An automatic opening and closing apparatus of an opening and closing member for a vehicle includes an opening and closing member driving portion, a receiving portion configured to receive a radio signal transmitted from a radio transmitter and indicating identification information for identifying the vehicle, a non-contact detection sensor including a detection range that is specified to an inner side than an outermost position of the vehicle in a direction towards an outer side of a vehicle interior from the opening and closing member in a state where the opening and closing member is closed, and a control portion configured to control the opening and closing member driving portion in a case where the non-contact detection sensor detects an object in a state where the identification information is correlated to the vehicle on a basis of the radio signal received from the radio transmitter.

A method for opening and closing an opening and closing member of a vehicle by using a portable radio transmitter has been developed. For example, JP2005-307692A, which will be hereinafter referred to as Reference 1, discloses an automatic opening and closing system of a power back door (i.e., back door) for a vehicle. In the opening and closing system disclosed in Reference 1, a back door opening and closing operation detection portion is provided at an exterior of a vehicle for detecting a motion of a user related to an opening and closing operation of the back door by the user's hand or arm, for example (i.e., detecting a back door opening and closing operation by the user). In a case where the back door opening and closing operation detection portion detects a predetermined back door opening and closing operation by the user in a state where an ID included in a signal transmitted by a radio transmitter and an ID held by the vehicle match each other, a back door opener is controlled to perform the opening and closing operation of the back door. According to the automatic opening and closing system disclosed in Reference 1, the back door opening and closing operation detection portion is formed by a touch sensor that generates a capacitance when the user touches the sensor and the capacitance that is generated is converted to a pulse signal. Alternatively, the back door opening and closing operation detection portion is formed by a sensor detecting the user's motion in a non-contact manner, for example, by an infrared sensor, an ultrasonic sensor, a heat sensor, or an image recognition system.
In addition, JP2005-133529A, which will be hereinafter referred to as Reference 2, discloses an opening and closing member operation apparatus for a vehicle. In the opening and closing member operation apparatus disclosed in Reference 2, an intentional operation by the user for opening or closing a door is detected by a leg portion detection sensor provided at a lower surface of a vehicle body of the vehicle, for example, at a lower surface of a sill cover or a rear bumper, to thereby open or close the door in a non-contact manner. The leg portion detection sensor is configured to emit radio wave or infrared radiation downwardly of the vehicle to detect in the non-contact manner that the user's leg is placed between the vehicle body and a ground surface as the intentional operation of the user. In a case where the leg portion detection sensor detects the user's leg, for example, in a state where an ID included in a signal transmitted by a radio transmitter and an ID held by the vehicle match each other, an actuator is operated to open or close the door. In the opening and closing member operation apparatus disclosed in Reference 2, the door is inhibited from being opened or closed when the user simply approaches the vehicle, and the door is opened or closed when the user places one's leg intentionally between the ground surface and the lower surface of the vehicle .
In Reference 1, in order to detect the user's motion related to the opening and closing operation in the non-contact manner, the back door opening and closing operation detection portion needs to be a non-contact detection sensor, for example, an infrared sensor, an ultrasonic sensor, an image recognition system, or a heat sensor. In this case, when a non-contact detection distance is specified longer so as to obtain an advantage of the non-contact detection sensor, the back door opening and closing operation may be wrongly performed (i.e., wrong operation of the door) in a state where a person who does not intend to operate the vehicle (the back door) simply passes through near the vehicle.
In Reference 2, the leg portion detection sensor is provided at the lower surface of the vehicle. Thus, it is considered that the aforementioned wrong operation that may be caused in Reference 1 may not occur in a state where a person who does not intend to operate the vehicle simply passes through near the vehicle. Nevertheless, because a detection range of the leg portion detection sensor is defined from the lower surface of the vehicle to the ground surface, a motion of an animal, for example, a cat or a dog that passes through the detection range may be detected. In addition, in a case where a grass or plant, for example, grows within the detection range of the leg portion detection sensor, such grass or plant may be wrongly detected as the user's leg (leg portion) placed into the detection range as the intentional operation of the user. The detection range of the leg portion detection sensor is specified to be a narrow void between the lower surface of the vehicle and the ground surface. Then, an animal may pass through the detection range or a grass or plant may grow from the ground within the detection range. Further, an object that causes reaction of the leg portion detection sensor may be placed within the detection range. In such case, the non-contact detection as a trigger for starting the opening and closing operation of the door may be wrongly conducted. That is, depending on circumstances of the ground at the lower side of the vehicle (for example, animals, grasses or objects causing the sensor to react), the wrong operation of the leg portion detection sensor may occur.
In addition, in Reference 2, the leg portion detection sensor is provided at the lower surface of the vehicle, i.e., at a place that cannot be seen from a side surface of the vehicle, so as not to generate the aforementioned trigger for the opening and closing operation of the door unless the user performs the intentional operation. Thus, Reference 2 produces effects that the opening and closing operation of the door is not initiated unless the user's leg, for example, is purposely placed into the void between the lower surface of the vehicle and the ground surface, and is not initiated in a state where a person who does not intend to operate the door simply approaches the side surface of the vehicle. Nevertheless, in order to produce the aforementioned effects, the leg portion detection sensor is necessarily provided at the lower surface of the vehicle serving as an area that is hidden from the side surface of the vehicle. Thus, in a case where the user who has the intention to operate the door attempts to make the leg portion detection sensor to detect one's leg as the intentional operation for opening or closing the door, it is difficult for the user to directly visually confirm the position of the leg portion detection sensor because the leg portion detection sensor is provided at the portion not to be seen from the side surface of the vehicle. The user may not be able to correctly place one's leg into the detection range of the leg portion detection sensor. In such case, the user needs to seek the detection range which cannot be seen for placing one's leg into the detection range, which may cause the user to feel troublesome.
Regarding the aforementioned issue, in Reference 2, the leg portion detection sensor is provided at a lower side of the position corresponding to the vicinity of a door outer handle that is positioned in the closed state of the slide door, so that the user may recognize the position of the leg portion detection sensor based on the position of the door outer handle. Nevertheless, even though the position or approximate position of the leg portion detection sensor may be indirectly recognized in the aforementioned case, the position of the leg portion detection sensor may not be directly visually confirmed. That is, the door outer handle visually confirmable and serving as an indication of the position of the leg portion detection sensor is physically separated from the actual position of the leg portion detection sensor. Therefore, the user is limited to simply guess or assume the approximate position of the leg portion detection sensor. Because the user is inhibited from directly observing a relative positional relationship between the user's leg as the detection target and an area at which the user assumes that the leg portion detection sensor is positioned, the user may place one's leg repeatedly to the same positions while seeking the detection range of the leg portion detection sensor based on the area at which the leg portion detection sensor is assumed to be positioned. Further, without the visual confirmation, it is difficult for the user to recognize or find an area to which the user's leg has not yet been positioned or placed. The user may feel troublesome while seeking the detection range.
A need thus exists for an automatic opening and closing apparatus of an opening and closing member for a vehicle and a structural member included in a vehicle, which are not susceptible to the drawback mentioned above.

Automatic opening and closing apparatus of opening and closing member for vehicle and structural member included in vehicle


An integrated circuit includes a receiver portion, a transmitter portion, and a modulated phase locked loop. The receiver portion is for receiving a radio frequency (RF) signal at a receiver input of the receiver portion. The transmitter portion is for transmitting an RF signal at a transmitter output of the transmitter portion. The modulated phase locked loop (PLL) is shared between the receiver portion and the transmitter portion. The transmitter output and receiver input are coupled together in a loopback configuration during a test mode. The transmitter portion and the receiver portion are enabled concurrently while a modulated PLL signal is provided to the receiver portion from the transmitter portion via the loopback configuration.

Field
This disclosure relates generally to transceiver testing, and more specifically, to loopback testing for a transceiver.
Related Art
There is increasing demand for a low cost radio frequency (RF) transceiver integrated in a system-on-a-chip (SoC) with an embedded controller or processor and other peripherals for use in smart home, life, sensors, etc. in a market segment sometimes referred to as the internet of things (IOTs). A constant envelope RF transceiver is commonly used for low cost low data rate applications and uses a single phase locked loop (PLL) for both the receive and transmit operations. During production, the RF functionality of such transceivers requires the use of expensive test equipment, which is not only costly but also inhibits parallel testing of multiple die. Also, with respect to a constant envelope RF transceiver having only a single PLL, testing of production transmit and receive functionality has to be conducted serially, reducing throughput and increasing test cost. Low cost testing of a processor or MCU is achieved by testing several die in parallel. However, if the MCU is integrated with an RF transceiver, this would be possible only if the transceiver allows for such an arrangement. Otherwise, the MCU and the transceiver portions would need to be either tested serially or the test speed of the SoC would be throttled by the slow testing of the RF transceiver. Therefore, a need exists for faster testing of a device having an integrated RF transceiver.

Radio frequency transceiver loopback testing


The invention relates to a patch panel for mounting on a wall or in a subrack, comprising a housing part, which can be mounted on ends located on respective faces by means of angle brackets and which has a front cover provided in the form of a patch panel for routing data waiting on lines of an incoming cable to lines that can be connected via connecting devices on the front cover. An angle bracket is provided on each end and has a fork-type spring detent that can be inserted at the front and rear into guide slots, which are provided for insertably accommodating the fork-type spring detent on the ends that are situated on opposite sidewalls of the housing part, and the fork-type spring detent can be snapped in by means of corresponding detent means.

A patch panel is a panel which is used for connecting, distributing and routing data connections. The front panel of a patch panel contains the connection jacks for outgoing cables. Each connecting jack in the tertiary area is assigned on the patch panel to its own plug-in connection. There are different embodiments of patch panels. There are patch panels in use which differ both as regards the number and also as regards the embodiment of the plug-in devices. As a rule the patch panel consists of rows of connection jacks of the same category. The connection jacks can for example be RJ connection jacks, BNC connection jacks or connections for glass fiber cables. As well as the main function, the routing of data, a patch panel facilitates troubleshooting when errors occur by allowing connection of monitoring and analysis devices.
Such a patch panel for routing of data waiting on lines of an incoming cable to connection devices to which users can be connected, is known for example from DE 197 34 422 C2. It consists of a mounting frame on which the connection devices are arranged and to which incoming cables are connected in a shielded housing. Each plug-in device is assigned its own shielding element which enables secure data routing.
In the housing installation of telecommunication devices patch panels are frequently accommodated in distribution frame cabinets in a distribution room. They are mounted in 19″ subracks according to their pitch.
In addition there also are simple configurations in which it is too expensive to use a subrack. In these cases the patch panel is not mounted in a cabinet but on a wall instead. Both mounting options require a correspondingly embodied housing design or appropriately designed angle brackets. Different housing constructions or attachment brackets however involve increased expenditure, both as regards manufacturing costs and also as regards warehousing costs.

Patch panel for mounting on a wall or in a subrack


The actuator of the present invention is driven by pressure changes of the fluid. A first structural body as an elastic body includes a plurality of pressure chambers along an axis direction. The first structural body passes through a second structural body, an annulus ring, with a predetermined gap between an outer surface of the first structural body and an inner surface of the second structural body. A supply unit sequentially supples fluid to the plurality of pressure chambers. A pressure welding position between the outer surface of the first structural body and the inner surface of the second structural body is sequentially changed by unit of the pressure chamber. Therefore, the second structural body rotates in response to changes of the pressure welding position.

An actuator effectively generates power. Especially, the actuator of a fluid driving system is widely used. This actuator is driven by pressure changes in the fluid. Well known examples include oil hydraulic actuators and pneumatic actuators. The structure of these actuators is simple. In addition to this benefit, the actuators are lightweight and inexpensive. Therefore, this kind of actuator is used in piston cylinders and a vane motor.
However, in order to effectively lead the power from the actuator, a seal for the activated fluid is necessary as a structure of the actuator. The seal is a packing between the cylinder and the piston. Friction generated in the actuator is large when the actuator is activated by a pressure change of the fluid. Accordingly, it is impossible to identify the location of the actuator with high accuracy.
For example, FIG. 1 is a horizontal sectional plan of a pneumatic actuator according to the prior art. The pneumatic actuator includes a piston, a cylinder and a plurality of seals connected between the piston and the cylinder. When fluid A is supplied to the cylinder, the piston moves to position A of the cylinder along move direction A. When fluid B is supplied to the cylinder, the piston moves to position B of the cylinder along move direction B. In short, by changing the supply of the fluid A and the fluid B, the piston is moved between position A and position B. Therefore, for example, if the piston is connected to an automatic door of a bus, the opening and closing of the automatic door is controlled by changing position A to position B or vice versa A. However, in this pneumatic actuator, a plurality of seals leads big friction between the piston and the cylinder. Therefore, even if the piston moves between the position A and the position B of the cylinder, only two positions (position A and position B) can be used to generate automatic power for other equipment (the automatic door). In other words, it is impossible to identify with high accuracy and use a large number of positions to generate automatic power.

Actuator driven by pressure change of fluid


A conversion assembly for transferring an item from a first tray to a second tray. The conversion assembly includes a paddle assembly, a first tine assembly comprising one or more tines coupled to a first rotating shaft, and a second tine assembly comprising one or more tines coupled to a second rotating shaft. The first tine assembly is configured to facilitate emptying the item from the first tray onto the paddle assembly and the second tine assembly is configured to facilitate moving the first tray to a second conveyor while the item remains on the paddle assembly. The first tine assembly alters an orientation of the second tray to a position to receive the item from the paddle assembly, and wherein the paddle assembly is configured to move the second tray and the item back onto a first conveyor.

Material handling systems can convey, sort, and organize items (e.g. cartons, cases, containers, shipment boxes, totes, packages, mails, polybags and/or the like) at high speeds. Depending on a configuration of the material handling systems, the items may travel through various locations in a warehouse in an unregulated manner, or may be repositioned, reoriented, consolidated, and sorted to a destination location. Material handling systems may comprise a conveyor controller and/or warehouse management system to facilitate organization of items being conveyed and/or handled in the warehouse at the various locations.


An integrated circuit contains a high precision capacitor having a bottom plate, a dielectric layer over the bottom plate, a capacitor opening in the dielectric layer exposing, and not overlapping, the bottom plate, a capacitor dielectric layer covering sidewalls and a bottom of the capacitor opening, a top plate covering the capacitor dielectric layer in the capacitor opening, and a capacitor planarizing dielectric layer covering the capacitor top plate in the capacitor opening. A top surface of the capacitor planarizing dielectric layer and a top edge of the capacitor top plate are substantially coplanar. The top plate does not extend laterally beyond the capacitor opening. A method of forming the integrated circuit the high precision capacitor is also disclosed.

High precision capacitors are often needed in integrated circuits. For example, some of the capacitor requirements in a true eighteen bit analog-to digital or digital-to-analog converter are a ratio stability of less than 0.00075% over 10 years, a voltage coefficient of less than 10 ppm per volt, a temperature drift match of less than 0.05% per ° C., a dielectric absorption of less than 0.00075%, and a capacitance of greater than 0.5 femtofarads per square micrometer.
Such integrated circuit capacitors are generally formed as part of a fabrication process whereby a thin dielectric layer is established between two metallic plates. For example, a thin dielectric layer may be established between a bottom plate formed from silicided polysilicon gate material and a top plate of a deposited metal, or a thin dielectric layer may be established between a bottom plate of interconnect material and a top plate of a deposited metal. A crucial step in manufacturing high precision integrated circuit capacitors is the formation of the capacitor plates. In manufacturing the capacitors, the capacitor plates are typically formed by etching one or more conductive layers to a desired shape. Current etch techniques may limit the precision of the capacitors so formed by producing nonlinear etch profiles, by leaving filaments of the material being etched, by trenching the surface of underlying layers, and by damaging the capacitor dielectric along the edges of the capacitor. There is therefore a need for a method to form high precision integrated circuit capacitors that is not limited by conventional etching constraints.


The present invention to provides a drum brake that generates the same braking force when a vehicle moves forward and backward. A first lever is connected to a second lever by a strut. A fourth lever provided with an anchor member and a third lever for connecting the fourth lever and the first lever to the end of the fourth lever) opposite to the anchor member across a screw which is the center of swing of the fourth lever. Accordingly, when the vehicle moves forward, an anchor load is received by the anchor member and the second lever. When the vehicle moves backward, the anchor load is received by the anchor member and the first lever.

The present invention is related to Japanese patent application No. 2000-189598, filed Jun. 23, 2000; 2001-20163, filed Jan. 29, 2001, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention relates to an electric drum brake device used for a vehicle brake and, more particularly, an electric drum brake device applied to a duo-servo braking force control type drum brake device.
The present applicant, in Japanese Patent Application No. 2000-52305, proposed a braking force control type drum brake device which suppresses a change in the braking force due to variations in the coefficient of friction. In this application, a lever for pressing a first shoe is connected to a lever for receiving a second shoe by a strut to provide a lever ratio of N. In this configuration, an anchor load applied to the lever for receiving the second shoe is fed back to the lever for pressing the first shoe to generate a braking torque by a resultant force to reduce a change in the braking force by a coefficient of friction between the shoe and a drum.
Here, as the lever ratio is smaller, the stability of the braking force is improved. However, motor power necessary for producing the braking force is increased. For this reason, it is necessary to select a lever ratio satisfying both and to set the lever ratio larger than 1.
Now, a braking torque when a vehicle moves forward and a braking torque when the vehicle moves backward, in the configuration disclosed in the prior application, is reviewed.
First, when the vehicle moves forward, the lever of the first shoe is an input and the lever of the second shoe is an anchor load. A braking torque is produced when the resultant force balances the motor output. For this reason, the braking torque TF when the vehicle moves forward is expressed by the following equation
TF=BEFxc3x97Fmxc3x97(1/(1+Fan/N))xc3x97Rxe2x80x83xe2x80x83(Equation 13)
where BEF is a brake effectiveness factor (mainly determined by a coefficient of friction between a shoe and a drum), Fm is the motor output, Fan is a force applied to the anchor member (mainly determined by BEF), and R is a radius of the drum.
On the other hand, when the vehicle moves backward, the lever of the second shoe is an input and the lever of the first shoe is the anchor load. The braking force is produced when the resultant force thereof balances the motor output. For this reason, a braking torque TR when the vehicle moves backward is expressed by the following equation:
TR=BEFxc3x97Fmxc3x97(1/(1+Fanxc3x97N))xc3x97R
However, when the lever ratio is set larger than 1, as described above, (1/(1+Fan/N)) greater than (1/(1+Fanxc3x97N)), that is, TF greater than TR and therefore the motor output is equal when the vehicle moves forward backward, the braking force when the vehicle moves backward is smaller than the braking force when the vehicle moves forward.
For this reason, in order to generate the same braking force when the vehicle moves forward and backward, the motor output must be set in accordance with the braking torque when the vehicle moves backward, thereby requiring the size of the motor to be increased.
In view of these and other drawbacks, a first object of the present invention is to provide a drum brake device capable of easily adjusting the braking force when a vehicle moves forward and when the vehicle moves backward.
Further, it is another object of the present invention to provide a drum brake device having a structure capable of generating the same braking force by the same motor output when a vehicle moves forward and backward.
Accordingly, a first aspect provides a driving force generating unit for generating a driving force responsive to the application of brakes on a vehicle; a first shoe having a first contact surface capable of contacting the inner peripheral surface of a rotary drum and being moved so that the first contact surface contacts the inner peripheral surface of the drum based on the driving force generated by the driving force generating unit; a second shoe having a second contact surface capable of contacting the inner peripheral surface of the drum and being moved in connection with the first shoe; a first lever having a contact portion with the first shoe and applying a load in the direction of the inner peripheral surface of the drum to the first shoe based on the driving force of the driving force generating unit; a second lever having a contact portion with the second shoe and applying a load in the direction of the inner peripheral surface of the drum to the second shoe based on the driving force of the driving force generating unit; a strut connected to the first lever and the second lever to connect the first lever to the second lever; an anchor member for receiving an anchor load generated by the first shoe or the second shoe; and a third lever connected to a portion of the first lever between the connection portion of the first lever with the strut and the contact portion of the first lever with the first shoe to feed back the load applied to the anchor member 18 to the first lever.
As described above, since the anchor load generated by the first shoe or the second shoe is fed back to the first lever via the third lever, either one of the anchor loads are fed back. In this way, the load applied to the first shoe or the second shoe by the first lever is controlled, and even if variations in a coefficient of friction occur, it is possible to prevent variations in a braking force and brake effectiveness factor.
In another aspect, if the brakes are applied when the drum is rotated in the first direction F, the first and second contact surfaces are put into contact with the inner peripheral surface of the drum. And, the second shoe is pressed by the first shoe to generate an anchor load which is applied to two portions of the contact portion of the second lever with the second shoe and the anchor member, and if the brakes are applied when the drum is rotated in the second direction B, the first and second contact surfaces contact with the inner peripheral surface of the drum and the first shoe is pressed by the second shoe to generate an anchor load which is applied to two portions of the contact portion of the first lever with the first shoe and the anchor member.
In another aspect, if the brakes are applied when the drum is rotated in the first direction, the third lever receives the load applied to the anchor member to apply a load to the first lever in the direction in which the load applied to the first shoe by the first lever is decreased, and if the brakes are applied when the drum is rotated in the second direction, the third lever receives the load applied to the anchor member to apply a load to the first lever in the direction in which the load applied to the first shoe by the first lever is increased.
In another aspect, a fourth lever is provided which can be swung around a predetermined portion and has the anchor member arranged at one side of the predetermined portion and is connected to the third lever at the other side of the predetermined portion. It is possible to feed back the anchor load from the third lever to the first lever by the fourth lever having such a configuration.
In another aspect, by connecting the end portion of the first lever, opposite to the contact portion thereof, with the first shoe across the connection portion thereof to the strut to an output lever 7 to which the driving force of the driving force generating unit is outputted, it is possible to drive the first lever by the driving force generating unit.
In another aspect, the equations for calculating brake effectiveness factors BEFembf, BEFembr in the first and second directions are formed based on the relationship of the forces generated at the various portions when the drum is rotated in the first and second directions and that the lever ratios of the first, second, and fourth levers are set based on the equations.
In this way, it is possible to set the lever ratios of the respective levers based on the equations for calculating the brake effectiveness factors BEFembf, BEFembr.
In this case, in another aspect, if the ratios of the respective levers are set so that the brake effectiveness factor BEFembf is equal to the brake effectiveness factor BEFembr, it is possible to obtain the same braking force when the vehicle moves forward and backward.
In another aspect, the transfer portions of force by a link mechanism including the first shoe, the second shoe, the first lever, the second lever, the third lever and the strut are arranged on the same plane perpendicular to an axle. According to this configuration, it is possible to transfer a load by the link mechanism on the same plane and hence to improve the transfer efficiency of the load (force) and to suppress the hysteresis of the braking torque to the torque generated by the driving force generating unit.
For example, in another aspect, the transfer portions of the respective forces in the contact portion of the first shoe with the first lever, the connecting portion 12a of the first lever to the strut, the contact portion 9 of the second shoe with the second lever, and the contact portion of the second lever with the strut are arranged on the same plane perpendicular to the axle.
In another aspect, between a plurality of driving balls contacting both a screw shaft portion and a nut portion, provided in a speed reducing mechanism, are disposed contact preventing members, 60c that prevent the respective driving balls from contacting. Accordingly, the sliding resistance between the driving balls is reduced and the transfer efficiency of force of the speed reducing mechanism is improved and the above-mentioned effect of suppressing the hysteresis is provided.
In another aspect, a spacer ball can be used that is smaller than the driving ball as the contact preventing member. Further, according to another aspect, a retainer shaped like a drum in cross section can be used as the contact preventing member.
In another aspect, the number of circulations (the number of circuits) of sets of driving balls which are mounted spirally in contact with both the screw shaft portion and the nut portion is plural. According to this configuration, it is possible to elongate the effective length of the shaft of the screw shaft portion with respect to the diameter of the shaft thereof. Hence, the ball screw can be prevented from tilting. For this reason, it is possible to improve the transfer efficiency of force of the speed reducing mechanism and to produce the above-mentioned effect of suppressing the hysteresis.
In another aspect, the speed reducing mechanism has a hollow housing in which a screw shaft support portion for driving the screw shaft portion and the nut portion can slide, and which has a hole through which the screw shaft support portion is arranged, a bearing 40 which is disposed in the hole of the housing 38 and supports the screw shaft support portion, lubricating oil or grease packed in the space formed by the housing and the nut portion, and a sealing member which is arranged with the bearing in the hole of the housing.
Since the sealing member is provided in this manner in the hole of the housing where the bearing is arranged, it is possible to prevent the lubricating oil from leaking outside the housing. For this reason, it is possible effectively rotate the screw shaft portion and to improve the transfer efficiency of force of the speed reducing mechanism and to produce the above-mentioned effect of suppressing the hysteresis.
In this respect, the reference characters of the respective units and members designate the relationship corresponding to the specific units or members in the preferred embodiments described below.
Further areas of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description provided hereinafter. It should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are intended for purposes of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description. In the drawings:


An ambient sound environment is captured by a microphone array of an autonomous vehicle traveling in the ambient sound environment. A perception module of the autonomous vehicle classifies sounds and localizes sound sources in the ambient sound environment. Classification is performed using spectrum analysis and/or machine learning. In an embodiment, sound sources within a field of view (FOV) of an image sensor of the autonomous vehicle are localized in a visual scene generated by the perception module. In an embodiment, one or more sound sources outside the FOV of the image sensors are localized in a static digital map. Localization is performed using parametric or non-parametric techniques and/or machine learning. The output of the perception module is input into a planning module of the autonomous vehicle to plan a route or trajectory for the autonomous vehicle in the ambient sound environment.

Autonomous vehicles are the future of human transportation. The autonomous vehicles driven today use sophisticated planning algorithms to generate routes and trajectories through environments with many static and dynamic objects. These planning algorithms require detailed information about the environment. Although onboard sensors, such as LiDAR, RADAR and cameras provide high-resolution image data, there is an increasing need for additional information about the environment for planning and other functions of autonomous vehicles.

Using classified sounds and localized sound sources to operate an autonomous vehicle


Openers for a seeder, configured to be adjustably engaged with a soil surface when in use; each opener having compliance to vertical and lateral excessive forces independently applied to soil-engaging parts: a fertiliser tine, a seed tine, a press wheel, a coulter, and a support wheel. The openers share a hydraulic circuit, linked to each internal frame-lifting ram so that localised rise and fall effects arising from soil surface irregularities are shared, maintaining a mean height. The seed tine of each opener is mechanically coupled to the preceding fertilizer tine and is lifted when the fertilizer tine is displaced. The openers do not require external weight support.

In large-scale crop farming it is desirable to sow seeds and fertilizer in an optimised way, in order to maximise crop yields. Seeders may cover a very wide swathe in each pass for large-scale cropping. Multiple (perhaps 40) individual openers held in a chassis towed behind a powerful tractor actually apply the seed and fertilizer in a controlled way. Precise satellite-based navigational control often augmented by use of a local reference transmitter automatically provides accurate placement of every row. Considerable design effort has been applied to seeder development over the years, in order to optimise the accuracy and reproducibility of the seed and fertilizer placement. Optimisation may significantly raise returns with little extra cost.
In the following six aspects the inventor has listed a set of inter-related aspects of seeders. An operational seeder may benefit from solutions to some or all of these aspects.
Aspect #1:
Most openers use an actuator (usually a hydraulic ram with controlled pressure or a tensioned compression spring) to control the force required for the knives (also called tines) to deviate from their desired operating position upon striking an obstacle. Many openers incorporate a parallelogram assembly having a vertical motion, together with the ram, to ensure the knives maintain an almost constant angle to the ground regardless of the operating (cutting) depth chosen. The inventor has noted that the sideways forces applied to this parallelogram when the knives strike and glance off an obstacle or the whole machine is driven through a turn are very large and the framework of the parallelogram often bends, fractures or fails. That is, prior art machines don't have sideways compliance.
Aspect #2
Seeders have a number of different arrangements to hold the body of the machine frame off the ground while their openers with their associated coulters, knives/tines and press wheels are in contact with the ground. Most have wheels spaced at intervals on the frame of the machine, and support the weight of the seeders from the frame. Some have the knives/tines/press wheels (effectively their opener) mounted to the frame, while others design the openers to be individually able to follow the surface contours of the field using either a flanged coulter, or the press wheel to control fertilizer knife depth and seed depth. Flanged coulters require tungsten-hardened scrapers to keep dirt from them and wear on the coulter edges changes depth (of the knives and closers) and cannot be adjusted for, while use of the press wheel results in great, and undesirable variations of compaction around the seeds. All the prior art has problems when dealing with significant variations in ground contours.
The seed tine and closer interrelationship is vital to the accurate placement of the seed in terms of depth, distance from the fertilizer and soil coverage. Available combinations have some or all of the following problems:    a) Limited resistance to wear (see Aspect #5)    b) Some types use the bottom of a tube delivering the seed as the closer.    c) Tubes will need frequent replacement on account of wear.    d) Some have the closer fixed to the fertilizer tine. This leads to inefficient seed placement every time the fertilizer tine moves up and over an obstacle and increases the chance that the seed tine/closer will come down on top of the obstacle bearing all the weight of the opener on itself.
Some systems place the seed in a trench to the side of the fertilizer trench to reduce the chance of seed/fertilizer direct contact.
The present application provides means to overcome the above problems
Aspect #3
Typical seeders carry multiple openers. Each of the often forty or more openers requires adjustments to optimise its individual performance. In the case of an air seeder these include the depth of the coulter, the height of the tines, the force of the press wheel, break-out force and tine/knife/closer angles and depths. Adjusting each of these parameters in forty or more openers can be difficult and time consuming to the point that compromises may be made by the operator and the optimum result is not achieved. The opener to be described allows all of these parameters to be readily adjusted; many without tools.
Aspect #4
Simple and convenient conversion of the agricultural machine from a standard air seeder applying fertilizer and seed using knives (tines) to a disc seeder applying fertilizer (and sometimes fertilizer and seed) in a furrow made by a cutting disc or discs, is desirable.
Aspect #5    e) Many closer plates do a poor job of completely closing the trench made by the deeper fertilizer knife, resulting in some seed ending up too low in the soil and too close to the fertilizer.


Charge pump circuitry is implemented using a voltage shifting technique to generate a symmetrical bipolar voltage. The symmetrical bipolar voltage charge pump power supply can be fabricated as an integrated circuit on a single substrate, and can be integrated with various interface circuits to provide symmetrical bipolar voltage thereto. The charge pump includes voltage shifting circuitry which generates an increased output voltage of a negative polarity and an increased output voltage of a positive polarity. The shifting circuitry is responsive to an internal oscillator which triggers charge accumulation and voltage shifting. Neither output voltage is generated from the other output voltage. Rather, the negative and positive supply voltages are each generated, in substantially the same manner, by charge transfer effected by the voltage shifting circuitry in response to triggering by the internal oscillator. Additional circuitry can be fabricated on a single substrate in combination with the presently disclosed charge pump to effect the optimum utilization of circuit board area while minimizing power consumption.

Integrated circuits are known which contain inverting/non-inverting voltage doubler charge pump circuitry for converting a unipolar supply voltage to a bipolar supply voltage of greater magnitude. Typically, the charge pump circuitry is fabricated on a single chip that receives the unipolar supply voltage (e.g. +5 v) and doubles it. The doubled voltage is then inverted, resulting in the bipolar voltage of increased magnitude (e.g. +/-10 v), which is used as a bipolar supply for on-chip circuitry, such as RS232 receivers and transmitters.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,679,134; 4,777,577; 4,797,899; 4,809,152; 4,897,774; 4,636,930 and 4,999,761 illustrate various implementations of such circuitry. The devices disclosed and claimed therein include switches which act during a first phase to direct a source voltage (unipolar) to a first capacitor. The first capacitor charges to the unipolar source voltage. During a second phase, switches act to place the source voltage in series with the voltage stored on the first capacitor to create a source of positive voltage which is approximately two times the unipolar source voltage. A reservoir capacitor is charged to the doubled positive voltage. The doubled positive voltage is stored on a transfer capacitor and subsequently transferred to a reservoir capacitor. Inversion of the doubled positive source voltage is then provided to generate the negative doubled portion of the bipolar voltage. Thus, in the referenced prior art, the doubled positive voltage is generated first and the inverted (i.e. negative) voltage is generated from the doubled positive voltage.
Use of the positive voltage to generate the negative voltage in charge pump circuits known in the prior art is disadvantageous with respect to the asymmetrical loading characteristic of the respective outputs. As illustrated in FIG. 1, in the prior art, given similar loading the negative voltage output is lower than the positive voltage output, i.e., the positive and negative voltage signals are asymmetrical with respect to their common reference. For instance, in the simulation of the prior art which is illustrated, a unipolar +5 V source is provided to a charge pump with a voltage doubler and inverter. The conventional voltage doubler and inverter doubles the source voltage to provide a doubled positive voltage and the negative voltage is generated by inverting the positive doubled voltage. While the prior art charge pump circuitry results in a doubled positive voltage C, averaging +9.15 volts under a 3 K ohm resistive load, the negative portion D generated by inverting the positive voltage averages -8.67 volts, under the same load.
The asymmetry of the doubled positive and inverted voltages negatively affects operational tolerance of circuitry constituting a load to the charge pump.

Charge pump with symmetrical +V and -V outputs


An electric massager includes two spaced apart massaging heads provided with a plurality of vibrating finger protrusions and a plurality of vibrating bal protrusions, respectively, such that each of the plurality of protrusions are coplanar and such that the plurality of finger protrusions and the plurality of ball protrusions are vibrated by two respective motors which are either jointly or individually operable.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an electric massager primarily intended as a domestic appliance for stimulating blood circulation, invigorating the muscle and skin of a human body, and fighting cellulitis.
2. Description of Related Art
Massagers for domestic use are known, which comprise a hand held body incorporating an electric motor; the motor drives via an eccentric coupling a massaging head having several rounded protrusions. A massager of this kind is disclosed by EP-A-229531.
It is also known from DE-A-0559096 a hand held body massager having two opposite, set apart massaging heads provided with a plurality of vibrating finger protrusions and a plurality of vibrating ball protrusions respectively. One or the other of the massaging heads can be used for the massaging action on the body.


An insertion instrument provides improved features for insertion of a lens into the eye through a small incision. A tubular member has a lumen and a split nozzle end portion for spreading after insertion. Ridges on the lumen wall prevent rotation of the lens, and stabilizer components extend from a plunger end portion to maintain the lens compressed and to prevent lens rotation in moving through the lumen.

The present invention addresses problems related to the insertion of an intraocular lens through a small incision in the human eye.
Reference is made to Applicant""s related application Ser. No. 08/751,181, wherein are illustrated and described certain relevant features and components, which application is incorporated herein by reference.
In recent years, foldable intraocular lenses have largely replaced hard, rigid lenses, the foldable lens being insertable through an incision of approximately xc2xd the size of an incision required for rigid lenses. A small incision enables more rapid recovery, less discomfort for a patient, and avoids many of the possible adverse complications of cataract surgery. Further, the procedure requires less time because suturing is not required.
The problems addressed include undesirable rotation of a folded, compressed lens during passage through a lumen or tubular passage, the maintaining of the correct orientation of a lens relative to an insertion instrument, sudden expansion of unfolding of a compressed lens as it exits the insertion instrument into the eye, and difficulty in insertion of a tip of an insertion instrument into a small incision in the eye of a patient.
Although various folding forceps have been provided for folding flexible lenses, it has generally been preferred by surgeons to utilize insertion devices whereby a lens enters the eye through a tube. Folding forcep devices generally comprise two components in addition to a lens, thus requiring two hands for their utilization.
The improvements according to the invention include a plunger with stabilizing components thereon to exert forces on a folded lens to maintain the lens in folded configuration and to prevent rotation of the lens relative to a lumen wall.
One or more slits in the nozzle end portion enable the spreading of the end portion by passage therethrough of the folded lens after insertion in the eye of a patient, thus to provide ease of admission of the folded lens into the eye of a patient.
Ridges extend longitudinally of the lumen wall to aid in prevention of rotation of a folded lens relative to the lumen wall, these including ridges extending along opposite edges of at least one slit in the nozzle end portion of the insertion instrument to aid in the prevention of rotation of a folded lens relative to the lumen wall.


A method for operating a sensor, including simultaneously exciting a first set of electrodes and sensing an output of each electrode of a second set of electrodes, storing output data corresponding to the output of each electrode of the second set of electrodes in a memory storage device, shifting at least one electrode from the first set of electrodes to the second set of electrodes and at least one electrode from the second set of electrodes to the first set of electrodes, and repeating the simultaneously exciting and sensing, the storing, and the shifting until an output data has been stored for each possible pair of electrodes in the first and second set of electrodes.

Electrical capacitance tomography (ECT) is a technique used to determine the dielectric permittivity distribution in the interior of an object from external capacitance measurements. ECT enables insight into the material distribution within a closed vessel, and consequently, into the governing mechanism in processes occurring within the vessel, without disturbing the processes themselves.
The basic procedure of AC-based capacitance measurement is to apply a sinusoidal voltage signal to an electrode (that forms one plate of a capacitor) and measure the output current/voltage on another electrode (that forms the other plate of the capacitor), from which the capacitance is determined. An existing method, referred to as MECaP (multiple excitation capacitance polling), applies multiple excitation signals to multiple electrodes at each time instance, thereby enabling simultaneous measurement of more than one inter-electrode capacitance from a single receiving electrode. MECaP is limited in that it can only read a single receiving electrode during each step. MECaP increases the measurement speed relative to the traditional single excitation/single receiver system that has been utilized for the past decade. However, in some time-sensitive applications the increased speed is still inadequate for capturing high speed dynamics, which is the intended use of the ECT system.

Multiple-excitation multiple-receiving (MEMR) capacitance tomography


To help identify shortcomings in software requirements for a software capability early in the software development life cycle, the present invention discloses a method of logic testing a software requirement for a software capability, the method comprising: (a) defining a logical representation of the software requirement; (b) defining a test scenario that corresponds to the software requirement; and (c) processing the defined logical representation with the defined test scenario to thereby generate a simulation result indicative of whether the software requirement needs alteration. Preferably, the present invention is implemented as an integrated tool executed by a desktop PC or workstation that interacts with the user through a variety of graphical user interfaces (GUIs) to perform logic testing of software requirements.

Large software development projects typically fall into a "classic" development life cycle. Such a "classic" life cycle is described in United States Defense Department document DOD-STD-2167A Defense Systems Software Development, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. The phases of this conventional development life cycle fall in chronological order, but may be repeated as new performance capabilities are added to the overall software system or as revisions are made to the system. The life cycle phases are as follows:                (1) Systems Analysis: during which the performance goals for a large system consisting of both software and hardware are specified. At this stage, the major components of the system, often called "configuration items" are identified.        (2) Software Requirements Analysis: during which the system capabilities that are to be implemented by software are isolated. Further, each capability is broken down into a plurality of software requirements. Further still, any interfaces with external devices and interfaces between major software configuration items are defined.        (3) Software Preliminary Design: during which high level software components are identified, wherein each component answers a subset of the requirements. Requirement groupings met by software components do not necessarily correspond to requirement groupings that are part of the software capabilities. Further, high level flow of control (called execution control) for the software components is established. In classic software development, execution control has not been specified in the software requirements. However, it would be beneficial for a system engineer to obtain an initial draft of execution control as necessitated by the software requirements independent of software design factors outside the requirement's immediate domain (such as available operating system services, system architectural constraints, and the like) thereby allowing system engineers who are not computer scientists to analyze the software requirements in isolation. Lastly, during the software preliminary design phase, the interfaces between high level software components are defined.        (4) Software Detailed Design: during which high level software components are broken down into program units, which are in turn broken down into subprogram units. The algorithms for the program units are defined in pseudo-code or program design language (PDL), and the interfaces between program units and subprogram units are defined.        (5) Code and Unit Test: during which, at the subprogram unit level, algorithms are committed to executable code and compiled. The compiled programs are then tested in isolation, which requires building processing environments for each unit to simulate the system in which it executes (referred to as test harnesses). Test harnesses will often comprise more lines of code than the unit being tested. Also, as they are tested, the units are progressively joined into components.        (6) Software Component Test: during which processing environments are built around the components that are progressively created from units. After the processing environment is built, the components are tested. The testing often moves from a desktop simulation environment to a systems laboratory where portions of the actual system hardware may be present.        (7) Requirements Test: during which the high level software components that have been constructed are tested with respect to their requirements. This phase is generally conducted in a systems laboratory where the overall system is simulated (or some of the system is simulated in conjunction with actual hardware components).        (8) System Test: during which the fully realized system is tested against its performance requirements.
As the development of a software system proceeds through these phases, it is often the case that errors introduced at an early phase are not detected until a subsequent phase. It is widely-recognized that such software errors are a chronic and costly problem because the cost of correcting software errors multiplies during subsequent development phases. This is a particular problem with software requirements that are created and tested during phase 2. Conventionally, software requirement quality checks are achieved through a "balancing" of interface models to obtain interface/data element integrity and through peer review of the text of software requirements as well as peer review of other modeling artifacts. However, the inventors' experience has shown that logical errors in software requirements can easily escape these processes. As such, these errors go undetected until subsequent (and costly) phases have completed, thereby requiring designers to essentially "go back to the drawing board".
Therefore, a need in the art exists for an integrated tool that provides users with the ability, at an early phase of the development life cycle, to successfully evaluate whether a software requirement (or a set of software requirements) for a software capability are properly defined. Furthermore, such a tool should preferably perform such an evaluation during the Software Requirements Analysis phase. Further still, such a tool should exhibit a high degree of user-friendliness to not only increase the efficiency of persons using the tool but to also make the tool available to wider range of people with a wider range of skillsets.

Method and system for analysis of software requirements


A wireless network system and a network address assigning method are provided which are capable of reducing traffic occurring when an network address is assigned to each of communication units making up a tree-structure-type wireless network system.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wireless network system and a network address assigning method and more particularly to the wireless network system and network address assigning method capable of automatically assigning a network address to each of communication units making up a tree- structure-type wireless network system. The present application claims priority of Japanese Patent Application No. 2000-313584 filed on Oct. 13, 2000, which is hereby incorporated by reference.
2. Description of the Related Art
A wireless network system is known in which a plurality of communication units are connected with each other in a wireless manner. In such the wireless network system, a network address determined uniquely in a network is assigned to each of the communication units. When the communication units carry out communications with each other in the network, the communication unit to be operated as a destination unit is identified by the network address.
FIG. 25 shows a known wireless network system in which a plurality of communication units is connected, in a wireless manner, to carry out communications among child terminals of PHSs (Personal Handyphone Systems). As shown in FIG. 2b, a plurality of the communication units is made up of a radio-relay terminating station 101, radio-relay stations 102-1 to 102-5, and wireless terminals 103-1 to 103-4.
The radio-relay terminating station 101 is connected to the radio-relay station 102-1 and to the radio-relay station 102-2. The radio-relay station 102-1 is connected to the radio-relay station 102-3 and to the radio-relay station 102-4. The radio-relay station 102-2 is connected to the radio-relay station 102-5. The radio-relay station 102-3 is connected to the wireless terminal 103-1 and to the wireless terminal 103-2. The radio-relay station 102-4 is connected to the wireless terminal 103-3. The radio-relay station 102-5 is connected to the wireless terminal 103-4.
Such the wireless network system is regarded as a graph in which each of a plurality of the communication units serves as a node and each of connection relations among them serves as a side. The graph is constructed so as to be of a tree structure and a path to connect the radio-relay terminating station 101 to one of the wireless terminal 103-j (j=1,2,3, and 4) is determined uniquely. Of the communication units connected on the path, each of the radio-relay station 102-i (i=1,2) existing on a side of the radio-relay terminating station 101 is defined as a parent station of each of the radio-relay stations 102-i (i=3,4 and 5) and each of the radio-relay station 102-i (i=3,4 and 5) being connected to each of the parent stations is defined as a child station. Of the communication units connected on the path, each of the wireless terminals 103-j existing on the side of the radio-relay terminating station 101 is defined as a parent station of each of the wireless terminals 103-j and each of the wireless terminals 103-j being connected to each or the parent stations is defined as a child station of each of the defined parent stations.
At this point, the wireless terminals 103-j are always child stations of the radio-relay stations 102-i. Each of the radio-relay stations 102-i is the child station of the radio-relay terminating station 101 or each of the radio-relay stations 102-i′(i′≠i) and is the parent station of the radio-relay station 102-i″(i″≠i) or each of the wireless terminals 103-j. The radio-relay terminating station 101 is always the parent station of the radio-relay station 102-i. Though, in the example shown in FIG. 25, the radio-relay terminating station 101 is connected indirectly through the radio-relay station 102-i to the wireless terminal 103-j, the radio-relay terminating station 101 may be connected directly to the wireless terminals 103-j.
For example, the radio-relay terminating station 101 is the parent station of the radio-relay station 102-1 and the radio-relay station 102-1 is the child station of the radio-relay terminating station 101. The radio-relay station 102-1 is the parent station of the radio-relay station 102-3 and the radio-relay station 102-3 is the child station of the radio-relay station 102-1. The radio-relay station 102-3 is the parent station of the wireless terminal 103-1 and the wireless terminal 103-1 is the child station of the radio-relay station 102-3.
The radio-relay terminating station 101 manages data received from the child station in a unified way and transmits data addressed to each of the wireless terminals 103-j to each of the wireless terminals 103-j. The radio-relay terminating station 101, when being not connected directly to the wireless terminals 103-j being a destination unit, hunts any child station (radio-relay station 102-i) being connected to the wireless terminal 103-j and transfers the data to the hunted child station (the radio-relay station 102-i).
The radio-relay station 102-i transfers data received from the child station to the parent station and transmits data addressed to the wireless terminal to the wireless terminal. The radio-relay station 102-i, when being not connected directly to the wireless terminal 103-j being the destination unit, hunts any child station (that is, the radio-relay station 102-i′) being connected to the wireless terminal 103-j and transfers data to the child station (that is, to the radio-relay station 102-i′). The wireless terminal 103-j is movable and, by being the child station of the radio-relay station 102-i or the radio-relay terminating station 101, transmits data to the radio-relay terminating station 101 and receives data addressed to the wireless terminal 103-j.
In the above wireless network system, the radio-relay terminating station 101 has a function of a DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) server as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. Hei 11-55317 and each of a plurality of communication units in the wireless network system, by carrying out communications with the radio-relay terminating station 101, acquires a network address. At this point, the wireless terminal 103-j, when moving, can change its parent station and the radio-relay terminating station 101, every time the wireless terminal 103-j moves and changes its parent station, reassigns the network address to the wireless terminal 103-j that has moved and changed its parent station.
In that case, communication data gathers in a concentrated manner to the radio-relay station 102-i existing near to the radio-relay terminating unit, which causes traffic in the wireless network system to increase and data transmission efficiency in the entire wireless network system to be reduced. Moreover, when the number of the radio-relay station 102-i to connect the communication unit requesting for the network address with the radio-relay terminating station 101 becomes larger, time required for the relay of data increases more, thus the time necessary to assign the network address increases.
If each of the radio-relay stations 102-i is provided with the function of the DHCP server, it is necessary to assign two or more network addresses for every radio-relay station 102-i. Because of this, when the number of the radio-relay station 102-i becomes larger, work in which the radio-relay terminating station 101 assigns the network address to each of the radio-relay station 102-i increases more.

Wireless network system and network address assigning method

Abstract: The wireless network system includes a radio-relay station, a radio-relay station connected to the radio-relay station and to another radio-relay station in a wireless manner. The radio-relay station preserves a plurality of network addresses to be assigned to these radio-relay stations, assigns a first network address belonging to the plurality of network addresses to one radio-relay station and an address pool making up the plurality of network addresses collectively to the other radio-relay station. The above radio-relay station preserves the address pool and assigns a second network address belonging to the address pool to a wireless terminal. The radio-relay station does not assign directly the network address to the wireless terminal.


A game system includes a server, and the server can communicate with and is connected to a plurality of game apparatuses via a network. In a case that a currently-connecting message is not received from any game apparatus during a communication game, the server determines that the game apparatus prematurely ends the communication game, and adds a bad reputation score of each of the players who is participating in the communication game. Furthermore, if the communication game is ended, and there is a game apparatus that refuses to participate in a next communication game, the bad reputation score of the game apparatus who permits participating in the next communication game is added. For example, the player having a high bad reputation score is refused to participate in the next communication game.

Conventionally, in a communication match-up game executed among a plurality of game apparatuses via a network, if a player falls into a disadvantageous situation, an illegal act of forcibly disconnecting the communication between the game apparatuses to make the match-up invalid is widely spread.
One example of the related art for preventing such an illegal act is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-212288 [A63F 13/12] (Document 1) laid open on Aug. 17, 2006. In the illegal act preventing method disclosed in the Document 1, in a case that a connection between a LAN in a store and a game apparatus is disconnected by a player, abnormal processing is executed so as to be acted as a deterrent to an illegal act onward. For example, a game apparatus transmits and receives packets with another game apparatus via a router during execution of a network match-up game. In a case that no packet is received after a lapse of a predetermined time, a response request is transmitted to the router. If there is no response from the router, by regarding that the player intentionally disconnects an internal network, abnormal processing, such as a forcibly ending the game, recording a score at a time of the disconnection is performed. This makes it possible for the player to lose his or her will to an illegal act of intentionally causing a communication failure by unplugging an LAN cable, etc. in a case that a development of the game is at a disadvantage situation.
The illegal act preventing method disclosed in the above-described Document 1 is for making the player lose his or her will to an illegal act by performing the abnormal processing on the illegal act of forcibly disconnecting the communication by unplugging the LAN cable. However, the illegal act preventing method in the Document 1 is effective for preventing the illegal act of forcibly ending the game and the communication halfway at the disadvantageous situation, but it is difficult to prevent an illegal act of advantageously advancing the game by unexpectedly using the game program, such as remodeling (modifying) of the game software (game program), etc. and an unpleasant act of performing an excessive harassing behavior on an opponent, etc. Especially, such an illegal act and an unpleasant act are recently increasing, and effective measures are requested.
Therefore, it is a primary object of certain example embodiments to provide a novel game system, a novel storage medium and a novel game controlling method.
Another object certain example embodiments is to provide a game system, a storage medium and a game controlling method capable of preventing an illegal act of unexpectedly using a game program from occurring.
In addition, a still another object of certain example embodiments is to provide a game system, a storage medium and a game controlling method capable of preventing an act of making an opponent of the battle game feel unpleasant from occurring.
A first aspect is a game system performing a communication game, and comprises a refusal determiner and a restriction information updater. The refusal determiner determines whether or not one game apparatus is refused to continue the communication game by other game apparatus. The restriction information updater updates restriction information as to the communication game of the one game apparatus in correspondence with a determination result by the refusal determiner.
According to the first aspect, the restriction information of the game apparatus which is refused to continue the communication game is updated, and therefore, it is possible to indirectly detect a person who performs an illegal act of unexpectedly using the game program and an unpleasant act of performing an excessive harassing behavior. Thus, it is possible to reduce and avoid such the illegal act and the unpleasant act.
A second aspect is according to the first aspect, and a game system further comprises a communication object selector. The communication object selector selects a game apparatus being an object of the communication game on the basis of the restriction information of each game apparatus.
According to the second aspect, a game apparatus being an object of the communication game is selected on the basis of the restriction information, and thus, it is possible to easily perform the selection.
A third aspect is according to the second aspect, and the communication object selector selects a plurality of game apparatuses having restriction information at least approximate to each other as objects of the communication game. For example, game apparatuses which have the same or the same level of the restriction information are selected as objects of the communication game.
According to the third aspect, the game apparatuses having restriction information at least approximate to each other are selected as objects of the communication game, and therefore, it is possible to select the players who are considered to have the same or similar evaluation earned from other players can be selected as the objects of the communication game.
A fourth aspect is according to the first aspect, and the game system further comprises a communication game processor which executes a communication game. This communication game processor reflects at least the restriction information of each game apparatus which is participating in the communication game on the processing of the communication game. For example, the player who is more frequently refused to continue the communication game based on the restriction information is determined to be a person who performs an illegal act and an unpleasant act, and thus, an attribute (offensive power, life, performance, etc.) of a player character of such a player is adjusted to be inferior to an attribute of a player character of another player.
According to the fourth aspect, the restriction information is reflected on the processing of the communication game, and therefore, it is possible to reduce and avoid an illegal act of unexpectedly using the game program and an unpleasant act of performing an excessive harassing behavior, etc.
A fifth aspect is according to the fourth aspect, and a game system further comprises a comparator which compares the restriction information of the respective game apparatuses which are participating in the communication game. The communication game processor further reflects a comparison result by the comparator on the processing of the communication game. For example, in a case that a fighting game is played, the restriction information is compared between the game apparatuses (players), and depending on the comparison result, an offensive power of an offensive side is changed, or a decreased amount of a physical strength value of a defensive side is changed. That is, as to the player character operated by the player who performs an illegal act of unexpectedly using the game program and an excessive harassing behavior, the offensive power is decreased, or the decreased amount of the physical strength value is increased.
In the fifth aspect as well, similar to the fourth aspect, it is possible to reduce and avoid an illegal act of unexpectedly using the game program and an unpleasant act of performing an excessive harassing behavior, etc.
A sixth aspect is according to the fourth aspect, and the communication game processor exerts an influence on the communication game when the restriction information satisfies a predetermined condition. For example, assuming that the restriction information is an index in relation to an illegal act and an unpleasant act, in a case that it is determined that the player (frequently) performs the illegal act and the unpleasant act on the basis of such an index, the player is disadvantageously dealt in the communication game. On the contrary, in a case that it is determined that the player does not perform an illegal act and an unpleasant act, the player is advantageously dealt in the communication game. Any one of them may be executed.
According to the sixth aspect, an influence is exerted on the communication game based on the restriction information, and therefore, it is possible to reduce an illegal act of unexpectedly performing a game program and an unpleasant act of performing the excessive harassing behavior, etc.
A seventh aspect is according to the sixth aspect, and the communication game processor refuses participation itself in the communication game when a value based on the restriction information is equal to or more than a predetermined value. For example, in a case that it is determined that the player frequently performs an illegal act and an unpleasant act, the player is made not to participate in the communication game.
According to the seventh aspect, the player who frequently performs the illegal act and the unpleasant act is made not to participate in the communication game, and therefore, it is possible to prevent the acts before they occur.
An eighth aspect is according to the first aspect, and the refusal of a continuation of the communication game includes a disconnection during the communication game. For example, when other game apparatus which is communicating ends the communication game halfway and the communication during the communication game by turning the power off or by forcibly disconnecting the communication, it is determined that the continuation of the communication game is refused.
According to the eighth aspect, in a case that the game is ended halfway, it is possible to update the restriction information by determining that an illegal act of unexpectedly using the game program and an unpleasant act of performing an excessive harassing behavior, etc. are performed.
A ninth aspect is according to the eighth aspect, wherein the refusal determiner determines that the one game apparatus is refused to continue the communication game by the other game apparatus when communication data from the other game apparatus is not received by the one game apparatus for a predetermined time.
According to the ninth aspect, in a case that communication data from the other game apparatus is not received for a predetermined time, it is determined that the continuation of the communication game is refused, and therefore, it is possible to indirectly detect that the game apparatus is powered off, or the communication is forcibly disconnected.
A tenth aspect is according to the first aspect, wherein a refusal of continuation of the communication game includes a refusal of participation in a next communication game.
According to the tenth aspect, in a case that participation in the next communication game is refused as well, it is possible to update the restriction information by determining that an illegal act of unexpectedly using the game program and an unpleasant act of performing an excessive harassing behavior, etc. are performed in the immediately preceding communication game.
An eleventh aspect is according to the first aspect, and a game system further comprises a refusal information updater. The refusal information updater updates refusal information indicating the number of times that the other game apparatus refuses to continue the communication game. The restriction information updater further updates the restriction information as to the communication game of the one game apparatus on the basis of the refusal information updated by the refusal information updater.
According to the eleventh aspect, the number of times that the other game apparatus refuses is added when the restriction information of the one game apparatus is updated, and therefore, it is possible to prevent an act of intentionally updating the restriction information of the other game apparatus from occurring.
A twelfth aspect is according to the eleventh aspect, wherein the restriction information updater makes the degree of change in the restriction information small as the number indicated by the refusal information updated by the refusal information updater is large.
According to the twelfth aspect, as to the other game apparatus which frequently refuses to continue the communication game, for example, it is possible to make an influence given to the update of the restriction information of the one game apparatus less.
A thirteenth aspect is according to the first aspect, and a game system further comprises a refusal number detector which detects the number of other game apparatuses that refuses to continue the communication game. The restriction information updater further updates the restriction information as to the communication game of the one game apparatus on the basis of a detection result by the refusal number detector.
According to the thirteenth aspect, depending on the number of other game apparatuses that refuses the continuation of the game, the restriction information is updated. Thus, the restriction information of the one game apparatus that is refused to perform the communication game by a plurality of other game apparatuses at a time can be drastically changed, for example.
A fourteenth aspect is according to the first aspect, and a game system further comprises a participant register and a re-participating acceptor. The participant register registers the game apparatus which participates in the communication game as a participant at a start of the communication game. The re-participating acceptor accepts an instruction as to whether to participate in the communication game again or not is accepted from the participant at an end of the communication game. The refusal determiner determines whether or not there is the game apparatus which is refused to continue the communication game on the basis of the instruction accepted by the re-participating acceptor.
According to the fourteenth aspect, the participants in the communication game are registered, and an instruction as to whether to participate in the communication game again or not is accepted at the end of the communication game, and therefore, it is easily know whether or not the continuation of the communication game is refused.
A fifteenth aspect is according to the fourteenth aspect, and the game system further comprises a difference acquirer and a difference determiner. The difference acquirer acquires a difference between the number of participants in a previous communication game and the number of participants in a next communication game. The difference determiner determines whether or not the difference acquired by the difference acquirer satisfies a predetermined condition. The refusal determiner determines to be the game apparatus which is refused to continue the communication game when the difference determiner determines that the difference does not satisfy the predetermined condition.
According to the fifteenth aspect, only when the difference between the number of participants in the previous communication game and the number of participants in the next communication game satisfies the predetermined condition, the game apparatus which is refused to continue the communication game is determined, and therefore, the restriction information can be updated only in this case.
A sixteenth aspect is a storage medium storing a game program of a game system performing a communication game, and the game program causes a computer of the game system to function as: a refusal determiner which determines whether or not one game apparatus is refused to continue the communication game by other game apparatus, and a restriction information updater which updates restriction information as to the communication game of the one game apparatus in correspondence with a determination result by the refusal determiner.
A seventeenth aspect is a game controlling method causing a computer of a game system to perform a communication game, including steps of: (a) determining whether or not one game apparatus is refused to continue the communication game by other game apparatus, and (b) updating restriction information as to the communication game of the one game apparatus in correspondence with a determination result by the step (a).
In the sixteenth and seventeenth aspects as well, similar to the first aspect, it is possible to reduce and avoid an illegal act of unexpectedly using the game program and an unpleasant act of performing excessive harassing behavior, etc.
The above described objects and other objects, features, aspects, and advantages of certain example embodiments will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Video game with matchmaking based upon denial of communications


In a method for accessing voice or data services via a mobile telephony network, a communication device provided with wireless communication means detects within radio range communication terminals equipped with authentication means to connect to a mobile telephone network, selects a communication terminal to be used for accessing the network, by polling the terminal owner, sets up a wireless communication with the selected communication terminal, uses the latter's authentication means to set up a connection with the network, determines by polling the user of the communication terminal whether a terminal is authorized to access the voice or data services via the communication device and the connection it has set up with the network, and refuses access to the voice or data services if the terminal is not authorized.

In the area of motor vehicles, in-car communication devices are known, commonly called "car kits" offering a "hands free" function making it possible to dial and telephone without having to manipulate the mobile telephone. These devices generally operate when coupled to a mobile telephone which for this purpose is placed in a support called "cradle" or "base unit". Some of these devices may also integrate a mobile telephone.
These devices may be divided into two categories. In the first category the device consists of an in-car computer able to manage a mobile telephone, loud speakers, a microphone and other vehicle equipment. Devices in this category are rather more intended for the public at large since they are designed to be connected to the user's usual mobile telephone. Once the telephone is placed on the base unit of the device, the user can activate the "hands free" function of the device which integrates voice recognition functions able to recognize some words such as "telephone" uttered by the user and captured by the microphone of the device. In this category, the user's mobile telephone is always used to access an external telephony network. The devices which come under this category therefore have the advantage of not being equipped with telecommunications equipment.
If the mobile telephone is equipped with a SIM card (Subscriber Identity Module), the user has to enter a personal "PIN" code which is verified by the SIM card. If the correct code is entered, the user is able to access the telephony network.
In the second category, the device also consists of an in-car computer, but has its own telephone equipment comprising a modem linked to an external antenna. The telephone equipment must be equipped with a SIM card and hence its owner must hold a specific telephone subscription. The devices in this category are therefore rather more intended for professional use. In addition, they have the added benefit of an external antenna offering better gain than the antenna of a mobile telephone.
Also, some of these devices use what is called a "Bluetooth profile" called "SIM Access Profile" (SAP) grouping together a set of functions offering users the possibility to use the SIM card of their mobile telephone without having to place the telephone in the base unit of the device. With this Bluetooth profile it is possible to separate the telephone equipment from the SIM card which may be in the mobile telephone or in a card reader of the device, the link between the telephone equipment and the SIM card being ensured by a Bluetooth link. In this second category, this operating function avoids the use of a specific SIM card while using the external antenna with which the vehicle is equipped.
Some communication devices (car kits) also enable PC-type equipment (or personal digital assistant) provided with communication means of Bluetooth type to be placed in communication with voice or data services accessible via the mobile network, the payment of these services being made by the holder of the SIM card inserted in the communication device or in communication therewith via SAP.
The functioning of this kind of device is illustrated in FIG. 2. On activating the communication device, for example when inserting the vehicle's ignition key, the device executes procedure 20 shown in this figure. During the first step 21 of this procedure, the communication device scans the radio environment to detect equipment equipped with a Bluetooth interface. In the following step 22, if no equipment is detected, the device returns to the previous step optionally passing through an intermediate standby step 23. If one or more items of equipment are detected, and if such items include one or more mobile telephones, one is chosen at random giving preference to a mobile telephone with which it has already been connected.
If during step 24, the chosen telephone is being connected for the first time to the device, this device carries out Bluetooth pairing procedure (step 25). This procedure uses a telephone authentication mechanism based on entry by the user of a common secret code called Bluetooth PIN code shared by the telephone and the device. If pairing procedure is successful, a Bluetooth connection is set up between the device and the telephone. If at step 24 for the chosen telephone this is not a first-time connection, an automatic authentication mechanism (no user action) based on the use of a session key obtained during the previous session is used before setting up the connection.
If telephone authentication is successful (step 26), the communication device sets up a connection with the mobile telephony network using the SIM card of this telephone. Subsequently, other equipment such as equipment of PC or PDA type can be connected to the device via a Bluetooth or wire link to use the connection that has been set up with the telephony network in order to access voice or information services offered by the telephony network, these services then being invoiced to the owner-user of the telephone paired with the communication device.
Should the communication device detect several mobile telephones equipped with a SAP profile, it chooses at random the first telephone recognized, which raises a problem since the user chosen by the device is not necessarily the person wishing to pay for access to the services. In other words, it is not possible to choose which mobile telephone must be paired with the device. It is also not possible to refuse access by one or more items of equipment of PC or PDA type to the data or voice services once the connection with the telephony network has been set up.
In addition, if the security of the telephone chosen by the communication device has been disabled, the owner of the mobile telephone may not be informed that it is he/she who will pay for access to the services offered by the network.
At the current time, Bluetooth protection between the communication device and equipment of PC or PDA type is rarely enabled or used efficiently. The Bluetooth PIN code of the communication device is often chosen in simplistic fashion, e.g. "1234" for easy memorizing. There is therefore a high risk that an unwanted person may access the network services by passing through the communication device unknown to its owner, and therefore of making the latter pay for this access. In addition, if the fraudulent person has managed to connect once, there is no further need to enter the Bluetooth PIN code for any subsequent times since his equipment has been memorized as already having been connected.

Method and device for wireless controlled access to telematic and voice services