A parallax corrected image capture system and method for capturing images using such an apparatus. The system has a first camera and a second camera, at least one of which has a variable focus objective lens the focus of which can be adjusted by a first drive. A range finder supplies a distance signal indicating the distance from the capture system to an object in a scene to be captured while a parallax corrector adjusts the angle between an optical axis of the first camera and an optical axis of the second camera. A processor system controls the first drive and the parallax corrector in accordance with the range finder distance signal.

Motion video cameras with built in recorders ("camcorders") are well known and popular. Such camcorders are well suited for recording motion scenes over fairly long times (e.g. up to about 2 hours). However, current camcorders have relatively low recorded picture quality due to limitations in the optical and particularly the electrical camera components (such as the sensor of the camcorder). Due to this fact, conventional still cameras using light sensitive silver halide emulsions which are chemically processed, have still retained their popularity. When a consumer wishes to obtain a high quality image of a scene the conventional still camera using a silver halide emulsion film is the medium of choice since it provides unparalleled image quality with low cost. This leads to the situation where a consumer often carries both a camcorder and a conventional film camera since he is not always aware in advance as to whether he might wish to capture a relatively lower quality motion video image, or the higher quality still photographic image.
It has been known to attach two cameras together as a combination. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,829,383 provides both a motion video camera and a conventional film camera in a single housing. However, since the respective lenses of the two cameras are spaced apart they do not observe a scene to be captured from the same angle. This difference in scene angle, known as parallax, is more severe the closer an object in the scene is to the two cameras. U.S. Pat. No. 4,488,794 similarly discloses two cameras attached to a common bracket. U.S. Pat. No. 4,488,794 attempts to correct parallax by providing a correcting prism which can be manually installed in front of one camera lens when close objects are to be captured, and removed when relatively distant objects are to be captured. Such additional manual attachment/removal of another piece of equipment is not appreciated by consumers. U.S. Pat. No. 5,493,353 also provides both a motion video camera and conventional still film camera in a single housing and completely avoids the parallax problem by moving the video camera sensor into the same optical path used by the still camera, when it is desired to capture motion video. However, aside from requiring assembly of a relatively complex new mechanism, the movement of the sensor into the still camera optical path prevents simultaneous capture of both motion video and still images. U.S. Pat. No. 4,978,983 provides a dual camera arrangement wherein an over-sized image sensor is used for one of the cameras, and only part of the image on the sensor which overlaps with the viewing region of the other camera, is used. This arrangement requires an expensive over-sized sensor much of the area of which is then unused. U.S. Pat. No. 5,329,325 describes a portrait camera system with two cameras on a common mount, and inter-connected zoom controls. Parallax correction is provided by a manually rotatable screw. While this system may be adequate in a portrait situation where distances to the subject being photographed remain relatively constant, it is not practical for capturing real world scenes with objects continually moving closer to and away from the cameras, thereby necessitating continual re-adjustment of the screw.
It would be desirable then, to provide a dual camera, particularly a motion video and still film camera, in one system, which provides a relatively simple method of automatic parallax correction. It would further be desirable if such a system allowed for simultaneous capture of images on both cameras, and which system could be relatively inexpensively constructed from existing components.


A particulate deodorant resin composition comprising a water-absorbent resin and powdery zeolite dispersed within the resin particles. The composition exhibits the effect of deodorizing the absorbed body fluid while retaining the water-absorbent function inherent in water-absorbent resins. When, therefore, used as sanitary materials such as paper diaper or sanitary goods, it is featured by not only the inherent absorbent effect, but also the deodorant effect.

Water absorbent resins are used owing to their absorbing property, water retaining property and gelling ability, in various fields, for example in absorbent articles such as paper diapers, incontinence pads, sanitary napkins and breast milk pads, and in drip absorbents, freshness preservatives, sheets for pets, excretion treatment agents, waste blood gelling agents, etc. However, while absorbent resins are excellent in the ability to absorb and retain urine, blood, body fluids, menstrual blood and the like, they can hardly show deodorant function. Therefore, since such liquids as urine, blood and body fluids have unpleasant characteristic odors and, further, are apt to readily rot under the influence of air and/or bacteria to give off offensive odors due to decay, the advent of a material capable of producing both absorbent and deodorant effects has been awaited from a hygienic viewpoint.
As means of satisfying both these requirements, the following have been proposed, among others: a mixture of an absorbent resin in powder form and zeolite in powder form (Japanese Kokai Publication Sho-57-25813, Sho-59-179114 and Sho-59-189854), a composition comprising active carbon coated with an absorbent resin (Japanese Kokoku Publication Sho-56-31425), a composition comprising an absorbent resin and an antimicrobial agent (Japanese Kokai Publication Hei-03-14867) and like compositions to be applied in absorbent articles; and an absorbent material prepared by admixing a zeolite slurry with a polymerization solution prior to polymerization and, after effecting polymerization, spraying the reaction mixture to a nonwoven fabric, followed by drying (Japanese Kokai Publication Hei-02-84957).
However, when these compositions are applied to absorbent articles, the deodorant effect obtained is not always satisfactory. That is to say, in the case of the mixture of an absorbent resin and zeolite, body fluids such as urine, blood, body fluid, menstrual blood is mostly absorbed and retained by the absorbent resin, since zeolite has little absorbent function. Therefore, in spite of the fact that the body fluid occurring within the absorbent resin is an odor source, the deodorant component zeolite exists apart from the odor source. This is presumably the reason why the deodorant effect cannot be produced to a satisfactory extent. Furthermore, the mixture of an absorbent resin and zeolite powder, when given vibrations or shock, may possibly separate into both components or, when applied to absorbent articles, may possibly allow localization of the absorbent resin and, therefore, of zeolite, with the result that the deodorant effect can be produced only to an unsatisfactory extent. For the production of a much better deodorant effect, it is desirable that the deodorant component should be disposed in contact with the body fluid odor source.
As for the composition comprising active carbon coated with an absorbent resin, active carbon itself is scanty in deodorant effect and, in addition, there is a problem that only limited kinds of odors can be adsorbed.
As regards the composition comprising an absorbent resin and an antimicrobial agent, those containing certain kinds of antimicrobial agents are effective to a certain extent in preventing bacteria and the like from causing decay but are scarcely effective against the characteristic odors intrinsic to body fluids itself. In addition, it is a draw back of such composition that no effect can be observed at all against those odors which result from the oxidative action of air.
Finally, a problem of the absorbent material prepared by admixing a zeolite slurry with a polymerization solution prior to polymerization and, after effecting polymerization, spraying the reaction mixture to a nonwoven fabric, followed by drying is that since the polymerization is carried out after dispersing zeolite in the polymerization solution, low-molecular-weight polymerizable monomers are adsorbed on pore inside surfaces of zeolite particles and thereafter polymerized to block up the pores and thus decrease the deodorant effect.

Deodorant resin composition and process for production thereof


A scanning type printing device is capable of operating in a multiple printing stage mode. When operating in a multiple printing stage mode, this printing device is controlled such upon receipt of a delay signal, further printing is executed, but only the strip of the image-receiving member, whereon printing is in progress until the image portion associated with that strip is completely printed. This is done in order to overcome or at least reduce gloss variations in a printed image when printing in progress is temporarily interrupted.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a printing device such as a printing or copying system employing print heads containing discharging elements, e.g. nozzles, for image-wise forming dots of a marking substance on an image-receiving member, where the marking substance is in fluid form when discharged. Examples of such printing devices are inkjet printers and toner-jet printers. Hereinafter reference will be made to inkjet printers.
2. Description of Background Art
Print heads employed in inkjet printers and the like usually each contain a plurality of nozzles arranged in (an) array(s). The nozzles usually are placed substantially equidistant. The distance between two contiguous nozzles defines the nozzle pitch. In operation, the nozzles are controlled to image-wise discharge fluid droplets of a marking substance on an image-receiving member. When the printer is of the scanning type, the print heads are moveable in reciprocation across the image-receiving member, i.e. the main scanning direction. In such printers, the print heads are typically aligned in the sub scanning direction perpendicular to the main scanning direction. In a traverse of the print heads across the image-receiving member a matrix of image dots of a marking substance, corresponding to a part of an original image is formed on the image-receiving member by image-wise activating nozzles of the print heads. The printed matrix is generally referred to as a print swath, while the dimension of this matrix in the sub scanning direction is referred to as the swath width. After a first traverse, when a part of the image is completed, the image-receiving member is displaced relative to the print heads in the sub-scanning direction enabling printing of a subsequent part of the image. When this displacement step is chosen equal to a swath width, an image can be printed in multiple non-overlapping swaths. However, image quality may be improved by employing printing devices enabling the use of multiple printing stages, hence printed swaths are at least partially overlapping. In the background art, two main categories of such printing devices can be distinguished, i.e. so-called "interlace systems" and "multi-pass systems".
In an interlace system, the print head contains N nozzles, which are arranged in (a) linear array(s) such that the nozzle pitch is an integer multiple of the printing pitch. Multiple printing stages, or so-called interlacing printing steps, are required to generate a complete image or image part. The print head and the image-receiving member are controlled such that in M printing stages, M being defined here as the nozzle pitch divided by the printing pitch, a complete image part is formed on the image-receiving member. After each printing stage, the image-receiving member is displaced over a distance of M times the printing pitch. Such a system is of particular interest because it achieves a higher print resolution with a limited nozzle resolution.
In a "multi-pass system", the print head is controlled such that only the nozzles corresponding to selected pixels of the image to be reproduced are image-wise activated. As a result, an incomplete matrix of image dots is formed in a single printing stage or pass, i.e. one traverse of the print heads across the image-receiving member. Multiple passes are required to complete the matrix of image dots. The image-receiving member may be displaced in the sub scanning direction in-between two passes.
In practice the majority of print jobs is executed in such multiple printing stage mode on a scanning type bidirectional printing system, i.e. a printing system capable of printing on the image-receiving member in reciprocation in the main scanning direction.
Such systems, which may be "interlace systems" and "multi-pass systems" as well as combinations thereof, are known to be sensitive to gloss variations. Gloss variations can occur when at least a part of the image dots of a marking substance of the same or a different process color are deposited in multiple printing stages in superimposition or at least partially overlapping and when the drying time of the image dots printed on the image-receiving member interacts with the time period required to render all pixels of an image part, i.e. the time period required to complete a sequence of printing stages defined by the print mask. This is particularly the case when, while printing is in progress, a delay signal is generated which causes the printer to interrupt printing immediately or after completion of the printing stage in progress. In any case, printing of the subsequent printing stages is delayed until the cause of the delay is resolved and/or a resume signal is generated. This is observed to cause gloss banding on the print in progress.


In one aspect, the invention divides an audio signal into auditory events, each of which tends to be perceived as separate and distinct, by calculating the spectral content of successive time blocks of the audio signal (5-1), calculating the difference in spectral content between successive time blocks of the audio signal (5-2), and identifying an auditory event boundary as the boundary between successive time blocks when the difference in the spectral content between such successive time blocks exceeds a threshold (5-3). In another aspect, the invention generates a reduced-information representation of an audio signal by dividing an audio signal into auditory events, each of which tends to be perceived as separate and distinct, and formatting and storing information relating to the auditory events (5-4). Optionally, the invention may also assign a characteristic to one or more of the auditory events (5-5).

The division of sounds into units or segments perceived as separate and distinct is sometimes referred to as "auditory event analysis" or "auditory scene analysis" ("ASA"). An extensive discussion of auditory scene analysis is set forth by Albert S. Bregman in his book Auditory Scene Analysis—The Perceptual Organization of Sound, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1991, Fourth printing, 2001, Second MIT Press paperback edition.) In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 6,002,776 to Bhadkamkar, et al, Dec. 14, 1999 cites publications dating back to 1976 as "prior art work related to sound separation by auditory scene analysis." However, the Bhadkamkar, et al patent discourages the practical use of auditory scene analysis, concluding that "[t]echniques involving auditory scene analysis, although interesting from a scientific point of view as models of human auditory processing, are currently far too computationally demanding and specialized to be considered practical techniques for sound separation until fundamental progress is made."
There are many different methods for extracting characteristics or features from audio. Provided the features or characteristics are suitably defined, their extraction can be performed using automated processes. For example "ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 29/WG 11" (MPEG) is currently standardizing a variety of audio descriptors as part of the MPEG-7 standard. A common shortcoming of such methods is that they ignore auditory scene analysis. Such methods seek to measure, periodically, certain "classical" signal processing parameters such as pitch, amplitude, power, harmonic structure and spectral flatness. Such parameters, while providing useful information, do not analyze and characterize audio signals into elements perceived as separate and distinct according to human cognition. However, MPEG-7 descriptors may be useful in characterizing an Auditory Event identified in accordance with aspects of the present invention.

Segmenting audio signals into auditory events

Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corporation


An image forming apparatus includes an internal device that executes a job, a controller, a user management unit, a lock requesting unit, and an unlock requesting unit. The controller suspends the execution of the job when the controller detects a predetermined failure in the internal device during the execution of the job, and resumes the suspended job or starts execution of a next job when the controller detects an elimination of the failure. The user management unit specifies identification information of a user mobile device associated with a user. The lock requesting unit transmits a lock request with the identification information to a predetermined server when the controller has suspended the job. The unlock requesting unit transmits an unlock request with the identification information to the predetermined server when the controller has resumed the suspended job or when the controller has started the execution of the next job.

Unless otherwise indicated herein, the description in this section is not prior art to the claims in this application and is not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
With an image forming apparatus such as a multi-functional peripheral, which is used by a plurality of users, the users do not always come for printed matters in the order of execution of jobs. Accordingly, when the user goes for his/her printed matter, a failure, such as a jam, may occur in a previous job executed by another user. In this case, his/her printed matter is still unprinted.
The user usually dislikes operating the job by executed by another user without permission. Accordingly, until the user who executed the job where the jam occurs eliminates the failure (or until another person who is requested to eliminate the failure eliminates the failure), the jam is often neglected.
Therefore, a certain image forming apparatus notifies a user's portable terminal or a similar terminal of the jam.

Image forming apparatus that facilitates early elimination of failure


Disk images, and the like, are used to emulate storage volumes for the distribution of computer software. An image of a data storage volume, such as a hard disk drive, is stored in a file having a format that enables it to exhibit a behavior which is the same as the storage volume itself. The image files are accessed by means of an associated driver which can support a variety of different file system protocols, thereby permitting the files themselves to be independent of the format requirements of particular file systems. The data in the image file can be compressed in a manner such that a storage volume being emulated appears to be of a specified size, while actually requiring less space to store its contents. With these properties, the image files can be mounted in the manner of a hardware storage device, and large files can be readily transmitted and downloaded in an electronic format. Since the files are preserved in their original form, end-to-end verification remains possible, to ensure the integrity of the downloaded files. Multiple images can be combined into a single tome, for installation at a remote site using a one-button approach.

With the expanding use of computers in widely varied environments, and more significantly the increasing size of software programs and data files that are employed on those computers, the dissemination of computer software is becoming significantly more complex. Originally, when software programs and data files were of relatively small size, distribution of the programs and files by means of floppy disks was feasible. However, as the processing power of computers continues to expand, and internal storage media such as hard disks offer greater capacity, there is a tendency for software programs to become larger in size. Concomitantly, data files which are processed by those programs, particularly files relating to images and other graphics, have also increased in size. As a result, floppy disks no longer offer a convenient medium for distributing electronic data, due to their limited storage capacity. While a user may be quite willing to install a new software program that is contained on a few floppy disks, the time and effort required to install a large program that occupies a significant number of disks to store all of its contents, e.g., 20 or more disks, becomes intolerable.
For this reason, other media having larger storage capacity, such as CD ROMs, have been employed more recently for the distribution of larger amounts of software. While these other types of media decrease the time and effort required to install the software, they still have certain limitations associated with them. For example, the need to separately package and ship each CD ROM, or the like, requires an appreciable amount of overhead on the part of the software manufacturer. In addition, the storage of the media, both at retail outlets and at the end user's site, represents a growing burden as the number of programs and data files continues to expand.
To overcome these limitations associated with the limited size of transportable storage media and the need to accommodate or dispose of the media, it is desirable to distribute software, including both programs and data files, in an electronic format. Currently, installer programs are available which provide a user with an opportunity to install a program on a computer from a remote site. In one type of installer, a large number of bundled files are downloaded from the remote site in a compressed format, and then expanded on the user's computer. From this large number of files, the user picks the few that are desired, and they are installed on the user's computer system. From the standpoint of user convenience, this approach is less than ideal, because of the time spent downloading a number of unnecessary files, as well as the effort required by the user to select the needed files. In contrast to this approach, a "one-button" installation system is preferable. In such an approach, the user is only required to perform a single action, e.g., select a single button in a graphical user interface, to have the appropriate files downloaded and installed.
Typically, in a one-button installer, all required files are compressed into a single file known as a "tome." The tome is provided together with an installer program and a script file that is downloaded to the user's site. The installer program, together with the information contained in the script file, expands the tome back into the individual files, and installs the files onto the user's computer system. To perform the installation, the user is only required to select the installer program to run. All other actions are carried out automatically thereafter.
While the latter approach offers the convenience of a one-button installation system, to date it has been limited in the types of programs with which it can be employed. More specifically, due to restrictions associated with the number of resources that can be handled in a tome, it is not possible to use the one-button installer system for programs having large files, or a large number of files, such as operating system software.
Furthermore, since installer programs operate on files individually, they are not able to ensure the integrity of files installed on the user's system. More particularly, since each individual file is compressed and expanded during the installation process, it is not possible to provide end-to-end verification of each file. For example, the original file may have a checksum value tagged to it, to provide for verification of the integrity of the file when it is copied. However, as part of the process of compressing the file, the checksum value is not always preserved. For example, the file might be renamed. Consequently, when the file is expanded and installed, it is not impossible to employ the checksum value to verify the integrity of the file.

Storage volume handling system which utilizes disk images


A divisional step dot printing device for a wire dot printer in which a plurality of dot pins of the dot printing head is divided into a plurality of groups of a sequence of dot pins and is driven in a sequence of divisional dot printing steps. Each of the divisional dot printing steps is carried out by a combination of groups of dot pins which substantially cover the center line of the platen.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a divisional step dot printing device for a wire dot printer. The device according to the present invention can be used for a wire dot type serial printer used, for example, in an electronic computer system.
2. Description of the Related Arts
In a prior art method of divisional step dot printing with a wire dot printer, all of the dot pins are divided into a plurality of groups each consisting of a plurality of successive dot pins, and a first group of dot pins is driven in a first divisional step during a first travel of a carriage over the length of a platen, the next group of dot pins is driven in the next divisional step during the next travel of the carriage over the length of the platen, and the succeeding group of dot pins is driven in the next divisional step during the next travel of the carriage over the length of the platen.
In this method, one row of printing is constituted by a plurality of parts thereof, and the printing of this plurality of parts is carried out sequentially to print one row.
In this method, however, a problem arises in that the paper to be printed and placed on the platen is deformed in different ways during the sequence of the divisional printing steps, leading to an undesirable shifting of the paper, and accordingly, the colors printed by the sequence of divisional printing steps are overlapped or separated from each other.
In another prior art method of divisional step dot printing with a wire dot printer, all of the dot pins are divided into a plurality of groups each consisting of a plurality of dot pins, at intervals of two dot pin positions, and a first group is driven in the first divisional step during the first travel of a carriage over the length of a platen, the next group is driven in the next divisional step during the next travel of a carriage over the length of a platen, and the succeeding group is driven in the next divisional step during the next travel of the carriage over the length of the platen.
In this method, one row of printing is constituted by a plurality of row constituents, and the printing of this plurality of row constituents are carried out sequentially to accomplish the printing of one row.
In this method, however, a problem arises in that the space between adjacent and simultaneously driven dot pins is relatively large, and therefore, the impact of a dot pin on the paper on the platen is made only by a single dot pin, without considering the accumulated effect of the simultaneous impact of a plurality of adjacent dot pins, and accordingly, the density of the colors printed by the sequence of divisional printing steps is usually low.


A method for transformer testing includes receiving a failing test result of a transformer, the test result being determined from a test taken during transformer manufacture, determining, via a knowledge-based system, a predicted root cause of the failure based on the test result and a knowledge base of transformer information, and determining, via the knowledge-based system, a suggested course of action for the failure based on the test result and the knowledge base of transformer information.

Energy companies provide power to consumers via power generation units. The power is transmitted to consumers via a transmission and distribution system that may include power lines, power switches, and power transformers. The transmission and distribution system forms at least one, and possibly more, electrical paths between the generation units and power customers (e.g., homes, etc.).
Power transformers play an important role in the transmission and distribution of power. Power transformers form a critical link in the supply of power to customers. Failure of a power transformer often means power loss to a number of customers, therefore, transformer reliability is very important. In addition to transformer reliability, energy companies are typically very concerned with power transformer cost and efficiency.
To meet this market demand, transformer manufacturers attempt to design reliable and efficient power transformers. Power transformer design, however, is a very complex process. There are probably hundreds of design parameters that affect the cost and performance (e.g., reliability, efficiency, etc.) of a transformer.
Moreover, there are many manufacturing steps for a transformer, each of which could affect transformer performance. For example, if a transformer is manufactured on a piece of equipment that is out of calibration, it may fail to meet a performance specification. Because of the complexity of transformer design and manufacture, it is very difficult to troubleshoot the root cause of a test failure and to determine a solution to address the test failure.
Thus, there is a need for systems, methods, and the like, for efficiently troubleshooting transformer test failures.


The disclosure provides a display panel and a terminal device. The display panel includes an array substrate, wherein the array substrate includes a plurality of sub-pixel areas, a sub-pixel driving circuit is disposed in the sub-pixel areas, and a plurality of light detecting areas are disposed between adjacent sub-pixel pixel areas; a plurality of photocurrent sensors, wherein the photocurrent sensors are disposed in the light detecting areas and are connected to the sub-pixel driving circuit; a display device layer, wherein the display device layer is disposed on the array substrate and the photocurrent sensors; and a first controller, wherein the first controller is connected to the sub-pixel driving circuit. The photocurrent sensors detect a brightness of ambient light entering the light detecting areas and convert photo signals into electrical signals. Then, a blocking area and a non-blocking area are recognized by the first controller.

When mobile terminals are used outdoors, because of limited auto-brightness adjustment capability of mobile terminals, people need to block ambient light using their hands or other objects if the ambient light is overly strong, to increase image contrast of the mobile terminals in a blocked area. As a result, people can clearly see content displayed by the mobile terminals in the blocked area.
As shown in FIG. 1, a schematic view where an area of a mobile terminal is blocked is shown. Because a user's hands or other objects can only block a portion of ambient light 1, the mobile terminal is divided into a non-blocked area A and a blocked area B. When the mobile terminal is irradiated with the ambient light 1, an amount of the ambient light 1 entering the blocked area B is less than an amount of the ambient light 1 entering the non-blocked area A, so that a brightness of the blocked area B is higher than a brightness of the non-blocked area A. As a result, contrast in the blocked area B needs to be higher than contrast in the non-blocked area A. Therefore, people may notice that the brightness of the non-blocked area A and the brightness of the blocked area B are non-uniform when light 2 of an image emitted from the non-blocked area A of the mobile terminal and light 2′ of the image emitted from the blocked area B of the mobile terminal enter their eyes.
In summary, contrast in a blocked area and contrast in a non-blocked area are non-uniform when conventional mobile terminals are irradiated with ambient light. Consequently, it is necessary to provide a display panel and a mobile terminal to solve such defect.

Wuhan China Star Optoelectronics Semiconductor Display Technology Co., Ltd.


A multi-channel stereo converter is described comprising stereo magnitude determining means for generating a stereo information signal (a/b; xcfx81), which represents a degree of stereo between audio input signals (L, R), and transforming means for transforming said audio signals (L, R) based on said stereo information signal (a/b; xcfx81) into at least a surround signal (S). A space mapping interpretation is presented and an audio center signal may be derived from the stereo input signals as well. The result is more flexibility in application and design, without substantial cross talk in the audio signals.

The present invention relates to a multi-channel stereo converter, comprising stereo means for generating an information signal from stereophonic audio signals (L, R) and transforming means coupled to the stereo means for transforming said audio signals (L, R) to a further audio signal (C; S).
The present invention also relates to a method for generating audio signals from stereophonic audio signals (L, R), wherein an information signal is derived from said audio signals (L, R) and used for transforming said audio signals (L, R) to such an audio signal (S).
Such a multi-channel stereo system and method are known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,426,702. The known system comprises stereo means in the form of a direction detection circuit for generating an information signal, which is derived from stereophonic audio input signals (L, R). The information signal contains a weighting factor measure for the direction of a most powerful sound source. Furthermore the known converter system comprises transforming means coupled to the direction detection circuit for transforming said audio signals (L, R) to a further audio signal in the form of an audio centre signal.
It is a disadvantage of the known multi-channel converter and method that no provisions are made to generate surround audio signals.
Therefore it is an object of the present invention to provide a multi-channel stereo converter system and corresponding method capable of generating and handling a variety of auxiliary audio signals, such as surround, stereo surround and/or centre signals, without substantial cross talk between these auxiliary audio signals.
Thereto the multi-channel stereo converter according to the invention is characterized in that the stereo means are stereo magnitude determining means for generating a stereo information signal (a/b; xcfx81), which represents a degree of stereo between said audio signals (L, R), and that the transforming means are embodied for transforming said audio signals (L, R) based on said stereo information signal (a/b; xcfx81) into at least a surround signal (S).
Similarly the method according to the invention is characterized in that the information signal is a stereo information signal (a/b; xcfx81), which represents a degree of stereo between said audio signals (L, R), and that based on said stereo information signal (a/b; xcfx81) said audio signals (L, R) are transformed into at least a surround signal (S).
It is an advantage of the multi-channel stereo converter and method according to the present invention that it is capable of generating additional related audio signals, such as surround signals, and left and right stereo surround signals, and/or at wish an audio centre signal, based on the two stereophonic left (L) and right (R) audio signals. This gives a large degree of freedom both in application possibilities and design, without substantial cross talk between output audio signals.
An embodiment of the stereo converter according to the present invention characterized in that the transforming means use a relation for said transformation which maps the stereo information signal (a/b; xcfx81) to an angle (xcex2) onto an audio signals defined plane. In a very simple to implement embodiment said transformation uses a goniometric relation. In practice one would consider the use of some transformation which maps the stereo information signal (a/b; xcfx81) to the angle (xcex2), where this angle is between 0 and xcfx80/2.
A particular embodiment of the multi-channel stereo converter according to the invention is characterized in that the transforming means are embodied for additionally transforming said audio signals (L, R) from an orthogonal representation to a representation, wherein said audio signals (L, R) lie on a straight line, thus revealing an additional audio centre signal (C).
Advantageously this embodiment provides for a multi-channel configuration having available audio left (L), right (R), surround (S) or surround left (SL) and surround right (SR), and the audio centre signal (C).
Advantageously a vector multiplication with a multiple which lies around two, can in particular with a matrix transformation be implemented easily on chip. In a further embodiment of the multi-channel stereo converter according to the invention matrix coefficients of said matrix transformation are based on projections of an actual audio signal on principal axes of the audio signals (R, L, C, S), either or not combined with other coefficients, such as empirically determined coefficients, to cover for example Dolby(copyright) Surround, Dolby Pro Logic(copyright), Circle Surround(copyright), and Lexicon(copyright) systems and other surround systems.
In practice a still further embodiment of the multi-channel stereo converter according to the invention is characterized in that the stereo converter is provided with one or more decorrelation filters, for example Lauridsen decorrelation filters, to which filters the stereo surround signal (S) are applied for generating a stereo surround left signal (SL) and a stereo surround right signal (SR). These kind of decorrelation filters are readily available on the market.

Multi-channel stereo converter for deriving a stereo surround and/or audio center signal


A method and apparatus for processing a microfeature workpiece. In one embodiment, the apparatus includes a support member configured to carry a microfeature workpiece at a workpiece plane, and a vessel positioned at least proximate to the support member. The vessel has a vessel surface facing toward the support member and positioned to carry a processing liquid. The vessel surface is shaped to provide an at least approximately uniform current density at the workpiece plane. At least one electrode, such as a thieving electrode, is disposed within the vessel. In a further aspect of this embodiment, the thieving electrode can be easily removable along with conductive material it attracts from the processing liquid. The shape of the vessel surface, the current supplied to the thieving electrode and/or the diameter of an aperture upstream of the workpiece are changed dynamically in other embodiments.

Microelectronic devices, such as semiconductor devices and field emission displays, are generally fabricated on and/or in microfeature workpieces using several different types of machines ("tools"). Many such processing machines have a single processing station that performs one or more procedures on the workpieces. Other processing machines have a plurality of processing stations that perform a series of different procedures on individual workpieces or batches of workpieces. In a typical fabrication process, one or more layers of conductive materials are formed on the workpieces during deposition stages. The workpieces are then typically subject to etching and/or polishing procedures (i.e., planarization) to remove a portion of the deposited conductive layers for forming electrically isolated contacts and/or conductive lines.
Plating tools that plate metals or other materials on the workpieces are becoming an increasingly useful type of processing machine. Electroplating and electroless plating techniques can be used to deposit nickel, copper, solder, permalloy, gold, silver, platinum and other metals onto workpieces for forming blanket layers or patterned layers. A typical metal plating process involves depositing a seed layer onto the surface of the workpiece using chemical vapor deposition (CVD), physical vapor deposition (PVD), or other suitable methods. After forming the seed layer, a blanket layer or pattern layer of metal may be deposited on the workpiece by an appropriate electroplating or electroless processing technique. In either process, the workpiece may then be cleaned, etched and/or annealed in subsequent procedures before transferring the workpiece to another processing machine.
One potential drawback with the foregoing techniques is that depositing the seed layer can be a time consuming process that typically requires a specialized process station. One approach to addressing this problem is to reduce the thickness of the seed layer so as to reduce the time required to deposit the seed layer. One potential drawback with this solution is that it can be difficult to uniformly electrolytically plate a blanket layer on a very thin seed layer. For example, the current density may vary over a thin seed layer, leading to nonuniformities in the applied blanket layer. In one particular example, the current density may be significantly higher near the junctions between the seed layer and a contact assembly (which applies an electrical charge to the seed layer), than it is at points distant from these junctions. This effect is referred to in the industry as the "terminal effect." The terminal effect can result in electroplated layers that (a) are not uniformly thick and/or (b) contain voids and/or (c) non-uniformly incorporate impurities or defects. These characteristics tend to reduce the effectiveness and/or reliability of the devices formed from the microfeature workpiece.

Method and apparatus for controlling vessel characteristics, including shape and thieving current for processing microfeature workpieces


A handwritten character recognition system that includes a document scanner for generating scanned images of a previously created document containing handwritten characters, and a pen and digitizing tablet for real time entry of handwritten characters by a user. The handwritten character recognition system includes an image processor connected from the document scanner for receiving the scanned image of a previously created document and generating one or more ordered cluster arrays. The ordered cluster arrays contain spatially ordered coordinate arrays of skeletal image arcs representing and corresponding to the strokes of the handwritten characters wherein the spatial order represents an induced time ordered sequence of creation of the strokes of the handwritten characters that emulates the sequence of creation of the character strokes. A low level recognition processor is connected from the time order induction processor for receiving the ordered cluster arrays and generating a sequential character array wherein the sequential character array contains a character list for each ordered cluster array and wherein each character list contains at least one character identification representing a possible interpretation of the corresponding ordered cluster array. A linguistic post processor may be connected from the low level recognition processor for receiving the sequential character array and generating an output string representing the most probable interpretation of the handwritten characters of the document.

Computer systems originally limited user input to a few standard devices capable of generating standardized and readily and clearly defined inputs, such as the keyboard and various pointing devices, such as a mouse or touchpad. More recently, however, there has been a general recognition of the need and usefulness of systems that accept less standardized user inputs, such as handwritten inputs through, for example, digitizing tablets and pens.
The common problem faced by all such systems is in developing handwritten character input processing methods and mechanisms that can rapidly and reliably recognize inputs that have no standardized characteristics. The size, spacing, orientation and even the shape of handwritten characters entered through a digitizing tablet and pen, for example, vary widely from user to user.
Various systems have been developed for handwritten character recognition, but most handwritten character recognition systems are limited in that they depend, to a great extent, upon the dynamic characteristics of the formation of characters as they are entered. That is, the order and orientation of the character strokes, and even they direction in which the strokes are formed, are all used to identify characters as they are entered.
There is still a significant problem, however, in recognizing handwritten characters when the dynamic characteristics of the characters creation is not available to be used in the recognition process. An example of such is the recognition of handwritten characters in previously created documents, such as documents that are scanned into a system as images after their creation.
Another problem is that that no handwritten character recognition system is completely capable of recognizing all handwritten character inputs with complete accuracy and reliability. Literally every handwritten character recognition system provides outputs that, for virtually every string of input handwritten characters, contains at least some ambiguous results, that is, characters or combinations of strokes, that cannot be recognized by the system. Some attempts have been made to solve this problem, for example, by use of spelling checkers, but these approaches have been generally unsuccessful.
The present invention provides solutions to these and other problems of the prior art.

Character recognition system indentification of scanned and real time handwritten characters


A submersible device sealing system includes a submersible device, a cable having wires connected to the submersible device, and a sheath about the wires. There is a sleeve about the cable sheath, and a crimp about the sleeve. An encapsulant is disposed about the crimp, the wires, and the submersible device to prevent fluid ingress to the wires connected to the submersible device. The encapsulant is made of material separable from the cable sheath but the crimp is made of a material bondable to the encapsulant to seal the submersible device with respect to the fluid.

Various types of devices are submerged in fluids for many purposes. For example, sensors are utilized in assorted industries to sense pressure, temperature, or other parameters. The electrodes of a sensor module are typically connected to wires in a cable. Submersible sensors may be submerged in a fluid which is typically not compatible with either the sensor module or the wires. Gasoline, water and diesel fuel are examples. To prevent sensor damage, the sensor module and wires must be sealed, typically at the cable entry point, in order to prevent the ingress of damaging liquids which can destroy the sensor or reduce its effectiveness. The cable sheath must be able to withstand exposure to the fluid.
One way to provide the seal is with an encapsulant about the exposed wires and electrodes. A TEFLON® sheath about the cable protects the wires. But, such materials do not bond well to the encapsulant. Over time, ingress of the surrounding fluid can contaminate and damage the sensor module and/or wiring.
Those skilled in the art have attempted to improve adhesion between the cable and the encapsulant by priming and/or etching the TEFLON® cable sheath. Such efforts result in a more costly sensor which is sometimes still unreliable when submerged.

Submersible device sealing system and method


A control device for operating electronic equipment having a generally elongated body and rotatable selection portion that is rotatable to any one of a plurality of operation mode positions. A display unit displays information associated with each mode, and a single common actuator activates the selected mode. The display unit may include a curved window that extends at least 180 degrees around the body.

There are many such control devices currently on the market. With these control devices it is usual to select a mode such as "menu", "display", "sound" or "play" by pressing a digital button. A separate digital button is typically provided for each of the modes. The display means of the prior art devices is normally a flat LCD screen window which is fixed into position with the use of adhesive.
A device of the above general type is known from Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application Publication No. JP-A-2002-93142, from which FIGS. 5 and 6 herein are taken. In such devices, the display window comprises a frame carrying a window portion that has to be fixed to the device body by adhesive. With increasing miniaturization, and having only the narrow frame portion to which adhesive can be applied, it becomes increasing difficult to properly secure the window. As such, the window becomes prone to be lifted up and finally detached from the device body after extended use. Furthermore, the provision of a set of dedicated mode buttons, as seen in FIG. 6, for the various functions hinders miniaturization, requires a large number of components and hence longer assembly time, as well as making operation more complicated for the user. According to a related art, even the alternative of a common mode selection button that is repeatedly pressed to cycle through a list of modes, also disadvantageously requires the user to pay attention to the display so as to know the current mode selected. Hence, operation of such devices is overly complicated, their assembly in manufacture is fiddly and time-consuming, while their structure is vulnerable to breakage.
It is thus an object of the present invention to make improvements in the prior art devices that address or at least alleviate some of the above problems and/or to provide a useful alternative to known devices.

Remote controller for portable electronic device


A portable device for delivering nitrogen to multiple tires includes a gas source and supply line connected to a controller. The device also includes a gas delivery line comprising a manifold with a plurality of outlets in fluid communication with each other. A gas delivery line is operably connected to the controller and a plurality of extension lines with engagement chucks are operably connected to the outlets. The controller controls the supply of gas to the gas delivery line and controls a relief valve for venting the gas delivery line. The device also includes a sensor and a processor connected the controller and sensor which accepts user inputs. The controller, manifold and processor are affixed to a stand.

Pneumatic tires for automobiles, aircraft and other vehicles have traditionally been inflated by compressed ambient air. Generally, compressed air works well with bicycle tires, tractor tires and even standard automobile tires run at relatively low speeds where exacting tire balance and consistent tire pressure is not critical. In the case of uses such as race cars, dragsters, and high altitude aircraft, compressed ambient air is not a satisfactory medium for inflating tires for a variety of reasons.
When compressed air is introduced into a tire via a compressor open to the ambient atmosphere, water vapor and other impurities are introduced into the tire in the same proportions as they occur in the ambient air. With all of the moisture and other impurities present, air volume in the tire fluctuates fairly widely with temperature, particularly due to the moisture changing from liquid to vapor form and from vapor to liquid form as temperatures in the tire change. In addition, tire pressures may vary from tire to tire which may also possess deleterious results.
Pressure of air in tires inflated with compressed ambient air will change about 1 psi for every 10 degree Fahrenheit change in temperature. Thus, a tire inflated at 60 degrees Fahrenheit will be substantially under inflated at 20 degrees due to the combined effects of temperature in reducing gas pressure and moisture condensing out of the air within the tire. Conversely, as temperatures increase to 90 degrees Fahrenheit, the tire will be substantially over inflated due to the water being vaporized and the attendant increase in air pressure due to temperature. These under or over inflation conditions can adversely affect rolling friction of tires on pavement, thus decreasing gas mileage. Tire wear is also substantially increased when tires are not inflated to a manufacturer's recommendations. Handling problems may be aggravated by tire pressure differential between front and back tires and/or side to side.
Water vapor within tires may also induce rust within steel belted radials, which further reduces tire life. Furthermore water vapor introduced into a tire in a high altitude jet airplane, for example, will condense and then freeze thereby forming ice crystals which generally fall to the bottom of the tire as it lies stationary in the wheel well of the airplane. When an airplane lands, the tires must accelerate virtually instantly from rest to more that 150 miles per hour. As a result, ice crystals in the tire can create a substantial imbalance. As the tire accelerates, the ice crystals are thrown around the rolling tire by centrifugal force, leading to further imbalance, increased internal wear, and an increased likelihood of tire blow-outs. In the case of race cars and dragsters, since the water vapor introduced into the tire condenses and vaporizes at unpredictable times, condensed water within the tire lags behind the column of air within the tire as the tire is rapidly accelerated. Furthermore, as the race car tires spin at high speed, considerable heat builds up in the tires themselves, thus considerably increasing the internal tire pressure due to the expansion of the water vapor.
In order to eliminate these problems, operators and owners of race cars, space shuttle transport vehicles, earthmoving and mining equipment and commercial and military high altitude aircraft often inflate their tires with compressed nitrogen or another generally non-reactive and non-combustible gas such as argon or sulfur hexafluoride. Nitrogen is an ideal gas for such a purpose since it is chemically non-reactive, non-combustible, non-flammable and non-corrosive. Furthermore, when dry, nitrogen gas is relatively stable in volume through a wide range of temperatures. For example, the specific volume of a quantity of dry nitrogen gas at 1 atmosphere of pressure varies less than 13% in a range of −10 degrees F. to +116 degrees F. Thus, the use of nitrogen to inflate a pneumatic tire offers a large reduction in fluctuations of internal tire pressure due to temperature variations over those which occur when moisture laden compressed ambient air is used. Furthermore, since nitrogen is stored in pressurized tanks under controlled conditions, the nitrogen gas can be dried and purified as it is placed into the tank, thus minimizing moisture and other impurities transferred into the tire.
However, when new or repaired tires are first placed on a wheel, they must be inflated under high pressure to get the tire bead to seat on the wheel rim. In order to accomplish this compressed ambient air must be used. Once the tire is inflated and properly seated on the wheel rim, the compressed air is bled off via a tire's Schrader spring loaded valve, and a source of compressed nitrogen is then attached to the tire valve to re-inflate the tire. With this method, the tire's internal pressure is simply returned to ambient pressure before being filled with nitrogen. This air at ambient pressure in the tire having a quantity equal to the internal volume of the tire. Along with the quantity of air left in the tire, moisture and other gaseous impurities are present in the tire in the same proportion as they are found in the ambient atmosphere. When the dry, purified nitrogen is introduced into the tire under pressure, it mixes with the air, moisture and other impurities already present in the tire as the tire is inflated. The inflated tire is thus filled with a quantity of air including attendant moisture and other impurities and a larger quantity of nitrogen, thus repeating, albeit at a reduced level, the problems associated with the use of ambient compressed air.
It is clear that a need exists for a tire inflation apparatus and method which avoids these problems of the prior art. Such a tire inflation apparatus should preferably inflate tires with compressed, purified and dried gas, such as nitrogen, to a manufacturer's recommended tire pressure while minimizing or eliminating moisture and other impurities in the tire.
In order to obviate the deficiencies in the prior art, it is an object of the present subject matter to present a novel portable gas delivery device. The device includes a gas source and supply line connected to a controller. The device also includes a gas delivery line comprising a manifold with a plurality of outlets in fluid communication with each other. A gas delivery line is operably connected to the controller and a plurality of extension lines with engagement chucks are operably connected to the outlets. the controller controls the supply of gas to the gas delivery line and controls a relief valve for venting the gas delivery line. The device also includes a sensor and a processor connected the controller and sensor which accepts user inputs. The controller, manifold and processor are affixed to a stand.
It is also an object of the present subject matter to present a novel method of ensuring pressure equalization between multiple tires during evacuation and inflation of the tires. The method includes providing a plurality of supply hoses in fluid communication with each other, attaching each of the supply hoses to a corresponding valve stem located on the tires, and supplying pressurized gas from a gas source to the tires via the supply hoses. The method further includes monitoring and controlling a gas characteristic of the pressurized gas in the of the supply hoses to inflate the tire to a predetermined pressure so as to ensure pressure equalization between each of the tires.
It is a further object of the present subject matter to present a novel method for evacuating and inflating a pneumatic tire. The method including opening a relief valve on a gas supply hose to vent the supply hose to atmosphere, closing the relief valve, and supplying pressurized inert gas from a gas source to the tire through the gas supply hose to inflate the tire with a first predetermined amount of inert gas. The method also includes opening the relief valve to vent the gas supply hose to atmosphere, closing the relief valve, and supplying pressurized inert gas from the gas source to the tire through the gas supply hose to inflate the tire with a second predetermined amount of inert gas.
These objects and other advantages of the disclosed subject matter will be readily apparent to one skilled in the art to which the disclosure pertains from a perusal or the claims, the appended drawings, and the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments.

Portable, remote, fast-fill inflator and nitrogen converter unit


The present application thus provides a composite composition comprising PTFE and zeolite. According to another aspect, the present application provides a method for making a composite article comprising bonding zeolite to PTFE. According to still yet another aspect of the present application, a method for separating components of the mixture comprising contacting the mixture with a composite composition comprising PTFE and zeolite is disclosed.

Generally described, poly(tetrafluoroethylene) (PTFE) has a high degree of chemical inertness, thermal stability, and hydrophobicity. These features make PTFE useful in many applications. For example, PTFE membranes are useful in processes such as filtration and separation. It would be desirable, however, to add other functionality to PTFE for some applications. Unfortunately, the chemical inertness of PTFE makes it very difficult to modify its properties.
What is desired, therefore, is a composition that has one or more attributes of PTFE, but other functionality as well, such as hydrophobicity, stereo selectivity, nanoporosity, adsorption, ion exchange characteristics, and/or catalytic properties, and is useful in applications such as filtration and separation.

Poly(tetrafluoroethylene) zeolite composite and methods


A system (10) for providing a stream of water that includes a surfactant, comprising a source (14) of water, means (32) to cause water to flow along a water supply duct (34), and a venturi injector (36) within the water supply duct. The venturi injector (36) communicates with an inlet duct (77) to supply surfactant; and the system comprises a surfactant supply duct (80, 83) that communicates between the inlet duct (77) and a surfactant container (18), the surfactant supply duct comprising a first portion that incorporates an on/off valve (38) and a second portion (83) that incorporates a check valve (84) to control flow. A plurality of surfactant containers (18) may be connected to the inlet duct (77) in this way; and each surfactant container 18 may be mounted within an open-topped chamber (68) to which hot water may be provided to heat the contents of the surfactant container (18).

There are a number of contexts in which it is necessary to add surfactant into a stream of water, particularly hot water. This would for example be applicable in the context of a vehicle washing system that uses heated water; it would also be applicable in a weed killing system in which weeds are killed by applying a foam made from hot water that contains a surfactant, as described for example in GB 2 530 158. In such a context the supply of water may be large, or indeed may be unlimited if the water is supplied directly from the mains; and the surfactant would typically be provided as a concentrated solution, and be introduced gradually into the water stream so as to produce a diluted solution. The surfactant may be provided in a portable container, and for a container of a given size the more concentrated the surfactant solution, the more water can be treated before it is necessary to replace the container. The operating time before it is necessary to replace a container of surfactant can be increased by providing a larger container and/or using a higher surfactant concentration in the container, but both of these cause problems: a larger container may be too heavy to conveniently handle; and a more concentrated solution may be of significantly higher viscosity, and so more difficult to dispense.


A mask circuit is provided in a display device having a plurality of pixels. The mask circuit supplies a video signal to each of the pixels in a partial display area selected based on a display area selection signal, and prevents the supply of the video signal to each of the pixels in a background display area. Accordingly, this display device displays an arbitrary pattern at an arbitrary position of the display panel of the display device. In addition, an inverting controlling circuit is provided for inverting the background display signal supplied to each of the pixels in the background display area for each frame. The power consumption of the display device can be reduced.

1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to a liquid crystal display device, especially to a liquid crystal display device with partial display function, in which only a necessary part of the display screen of the display device is used for display.
2. Description of Related Art
Further reduction of the power consumption has been sought for the portable devices. Accordingly, the display device of such devices also requires low power consumption. There has been display devices with partial display function, in which only a necessary part of the screen is used for display during a power saving mode, in order to respond to the demand for the lower power consumption. The partial display is achieved by setting a special area for displaying a fixed pattern, for example, the amount of remaining battery or the time in a display region of a liquid crystal display device. A plurality of pixels for displaying an arbitrary pattern is disposed in a matrix configuration in the display region other than the special area designated for the partial display. Only the special region for the fixed pattern is operated to display the fixed pattern during the power saving period.
A plurality of display areas that can be operated and controlled individually may be configured in the same display panel, so that only a part of the display region can be operated for making a display depending on the demand. However, the configuration with such predetermined divided areas independently controlled can not fulfill the demand of displaying an arbitrary pattern at an arbitrary position during the power saving period.
Also, the content and the position of the display during the power saving period vary depending on the type of the host device of the display device. Therefore, different kinds of display devices are developed independently according to the configuration of the display panel and driver circuit of each device.
A matrix type display device accommodates the display of an arbitrary pattern at an arbitrary position. However, the entire display region should be under the normal operation even if only the partial display is required. Therefore, this is not an effective way to lower the power consumption.


Techniques are described that enable users to configure the mirroring of network traffic sent to or received by computing resources associated with a virtual network of computing resources at a service provider network. The mirrored network traffic can be used for many different purposes including, for example, network traffic content inspection, forensic and threat analysis, network troubleshooting, data loss prevention, and the like. Users can configure such network traffic mirroring without the need to manually install and manage network capture agents or other such processes on each computing resource for which network traffic mirroring is desired. Users can cause mirrored network traffic to be stored at a storage service in the form of packet capture (or “pcap”) files, which can be used by any number of available out-of-band security and monitoring appliances including other user-specific monitoring tools and/or other services of the service provider network.

Service provider networks provide users with the ability to utilize a variety of types of computing-related resources such as compute resources (for example, executing virtual machine (VM) instances or containers), data/storage resources, network-related resources, application resources, access policies or roles, identity policies or roles, machine images, routers and other data processing resources, and so forth. These and other computing resources can be provided as services, such as a hardware virtualization service that can execute compute instances, a storage service that can store data objects, and the like.
Users of some such service provider networks can create virtual networks in which users can provision logically isolated collections of computing resources within a service provider network. Users can customize the network configuration for such virtual networks, including the creation of public-facing and private-facing subnets, configuration of security groups and network access control lists, and so forth. The ability to manage and analyze the actual network traffic traversing such virtual networks for however presents several challenges.

Mirroring network traffic of virtual networks at a service provider network


The present invention relates to a metal fluoride red phosphor and an application of the phosphor as a light emitting element, the metal fluoride red phosphor having a tetragonal crystal structure of a novel composition, and emitting light in the red color wavelength by being excited by ultraviolet rays or a blue excitation source, thereby being usefully applicable to a light emitting element such as a light emitting diode, a laser diode, a surface emitting laser diode, an inorganic electroluminescence element, and an organic electroluminescence element.

White light emission diodes (LEDs) are next-generation light emitting elements which receive great attention owing to advantages of lower power consumption, higher luminous efficacy, higher brightness and higher response speed than conventional light sources.
Methods of manufacturing white light emission diodes may be broadly classified into two methods.
The first method is to manufacture white light emitting elements using red, blue and green light emitting diodes. White light emitting diodes manufactured by the first method have considerably excellent color rendering index (CRI) and optical properties, but their use is restricted only to certain lighting devices such as medical devices due to high manufacturing costs and technical problems of requiring independent operation of respective LEDs.
The second method, which is commercially available at the moment, is to manufacture white light emitting elements using binary systems for applying yellow phosphors to blue light emitting diode chips. Such a binary system involves a low manufacturing cost because white light emitting diodes having excellent optical properties can be formed with a simple structure, but has a drawback of low color rendering index (CRI) due to lack of emission of red areas. In addition, disadvantageously, various phosphors that have excellent optical properties when excited at about 450 nm have not been developed.
In response to this, recently, a variety of research has been made in order to develop phosphors that emit under an excitation condition of 450 nm.
Korean Patent Laid-open No. 10-0456430 (Patent Document 1) discloses a white light emitting element using a binary system to apply YAG:Ce yellow phosphors to GaN light emitting diode chips that emit blue light at a wavelength of 460 nm. However, yttrium aluminum garnet (Y3Al5O12, YAG)-based phosphors have a drawback of failing to provide excellent color rendering properties due to relatively weak luminous intensity of red areas resulting from characteristics of light emission wavelengths and of being unsuitable as lighting and LED color background light sources due to sensitivity to color temperature.
In addition, Korean Patent Laid-open No. 10-0605211 (Patent Document 2) discloses a method of manufacturing white light emitting elements by applying a silicate-based green phosphor of L2SiO4:Eu (wherein L represents an alkaline earth metal selected from Mg, Ca, Sr and Ba) onto InGaN light emitting diode chips. However, the method using green light emission phosphors also has a drawback of low color rendering index (CRI) due to lack of red light emission areas.
In an attempt to solve the aforementioned problem, PCT Publication WO 2012-128837 (Patent Document 3) discloses a phosphor having a composition represented by the following Formula I.Ax[MFy]:Mn4+  [Formula I]
wherein A is selected from Li, Na, K, Rb, Cs and a combination thereof, M is selected from Si, Ge, Ti, Zr, Al, Ga, In, Sc, Y, La, Nb, Ta, Bi, Gd and a combination thereof, x is an absolute value determined by the charge of MFy ion and y is 5, 6 or 7.
Patent Document 3 discloses an example of manufacturing K2SiF6:Mn4+ phosphors in detail, but does not suggest synthesis of A3MF7:Mn4+ phosphors.
From conventional technologies reviewed above, it can be seen that metal fluoride phosphors containing manganese (Mn) as a lubricant are useful for manufacturing white light emitting elements due to strong red light emission intensity. The present invention focuses on manufacture of red light-emission metal fluoride phosphors using, as a raw material, A2MF6:Mn4+ phosphors disclosed in Patent Document 3.

Metal fluoride red phosphor and light emitting element using same

KOREA RESEARCH INSTITUTE OF CHEMICAL TECHNOLOGY


Configuration of measurement requirements on cells and beams in NR is made more efficient by, in a user equipment, UE, receiving, information from a network node, which information indicates: a first number K of beams to be measured by the UE, and a second number L of cells in which the UE is required to measure the first number K of beams. The UE then carries out measurements using the received information; and performs at least one operational task based on a result of the measurements.

The New Radio (NR—a.k.a. 5G or Next Generation) architecture is being discussed in 3GPP and the current concept is illustrated in FIG. 1. Here, eNB denotes LTE eNodeB, to gNB and ng-eNB (or evolved eNB) denote NR BSs (one NR BS may correspond to one or more transmission/reception points), and the lines between the nodes illustrate the corresponding interfaces which are under discussion in 3GPP. Further, FIG. 2 illustrates deployment scenarios with NR BS which are discussed in 3GPP.
One important architectural consideration is the dual connectivity (DC) operation involving E-UTRA and NR. In one example of Dual Connectivity (DC) operation involving E-UTRA and NR, the E-UTRA is the master. In another example of the DC operation involving E-UTRA and NR, NR is the master. The dual connectivity operation involving only NR serving cells (e.g. NR PCell and NR PSCells) is also envisaged.
Both standalone and non-standalone NR deployments are being standardized in 3GPP. The standalone deployments may be single or multi-carrier (e.g., NR CA or dual connectivity with NR PCell and NR PSCell). The non-standalone (NSA) deployment refers to a dual connectivity (DC) deployment involving E-UTRA and NR where there is LTE PCell and NR PSCell (there may also be one or more LTE SCells and one or more NR SCell). LTE PCell and NR PSCell are configured in MCG and SCG respectively. The MSG and SCG are more generally called as cell groups (CG). The MCG and SCG may be configured with one or more additional serving cells e.g. one or more LTE SCells in MCG and one or more SCells in SCG.
The measurement model used for UE RRM measurements in NR is shown in FIG. 3 (based on TS 38.300). The UE measures one or more beams transmitted by a cell. The beam measurements results are averaged by the UE to derive the cell level measurement e.g. cell quality which can be any type of UE radio measurement. The UE uses up to the N best beams, including the one with the highest signal level and the remaining N-1 whose signal level (e.g. RSRP, RSRQ, SINR, etc.) is above a configurable signal threshold, for deriving the cell level measurement. As shown in FIG. 3 the UE measures (e.g. beam level RSRP) up to K beams over physical layer (L1) measurement (e.g. using L1 filtering) at point A1. Out of these K beams the UE uses N best beams above signal threshold for deriving the cell quality (e.g. cell level RSRP etc.) at point B. The cell level measurement available at point B is based on a function to perform L1 filtering of the N best beams above the signal threshold. Examples of functions are average, xth percentile etc. The network node can further configure the UE to perform higher layer time domain filtering (e.g. L3 filtering) of beam level measurements and/or cell level measurements. In this case the UE may further perform higher layer time domain filtering of beams level L1 measurement results and/or cell level L1 measurement results as shown at point E and point C respectively.
The measurements on K beams can be performed on any suitable signals configured by the network node e.g. on signals in SS block, CSI-RS resources, discovery signals, positioning reference signals etc. A SS block in NR transmits PSS, SSS and PBCH, where PBCH symbols also contain DMRS. RSRP, RSRQ and SINR measured on reference signals in SS block (e.g. SS/PBCH block) are also called as SS-RSRP. SS-RSRQ and SS-SINR respectively. RSRP, RSRQ and SINR measured on CSI-RS are also called as CSI-RSRP. CSI-RSRQ and CSI-SINR respectively. For simplicity generic terms like RSRP, RSRQ and SINR are used.
It was later agreed in RAN2 that N can be set per reference signal, i.e., different values for SS/PBCH block and CSI-RS, within the measurement object. These parameters are the following:                nroSS-BlocksToAverage::INTEGER (2..maxNroSS-BlocksToAverage)        nroCSI-RS-ResourcesToAverage::INTEGER (2..maxNroCSI-RS-ResourcesToAverage)
As in LTE, in NR the UE is also required to perform measurements (e.g. RSRP, RSRQ, SINR etc.) on certain number of cells, such that measurement events (e.g. A1-A6) can be triggered and measurement reports can be transmitted from the UE to the network node.
However, in NR, these measurements shall be derived based on L1 filtered beam measurements on the further basis of SS/PBCH blocks (SSB) or CSI-RS resources. Further, the measurement performance of the cell level measurement is impacted by the total number of beams that are L1 filtered (even before the combination function where the average and/or selection of best beams are performed) and the signal level of the beams used to derive the cell level measurement. It should also be noted that the total number of beams per cell that the UE measures affects the performance of cell measurement results.
Additionally, in NR, the UE may be configured to report beam measurement information, based on layer 3 filtered beam-level measurements. It has also been agreed that the network can configure the UE to report multiple quantities (e.g. RSRP, RSRQ, RSRP) for cells and beams, and they do not necessarily need to be consistent. This will require the UE to measure an even larger number of beams in total and possibly maintain a significant number of L1 filters. This is needed in some other scenarios e.g. when the network wants to reduce the ping-pong rate and needs more results per beam, or when the network wants to allocate more dedicated RACH resources per beam during handover. Hence, having more beam measurements per cell may improve performance in some scenarios. On the other hand, this will increase the UE complexity, memory and power consumption. Therefore, the applicant has appreciated that a solution is needed which can lead to a reasonable compromise between measurement performance, system impact and UE complexity.
In some scenarios, it is more important to have the UE measuring more cells and possibly triggering measurement reports (even though quality is perhaps based on fewer beam measurements); while in other scenario it is more important to have more beam measurements even though fewer cells are possibly triggering reports.
Since the UE does not know the measurement purpose assuming current information in reportConfig, measId and measObject, if it is limited in its measurement capacity, it does not have information to determine whether to prioritize measurements of more beams even if they are from the same cell, or to prioritize measurements of beams from different cells.
Cell level measurements are used for different purposes e.g. for mobility, positioning, radio resource management (RRM), etc. Furthermore, in some scenarios, a larger number of cells should be measured and reported by the UE.
In NR, as in LTE, the network can configure the UE with the exact measurement information to be reported by configuring a measurement identifier (measId) that links a carrier frequency to be measured (measObject), or more precisely a reference signal transmitted in a given carrier frequency, and a reporting configuration (reportConfig), informing among other things the measurement quantities that should trigger an event (e.g. reference signal received power (RSRP), reference signal received quality (RSRQ) or signal-to-interference noise ratio (SINR)), the measurement quantities to be included in the measurement report, which can be the same as the trigger quantity or combination of quantities (e.g. RSRP/RSRQ, RSRP/SINR, RSRQ/SINR, RSRP/RSRQ/SINR, etc.), the reference signal to be measured (rsType), which can either be SS/PBCH block or CSI-RS and upper limits for the number of cells and beams to be included in a given measurement reports associated to the triggered measId. These two last fields are particularly interesting for the scope of the present disclosure, and they are defined in the current version of TS 38.331 as follows:                maxReportCells::INTEGER (1..maxCellReport)                    Herein, maxCellReport is a constant associated to a requirement for the maximum number of reported cells in a given measurement report (whose value is 8 in LTE and has not been settled in NR yet)                        maxNroRsIndexesToReport::INTEGER (1..maxNroIndexesToReport)                    Herein, maxNroIndexesToReport is a constant associated to a requirement for the maximum number of reported beams in a given measurement report (not defined yet in NR and non-existing in LTE).

User equipment and network node for configuring measurements of cells and beams in a wireless communication system


According to one embodiment, a video/audio output method according to one embodiment includes detecting a playback volume value set in an external speaker controller for controlling an external speaker, calculating a decibel value corresponding to the detected playback volume value, generating an audio signal corresponding to the calculated decibel value, and outputting the generated audio signal to the external speaker controller, and, at the same time, outputting a video based on a video signal corresponding to the audio signal.

1. Field
One embodiment of the invention relates to a video/audio output device such as a TV and a video/audio output method which can be applied to the audio output equipment such as the video/audio output device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, there is a widespread use of a digital equipment with an HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface) (TM) mounted therein, such as a TV, a DVD player, a DVD recorder, and an AV amplifier. The HDMI can transfer video and audio in an uncompressed manner. When equipments advocating compliance with HDMI-CEC (Consumer-Electronics Control), such as a TV and a DVD recorder, are connected to each other, the DVD recorder connected to the TV can be operated by use of a TV remote controller by virtue of an HDMI-CEC function.
Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2007-104138 discloses a technique relating to audio output control using the HDMI-CEC. Specifically, when a microcomputer of an amplifier has detected conversion from the off state to the on state of a power source, the microcomputer requests a notification of information showing whether the television connected to the amplifier is in a television mode or a theater mode from the television through an HDMI-CEC communication unit. Meanwhile, when the microcomputer of the amplifier has received, from the television, the answer that the television is in the television mode, the microcomputer performs control to prevent the output of an audio signal through an external speaker connected to the amplifier, whereby the audio signal provided from the television to the amplifier is output through an internal speaker of the television without being output through the external speaker. When the microcomputer of the amplifier has received the answer that the television is in the theater mode, the microcomputer performs control so that the audio signal is output through the external speaker connected to the amplifier, whereby the audio signal provided from the television to the amplifier is output through the external speaker without being output through the internal speaker of the television.
In addition, more recently, the Dolby Volume (TM) for correcting the difference in a television sound level has been disclosed.
The Dolby Volume has the concept of Leveler/Modeler. The Leveler and Modeler respectively have a function of eliminating a sense of incongruity due to the difference in content's volume level and a function of performing bandwidth correction in accordance with a playback volume position (audio volume). Namely, the Dolby Volume consistently provides stable volume and audio quality to various audio sources.
The Modeler in the Dolby Volume performs processing corresponding to playback volume. It is relatively easy to provide a design for obtaining the effect of the Dolby Volume for the output through the internal speaker built in a TV set. This is because the TV set includes a volume adjustment unit and a speaker output unit.
However, it is difficult to provide a design for obtaining the effect of the Dolby Volume for the output through the external speaker connected to the TV set through an external speaker controller (amplifier). This is because the TV set cannot detect the volume set in the external speaker controller.

Video-audio output device and video/audio method