A system and method are provided for communicating Distributed Interactive Simulation (DIS) traffic over a network in an accelerated manner. In one embodiment, DIS traffic is accelerated through use of accelerated DIS packets having a reduced size. In this manner, network traffic is reduced. Accelerated DIS packets may be created and communicated through one or more DIS accelerators. A first DIS accelerator may accept a DIS packet and create an accelerated DIS packet therefrom by comparing the DIS packet to a cache and forming an accelerated DIS packet comprising the differences between the DIS packet and the cache. Data in the original DIS packet may be subsequently restored by a second DIS accelerator which combines the information in the accelerated DIS packet and the cache to restore the original DIS packet. Accelerated DIS packets may be communicated over an encoded communication channel in one or more embodiments.

Increasingly, business data processing systems, entertainment systems, and personal communications systems are implemented by computers across networks that are interconnected by internetworks (e.g., the Internet). The Internet is rapidly emerging as the preferred system for distributing and exchanging data. Data exchanges support applications including electronic commerce, broadcast and multicast messaging, videoconferencing, gaming, and the like.
The Internet is a collection of disparate computers and networks coupled together by a web of interconnections using standardized communications protocols. The Internet is characterized by its vast reach as a result of its wide and increasing availability and easy access protocols. Unfortunately, the heterogeneous nature of the Internet makes it difficult for the hardware and software that implement the Internet to add functionality.
The Open System Interconnection (OSI) network model usefully describes networked data communication, such as the Internet, as a series of logical layers or protocol layers. Each layer provides services to the layer above it, and shields the layer above it from details of lower layers. Each layer is configured to communicate with other similar level layers. In general, computers at network nodes (e.g., clients and servers) implement higher level processes including application layer, presentation layer, and session layer processes. Lower level processes, including network layer, data link layer and physical layer operate to place data in a form suitable for communication across a raw communication channel or physical link. Between the higher and lower level processes is a transport layer that typically executes on a machine at the network node, but is highly dependent on the lower level processes.
While standards exist for these layers, application designers have a high level of control and can implement semantics and functionality at the higher layers with a great deal of latitude. In contrast, lower layers are highly standardized. Implementing or modifying functionality in a lower layer protocol is very difficult as such changes can affect almost all users of the network. Devices such as routers that are typically associated with infrastructure operate exclusively at the lower protocol layers making it difficult or impossible to implement functionality such as real-time processing, data compression, encryption and error correction within a network infrastructure.
Although the term "Internet infrastructure" encompasses a variety of hardware and software mechanisms, the term primarily refers to routers, router software, and physical links between these routers that function to transport data packets from one network node to another.
Internet infrastructure components such as routers and switches are, by design, asynchronous. Also by design, it is difficult to accurately predict or control the route a particular packet will take through the Internet. This architecture is intended to make the Internet more robust in the event of failures, and to reduce the cost, complexity and management concerns associated with infrastructure components. As a result, however, a particular node or machine cannot predict the capabilities of the downstream mechanisms that it must rely on to deliver a packet to its destination. A sending node cannot expect all mechanisms in the infrastructure to support the functions and/or syntax necessary to implement such functions as real time processing, data compression, encryption, and error correction.
For example, it is difficult if not impossible to conduct synchronous or time-aware operations over the Internet. Such operations include, for example, real-time media delivery, access to financial markets, interactive events, and the like. While each IP packet includes information about the time it was sent, the time base is not synchronous between sender and receiver, making the time indication inaccurate. Packets are buffered at various locations through the Internet infrastructure, and there is no accurate way to ascertain the actual age or time of issue of the packet. Hence, critical packets may arrive too late.
Data compression is a well-known technique to improve the efficiency of data transport over a communication link. Typically, data compression is performed at nodes sending the data and decompression performed at a node receiving the data. Infrastructure components responsible for sending the information between the sending and receiving processes do not analyze whether effective compression has been performed, nor can the infrastructure implement compression on its own. Where either the sending or receiving process is incapable of effective compression, the data goes uncompressed. This creates undesirable burden that affects all users. While modems connecting a user over a phone line often apply compression to that link, there is no analogous function within the Internet infrastructure itself. A need exists for Internet infrastructure components that compress data between network nodes to improve transport within the Internet.
Similarly, encryption and other data security techniques are well known techniques to ensure only authorized users can read data. Like compression, however, encryption is typically performed by user-level and application-level processes. If either sending or receiving processes cannot perform compatible encryption, the data must be sent in the clear or by non-network processes. A need exists for Internet infrastructure components that apply encryption or other security processes transparently to users.
As another example, forward error correction (FEC) is a known technique to reduced traffic volume, reduce latency, and/or increase data transfer speed over lossy connections. FEC adds redundant information, also referred to as error correction code, to the original message, allowing the receiver to retrieve the message even if it contains erroneous bits. FEC coding can enhance decoded bit error rate values three orders of magnitude relative to systems not implementing any FEC techniques. When the error can be detected and corrected at the receiving end, there is less need to resend data. FEC is extensively used in many digital communication systems at some level and in mass storage technology to compensate for media and storage system errors.
However, FEC is not used within the Internet infrastructure. This stems in part from the additional complexity, cost and management tasks that such capability would impose on the system hardware and software. FEC requires that the sender and receiver both implement compatible FEC processes. Hence, most if not all infrastructure components would have to be replaced or modified to implement FEC in an effective manner. Efforts to implement FEC between sending and receiving nodes are outlined in IETF RFC 2733. This proposed standard applies to real time transport protocol (RTP) communications between a client and server. This FEC method affects endpoints to a data transfer, but does not affect servers and or other infrastructure components located between the endpoints. Hence, a need exists for systems and methods that implement FEC within the Internet infrastructure to offer the benefits of FEC technology seamlessly to network users.
In most cases these types of functionality are implemented in higher level processes (e.g., the OSI application layer, presentation layer, session layer and/or transport layer). However this requires that sending and receiving nodes implement a common syntax. For example, both sending and receiving nodes must implement complementary encryption/decryption processes, however once this is ensured, the communication will be encrypted through out transport. In practice there are multiple standards for real-time processing, encryption, compression, and error correction, and one or the other node may be unable to support the protocols of the other nodes. Hence, it is desirable to implement such functionality is a manner that is independent of the higher level processes so that otherwise incompatible or incapable application-level processes can benefit.
In other cases, for example real time processing and error correction, it is desirable to have the functionality implemented within the network infrastructure, not only between the nodes. For example, implementing error correction only between the sending and receiving nodes is only a partial solution, as the infrastructure components that operate at lower network layers (e.g., transport, network, data link and/or physical layer) cannot read error correction codes inserted at higher network layers. As another example, traffic prioritization within the network benefits from knowledge of when packets were actually sent so that they can be delivered in time for real-time processes.
A particular need exists in environments that involve multiple users accessing a network resource such as in a Distributed Interactive Simulation (DIS). DIS, which was originally based off of SIMNET, is the linking of military aircraft, vehicles, personal, and simulations. DIS allows the crews of the simulators to "see" and interact with other vehicles in the simulation. Command structures can also be simulated.
The Distributed Interactive Simulation (DIS) software first appeared in 1993 and was supplemented in 1998. As the simulations grew and hosts got physically further apart, the Internet became more and more attractive as a medium to communicate over. However, the sheer numbers of DIS packets have a very real possibility of unintentionally causing a Denial of Service (DoS) attack upon the DIS hosts and the network links that the DIS packets are traveling over. A DoS attack is an attack that occurs when the host is overwhelmed with more packets than the host was expecting to receive, such that it would not be able to deal with legitimate requests.
As computing technology gets faster, smaller, more powerful, and cheaper more conditions and events will need to be simulated with greater realism. There will also be desires to keep forces where they are, but still have them participate in the exercises. Thus, the Internet will become a very attractive medium to transmit over. If the number and size of packets continue unabated, then there could be network issues for those running the DIS simulation and others.

System and method for reducing traffic and congestion on distributed interactive simulation networks


A furnace for performing an endothermic process comprises tubes containing a catalyst for converting a gaseous feed, said tubes positioned inside the furnace, inner burners mounted to a furnace roof between the tubes, and outer burners mounted to the furnace roof between the tubes and a furnace wall. The outer burners are positioned close to the furnace wall, and configured to operate with 45-60% of the power of the inner burners and with an inlet velocity between 90 to 110% of the inlet velocity of the inner burners.

The SMR process is mainly based on the reforming reaction of light hydrocarbons such as methane that yields to a mixture of hydrogen (H2) and carbon monoxide (CO) in the presence of water vapor. The reaction is endothermic and slow and requires additional heat input, as well as a catalyst to occur. The SMR reactor usually comprises several tubes placed in a furnace, said tubes filled with catalyst pellets and fed with the process gas mixture of methane and steam.
Several types of furnace designs are encountered industry wide. The top-fired technology is one of the most referenced designs and it is proposed by several technology providers. Top-fired furnaces are typically made of a refractory lined firebox containing several rows of catalyst containing tubes. Roof burners are placed in rows in-between the tube rows and the combustion products out of the burners are usually blown vertically downwards, so that the tube rows face the flames in their upper part. A flue gases exhaust collector is usually provided at the furnace floor level.
The main objective of the furnace design, often also called firebox design, is to maximize the heat transferred from the burner flames to the tubes while respecting a tube maximal operating temperature constraint that is a function of the tube mechanical load (mainly feed gas pressure), the mechanical properties of the alloys used for the tubes and the desired lifetime of the tubes. Indeed, any intensification of the heat transferred to the tubes has a direct positive impact, either on the furnace productivity or on the compactness of the firebox which is valuable in terms of capital expenditures. However, intensification of the heat duty is usually implying higher tube skin temperature levels that reduce tube lifetime or require more resistant alloys, which are much more expensive.
The temperature profiles of the catalyst tubes are therefore a critical element of the furnace design and operation, at the focal point of the compromise between performance and durability. The typical vertical profiles for tube heat flux and temperature is plotted in FIG. 2 in circumferential average. The heat flux profile clearly highlights that the feed inlet (upper) part of the tube is a zone for heat transfer. Indeed, several factors favor the maximization of the heat flux:                Vicinity of the burners and feed inlet point, implying a maximum temperature difference between the load (tubes) and the heat release source (burners)        Highest reaction rates and thus heat sink that pull tube temperatures down
This underlines the superiority of the top-fired design compared to others with regard to heat transfer efficiency.
The stiffer the heat flux and temperature profile is in the upper part of the tube, the higher is the heat duty to the tube at same (creep resistance) design temperature, and thus the higher the process gas flow rate capacity per tube at the same conversion rate. The actual top-fired design to increase the heat transfer in the upper part of the furnace is however limited to the capacity of gaseous flames produced by conventional burners used in the furnaces to transfer the chemical energy to the tubes from the radiation of hot gases. Indeed, several phenomena limit the ability of conventional down-fired burners:                High nitrogen oxide (NOx) levels are heavily penalizing short flames burner selection for environmental reasons, whereas a typical means to reduce thermal NOx emissions is to dilute the flame with burnt gases, or to stage the fuel injections so that the flame maximum temperature is reduced below 1000° C. As a result, the flame's capability to transfer heat in the upper part of the furnace and, therefore, the heat provided for the reaction is reduced. This constraint is a typical compromise between longer and colder flames and shorter, less NOx efficient ones.        The physics of radiation heat transfer between gaseous media and walls is intrinsically less efficient than the ones between wall surfaces of different temperatures. The 1 m characteristic dimension volume of hot gases has typical net emission largely below the one of high emissivity solid surface heated at the same temperature.
Furthermore, in top-fired reformers the necessary heat for the endothermic reaction to occur is provided by burners located between the tubes. Additional burners at the furnace side, along the walls of the furnace are only heating one tube row on one side and the refractory wall on the other side. The burners in the middle of the firebox are heating two tube rows on both sides of the burner row. Therefore, the required power of the side burners is smaller (˜52% including heat losses at side wall) than the one in the center of the furnace. Reducing the power injected at the side burner rows, while keeping the stoichiometry constant, implies to reduce the air and fuel flow rates.
The fluid mechanism and jets theory will define the typical flow arrangement within a top-fired firebox, meaning the side burners hot burnt gases jets aspiration towards the middle center of the firebox. The jet flame entrains part of the surrounding flue gas, creating a depression, and consequently a flue gas recirculation. Therefore the burners located along the walls are submitted to a smaller recirculation (i.e. depression) on the wall side than on the furnace side, due to the presence of the next burner row. If the lower power or flow rates along the side walls yields to a lower velocity, this will reinforce the bending effect of the side flames to the center, due to the weaker momentum of the side jets, as illustrated in FIG. 3.
In US 2007/0099141 A1 a method and furnace for generating straightened flames in a furnace are proposed, wherein an oxidant is introduced into a plurality of oxidant conduits. Each of the oxidant conduits has an outlet in fluid communication with a furnace interior proximate a first interior end of the furnace. The first interior end of the furnace has a horizontally projected area. The oxidant conduit outlets define a combined horizontally projected turbulent free jet area at 30% of the average distance from the first interior end of the furnace to a second interior end of the furnace provided opposite the first interior end.
Document US 2007/0128091 discusses a furnace chamber surrounded by a circumferential furnace wall, in which a plurality of burners disposed essentially in one plane, with burner exit direction directed downward and a plurality of reaction tubes disposed essentially vertically and parallel to one another are disposed, whereby the reaction tubes are heated from the outside by means of firing burners. It is intended to improve the heat distribution and the entire heat transfer. This is achieved by disposing at least the outer burners in the region of the furnace wall with a burner exit direction which is inclined relative to the vertical, leading away from the center of the furnace.
Document EP 2 369 229 A2 describes a reformer and a method for operating this reformer including the combustion of fuel in a combustion region of an up-fired or down-fired reformer, wherein at least one of the burners is a wall-bound burner forming a nonuniform injection. The non-uniform injection properties generate a heat profile providing a first heat density proximal to a wall and a second heat density distal from the wall, wherein the second heat density is greater than the first heat density. The non-uniform injection properties are formed by selecting an angle of one or more injectors, a flow rate of one or more injectors, an amount and/or location of oxidant injectors, an amount and/or location of fuel injectors, and combinations thereof.
The article "Fluegas flow patterns in top-fired steam reforming furnaces" of W. Cotton, published in 2003 by Johnson Matthey, teaches that reformers comprising outer burners firing with a rate of 70% compared to the inner burners and an outer lane between the tubes and the furnace side that has 70% of the width of the inner lanes between two tube rows reduce the recirculating problem. According to the article it is also possible to operate with 100% rated outer burners firing into an outer lane having the same width as the inner lanes without any bending of the flames to the center of the furnace.
All proposed solutions have in common, that they do not enable a furnace design, which provides outer burners with only the required amount of power. As presented e.g. in the cited article "Fluegas flow patterns in top-fired steam reforming furnaces", the burner power rate is not reduced to the calculated value of about 52%. Therefore, the known solutions avoid the flame bending to the furnace's center but do not prevent an overheating of the catalyst containing tubes situated close to the furnace walls. Such an overheating leads to unwanted side reactions and an irreversible damage of the catalyst.
Therefore, it is the object of the present invention to propose a furnace and a method to operate this furnace which will avoid the bending effect of the side flames to the center as well as the problem of overheating the tubes close to the walls of the furnace.

Process and apparatus for endothermic reactions

L'Air Liquide Société Anonyme Pour L'Étude Et L'Exploitation Des Procedes Georges Claude


A spherical puzzle toy has a central member with four radial shanks defining respective axes intersecting at a common point representing a center of a spherical surface of the puzzle toy. Mounted on the central member are first and second groups of shaped bodies which collectively form the outer spherical surface of the toy. The first group of bodies is comprised of four identical bodies each having an inner portion respectively secured on the shanks of the central member in radial extension thereof and an outer portion forming a first part of the spherical surface of the puzzle toy. The inner portion has a tapered form with radial surfaces, while the outer portion has a spherical triangular shape. The second group of bodies are slidably supported by the first group of bodies and include inner portions of tapered form with radial surfaces which are slidable on one another and on the radial surfaces of the first group of bodies. The second group of bodies is of two types; one including outer portions of spherical triangular shape, while the other includes outer portions of spherical square shape. The outer portions undergo a relative change of position on the spherical surface when the bodies of the second group are slidably moved relative to the bodies of the first group. Various surface ornamentations can be provided on the spherical surface requiring skill and dexterity for realizing a determined configuration.

Many solid toy puzzle devices are known whose purpose is the rearrangement by turning the elements composing the toy, around given co-ordinate axes. The best known among these toys is the solution described in HU-PS 170.062. In this toy or puzzle device, inside a main cube there is a small cube which has a flexible pin in the direction of each axis passing through the cube. The main cube is composed of 27 spatial bodies or figures of cube shape which correspond with the form of the main cube. The rearrangement of the small cubes can be performed by rotating them about axes which are orthogonally related.
Another solid logical toy is described in HU-PS 180.385. The solid logical toy described in this patent specification comprises a main body which has the form of an octahedron and of elements which can be divided into three different groups which are substantially of octahedron form. The rearrangement of the elements is effected by rotating the elements about four co-ordinate axes. The disadvantage of this well-known toy is that the regular main body--in the present case the octahedron--is surrounded by planes and the rearrangement of surface features is effected by the relative position of the planes.


A communications node predicts a transmission-departure time of a receive data message from an output upon reception of the receive data message at an input of the communications node. The communications node determines if the receive data message would remain stored within the communications node for a latent duration longer than a waiting-time limit based on the predicted transmission-departure time. The communications node admits the receive data message, for storage in a buffer memory of the communications node for prospective transmission over the output, if the receive data message would be transmitted prior to expiration of the waiting-time limit.

This invention relates to a method for controlling data flow associated with a communications node; more specifically a communications node that services a wireless communications system.
A communications node is a computer or another network element that communicates with a communications network. A communications node may be configured to control store-and-forward operations between an input and an output of the communications node. In particular, the communications node may manage buffer memory to control store-and-forward operations. The management of the buffer memory may include an admission control approach for admitting data messages with time-out constraints. A time-out constraint provides an indication of the freshness or staleness of a data message stored in the communications node. A time-out constraint defines a maximum desired time difference between admittance of the data message to buffer memory and the transmittance of the data message from the buffer memory.
Some admission control approaches waste buffer memory resources. For example, if data messages are admitted whenever storage space is available in the buffer memory, the communications node will sometimes waste storage space by admitting a data message which cannot be forwarded within its time-out constraint. Further, the storage space occupied by the held data message blocks prevents other messages from entering the buffer memory for a duration exceeding the time-out constraint of the held data message, reducing space available for other data messages which could meet their time-out constraints.
Some communication nodes may be fortified with supplemental buffer memory in an attempt to compensate for the foregoing inefficiencies in the management of the buffer memory. However, the cost of a communications node generally increases with the complexity and quantity of buffer memory. The communications nodes may suffer reduced throughput because their memory capacity can not be expanded beyond a limit. Thus, a need exists for managing admission priority of data messages to reduce buffer memory requirements or to enhance throughput performance.
In accordance with the invention, a method for controlling data flow in a store-and-forward communication node includes deciding whether to grant or deny admission of data messages to the communications node. In the context of granting admission of data messages to the communications node, the communications node may use a zero loss approach or a variant of the zero-loss approach. In the zero-loss approach, an overload controller of the communications node predicts a transmission-departure time of a receive data message from an output upon reception of the receive data message at an input of the communications node. The overload controller determines if the receive data message would remain stored within the communications node for a latent duration longer than a waiting-time limit based on the predicted transmission-departure time. The receive data message is admitted if the receive data message would be transmitted prior to expiration of the waiting-time limit, or according to another suitable criterion. The overload controller cooperates with a processing system to admit the receive data message for storage in a buffer memory of the communications node for prospective transmission over the output. The foregoing zero-loss approach and variants thereof are well-suited for reducing handling time per data message and total memory capacity required to service an anticipated load of data messages at the communications node.

Method for controlling data flow associated with a communications node


An electron beam device for inspecting a target substrate or specimen thereon includes a beam separator with an asymmetric quadrupole electrostatic deflector for improving field uniformity for a single direction of deflection. The asymmetric quadrupole electrostatic deflector includes two orthogonal electrode plates spanning roughly 60 degrees and two electrode plates spanning roughly 120 degrees, the two latter plates defining a unidirectional deflection field. The device generates a primary electron beam and focuses the primary electron beam along an optical axis into the target substrate. Secondary electrons detected at the target substrate are focused into a secondary electron beam. The beam separator with asymmetric quadrupole electrostatic deflector deflects the secondary electron beam away from the axis of the primary electron beam in the direction of deflection and into a detector array.

Electron beam (e-beam) devices, such as e-beam defect review (eDR) instruments, are utilized for inspection or review of a target substrate, or a specimen held by the substrate. E-beam devices can include a beam separator having one or more electrostatic deflectors for deflecting a beam of primary electrons away from an optical axis normal to the substrate, or for redirecting a deflected beam into the optical axis. Electrostatic deflectors apply a voltage to multiple electrodes, thereby generating an electric field for deflecting the beam. Commonly known in the art for electrostatic deflection is the symmetric quadrupole, in which four electrode plates are spaced 90 degrees apart for deflection of the beam in either an X-direction or a Y-direction. For example, voltages +Vx and −Vx can be applied to the first and third electrodes respectively (the first and third plates opposed on the X-axis). Similarly, voltages +Vy and −Vy can be applied to the second and fourth electrodes respectively (the second and fourth plates opposed on the Y-axis).
However, an electrostatic deflector of symmetric-quadrupole configuration may not provide optimal uniformity of the electric field. Poor field uniformity may lead in turn to image degradation and performance loss in eDR use cases. An octopole electrostatic deflector, having four pairs of opposing electrodes rather than two, may provide better field uniformity than a symmetric quadrupole. However, the added complexity of the octopole requires eight voltage channels, where the symmetric quadrupole requires only four, rendering the octopole more expensive to manufacture. It may therefore be desirable to provide a more uniform deflection field while simplifying the overall system architecture of the e-beam device.

Asymmetric electrostatic quadrupole deflector for improved field uniformity


A lens drive device in which a lens holder forming a moving unit and connection wires for connecting a plurality of drive coils electrically are integrally molded, and a method for manufacturing the lens drive device. This lens drive device is constructed to include: an actuator unit in which four wire-form elastic members made of a metal are molded integrally with the lens holder and an actuator base and in which connection wires for connecting a printed circuit board A coil and a printed circuit board B coil are integrally molded; and a suspension base having a pair of yokes fixing a pair of magnets arranged to confront each other through a predetermined magnetic space.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lens drive device for writing or reading information optically to or from a disk-shaped recording medium such as a compact disk or an optical disk and its manufacturing method.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, there has been known a pickup drive device 1 for reproducing the information which has been recorded in an optical disk such as the CD or the DVD. In order to read out the information recorded in the optical disk precisely, the pickup drive device performs: a focusing control to control the distance between the information recorded face and an objective lens against the warpage or deviation of the optical disk; and a tracking control to follow and control an objective lens with respect to the eccentricity of the information track of the optical disk.
The conventional pickup device is constructed to include a lens holder and a moving unit having focusing coils, tracking coils and so on. The coils are fixed on the lens holder and are then electrically connected. The pickup device has a problem that the manufacturing works are complicated to take a long time. Moreover, the leader wires are led around in the space near the lens holder. There is another problem in that the leader wires come into contact with another member at the time of driving the lens holder so that brokage of leader wires may occur.

Lens drive device having metal wire-like elastic members, and method for manufacturing the same


A switching power supply device has a drive circuit that can minimize a loss while being compact. The drive circuit turns on and off a high-side switching element (MOSFET) according to a positive or negative voltage developed at a tertiary winding of a transformer. The drive circuit includes a control unit that detects the development time, during which the negative voltage is developed at the tertiary winding, as the on time of a low-side switching element, and makes the on time of the high-side switching element nearly or substantially equal to the development time.

FIG. 14 shows an embodiment of a DC-DC converter similar to the one disclosed, for example, in JP-A-2001-224171 (pages 7 and 8 and FIG. 1). As illustrated, a series circuit, including a metal oxide semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) 1 and a MOSFET 2, is connected in parallel with a direct current (DC) power supply 3. A series circuit, including a capacitor 4, an inductor 5, and a primary winding P1 of a transformer 6, is connected in parallel with the MOSFET 2. Diodes 7, 8 and a capacitor 9 that rectify and smooth a positive or negative voltage developed at secondary windings S1 and S2 of a transformer 6 are connected to the secondary windings. A series circuit, including the capacitor 4, inductor 5, and primary winding P1 of the transformer 6 is connected in parallel with the MOSFET 1. The inductor 5, which is connected in series with the primary winding P1, can be substituted with the leakage inductance of the transformer 6.
A feedback signal is transferred to a control circuit 11 via a voltage detection circuit 10 to keep a voltage V0 across the capacitor 9 constant. The control circuit 11 includes a comparison circuit that compares the feedback signal with a predetermined value, and a pulse generator that generates a gate pulse to be fed to the MOSFET 1 based on the results of the comparison.
In FIG. 14, the control circuit 11 and a drive circuit 12 alternately turns on and off the MOSFETs 1 and 2 at a duty cycle of 50%. An output voltage is regulated by varying the driving frequency for the MOSFETs 1 and 2. An integrated circuit (IC) capable of withstanding a high voltage and having a level shift capability can be used as a means for transferring a signal, with which the MOSFET 2 on a high-potential side (hereinafter high-side) is turned on or off, from the control circuit 11 to the drive circuit 12. However, since the IC capable of withstanding a high voltage is relatively expensive, the use of the IC increases the overall cost of a switching power supply device.
FIG. 15 shows an embodiment similar to the one disclosed, for example, in JP-A-2002-209381 (page 4 and FIG. 1) (refer to column 4, lines 10-23, and FIG. 1 of corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 6,483,722), that can reduce the cost. In the illustrated embodiment, the transformer 6 has a tertiary winding P2, and the high-side MOSFET 2 is driven via the drive circuit 12 according to a positive or negative voltage developed at the tertiary winding P2. In JP-A-2002-209381, the drive circuit 12 includes a resistor. The low-potential side (hereinafter low-side) MOSFET 1 is driven so that it is turned on after the MOSFET 2 is turned off. Thus, the two MOSFETs are alternately turned on and off. Owing to the foregoing configuration, the control circuit 11 can employ an inexpensive IC capable of withstanding a low voltage. Consequently, the cost of the switching power supply device can be reduced.
In the circuitry shown in FIG. 15, the on time of the MOSFET 2 is determined with a voltage developed at the tertiary winding P2 of the transformer 6. The on times of the MOSFET 1 and MOSFET 2 are usually different from each other. Consequently, current flowing through the MOSFETs 1 and 2 and current flowing through the rectification diodes 7 and 8 are unbalanced. This, however, undesirably increases the losses occurring in the MOSFETs and rectification diodes.
In particular, when a main AC voltage is rectified and smoothed as a DC supply voltage to be fed from the DC power supply 3, since the AC voltage varies within a certain range, the ratio of the maximum value of the DC supply voltage to the minimum value thereof gets almost doubled. The higher the DC supply voltage is, the more remarkable the unbalance between the currents flowing through the MOSFETs and rectification diodes becomes.
Accordingly, there remains a need for an improved switching power supply device, or more particularly, to a technology for designing a half-bridge direct current-to-direct current (DC-DC) converter, that can resolve the unbalance between the currents flowing through MOSFETs and the currents flowing through rectification diodes so as to thus minimize losses, as well as being compact and low-cost. The present disclosure addresses this need.

Switching power supply device and drive circuit thereof

Fuji Electric Device Technology Co., Ltd.


A material handling system for a hydrolyzer comprises a material injection assembly having a ram; a sleeve in which the ram reciprocates during use; a gate plate operable from between an open position, wherein a plug of municipal solid waste may exit the sleeve, and a closed position; and a material exit assembly. The material exit assembly comprises a processed material handling apparatus including a processed material compaction chamber; and a plunger assembly attached to the compaction chamber and further including a working cylinder having a cylinder shaft and a ram operably connected to the shaft enabling the ram to compact the processed material within the compaction chamber upon actuation of the cylinder and the extension of the shaft therefrom.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to hydrolyzers for processing organic material (i.e., rendering) and further relates generally to the apparatuses used for the rendering of animal carcasses or parts thereof into useful end products such as bone or feather meal. In addition, the present invention has proven particularly useful for processing (i.e., rendering) municipal solid waste even though the material characteristics of municipal solid waste and the rendering of animal carcass parts is distinctly different.
The present invention is primarily directed to a pressure vessel apparatus in the general nature of a hydrolyzer used for the reduction, decomposition, destruction and/or conversion (hereinafter "rendering") of organic wastes generated during meat and poultry production for human consumption.
The present invention also relates generally to an innovative method of handling municipal solid waste disposal, reclamation and recycling. Municipal solid waste (hereinafter "solid waste") disposal can be generally defined as the disposal of normally solid or semi-solid materials resulting from human and animal activities that are useless or unwanted, and not hazardous or toxic.
Solid wastes may be further classified in two groups as follows: "municipal solid waste" which is decomposable wastes from food, and "rubbish" which is either combustible wastes (such as paper, wood, and cloth) or non-combustible wastes (such as metal, glass, plastics and ceramics).
The present invention is primarily directed to a system and apparatus for reducing and converting (hereinafter "processing") of solid waste comprised of municipal solid waste and rubbish produced in the home (hereinafter "Municipal Solid Waste" or "MSW") and the equipment for carrying out such processing into a reusable end product or article.
2. Description of the Related Art
Carcass disposal at meat and poultry farms is an important environmental issue. Some of the standard methods, such as burial and incineration, no longer meet the needs of operators or existing regulations. For example, prompted by recent water and air quality regulations, the poultry industry in some states and countries is giving carcass disposal top priority by supporting efforts to promote and adopt alternative disposal methods. One environmentally sound alternative for the disposal of dead birds is conventional rendering. Rendering is a reclamation process designed to recover almost 100 percent of all inedible raw poultry material and render it useful.
Rendering is a heating process that extracts usable ingredients, such as protein meals and fats. Rendering has been used for many years to convert the inedible results from the slaughtering process into meat meal, bone meal, and feather meal—all of which are highly valued as animal feed ingredients. Today, rendering plants supply 85 percent of all fats and oils used in the United States and export 35 percent of the fats and oils used worldwide. The rendering plant is a vital link between the meat and poultry grower and industries which use fats and oils.
The rendering industry relies on the hydrolyzer apparatus as the cooking vessel to perform the actual rendering process. However, these conventional hydrolyzer apparatuses which are commonly used as the cooking vessel in the rendering industry do not work when attempting to render various wastes such as municipal solid waste ("MSW"). These conventional vessels are prone to repeated and continuous clogging when trying to process waste material such as MSW and thus require repeated down time intervals and disassembly to empty the interior of the vessel.
Municipal solid waste disposal can be generally defined as the disposal of normally solid or semi-solid materials resulting from human and animal activities that are useless and unwanted and not hazardous or toxic. Solid wastes may be further classified in the following manner: "garbage" which is decomposable wastes from food; "rubbish" which is decomposable wastes, either combustible (such as paper, wood, and cloth) or non-combustible (such as metal, glass, plastics and ceramics).
It has become known that the traditional rendering devices such as hydrolyzers do not work with all materials and fail miserably when trying to process MSW. Similarly, the know how associated with conventional rendering processes is not applicable to a processing of certain wastes such as MSW in a similar manner. Until now, a suitable hydrolyzer for sustained continuous flow and rendering of raw wastes such as MSW has not been invented.
In all known methods of solid waste disposal (e.g., reduction, treatment or resource recovery), the resultant end product may further include microbes or microorganisms that require careful consideration and handling prior to disposal. In such cases the by-products are believed to remain waste materials not suitable for use or transformation into useful articles.
The art to which the invention relates generally includes U.S. Pat. No. 6,017,475 granted to Cantrell and incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein. The '475 patent is directed to a process transforming municipal solid waste into useful materials.

Containment system for continuous flow hydrolyzers


A housing for an optically coupled isolator is mountable through an aperture of an electromagnetic barrier. The housing includes a first recess in a first end for receiving an insulator and an optical driver device and a second recess in a second end for receiving an insulator and an optical detector device. A bore extends through the portion of the housing between the first and second recesses. Preferably, the bore has a length on the order of five times greater than its diameter which imparts waveguide characteristics for attenuating certain electromagnetic radiation. An outwardly extending flange of the housing has a groove in which a gasket is disposed. Preferably, the gasket is comprised of an electrically conductive material. In use, the gasket is compressed against the electromagnetic barrier and maintains electrical continuity across the barrier.

A typical requirement in military systems is that unencrypted, classified (RED) data be electromagnetically isolated from encrypted, unclassified (BLACK) data in order to ensure the security of the classified information. Additional stringent measures, such as TEMPEST measures, are often required to control comprising emanations. Military specifications, such as MIL-HDBK-232A RED/BLACK Engineering--Installation Guidelines (Mar. 20, 1987), provide detailed guidelines for RED/BLACK isolation and TEMPEST control.
One method of meeting stringent electromagnetic (RED/BLACK) isolation and TEMPEST control requirements is to separate classified and unclassified equipment with a barrier that functions as a Faraday shield to confine electromagnetic radiation. Preferably, the barrier is totally impervious to electromagnetic radiation. However, since data transmission between classified and unclassified equipment is often necessary, a totally impervious barrier between the two types of equipment is generally not possible.
Another technique, which provides electromagnetic isolation and still permits data transmission across a classified/unclassified (RED/BLACK) boundary, includes the use of an optically coupled isolator, or simply optical isolator. Generally, the optical driver device of the optical isolator is an infrared emitting diode and the optical detector device of the optical isolator is a photo sensor diode. Conventionally however, optically coupled isolators are housed in high dielectric housings which are suitable for mounting on a printed circuit board rather than for mounting through an electromagnetic barrier and do not incorporate techniques for meeting TEMPEST requirements.

Barrier mountable optically coupled isolator housing and assembly having a waveguide


A seat lock device and method for preventing the unauthorized removal and theft of seats are provided. The seat lock device can include a lock body configured to straddle a seat bracket of at least one of a left-hand third row seat and a right-hand third row seat which can be clamped to a floorboard of a vehicle. The lock body can include a series of coaxial bores. A pin assembly can include a pin configured to be inserted through the series of coaxial bores of the lock body. The pin can also be extendable through a pre-existing hole formed in the at least one seat bracket thereby preventing the at least one seat bracket from releasing from the floorboard of the vehicle.

The unauthorized removal and theft of third row seats on certain sport utility vehicles is a pervasive and expensive problem. High-rates of stolen third row seats are known to occur on full-sized SUVs built by GENERAL MOTORS including the following models: CHEVROLET TAHOE, CHEVROLET SUBURBAN, CADILLAC ESCALADE, CADILLAC ESCALADE ESV, GMC YUKON, GMC YUKON XL, GMC YUKON DENALI, and GMC YUKON DENALI XL. Each of these vehicles incorporates the use of the GMT900 Model third row seats.
The replacement cost of third row seats is extremely high which has resulted in a large market for stolen third row seats. Once a thief is inside one of these aforementioned sport utility vehicles, all that is needed to remove the third row seat is to release the clamps that secure the third row seat to the floorboard. Easy removal of third row seats occurs because the manufacturer does not provide a locking mechanism that allows owners to prevent the unauthorized removal of third row seats. As a result, a thief just needs to gain entry into the vehicle and they can then readily release and remove the third row seat.
Accordingly, there exists a need for devices and methods that can prevent the unauthorized release and theft of third row seats from sport utility vehicles.


A cleaning device includes: a first shaft; a cleaning roller which is operable to come into contact with a surface of a photosensitive drum, and is integrally rotated with the first shaft; a pressing member for pressing the cleaning roller against the surface of the photosensitive drum; a second shaft; a spiral roller which is integrally rotated with the second shaft, and is operative to collect toner residues from the surface of the photosensitive drum; a driving force transmitting mechanism for transmitting a driving force of the photosensitive drum to the first shaft and the second shaft; and a pair of arm members which are pivotally interlocked with the second shaft, and are pivotally interlocked with the first shaft. The cleaning device allows for suppressing image jitter or noise resulting from jitter of the photosensitive drum.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cleaning device for use in an image forming apparatus such as an electrostatic copier, a laser printer, and a facsimile machine, and more particularly to a cleaning device for use in an image forming apparatus provided with an a-Si (amorphous silicon) photosensitive drum.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is known an mage forming apparatus e.g. a printer provided with an amorphous silicon photosensitive drum. Amorphous silicon to be used as a material for the amorphous silicon photosensitive drum has a relatively large hardness and a long useful life, but has a disadvantage that an electric charge is likely to leak during a long-term use. Accordingly, there is a likelihood that a toner image may be deteriorated in use of the amorphous silicon photosensitive drum. There is proposed a cleaning device equipped with a cleaning roller to prevent deterioration of a toner image. Specifically, the cleaning roller is constantly pressingly contacted against the surface of the photosensitive drum to thereby polish the surface of the photosensitive drum. The cleaning roller is made of a foaming synthetic rubber. A cleaning device with a cleaning roller is e.g. disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2000-112309.
The cleaning device disclosed in the publication includes: a support shaft; a pair of arm members pivotally supported about the axis of the support shaft; a cleaning roller interlocked with an end of the arm member pair; a spring member for applying a load to the surface of an amorphous silicon photosensitive drum by way of the cleaning roller; a first gear integrally rotated with the photosensitive drum; and a second gear which is integrally rotated with the cleaning roller and in mesh with the first gear.
There is also known a cleaning device provided with a spiral roller for collecting toner particles. The cleaning device is advantageous in layout designing by engaging a gear of the spiral roller with a gear of a cleaning roller and by driving the spiral roller with use of the gear of the cleaning roller.
In the above arrangement, however, there is a likelihood that jitter of a photosensitive drum may cause image jitter or noise. In other words, in the arrangement of driving the spiral roller by the gear of the cleaning roller, the driving force of the cleaning roller may fluctuate, which may cause jitter of the photosensitive drum, thereby resulting in image jitter or noise.


The present invention relates to a method and system for transmitting a transmission signal from an antenna array (19) to a receiving means (20) of a wireless communication system, wherein a signal quality measurement is performed at the receiving means (20) for predetermined antennas or beams of said antenna array (19). Based on a feedback information derived from the signal quality measurement, at least two of the predetermined antennas or beams of the antenna array (19) are selected. The selected antennas or beams are used for transmitting said transmission signal according to a transmit diversity or beamforming scheme. Thus, spectral efficiency and diversity gain can be enhanced by using only selected ones of the predetermined antennas or beams.

Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) has been chosen as the radio technology for the paired bands of the UMTS. Consequently, WCDMA is the common radio technology standard for third-generation wide-area mobile communications. WCDMA has been designed for high-speed data services and, more particularly, Internet-based packet-data offering up to 2 Mbps in indoor environments and over 384 kbps for wide-area.
The WCDMA concept is based on a new channel structure for all layers built on technologies such as packet-data channels and service multiplexing. The new concept also includes pilot symbols and a time-slotted structure which has led to the provision of adaptive antenna arrays which direct antenna beams at users to provide maximum range and minimum interference. This is also crucial when implementing wideband technology where limited radio spectrum is available.
The uplink capacity of the proposed WCDMA systems can be enhanced by various techniques including multi-antenna reception and multi-user detection or interference cancellation. Techniques that increase the downlink capacity have not been developed with the same intensity. However, the capacity demand imposed by the projected data services (e.g. Internet) burdens more heavily the downlink channel. Hence, it is important to find techniques that improve the capacity of the downlink channel.
Bearing in mind the strict complexity requirements of terminals, and the characteristics of the downlink channel, the provision of multiple receive antennas is not a desired solution to the downlink capacity problem. Therefore, alternative solutions have been proposed suggesting that multiple antennas or transmit diversity at the base station will increase downlink capacity with only minor increase of complexity in terminal implementation.
The transmit diversity concept adopted for the FDD (Frequency Division Duplex) mode of third generation WCDMA system in the 3G standardization is currently being optimized for the case of two transmitting antennas at the base station.
In case of a so-called open-loop mode, a space-time block code is applied for the two transmitting antennas. The channel symbols are divided into two-element blocks which are transmitted from a first and second antenna, respectively, at successive time instants. These symbols are transmitted using the same spreading code. The receiver then uses a linear orthogonal processing based on the estimated channel coefficients to detect the transmitted symbols.
Alternatively, in case of a so-called closed-loop mode, a weight information is fed back from the terminals to the base station to approximate matched beamforming. FIG. 1 shows an example of such a closed-loop or feedback mode for a downlink transmission between a base station (BS) 10 and a mobile terminal or mobile station (MS) 20. In particular, the BS 10 comprises two antennas A1 and A2, and the MS 20 is arranged to estimate the channel on the basis of pilot channel signals used to probe the downlink channel and transmitted from the two antennas A1 and A2. Then, the MS 20 feeds back the discretized or quantized channel estimate to the BS 10. The antennas (or antenna elements) A1 and A2 are spaced sufficiently close to each other, so that the propagation delays between each of the antennas A1 and A2 and the MS 20 are approximately identical (within a fraction of a duration of a chip of the WCDMA spreading code). This is important in order to maintain downlink orthogonality in a single-path channel. Naturally, it is desired to develop a robust and low-delay feedback signaling concept.
Transmit diversity techniques provide a low-cost solution to increase downlink capacity in third generation systems. A number of different transmit diversity concepts have been developed. Both open and closed-loop concepts have significant merits in different environments and with different service assumptions.
In WCDMA, different modes have been suggested for the open-loop and closed-loop concepts which are optimized for two antennas. According to the open-loop Space-Time Transmit Diversity (STTD) mode, a two bit space-time code is used for transmission via the two antennas A1 and A2. Furthermore, closed-loop modes 1 and 2 (referred to as Transmission Antenna Array (TxAA) modes) have been specified, where feedback weights used for controlling power and/or phase of the transmission signals of the two antennas A1 and A2 are modified after a certain number of slots. The MS 20 estimates channel coefficients from common pilot signals (antenna or beam specific), wherein a simple dedicated channel estimate is derived from continuous common channel estimates. In particular, a quantized feedback is signaled to the BS 10 using the 1.5 kbps subchannel. In mode 1, the possible Tx feedback weights are selected from a QPSK constellation. In mode 2, the possible Tx feedback weights are selected from a 16-state constellation.
FIG. 2 shows a table indicating characteristic parameters of the above TxAA modes. In particular, NFB designates the number of feedback bits per time slot, NW the number of bits per feedback signaling word, Na the number of feedback bits for controlling an amplification or power at the antennas A1 and A2, and Np the number of feedback bits for controlling a phase difference between the antennas A1 and A2. As can be gathered from the table of FIG. 2, one bit is fed back per time slot in each of the feedback modes.
In the Tx AA mode 1, the feedback signaling word comprises two bits, and an update is performed after both feedback bits have been received, i.e. after two time slots. The feedback signaling word is only used for controlling the phase difference between the two antennas A1 and A2.
In the Tx AA mode 2, the bit length of the feedback signaling word is four, and an update is performed every four time slots. In particular, one bit of the feedback signaling word is used for controlling the amplification (power) at the antennas A1 and A2, and three bits are used for controlling their phase difference.
The required channel estimates are obtained e.g. from the common pilot channel signal transmitted with a known power from each antenna. In WCDMA systems, rather accurate estimates can be obtained by using the common channel pilots (CPICH) transmitted continuously from the two antennas A1 and A2. The feedback information can be transmitted in the Feedback Signaling Message (FSM) as a part of the FBI field of the uplink dedicated physical control channel (DPCCH).
It is to be noted that the STTD and TxAA modes may be implemented in an analogous manner in the beam domain. In the TxAA case, the MS 20 signals to the BS 10 whether to rotate the phase angle of channel signals transmitted from the antenna A2 by 180°. Then, the BS 10 transmits simultaneously from both antennas A1 and A2.
In the TxAA modes 1 and 2, the MS 20 transmits estimated and quantized channel parameters to the BS 10 which then weights the transmitted signals accordingly. Thus, a higher resolution than 180° (as provided by the STTD mode) can be achieved. The MS 20 selects the Tx weight (or Tx beam) from 4 or 16 different constellations, respectively.
As regards the table of FIG. 2, it is to be noted that an equal power is applied to the antennas A1 and A2 in the case where Na=0. Furthermore, the antennas A1 and A2 are uniquely defined by their respective pilot codes of the CCPCH (Common Control Physical Channel) of the UMTS. The derived amplitude and phase applied to the antennas A1 and A2 is called a weight and the set of weights is grouped into a weight vector. Specifically, the weight vector for the present case of two antennas is given by
      w    _    =      [                                                      PA                                                                                1                                                                                PA                                                                                2                                      ·                          exp                                            (                                  jπΔφ                  /                  180                                )                                                          ]  wherein Δφ denotes the phase difference (phase weight) fed back to the BS 10. If more than two antennas, i.e. an antenna array, is used, the dimension of w becomes larger than two. In this case, a directional antenna may be achieved by using relative phases between antennas. The estimated phase of the feedback signal in the complex plane is then used for controlling the transmit direction.
Extensions to the above two-element concepts are considered in order to further increase the diversity gain. While many of these extensions are straightforward, most of them are applicable only in very low mobility environments, since the accuracy (or delay) of the feedback signaling is often compromised. In addition, it has to be considered that unnecessary transmissions might be performed if the channels of the corresponding antennas are in deep fades.
The basic application of 2-antenna or 2-beam Tx-diversity requires a doubling of the transmission power. This means that the diversity gain should exceed 3 dB in order to obtain a total diversity gain. From W. D. Jakes, "Microwave mobile communications", IEEE Press, 1974, it is known that in a flat-fading channel with two, three, or four uncorrelated signal paths the gain (at 95% reliability level) compared to one-path reception is 8.5 dB, 12 dB, and 14.5 dB, respectively. Thus, the achievable Tx-diversity gain is approximately 5.5 dB when transmitting with two antennas instead of one, 1.5 dB with three antennas instead of two, and 1.5 dB with four antennas instead of three. This analysis was conducted for frequency non-selective channels, typically for micro-cells and indoor cases, assuming ideal feedback, channel estimation, combining and transmission. In frequency selective cases, the Rake receiver already exploits multipath (delay) diversity and hence the above gains of using multi-antenna or multi-beam diversity are reduced.
Moreover, the following problem associated with channel estimation has to be taken into account. If M antennas are used, the average transmission power of each antenna is reduced to P/M, wherein P denotes the total power required for the transmission. If m is large, the power per antenna is low and thus the performance of the channel estimation operation at the receiver will suffer due to the low SNR (Signal to Noise Ratio).

Multi-antenna transmission method and system


An image generating system and a program enabling scissoring of a polygon in a three-dimensional stage to prevent display failure of a polygon on a screen end or at a short distance from the viewpoint with a reduced computation load. The system performs scissoring processing for a polygon in a three-dimensional stage and generates an image of an object including a new vertex generated by the scissoring. A polygon which is at a short distance from a view point, displaying of which is likely to be missed, is scissored on side surfaces of a quadrangular pyramid forming a view volume, to prevent the display failure of the polygon existing at a short distance from the end of a screen. A polygon arranged in the three-dimensional space is subjected to coordinate transformation into a screen coordinate system, to detect an undrawable vertex, and a polygon containing the detected vertex is scissored at a portion containing the detected vertex, in a predetermined plane.

In the prior art, there has been known an image generating system for generating an image which can be seen from a given view point in an object space or a virtual three-dimensional space. This image generating system is highly popular because it allows the so-called "virtual reality" to be experienced. In the image generating system capable of enjoying the racing game, for example, the player enjoys the three-dimensional game by manipulating a racing car (or object) to run in the object space so that the car may compete with another racing car manipulated by another player or a computer.
In this image generating system, it is an important technical target for improving the virtual reality of the player to generate a more real image.
Generally in the image generation, the polygon coordinates existing in the three-dimensional space are perspectively projected and transformed into a screen coordinate system and are then written in a frame buffer. At this time, in the case of a vertex of a polygon existing on a screen end at a short distance from the viewpoint, the Z-value is approximate 0 so that the perspectively transformed value exceeds a predetermined range. As a result, the polygon is not written in the frame buffer to cause a trouble that the image is formed to have the polygon omitted. If the polygon is especially large, there arises a problem that the display failure is conspicuous.
As one method for eliminating this problem, there is a method for reducing or making the display failure inconspicuous by dividing the polygon into a plurality of smaller polygons. However, this method is troubled by a problem that the vertex, as should be located at the same position after the division, is shifted at the time of interpolating two vertex coordinates to generate a gap.


A feedback loop structure including an operational amplifier unit (1) for amplifying a reproduction signal of recorded information and a gain/offset control unit (6) for controlling an amplitude and an offset of an output of the operational amplifier unit (1) so that each of the amplitude and the offset becomes a predetermined value is adopted, and accurate information for an asymmetry amount is obtained by a binarization unit (7) for receiving the output of the operational amplifier unit (1) and performing binarization while adjusting a slice level by feedback control so that a duty ratio after the binarization substantially becomes a predetermined value. Based on the asymmetry amount information, a judgment level of a Viterbi decoding unit (15) is changed, thereby reducing a reproduction error rate.

In recent years, a rapid development of increasing the density of optical disks has been made and, with this rapid development, recording of a moving picture image with a large capacity has become possible. Moreover, optical disks as a storage medium have excellent properties such as excellent capacitive properties and high speed accessibility, can be provided at low cost, and also is interchangeable. In view of these points, it is highly possible that optical disks will take place tape recording medium.
As for recording methods for optical disks, there are the PPM (pulse point modulation) recording method in which information is indicated on a recording mark and the PWM (pulse width modulation) recording method in which information is indicated on a recording mark edge. At present, the PWM recording method advantageous to increasing density has been used in most cases.
In the PWM recording method, when a recording mark is formed to be large or small depending on recording conditions, the duty ratio of a reproduction signal shifts from a predetermined value, resulting in the generation of asymmetric waveform distortion in the amplitude direction. This phenomenon is called "asymmetry".
When a disk such as a CD (compact disk) and a DVD (digital versatile disk) in which data is recorded with a discrete mark length and a discrete space length is played and observation is made using an oscilloscope, a waveform of FIG. 1(a) or FIG. 1(b) is obtained. In general, such waveforms are called "eye pattern". When asymmetry is absent, the waveform of FIG. 1(a) is obtained, and when asymmetry is present, the waveform of FIG. 1(b) is obtained. In this case, a hatched portion having a rhombus shape is called "eye diagram" and a shift of an eye center level with respect to a reproduction waveform center (the center of a waveform) in the vertical direction shows an asymmetry amount. In the PWM recording method, information is held at a recording mark edge, and when asymmetry is present, a shift of a recording edge occurs. Thus, a measure for this problem is needed.
Assume that data reproduction is carried out by a simple binarization of a reproduction signal. For example, when recording modulation in which no direct current (DC) component is used as in a CD, influence of asymmetry can be almost eliminated, for example, by performing feedback control of a binarization level so that the duty ratio after the binarization becomes 50:50. Thus, influence of asymmetry can be substantially eliminated.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a conventional binarization circuit. This binarization circuit includes a comparator circuit 100 for binarizing a reproduction signal at a predetermined level, an integrator circuit 101 for integrating a comparator circuit output, a ripple removing filter 102 for removing a ripple of an integrator circuit output, and a buffer circuit 103 for performing feedback of a ripple removing filter output to the comparator circuit 100. In this case, binarization levels appear around the respective eye center levels of the eye diagrams of FIG. 1(a) and FIG. 1(b).
However, as shown in FIG. 3, when aliasing distortion of a reproduction waveform is generated and a large asymmetry is present, a binarization level overlaps aliasing part of the waveform and binarization can not be properly performed with the configuration of FIG. 2. As a result, data is not properly reproduced. Such aliasing distortion of a reproduction waveform is apt to occur when a laser spot diameter is reduced more than necessary on a recording surface or when a high frequency band of the reproduction signal is emphasized by an equalizer or the like.
On the other hand, in a digital reproduction signal processing system using a Viterbi decoder, a reproduction signal is sampled by an analog-to-digital converter (which will be hereinafter referred to as an "AD converter") and decoded data corresponding to a state transition maximum-likelihood-estimated based on multilevel data obtained through the sampling is output. Ideally, vertical asymmetry of the amplitude direction of the reproduction signal is required.
FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary block diagram of a conventional signal processing device using the PRML (partial response maximum likelihood) technique. The signal processing device includes an AD converter 104 for analog-to-digital converting a reproduction signal (RS1), a baseline processing circuit 105 for removing a DC fluctuation component from an AD conversion signal (ADCOUT), a PLL circuit 106 for extracting phase error information from a baseline processing signal (BCDT) to generate a clock phase-synchronized with an input reproduction signal, an FIR (finite impulse response) filter 107 for receiving the baseline processing signal as an input and performing waveform equalization, an LMS (least mean square) circuit 108 for adaptively adjusting tap coefficients of the FIR filter 107 so that an equalization error becomes minimum, and a Viterbi decoder 109 for outputting decoded data corresponding to the maximum-likelihood-estimated state transition from an FIR filter output (FIRDT).
With the configuration of FIG. 4 to which the PRML technique is introduced, it is possible to largely improve an error rate, compared to data reproduction by the simple binarization shown in FIG. 2, and improve the performance of the signal processing device. However, the PRML technique is designed based on an ideal waveform exhibiting vertical symmetry in the amplitude direction, and when strong asymmetry occurs in a reproduction signal and the vertical symmetry in the amplitude direction is largely lost, the Viterbi decoder 109 does not properly operate.
Note that as a conventional signal processing method, a method in which based on a reproduction signal value and operation results of Viterbi decoding, an amplitude reference value used as a reference value when a value for brantimetric is updated for each clock, thereby performing a predetermined calculation based on the amplitude reference value (see Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 10-320920) is known.
Moreover, a method in which a reproduction signal output from a waveform equalization circuit (equalizer) is sliced at a slice level and the slice level is used as information for the asymmetry amount and a method in which maximum and minimum values of a reproduction signal are detected and a reproduction signal amplitude is made to be constant by amplitude detection to reduce a detection error (see Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-250334) are known.
However, in general, the amplitude of a reproduction signal from a pickup for reading recorded information is very small. Therefore, it is necessary to acquire a large gain so that a desired signal amplitude is achieved in an amplifier in a subsequent stage, but amplification by DC coupling is difficult because of a constraint of a dynamic range of the subsequent stage amplifier. Therefore, a method in which a DC component is removed by capacitive coupling and then a large amplification is performed is used in many cases. If the DC component is removed, a center level of an eye diagram substantially corresponds to a reference voltage level (i.e., a ground level GND in this case). When asymmetry is absent, a waveform shown in FIG. 5(a) is obtained, and when asymmetry is present, a waveform shown in FIG. 5(b) is obtained. When such a signal is binarized, a binary slice level is located substantially at the center of an eye diagram in each of FIGS. 5(a) and 5(b). Accordingly, the slice levels in FIGS. 5(a) and 5(b) are located around GND and correspond to each other. Thus, the asymmetry amount information can not be obtained from each of the slice levels itself.

Signal processing device and signal processing method

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A job processing system includes first and second job processing apparatuses. The first job processing apparatus includes the followings. A first calculation unit calculates first estimated completion time expected if the job is processed by the first job processing apparatus. A first transmission unit transmits the job and the first estimated completion time. The second job processing apparatus includes the followings. A reception unit receives the job and the first estimated completion time. The second calculation unit calculates second estimated completion time expected if the job is processed by the second job processing apparatus. The discarding unit discards the job if the first estimated completion time is earlier than the second estimated completion time. The notification unit notifies the first job processing apparatus of start of processing if the first estimated completion time is later than the second estimated completion time. The processed job transmission unit transmits the processed job.

(i) Technical Field
The present invention relates to a job processing system, a job processing apparatus, and a non-transitory computer readable medium.
(ii) Related Art
In the case where a job occurs in any one of plural job processing apparatuses, a job processing apparatus having the highest processing speed is selected from the plural job processing apparatuses to process the job.

Job processing system, job processing apparatus, and non-transitory computer readable medium


In some designs, getting a flexible circuit (flex) to assume a bent state can be helpful in efficiently routing electrically conductive pathways. One efficient way to implement soldering of flexes in a bent state during a reflow operation is to manipulate paneling that hold batches of the flexes to reliably maintain a suitable bend in those flexes. In some embodiments, a flex can be surface mounted to a portion or the whole of an electric device during a reflow operation during which the bent state is maintained by paneling that is at least partially attached to a periphery of the flex. Another solution is to utilize vacuum or hot glue fixtures to maintain a bend in the flex during surface mounting and reflow operations.

As mobile devices continue to get thinner and more features are added, design and packaging requirements become increasingly more difficult to achieve. For example, an amount of space available within a mobile device can decrease when a form factor of the mobile device is reduced. A flexible circuit (flex) can be utilized as a replacement for traditional wires and other connections in order to provide additional space efficiency as well as functionality. In some embodiments, design requirements may dictate that the flex bend around an obstruction. Current flex attachment methods when soldering the flex to various components involve: (1) positioning the components relative to the flex and applying solder paste between each of the components and the flex in a surface mounting step, and (2) heating the flex and the solder until the solder adheres and forms around the electrical connections between the flex and the components in a reflow step. However, conventional manufacturing guidelines dictate the flex remains flat during the entire attachment process. Bending or folding of the flex prior to conducting surface mounting and reflow steps is avoided because, stresses resulting from the bending may cause flattening of the flex and adverse shifting of the components.


A motion-picture-projection system has a top intermittent sprocket (1) and a bottom intermittent sprocket (6) that are rotated intermittently in unison by mechanical and/or electrical means (8, 9, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24) for conveyance of film (3) through a film gate (4) without formation of loops of film between the top intermittent sprocket and the film-gate outlet sprocket. To compensate for differences of length of unreeled film due to its cyclic advance and film-frame stoppage, compensatory loops (16, 17) are formed prior to instead of after a top intermittent sprocket and after instead of before a film-gate outlet sprocket. A film-contact surface (25, 26) of a film gate is arcuate and bordered with non-abrasive and suitably pliable material to minimize film wear. Air can be pumped onto the film for cooling and for distortion contamination resulting from heat absorption formation that is related to film "breathing". Electronic monitoring of film speed, frame-dwell time, heat, light, film noise, film flutters, film condition, compensatory-loop conditions, equipment functioning, equipment condition and other projection aspects with optionally automatic warnings, operational adjustments and electrical shutdown are provided. A use method is described.

This invention relates to motion-picture projectors and more particularly to dual-sprocket rotation for conveying film through a projector at high speeds with proportionately long-enduring stops intermittently at film gates without flutter, wear or noise of film in intermittent motion and without damage or danger from malfunction of the projection system.
Currently, film projectors employ various types of film looping between input and take-up reels when film is being conveyed intermittently through film gates. Film gates are known also as light gates but will be referred to as film gates for consistency in this document. Film loops in conventional systems compensate for rapid changes of un-reeled length of film above and below a film gate as a result of timed stops of the film at the film gates between evenly synchronized input and take-up of the film by the respective reels. Traditional film projection systems have only a bottom film-transport wheel, called a bottom intermittent sprocket, which pulls the film through a film gate. Unfortunately, such traditional systems require high friction at the film gates to prevent the film from over shooting the film trap.
A variety of prior-art means and methods have been employed to control but not to eliminate film looping between top and bottom sprockets while also eliminating detrimental flutter, wear, noise, damage and danger from operation of a projection machine as taught by this invention.
Examples of different but related projection systems and methods are described in the following patent documents. U.S. Pat. No. 3,303,981, issued to Wiese, described top and bottom film sprockets that were rotated simultaneously in order to drive film through a film gate in the most nearly similar manner in relation to some aspects of this invention that is known. It was limited, however, to a fixed frame 11 that functioned in relation to a moveable frame 12 with a complex indexing means that generated and controlled a relatively small loop that was, nevertheless, a "film-gate loop" between top and bottom film sprockets 13 and 14. Instead of eliminating the film-gate loop with better means and methods, it attempted to minimize the problem in ways that perpetuated its basically detrimental features and taught against a thorough solution that is made possible by this invention.
Two U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,022,525 and 4,253,749, issued to Boudouris, also perpetuated means and methods for forming a film-gate loop between top and bottom film-conveyance sprockets. The '749 Boudouris patent provided for forming a looped film at a distance from a surface of a film gate. This "distance looping" was a prior-art continuation of the film-loop problem that apparently was recognized and attempted to be solved by an indexing system that was similar in principle to the above Wiese patent. The '525 Boudouris patent had larger film-loop problems that were diminished but not eliminated by the latter '749 Boudouris patent.
Other known projection systems are further yet different but pertinent to understanding the significance of this invention. U.S. Pat. No. 4,537,482, issued to Weiner, taught a barrel cam for intermittent transfer of film-gate sections of film between top and bottom film loops. German Application Number DE 3324-911-A, by Thiele, taught a controlled-motorization means between top and bottom film loops. U.S. Pat. No. 4,150,886, issued to Merkel, et al., taught a double-sided gear-belt drive of film-gate sections of film between film loops that were regulated loosely by top and bottom capstan gearing. U.S. Pat. No. 3,937,378, issued to Kopernicky, described detent control of film loop. U.S. Pat. No. 3,494,524, issued to Jones, taught a circumferential loop-control mechanism.
Contrary to the prior art, the present invention provides precision film placement in the film gate by using two synchronized film sprockets that accelerate and decelerate simultaneously. Thus, each frame of film is accurately placed in the same position as the previous frame.
On the other hand, prior art projection systems use pressure friction and registration pins or loops through the film gate assembly to perform this task. Such friction must be overcome to pull the next frame into position. Although the latter friction use may work satisfactorily with 35 millimeter film, it does not work well with larger film stocks and frame sizes, as the friction which is used and must be overcome increases logarithmically. The increased film mass and surface friction requires large film movements and results in increased mechanical failure and film wear.
The present invention eliminates the need to use friction by having a deceleration sprocket before the film gate which also eliminates any slack in the film so the film cannot flutter or jump.


A method and device for automatically determining an optimized approach and/or descent profile for an aircraft are provided. The device comprises means for optimizing an approach and/or descent profile of an aircraft avoiding long and steep geometric segments, the device to this end inserting an idle segment, if it satisfies the restrictions, in the profile relating to the descent phase and/or to the approach phase, wherein said idle segment can be followed by a geometric segment.

It is known that, in order to construct a descent and/or approach profile for an aircraft, in particular a transport aeroplane, an FMS-type flight management system of the aircraft defines an optimised vertical profile by performing a backward calculation (i.e., progressing upward in altitude). This backward calculation is carried out on the basis of the runway threshold or, as a function of the approach geometry, from a usual point (such as a "missed approach point" or a "final end point") up to the cruise flight level (identified by a point TD ("Top of Descent")), taking account of speed and/or altitude constraints inserted into the flight plan. A deceleration point DECEL is likewise calculated by the FMS system. The point DECEL corresponds to the start of the deceleration towards the approach speed (VAPP). This point DECEL determines the limit between the descent and approach phases.
With this method of backward calculation, the first step is the calculation of the approach profile defined by: a final approach profile, calculated from the runway threshold up to a point FAF ("Final Approach Fix") or FAP ("Final Approach Point"). This final approach profile is determined in the usual way by a fixed gradient angle, corresponding to the final part defined in the procedure; and an intermediate approach profile from the point FAF/FAP towards the deceleration point DECEL. Along this intermediate profile, the aircraft starts the deceleration from the point DECEL (at the maximum speed, generally 250 knots, or at the lowest speed restriction which can be flown in clean configuration) until the final approach speed (VAPP) generally reached at a height of 1000 feet above the ground.
When the approach profile is defined, the FMS system starts the backward calculation of the descent profile from the point DECEL to the point TD. Taking account of altitude and/or speed restrictions defined in the flight plan, the descent profile is optimised for the reduction of noise and fuel consumption. To this end it includes: a so-called "geometric part" from the point DECEL to the last point where an altitude restriction impacts upon the definition of the descent profile. The geometric part is composed of a sequence of specific constant gradients, which make it possible to meet altitude restrictions. If no altitude restriction impacts on the descent profile, no geometric part is calculated; and a so-called "idle part" from the last restricting altitude restriction or from the point DECEL (if no geometric part exists) to said point TD. This part comprises a so-called "idle" segment along which the aircraft flies between two restrictions with an engine idling speed (which is beneficial for fuel consumption and noise).
The geometric part, if it exists, is composed, from the point DECEL backwards to the last altitude restriction, by a succession of straight segments (so-called geometric segments) defined each time between two points relating to altitude restrictions. This geometric portion is constructed in order to minimise the vertical maneuvers. In particular, if a straight segment makes it possible simultaneously to meet several restrictions, the corresponding part of the vertical profile is constructed by a single straight segment (geometric segment), instead of a plurality of short unaligned straight segments.
In addition, the FMS system usually associates a type with each geometric segment defined in the vertical profile. As a function of the performance levels of the aircraft and the status of the aircraft and external conditions (mass, centre of gravity, altitude, speed, wind conditions and temperature, . . . ) as well as of the gradient of the geometric segment in question, the aircraft exhibits a certain deceleration capacity along said geometric segment. The deceleration capacity defines the type of geometric segment: if the gradient of the geometric segment enables a sufficient deceleration in order that said segment can be flown in clean configuration (that is to say without the slats and flaps extended), said segment is a so-called "clean airbrake"); if the gradient of the geometric segment does not enable a sufficient deceleration in order that said segment can be flown in clean configuration but on the other hand enables it to be flown with "half airbrake", said segment is a so-called "half airbrake" segment; and if the gradient of the geometric segment does not enable a sufficient deceleration in order that said segment can be flown in clean configuration, even with half airbrake, said segment is called "too steep".
With the aforementioned usual logic used by the FMS system in order to calculate the profile, as the number of vertical maneuvers is minimised, certain geometric segments may potentially be very long and steep, in particular in environments which impose altitude restrictions far removed from one another (in terms of distance and altitude). These geometric segments do not allow a good deceleration capacity, in particular when they have a considerable gradient. This is one of the reasons for positioning of the point DECEL at high altitude.
The position of the point DECEL (that is to say the starting point of deceleration towards the approach speed) should be able to satisfy operational considerations. The approach should start at an altitude where the aircraft is supposed to start the deceleration towards the approach speed. A point DECEL which is too high is not adapted either to the manner in which the pilots are accustomed to perform the descent and the approach, nor to the speeds expected by the air traffic control at such altitude or distance from the final destination.
In addition, other objects, desirable features and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent summary and detailed description, and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background.

Method and device for automatically determining an optimized approach and/or descent profile