom to which X.sup.1 and Y.sup.1 are attached; and PA0 X.sup.2 and Y.sup.2 are not the same and each is a hydrogen atom or a hydroxyl group, or may be combined to represent an oxygen atom which forms a carbonyl group together with the carbon atom to which X.sup.2 and Y.sup.2 are attached,. or enantiomers thereof.. The present invention further provides processes for preparing the above optically active esters and 7-substituted (3R, 5S, 6E)-3,5-dihydroxy-6-hepten-1,5-olides.. These esters are useful as synthetic intermediates for preparing the above lactones having an inhibitory activity of HMG-CoA reductase as well as a sex attractant pheromone of beetles, endo-1,3-dimethyl-2,9-dioxabicyclo[3.3.1]nonane.

The present invention relates to optically active esters of 7-substituted 3,5-difunctionalized 6-heptenoic acids including esters of .beta.,.delta.-diketocarboxylic acids and reduced products thereof. The esters are useful as intermediates for preparing therapeutical agents which inhibit HMG-CoA reductase and are potent for hypercholesterolemia.
For example, optically active esters of .beta.,.delta.-syn-dihydroxycarboxylic acids according to the present invention represented by the following formula (IV): ##STR2## wherein R is a substituted or unsubstituted aromatic group, a substituted or unsubstituted heteroaromatic group or a substituted vinyl group; and
Ar is a condensed aromatic group, PA0 Ar is a condensed aromatic group; PA0 X.sup.1 and Y.sup.1 are not the same and each is a hydrogen atom or a hydroxyl group, or may be combined to represent an oxygen atom which forms a carbonyl group together with the carbon atom to which X.sup.1 and Y.sup.1 are attached; and PA0 X.sup.2 and Y.sup.2 are not the same and each is a hydrogen atom or a hydroxyl group, or may be combined to represent an oxygen atom which forms a carbonyl group together with the carbon atom to which X.sup.2 and Y.sup.2 are attached, PA0 Ar is a condensed aromatic group, PA0 Ar is a condensed aromatic group, PA0 Ar is a condensed aromatic group, PA0 Ar is a condensed aromatic group, PA0 each of R.sup.1 and R.sup.2 is a straight or branched alkyl group of 1 to 4 carbon atoms.
or optically active enantio-esters of .beta., .delta.-syn-dihydroxycarboxylic acids represented by the following formula (V'): ##STR3## wherein R and Ar are the same as above, can be converted into 7-substituted (3R, 5S, 6E)-3,5-dihydroxy-6-hepten-5-olides having an inhibitory activity of HMG-CoA reductase or their enantiomers by hydrolyzing the compounds (IV) or (V'), or their enantiomers, followed by lactonizing the resulting acids.
Furthermore, optically active esters of .beta.,.delta.-syn-dihydroxycarboxylic acids of the formula (IV) or (V'), or their enantiomers can also be utilized for preparing an insect pheromone, endo-1,3-dimethyl-2,9-dioxabicyclo[3.3.1]nonane as described in Tetrahedron Lett., 28, 4773 (1987); ibid., 21, 3013 (1980); J. Org. Chem., 54, 2238 (1989); Chem. Pharm. Bull., 37, 1078 (1989); and Helv. Chim. Acta., 72, 1284 (1989).
Optically active 7-substituted (3R, 5S, 6E)-3,5-dihydroxy-6-hepten-1,5-olides having an inhibitory activity of HMG-CoA reductase have been prepared via either of the following processes:
(1) protecting (2S, 4R)-4-hydroxy-6-methoxytetrahydropyran-2-carbaldehyde, followed by subjecting the protected compound to the Wittig reaction, hydrolysis and oxidation, successively [J. Med. Chem., 33, 52 (1990)]; or
(2) obtaining a lower alkyl ester or aryl ester of 7-substituted (3R, 5S, 6E)-3,5-dihydroxy-6 heptenoic acid, followed by hydrolyzing the ester [for example, EP 319,847; EP 324,347; J. Med. Chem., 32, 2038 (1989)].
In the above process (1), the source of the optical activity is sugar derivatives [Tetrahedron Lett., 31, 1869 (1990); ibid., 30, 6015 (1989); ibid., 26, 4995, 2947 (1985)], glutamic acid [J. Chem. Soc., Chem. Commun., 1988, 1417], or ascorbic acid [Tetrahedron Lett., 26, 2951 (1985)], of which functional groups are suitably transformed so that desired precursors are attained. Although the sources are easily available natural products and thus inexpensive, multi-step operations are required for removing unnecessary functional groups and transforming the carbon skeletons in order to obtain the desired precursors. Therefore, the process is less attractive.
The precursor of the above process (2) is often prepared as a racemic mixture. Therefore, the process requires optical resolution for obtaining the desired [3R, 5S] enantiomer with the expense of the other [3S, 5R] enantiomer [J. Med. Chem., 29, 159 (1986)]. Asymmetric synthesis of the [3R, 5S] enantiomer is achieved by repeating asymmetric aldol condensation of a chiral acetic acid ester with an aldehyde twice [Tetrahedron Lett., 28, 1385 (1987)], by converting a chiral .beta.-hydroxyester into a chiral .delta.-hydroxy-.beta.-ketoester, followed by stereoselective syn-reduction [Tetrahedron Lett., 31, 2545 (1990); ibid., 30, 5115 (1989); Japanese Patent Application Laying Open (KOKAI) Nos. 199945/89, 213270/89; U.S. Pat. No. 4,855,481], or by asymmetric epoxydation of an allylic alcohol [Tetrahedron Lett., 28, 703, 291 (1987)]. These methods, however, require inevitable multi-step operations for transforming the carbon skeletons and controlling the stereochemistry.
The optically active esters of .beta.,.delta.-syn-dihydroxycarboxylic acid are important as precursors for preparing 7-substituted (3R, 5S, 6E)-3,5-dihydroxy-6 hepten-1,5-olides and endo-1,3-dimethyl-2,9-dioxabicyclo[3.3.1]nonane as described above. A short-step synthesis of racemic lower alkyl esters of .beta.,.delta.-syn-dihydroxycarboxylic acid has been reported which comprises a stereoselective syn-reduction of the corresponding lower alkyl esters of .beta.,.delta.-diketocarboxylic acid [Japanese Patent Application Laying Open (KOKAI) No. 165547/89]. However, the method is not applicable to asymmetric synthesis of the esters of .beta.,.delta.-syn-dihydroxycarboxylic acid [Tetrahedron Lett., 29, 6467 (1988)]. This is due to the planar structure of the molecules of the .beta.,.delta.-diketocarboxylic acid esters and to the absence of the known reducing agent or catalyst which may distinguish the Re face and the Si face of the two carbonyl groups. Accordingly, lower alkyl esters of 7-substituted .beta.,.delta.-diketo-6-heptenoic acid are not attractive as precursors of desired 7-substituted (3R, 5S, 6E)-3,5-dihydroxy-6-hepten-5-olides and their enantiomers.
Thus, these known methods for preparing optically active heptenolides require tedious multi-step operations and/or optical resolutions of racemic compounds with losing undesired enantiomers.
As a result of the extensive studies, the present inventors have found that an ester of a .beta.,.delta.-diketocarboxylic acid or a .beta.-hydroxy-.delta.-ketocarboxylic acid with a 2-exo-aryl-3-exo-hydroxybornane is useful as a precursor of the optically active ester of .beta.,.delta.-syn-dihydroxycarboxylic acid of the formula (IV) or (V') and that the latter compound is easily converted into the finally desired lactone. The both enantiomers of 2-exo-aryl-3-exo-hydroxybornane are easily obtainable from (+)- or (-)-camphor.

Optically active esters of 7-substituted 3,5-difunctionalized 6-heptenoic acids


Interference cancellation is performed in a communication system. A signal associated with the users is received to produce a received signal. A set of regeneration factors associated with the users is determined based on the received signal. A frequency range associated with a first user from the users has at least a portion overlapping with at least a portion of a frequency range associated with a second user from the users. A time range associated with the first user from the users has at least a portion overlapping with at least a portion of a time range associated with the second user from the users. A regenerated signal associated with each user from the users is modified based on the determined regenerated factor associated with that user to produce a modified regenerated signal for each user.

The present invention relates generally to a communication system. More specifically, the present invention relates to interference cancellation with a communication system.
Wireless communications systems commonly employ direct sequence/code division multiple access (DS/CDMA). In practice, DS/CDMA typically provides a greater system capacity than many alternative approaches, such as time division multiple access (TDMA) and frequency division multiple access (FDMA). Nonetheless, demand for wireless communication services is projected to exceed the capacity provided by known DS/CDMA systems. Thus, new approaches may be required to satisfy the increasing demand, to maintain a high Quality of Service (QoS) and to avoid rising prices due to system complexity. One such new approach is DS/CDMA with multiuser detection (MUD).
Known MUD techniques for DS/CDMA systems that employ long spreading sequences (e.g., IS-95 and IS-2000) are successive interference cancellation (SIC) and parallel interference cancellation (PIC) schemes. See, e.g., Viterbi, A., "Very Low Rate Convolutional Codes for Maximum Theoretical Performance of Spread-Spectrum Multiple-Access Channel,"IEEE JSAC, Vol. 8, No. 4, May 1990, pp. 641-649; U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,105,435, 5,218,619, 5,579,304, 5,894,500, 6,002,727 and 6,014,373; which describe SIC and which are all incorporated herein by reference. See also, e.g., Yoon, Y. C., Kohno, R., and Imai, H., "Cascaded co-channel interference canceling and diversity combining for spread-spectrum multi-access over multipath fading channels," Symposium on Information Theory and Its Applications, September 1992; U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,644,592 and 6,067,333; and Patel, P., and Holtzman, "Performance Comparison of a DS/CDMA System using a Successive Cancellation (IC) Scheme and a Parallel IC Scheme Under Fading," ICC, May 1994; which describe PIC and which are all incorporated herein by reference. PIC and SIC typically can be simpler to implement than linear MUD techniques because they do not require an estimate of the cross-correlation between users or matrix inversions. Furthermore, PIC can be generally advantageous over SIC when the set of user signal-to-noise ratios (SNR's) has a small variance as is the case on the reverse link of IS-95, which employs power control. See, e.g., Buehrer, R. M., Correal, N. S., and Woemer R. D., "A Comparison of Multiuser Receivers for Cellular CDMA," IEEE Globecom 1996, Vol. 3, pp. 1571-1577.
Known PIC schemes can be implemented using several stages. The first stage can consist of a set of conventional receivers each matched to a particular user (e.g., a user associated with a particular CDMA code for a particular information channel). The output of each conventional receiver can be either the most likely sequence or the most likely symbols transmitted by the user given the received waveform and ignoring interference caused by other users. After the first stage, an estimate of each of the user's transmission can be regenerated using the most likely sequence or symbols. An interference-reduced waveform can be then created for each user by subtracting all of the other user regenerated signals from the original received signal. The interference-reduced waveform can be then processed by a conventional receiver in the second stage, generating a new most likely sequence or set of most likely symbols for each user. These estimates can be used to regenerate new signals and the above process is repeated in subsequent stages.
In the formation of the interference-reduced waveform by these known systems, each of the regenerated signals is multiplied by a scaling factor that can be determined in one of two ways. First, in a hard-decision PIC (HD-PIC) scheme (described in Yoon et al.), each regenerated waveform is simply multiplied by an estimate of the complex amplitude associated with a particular user (e.g., obtained by such methods as multipath combiners or single-user correlators followed by hard decision devices). The result of this multiplication is then subtracted from the original received signal. Second, in a partial PIC (P-PIC) scheme (described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,644,592), each regenerated waveform is multiplied by an estimate of the complex amplitude and a predetermined factor between 0 and 1 that is fixed for all users in a particular PIC cancellation stage but may vary from stage-to-stage.
HD-PIC and P-PIC schemes both suffer the drawback that even if a symbol decision made for a particular user is unreliable, all or a significant part of the regenerated signal for that user is still subtracted from the received waveform to form the input to the next stage. Consequently, when a symbol decision is incorrect, this subtraction significantly degrades the receiver performance.

Method and apparatus for regenerative based interference cancellation within a communication system


There are provided a plurality of keys for designating a pitch and a plurality of sensors for detecting operating states of the keys. Main pitch determination section identifies respective ON/OFF states of the keys on the basis of output values from the sensors to thereby determines a performed pitch. When the output value from the sensor, corresponding to a particular one of the keys determined to be in the ON or OFF state, presents a predetermined intermediate value, a subsidiary pitch determination section determines another pitch on the basis of predetermined assumptive ON/OFF states of the keys. The assumptive ON/OFF states are similar to the ON/OFF states of the keys identified by the main pitch determination section except that the ON or OFF state of the particular key is inverted to the OFF or ON state. Pitch-bend information designating an intermediate pitch between the other pitch and the pitch determined by the main pitch determination section is generated, such as by interpolation, on the basis of the sensor output presenting the predetermined intermediate value. On the basis of the sensor output corresponding to the predetermined turned-ON key, a tone control signal can be generated to execute after-touch control. Any one of functions allocated to a predetermined key, such as a high trill key, may be selectively used depending on a selected mode.

The present invention relates to an electronic wind instrument capable of imparting expression to a performed tone on the basis of a performance technique or style as commonly employed with natural wind instruments, or to a musical performance input device capable of functioning as an equivalent electronic wind instrument.
Conventionally-known electronic wind instruments are similar in overall external shape to natural wind instruments. Such conventionally-known electronic wind instruments have a plurality of pitch-designating keys arranged or positioned in a generally similar manner to the natural wind instruments, and generate tones in colors or timbres similar to those of the natural wind instruments. The electronic wind instruments do not require a particular resonating section by virtue of their electronic nature, and instead include a variety of tone controlling operators such as tone pitch operators.
For example, Japanese Patent Publication No. HEI-6-97396 discloses a pitch bender device that is designed to slightly vary the pitch of a generated tone, such as for a vibrato effect, in response to displacement of a predetermined lever operatively connected to an mouth operator in the form of a false reed. The disclosed pitch bender device also includes a separate pitch-bend lever positioned centrally on a tubular body of the device, which provides for upward and downward pitch variations by about a half octave as well as pitch-bend control similar to the above-mentioned. There have also been known other electronic wind instruments, which are designed to afford an enhanced performance expression by imparting additional functions to the pitch-designating keys. Examples of the electronic wind instruments having heretofore been proposed include the ones which detect a velocity with which a key is depressed (key velocity) (Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication Nos. HEI-8-305362 and HEI-251098 and Japanese Utility Model Publication No. HEI-7-34470), as well as the ones which detect a key depression intensity by use of pressure-sensitive sensors in the key system (Japanese Utility Model Laid-open Publication No. HEI-3-108299). Further, Japanese Utility Model Laid-open Publication No. SHO-56-26798 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,125,315 propose electronic wind instruments which designate a tone pitch on the basis of a combination of ON/OFF states of a plurality of keys.
Today, diversified performance expression has been demanded more and more of the electronic wind instruments. Examples of the demanded performance expression concern a slur performance for smoothly interconnecting two different tone pitches, a tone color variation based on after-touch information, extension of the range of expressible tone pitches, and easier variations of tone color, volume, pitch, etc. In order to achieve such diversified performance expression, it is desirable that a human player be allowed to easily operate the electronic wind instrument. However, to date, no electronic wind instrument has been developed or proposed which provides for such diversified performance expression.
By contrast, natural wind instruments are capable of diversified performance expression as desired by the human player. Among various performance techniques or styles to achieve such diversified performance expression is the so-called "alternate fingering". In general, the term "alternate fingering" has two different meanings or concepts. In one meaning that is more standard than the other, the alternate fingering refers to different fingering (finger placement) techniques capable of generating a same tone pitch (scale note), which allow for tone generation using the easier-to-execute finger placement depending on the flow of necessary performance operations. In the other meaning, the alternate fingering refers to a fingering technique for varying the color or timbre of a generated tone by applying or not applying a finger action to a predetermined key or hole near the open end of the instrument's tubular body while still maintaining the basic fingering for generating a desired scale note. The alternate fingering in this case varies not only the color but also the pitch of the generated tone. Such alternate fingering is often used in the field of jazz and light music to add musical "ride" or "originality" to a performance. In the following description, the first-said alternate fingering will be called "standard alternate fingering", while the second-said alternate fingering will be called "special alternate fingering". The present invention described in the specification primarily concerns approximating or simulating the second-said, i.e., special alternate fingering.
Some electronic musical instruments have been known which attempt to approximate the alternate fingering in natural musical instruments, but these known instruments can only approximate the standard alternate fingering. Further, in cases where a plurality of performance styles are available to perform a tone of a same desired pitch and different tone colors corresponding to the performance styles are to be selectively used, it has so far been proposed to identify one of the performance styles actually employed and perform tone color control corresponding to the identified performance style. However, the proposed technique is designed to merely add tone color control by applying the alternate fingering and is never positively intended to provide for approximation or simulation of the above-mentioned "special" alternate fingering in electronic musical instruments.
Further, in the conventionally-known electronic wind instruments, start/stop of generation of a tone are controlled by human player's breath pressure from the mouthpiece as in the natural wind instruments. Therefore, generation of a tone can not be controlled with "attack" characteristics (i.e., tonal characteristics of "attack portion") before the breath pressure from the mouthpiece increases from zero to a predetermined level or value above zero.
Furthermore, because the above-mentioned conventional technique, which permits approximation of the alternate fingering in electronic musical instruments, can only approximate the "standard" alternate fingering, it is unable to finely control the tone pitch depending on the alternate fingering employed, although it can additionally execute tone color control. Thus, the conventional technique never contemplates approximating the special alternate fingering and is never sufficient to achieve musical performance rich in expression.
In general, the above-mentioned special alternate fingering in an actual performance is carried out by repetitively depressing and releasing or opening and closing a predetermined key or hole near the open end of the instrument's tubular body while still maintaining the basic fingering for generating a desired scale note. More specifically, as long as only the basic fingering is employed, the pitch of each generated tone is maintained at a predetermined regular scale note corresponding to that basic fingering; however, as the special alternate fingering is applied (namely, as a player's finger action is carried out to depress or close the predetermined key or hole near the open end of the body), the color and pitch of the generated tone are varied. Then, as the special alternate fingering is terminated (namely, as the player's finger action is discontinued to release or open the predetermined key or hole), the regular or original color and pitch of the generated tone are restored. Subtle pitch control may be achieved to some extent by the conventional standard alternate fingering technique; that is, in this case, it is ascertained whether a detected alternate fingering performance is the special alternate fingering, and if so, the pitch of a scale note corresponding to the basic fingering may be subtly controlled by an amount as dictated by predetermined pitch-bend data. However, because such an arrangement would only result in a very simple and common form of pitch-bend control just causing the tone generation control of a scale note, corresponding to the basic fingering, to continue to subtly bend-control the pitch of the scale note, the generated tone would unavoidably lack musical expression. That is, the simple pitch-bend control of the generated tone is never sufficient for approximating the "special" alternate fingering as a style of performance rich in musical expression.

Electronic wind instrument capable of diversified performance expression


The press comprises a frame (1), a feed zone (3) for receiving the waste products to be treated, a press chamber (9) comprising an inlet opening (10) and an outlet opening (11) which are opposed and disposed coaxially relative to the feed zone (3), and a chamber (14) for discharging the solid phase. The press further comprises an element (15) which is transversely movable relative to the axis of the press chamber (9) between a first position for closing the outlet opening (11) and a second position for opening the outlet opening (11), and an arrangement (20) for separating leakages of the liquid phase from the solid phase in the discharge chamber (14).

In recent years, the increasing volume of waste products and in particular household refuse or garbage has made it necessary to search for solutions permitting the treatment and recycling of these waste products.
It has already been envisaged to employ such waste products as fuel, but the presence in these waste products of a high content of water and incombustible products results in only an insufficient amount of energy.
Indeed, such waste products are constituted by a liquid phase which only contains organic products and a solid phase which contains metallic, mineral and synthetic materials.
One solution consists in compressing these waste products so as to obtain both residues which are dry enough to constitute a fuel having acceptable calorific power, and fluid substances utilizable, according to their type, in agriculture as ground modifying products or as raw materials from which chemical products may be extracted.
Devices for compressing these waste products are already known and mostly consist of hydraulic presses including a feed zone receiving the heterogeneous waste products to be treated, a press chamber connected to means for recovering the liquid phase, and a chamber for discharging the solid phase located on the downstream side of the press chamber, which comprises an inlet opening and an outlet opening and has a section equal to that of a piston of a first jack or ram.
The wall of the chamber comprises a multitude of perforations communicating with a passage for discharging the liquid phase extracted by compression of the waste products.
The outlet opening of the press chamber is usually closed by a plug carried by a rod of a second jack or ram opposed to the first-mentioned jack.
The pistons of the two jacks are movable in a reciprocating manner between a first position of compression of the waste products and discharge of the liquid phase during which the piston of the first jack enters the press chamber and the piston of the second jack closes the outlet opening of said chamber, and a second position of discharge of the solid phase during which the piston of the first jack continues its travel and the piston of the second jack opens the outlet opening of the press chamber.
This type of press has drawbacks, and in particular presents problems as to the maintenance of the seal between the press chamber and the solid phase discharging chamber.
Indeed, bearing in mind the considerable forces involved when pressing the waste products, the seal is not fully achieved at the outlet opening of the press chamber by the piston of the second jack, so that leakages of liquid occur and enter the solid phase discharging chamber.
These leakages therefore have the effect of re-wetting the solid phase at the moment of its discharge, and this reduces the advantages of such a press, since separation of the phases of which the waste products are composed is not completely achieved.
Further, bearing in mind the long travel of the piston of the second jack, the response time of the second jack is relatively long and does not permit obtaining rapid rates of operation.

Press for treating heterogeneous waste products


A method and system for constructing a color gamut allows the determination of the boundaries of the color gamut in color space for a color reproduction system having N-colorants. A forward model characterizing the color reproduction system is established and used to map a plurality of inkvectors from colorant space into color space. The color gamut is constructed by determining which of the mapped inkvectors define the boundaries of the color gamut in color space.

The perception of color in human vision results from combinations of spectral distributions of light radiation being sensed by red, green and blue photoreceptors on the retina. The photoreceptors provide corresponding encoded signals, referred to as a color stimulus, to the brain which interprets the signals causing the perception of color. However, different spectral distributions can result in similar encoded signals, a phenomenon known as metamerism. Many color reproduction systems take advantage of the principle of metamerism to present spectral distributions to the retina that result in the perception of a particular desired color, even if the original spectral distribution was different to that in the reproduction.
In color science the encoded signals are referrred to as tristimulus values, being the amounts of the three primary colors that specify the color stimulus. The Commission Internationale de l'Eclairage (CIE) has standardized many aspects of color science and the 1931 CIE tristimulus values are called X, Y, and Z, respectively. The need for a uniform color space led to a number of non-linear transformations of the CIE 1931 XYZ space and finally resulted in the specification of one of these transformations as the CIE 1976 (L* a* b*) color space. The L* coordinate represents lightness and extends along an axis from 0 (black) to 100 (white). The other two coordinates a* and b* represent redness-greenness and yellowness-blueness respectively. Samples for which a*=b*=0 are achromatic and thus the L*-axis represents the achromatic scale of grays from black to white.
In color reproduction systems color images are generally reproduced using a combination of three or more color components such as Cyan, Magenta and Yellow (CMY) or Red, Green and Blue (RGB). For example, in color printing, Black (K) is also often added to the CMY set to improve rendering of dark tones (CMYK). Advances in digital imaging and computers have lead to a proliferation in the availability of digital images and corresponding advances in color printing have made possible the accurate representation of a real scene using a digital image.
Color management is a significant challenge, particularly in the printing industry wherein the need for precise rendering of color is well established and tools that assist a printer in achieving such precision have been available for some time. Color printing processes involve a range of different output devices including, but not limited to, offset lithographic, flexographic, and gravure printing presses, inkjet printers, xerographic printers, laser printers etc. In particular, matching a color proof sheet to the press sheet has always been a key objective, since the customer typically approves the color proof and will not accept a final print job that does not match the signed-off color proof.
It is well established that particular output devices have a color gamut determined by the colorants used to reproduce an image (e.g. inks on a printer). The color gamut demarcates that portion of color space in which a color expressing system can produce colors. The color gamut may be defined by a matrix of values defining the boundaries of the demarcated portion of color space.
In managing color it is very useful to know the limits or boundaries of the color gamut for a particular device. These limits are typically defined in color space by a gamut boundary descriptor (GBD). The GBD can be used to predict the range of achievable colors for a given set of colorants. Where the GBD indicates that colors in an original image are not achievable on an output device; steps may be taken to bring "out-of-gamut" colors "into gamut". Such steps may include a gamut mapping process that maps out-of-gamut colors to colors on or within the GBD. The particular gamut mapping process used may depend on the image type or viewing conditions and will typically involve repositioning out-of-gamut colors on or within the gamut boundary and may also involve applying tonal correction to colors that were on or inside the boundary to preserve overall tonal graduation.
A color gamut may be constructed by considering all possible interactions between the available colorants. Invariably, as the number of colorants is increased, the construction of a color gamut becomes much more complex and computationally inefficient due to the rapidly increasing number of possible interactions between colorants. Earlier color gamut construction techniques have often traded off speed for accuracy and vice-versa. Convex Hull based algorithms, such as that described in published U.S. patent application Ser. No. 2002/0140701A1 to Guyler, approximate the shape of the color gamut by operating on a set of points, which are derived from the measurement of color patches. It should be noted that in those parts of the color gamut where the boundary assumes a concave curvature, the convex hull description results in significant error.
Other techniques that employ more rigorous boundary detection algorithms are often quite slow. This results from the need to for matrix inversion operations on the forward model using such techniques as Newton-Raphson or simplex optimization to iteratively search for solutions. The forward model is a mathematical construct that relates ink combinations to color. In addition, these techniques are prone to converging on local minima, thereby creating inaccuracies.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,563,724 describes the characterization of a seven-ink printing process by decomposing the problem into six four-ink groupings. A separate subgamut is constructed from each of the six forward models. A super gamut is then constructed from the six subgamuts. A disadvantage of the process is that it is limited to inking each color with a maximum of four inks.
Accordingly there is a need for a system and method for constructing a color gamut boundary for a set of N-colorants, that mitigates some of the above disadvantages.

Kodak Graphic Communications Canada Company


In general, various methods, apparatuses, and systems are described for communicating a loss of an AC power source. In at least certain embodiments, a broadband communication gateway receives a direct current (DC) output signal from an alternating current (AC) to DC converter that detects a loss of an AC input signal. The apparatus further includes a processing unit that generates a communication message in response to receiving an interrupt signal based on the detection of the loss of the AC input signal. The processing unit controls an analog front end that sends the communication message to a device external to the broadband communication gateway in response to the interrupt signal prior to a voltage of the DC output signal decreasing below a threshold voltage needed for operation of the broadband communication gateway.

Typically, communication systems that provide broadband access to residential or business customers contain a communication gateway which consists of an xDSL (any type of digital subscriber line generally communicated over copper lines) modem or xPON (any type of passive optical network generally communicated over optic fibers) interface combined with various local area networking (LAN) technologies to enable sharing the broadband access with other computers or devices within the building. Wireless local area network standards and home phone line networking (HPNA) are examples of such LAN technologies. In addition, some communication systems may provide a voice-over-internet-protocol (VOIP) feature to allow telephone calls via the broadband link. Some systems may, in addition to broadband access sharing, need to distribute broadband media content such as video streams into various locations within the building. A communication gateway routes various types of communications, such as data, voice, and video, within the building. The communications may be sent to various devices such as computers, televisions, and phones. A communication gateway may be a broadband, digital subscriber line (DSL), or other similar type of gateway.
Typically, a communication gateway is powered based on an AC power supply within the building. An AC to direct current (DC) converter can convert the AC power signal into a DC power signal for use by the communication gateway. At certain times, the AC power supply is interrupted causing the communication gateway to power down and become non-operational. Telephone companies that provide telecommunication services such as DSL to their customers desire that when a customer's AC power supply is interrupted, the customer's communication gateway sends a communication such as a dying gasp signal to the central office of the telephone company. The dying gasp signal tells the terminal equipment at the central office that the customer is stopping the communication session because of an AC power supply failure. Using this information, the central office can free up and reassign the terminal equipment to other customers. If the dying gasp signal were not sent, then the terminal equipment could remain connected to the customer's inactive communication line indefinitely. A dying gasp signal can also log the AC power supply failure for customer service purposes.
It is desirable to provide an improved dying gasp signal after the loss of AC power but prior to the loss of the DC power supply causing the communication gateway to power down and become non-operational.

Method and apparatus for communicating loss of alternating current power supply


An emitter comprising: a plurality of inlet apertures through which liquid enters the emitter; a manifold flow channel into which liquid that passes through the apertures flow; an elastic diaphragm that seats on the manifold flow channel; an outlet aperture through which liquid that enters the emitter exits the emitter; wherein liquid that enters the inlet apertures displaces only a portion of the diaphragm from the manifold channel so that the liquid can leave the manifold channel and flow through the emitter to reach the outlet aperture.

Irrigation systems that deliver water, often containing plant nutrients, pesticides and/or medications, to plants via networks of irrigation pipes are very well known. In many such irrigation networks, water from an irrigation pipe is delivered to the plants by "emitters" or "drippers", hereinafter generically referred to as emitters, which are connected to or installed along the length of the pipe. Each emitter comprises at least one inlet or an array of inlets through which water flowing in the pipe enters the emitter and an outlet through which water that enters the emitter exits the emitter. The emitter diverts a relatively small portion of water flowing in the pipe and discharges the diverted water to irrigate plants in a neighborhood of the location of the emitter.
Generally, to control rate of water discharge by the emitter, the emitter comprises an elastic diaphragm and/or a water flow and pressure reduction channel, a "labyrinth channel" or "labyrinth" through which water that enters the emitter must flow to reach the emitter outlet. The labyrinth channel is a high resistance flow channel along which pressure of water flowing through the emitter drops relatively rapidly with distance along the labyrinth channel. The pressure drop from a relatively high water pressure at the emitter inlet, to a relatively low discharge pressure, generally a gauge pressure equal to about zero, substantially at or near the emitter outlet. The labyrinth channel generally comprises a tortuous "obstacle" flow path that generates turbulence in water flowing in the labyrinth to reduce water pressure and discharge of water by the emitter. Usually, the obstacle path comprises a configuration of baffles that impede and introduce turbulence into water flow.
The elastic diaphragm operates to control liquid flow so that it is substantially independent of inlet pressure for a range of pressures typically encountered in irrigation applications and is equal to a flow rate between about 0.5 and 12 liters per hour (l/h). The diaphragm is usually seated on a support shelf and is located between the inlet and the outlet and constrains water that enters the emitter inlet to pass through the labyrinth to reach the emitter outlet and flow out of the emitter. The diaphragm is responsive to pressure of the entering water, and as pressure of the entering water increases, the diaphragm undergoes increasing distortion. The distortion operates to increase resistance to liquid flow through the dripper with increase in distortion. In some emitters, the distortion increases resistance to water flow through the emitter with increase in inlet pressure by increasing a length of the labyrinth through which liquid is constrained to flow to reach the outlet. Some emitters are formed having an outlet reservoir into which water that flows through the labyrinth empties, and from which water exits the emitter and additionally or alternatively, the increase in resistance may be accomplished by changing a dimension of an outlet reservoir to increase resistance of liquid in the outlet reservoir to exit the reservoir.
An emitter having a flow regulated so that it is substantially independent of inlet liquid pressure is referred to as a regulated emitter.
Labyrinths and various other liquid flow channels in emitters have a tendency to become blocked by particulate matter, such as dirt, debris or agglomerations of plant nutrients that may be carried by liquid that flows through the emitter during plant irrigation from irrigation pipes in which the emitters are mounted. In addition, emitter outlets and flow channels have a tendency to get clogged with dirt and debris that are sucked back into the emitters by water and/or air backflow. Water and/or air backflow typically occurs when supply of water to irrigation pipes providing water to plants in a field or hothouse is turned off and pressure in the pipes falls. For subsurface drip irrigation (SDI) pipes, which are buried in the ground or a growing medium, particulate matter in the surrounding soil or growing medium tends to be drawn into and clog emitters in the pipes when water pressure in the pipes falls. For above surface drip irrigation, backflow tends to clog emitters by drawing into the emitters particulate matter in mud and dust in environments in which the emitters often are located.
To reduce a probability of particulate matter carried by liquid flowing in irrigation pipes from entering and clogging emitters mounted in the pipes, emitters are generally designed having various types of inlet filtering configurations. The inlet filters tend to prevent particulate matter greater than a given size that may be carried by irrigation liquids in the pipes from entering the emitters. Internal liquid flow channels of the emitters are formed sufficiently large so that particulate characterized by a size less than the given size that are passed by the filters do not clog the channels. To reduce a probability that dirt and debris is sucked back into emitters when water pressure is reduced in the pipes emitters have been designed to seal themselves against back flow when pressure in an irrigation pipe in which they are installed is reduced. Such drippers, commonly referred to as "anti-siphon" or "non-return" emitters, are usually configured having an elastic diaphragm that sets on and seals an inlet orifice of the emitter.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,027,048, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, describes a regulated non-return agricultural emitter comprising a filter configuration, a labyrinth, and an elastic diaphragm that seals the emitter against "backflow". The inlet configuration comprises two relatively long inlet channels that "are relatively larger in width than those of conventional emitter units". Each inlet channel has an array of "filter baffles" along its length and is "undercut" in an outside surface of the emitter so that it is partially covered with a lip that runs along the length of the channel. The baffles and lip operate to prevent particulate matter in liquid carried by an irrigation pipe in which the emitter is installed and that might clog the emitter from entering the inlet channel. The two inlet channels communicate via a coupling channel to a "single restricted inlet" through which liquid from the irrigation pipe in the inlet channels enters the emitter. An elastic diaphragm operates to regulate liquid flow through the emitter. To provide a non-return function, the diaphragm seals the single restricted inlet when water pressure in the irrigation pipe is reduced below a desired threshold pressure.
The patent notes that the use of "inflow paths which are relatively larger in width than those of conventional emitter units" aids in "minimizing the dangers of blockage", and are "of particular significance where, as in the emitter unit specifically described and illustrated, a non-return valve construction is provided for. With such a construction, only a single restricted inlet . . . into the emitter unit is available, and such a restricted inlet could not accommodate adequate filtering means."
U.S. Pat. No. 5,615,838, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, describes integrated emitters, referred to as in-line emitters, that have a non-return feature and optionally provides a regulated flow of water. In an embodiment of the invention, a flexible membrane closes the emitter to flow into or out of the emitter when inlet pressure to the emitter falls below a minimum pressure. The membrane optionally functions to control a length of a labyrinth through which water flows responsive to inlet pressure to regulate flow of water provided by the emitter.


A dipole component with a controlled breakover sensitivity includes a main thyristor having its gate connected to its anode through a pilot thyristor, and a triggering transistor disposed in parallel with the pilot thyristor, the base of the triggering transistor being connected to the gate of the pilot thyristor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a dipole component triggered by a breakover voltage, i.e. a component having the function of a Shockley diode that is turned on when the voltage becomes higher than a predetermined voltage. The present invention more particularly relates to such a component in which the breakover voltage and breakover current can be accurately determined upon fabrication. The invention provides such a component in which the breakover current is low while having reduced sensitivity to spurious triggering associated with voltage edges (dV/dt triggering).
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Such a component is, for example, useful in a gas-lighter circuit such as the circuit illustrated in FIG. 1. This circuit includes, between supply terminals A and B, corresponding for example to the 220-V, 50-Hz a.c. voltage of the mains, a resistor Rs, a rectifying diode Dr, a switch S, a capacitor C and the primary of a high frequency transformer T. The secondary of the transformer comprises windings L1 and L2 connected to lighters 1 and 2, respectively, for example associated with two fires of a gas cooker. A circuit comprising a parallel thyristor Th, which is head-to-tail connected to a diode D, is connected between the input terminal of capacitor C and terminal B. An avalanche diode Z is disposed between the gate and the anode of thyristor Th.
The operation of the circuit will be described with relation to FIG. 2. In FIG. 2, the curve 10 represents the voltage between terminals A and B which is an a.c. voltage having a peak value Vp. Once switch S is turned on, at the beginning of a positive half-period, capacitor C begins to be loaded until the avalanche voltage VZ of the avalanche diode Z is reached. Then, a current tends to flow in the gate-cathode junction of thyristor Th. When this current reaches value I.sub.B0, the thyristor Th becomes conductive in a low impedance state and capacitor C discharges in thyristor Th, then through diode D, thereby producing a discharge current oscillating at a high frequency from capacitor C to thyristor Th and in the parallel, head-to-tail connected diode D. This current oscillation is converted by the transformer to windings L1 and L2, which causes sparks to occur in the lighters 1 and 2.
This circuit requires strict conditions for the triggering of thyristor Th. Indeed, once the avalanche voltage VZ of diode Z is reached, a sufficient current I.sub.B0 to trigger the thyristor Th should be able to flow. This current I.sub.B0 is provided by the rectified supply voltage. The maximum value of this current is determined by equation: EQU RsI.sub.B0(MAX) =Vp-VZ,
where Vp designates the peak value of the voltage between terminals A and B. In practice, voltage VZ is imposed to obtain a sufficient discharge voltage and the maximum tolerable value of resistor Rs must be relatively high to allow the selection of a long time duration between two sparks.
Assuming that Rs=10 k.OMEGA., the peak voltage Vp between terminals A and B is 300 volts, and further assuming that VZ=250 volts, one obtains: EQU I.sub.B0(MAX) =(300-250)/10000=5 mA.
In practice, this is a very low triggering current for a thyristor. Usually, a conventional thyristor withstanding 400 volts has a triggering current I.sub.B0 of a few tens of a mA. A further difficulty is that voltage VZ of the avalanche diode Z should be accurately determined so that value I.sub.B0(MAX) does not vary too much and so that the triggering range is not further reduced.
FIG. 3 represents the voltage-current curve of a thyristor. When voltage V.sub.B0 (i.e., voltage VZ of the avalanche diode) is reached, the current in the thyristor starts to increase, then the voltage across the thyristor abruptly drops whereas the thyristor is turned on as soon as the current in the thyristor has reached I.sub.B0. The invention aims at providing a dipole component of the thyristor-type having both a low value I.sub.B0 and an accurately determined value V.sub.B0 (VZ).
FIG. 4 represents a conventional circuit of a breakover triggered dipole component including an amplifying-gate thyristor circuit providing this function. The thyristor Th is associated with a pilot thyristor Th1. The anodes of thyristors Th and Th1 are interconnected, the cathode of thyristor Th1 is connected to the gate of thyristor Th1 through a resistor R. The triggering diode Z is disposed between the anode and the gate of thyristor Th1. The gate-cathode resistor of thyristor Th is labeled R'.
Techniques are known to fabricate a very sensitive thyristor Th1 but this requires the use, between the cathode and the gate, of a resistor R having a non-negligible value (ranging approximately from 1 to 10 k.OMEGA.) to prevent the thyristor Th1 from being triggered by spurious overvoltages on the supply, i.e., by dV/dt triggering.
FIG. 5 illustrates a conventional monolithic component implementing the circuit of FIG. 4. This component is fabricated from a low doped N-type substrate 21. In the upper surface of the substrate, P-type regions 22, 23 and 24 correspond to the anode of diode D, to the gate of thyristor Th and to the gate of the pilot thyristor Th1, respectively. N-type regions 26 and 27 correspond to the cathodes of thyristors Th and Th1, respectively. The cathode of thyristor Th is provided with emitter-shorts to render this thyristor non-sensitive whereas the cathode of the pilot thyristor Th1 is devoid of emitter-shorts to render the pilot thyristor highly sensitive. The rear surface of the substrate includes, facing the cathodes of thyristors Th and Th1, a P-type region 28 corresponding to the common anode of thyristors Th and Th1. The rear surface further includes, facing the anode region 22 of diode D, an N.sup.+ -type region 29 corresponding to the cathode contact of diode D. The rear surface is uniformly coated with a metallization 30. The cathode area of thyristor Th and the anode area of diode D are coated with a metallization 31. The cathode region 27 of thyristor Th1 is connected to the gate region 23 of thyristor Th through a metallization 32. Resistor R is formed by a low conductive P-type region 34 that is disposed between the P regions 23 and 24. The junction corresponding to the zener diode Z is formed by providing a highly doped N-type layer 35 at the interface between region 24 and substrate 21.
The implementation illustrated in FIG. 5 has several drawbacks. On the one hand, this circuit requires, in addition to the conventional layers used for the fabrication of a thyristor, the presence of the highly doped N-type "buried" layer 35 and more particularly the presence of the low-doped P-type region 34 which imposes the provision of additional fabrication steps. On the other hand, as indicated above, in order to obtain a sufficient resistance, approximately 1 to 10 k.OMEGA., between the cathode and the gate of thyristor Th1, region 34 should have a very low doping level. This imposes fabrication constraints and makes the device difficult to reproduce from one batch to the other.

Breakover-triggered dipole component having a controlled sensitivity


Vehicles include a first air conditioning system adapted to condition at least air in the driver compartment. The first air conditioning system has a condenser coil, a condenser fan, an evaporator coil, an evaporator fan and a compressor. The vehicles also have a second air conditioning system adapted to condition at least air in the sleeper compartment. The second air conditioning system has an auxiliary condenser coil, an auxiliary condenser fan, an auxiliary evaporator coil, an auxiliary evaporator fan and an auxiliary compressor. The auxiliary condenser fan can be provided as an auxiliary direct current condenser fan, an auxiliary axial condenser fan or an auxiliary direct current axial condenser fan.

Motor vehicles, such as a long distance or over the road trucks may not be configured to readily provide HVAC needs when parked. Specifically, such vehicles may not provide for a desired HVAC when the vehicles are not being driven. For example, if the vehicle is parked and HVAC is desired, the engine of the vehicle, which drives an associated engine driven air-conditioning unit heat exchanger, etc., may need to be operated. This results in air pollution, sound pollution, and engine wear concerns. As such, there is some need to address issues concerning HVAC needs when the vehicle is stationary.
Reconfiguring a vehicle to include additional HVAC equipment may be labor intensive and may require cutting, fitting, or other modification of existing parts. Space constraints within the vehicle may also be problematic.

Vehicle with air conditioning arrangement


Optical signalling device (1, 20, 30) for vehicles (A), comprising: a support element (2) fitted to the abovementioned vehicle (A), a revolving element (3) arranged on the support element (2) and coupled to drive means (4) able to cause rotation thereof and one or more optical signalling elements (8) associated with the revolving element (3) and electrically connected to an electric power source able to illuminate them. Each optical signalling element (8) comprises one or more laser light generators/emitters (9).

It is known that public utility transport means, such as the vehicles used by the police and rescue services in general, are equipped with optical and acoustic signalling devices which are activated in the event of an emergency in order to signal the presence of the vehicles and request priority in heavy traffic conditions.
With the same aims, the same signalling devices may also be used on watercraft and airborne vehicles.
The combination of the acoustic signalling devices with the optical signalling devices is necessary because the former, generally a siren, by means of their sound indicate that there is an emergency, while the optical signalling devices allow precise determination of the direction from which the rescue vehicle is coming so that the traffic occupying the roadway may move aside and allow the vehicle to pass through.
The advantages of the signalling system are therefore based on the efficiency of both the signalling devices and in particular their use in combination with each other.
The optical and acoustic signalling devices of the known type present on the market and widely used have, however, certain drawbacks.
A first limitation consists in the fact that, while the acoustic signalling devices use a siren, the sound of which can be heard from far away in any environmental conditions, the visibility of the light beam emitted by the optical signalling devices is instead reduced, for example in the case of rain or fog.
In fact, the optical signalling devices of the known type use incandescent or halogen lamps which generate a light ray which is projected over a certain distance by a rotating directional dish, but which, because of the incoherent nature of the radiation forming it, is greatly absorbed by the water droplets which form the rain or the fog.
The result is that, in the event of particularly dense fog, the light ray is visible no more than a few metres from the lamp which emits it.
DE-A-4012120, which is considered the closest prior art to the invention, discloses an optical signaling device according to the preamble of claim 1.
Further optical signaling devices are known from US-B6183100, WOA-01/45980 and GB-A-2 360 350.
However, none of the optical signaling devices disclosed in such prior art documents permits to envelope the vehicle on which is mounted making it clearly visible at a great distance.


A device prevents fuel mixing, for example, a different kind of fuel from being pumped into a gasoline vehicle or a diesel vehicle by mistake. The device can prevent unsuitable fuel from being pumped into a vehicle and can preclude a loss of fuel or a fire due to poor operation of a gas pump by a person who fuels the vehicle, by implementing a new type of mechanism for preventing fuel mixing which includes a lock that is disposed at the fuel-tank door of a vehicle and turned on/off in accordance with the inner diameter of a nozzle and a cap that can close the nozzle when a nozzle for an unsuitable kind of fuel is inserted.

1. Field of Invention
The present disclosure relates to a device for preventing fuel mixing in a vehicle, and more particularly to a device for preventing fuel mixing which can prevent gasoline vehicles or diesel vehicles from being filled with other kinds of fuel by mistake.
2. Description of Related Art
In general, when fueling a diesel vehicle at a gas station, an accident of pumping gasoline into it by mistake is frequently generated.
Accordingly, pumping different kinds of fuel into vehicles is prevented at gas stations by differentiating the diameters of a diesel nozzle and a gasoline nozzle.
For example, the diameter of a diesel nozzle is about 31 mm and the diameter of a gasoline nozzle is about 20˜21 mm.
The diameter of the fuel inlet of gasoline vehicles is usually about 20˜21 mm, the same as the diameter of the gasoline nozzle, and the diameter of the fuel inlet of diesel vehicles is usually about 45˜50 mm.
Therefore, the diesel nozzle cannot be put into the fuel inlet of the gasoline vehicles, but only the gasoline nozzle can be, so there is no problem of fuel mixing; however, since the gasoline nozzle, in addition to the diesel nozzle, can also be put into the fuel inlet of the diesel vehicles, fuels are frequently mixed.
Recently, self service gas stations for drivers to fuel by themselves are very popular with the increase in oil price and have several gas pumps to allow the drivers to fuel their vehicles in person, thereby consulting the drivers' convenience.
However, one gas pump has a nozzle for gasoline and a nozzle for diesel at the left and right sides, with a switch for selecting the kind of fuel at each side, such that when a driver selects a wrong nozzle or switch by mistake, fuels cannot help mixing, thereby frequently causing the problem of fuel mixing.
The accident of fuel mixing actually occurs frequently when fueling a diesel vehicle and the fuel mixing decreases the power of the engine and damages the engine itself, and it may also cause a big accident by stopping the engine while the vehicle is in motion. Further, the fuel mixing may damage the fuel system such as an injection pump.
In consideration of those problems, a variety of devices for preventing different kinds of fuel from mixing have been proposed in Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2006-0037948, Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2012-0103198, and Korean Utility Model Registration No. 20-0379665.
For example, "Capless fuel tanking system" has been disclosed in EP 1854653 A1.
The system has a structure that is composed of a latch and a flap door and can prevent fuel mixing by keeping the flap door closed when a nozzle for a different kind of fuel unsuitable for a vehicle is inserted, but opening the flap door when a nozzle for the kind of fuel suitable for the vehicle is inserted.
That is, since the diameter of the fuel inlet of a diesel vehicle is smaller than the gasoline nozzle, the latch does not move and the flap door is fixed and not opened in the structure.
The system, however, has a defect that when a person who fuels a vehicle inserts a nozzle for a different kind of fuel unsuitable for the vehicle and then starts pumping the fuel, the fuel overflows and it may cause a fire, with a loss of fuel.
Further, when a nozzle is inserted at an angle in a fuel inlet, the latch is operated and the door can open, so there is still the problem of fuel mixing.
The information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.


The present invention provides an optical element for measuring information of living body for noninvasively measuring a body fluid component in a test sample of living body with high accuracy, stability, and ease. The optical element includes a light incident surface, a contact surface contacting living body and having a groove to protrude living body and a light emission surface, in which a light incident from the light incident surface is applied to living body, and the light absorbed and scattered by living body is received and emitted from the light emission surface, a light transmittance controlling means is formed from the bottom part of the valley part of the groove, on at least a part of a wall surface of the light incident surface side and/or on a wall surface of the light emission surface side of the groove.

Conventionally, there have been proposed various methods in which a specific component in a living body or in a solution are measured by using an optical measuring device. For example, there has been known a method in which a blood-sugar level is measured by bringing upper and lower lips into intimate contact with a transparent attenuated total reflectance (ATR) element having a pair of reflecting surfaces facing in parallel.
In this method, an ATR element which is an ATR prism comprising zinc selenide, silicon, or germanium is held in a mouth, and a light is applied to the ATR element while the ATR element is pressed by the lips, and an analysis is conducted for a light emitted to the outside of the ATR element after total reflections are repeated between the reflecting surfaces of the ATR element and the lips.
In the above method, evanescent wave (so-called penetrating light) is applied to a quantitative analysis. A light traveling in the ATR prism is reflected, after slightly going into lips. Therefore, the light is affected by each component in a body fluid existing in the lips.
For this reason, variations in reflectance and absorptance of a body fluid can be detected by measuring the amount of the reflected light, thereby enabling to obtain information about each component in the body fluid.
In Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. Hei 11-178799, for example, there has been disclosed a method in which properties and characteristics of surface layer tissues, preferably skin tissues or mucous membrane tissues, further preferably dermis tissues or subcutaneous tissues in the skin tissues, or lamina propria mucosae or submucosal layer in mucous membrane tissues of a living body are analyzed by light absorption.
In this method, a part of surface layer tissues of a living body is protruded by using a groove, and a spectrum analysis is conducted by light receiving and applying operations from a light emission part and to a light incident part facing each other interposing the protruded part in between.
Based on this method, sufficient signals for the measurement can be obtained, and information of the living body components can be obtained even with a usage of near-infrared light of 1.4 to 2.5 micrometers, which is absorbed by living body in a greater degree. Additionally, an optical path length of the light transmitting the living body can be determined from the size of the groove. It is known from the Lambert-Beer Law that a light absorption amount of a living body is proportional to the optical path length.
Thus, the fact that the optical path length can be automatically determined from the size of the groove has quite significant meaning in measurements using light, and is a great advantage in this method.
Also, International Publication No. WO 01-58555 recites a contact element (optical measurement device) for measuring information of living body comprising an abutting means having a recess for abutting the living body, a detecting light emission means which emits the detecting light from a part in the recess, and a detecting light incident means provided in other part in the recess for applying the detecting light, characterized in that the detecting light is applied to the detecting light incident means after passing through the living body tissue inserted in the recess, while the abutting means abutting the living body tissues. The contact element is proposed by an intention to improve the contact between a surface of the living body and an optical censor for improving measurement accuracy.

Optical element for measuring information of living body and device for measuring information of living body using the optical element


A wireless communication channel operation method and a system of the portable terminal for preventing data loss when switching between different wireless video transmission modes are provided. The method includes transmitting multimedia data to a recipient terminal on a communication channel of a second transmission mode in a wireless video transmission mode, the wireless video transmission mode supporting a first and second transmission modes, receiving buffer state information from the recipient terminal, pausing, when a request for switching to the first transmission mode is detected, transmission of the multimedia data to the recipient terminal, determining the buffer state information, waiting, when the buffer state information indicates presence of multimedia data in a reception buffer of the reception terminal, for completion of playing of the multimedia data in the reception buffer, and switching to the first transmission mode after the multimedia data in the reception buffer is played completely.

Recent mobile terminals are featured with various functions attractive to users. For example, the mobile terminals are provided with a voice telephony function, a still and/or motion picture capturing function, a broadcast playback function, an Internet access function, and/or the like.
More recently, the mobile terminals are featured with wireless video transmission function for transmitting video data (including audio data) to another terminal (e.g., a smart TV) through a wireless communication channel (e.g., Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and cellular communication channels). According to the related art, Wi-Fi Display (WFD), Wireless Display (WiDi), and Miracast™ are representative wireless video transmission technologies.
If the wireless video transmission function is activated, the portable terminal transmits the video data to a recipient terminal through a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) or a User Datagram Protocol (UDP) channel. Typically, the portable terminal uses the UDP channel for video data transmission to secure high data rate rather than reliability or the TCP channel to guarantee reliability. For example, the portable terminal may transmit the home screen data through the UDP channel and the motion picture data through the TCP channel.
In order to avoid fluctuation over a wireless communication channel and to guarantee seamless video quality, the transmission end should buffer the multimedia data, with a predetermined buffer size (or time). Likewise, the recipient terminal has a buffer with a predetermined buffer size to buffer the received multimedia data for seamless playback. Such buffering causes latency between the transmission terminal and the recipient terminal. Such time latency is prolonged when the radio communication environment between the transmission and recipient terminals deteriorates.
Meanwhile, the recipient terminal initializes the buffer when the transmission mode is changed. It is a shortcoming of the technology according to the related art that the multimedia data buffered in the reception buffer is discarded when the transmission mode is changed. This means that the multimedia data transmitted by the transmission terminal are lost as a result of the initialization of the reception buffer. For example, if the video playback of the recipient terminal stops in the state that the transmission terminal is transmitting the multimedia data to the recipient terminal, the transmission terminal changes the transmission mode from the TCP mode to UDP mode. At this time, the recipient terminal initializes the buffer to discard the buffered video data. As discussed above, one of the drawbacks of the video data transmission method and the video streaming method according to the related art is that the video data transmitted by the transmission terminal are not played entirely to the user.
The above information is presented as background information only to assist with an understanding of the present disclosure. No determination has been made, and no assertion is made, as to whether any of the above might be applicable as prior art with regard to the present disclosure.

Method and system for preventing data loss in switching data transmission mode