According to a first aspect of embodiments herein, the object is achieved by a method performed by a User Equipment (UE) for monitoring a beam transmitted by a base station in a radio communications network. The base station is serving the UE. The UE monitors (1202) a reference signal related to the beam, from the base station. Each time a quality of the reference signal is below a first threshold, the UE generates (1203) an Out-Of-Synchronization (OOS) event

In a typical wireless communication network, wireless devices, also known as wireless communication devices, mobile stations, stations (STA) and/or User Equipments (UE), communicate via a Local Area Network such as a WiFi network or a Radio Access Network (RAN) to one or more core networks (CN). The RAN covers a geographical area which is divided into service areas or cell areas, which may also be referred to as a beam or a beam group, with each service area or cell area being served by a radio network node such as a radio access node e.g., a Wi-Fi access point or a radio base station (RBS), which in some networks may also be denoted, for example, a NodeB, eNodeB (eNB), or gNB as denoted in 5G. A service area or cell area is a geographical area where radio coverage is provided by the radio network node. The radio network node communicates over an air interface operating on radio frequencies with the wireless device within range of the radio network node.
Specifications for the Evolved Packet System (EPS), also called a Fourth Generation (4G) network, have been completed within the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) and this work continues in the coming 3GPP releases, for example to specify a Fifth Generation (5G) network also referred to as 5G New Radio (NR). The EPS comprises the Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN), also known as the Long Term Evolution (LTE) radio access network, and the Evolved Packet Core (EPC), also known as System Architecture Evolution (SAE) core network. E-UTRAN/LTE is a variant of a 3GPP radio access network wherein the radio network nodes are directly connected to the EPC core network rather than to RNCs used in 3G networks. In general, in E-UTRAN/LTE the functions of a 3G RNC are distributed between the radio network nodes, e.g. eNodeBs in LTE, and the core network. As such, the RAN of an EPS has an essentially "flat" architecture comprising radio network nodes connected directly to one or more core networks, i.e. they are not connected to RNCs. To compensate for that, the E-UTRAN specification defines a direct interface between the radio network nodes, this interface being denoted the X2 interface.
Multi-antenna techniques can significantly increase the data rates and reliability of a wireless communication system. The performance is in particular improved if both the transmitter and the receiver are equipped with multiple antennas, which results in a Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) communication channel. Such systems and/or related techniques are commonly referred to as MIMO.
In addition to faster peak Internet connection speeds, 5G planning aims at higher capacity than current 4G, allowing higher number of mobile broadband users per area unit, and allowing consumption of higher or unlimited data quantities in gigabyte per month and user. This would make it feasible for a large portion of the population to stream high-definition media many hours per day with their mobile devices, when out of reach of Wi-Fi hotspots. 5G research and development also aims at improved support of machine to machine communication, also known as the Internet of things, aiming at lower cost, lower battery consumption and lower latency than 4G equipment.
Multi-Antenna Schemes in NR
Multi-antenna schemes for NR are currently being discussed in 3GPP. For NR, frequency ranges up to 100 GHz are considered. It is known that high-frequency radio communication above 6 GHz suffers from significant path loss and penetration loss. One solution to address this issue is to deploy large-scale antenna arrays to achieve high beamforming gain, which is a reasonable solution due to the small wavelength of high-frequency signal. Therefore MIMO schemes for NR are also called massive MIMO. For around 30/70 GHz, up to 256 Transmit (Tx) and Receive (Rx) antenna elements are assumed. Extension to support 1024Tx at 70 GHz is agreed and it is under discussion for 30 GHz. For sub-6 GHz communication, to obtain more beamforming and multiplexing gain by increasing the number of antenna elements is also a trend.
With massive MIMO, three approaches to beamforming have been discussed: analog, digital, and hybrid which is a combination of the two.
The analog beamforming would compensate high pathloss in NR scenarios, while digital precoding would provide additional performance gains similar to MIMO for carrier frequencies below 6 GHz, so-called sub-6 GHz scenarios. The implementation complexity of analog beamforming is significantly less than digital precoding. This is since it relies on simple phase shifters. However, the drawbacks are its limitation in multi-direction flexibility, i.e. only a single beam can be formed at a time and the beams are then switched in time domain. Only wideband transmissions, i.e. not possible to transmit over a subband, unavoidable inaccuracies in the analog domain, etc.
Digital beamforming used today in LTE, requires costly converters to and/or from the digital domain from and/or to IF domain. However, it provides the best performance in terms of data rate and multiplexing capabilities wherein multiple beams over multiple subbands at a time can be formed, but at the same time it is challenging in terms of power consumption, integration, and cost; in addition to that the gains do not scale linearly with the number of transmit and/or receive units while the cost is growing rapidly.
Supporting hybrid beamforming, to benefit from cost-efficient analog beamforming and high-capacity digital beamforming, is therefore desirable for NR. An example diagram for hybrid beamforming is shown in FIG. 1, wherein
IFFT means Inverse Fourier transform,
P/S means parallel to serial conversion,
DAC means Digital Analogue Converter, and
PA means power amplifier.
Beamforming may be on transmission beams and/or reception beams, network side or UE side.
Beam Sweeping
The analog beam of a subarray may be steered toward a single direction in each OFDM symbol, and hence the number of subarrays determines the number of beam directions and the corresponding coverage on each OFDM symbol. However, the number of beams to cover the whole serving area is typically larger than the number of subarrays, especially when the individual beam-width is small, also referred to as narrow. Therefore, to cover the whole serving area, multiple transmissions with narrow beams differently steered in time domain are also likely to be needed. The provision of multiple narrow coverage beams for this purpose has been called "beam sweeping". For analog and hybrid beamforming, the beam sweeping seems to be essential to provide the basic coverage in NR. For this purpose, multiple OFDM symbols, in which differently steered beams can be transmitted through subarrays, may be assigned and periodically transmitted.
FIG. 2 depicts Tx beam sweeping on 2 subarrays.
FIG. 3 depicts Tx beam sweeping on 3 subarrays.
Synchronisation Signal (SS) Block Configuration
Herein a non-limiting example of SS block and SS burst configuration is described which may be assumed in other embodiments.
SS Block:
NR-PSS, NR-SSS and/or NR-PBCH can be transmitted within an SS block. For a given frequency band, an SS block corresponds to N OFDM symbols based on a certain e.g. a default subcarrier spacing, and N is a constant. UE shall be able to identify at least OFDM symbol index, slot index in a radio frame and radio frame number from an SS block. A single set of possible SS block time locations (e.g., with respect to radio frame or with respect to SS burst set) is specified per frequency band. At least for multi-beams case, at least the time index of SS-block is indicated to the UE. The position(s) of actual transmitted SS-blocks can be informed for helping CONNECTED/IDLE mode measurement, for helping CONNECTED mode UE to receive DL data/control in unused SS-blocks and potentially for helping IDLE mode UE to receive DL data/control in unused SS-blocks.
SS Burst:
One or multiple SS block(s) compose an SS burst. The maximum number of SS-blocks, L, within SS burst set may be carrier frequency dependent, e.g.:                For frequency range category #A (e.g., 0˜6 GHz), the number (L) is TBD within L≤[16]        For frequency range category #B (e.g., 6˜60 GHz), the number is TBD within L≤[128]
SS Burst Set:
One or multiple SS block(s) compose an SS burst set. The maximum number of SS-blocks, L, within SS burst set may be carrier frequency dependent, e.g.                For frequency range category #A (e.g., 0-3 GHz), the number (L) is L=4        For frequency range category #B (e.g., 3-6 GHz), the number (L) is L=8        For frequency range category #A (e.g., 6-60 GHz), the number (L) is L=64
SS Burst Set Transmission:
From physical layer specification perspective, at least one periodicity of SS burst set is supported. From UE perspective, SS burst set transmission is periodic. At least for initial cell selection, a UE may assume a default periodicity of SS burst set transmission for a given carrier frequency, e.g. one of 5 ms, 10 ms, 20 ms, 40 ms, 80 ms, or 160 ms. The UE may assume that a given SS block is repeated with a SS burst set periodicity. By default, the UE may neither assume the gNB transmits the same number of physical beam(s), nor the same physical beam(s) across different SS-blocks within an SS burst set.
For each carrier, the SS blocks may be time-aligned or overlap fully or at least in part, or the beginning of the SS blocks may be time-aligned, e.g. when the actual number of transmitted SS blocks is different in different cells.
FIG. 4 depicts Example configuration of SS blocks, SS bursts and SS burst sets/series.
Mobility and Beam Management in NR
In NR it has been agreed that there will be two levels of mobility, one without involving Radio Resource Control (RRC), also called intra-cell mobility, part of what is often called beam management, and another type of mobility involving RRC, also called cell level mobility. Cell Level Mobility is described as follows in the TS 38.300 specifications.
Cell Level Mobility requires explicit RRC signalling to be triggered, i.e. handover. Handover signalling procedures adopt the same principle as Release 13 E-UTRAN as specified in 3GPP TS 36.300. For inter-gNB handover, the signalling procedures consist of at least the following elemental components illustrated in FIG. 5, Inter-gNB handover procedures.
1. The source gNB initiates handover and issues a Handover Request over the Xn interface. The Xn interface is the interface between gNBs.
2. The target gNB performs admission control and provides an RRC configuration as part of the Handover Acknowledgement.
3. The source gNB provides the RRC configuration to the UE in the Handover Command. The Handover Command message includes at least cell ID and all information required to access the target cell so that the UE can access the target cell without reading system information. For some cases, the information required for contention based and contention free random access can be included in the Handover Command message. The access information to the target cell may include beam specific information, if any.
4. The UE moves the RRC connection to the target gNB and replies the Handover Complete.
The handover mechanism triggered by RRC requires the UE at least to reset the Medium Access Control (MAC) entity and re-establish RLC. For Data Radio Bearers (DRBs) using RLC Acknowledged Mode (AM) mode, Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) can either be re-established together with a security key change or initiate a data recovery procedure without a key change. For DRBs using RLC Acknowledged Mode (UM) mode and for SRBs, PDCP can either be re-established together with a security key change or remain as it is without a key change.
Data forwarding, in-sequence delivery and duplication avoidance at handover can be guaranteed when the target gNB uses the same DRB configuration and QoS flow to DRB mapping as the source gNB.
Beam Level Mobility does not require explicit RRC signalling to be triggered—it is dealt with at lower layers—and RRC is not required to know which beam is being used at a given point in time.
Beam level mobility is achieved by what is often called beam management procedures. It has been agreed in RAN1 that the primary Reference Signal (RS) to be used for beam management is Channel State Information (CSI)-RS, which can be configured via dedicated signalling.
CSI-RS Configuration in LTE and Usage of the MAC Control Element (CE) Activation/Deactivation
In LTE, until Release 13, all reference signals that UE uses for CSI calculation, CRS, CSI-RS, were non-precoded such that UE is able to measure the raw channel and calculated feedback including preferred precoding matrix based on that. As the number of Tx antennas increases, the amount of feedback becomes larger. In LTE Release 10, when support for 8Tx closed loop precoding was introduced, a double codebook approach was introduced where UE first selects a wideband coarse precoder and then per subband a second codeword.
Another possible approach is that a network node such as the eNB beamforms the reference signal and UE calculates feedback on top of that. This approach was adopted in LTE Release 13 and one option for the Full-Dimension (FD)-MIMO as described in the next section.
Release 13 FD-MIMO specification in LTE supports an enhanced CSI-RS reporting called Class B for beamformed CSI-RS. Therein, an LTE RRC_CONNECTED UE may be configured with K CSI-RS resources (where 8>K>1) where it may be 1, 2, 4 or 8 ports for each CSI-RS resource. Each CSI-Rs resource is associated with a CSI-RS Resource Indicator (CRI). The UE reports CRI to indicate the preferred CSI-RS resource, along with the RI/CQI/PMI based on legacy codebook (i.e. Rel-12).
For Release-14 enhanced Full-Dimension (eFD)-MIMO aperiodic CSI-RS was introduced with two different sub-flavors. The CSI-RS resources are configured for the UE as in LTE Release 13 and if the set of K CSI-RS resources is configured to work as aperiodic, aperiodic-aperiodic or multi shot-aperiodic. UE waits for MAC CE activation for N out of K CSI-RS resources. For aperiodic-aperiodic, UE waits in addition to MAC CE, a DCI activation of the CSI-RS resource before reporting.
Activation/deactivation command is specified in 3GPP TS36.321 where Section 5.19 describes:
The network may activate and deactivate the configured CSI-RS resources of a serving cell by sending to the UE the Activation/Deactivation of CSI-RS resources MAC control element described in sub clause 188.8.131.52. The configured CSI-RS resources are initially deactivated upon configuration and after a handover. In FIG. 6, the eNB sends Beamformed CSI-RS 1, 2 and 3. The UE measures these CSI-RS 1, 2 and 3 and since beam CSI RS 2 gives the best result, the UE reports that CRI=2 and RI/CQI/PMI that is measured on CSI-RS 2.
Section 220.127.116.11 in TS 36.321 describes:
The Activation/Deactivation of CSI-RS resources MAC control element is identified by a MAC Protocol Data Unit (PDU) subheader with Logical Channel Identifier (LCID) as specified in table 6.2.1-1. It has variable size as the number of configured CSI process (N) and is defined in Figure 18.104.22.168-1. Activation/Deactivation CSI-RS command is defined in Figure 18.104.22.168-2 and activates or deactivates CSI-RS resources for a CSI process. Activation/Deactivation of CSI-RS resources MAC control element applies to the serving cell on which the UE receives the Activation/Deactivation of CSI-RS resources MAC control element.
The Activation/Deactivation of CSI-RS resources MAC control elements is defined as follows:                Ri: this field indicates the activation/deactivation status of the CSI-RS resources associated with CSI-RS-ConfigNZPId i for the CSI-RS process. The Ri field is set to "1" to indicate that CSI-RS resource associated with CSI-RS-ConfigNZPId i for the CSI-RS process shall be activated. The Ri field is set to "0" to indicate that the CSI-RS-ConfigNZPId i shall be deactivated. ConfigNZPId means configuration Non Zero Power Identifier. Figure 18.104.22.168-1 is shown in FIG. 7 and depicts activation/Deactivation of CSI-RS resources MAC Control Element. Figure 126.96.36.199-2 is shown in FIG. 8 and depicts activation/Deactivation CSI-RS command.
The MAC CE activation was introduced in LTE to be able to configure more CSI-RS resources for a UE that the UE is able to support feedback for as the MAC CE would selective activate up to max CSI-RS resources supported. Then, without the need to reconfigure by RRC, network may activate another set among the resources configured for the UE.
Radio Link Monitoring (RLM) in LTE and Potential Differences in NR
The purpose of the RLM function in the UE is to monitor the downlink radio link quality of the serving cell in RRC_CONNECTED state and is in LTE based on the Cell-Specific Reference Signals (CRS), which is always associated to a given LTE cell and derived from the Physical Cell Identifier (PCI). This in turn enables the UE when in RRC_CONNECTED state to determine whether it is in-synchronization (sync) or out-of-sync with respect to its serving cell.
The UE's estimate of the downlink radio link quality is compared with out-of-sync and in-sync thresholds, Qout and Qin respectively, for the purpose of RLM. These thresholds are expressed in terms of the Block Error Rate (BLER) of a hypothetical Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) transmission from the serving cell. Specifically, Qout corresponds to a 10% BLER while Qin corresponds to a 2% BLER. The same threshold levels are applicable with and without Discontinuous Reception (DRX).
The mapping between the CRS based downlink quality and the hypothetical PDCCH BLER is up to the UE implementation. However, the performance is verified by conformance tests defined for various environments. Also the UE may calculate the downlink quality based on the CRS received over the whole band since UE does not necessarily know where PDCCH is going to be scheduled.
FIG. 9 depicts how PDCCH may be scheduled anywhere over the whole downlink transmission bandwidth.
When no DRX is configured, out-of-sync occurs when the downlink radio link quality estimated over the last 200 ms period becomes worse than the threshold Qout. Similarly, without DRX the in-sync occurs when the downlink radio link quality estimated over the last 100 ms period becomes better than the threshold Qin. Upon detection of out-of-sync, the UE initiates the evaluation of in-sync. The occurrences of out-of-sync and in-sync are reported internally by the UE's physical layer to its higher layers, which in turn may apply layer 3 (i.e. higher layer) filtering for the evaluation of Radio Link Failure (RLF). FIG. 10 depicts Higher layer RLM procedures in LTE.
When DRX is in use, in order to enable sufficient UE power saving the out-of-sync and in-sync evaluation periods are extended and depend upon the configured DRX cycle length. The UE starts in-sync evaluation whenever out-of-sync occurs. Therefore, the same period, also referred to as TEvaluate_Qout_DRX, is used for the evaluation of out-of-sync and in-sync. However, upon starting an RLF timer, referred to as T310, until its expiry, the in-sync evaluation period is shortened to 100 ms, which is the same as without DRX. If the timer T310 is stopped due to N311 consecutive in-sync indications, the UE performs in-sync evaluation according to the DRX based period (TEvaluate_Qout_DRX). N311 is referred to as the in-sync counter.
The whole methodology used for RLM in LTE, i.e. measuring the CRS to "estimate" the PDCCH quality, relies on the fact that the UE is connected to an LTE cell which is the single connectivity entity transmitting PDCCH and CRSs.
Beam Recovery
In NR, a procedure called beam recovery is being defined. In beam recovery, an RRC_CONNECTED UE would perform measurements associated to the quality of the serving link and, if that quality goes below a given threshold, the UE would perform beam recovery. The procedure aims to solve the situation where the TX and RX beams of the gNodeB and the UE have become misaligned, but where there are additional beams that could be used to maintain the connection between the gNodeB and the UE.
The beam failure recovery procedure includes the following aspects:                Beam failure detection: here the UE monitors a certain periodic reference signal (RS) to estimate the quality of the serving link. Once the quality of that link falls below a certain threshold, the UE initiates beam recovery.        New candidate beam identification. Once beam failure has been detected, the UE tries to identify a new beam that would provide adequate quality. The UE then searches for a specific RS, which is transmitted from the same node, but in difference candidate beams. During this search procedure, the UE may also change its RX beam.        Beam failure recovery request transmission. Once a new candidate beam has been found, the UE transmits an UL signal using certain UL resources. The gNodeB is prepared to receive the UL signal in these UL resources, and can determine which candidate beam the UE selected based on the receive UL signal.        When the gNodeB has received the beam failure recovery request, it sends a DL response to indicate to the UE that it received the request, using the knowledge of the new beam.        UE monitors gNB response for beam failure recovery request. Once the UE has successfully received the response, the beam recovery is complete.
In NR, a few options are being discussed with respect to the periodic RS the UE monitors to estimate the quality of the serving link:                The network can configure the UE to perform beam monitoring based on signals transmitted in the SS Block.        The network may also configure the UE to perform beam monitoring based on the channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS)
The same options are being discussed as the reference signal used for candidate beam identification. At least for CSI-RS, different configurations may be used for the two purposes.
One candidate for the UL signal used for the beam failure recovery request is physical random access channel (PRACH), the same type of signal used during initial access. To transmit using the PRACH, the UE selects one sequence out of the available PRACH sequences. Hence, the PRACH does not carry any payload. The information is conveyed by choosing different preambles. During initial access, the UE randomly chooses one PRACH sequence from a large set of available PRACH sequences. In other cases, e.g., during handover, the UE may choose a PRACH sequence from a set with only one element.
The beam recovery procedure is somewhat similar to the RLF and RRC reestablishment procedures. The main difference is that beam recovery is a faster procedure. Also, the connection is reestablished with the serving cell: the UE will not search for other cells.
Through beam recovery, the UE can quickly reconnect with the serving cell.

Measurement framework for beam failure detection and radio link monitoring

Abstract: When the number of OOS events reaches an OOS Beam Failure Detection (BFD) threshold, the UE triggers (1205) a beam recovery preparation procedure, and                when the number of OOS events reaches an OOS Radio Link Monitoring (RLM), threshold, the UE starts (1206a) an RLF timer.


A laser beam emission apparatus that may be used as a universal optical pickup laser light source. The apparatus may be used in various applications including recording/reproduction of data to/from various types of optical disks in various recording/reproducing modes. The apparatus includes a first semiconductor laser chip that emits a first laser beam at a first wavelength, and a second semiconductor laser chip that emits a second laser beam at a second wavelength different from the first wavelength. The emitted second laser beam has a plane of polarization that is perpendicular to the plane of polarization of the emitted first laser beam. The apparatus further includes a polarized beam splitter that transmits one of the laser beams and reflects the other laser beam, and a semiconductor substrate that has the laser chips and the polarized beam splitter mounted thereon. The polarized beam splitter is mounted on the semiconductor substrate in a manner such that a polarized light division surface of the polarized beam splitter is perpendicular to the substrate surface of the semiconductor substrate, and the principal optical axes of the first and second laser beams intersect at a single point on the polarized light division surface and also lie in the same plane. The plane is positioned apart from the substrate surface of the semiconductor substrate, and is perpendicular to the polarized light division surface of the polarized beam splitter.

a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a laser beam emission apparatus for use as a universal optical pickup laser light source capable of recording/playback even from optical disks recorded in different recording modes.
b) Description of the Related Art
Optical disks are now finding use not only as CDS (compact disks) but also as DVDs (digital video disks). This trend has led to studies on universal optical pickups that can be used for playback in both CD and DVD systems.
Because the recording density is much higher in DVDs than it is in CDS, a smaller-diameter light spot must be formed on the surface of the disk for playback of this high-density recorded data. In general, the diameter of the light spot formed on the disk is proportional to the wavelength of the laser beam being used. Therefore, whereas laser light sources in CD systems have a wavelength of 780 nm, DVD systems require lasers with shorter wavelengths of 635 or 650 nm. Specifically, 780-nm AlGaAs semiconductor lasers are used for CDS, and 635 or 650 nm AlGaInP semiconductor lasers are used for DVDs.
Therefore, a universal optical pickup that uses a 635 nm or 650 nm laser light source for DVD playback, should also be capable of playing-back the lower density CD recordings. In rewriteable CD-Rs, however, the 635/650 nm wavelength band is in the absorption band of the medium. Thus light in this wavelength band has extremely low reflectivity in CD-R recording media, making it unsuitable for playback of CD-R data.
This led to the development of an optical pickup capable of recording/playback of both DVD and CD-R disks, in a configuration that uses two lasers, each oscillating at a different wavelength, the appropriate laser being switch-selected according to the type of disk being used. Such a system was disclosed in Japanese Patent Kokai (laid-open application) No. 8-55363. The optical system associated with the optical pickup in this system is configured so that the laser beam from either of two semiconductor lasers mounted in different locations can be routed through a polarized wavelength filter into a common light path, thus allowing the proper semiconductor laser for the optical disk being played-back to be switch-selected. It would be very difficult, however, to miniaturize such a system.


A power converter circuit is disclosed. The circuit includes a capacitor connected across first and second output terminals, an inductor configured to receive current from a power source, and a main switch configured to selectively conduct current from the inductor to a ground. The circuit also includes a diode configured to conduct current from the inductor to the capacitor, and a second switch connected in parallel with the diode, where the second switch is configured to selectively conduct current from the capacitor to the inductor.

Switched mode power converters are ubiquitous and are often used to convert one form of power to another. For example a Boost converter may be employed in an electronic system to convert a high voltage alternating current (AC) bus (e.g., 220 volts AC) to a higher voltage direct current (DC) bus (e.g., 400 volts DC) that may power a component such as a desktop computer or flat panel TV. Switched mode power converters have three basic figures of merit: cost, size and efficiency. To be accepted in large volume applications, power converters must meet minimum requirements for all three specifications.
Power loss in a switch, or field-effect transistor (FET) employed in switched mode power converters comes from two sources. FETs have a resistive element, that dissipates power as current is conducted through the device. The resistive parameter is typically called "on-resistance", or RDS(ON) (i.e., resistance from drain to source when the FET is biased on). These conduction losses are inversely proportional to the size of the FET (i.e., the larger the FET, the lower its RDS(ON) and, therefore, the lower its conduction loss). The other source of power loss is through switching losses. Every time a solid-state switch is turned on or off there is energy loss, as described in more detail below.
Increased switching frequency has been a significant factor in the improvement in the cost and size of switched mode power converters. Increased switching frequency typically reduces the size of peripheral components and provides improved transient response for demanding applications. However, as discussed above, increased switching frequency results in increased power loss and decreased efficiency for the power converter.
Two major factors contribute to power loss from switching the transistors: turn-on loss, or the energy used to discharge drain-source capacitance (also commonly referred to as output capacitance or Coss); and crossover loss, or the energy lost during turn-on and turn-off transitions (i.e., the current and voltage overlap area as the switch transitions between states).
With regard to output capacitance, or Coss, as the FET switches on and off with a voltage potential across it, its intrinsic parasitic capacitance stores and then dissipates energy during each switching transition. Essentially there is an embedded capacitor within the switch that must be charged and discharged with each switching cycle. The output capacitance losses are proportional to the voltage across the switch, the switching frequency and the value of the parasitic capacitance. As the physical size of the FET increases, its output capacitance also increases. Therefore, as discussed above, increasing FET size may reduce RDS(ON), however it also increases output capacitance and thus increases switching loss.
Many types of control modes for Boost converter circuits exist that include continuous conduction mode (CCM), discontinuous conduction mode (DCM) and critical-conduction mode (CrCM) also known as boundary mode (BM). For CrCM, full ZVS is already achieved at low AC line voltage input levels (e.g., 120 VAC). At high AC line voltage input levels (e.g., 220 VAC) non-ZVS (or partial ZVS) occurs resulting in increased switching losses. Many ZVS schemes have been proposed for reducing the voltage potential across the switch to near 0 prior to operating the switch. These ZVS schemes have not been widely adopted as the increased switching losses are still acceptable for overall system efficiency requirements at operating frequencies lower than 200 kHz. At higher switching frequencies (e.g., >500 kHz) the switching losses due to partial-ZVS become significant and therefore limit the maximum allowable operating frequency of the system. Limitation of the maximum switching frequency then prevents further reduction of the boost inductor size and prevents further increase in the overall power density of the power converter.
Silicon devices have a relatively large output capacitance (Coss) (e.g., 200 picofarads) which takes a relatively long amount of time to charge. In high frequency applications, the time required to charge the output capacitance may limit the switching frequency of the converter. Further, silicon devices switch relatively slowly, (e.g., on the order of 20 nanoseconds) which also limits the switching frequency. Yet further, silicon devices are vertical structures typically fabricated such that the substrate is a drain terminal. Thus they do not lend themselves easily to monolithic integration with other devices as the other devices would be fabricated on the drain connection. This significantly restricts packaging and integration options to save packaging cost and size. Thus, in a two switch silicon-based power converter each switch is typically a separate device. The switch driver and controller circuits are also typically separate devices further increasing costs and increasing the driver delay due to packaging parasitics. Moreover, especially for high voltage applications (i.e., greater than 100 volts), silicon devices have poor performance characteristics and require large, slow, expensive driver circuits to operate. These and other factors have limited the adoption of ZVS architectures for silicon-based high frequency, high voltage applications.

Boost converter with zero voltage switching


An assembly is provided that may be used in high data rate optical communications, such as free-space communication systems. The assembly may include a main optical receiver element and a lenslet array or other optical element disposed near the focal plane that collects an optical signal and focuses that signal as a series of optical signal portions onto a photodetector array, formed of a series of InGaAs photodiodes, for example. The electrical signals from the photodetectors may be amplified using high bandwidth transimpedance amplifiers connected to a summing amplifier or circuit that produces a summed electrical signal. Alternatively, the electrical signals may be summed initially and then amplified via a transimpedance amplifier. The assembly may be used in remote optical communication systems, including free-space laser communication environments, to convert optical signals up to or above 1 Gbit/s or higher data rates into electrical signals at 1 Gbit/s or higher data rates.

Optical communication is becoming the preferred method for secure, high-bandwidth communications. Fiber-based communication systems, for example, are used in environments where the access points are known and fixed, and free-space communication systems are used in remote applications where access points may vary. For the latter systems, compact, lightweight, field deployable receivers are desired. Yet, the size of existing communications equipment has limited the effectiveness of such devices.
To understand the problems with free-space communications systems, one may look to the environments in which these systems operate. In a standard configuration, a laser transmitter produces an information carrying laser beam that transmits that signal through air. A remote user then uses an optical receiver to detect and demodulate that signal, to obtain an electrical rendition of the original laser signal. Over great travel distances, however, the original laser beam will expand and distort in response to anomalies in the air medium through which the beam travels. Turbulence in the atmosphere, for example, may distort the laser beam and produce a twinkling or blurring effect that represents changes in intensities and phase across the laser beam wavefront.
Additionally, atmospheric turbulence and poor optical quality receivers prevent the laser beam from being focused to a point at the remote location. Rather, the laser beam is only focused down to a blurred spot by the receiver. In other words, although the optical beam may originate from a laser point source, in free-space communication systems, that laser point source is imaged to a two-dimensional blur spot at the remote receiver.
As a result of this blur spot, a larger detector is needed to collect the available energy in the laser signal. In fact, in remote applications, there is so much signal intensity loss over the propagation path that it is desirable to collect as much of the received optical signal as possible, which means that larger diameter optical receivers must be used. Larger optical receivers, however, increase weight and reduce portability—two things undesirable for remote deployable receivers. Larger detectors also slow receiver responsiveness, because the intrinsic capacitance of larger detectors is larger, and scales with the area of the detector which means larger parasitic effects and longer response times. These performance limitations also adversely affect the bandwidth (and thus operating data rates) of optical receivers, preventing them from being used in high data rate applications.

Lenslet/detector array assembly for high data rate optical communications


A transparent, dyed cooktop is provided that has improved color display capability. The cooktop is made of a glass ceramic having high quartz mixed crystals as the predominant crystal phase, wherein the glass ceramic comprises none of the chemical refining agents arsenic oxide and/or antimony oxide, except for inevitable trace amounts. The glass ceramic has transmission values of greater than 0.1% in the range of visible light over the entire wavelength range greater than 450 nm, light transmission in the visible range of 0.8 to 5%, and transmission in the infrared at 1600 nm of 45-85%. The glass ceramic also includes a display apparatus that has a display device which is designed to display different operating conditions with different colors and/or symbols.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a transparent, dyed cooktop comprising a glass ceramic having high quartz mixed crystals as the predominant crystal phase as well as a method for the production thereof.
2. Description of Related Art
Cooktops having a glass-ceramic plate as a cooking surface are familiar prior art. Such glass-ceramic plates are usually present as flat plates or are shaped three-dimensionally.
Glass ceramics having high quartz mixed crystals as the predominant crystal phase are produced from crystallizable lithium aluminum silicate glasses.
These glass ceramics are produced in several steps.
In the large-scale production of glass ceramics, first the crystallizable initial glass of a mixture of shards and powder-form raw materials is melted at temperatures usually between 1500 and 1650° C. Typically, arsenic oxide and/or antimony oxide is used as the refining agent in the melt. These refining agents are compatible with the required glass-ceramic properties and lead to good bubble qualities of the melt. Although these materials are firmly bound in the glass structure, they are a disadvantage, however, from the aspects of safety and environmental protection. Special precautions must be implemented in producing and processing raw materials due to evaporation in the melts.
Recently, the use of SnO2 is described in particular as an unobjectionable refining agent. In order to obtain good bubble qualities, in addition to SnO2, halide compounds are preferably used as additional refining agents at conventional melting temperatures (maximum of approximately 1680° C.). Thus, in the Japanese Applications JP 11 100 229 A and JP 11 100 230 A, the use of 0.1-2 wt. % SnO2 and 0-1 wt. % Cl has been described. According to these publications, coloring is obtained by the addition of V2O5 as a single coloring agent.
The addition of 0.05-1 wt. % fluorine (US 2007 0004578 A1) and 0.01-1 wt.-% bromine (US 2008 0026927 A1) for supporting the refining with SnO2 is also disclosed. Refining temperatures below 1700° C. are also described in these publications. The main coloring agent is V2O5. The addition of halides is a disadvantage, since they evaporate intensely at the melting temperature and thus form toxic compounds, such as HF, for example.
The use of SnO2 in combination with high-temperature refining above 1700° C. in order to obtain good bubble qualities is described in DE 199 39 787 C2. This step, however, provides no hint with respect to obtaining good display capability in the wavelength range starting from 450 nm.
After melting and refining, the glass usually undergoes a hot forming by rolling or recently by floating, in order to produce plates. For an economical production, on the one hand, a low melting temperature and a low processing temperature PR are desired, while on the other hand, the glass should not show any devitrification during the shaping. This means that disruptive crystals that adversely affect strength in the initial glasses and in the glass ceramics produced therefrom must not be formed. Since the shaping takes place in the vicinity of the processing temperature PR (viscosity 104 dPas) of the glass, it must be assured that the upper devitrification temperature of the melt lies in the vicinity of and more favorably below the processing temperature, in order to avoid the formation of disruptive crystals.
Subsequently, the initial glass is converted to the glass-ceramic article by controlled crystallization. This ceramicizing is produced in a two-step temperature process, in which seeds are produced first, usually from ZrO2/TiO2 mixed crystals, by nucleation at a temperature between 680 and 800° C. SnO2 may also participate in the nucleation. With a subsequent temperature increase, the high quartz mixed crystals grow on these seeds. High rates of crystal growth, which are desired for an economical, rapid ceramicizing, are obtained at temperatures of 850 to 950° C. At this maximum production temperature, the structure of the glass ceramic is homogenized and the optical, physical and chemical properties of the glass ceramic are adjusted. If desired, the high quartz mixed crystals can still be converted subsequently into keatite mixed crystals. The transformation into keatite mixed crystals is produced with a temperature increase to a range of approximately. 950 to 1200° C. With the conversion of high quartz to keatite mixed crystals, the thermal expansion coefficient of the glass ceramic increases and the transparency is reduced due to the light scatter accompanying the enlargement of the crystals. As a rule, glass ceramics having keatite mixed crystals as the main phase are thus translucent or opaque and the light scatter associated therewith acts negatively on display capability.
A key property of glass ceramics having high quartz mixed crystals as the main crystal phase is the ability to produce materials that provide an extremely low heat expansion coefficient of <0.5×10−6/K in the range of room temperature to 700° C. and above. Based on the low thermal expansion, these glass ceramics possess an excellent strength at different temperatures, and an excellent stability with temperature changes.
With application as cooktops, based on the requirements from practical use, technical development leads to very specific, partially contradictory requirements for transmission.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


This invention relates to a process for preparing printing plates which are used in offset printing. The process produces a plate which comprises a substrate film in which a thin durable hydrophilic layer has been applied thereto. In the process, the substrate film is first microroughened by pressure blasting so that the surface roughness, R.sub.A, is in the range 0.3 to 1.5 .mu.m. Subsequently, a durable, firmly adhering hydrophilic layer is applied to substrate by plasma-spraying an oxide powder with a particle size of 1 to 40 .mu.m onto the substrate. This process produces a plate whose surface is not greasy or grainy.

1. Field of the Invention
The most frequently used printing plates for the offset printing process usually consist of a substrate on which a photosensitive layer is firmly applied. This layer is exposed to light, after which the nonimage part must be removed completely from the surface. By means of the hydrophobic layer which remains behind (image part), ink can be applied to the product to be printed, which however is ensured only when water is present in the region of the nonimage parts. The wettability with water (hydrophilic property) in the region of the nonimage parts is of decisive importance for a high-quality printed image. It is known that alumina has such properties.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is therefore obvious to use aluminum substrates, to roughen the latter in order to improve anchoring of the printed image and to oxidize the surfaces. Chemical or electrochemical processes, also in combination with mechanical processes, for roughening pure aluminum have been disclosed, for example, in DE-A-34 13 899.
The multistage processes require a uniform aluminum composition at the substrate surface in order to ensure that, in a controlled chemical process, a uniform surface topography free of grains is obtained. The disposal of the baths and of the resulting solid are to be regarded as negative factors.
German Auslegeschrift 1,300,579 has disclosed a process in which a plasma is generated by means of an electric arc between a heat-resistant electrode and a metallic substrate in an inert gas mantle, with the aid of which plasma printing plates are roughened with small amounts of waste, and the surface can be modified by adding materials in such a way that it has improved hydrophilic properties. However, this process is difficult to realize in practice since it is very dependent on the intensities of the transmitted arcs, which are determined by a plurality of factors.
German Auslegeschrift 2,348,717 has disclosed a further process for applying damping solution-conveying layers to printing plates for the offset printing process. Layers of sparingly soluble or insoluble carbonates, silicates or quartz are provided, said layers being applied to roughened substrates by the plasma-spraying process method and then being ground to produce the suitable roughness. The image area is obtained by partially removing the coating. However, this process is very expensive owing to the machining and the etching process for removal of the layer.

Thermal process for applying hydrophilic layers to hydrophobic substrates for offset printing plates


A method for strapping a package with a strapping machine that includes a motor drive having a drive shaft that rotates 360° within a strapping cycle and controls work components including at least one clamping device for the strap to be strapped. The clamping of the leading strap end, fed in in a strap guide frame, for the strap to be strapped in the subsequent strapping cycle occurs in the current strapping cycle in the time between the beginning of the removal of the package already strapped in the current strapping cycle and the end of the addition of a new package to be strapped, whereupon the drive stops. After the conclusion of the tensioning process for the fed-in strap about the package, for performing the strapping process, the drive rotates continuously 360° without an intermediate stop in the new strapping cycle until the new leading strap end has been clamped.

Strapping machines of the type described are known and are used to strap, that is, to encircle, a package, for instance a stack of catalogs, with a plastic strap. Basically, a strap comprising plastic is guided about the package, tensioned, clamped and cut, and welded by heating by means of a welding device, whereupon the strapped package is conveyed out of the strapping machine and a new package to be strapped is supplied.
A strapping machine has a strap guide frame into which the strap is fed via a feeding device, and a strap guide in the area beneath the package in which the strap to be fed is guided and in which the leading strap end is captured. For tensioning the strap, it can be brought out of the strap guide frame and positioned directly on the package. Furthermore provided, is a clamping device comprising two separate clamping jaws, of which the one clamping jaw clamps the leading strap end and, after tensioning, the other clamping jaw clamps the other strap end, both disposed adjacent to an overlap area in which the welding occurs. Furthermore provided is a welding device including a welding tongue that is moved between the strap ends in the overlap area for heating them and a pressing device and a counterpressure plate, the pressing device being moved against the counter-pressure plate from below, and the heated strap ends that are to be welded being disposed therebetween. The movable functional components are controlled via a drive motor or a drive shaft, driven thereby, with which the different functional components are directly or indirectly motion-coupled. Frequently cam disk couplings are used, that is, one or a plurality of cam disks are arranged on the drive shaft and run at or on the corresponding catch segment of a functional component and are moved correspondingly as a function of the cam disk profile.
The drive shaft rotates 360° one time during a strapping cycle. In known machines, in the start position, that is, at the beginning of a strapping cycle, the new package to be strapped is already disposed in the strapping machine, that is, in the strap guide frame, the movable strap guide is disposed in the inserted work position, that is, it can guide the strap, and the strap itself has already been fed in and captured at its leading end. At this point in time, the drive motor is off, so the drive shaft is not rotating. Then the motor is started in a first work step, and the so-called set-up phase begins. The motor starts up in order to actuate the right clamping jaw of the clamping device via the drive shaft so that this clamping jaw clamps the leading strap end. As soon as this has occurred, the motor brakes again and stops, because then the tensioning step occurs next, which means that the strap, which naturally was fed in with a strap length significantly longer than the length required for strapping, is guided back into the machine into a strap storage unit and tensioned securely about the package. During this time the motor, or the drive shaft, is idle, because the tensioning process is performed by a separate tensioning device. Only then does the motor or drive shaft start up again in order to actuate the left clamping jaw in the next work step to clamp the strap at the other end, now cut, and in order to actuate the other functional components for the welding (for this the strap guide is moved out of the work area, the welding device is moved into the work area, after heating it is moved back out, and the pressing device is moved against the pressure plate to perform the welding). After the welding has concluded, while the motor drive is still running, the pressing device is moved back into the starting position and the pressure plate is moved out of the work area so that the package, now strapped, is exposed and can be exchanged for another package. As soon as the strapped package has been removed, the counterpressure plate is moved back into the work position together with the strap guide, and the motor stops—its work cycle has concluded. This is just followed by the strap for the next strapping process being fed in. The motor work cycle has concluded with the second stop, however, the motor or the drive shaft has rotated 360° one time. Then the new motor work cycle begins, namely, when the motor briefly turns again in order to actuate the right clamping jaw, and it stops again immediately thereafter because the tensioning process begins then as described in the foregoing.
It can be seen that a two-stop method is created in the known strapping machines. The motor starts up two times within one cycle and stops two times, the first start-up in the set-up phase being used only to actuate the right clamping jaw for fixing the leading strap end, whereupon the motor stops to enable the tensioning. This is disadvantageous not only for reasons of wear, but it also increases the time required for strapping one package so that machine throughput is necessarily reduced because of this.
The underlying problem of the invention is to provide a method that facilitates more rapid strapping and leads to less wear.

Method for strapping a package with a strapping machine that includes a motor drive having a drive shaft that rotates 360° within a strapping cycle and controls work components including at least one clamping device for the strap to be strapped


A chip electronic component may include: a magnetic body; and internal coil parts buried in the magnetic body. The magnetic body includes: a core layer including the internal coil parts; and upper and lower cover layers disposed on upper and lower portions of the core layer, respectively, the core layer having a level of magnetic permeability different from that of at least one of the upper and lower cover layers.

The present disclosure relates to a chip electronic component and a method of manufacturing the same.
An inductor, a chip electronic component, is a representative passive element configuring an electronic circuit together with a resistor and a capacitor to remove noise.
A thin type inductor may be manufactured by stacking, pressing, and curing magnetic sheets formed by mixing a magnetic powder and a resin with each other after forming an internal coil pattern part.

Chip electronic component and method of manufacturing the same


A valve timing change apparatus of the present invention is an apparatus for changing the relative angular position between a cam shaft 10 and a sprocket 30, which comprises an angle change mechanism 80 changing and holding the relative angular position between the cam shaft 10 and the sprocket 30 by oil pressure, an oil pressure generating mechanism 90 for generating oil pressure for driving the angle change mechanism 80 by relative rotation, and an electromagnetic retarder 100 for generating relative rotation at the oil pressure generating mechanism 90. With this structure, simplification and downsizing of the apparatus, reduction of engine load, suppression of oil pressure drop, etc. can be obtained. Then, a plurality of the apparatus can be mounted on an engine. In this manner, downsizing of the valve timing change apparatus, reduction of engine load, downsizing of an oil pump, etc. can be obtained.

As a conventional valve timing change apparatus to change the open-close timing of an intake valve or an exhaust valve of an internal combustion engine, the structure which changes the rotational phases of a cam shaft to drive the intake valve or the exhaust valve and a crank shaft is known. For example, such a structure is disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3033582, Japanese Patent laid-open 2000-274215, etc.
The apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3033582 comprises an advancing oil-pressure chamber and a retarding oil-pressure chamber disposed at both sides of a vane which rotates within a specific angle range in a housing, and a lubricating oil passage communicating with both oil-pressure chambers. Then, by a switching valve (namely, an oil control valve) disposed at some midpoint of the lubricating oil passage, the lubricating oil introduced to both chambers is appropriately controlled, and pressure difference between both chambers is relatively generated. In this manner, the rotational phases of the cam shaft and the crank shaft are changed.
Further, with the apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open 2000-274215, relative rotation is generated between a specific rotating member and a cam shaft by electromagnetically generated braking torque, and the rotational phases of the cam shaft and the crank shaft are changed via a gear mechanism, such as a worm gear, a hypoid gear, etc.
However, with the apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3033582, since the switching valve disposed at some midpoint of the lubricating oil passage switches the flow of the lubricating oil and directly controls the charge and discharge of the lubricating oil, the driving force of a pump for supplying the lubricating oil is directly added as a load to the engine. Further, oil pressure drop is caused while passing though the lubricating oil passage. The drop of the oil pressure becomes significant, especially when this apparatus is disposed at both the intake side and the exhaust side (namely, two-apparatuses mounted), or when two apparatuses are respectively disposed at each cylinder head of both sides of a V-shaped engine (namely, four-apparatuses mounted). When the oil pressure drops as mentioned above, the change to desirable open-close timing cannot be reliably performed.
On the other hand, to prevent the oil pressure drop, the capacity of the pump for supplying lubricating oil has to be enlarged, which causes upsizing of an engine, increase of an engine load, etc.
With the apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open 2000-274215, problems such as impact noise of the teeth caused by backlash etc. of the gears, phase fluctuation caused by thrust play at the hypoid gear, etc. arise. Further, because it is a gear mechanism, the apparatus becomes mechanically complicated and upsized, which causes upsizing of an engine.
The present invention was devised in view of the problems of the related art. The object of the present invention is to provide a valve timing change apparatus which can reliably change the open-close timing at all drive modes of an engine, without being affected by lubricating oil supply capacity, circumstance conditions, etc., while achieving load reduction to the engine, structural simplification, downsizing, and so on.


Data transmission network having a least one line termination device connected via a data transmission medium to several network termination devices, each network termination device comprising a request message generator for generating a data transmission request message when a data communication device connected to the network termination device is sending data, and an xDSL transceiver for transmitting an upstream data frame including the generated request message via the data transmission medium to the line termination device. The line termination device includes a selection unit for selecting network termination devices which have sent a request message depending on stored status information data of the network termination devices, a grant message generator for generating data transmission grant messages for the selected network termination devices, and an xDSL transceiver for broadcasting downstream data frames including the generated grant messages via the data transmission medium to the network termination devices.

FIG. 1 shows a data transmission network according to the state of the art. An IP backbone is connected via a broad-band data transmission line to a main switch such as an xDSL line termination device. The main switch is connected to several xDSL network termination devices NT over xMII interface. The NT is connected via a UTP telephone line to a local switch or hub which distributes the data packages received from the main switch to different data communication devices such as a personal computer or a laptop or an IP phone via a CAT5 communication line. The switch and the data communication devices form a local area network (LAN), e.g. an Ethernet local area network. The Ethernet local area network according to the state of the art does not allow data exchange between data communication devices and the local switch via an ordinary CAT3 copper telephone line over home telephone topology which requires its own wiring structure besides the telephone lines which are already installed in a building.


A push-type expanding mandrel apparatus that includes an expandable member with a tapered mandrel and a pushing member with a push rod. The body of the pushing member is held within a bore in a collet adapter that fits within the bore of a machine spindle, and the push rod enters a bore in the expanding member and tapered mandrel. Force applied to the back of the collet adapter is transferred to the pushing member at the interface of a tapered, inward facing shoulder in the bore of the collet adapter and a tapered hip on the body of the pushing member. As force is transferred to the pushing member, the push rod within the bore of the tapered mandrel exerts an outward force on the mandrel, causing leaves on the mandrel to expand outward and grip a workpiece from within a bore in the workpiece.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains generally to devices and methods for holding and centering an object, and more particularly to a push-type expanding mandrel apparatus which holds and centers a machined part by exerting an outward force against an internal portion of the machined part. The invention allows quick, releasible attachment of the machined part to an expanding mandrel, and automatically centers the machined part during attachment to the expanding mandrel.
2. Description of the Background Art
Modern computer numerically controlled (CNC) machines are designed to precisely move a cutting tool along a predetermined path relative to a workpiece during machining of the workpiece. Advanced CNC machine tools have multiple spindles which allow two or more workpieces to be machined simultaneously. The holding devices for the workpieces must be able to quickly and precisely position and center workpieces in exactly the same spot or position each time a workpiece is exchanged.
Numerous devices have been developed to hold and center workpieces. These devices include collapsible-type mechanisms wherein a collet or chuck tightens onto a portion of a workpiece, and expansible-type mechanisms wherein an expandable collet or chuck member is inserted into an internal bore or opening of a workpiece and expanded therein to grip or hold the workpiece on the expandable member. However, previously known devices for holding and centering workpieces have proven deficient in various respects. Particularly, the procedures for attaching and detaching the workpiece from the devices are relatively time consuming and complex, and can require the tightening and loosening of multiple parts with special chuck tools in order to attach and detach the workpieces, which adds to the time and cost ultimately required for preparation of machined parts. Another problem is that many devices are complex in design and include numerous movable parts which are subject to wear and failure. A further deficiency in currently available holding devices is that accurate centering of the workpiece is generally not provided quickly or automatically. The aforementioned drawbacks hinder the effective use of currently available holding devices with the advanced CNC machine tools used in modern manufacturing operations.
Accordingly, there is a need for a push-type expanding mandrel apparatus which quickly and releasibly holds a workpiece, which quickly and automatically centers a workpiece, and which is suitable for use with high speed, high precision CNC machine tools. The present invention satisfies those needs, as well as others, and generally overcomes the deficiencies found in the background art.


An analog-to-digital converter (ADC) having integrator dither injection and quantizer output compensation reduces the probability of unchanging code sequences that occur when the input signal and feedback signal are equal and thus no quantizer output change occurs. In particular, in modulators that are periodically reset, the dither reduces the probability of a stuck code sequence at startup. The effect of the dither is removed from the output of the ADC, either by subtracting an offset value from the result of filtering the quantizer output, or directly from the quantizer output itself.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to analog-to-digital converters, and more specifically, to a delta-sigma modulator-based analog-to-digital converter in which a dither value is introduced to the noise-shaping filter and then compensated by removal from the quantized converter result.
2. Background of the Invention
Delta-sigma modulators are in widespread use in analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) and digital-to-analog converters (DACs), in which they provide very linear behavior and simple implementation due to the reduced number of bits used in the analog signal comparison. Delta-sigma modulators can be implemented with a high level of control of the frequency distribution of "quantization noise", which is the difference between the ideal output value of the modulator as determined by the input signal and the actual output of the modulator provided by a quantizer. The relative simplicity of the architecture and the ability to finely control the quantization noise makes delta-sigma converter implementations very desirable.
The delta-sigma modulator based ADC typically includes an analog noise-shaping filter that receives an input signal and a quantizer that converts the analog output of the noise-shaping filter to a digital representation. A feedback signal provided from the output of the quantizer is provided to the analog noise-shaping filter to close the loop such that the average output of the quantizer is equal to the value of the input signal. The output of the quantizer is then filtered by a low-pass digital filter having a large number of taps, in order to provide an accurate conversion result from the quantizer output, which typically includes hundreds of values per conversion cycle.
Dither is often introduced to the analog noise-shaping filter or directly into the quantizer of a delta-sigma modulator-based ADC, in order to ensure that the signal level being quantized has sufficient changes so that the quantizer output is constantly changing and therefore providing the above-described noise-shaping operation. However, in precision ADCs, the addition of dither generates an error in the output that is undesirable. Therefore, application of dither is a trade-off between providing sufficient dither to ensure that the converter produces no "stuck" codes, while minimizing the level of error due to the dither.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a delta-sigma modulator that has a reduced frequency of stuck code sequences, while producing little or no error due to the introduction of dither. It would further be desirable to provide such a delta-sigma modulator that can be reset for intermittent operation.

Analog-to-digital converter (ADC) having integrator dither injection and quantizer output compensation


Described herein are technologies directed towards providing a common mechanism for tracking the activity status of one or more software actions of a computer system. Furthermore, the described technologies facilitate managing the presentation of the tracked activity status of individual actions and/or of a collection of such actions.

When a user initiates a potentially long-running action on a computing system, it is often desirable to notify the user about the status of that long-running action. For example, FIG. 1A illustrates a file-copying status notification given to a user while files are being copied/moved from one location to another. With such a notification, the user can see which files are being copied/moved from one file folder to another. Similarly, FIG. 1B illustrates an installation status notification given to a user while one or more software programs are being installed.
In addition to software installation and copying/moving files, other examples of long-running actions where it may be desirable to give the user status notification include (but are not limited to) transforming data, updating configurations, performing complex calculations, accessing a resource, installing software, downloading files, searching databases, defragmenting hard disks, performing long-running transactions over slow networks. In many software systems, there exist many different long-running actions like those described above. Long-running actions may and typically do include a series of sub-actions. With these long-running actions, it is often desirable to notify a user of their current status.
To accomplish that user-notification goal, conventional long-running actions typically utilize a dedicated status-notification user-interface (UI). Furthermore, these dedicated UIs are typically customized for their particular purpose. These UIs typically utilize visual metaphors to represent activity status. For example, the files flying from one folder to another shown in FIG. 1A illustrates the status of the file-copying activity. Similarly, the "thermometer" shown in FIG. 1B illustrates the status of the software installation.
Furthermore, in accomplishing the user-notification goal, each conventional long-running action uses its own customized mechanism for tracking its activity status. Such a mechanism may simply be storage locations for storing information about the current status of a long-running action and/or procedural definitions for how such status information is acquired and acted upon.
A common mechanism for representing and tracking the activity status of a potentially long-running action does not exist. Instead, the conventional approach is to repeatedly recreate an activity-status tracking mechanism for each application of a computer system.

Common software activity status representation


An air conditioner controlling method of an air conditioner repeater is provided. The method includes based on a remote controller being connected to the air conditioner repeater via a cable, generating pairing information, transferring the generated pairing information to the remote controller via the cable, based on a response message for the pairing information being received from the remote controller via the cable, performing pairing with the remote controller, and based on the wired connection with the remote controller is released and an air conditioner and the air conditioner repeater are connected via a cable, transferring a wireless signal received from the remote controller in a Bluetooth method to the air conditioner.

As people's living standards have improved, home appliances such as air conditioners have become essential to life. The user could control the operation of the air conditioner by using the remote controller.
In related art, an IR remote controller was used. In the case of an obstacle such as a wall between the remote controller and the air conditioner, it was difficult to control the IR remote controller normally.
In recent years, more than one air conditioner has been provided for one household or one group. If a remote controller for controlling each of a plurality of air conditioners is separately provided, the management thereof may be inconvenient.
Accordingly, a need has arisen for a technique capable of controlling a plurality of air conditioners with a single remote controller. In this case, if the related-art IR remote controller is used as it is, there is a problem that the user who wants to control the air conditioner has to move to a position where there is no obstacle between the user and the remote controller.
In consideration of such a problem, a remote controller capable of controlling an air conditioner by a wireless communication method other than IR has been developed, but there is a problem that security is poor in a wireless communication connection process.

Air-conditioner repeater, air-conditioner system and a control method thereof


A liquid flow meter is designed to monitor the flow of a liquid through an enclosed stream such as through the tubes or internal passageways of a device such as a filtration system. The liquid flow meter includes an axial-flow magnetic turbine and a detector such as a reed switch that monitors turbine rotation by counting pulses. The counted pulses are then used to determine the aggregate volume of liquid that has flowed through the flow meter. When the liquid flow meter is used in a domestic potable water filtration system or in a similar application, the counted pulses can also be used in conjunction with a timer to determine liquid flow rate as well as the remaining useful life of a filter cartridge of the filtration system and/or of the remaining volumetric filtration capacity of the filter cartridge. The liquid flow meter exhibits high linearity or consistency of flow measurement over a wide range of liquid flow rates--even at very low pressures and low flow rates. The liquid flow meter also exhibits a very small pressure drop thereacross, requires minimal electrical power for operation, and is also compact and versatile so as to be usable with minimal modification to existing filter assembly designs.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to flow meters and, more particularly relates to apparatus for monitoring the volume of liquids such as potable water that flow through devices such as filter assemblies and to a method of monitoring such volumetric flow.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Reliable liquid flow measurement is important in many applications including the beverage handling industry, the pharmaceutical industry, the photo-processing industry, and many different liquid filtration industries. One example is the domestic or household potable water filtration industry in which replaceable filter cartridges are used to treat or purify water prior to its use. Typical filter cartridges have a rated useful life in terms of their volumetric capacity. That is, the filtration effectiveness of the carbon block or other filtration media of such cartridges decreases as the aggregate volume of treated water increases. Typical filter cartridges have a rated life of 500 gallons to 2000 gallons. Failure to replace filter cartridges at the end of their rated lives may result in reduction of treated water quality. Knowing or even estimating the time at which that a filter cartridge's volumetric capacity is reached can be difficult in most households because several different people use different amounts of water without informing one another of the volumes of water used by each.
The need therefore exists to monitor volumetric liquid flow through systems or possibly other parameters relating to liquid flow such as flow rate, and this need is especially evident with respect to the flow of water through a domestic or household type potable water filtration system. However, commercially-acceptably liquid flow meters heretofore have been unavailable for several reasons. First, flow meters tended to be relatively expensive. Second, they have tended to be relatively bulky and difficult to incorporate into existing filtration system designs. Third, and most importantly from the standpoint of regulatory agencies and others who demand accurate flow measurement through relatively wide ranges of source pressures and liquid flow rates, they must be accurate. However, accurate volumetric flow measurement over relatively wide ranges of source flow rates is a difficult task, particularly at medium to low flow rates of 1 gallon per minute or less and is especially difficult at low flow rates of 0.4 gallons per minute or less.
One attempt to design a flow monitor that meets at least some of the criteria described above is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,540,107 to Silverman et al. (the Silverman patent). The flow meter or flow monitor disclosed in the Silverman patent monitors rotation of a paddle wheel. Specifically, it counts paddle wheel revolutions, then determines aggregate volumetric liquid flow based upon precalibrated data representative of volumetric flow per pulse. This data is used in conjunction with a pre-stored rated volumetric filter cartridge capacity to provide an indication that the filter cartridge associated with the flow monitor requires replacement when the cartridge's volumetric capacity is reached.
The flow monitor of the Silverman patent attempts to minimize pressure drop through an acceptable range of operating flow rates. It includes a housing presenting an impeller chamber in which is disposed an impeller or paddle wheel that essentially acts as a paddle wheel. That is, water enters the impeller chamber peripherally at a first portion, engages the fins or vanes of the paddle wheel to drive the paddle wheel to rotate as the water flows through the impeller chamber, and then exists the impeller chamber radially or at least peripherally at another location. A magnet is inserted into the paddle wheel, and a sensor having an induction coil and a flux concentrator is disposed adjacent the paddle wheel so that the sensor counts two pulses with each rotation of the paddle wheel. The counted pulses can then be used to determine volumetric liquid flow.
The flow meter disclosed in the Silverman patent exhibits several drawbacks and disadvantages.
For instance, both its paddle wheel design and its associated detector require significant torque to move or drive the paddle wheel. Significant torque is required to drive the paddle wheel because the paddle wheel presents significant resistance to the generally peripheral flow of water therethrough. Additional resistance to liquid flow through the paddle wheel occurs because the paddle wheel floats in the paddle wheel chamber and is only loosely or roughly supported. The discrete magnets and induction coil-type detector also provide significant resistance to paddle wheel movement. If left uncompensated for, the pressure drops resulting from these resistances would reduce the liquid flow rate through the flow meter by an unacceptable magnitude.
The Silverman patent was cognizant of the need to minimize pressure drops and, hence, designed features into its flow meter to reduce back pressure. Most notably, it provides a tapered inlet nozzle which directs liquid into the impeller chamber at a direction tangent to the fins or blades of the paddle wheel to increase liquid flow rates. However, by converting the potential energy of the flowing liquid to kinetic energy by accelerating the liquid prior to its entry into the paddle wheel, Silverman's nozzle necessarily increases pressure drop in its flow meter. Moreover, in order to permit the tapered nozzle to operate effectively, an inlet plenum or reservoir must be formed in the housing upstream of the nozzle. Provision of the nozzle and the plenum necessarily complicates the flow meter design and proves only partially effective in reducing pressure drop. In addition, the overall design has a somewhat limited range of linearity (i.e., a flow rate range in which a uniform number of pulses are counted for each gallon of liquid flowing through the meter).
The Silverman patent also recognizes that problems are associated with the use of a discrete magnet and states that it would be preferable to have the paddle wheel as a whole magnetic. However, Silverman considered regulatory constraints on materials, an insurmountable obstacle to this task. (It is believed that the regulatory constraints referenced in the Silverman patent are those that would prohibit the use of a paddle wheel in which materials from the magnet leach or are washed into the water.) The Silverman patent therefore requires that the magnet be a separate insert imbedded in the paddle wheel.
In addition, the complexity of the flow meter disclosed in the Silverman patent renders it unduly bulky for many applications. It simply cannot be worked into many existing filter assembly designs without significantly modifying the assembly's design.
Moreover, the configuration of the paddle wheel magnet and the induction coil-type detector impose power restraints on the system that require the use of an external AC power source and an AC to DC converter if the flow meter is to be used to monitor liquids flowing at more than 3 gallons per minute. These power restraints limit the practical applicability of the flow meter disclosed in the Silverman patent to applications in which liquids flowing at less than 3 gallons per minute are monitored.

Method and apparatus for monitoring liquid flow through an enclosed stream


A method is provided for manufacturing cement from a raw material mixture which includes finely ground steel slag. Selected quantities of steel slag and other raw materials are mixed with each other and supplied to a raw mill. The steel slag and other raw materials are preferably ground to a fine, dry powder. For some applications, the dry powder is preferably supplied to a blend tank for further mixing to ensure more uniform commingling of the finely ground steel slag with other finely ground raw materials. The fine dry powder may be supplied to a preheat system and then to the feed end of a kiln. Alternatively, the dry powder may be supplied directly to the feed end of a kiln.

The present invention relates generally to a method for manufacturing cement using a mixture of finely ground raw materials including steel slag.
In the engineering and construction industry, the terms xe2x80x9ccementxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cPortland cementxe2x80x9d are generally used to describe hydraulic cement produced by burning a mixture of finely ground calcareous and argillaceous materials to form cement clinker. The burning process produces calcium silicates and calcium aluminates which chemically react with water to form a hard, stone-like mass. Clinker generally includes coarse granules and irregularly shaped nuggets often varying in size from two to three inches in diameter or greater. The resulting clinker is typically ground in a finishing mill to form fine dry cement powder. A small amount of gypsum is normally added during the clinker grinding process to retard setting of the resulting cement. The finely ground cement powder may be mixed with sand, coarse aggregate and water to produce mortars and concrete. Hydraulic cement or Portland cement generally includes tricalcium silicate, dicalcium silicate, tricalcium aluminate and tetracalcium aluminoferrite.
A wide variety of hydraulic cements are presently used in modern engineering and construction projects. Portland cements are normally made in five types. The characteristics and properties of these five types have been standardized on the basis of ASTM Standard Specification for Portland Cement(copyright) 150). The differences between Types I, II, III, IV and V are based on both chemical and physical requirements. Typically the chemical and physical composition of raw materials added to a kiln are adjusted to produce cement clinker have the appropriate chemical composition for the desired type of hydraulic cement.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,393,342 entitled Cement Composition and Method for the Preparation Thereof discloses a cement composition consisting of ground cement clinker, ground blast furnace slag and comminuted steel slags. The invention described in the ""342 Patent includes mixing ground steel slags at normal or elevated temperatures and pressures with ground cement clinker and ground, granulated blast furnace slags. The resulting mixture may be cooled if desired and comminuted to obtain a hydraulically hardenable cement composition. Example 2 of the ""342 Patent states:
xe2x80x9cThe steel slag powder was mixed with the raw materials customary for Portland cement clinker, the amount of steel slags added being about 25% of the total amount of blast furnace slags present in blast furnace slag cement, and treated at a temperature of about 1400xc2x0 C. in a cement furnace. After cooling, the steel-slag cement thus obtained was finely ground and mixed with ground, granulated blast furnace slags in order to obtain a cement composition.xe2x80x9d
U.S. Pat. No. 5,494,515 entitled Method and Apparatus for Using Blast-Furnace Slag in Cement Clinker Production and U.S. Pat. No. 5,421,880 entitled Method and Apparatus for Using Steel Slag in Cement Clinker Production disclose apparatus and procedures for using slag in the manufacture of cement.
Ferrolime, sometimes referred to as xe2x80x9clime slagxe2x80x9d, a byproduct from manufacturing steel, has previously been used in the manufacture of cement clinker with equipment such as shown and described in this patent application.
In accordance with teachings of the present invention, disadvantages and problems associated with previous methods for using steel slag to manufacture cement have been substantially reduced or eliminated. The present invention provides a method for manufacturing cement from a mixture of finely ground raw materials which includes steel slag.
Technical benefits of the present invention include allowing existing equipment associated with storing, mixing, grinding and processing raw materials used to manufacture cement to also incorporate finely ground steel slag as an integral part of the raw materials supplied to the feed end of a kiln. Mixing steel slag with other raw materials prior to placing the steel slag in a raw mill may minimize any tendency of the steel slag to cause excessive wear or damage to the raw mill. Additional equipment is not required to add steel slag to the kiln separate from other raw materials supplied to the feed end of the kiln. Adding steel slag to a kiln in accordance with teachings of the present invention eliminates the need to provide additional equipment such as a steel slag conveyor belt extending to the feed end of the kiln, a weigh feeder and perhaps a rotary feeder or an airlock. Depending upon the existing raw material storage system, addition of a steel slag storage bin may not be required. Processing steel slag in accordance with teachings of the present invention removes substantial amounts of any moisture present in the steel slag prior to adding the steel slag to the kiln. By removing moisture from finely ground steel slag prior to entering the kiln, heat losses are minimized and the production of non-combustible gases such as steam are reduced.
One aspect of the present invention includes mixing discrete quantities of steel slag with discrete quantities of other raw materials used to manufacture cement and comminuting the resulting raw material mixture in a raw mill. Exhaust gas from a kiln or waste heat from other processes associated with manufacturing cement is preferably supplied to the raw mill to remove any moisture contained in the steel slag and other raw materials. As a result of incorporating teachings of the present invention a dry powder including finely ground steel slag is produced by the raw mill. The finely ground steel slag will then react much more readily with other elements and chemical compounds contained in the raw material mixture when the dry powder is added to the feed end of a kiln. For example, steel slag often contains magnesium oxide (MgO) which melts at a relatively low temperature. Adding finely ground steel slag as an integral part of the raw material mixture supplied to the feed end of the kiln allows any magnesium oxide contained within the steel slag to more quickly melt and become liquid and assist with combining silica, aluminum and calcium to form chemical compounds associated with cement. Adding finely ground steel slag to the feed end of the kiln allows iron compounds, magnesium compounds and other compounds contained in the steel slag to start the liquification process earlier in the kiln which generally reduces overall energy consumption.
Further technical advantages of the present invention include the ability to adjust the quantity of steel slag and other raw materials supplied to the raw mill based on chemical composition of the steel slag and other raw material components and desired chemical characteristics of the resulting cement clinker. Prior to comminuting in the raw mill, steel slag generally has a substantially lower ratio of surface area to volume as compared to finely ground steel slag. Since thermal reactivity is a function of particle size, finely ground steel slag will generally be more thermally reactive when added to a kiln as compared to adding steel slag as received from a steel slag supplier to the same kiln.
The steel slag preferably includes a low concentration of iron which often reduces the need to add additional silica sand to the raw material mixture. For some applications, reducing the amount of silica sand required to produce the same amount of clinker, particularly silica sand containing quartzite, may reduce wear in the raw mill.
Mixing steel slag with other raw materials and placing the raw material mixture in a raw mill allows precise control of the ratio and proportions of the various raw material components. The type and characteristics of cement clinker which will be produced can be predetermined and adjustments made to the raw material mixture prior to supplying to a kiln. Accuracy of raw material calculations may be verified by analyzing the resulting clinker. The present invention avoids having to react to analytical variations in the clinker after it has been produced.

Method for manufacturing cement using a raw material mix including finely ground steel slag


A semiconductor memory device is capable of simultaneously carrying out a first operation and a second operation. The semiconductor memory device includes first and second control circuits, a select control circuit, and a select circuit. The first control circuit controls the first operation according to a first address signal and outputs a read start signal when the reading of the data is started. The second control circuit controls the second operation according to a second address signal and outputs a sequence flag when the first and second addresses coincide with each other. The select control circuit generates a select control signal. The select control signal is asserted if the second operation is carried out. The first control circuit instructs the select circuit to select the sequence flag if the select control signal is asserted or the data if the select control signal is negated.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a semiconductor memory device and a method of controlling the semiconductor memory device, and more particularly to a semiconductor memory with memory cell including a charge storage layer and a control gate.
2. Description of the Related Art
An electrically erasable and programmable ROM (EEPROM) has been known as a nonvolatile semiconductor memory capable of rewriting data electrically. Some EEPROMs have an automatic operating function and a synchronous reading function capable of being executed simultaneously with the automatic operating function. Such an EEPROM has been disclosed in, for example, Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2003-196987.
The automatic operating function is the function of writing and erasing data automatically by externally inputting a command. The synchronous reading function is the function of reading data in synchronization with a clock by externally inputting a command.
In an EEPROM having the automatic operating function and synchronous reading function, the memory cell array is divided into banks. When a bank in an automatic operation is accessed for synchronous reading, a sequence flag is externally output in place of read data. From the sequence flag, it is recognized that the bank is in an automatic operation and therefore is inhibited from being accessed.
However, with a conventional EEPROM, if the automatic operation ends immediately after a synchronous read operation has started, the sequence flag might not be output properly, resulting in a malfunction.

Semiconductor memory device with memory cell including a charge storage layer and a control gate and method of controlling the same