A flow control method includes a step of receiving individual data of each session from a network in an individual trunk apparatus and transmitting the received individual data as a transmission side common channel data to a common buffer, a step of temporarily storing data of plural sessions received from the individual trunk apparatus all at once and monitoring the congestion of the common channel according to the common buffer use amount, and upon detection of a congestion level, a step of stopping or limiting transmission of individual data of a session corresponding to a QoS class having a low priority from the individual trunk apparatus to the common buffer.

In the field of mobile communication systems mainly including portable telephone systems, the number of users increases rapidly, and also diversified content services have increased the amount of transmission data. This escalates demands for higher communication qualities. However, since the radio wave resources for communication have limitation, for example, in the case of communication congestion in a portable telephone system, namely, when a congestion condition occurs at a base transceiver station, problems occurs in communication quality, such as partial interruption of communication.
As countermeasures, various methods have been adopted. One of them can eliminate the congestion condition by flow control of communication data in a base transceiver station transmitting-receiving control system. This method is adopted for flow control of individual data concerned with common channels particularly in the case that common channels for multiplex transmission of data and individual channels are included as radio wave transmission lines between a base transceiver station and mobile terminals, providing accomplishments in acquiring the required communication quality.
Hereinbelow, a conventional method of flow control for the common channel in a base transceiver station will be described.
FIG. 1 shows a construction of a base station transmitting-receiving control apparatus in wireless communication providing multiple access including common channels for multiplex transmission. Here, it shows a data flow from TCP/IP (transmission control protocol/Internet protocol) network 2 to the base transceiver station (BTS; base transceiver station) 4 around base station transmitting-receiving control apparatus 1 for wireless communication, with assumption of multiple access including common channels for multiplex transmission.
Data for each session is transmitted from TCP/IP network 2 to exchange 3 and from exchange 3 via a plurality of individual lines L to transmitting-receiving control apparatus 1 of the base transceiver station. The data is subjected to necessary processes in transmitting-receiving control apparatus 1 and then transmitted to base transceiver station 4. Further, while not shown in the drawing, the multiplexed data is transmitted via the base transceiver station to communication terminals (remote terminals), which are communication objects.
Transmitting-receiving control apparatus 1 comprises individual trunk apparatus 11 receiving individual lines L, common buffer apparatuses 12a, 12b corresponding to common channels, multiplexing apparatus 13 providing connection to base transceiver station 4 with multiplexing a plurality of channels. Within individual trunk apparatus 11, for each individual line L, individual line unit "a" for receiving individual data is provided for each session. In the following description, it is assumed that there are n channels including channel 1 (ch.1) and channel 2 (ch.2) for common channels and the remaining channels are for individual channels, and that common buffer apparatus 12a corresponds to channel 1 which temporarily stores individual data pieces (a1, a2, a3) from the individual line unit for three lines. Similarly, the common buffer apparatus 12b corresponds to channel 2 that temporarily stores individual data pieces (a4, a5, a6) from the individual line unit for three lines. Further, individual channels in multiplexing apparatus 13 correspond to individual line unit "a" in the individual trunk apparatus 11 one to one, respectively.
Next, the operation and process in transmitting-receiving control apparatus 1 will be described.
At first, individual trunk apparatus 11 receives individual data for each session with the individual line unit "a" and transmits to common buffer apparatus 12a the individual data piece (for example, individual data pieces a1, a2, a3) requiring the multiplexing process. Individual trunk apparatus 11 transmits individual data corresponding to an individual channel to multiplexing apparatus 13 as it is.
Common buffer apparatus 12a temporarily stores these pieces of data transmitted from individual trunk apparatus 11 and then transmits them to multiplexing apparatus 13. Multiplexing apparatus 13 executes a multiplexing process for the data received from common buffer apparatus 12a and transmits it to base transceiver station 4 as data of common channel (ch.1).
Now, the method of flow control will be described for the case that a congestion condition occurs in common channel ch.1. on the basis of FIG. 2 in which only individual data pieces of sessions associated with the common channel ch.1 are shown for individual trunk apparatus 11.
At first, in S400, individual data for each session is transmitted from individual trunk apparatus 11 to common buffer apparatus 12a. As a result, an amount of data temporarily stored in common buffer apparatus 12a, namely, an amount of the used portion in the buffer, exceeds a congestion threshold value in step S401. That is, a congestion condition is detected.
As a result, in step S402, common buffer apparatus 12a informs individual trunk apparatus 11 about setting the flow control for individual data pieces a1, a2, and a3 using a broadcast message. In response to this notice of setting the flow control, the individual trunk apparatus 11 uniformly stops or restricts transmission of individual data pieces a1, a2, and a3 to common buffer apparatus 12a.
Stopping or restricting the transmission causes the amount of the used portion of the buffer to decrease below the congestion threshold in step S403, eliminating the congestion condition in common channel ch.1. In response to this, in step S404, common buffer apparatus 12a informs individual trunk apparatus 11 about release of the flow control for individual data pieces a1, a2, and a3. Then, in step S405, transmission from individual trunk apparatus 11 to common buffer apparatus 12a is restored to the usual data flow rate. Here, the data flow rate is represented as an amount of data per a unit interval, typically, the number of bits of data per a unit interval.
According to the above-described method the congestion condition can be eliminated in common channel ch.1. However, in this method of flow control, because the data rate is uniformly restricted for each session, the required communication quality or performance may not be achieved due to data delay in accordance with the quality of service (QoS; Quality of service) class required for each session. For example, though no problem occurs in communication of a still picture by such a flow control, in a moving picture communication associated with a voice, the required QoS may not be maintained because a portion of voice or a picture may drop out.

Common channel flow control method and system


A method of classifying an optic nerve cup and rim of an eye from a retinal image comprising receiving a retinal image, determining a feature vector for a candidate pixel in the retinal image, and classifying the candidate pixel as a cup pixel or a rim pixel based on the feature vector using a trained classifier. The retinal image can be a stereo pair, the retinal image can be color or monochrome. The method disclosed can further comprise identifying an optic nerve, identifying an optic nerve cup and optic nerve rim, and determining a cup-to-disc ratio.

Glaucoma is one of the leading causes of blindness, characterized by gradual damage to the optic nerve and resultant visual field loss. Early diagnosis and optimal treatment have been shown to minimize the risk of visual loss due to glaucoma. The hallmark of glaucomatous progression is cupping of the optic nerve head.
One way of determining the amount of cupping is planimetry by experienced glaucoma specialists from stereo color photographs of the optic nerve head. Recently, computerized retinal imaging methods such as Heidelberg Retinal Tomography (HRT), Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) and GDx that offer tomography or nerve fiber layer thickness imaging have become available; however, these have not replaced the stereo photographs of the optic disc. What is needed are methods and systems for automated planimetry that allows cupping of the nerve head to be determined objectively, and quantitatively from stereo photographs of the optic nerve.

Methods and systems for optic nerve head segmentation


A remote-controlled audio system comprises sets of loudspeakers (14A-14D) connected to power amplifier units (22A-22D) in an audio distribution unit (10) to which several audio sources, such as a compact disc unit, a tape deck, etc., are connected. Remote units (34) are provided, one in each zone with a set of loudspeakers. The loudspeakers and the remote unit are connected to the audio distribution unit by four wires whereby audio and data signals and power are transmitted to the loudspeakers and the remote unit, respectively. Each power amplifier unit may have a pair of power amplifiers, each connected to one of the loudspeakers in the set, referenced to a first ground (1) and a second ground (2), respectively. The second ground (2) is maintained at a prescribed voltage relative to the first ground. The remote unit (34A) is connected between the “ground” terminals of the two loudspeakers of the set, i.e. those connected via the speaker cables to the first and second grounds in the audio distribution unit. The remote unit has a transmitter unit which transmits control signals to the audio distribution unit via the “ground” cables. In the audio distribution unit, an interface circuit connected between the grounds conveys the control signals to a control device which adjusts the settings of the audio distribution unit in dependence thereupon. The remote units may receive power from the audio distribution unit via the transmission channel to supply their internal components.

1. Technical Field
The invention relates to the transmission of power and/or signalling between an audio distribution unit and a plurality of remote audio transducers and is especially applicable to multi-zone audio systems or entertainment centres comprising an audio distribution unit for driving several sets of loudspeakers in different zones, such as different rooms of a house.
2. Background Art
A multi-zone audio/entertainment system may have a plurality of loudspeaker sets, each set located in a different zone, such as a room of a house or other building. Typically, such a system comprises an audio distribution unit having inputs for audio signals from several sources (tuner, CD player, tape player, etc.), output ports for connection to the sets of loudspeakers, and a switching matrix for connecting the sources to respective ones of the loudspeaker sets. Some known systems provide local control of volume by means of an autotransformer, but these are susceptible to distortion, heating and poor frequency response. It is desirable for the user to be able to control settings of the audio distribution unit from the zones where the loudspeakers are located.
It is known to provide remote control of audio source selection, volume and tone control, balance adjustment, and so on, by means of keypad units, one for each zone. Each keypad unit communicates with a microcontroller in the audio distribution unit to provide control of most of its functions. A disadvantage of such systems is that each keypad unit is connected to the audio distribution unit by a multi-conductor cable which comprises some conductors for exchanging control signals between the remote keypad unit and the audio distribution unit, and others for supplying power from the audio distribution unit to the remote keypad unit. It is expensive to provide such multi-conductor cabling for every keypad, and such expense is especially unacceptable when adding remote control to an existing multi-zone loudspeaker system, which usually would require installation of multi-conductor cables in addition to existing two-conductor loudspeaker cables.
It is also known to use wireless communication links between remote control units and an audio distribution unit. Disadvantageously, however, the radio frequency circuitry is relatively expensive and susceptible to interference, and the remote control unit requires a local power supply. Also, speaker drive conductors would usually still be required unless the audio drive also used wireless links. The latter systems either are expensive or deliver poor quality results.

Transmission of power and/or signalling between an audio distribution unit and a plurality of remote audio transducers


A controller provides inputs to control execution of a program by combining controller input information and supplementary information utilizing a value of a first one of the controller input information or the supplementary input information as a modifying input to the game program for modifying a mapping or gearing of an input controlling a still active function activated in accordance with at least one of a second one of the controller input information or the supplementary input information or vice versa. It is emphasized that this abstract is provided to comply with the rules requiring an abstract that will allow a searcher or other reader to quickly ascertain the subject matter of the technical disclosure. It is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims.

Computer entertainment systems typically include a hand-held controller, game controller, or other controller. A user or player uses the controller to send commands or other instructions to the entertainment system to control a video game or other simulation being played. For example, the controller may be provided with a manipulator which is operated by the user, such as a joy stick. The manipulated variable of the joy stick is converted from an analog value into a digital value, which is sent to the game machine main frame. The controller may also be provided with buttons that can be operated by the user.
It is with respect to these and other background information factors that the present invention has evolved.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Controller for providing inputs to control execution of a program when inputs are combined

Sony Computer Entertainement America, LLC


The subject of the invention is a substrate provided on at least part of at least one of its faces with a coating having photocatalytic properties, containing photocatalytic titanium oxide, especially crystallized in the anatase form, in an essentially mineral binder comprising at least one semiconducting metal oxide.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to substrates provided with a photocatalytic coating, to the process for obtaining such a coating and to its various applications.
It relates more particularly to coatings comprising semiconducting materials based on metal oxides, especially titanium oxide, which are capable, under the effect of radiation of suitable wavelength, for initiating radical reactions causing the oxidation of organic substances.
The coatings thus allow the materials that they coat to be given new functionalities, especially anti-soiling, fungicidal and bactericidal properties, these optionally being combined with hydrophilic properties, antifogging properties, optical properties, etc.
Very diverse substrates may be envisioned, especially those used in the field of vehicles or buildings, such as glazing and curtain wall, cladding, roofing or floor materials, such as tiles, slates, slabs, tiling and more generally any material used in construction. These materials may thus be made of glass, metal, glass-ceramic, ceramic, cement, brick, wood, stone or material reconstituted from these natural materials, of plastic or, fibrous material of the mineral wool type, especially for filtration processes, etc.
They may also be classified as transparent materials, used in particular in glazing, such as glass or flexible or rigid plastic substrates, such as substrates made of a polyester or of an acrylate like polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA). The substrates may also be classified in the category of non-porous or slightly porous materials (glass) or in the category of (relatively) porous materials, such as tiles and ceramics.
The substrates may be regarded as "mono-materials" such as glass substrates, or substrates comprising a superposition of materials, or layers, such as curtain walls provided with a coating of the curtain wall render type.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Already known, from international patent applications WO 97/10186 and WO 97/10185 are coatings containing anatase-crystallized TiO2 having photocatalytic properties, these coatings being obtained from the thermal decomposition of suitable organometallic precursors and/or from "precrystallized" TiO2 particles encapsulated in a mineral or organic binder.
Also known, from patent WO 99/44954 is an improvement to these types of coatings consisting in the use of precrystallized TiO2 particles encapsulated in a binder which also contains partially crystallized TiO2: the binder thus participates in the photocatalytic effect of the particles, enhancing the performance of the coating both in terms of photocatalytic properties and durability properties.
Also known, from patent applications EP-1 036 826 and EP-1 081 108, are coatings using TiO2 particles in a binder containing zirconium oxide.

Abstract: The subject of the invention is also a process for obtaining said substrate, especially by thermal decomposition of precursors or by a vacuum deposition technique.


A polarizing optical element changes its optical reflectance and/or transmittance according to a polarization state of incoming light. The optical element includes: a first grating layer including multiple striped portions that extend in a predetermined direction; and a second grating layer including multiple striped portions that extend in that predetermined direction. Average grating pitches of the first and second grating layers are both defined to be shorter than the wavelength of the incoming light. The first grating layer is made of a first material that exhibits a light reflecting property to the incoming light. The second grating layer is made of a second material that reduces the reflection of the incoming light from the first grating layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a polarizing optical element and a display device including the optical element.
2. Description of the Related Art
An absorbing dichroic polarizer is currently used most extensively among various other types of polarizers. The absorbing dichroic polarizer is obtained by adsorbing a compound with light absorption anisotropy (e.g., iodine or a dichroic dye) onto a stretched polymer film and orienting the compound. This polarizer decomposes incoming light into polarization components that cross each other at right angles, absorbs polarization components that are parallel to the absorption axis of the dichroic dye and transmits polarization components that are perpendicular to the absorption axis. Accordingly, the light that has been transmitted through the polarizer becomes linearly polarized light. However, if such an absorbing polarizer is used in a display device, then the transmittance to natural light can never exceed 50% in principle, thus resulting in low optical efficiency.
To minimize the loss caused by the absorption of light into such an absorbing dichroic polarizer, another type of polarizer, which reflects linearly polarized light with a particular polarization direction and transmits polarized light with the other directions, was developed and already used actually. Such a linearly polarized light reflecting polarizer is a stack of non-absorbing dielectric materials (e.g., obtained by alternately stacking two different types of polymers A and B as ABABA . . . ). Such a polarizer is formed by alternately stacking the two types of materials A and B and then extruding them together. Accordingly, the stacked materials are stretched along one axis (which will be referred to herein as an "x-axis") but are hardly stretched along the other axis (which will be referred to herein as a "y-axis"). This is why the polarizer exhibits high reflectance to the linearly polarized light that is polarized in the x-axis direction and high transmittance to the linearly polarized light that is polarized in the y-axis direction. If that stack is designed such that the thicknesses of the respective layers change vertically, a reflective polarizer, exhibiting high reflectance to visible light in a broad range, can be obtained.
A polarizer with a micro metal grating (wire grating) is another known type of linearly polarized light reflecting polarizer (see Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 9-90122, for example). This polarizer has a structure in which metal wires made of the same metallic material are arranged parallel to each other. The diameter of the respective metal wires is sufficiently smaller than the wavelength of the incoming light. This type of wire grating polarizer has polarization properties of reflecting polarization components that are parallel to the metal wires (i.e., a TE wave) and transmitting polarization components that are perpendicular to the metal wires (i.e., a TM wave).
When a reflecting polarizer is used in a display device, the polarizer exhibits an identical reflectance to the same polarized light ray that enters the upper surface and the lower surface of the polarizer, thus increasing the optical efficiency. However, if this polarizer is used by itself in a display device, dark display is not realized due to low light attenuation and therefore the contrast decreases on the screen. To achieve the dark display, the display device needs to include the reflecting polarizer and the absorbing polarizer in combination. In that case, however, the number of required components and the manufacturing cost both increase. In addition, the thickness of the display device also increases by the thickness (of about 100 μm) of the absorbing polarizer.

Polarizing optical element and display device including the same


A windrower with a frame that: a) has a front, a rear and laterally spaced sides; and b) is movable in an advancing direction. A processing mechanism is capable of: a) unearthing grown product; and b) separating foreign matter from the grown product as the frame is advanced. A cross conveyor assembly controllably discharges grown product from the processing mechanism to the underlying terrain. The cross conveyor assembly has a first discharge end and at least one section, including the first discharge end, that is selectively translatable laterally relative to the frame as the frame is advancing thereby to laterally change a location of the first discharge end and thus the lateral discharge location for the cross conveyor assembly at the first discharge end.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to windrowers for grown product and, more particularly, to a windrower having a cross conveyor for selectively discharging grown product at different lateral locations.
2. Background Art
Windrowers are used to dig grown product, such as potatoes, out of the ground and discharge an accumulation of the potatoes from multiple rows at one lateral location. Thereafter, the accumulated potatoes may be further windrowed or picked up by a harvester. Windrowing is carried out primarily to reduce the number of passes required by a harvester, that is more expensive, and requires more skill, to operate than a windrower.
Potatoes are normally planted in parallel rows spaced apart at uniform distances of 32-38 inches. Commonly a windrower will continuously simultaneously dig 2, 4 or 6 rows of potatoes as the windrower is advanced parallel to the rows.
Windrowers are generally constructed with components referred to as primary, secondary, and rear cross conveyors. The primary conveyor has blades that dig the potatoes out of the rows. The potatoes and any gathered soil are conveyed upwardly and oppositely to the advancing direction for the windrower during which some of the soil breaks away from the potatoes and deposits on the underlying terrain. The potatoes drop as they transfer from the primary conveyor to the secondary conveyor. This action tends to break up adhered dirt clods. Additional dirt separates as the potatoes are advanced upwardly and oppositely to the advancing direction for the windrower by the secondary conveyor. A third conveyor operates outside of the secondary conveyor and strips vines from the potatoes and dirt. The potatoes drop once again to the cross conveyor, as an incident of which further dirt dislodges from the potatoes. The cross conveyor directs the potatoes laterally for accumulated discharge between two adjacent rows next to the windrower. Precise lateral placement of the discharging potatoes between adjacent rows may require a lateral adjusting capability, for reasons explained below.
When potatoes are planted, oftentimes wheel markers or GPS steering are used to control movement of the towing vehicle/tractor and thereby maintain precise alignment between successive passes so that the row spacing does not deviate throughout an entire planting area. If wheel markers or GPS steering are not available, or otherwise not used, the spacing between a row formed on a subsequent pass may not be consistently spaced in relationship to the adjacent, outer row from an earlier pass. The first row on a pass, that is adjacent to the outer row on a prior pass, is referred to in the industry as a "guess row".
As the potatoes are discharged from the cross conveyor, they are commonly placed between the outer row of a prior pass and the guess row. If the guess row spacing deviates significantly and no adjustment to the lateral discharge location is effected, the potatoes may not be placed between rows where they would otherwise be picked up by a subsequent pass of a windrower or harvester.
It is generally not practical to compensate for this condition by steering the tractor to one side. That is because the tires on the tractor must ride in the region between rows. The tire width of such tractors is generally sufficiently large that only a slight lateral steering of the tractor is possible before the wheels travel partially or fully into the rows.
It is known to adjust the cross conveyor in a manner whereby the potatoes can be discharged into rows at different lateral locations, thereby permitting the tractor to travel in a straight line with the tires between adjacent rows. This adjustment is in one known form effected by changing the lateral inclination of the cross conveyor. As the angle of the cross conveyor increases to effectively elevate the discharge end, the discharge end shifts laterally inwardly relative to the tractor. While this alleviates the above problem to a certain extent, the resulting discharge of potatoes becomes less precise. That is, the potatoes discharge from a greater height and may bounce off of each other and the underlying terrain, as a result of which the potatoes may be deposited on a wider lateral strip. As a consequence, some of the discharged potatoes may not be picked up by a windrower or harvester in a following pass.
It is also known to construct cross conveyors in a manner that they can be manually released and re-mounted in a laterally shifted position to account for row spacing deviations. However, it is not common that row spacing deviation is consistent over a sufficient area to make this exercise practical. Given fluctuations in row spacing, were this adjustment technique practiced, it would be required that the operator repeatedly stop the tractor and make numerous adjustments to accommodate the field conditions. This would be a difficult and time consuming exercise, as a consequence of which most operators will take other steps to accommodate the deviations from the consistent row spacing. Most commonly, the attempted solution is to steer the tractor laterally as dictated by the particular spacing deviation. The ability to do so is limited and may lead to either ineffective compensation or the undesired drifting of the tractor wheels directly into the rows.
The industry has contended with the above problems since there has been lacking a cross conveyor construction that will allow straight travel by a tractor and can be adjusted as the tractor is advancing to compensate for deviating row spacing and cause precise discharge of potatoes between rows.

Windrower and method of windrowing a grown product


Method and system that enables faster data synchronization between different databases. In one embodiment, a method for synchronizing data records between databases is provided. Initially, a first database is designated as a source database and a second database as a target database. The modification flag of a first data record in the source database is examined. If the first modification flag is set, the first data record is propagated to the target database. On the other hand, if the first modification flag is not set, a first modification count of the first data record is compared with a second modification count of a corresponding data record in the target database. In this embodiment, each of the modification counts is a value indicating how many times the respective data record has been modified. If it is determined that the first modification count has a higher value than the second modification count, the corresponding data record is updated according to the first data record. Importantly, the method of this embodiment can be carried out as described without comparing the raw data of the data records. As such, this embodiment of the present invention advantageously eliminates the record-by-record comparison that is inherent in the prior art synchronization process and the inconvenience associated therewith and provides an efficient data synchronization technique that can be beneficially utilized in numerous applications.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to database design. More specifically, the present invention pertains to a method and system that enables faster data synchronization between different databases.
2. Related Art
Computer systems and other electronic devices have become integral tools that are used extensively to perform a wide variety of useful operations in modern society. Applications of computer systems can be found in virtually all fields and disciplines, including but not limited to business, industry, scientific research, education and entertainment. For instance, computer systems are used to analyze financial data, to control industrial machinery, to model chemical molecules, to deliver classroom presentations and to generate special effects for movies. Moreover, computer systems along with other electronic devices are finding new applications as a result of advances in hardware technology and rapid development in software technology. The growing affordability of computer systems and electronic devices together with the abundance of useful new applications have fueled strong demand for such systems and devices.
Included within this broad category of computers and electronic devices is the personal digital assistant (commonly referred to as a PDA). Specifically, as the components required to build a computer system have been greatly reduced in size, new categories of computer systems have emerged. One of these new categories of computer systems is the PDA. A PDA is a portable computer system which is small enough to be held conveniently and comfortably in the hand of its user. In particular, a popular size for the typical PDA approximates the size of a palm.
The PDA is usually a battery-powered device that is typically used as an electronic organizer having the capability to store and display a wide range of information which can include numerous addresses and telephone numbers of business and personal acquaintances, financial information, daily appointments, along with various other personal information. As such, the PDA is able to consolidate a wide variety of information and make the information easily accessible by its user. Therefore, PDAs are very useful and have gained wide popularity.
PDAs usually has a built-in database (e.g., as part of the system software) for storing the wide variety of information as described above. Moreover, PDAs typically have the capability to communicate information with another system, such as to a desktop computer system via a cradle. In many cases, the desktop computer system also store the same kind of information as the PDA with which it communicates in its own database. In between instances of such data communications, the information on either the PDA's or the desktop computer system's database may have been changed (e.g., updates, additions, deletions) by the user. It is also possible that information in both databases have been modified. For example, a user may have added a new entry into the address book of the PDA, and that particular addition has not yet been made to the desktop system's database. Under such circumstances, when the PDA and the desktop system engage in a communication session, data synchronization between the two databases needs to be performed so that the correct information is propagated to both databases.
Currently, some PDAs employ two different modes of synchronization, namely: a slow sync mode and a fast sync mode. According to this implementation, a fast sync is applicable only in a limited number of situations, such as during the first synchronization after a database has been modified. In a subsequent synchronization with a different database, such as a database on a different desktop system, a fast sync is not appropriate and a slow sync is required.
As their names indicate, a slow sync requires more time to complete than a fast sync. This is because while a fast sync simply works on data records that are marked as modified, a slow sync performs a record-by-record comparison for the entire database. Indeed, a slow sync takes up an incrementally longer time period to complete as the size of the database (e.g., measured by the number of data records) that needs to be synchronized increases. As such, it can be an inconvenience to users, especially those who frequently need to synchronize their hand-held device with multiple desktop systems, which typically include a home computer and an office computer. As hand-held computer technology advances and its applications multiply, an increasing number of users utilize hand-held computers and PDAs to store information which eventually needs to be stored in a desktop system, or as a conduit to propagate information between different systems or devices. Therefore, it would be advantageous to come up with a technique that can speed up the rate of data synchronization in situations where a slow sync would have been required under the existing approach.
Another shortcoming of the two-mode data synchronization approach, where fast sync is used in some cases and slow sync in others, is that it necessitates extra programming for developers of applications for PDAs. In particular, since different sync modes are needed under different scenarios, developers need to incorporate program code in PDA applications for determining which sync mode to use in a given situation. Such a requirement is undesirable because the extra program code could prolong the development cycle and introduce added complexity to the applications. Thus, it would be beneficial to provide an approach for data synchronization which is efficient in terms of speed and which does not employ multiple modes of synchronization depending on the particular situation.

Optimized database technique to enable faster data synchronization


A base station according to an embodiment supports full-dimension MIMO (FD-MIMO). The base station includes: an antenna array having antenna elements arranged two-dimensionally in a horizontal direction and a vertical direction; and a controller configured to perform a process of transmitting a dedicated reference signal that is a reference signal used for measurement of channel characteristics and is individually generated for a radio terminal. The controller is configured to select a specific target radio terminal from among target radio terminals to be connected to the base station, and perform a process of transmitting the dedicated reference signal only to the specific target radio terminal.

In the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) that is a standardization project of a radio communication system, the introduction of multi-input multi-output (MIMO) communication using an antenna array having antenna elements arranged two-dimensionally in a horizontal direction and a vertical direction has been studied. Such MIMO communication is referred to as full-dimension MIMO (FD-MIMO). According to the FD-MIMO, it is possible to control the directionality not only in the horizontal direction but also in the vertical direction by arranging the antenna elements two-dimensionally.


A communication method, a mobile terminal, a base station, and a computer readable storage medium are provided. The present disclosure includes: obtaining a target resource for an uplink communication in a current communication process, where a frequency point corresponding to the target resource includes a first serving frequency point of a non-new radio NR communication system, and a communication system where the mobile terminal is located is a new radio NR communication system; and communicating with a base station according to the target resource.

In the future, some operators will deploy 5G new radio (NR) on the C carrier (around 3.5 GHz). However, uplink and downlink budgets at 3.5 GHz have a large difference (a loss of downlink transmission is about 10 dB lower than a loss of an uplink transmission), which causes that an uplink coverage is significantly smaller than a downlink coverage.
The main reason for the large difference between the uplink and downlink budgets is that an uplink transmit power of a mobile terminal is much lower than a downlink transmit power of a base station, a downlink antenna is configured with 64 transmitters and 4 receivers, and an uplink antenna is configured with 1 transmitters and 64 receivers, which causes that the uplink coverage is significantly smaller than the downlink coverage. The difference between the uplink and downlink budgets causes a coverage of 5G network to be limited to the uplink coverage, and the uplink coverage of 3.5 GHz is 5 dB worse than an uplink coverage of 4G network of 2.6 GHz of China Mobile (a gap mainly at a propagation loss), which causes that the 5G base station cannot achieve continuous coverage when sharing a station address with a 4G base station, thereby adversely affecting usage experience of 5G users.
In order to solve the above-mentioned problem that the uplink and downlink budgets of 5G have a large difference, and to support Long Term Evolution (LTE) to be gradually upgraded to NR in a frequency domain, the 3GPP Rel-15 NR WI (work item) includes research contents of co-existence of uplink spectrums of LTE and NR. However, there is no relevant solution in the uplink spectrum co-existence technology for how to perform cell camping, access, and/or uplink transmission.

Communication method, mobile terminal, base station, and computer readable storage medium


An architecture and system are provided for flexible, composable attestation systems. Systems built according to this attestation architecture can be composed to accomplish complex attestation scenarios. The system is designed around composable components to permit flexible recombination. A system, method, and computer program product are provided for proving attestations to an appraiser regarding a target system. In an embodiment, an attestation request is sent from an appraiser to a target system, wherein the attestation request includes queries regarding properties of the target system needed by the appraiser to make trust decisions regarding the target system. The attestation request is forwarded from the target system to an attester which collects the requested data. The attester sends an attestation response to the appraiser, wherein the response includes at least information regarding properties of the target system requested by the appraiser in order to make a trust decision regarding the target system.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to network security and, more particularly, to attestation of properties of a remote system.
2. Description of the Background Art
A principal goal in trusted computing is to provide a user, resource owner, or service provider with reliable knowledge about a system. Through evaluation of the identity and integrity of a system, evidence is produced that the target will not engage in some class of misbehaviors.
Current attestation systems are components of computer systems that permit reliable statements of evidence about those systems to be conveyed to remote parties, including other computers. Through evaluation of the identity and integrity of a system, evidence is produced that the target will not engage in defined classes of misbehaviors. An example of a current attestation system is the remote attestation system developed by the Trusted Computing Group (TCG). The TCG introduced the Trusted Platform Module (TPM) and the associated concept of remote attestation. Remote attestation may be used to address a number of trust problems ranging from guaranteed invocation of software, delivery of premium content to trusted clients, assuaging mutual suspicion between clients, and more. As the requirements of applications cannot be known a priori, attestation systems and measurement systems alike must be flexible, providing for privacy, completeness of measurement, and trust in the basic collection and reporting mechanisms.
Existing attestation systems are narrowly focused and generally aimed at specific use-cases and therefore typically lack flexibility to address more general attestation problems. Further, existing definitions of attestation focus primarily on describing specific, narrow, and particular properties desirable in those use-cases.
Existing attestation definitions primarily focus on describing the particular properties desirable in limited, specific use-cases. Current attestation systems are created to work with one particular measurement system targeting one particular system of interest.
What is needed is an attestation architecture and system to enable trust in systems that are not monolithic and are made up of diverse hardware and software platforms. Also, each party to a given system's attestation desires its own measurements of its peers and themselves. A property that is sufficient for one party to use as evidence for a trust decision may not be for another; a set of information one user has no problem providing might cause privacy concerns for another. These varying needs are directly driven by what each party has at stake. The more one has to lose by inappropriate disclosure or incomplete knowledge, the stricter one's needs will be regarding privacy or complete measurement. Parties with strong demands of each other regarding authentication and measurement may be willing to give up more of their own private information in order to achieve their goals.
Accordingly, what is desired are attestation architectures and systems that are flexible enough to accommodate varying concepts of attestation. What is further needed are attestation systems designed around composable components that permit a flexible recombination of components to meet new needs. What is desired is an attestation architecture that can be used to design attestation systems which handle complex attestation scenarios and provide more complete attestation than is currently achievable.


An active matrix substrate has an insulating substrate, a plurality of signal lines and a plurality of scanning lines arranged in a matrix on the insulating substrate and defining a matrix of areas, each area including a pixel electrode and a switching device. The switching device has a connecting electrode for connecting the switching device to the pixel electrode. The connecting electrode includes a rectangular main portion and an extended portion connected to the main portion, and the main portion has a side which is substantially identical in length to the width of the switching device. The main portion and the extended portion are disposed between the pixel electrode and the insulating substrate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an active matrix substrate for use in a liquid crystal display device and the like, practically to an active matrix substrate which is used in combination with an opposing substrate having a counter electrode thereon and a display medium such as a liquid crystal interposed between the active matrix substrate and the opposing substrate.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventionally in a liquid crystal display device (hereinafter, referred to as the "LCD device"), an EL (electroluminescent) display device, a plasma display device and the like, a display pattern is formed on a display plane by selectively driving display pixels arranged in a matrix. As a system for selectively driving the display pixels, an active matrix driving system is known, according to which each independent pixel electrode is connected to a switching device. The active matrix driving system, which allows for high-contrast display, is used in a liquid crystal TV, a word processor, a computer and the like.
As the switching device for selectively driving the pixel electrodes, a TFT (thin film transistor), a MIM (metal-insulator-metal) device, a MOS (metal-oxide semiconductor) transistor, a diode, a varistor and the like is generally employed. Such a switching device is used to optically modulate a visible display medium such as a liquid crystal, an EL emitter, a plasma emitter and the like, thereby forming a visible display pattern on the display plane.
FIG. 11 is a plan view of a conventional active matrix substrate using an amorphous silicon (hereinafter, referred to as "a-Si") TFT having a reverse stagger structure as a switching device. In FIG. 11, a transparent insulating substrate 101 formed of glass or the like has a plurality of gate bus lines 121 arranged substantially in parallel and a plurality of source bus lines 122 arranged substantially in parallel. The gate bus lines 121 and the source bus lines 122 run perpendicularly to each other. A rectangular area defined by the two adjacent gate bus lines 121 and the two adjacent source bus lines 122 has a pixel electrode 140 formed therein. Each pixel electrode 140 is connected to a TFT 131a, and the TFT 131a has a drain electrode 133a on a rear surface of an end portion of the pixel electrode 140. The TFT 131a also has a source electrode and a gate electrode. The source electrode is constituted by a source bus branch line 122a branched from the source bus line 122, and the gate electrode is constituted by a portion 121a of the gate bus line 121. In other words, the TFT 131a is connected to one of the two gate bus lines 121 and to one of the two source bus lines 122.
FIG. 12 shows another conventional active matrix substrate using a TFT as a switching device. The gate bus line 121 has a gate bus branch line 121b branched therefrom, and a tip portion of the gate bus branch line 121b constitutes a gate electrode of the TFT 131a. The source bus line 122 has a projected portion 122a, which constitutes a source electrode of the TFT 131a. A drain electrode 133a of the TFT 131a is provided on a rear surface of an end portion of the pixel electrode 140.
FIG. 13 shows still another conventional active matrix substrate, in which each pixel electrode 140 is connected to two TFTs 131b and 131c each having the identical structure with that of the TFT 131a of FIG. 11. A drain electrode 133b of the TFT 131b and a drain electrode 133c of the TFT 131c are both provided on a rear surface of end portions of the pixel electrode 140.
FIG. 14 shows still another conventional active matrix substrate, in which each pixel electrode is connected with two TFTs 131b and 131c each having the identical structure as that of the TFT shown in FIG. 12. A drain electrode 133b of the TFT 131b and a drain electrode 133c of the TFT 131c are both provided on a rear surface of end portions of the pixel electrode 140.
FIG. 3b is an enlarged plan view of a connecting portion of the active matrix substrates of FIGS. 11 and 12, and FIG. 7b is an enlarged plan view of a connecting portion of the active matrix substrates of FIGS. 13 and 14. In FIG. 3b, the end portion of the pixel electrode 140 overlaps the drain electrode 133a. In FIG. 7b, the end portions of the pixel electrode overlap the drain electrodes 133b and 133c. It is known that such active matrix substrates have the following problems.
(1) It is possible that a portion of a step portion of the pixel electrode (the step portion being shaded in FIGS. 3b and 7b), which is formed on an end portion of the drain electrode, is undesirably thinner than the other portion as is shown in FIG. 15b. In FIG. 15a, which illustrates the pixel electrode overlapping the drain electrode in a satisfactory state, the step portion has the identical thickness with that of the other portion. The undesirable overlapping state shown in FIG. 15b tends to occur in the case when an end surface of the drain electrode is steeply inclined or the end portion of the drain electrode has an abnormal shape (for example, an edge thereof has an upward projection or the end surface is rough). Such an undesirable overlapping state of the step portion results in an increased resistance thereof and possibly a conduction failure. PA1 (2) In the case when the pixel electrode 140 is formed by photolithography, etching liquid possibly corrodes the step portion of the pixel electrode 140 and the drain electrode 133a (or 133b and 133c). Such corrosion occurs since a photo resist film formed on a pixel electrode material to obtain the pixel electrode 140 in a desired pattern is usually adhered onto the pixel electrode material at corners d and e (or f, g, h and i) in an inferior state than in the other portion. In the case when the whole step portion is corroded, the drain electrode 133a (or 133b and 133c) and the pixel electrode 140 are electrically separated from each other, thereby causing a conduction failure.
When a conduction failure occurs, the pixel electrode 140 is not supplied with current from the TFT 131a (or 131b and 131c). Accordingly, the liquid crystal interposed between the pixel electrode 140 and the counter electrode is not applied with a sufficient voltage for display. Such a phenomenon, which is recognized as a point defect in a display device, lowers the yield of the production. In the case when such a phenomenon occurs in a wide area, a great number of point defects are generated on the display device, resulting in a fatal reduction of the yield.
In order to solve the above problem, it is known to connect two TFTs to each pixel electrode as is shown in FIGS. 13 and 14. In such an active matrix substrate, even if a conduction failure occurs between one of the TFTs and the pixel electrode 140 due to contamination of foreign objects or a defective patterning of the photo resist film, the other TFT normally functions. Accordingly, the possibility that a point defect occurs can be lower than in the active matrix substrates in FIGS. 11 and 12.
However, it rarely occurs that a conduction failure is generated in one of the TFTs due to the aforementioned undesirable overlapping state or corrosion caused in the process of photolithography while the other TFT normally functions, since two adjacent TFTs are usually produced in extremely similar conditions. Accordingly, even if the pixel electrode 140 is connected with two or more TFTs, the generation of the point defect cannot sufficiently be prevented.

Active matrix substrate including connecting electrode with extended portion


A food carrier including a container body with an opening and a lid conforming to the opening of the container body is described. The container body is formed of a sheet of material and comprises a bottom and a peripheral wall that extends upward from the periphery of the bottom. A plurality of folds are provided at least part of the peripheral wall. At least part of the plurality of folds overlap one another. A support portion is formed by rolling part of the peripheral wall at the periphery of the opening. A lid is removably mounted on the support portion. A tray supports a number of containers.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a container for housing food and a tray using the container.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventionally, containers having a variety of shapes, sizes and materials have been used to contain various foods such as rice, side dishes and the like. One container of this kind, for example, is a container for carrying rice or a side dish, such as a lunch box, which is sold at stands of railway stations for tourists. The container needs to be sufficiently rigid to carry food. Thus many conventional food containers are shaped from materials such as wood, styro-foam, cardboard, etc. Typically, such food containers are used with lids conforming to their openings.
A food container manufactured to have rigidness or strength as a top priority is not easily crushed into a compact piece for disposal, which results in bulky garbage. Such garbage needs a large disposal space compared to compact garbage, which is undesirable in view of obvious environmental concerns.
Food containers formed of a material thinner than cardboard may have an improved crushability. However, such containers are subject to spilling due to the easy deformation of the material. Further, it is troublesome to reliably mount a lid on an opening that tends to deform.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a food container that can be crushed into a compact piece for disposal and further, one that has enough rigidity for a lid to be reliably mounted thereon and is easy to handle.


A universal movable upper tool for a waste-stripping station situated within a machine designed for die-cutting sheet or web-like matter to be converted into packages includes a tool with a rectangular lower plate provided with apertures. Push-rods destined to push waste material through corresponding openings of a perforated upper plate forming a lower tool of the station are fitted against a lower side of the upper plate with the help of quick-fitting means situated on the upper plate's upper surface. Sponge rubber pressers are fitted against a lower side of the upper plate by means of strips affording an easily disengageable mechanical engagement such as hook and loop locking strips (such as VELCRO fasteners) or frictionally engaging locking devices (such as LEGO fasteners).

The present invention relates to a movable upper tool for a waste-stripping station situated within a machine designed for die-cutting sheet or web-like matter to be converted into packages.
In the course of the production of packages, sheets are fed one by one into a die-cutting press. When the die-cutting operation is accomplished, every sheet has the shape of several cuttings or blanks juxtaposed and attached together with linking points which will be subsequently eliminated, every blank corresponding to a package. However, the blanks do not cover the whole surface of the sheet; in fact, certain areas situated between two blanks or at the periphery of the sheet are waste which have to be removed from the said sheet. For this purpose, every sheet having passed through the die-cutting station is fed individually into a waste-stripping station. This station includes a movable upper tool provided with push-rods, and a lower tool shaped as a perforated plate. With the sheet having been placed on the lower tool so as to undergo the waste-stripping operation, the upper tool is then lowered, thereby allowing the push-rods to press the waste through the corresponding apertures of the perforated plate.
In order to maintain the sheet in position and applied against the perforated plate during the waste-stripping operation, the prior art suggests to fit on the upper tool pressers made out of sponge rubber or similar material.
It is known to make so called universal tools, that is, tools which are able to be adjusted to various arrangements and configurations of the sheet's waste. Such a universal upper tool, as described for example in the Swiss patent CH-A-490943, consists of a horizontal plate with a size at least equivalent to the size of the sheet and perforated with numerous oblong apertures through every one of which a waste portion of the sheet may be pushed in between a push-rod fixed on the lower side of the plate and quick-fitting means arranged on the upper side of the same plate. By choosing the appropriate oblong apertures, and moving the push-rods along the latter apertures, it is possible to adapt the upper tool to every new job with only one plate and an adequate number of push-rods.
Until now, the fitting of the sponge rubber pressers against the lower side of the upper tool has been accomplished with the use of glue. Gluing, though, has the following drawbacks:
destruction of the pressers when removing them; PA1 impossibility of fine adjustment of the position of the presser once in place; and PA1 Necessity to clean the plate.
For this reason, it has been suggested to replace the glue with a double-side adhesive which has nearly the same drawbacks as the glue.

Universal movable upper tool for a waste-stripping station situated within a sheet die-cutting machine used for producing packages


Different frequency reuse values are associated with different channels, e.g., different types of channels in a cellular communications system. For a high speed downlink shared type of channel, the frequency reuse may be greater than one in order to achieve higher data rates. On the other hand, the frequency reuse may be set to one for other channel types, e.g., dedicated channels including both uplink and downlink dedicated channels. Alternatively, the frequency reuse may also be set greater than one for channels in addition to the downlink shared channel, e.g., one or more dedicated downlink channels, while a frequency reuse of one is deployed for one or more uplink dedicated channels. Using different frequency reuse values reduces inter-cell interference, particularly at cell borders, while still maintaining existing soft handover schemes for dedicated channels if one or more of the channels is a code division multiple access (CDMA) type of channel.

In order to increase the capacity of a cellular radio communications network, different access strategies may be employed. Rather than assigning a particular frequency bandwidth to a single radio communication as in Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA)-based systems, time division multiplexing may be employed as in Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA)-based systems to increase the number of user communications that use the same frequency bandwidth. Multiple users transmit on the same frequency bandwidth, but at a different time. In Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), multiple users share the same frequency bandwidth, but each radio communication is assigned a different spreading code used by a receiver to extract the desired information.
As third generation CDMA-based mobile radio communication systems like wideband CDMA and CDMA 2000 evolve, they may incorporate time division multiplex principles along with code division multiplexing. For example, a shared channel may be employed primarily for downlink (from base station-to-mobile station) packet data transmissions, i.e., a High Speed-Downlink Shared Channel (HS-DSCH). Such a high speed downlink shared channel corresponds to downlink spreading codes shared by mobile users on a time division multiplexed basis. For a particular time interval, the entire set of HS-DSCH spreading codes is used for downlink transmission to a single mobile terminal. In the example illustrated in FIG. 1, there are five spreading codes (SC) allocated to the HS-DSCH corresponding to SC1–SC5. The use of these five spreading codes is decided on a timeslot basis. Data to a first mobile terminal MT#1 is transmitted during timeslot TS1 employing all five spreading codes SC1–SC5. At timeslot TS2, all five spreading codes are employed to transmit data to the mobile terminal MT#2. At timeslot T3, all five spreading codes are used to transmit data to the mobile terminal MT#3. While this pattern may repeat itself, this need not be the case. For example, timeslots TS4 and TS6 could be used to send data to MT#1, and timeslot TS5 could be used to send data to MT#2.
In addition to sharing resources using time division multiplexing, high speed shared channel resources may also be shared by mobile users using Code Division Multiplexing (CDM). For a given time interval in CDM, data to multiple mobile terminals may be transmitted in parallel using different subsets of the spreading codes allocated to the high speed shared channel in addition to time division multiplexing. Referring to FIG. 2, during timeslot TS1, data to the mobile terminal MT#1 is transmitted using all five spreading codes. However, during timeslots TS2 and TS3, two spreading codes SC1–SC2 are used to transmit data to the mobile terminal MT#2, and spreading codes SC3–SC5 are used to send data to the mobile terminal MT#3. Similar to the pure TDM case, as described in the previous paragraph, this pattern may or may not repeat itself. For example, timeslots TS4 and TS6 could be used to allocate all five spreading codes to send data to MT#1, and timeslot TS5 could be used to send data to MT#1 using SC1–SC2 and data to MT#3 using SC3–SC5.
One issue regarding such a high speed downlink shared channel is how to offer satisfactory quality of service to all mobile terminals in the cell. Radio channel conditions vary dramatically and quite rapidly. It may be advantageous not to try to adjust the transmit power on the high speed downlink shared channel to compensate for quickly varying channel conditions. (It still may be desirable to adjust the transmit power for other reasons, e.g., to vary the fraction of the total downlink cell capacity allocated for high speed downlink shared channel transmission.) Instead of transmit power adjustment, the modulation and/or coding scheme used on the high speed downlink shared channel may be varied to adapt the high speed downlink shared channel transmission to varying channel conditions. This is referred to as adaptive modulation and coding (AMC). By varying the modulation and/or coding scheme, the high speed downlink shared channel data rate may be varied. For mobile terminals experiencing favorable conditions, e.g., the mobile terminal is close to the base station, higher order modulation, e.g., 16 QAM, and higher rate coding, e.g., R=¾, may be used. Similarly, for mobile terminals experiencing less favorable positions, e.g., the mobile terminal is close to the cell border, lower order modulation, e.g., QPSK, and lower rate coding, e.g., R=¼, might be used. Thus, mobile terminals experiencing favorable positions can be offered higher data rates, i.e., higher quality of service (QoS), while mobile terminals experiencing less favorable positions can be offered lower data rates, i.e., lower quality of service.
Each mobile terminal that may receive downlink packet data on the high speed downlink shared channel (HS-DSCH) may also communicate with the base station using a pair of associated uplink (UL) and downlink (DL) dedicated physical channels, i.e., UL DPCH and DL DPCH. The associated uplink and downlink dedicated physical channels correspond to uplink and downlink dedicated spreading codes. In contrast to an AMC-based approach for the high speed shared channel, "fast" power control is typically employed in existing CDMA systems to control the transmit power of CDMA signals. Fast power control should also be used to control the transmit power on dedicated channels, including downlink dedicated channels associated with the high speed downlink shared channel, in order to compensate for quickly varying channel conditions. That fast power control is usually implemented gradually using small, incremental (+/−) power control commands. The power control command that controls the transmit power of the downlink dedicated channel is carried on the uplink dedicated channel and vice versa.
In addition to carrying power control commands for downlink dedicated channels, an uplink dedicated channel may be used for uplink control signaling related to the high speed downlink shared channel, e.g., estimates of the downlink channel quality. Such HS-DSCH quality estimates may be used, for example, by the base station to select the high speed downlink shared channel modulation and/or coding scheme. The uplink dedicated channel may also carry other types of services such as speech. Similarly, the downlink dedicated channel may carry other services such as speech as well as downlink signaling information related to the high speed downlink shared channel. For example, such control signaling may indicate that data for a specific mobile terminal is being transmitted on the high speed shared channel along with information about certain transmission parameters such as a modulation and/or coding scheme to be used on the high speed shared channel. FIG. 3 illustrates an approach where each of four mobile terminals (MT1–MT4) is allocated its own dedicated uplink and downlink signaling channels. However, all mobile terminals may use a single downlink shared data channel, where sharing may be accomplished using time division multiplexing and/or code division multiplexing as described above. FIG. 4 illustrates these shared and dedicated channels with more specific labels. Instead of transmitting all downlink signaling related to the high speed shared channel on an associated downlink dedicated channel, some of the downlink signaling may be transmitted on an associated shared signalling channel (not illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4).
CDMA-based systems are typically deployed with a one-to-one correspondence between uplink and downlink carrier frequencies (fDL,1⇄fUL,1; fDL2⇄fUL,2, etc.). However, it is likely that, in the future, more spectrum will be allocated for the downlink compared to that allocated for the uplink because there will be larger volumes of downlink traffic than uplink traffic, e.g., high speed multimedia services like downloading web page information to a mobile terminal. FIG. 5 illustrates frequency spectrum as trapezoids with multiple downlink carriers (fDL,1; fDL,2) sharing a single uplink carrier (fUL). Different downlink carriers may support different types of services. As illustrated in FIG. 6, one downlink carrier may carry only speech (fDL,1), and one downlink carrier may only carry packet data (fDL,2). Both downlink carriers could share the same uplink carrier (fUL) to carry a variety of uplink information including uplink speech, uplink packet data, uplink control signaling associated with the high speed downlink transmission, etc. One reason to separate different types of services on different carriers is that different services may have very different characteristics. As an example, a speech service may be more sensitive to interference as compared to a packet data service. Thus, a packet-data carrier can be loaded with more traffic compared to the case when the carrier is also carrying speech services.
Frequency reuse is a defining characteristic of cellular systems. In frequency reuse, the same carrier frequencies are used in multiple, geographically different areas for which the system provides coverage. Significantly, these areas are separated from one another by a sufficient distance so that any co-channel or adjacent channel interference is less than a particular threshold. FIG. 7A shows a cellular system with a frequency reuse of one, i.e., the same carrier frequency f1 is used in all cells. This is the case in CDMA-based cellular systems like CDMA 2000 and wideband CDMA. A frequency reuse of one means that the entire available frequency band is available in each cell. The entire available frequency band is represented symbolically in FIG. 7A as f1. However, that frequency band could be divided into, e.g., three subbands f1, f2, and f3, and in that case, every cell transmits over all three subbands.
The problem with a frequency reuse of one is the high level of inter-cell interference, i.e., interference originating from neighbor cells. To reduce inter-cell interference, FDMA and TDMA cellular systems typically use a frequency reuse greater than one, which means that neighboring cells use different carrier frequencies. FIG. 7B shows an example frequency reuse equal to three. Both of the examples of FIG. 7A and FIG. 7B are somewhat simplified in the sense that the uplink and the downlink typically use different carrier frequencies. Thus, f1 may be interpreted as a pair of frequencies [fUL,1, fDL,i].
For a CDMA system that employs a high speed downlink shared channel, a frequency reuse of one leads to large variations in the channel quality, (measured, for example, in terms of signal-to-interference ratio (SIR)), between different positions in a cell. Larger variations in channel quality may result from higher levels of downlink interference that may be present in the cell, especially close to the cell border. As described above, using adaptive modulation and/or coding, the data rate of the high speed downlink shared channel depends on the channel quality, e.g., the detected SIR. Thus, with a frequency reuse equal to one, there may be large variations in the high speed downlink shared channel services offered to different mobile terminals, depending on their position in the cell. Mobile terminals close to the cell site and far from the cell border may experience high downlink signal-to-interference ratios, allowing for high data rates on the HS-DSCH. Mobile terminals close to the cell border may well experience lower, downlink signal-to-interference, allowing only low data rates on the downlink channel. A reuse of greater than one results in less inter-cell interference at the cell border, improves channel quality, and accordingly, allows for significantly higher data rates at the cell border over the high speed downlink shared channel.
Although there is a benefit in terms of lower inter-cell interference, and thus improved services for mobiles at cell borders achieved by employing a frequency reuse greater than one for a CDMA-based system, there are certain disadvantages with using a frequency reuse greater than one in a CDMA-based cellular system. If the total available uplink spectrum is less than the total available downlink spectrum, as illustrated in the example of FIG. 6 above, there may not be enough uplink spectrum to support a frequency reuse greater than one on the uplink. One solution to this problem is to use a frequency reuse equal to one for the uplink, i.e., uplink communication is performed on the same carrier frequency fUL in all cells. At the same time, a frequency reuse greater than one is used for the downlink, i.e., downlink communication is performed on different carriers in neighbor cells. However, this solution causes a problem related to soft handover.
Soft or diversity handover is readily supported in CDMA systems where the frequency reuse is one. Soft handover is typically used in a CDMA system with an uplink a frequency reuse of one, in order to avoid excessive uplink interference and significant capacity loss. In soft handover, an uplink transmission from a mobile station is received by multiple neighbor base stations, e.g., base stations in a so-called "active set." In addition, all base stations in the active set transmit on the downlink to the mobile station. Each of the power control commands transmitted from all base stations in the active set is considered by the mobile station when it regulates its uplink transmit power. Mobile uplink transmissions are usually simultaneously power controlled from all base stations in the active set in such a way that if any of the base stations requests a reduction in power, the mobile terminal transmit power is reduced. The mobile terminal transmit power is only increased if all base stations in the active set request an increase of the transmit power. If a frequency reuse equal to one is used on the downlink, the mobile terminal only has to receive a single carrier frequency to receive the power control command signals from all of the base stations in the active set.
If there are multiple carrier frequencies in a system with a frequency reuse greater than one for the downlink, the task of receiving power control commands from the active set of base stations is more complicated. The mobile terminal must be able to receive and process simultaneously the same signals on different frequency carriers. Because this is complicated and requires a multi-carrier receiver in the mobile terminals, in practice, soft handover is easier to implement when the downlink frequency reuse is one. In addition, the ability to perform soft handover associated with a frequency reuse of one is beneficial for some services like speech in both uplink an downlink directions. Soft handover permits seamless handover between base stations, leading to improved quality of service.
The present invention resolves these competing interests with respect to frequency reuse in a CDMA-based mobile communication system (although it is not limited to CDMA systems). Different frequency reuse values are associated with different channels in a cellular communications system, e.g., different types of channels. For a high speed downlink shared type of channel, the frequency reuse may be greater than one in order to achieve higher data rates. On the other hand, the frequency reuse may be set to one for other channel types, e.g., dedicated channels including both uplink and downlink dedicated channels. Alternatively, the frequency reuse may also be set greater than one for channels in addition to a downlink shared channel, e.g., one or more dedicated downlink channels, while a frequency reuse of one is deployed for one or more uplink dedicated channels. Using different frequency reuse values reduces inter-cell interference, particularly at cell borders, while still maintaining existing soft handover schemes for dedicated channels if one or more of the channels is a CDMA channel.

Cellular radio communication system with frequency reuse


An in-place learning algorithm is provided for a multi-layer developmental network. The algorithm includes: defining a sample space as a plurality of cells fully connected to a common input; dividing the sample space into mutually non-overlapping regions, where each region is a represented by a neuron having a single feature vector; and estimating a feature vector of a given neuron by an amnesic average of an input vector weighted by a response of the given neuron, where amnesic is a recursive computation of the input vector weighted by the response such that the direction of the feature vector and the variance of signal in the region projected onto the feature vector are both recursively estimated with plasticity scheduling.

A classical study by Blakemore & Cooper 1970 reported that edge detectors are far from being totally innate. If kittens were raised in an environment with only vertical edges, only neurons that respond to vertical or nearly vertical edges were found in the primary visual cortex. Recently, experimental studies have shown how the cortex develops through input-driven self-organization, in a dynamic equilibrium with internal and external inputs. Such dynamic development and adaption occurs from the prenatal stage and continues throughout infancy, childhood, and adulthood. Recently, it has been reported that the spatio-temporal receptive fields and the response of retinal ganglion cells change after a few seconds in a new environment. The changes are adaptive in that the new receptive field improves predictive coding under the new image statistics.
Orientation selective cells in the cortical area V1 are well known, but the underlying learning mechanisms that govern their emergence (i.e., development) are still elusive. Furthermore, complex cells and other cells in V1 that do not exhibit a clear orientation are still poorly understood in terms of their functions and their underlying learning mechanisms. Understanding cortical filter development algorithms is important to address these open problems.
A network is developmental if it can deal with autonomous epigenetic development—namely, it has fully automatic internal self-organization that enables it to autonomously learn a plurality of sensorimotor skills or a plurality of tasks through autonomous interactions with its environment (which may include humans). The work for filter development reported here is fundamentally different from hand-designed filters such as Gabor filters, because the lobe component analysis (LCA) filters presented here are automatically generated (i.e., developed) form signals. Unlike hand-designed filters (e.g., Gabor filters) which wastefully tile the entire input space which is only sparsely sensed, LCA only develops filters to optimally cover all the subparts of input space that have been sensed. Because of this "spectrum finding" property and its use of biological mechanisms found in various cortices, LCA can be potentially used to develop filters for any cortical area e.g., any sensory modalities (vision or audition) for their early, intermediate, or later processing.
In order to understand what the biological cortex detects, how it represents internally and how it develops feature detectors, this disclosure rigorously proposes a classification of learning algorithms, and introduces the concept of in-place learning. Then, it introduces a biologically inspired new concept, called lobe components.
Consider a neuron which takes n inputs, x=(x1, x21, . . . xn). The synaptic weight for xi is wi, i=1, 2, . . . , n or write w=(w1, w2, . . . , wn). The response l of a neuron has been modeled by l=g (w·x), where g is a monotone, nonlinear, sigmoid function. The learning (adaptation) of the neuron is characterized by the modification of g and w using input vectors xt, t=1, 2, . . . .
To facilitate understanding of the nature of learning algorithms, we define five types of learning algorithms:                Type-1 batch: A batch learning algorithm L1 computes g and w using a batch of vector inputs B={x1, x2, . . . , xb}, where b is the batch size.(g,w)=L1(B),  (1)        where the argument B on the right is the input to the learner, L1 and the right side is its output. The learning algorithm needs to store an entire batch to input vectors B before learning can take place. Since L1 requires the additional storage of B, L1 must be realized by a separate network L1 and thus, the learning of the (learning) network L1 is an open problem.        Type-2 block-incremental: A type-2 learning algorithm, L2, breaks a series of input vectors into blocks of certain size b (b>1) and computes updates incrementally between blocks. Within each block, the processing by L2 is in a batch fashion.        Type-3 incremental: Each input vector must be used immediately for updating the learner's memory (which must not store all the input vectors) and then the input must be discarded before receiving the next input. Type-3 is the extreme case of Type-2 in the sense that block size b=1. A type-2 algorithm, such as Infomax, becomes a Type-3 algorithm by setting b=1, but the performance will further suffer.        Type-4 covariance-free incremental: A Type-4 learning algorithm L4 is a Type-3 algorithm, but furthermore, it is not allowed to compute the 2nd or higher order statistics of the input x. In other words, the learner's memory M(t) cannot contain the second order (e.g., correlation or covariance) or higher order statistics of x. The CCI PCA algorithm is a covariance-free incremental learning algorithm for computing principal components as the weight vectors of neurons. Further information regarding this algorithm may be found in a paper by Weng et al entitled "Candid Covariance-free Incremental Principle Component Analysis" IEEE Trans. Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, 25(8):1034-1040 (2003).        Type-5 in-place neuron learning: A Type-5 learning algorithm L5 is a Type-4 algorithm, but further the learner L5 must be implemented by the signal processing neuron N itself. A term "local learning" used by some researchers does not imply in-place. For example, for a neuron N, its signal processor model has two parts, the synaptic weight w(t) and the sigmoidal function g(t), both updated up to t. A type-5 learning algorithm L5 must update them using the previously updated weight w(t−1) and the sigmoidal function g(t−1), using the current input xt while keeping its maturity indicated by t:(w(t),g(t),t)=L5(w(t−1),g(t−1),t−1,xt).  (2)        After the adaptation, the computation of the response is realized by the neuron N:yt=g(t)(w(t)·xt).  (3)        An in-place learning algorithm must realize L5 and the computation above by the same neuron N, for t=1, 2, . . . .
Principal components computed from natural images can be used as the weight vectors of neurons. Some of the principal components have a clear orientation, but their orientations are crude (e.g., exhibiting few directions) and their support is not localized (i.e., most synapses have significant magnitudes).
Higher order statistics (e.g., higher-order moments, kurtosis, etc.) have been used in the Independent Component Analysis (ICA). The ICA algorithms search, from higher order statistics of inputs, a set of filters whose responses are statistically as independent as possible. However, the published ICA algorithms are Type-1 and Type-2 algorithms. By these algorithms, every learning neuron requires a dedicated, separate neural network to handle its learning. However, the existence and learning of this separate learning network has largely been left unaddressed. This overlooked obvious problem needs to be resolved not only for any neural learning algorithm to be biologically plausible, but more importantly, for understanding the tightly associated signal processing network.
The concept of in-place learning is based on the following hypothesis. Each neuron with n synaptic weights does not have extra space in itself to store correlation values and other higher-order moments of its input. For example, the covariance matrix of input x requires (n+1)n/2 additional storage units. A typical neuron in the brain has about n=1000 synapses. The correlations of these n input fibres requires (n+1)n/2=500,500 storage units. A Purkinje cell typically has about n=150,000 synapses. The correlation of its input vector requires as many as (n+1)n/2≈1.125×1010 storage units. It is unlikely that a neuron has so many storage units within its cell body. For example, there is no evidence that the genes, residing in the cell nucleus, record and recall all correlations of cells input fibres.
Surprisingly, by forcing the learning algorithm to be in place, we arrive at a deeper understanding of not only how they learn, but also their functions.

Multi-layer development network having in-place learning

Board of Trustees of Michigan State University


An improved exercise apparatus is described. The apparatus comprises a cylindrical element and a flexible member associated with the cylindrical element. The flexible member is movable between a wound configuration, in which the member is wound around the cylindrical element, and an unwound configuration, in which the member is unwound from the cylindrical element. The apparatus further comprises a recoil means biased to move the flexible member to the wound configuration and a resistance means that resists movement of the flexible member from the wound to the unwound configurations. The resistance means comprises an energy storage device, which is in a geared relationship with the cylindrical element. In a preferred embodiment the energy storage device is a flywheel.

Most existing forms of exercise apparatus are too large or heavy to be easily transported or stowed. Examples include weight lifting equipment, rowing machines, and exercise cycles. Some portable strength-building equipment is available, such as elastic cords, but there is little portable equipment available that allows convenient indoor aerobic exercise.
It is advantageous to monitor and record the performance of the user during exercises. This is commonplace in gym equipment where performance monitors are fitted to most forms of aerobic exercise apparatus. Such a facility is uncommon in low cost portable exercise equipment.


A non-aqueous electrolyte cell has an electrode assembly including a negative electrode strip, a positive electrode strip having an active cathode material, and a separator. The positive electrode strip and the negative electrode strip are superposed with the separator therebetween and wound in a spiral. The negative electrode strip is disposed outside the positive electrode strip and has an outermost winding, a negative electrode strip winding end, and a penultimate winding. The positive electrode strip has an outermost winding terminating at a positive electrode strip winding end. An anode current collector contacts the negative electrode strip on the penultimate winding and is radially aligned with a portion of the outermost winding of the positive electrode strip. Insulating tape is bonded to an inside surface and an outside surface of the positive electrode strip extending from the positive electrode strip winding end and has an outer portion extending one of continuously and intermittently on the outer surface of the positive electrode strip a greater distance than an inner portion of the insulating tape covering the inner side of the positive electrode strip. In an embodiment, the outer portion of the insulating tape continuously extends from the positive electrode strip winding end to a point radially aligned with the anode current collector. Alternatively, an auxiliary insulating tape is bonded to an inside surface of the outermost winding of the negative electrode strip in place of the above outer portion of the insulating tape.

The present invention relates to a non-aqueous electrolyte cell including an electrode assembly comprising a strip of negative electrode of light metal as active material, and a strip of positive electrode which are separated from each other by a separator and wound in a spiral, and a specific non-aqueous (organic) electrolyte which is stable with respect to the light metal.
Non-aqueous electrolyte cells including light metal such as lithium as active anode material and oxide or the like as active cathode material have various advantages over other primary cells such as having high voltage, high energy density with low self-discharge, and extremely long storage life, and the range of their applications has been increased with use particularly in advanced electronic appliances.
A typical type of such non-aqueous electrolyte cells has an electrode assembly comprising a strip of negative electrode and a strip of positive electrode which are separated by a separator and wound in a spiral. As shown in FIG. 6, which illustrates a development of the negative electrode in a final discharge state, an anode current collector 8 is connected to the negative electrode 3 close to a point opposite to a winding end 3a of the negative electrode 3. The electrode assembly is wound into a spiral with its negative electrode 3 located outside the positive electrode. The outermost winding of the negative electrode 3 thus has the positive electrode opposed thereto only on its inner side, separated therefrom by the separator. Accordingly, the active material of the negative electrode 3 in its outermost winding reacts with the positive electrode only on one side and is electrochemically consumed about a half as much as compared with other inner windings of the negative electrode 3 where the positive electrode opposes to the negative electrode at both sides. As a result, unreacted active anode material of light metal 3b remains even in the final discharge state as shown in FIG. 6. Particularly, the unreacted active light metal 3b remains in a greater amount between the anode current collector 8 and the winding end 3a of the negative electrode 3 and is partly electrically connected with the anode current collector 8.
When one of a plurality of cells connected in series in their final discharge states is replaced with a new one, the capacity of each cell is unbalanced and the cells are forced to discharge. In that case, since the anode material of active light metal 3b is electrically connected to the anode current collector 8 and still remains in the cell in its final discharge state, a component of active anode material is continuously deposited on the positive electrode by electrolysis, which may occasionally break the separator thus causing a short-circuit between the positive electrode and the negative electrode. Such an internal short-circuit allows a great amount of current to run therein, hence resulting in a sharp increase in temperature. Further, a spark generated when the short-circuit occurs may act as an ignition source and trigger combustion of the cell filled with gas.
The applicant has proposed an improved non-aqueous electrolyte cell capable of overcoming above described disadvantages even when the unreacted active light metal 3b remains in a used battery as disclosed in Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application No. H5-13089. An arrangement of such a cell is illustrated in FIG. 5. A strip of positive electrode 2, having manganese dioxide as active cathode material and a strip of negative electrode 3, made of a lithium foil, are separated from each other by a separator 4 and wound in a spiral so that the negative electrode 3 comes to an outer side of the positive electrode 2, thus constituting an electrode assembly 1 which is accommodated in a cell housing 9.
In the electrode assembly 1, a winding end 3a of the negative electrode 3 is positioned within an angular range of 180 degrees extending from a winding end 2a of the positive electrode 2 in a direction opposite to a winding direction. In addition, an anode current collector 8 is provided at an inner winding of the negative electrode 3, closer to the spiral core than the end 3a of the negative electrode 3 and radially aligned therewith.
The end 2a of the positive electrode 2 is covered with an insulating tape 10 such as a piece of glass tape. This prevents any burr of the positive electrode 2 produced in cutting the end 2a from piercing the separator 4 to cause leakage.
In the above described non-aqueous electrolyte cell, active anode material of light metal 3b, which remains unreacted mostly in the outermost winding of the negative electrode 3 in the final discharge state, is parted from the anode current collector 8 thus preventing electrical connection there between. An end portion 2b of the positive electrode 2, between its end 2a and the end 3a of the negative electrode 3, is opposed to the negative electrode 3 only at its inner side, with which it reacts intensively, causing a rate controlling reaction in the negative electrode 3 adjacent the end portion 2b of the positive electrode 2. In the case that the cell is in its final discharge state and is forcibly discharged, the rate controlling reaction is further accelerated. Consequently, the remaining component of unreacted active anode material of light metal 3b is cut off by the rate controlling reaction along a one-dotted chain line P shown in FIG. 6, close to the anode current collector 8, and physically separated therefrom. Accordingly, the non-aqueous electrolyte cell of the above described prior art arrangement is capable of avoiding a short-circuit by preventing active anode material from being deposited on the positive electrode 2 by electrolysis even when the cell is forcibly discharged in the final discharge state.
However, the end portion 2b of the positive electrode 2 is specifically set to be as relatively short as 2 to 10 mm. In an actual practice, the electrode assembly 1 is produced on a large scale by winding the positive electrode 2 and the negative electrode 3 in strips separated by the separator 4 and superposed on each other in a spiral with an automatic winder machine. It is thus necessary to determine the overall lengths of the positive and negative electrodes 2, 3 as well as the mechanical precision of the automatic winder machine with extremely high accuracy in order to fabricate an electrode assembly 1 having a positive electrode end portion 2b of appropriate length. Even though these conditions are accurately set, it is hardly attainable to have all the electrode assemblies mechanically mass-produced with the end portion 2b of desired length due to variation in an initial setting at the spiral core or variation in stretch of the negative electrode 3 when wound. Thus it cannot be prevented that an electrode assembly 1 without the end portion 2b of the positive electrode 2 is produced, the end 3a of the negative electrode 3 extending to the end 2a of the positive electrode 2 as shown by a two-dotted chain line in FIG. 5, which results in a diminished yield of products.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.