A system and method for network security using a kernel based network security infrastructure is disclosed. The method comprises the installation of a computer code set into the operating system kernel of each computer on a network and use of the computer code set to detect and stop unwanted or malicious intrusions into the kernel. Because the security feature is kernel based, a broader range of security features, such as security of communication between user-space applications and the kernel, can be implemented.

Many individual computer users do not understand that there may be many operations going on within their individual computer resource which affect its security. These operations are generally invisible to an unsophisticated user. This invisibility is a result of the fact that computer users typically interface only with the operating system of an individual computer resource and a small number of software applications being run by the operating system of a computer resource in that portion of the operating environment known as the user space. What happens in the other portion of the operating environment of a computer resource, called the kernel space, is generally unseen and left unexplored by those computer users without the competence or desire to explore the inner workings of their computer resource.
Most computer users are completely unaware that whatever they do in the user space enters into the generally unseen portion of the operating environment called the kernel space, even though the major portion of a computer resource's operating system resides in the kernel space. As operating systems have evolved since personal computers became generally available, the working interface actually perceived by the computer user, in the user space, and the operating system of a computer, in both the user space and in the kernel space, has become more and more friendly to the ordinary computer user. This user-friendliness is a result of increased complexity and functionality being added to that portion of the operating system resident in the kernel space.
Not only has increased complexity been added to the operating system resident in the kernel space by those software makers who make and sell computer operating systems, but in addition the wide variety of available hardware devices which can be attached to a computer system often include specialized operating software which simplifies the operation of the hardware device made available to the computer user in the user space. This specialized operating software for hardware devices is downloaded into the operating system resident in the kernel space to assure that the user's difficulty in operating the hardware device is minimized. Similarly, software applications, which are installed by a computer user using that portion of the operating system resident in user space, often include a large block of programming code which makes the software user-friendly. This large block of programming code is then added to that portion of the operating system resident in the kernel space. The danger is that, unbeknownst to the user, the simple attachment of a hardware device to a personal computer or the simple loading of a new piece of software can insert unwanted or malicious programming code into the operating system of an individual computer resource. Unless something unusual happens, the computer user will have no indication that unwanted or malicious programming code has been downloaded into his computer resource.
Consider, for example, the basic model of a single, stand alone, un-networked personal computer with a telephone connection to the internet. If the computer user manually installs a commercially available software application from a floppy disk or CD, or if the computer user downloads a software application into his personal computer from the internet, that software application may include an unwanted or malicious programming code such as a hidden reporting feature which uses the connection of the personal computer to the internet to provide the maker or vendor of the software, or even a third party, with information regarding the frequency of use of the software, information about the user of the software, or in the worst cases, the actual content of data in a secure data storage location. Such information may be sent to the maker of the piece of commercial software or a third party whenever the software is being used, or such information may be stored in the kernel space and transmitted at regular or irregular times and intervals, such as 3:00 am every Sunday morning, or only on the 30th day of months having 31 days, or whenever the user logs onto the internet. The actual transmission or the content of such reports is unseen by the computer user, as most computer users do not monitor, or for that matter, do not even know how to monitor, the information being sent out by their personal computer over the internet. The instructions to send reports back from a computer resource may originate with the vendor of the software to the user, or they may be placed on a CD by the vendor who supplied the CDs to the software application vendor. The simple fact is that the manual installation of a commercial software application as innocuous as a screen saver may significantly add to and change the operating system resident in the kernel space of a individual computer resource.
Consider now a personal computer or individual computer resource connected to a network of personal computers or individual computer resources using the internet for the purpose of sharing licensed software and proprietary data. Access to all of the internet is also provided for all individual computer resources in the network. Software, web pages, and a variety of other information may be downloaded from the internet to the individual computer resources in the network. Just like commercially available software programs that are either manually installed or downloaded from the internet add to or change the operating system resident in the kernel space of an individual computer resource, so too will computer instructions downloaded from the internet add to or change the operating system resident in the kernel space of all individual computer resources connected to the network of individual computer resources. Once again, the simple act of downloading a software application or data from the internet may inject unwanted or malicious instructions into the operating systems resident in the kernel space—which instructions are invisible to the computer user. As previously indicated, the instructions may simply be to report usage of a software application, but once entrance has been gained into that portion of the operating system resident in the kernel space, any aspect of the workings of the operating system resident in the kernel space of the individual computer resource can be added to, modified, or dramatically changed.
Those who seek to gain access to and modify the operating system of the computer resource of another form a particularly dangerous group of computer hackers. These computer hackers have discovered that once entrance has been gained into the operating system resident in the kernel space of an individual computer resource, a wide variety of other changes can be made. Such changes may actually alter the way the operating system resident in the kernel system works. Such changes may be programmed to occur immediately, or the changes may be programmed to occur after being triggered by a specific event or the occurrence of a specific point in time. Such changes to the operating system resident in the kernel space can include disabling or modifying the internal security system portion of the computer operating system or leaving a back door open into the kernel space. This open back door will permit future additions, modifications, or dramatic changes to that portion of the operating system resident in the kernel space. Such dramatic changes may include altering the way the computer processes operating instructions and/or uses data to provide results for the computer user or the basic way the computer saves, manipulates, and reports the results of standard operations involving stored data.
In most business applications, the personal computer resident at the desk of an employee is connected to a proprietary network linking the employee to the business' software and providing access to the business' proprietary data. In this proprietary network, an individual computer resource may be typically connected to a host of other personal computers resident at the desks of other employees located in a small geographical region, or in a state, or in a country, or possibly even around the world. Complex proprietary networks of individual computer resources include sub-networks built around nodes. The sub-network nodes are then interconnected to form massive computer networks available to large numbers of users.
Management of communication within large proprietary computer networks is often done by server computers located at network nodes. The simple inclusion of an individual computer resource into a proprietary computer network provides at least two more paths into the operating system resident in the kernel space of the individual computer resource. The first path is the connection to the proprietary network by which functionalities and proprietary data are shared. The second path into the kernel space of the individual computer resource is the access given to one or more network administrators to control and maintain communications among the various individual computer resources in the proprietary network of individual computer resources.
Because the individual computer resources in a proprietary computer network are continually in contact with one another and are sharing both software and proprietary data, the downloading of unwanted or malicious programming code into the operating system resident in the kernel space of one individual computer resource in a computer network can rapidly be spread to all of the computer resources in the network. It has been estimated that many of the intrusions into the operating systems resident in the kernel space of networked individual computer resources actually originate from within a proprietary computer network. Accordingly, the vulnerability of all of the individual computer resources in a proprietary network is the same as the vulnerability of the least protected individual computer resource in the proprietary computer network. And, with the increased use of network switches and the increasing speeds of communication among the individual computer resources within a proprietary computer network, the problem of protecting the operating system resident in the kernel space of the individual computer resources in a proprietary computer network becomes an increasingly difficult problem to manage for those responsible for security of a proprietary computer network.
As the problem of unwanted intrusion into the operating system resident in the kernel space of a computer is not a new one, there have been several approaches to protecting the operating system resident in the kernel space of an individual computer resource.
The use of the embedded utility of creating an audit trail for security analysis requires that all of the data collected about communication with the operating system must be written to a data storage file, then at some future time, read back into an audit trail analysis program to detect a possible security breach by looking for anomalies in the audit trail data. Of course, the larger the quantity of audit trail data, the larger the data storage file needed to hold the audit trail information.
Hackers, or those seeking to avoid detection by a security utility in an operating system which performs an audit trail analysis to detect security breaches, quickly learned that by turning off the utility in the operating system which creates an audit trail or by deceiving the analysis program which analyzes the audit trail with vast amounts of spurious data, entry could be gained into that portion of operating system resident in the kernel space. Once entry has been gained into that portion of an operating system resident in the kernel space, the hacker can manipulate the operating system to obtain administrator privileges and thereby reconfigure the existing embedded security utility. For example, a hacker with administrator privileges can corrupt the transfer of audit trail data from its storage location to the audit trail analysis program. Such corruption of the audit trail data on its transfer to an audit trail analysis program defeats the embedded security utility of an operating system. It has been found that some hackers are even able to disguise their break-ins and permanently leave a door open into the operating system for future unwanted or malicious intrusions.
Another attempt to protect the operating systems resident in the kernel space of an individual computer resource is by the use of a firewall product. Firewall products, which employ a passive filtering technique to look for data packets matching known security violations or misuse patterns, are typically placed somewhere between a managed proprietary network and an untrusted external source of information such as the Internet. Firewall products attempt to implement security on the perimeter of a proprietary computer network by monitoring all traffic or data packets traveling both to and from the proprietary computer network to determine which data packets can pass into or out of the proprietary computer network and which cannot. Some firewall products can identify suspected break-in events and issue appropriate alarms to a designated one of multiple computer resources in the computer network. Other firewall products may invoke a predetermined action to head off a suspected break-in event. Still other firewall products may trace an attempted break-in event through the creation and analysis of the data produced by an audit trail of all traffic.
A data packet-filtering firewall examines all of the data packets that are encountered, then the firewall product either allows these data packets to pass into an operating system as addressed or drops them based on a predetermined rule set. The network administrator can adjust how data packet filtering is performed by a firewall product, as far as permitting or denying connections to designated computer resources, by establishing filtering criteria in the firewall based upon the source of the data packet, the destination of the data packet, or the type of data contained in the packet.
In addition to data packet filtering, some firewall products offer other useful security features, such as the following:
Stateful packet inspection. State information is derived from past communication with the proprietary network and other software applications to make the decision to allow or deny new attempts to gain entry into a proprietary computer network. With the stateful packet inspection method of security, data packets leaving the computer resource are intercepted by an inspection engine in the firewall product that extracts state-related information. The inspection engine maintains the state-related information in dynamic state tables for evaluating subsequent attempts to gain entry into the proprietary computer network. Data packets are only permitted to pass into the proprietary computer network when the inspection engine in the firewall product examines a list of permitted communications and verifies that the attempt to gain entry into the proprietary computer network is in response to a valid request. The list of connections is maintained dynamically, so only the required ports are opened. As soon as the session is closed, the ports are locked to assure maximum security.
Network Address Translation (NAT). Network Address Translation hides the internal addresses of individual computer resources within the network from public view. This protects an individual networked computer resource from being used for spoofing (a technique for impersonating authorized users by using a valid address to gain access to a proprietary computer network).
Denial-of-service detection. Denial of service detection defends a proprietary computer network against attempts to gain access by techniques known as syn flooding, port scans, and packet injection. Specifically, data packet sequence numbers in TCP connections are inspected. If the data packet sequence numbers are not within expected ranges, the firewall drops the data packets as suspicious data packets. When the firewall product detects unusually high rates of attempted new connections, it issues an alert message so that the network administrator can take appropriate action to protect other computer resources in the proprietary network.
Code Detection. Certain controls known as Java applets and ActiveX controls can be used to hide intelligent agents that can give intruders access to the operating systems of individual computer resources once these controls get inside a proprietary network. With the increasing use of Java applets and ActiveX controls on Web sites, some firewall products offer the means to either deny computer users access to Web pages that contain these controls or to filter such content from the Web pages when these controls are encountered.
Probe detection. Some firewall products offer alarms that are activated whenever probing is detected. The alarm system can be configured to watch for TCP or UDP probes from either external or internal networks. Alarms can be configured to trigger: a) e-mail messages, b) popup windows, or c) output messages to a local printer.
Event logging. Event logging automatically logs system error messages to a console terminal or syslog server. These system event messages enable network administrators to track potential security breaches or other non-standard activities on a real-time basis.
In addition to the foregoing, some firewall products now include automated intrusion-detection tools. One example is the OmniGuard/Intruder Alert offered by AXENT Technologies. The OmniGuard/Intruder Alert includes numerous drop and detect security scenarios. The preconfigured drop and detect security scenarios enable users of proprietary networks to install an automated intrusion detection tool to instantly protect individual computer resources from the most common and dangerous security threats.
The Intruder Alert firewall product uses a real-time, manager/agent architecture to monitor the audit trails of distributed computer systems for footprints which signal suspicious or unauthorized activity on all major operating systems, Web servers, other firewalls, routers, applications, databases, and SNMP traps from other devices connected to the proprietary network of computer resources. Unlike other automated intrusion-detection tools, which typically report suspicious activity hours or even days after it occurs, the Intruder Alert product takes action as soon as a suspicious intrusion is detected to alert network administrators, shut down computer resources, terminate offending sessions, and execute commands to stop intrusions before any major damage occurs. Once an attempted intrusion has been detected, a network administrator can create and quickly implement new security policies for different domains within a proprietary network, thereby implementing additional protection for multiple computer resources. In addition, the Intruder Alert product provides the network administrator with a correlated graphical view of security trends, thereby enabling the network administrator to view and analyze real-time security trends and to drill down for additional details concerning attempts to breach the protection provided by a firewall product.
Even after a firewall network protection solution has been implemented, it is still recommended that owners of proprietary computer networks periodically conduct a comprehensive security-risk assessment. Such security risk assessments assist network administrators in identifying and resolving security breaches before such security breaches are discovered and exploited.
A number of security risk-assessment tools are available, to include a product called Hacker Shield developed and sold by BindView. The Hacker Shield product scans and detects proprietary networks for potential security holes and offers computer users patches or corrective actions to fix the breaches before they become a threat. The HackerShield product also identifies and resolves security vulnerabilities at both the operating-system level and at the network level. This product protects against both internal and external threats. The Hacker Shield product also monitors key system files for unauthorized changes and identifies vulnerable computer user passwords through a variety of password-cracking techniques.
Security risk assessment tools typically provide a detailed report of attempted break-ins and action taken to network administrators. This report describes each vulnerability of the computer network and the corrective action taken as well as a ranking of the vulnerabilities by the risk posed. Network administrators also are given a high-level overview of the vulnerability of the proprietary network and its solution, with an option to link to more detailed explanation and reference materials.
While the value of firewall products for passive monitoring and security of proprietary computer networks is undisputed, firewall products can degrade the performance of individual computer resources and create a single point of network failure. Tasks such as stateful data packet inspection, encryption, and virus scanning require significant amounts of processing capacity. As traffic in and out of a proprietary computer network increases, firewalls can become bogged down. Also, because a firewall product sits directly in the path of data packets, the firewall product itself constitutes a single point of failure. If the firewall product cannot keep up with filtering all of the data packets, the firewall product will stop passing all communications, thereby isolating the proprietary computer network behind it.
Dynamic load balancing switches are used to monitor the health of firewall products through automatic, periodic health checks. These dynamic load balancing switches also monitor the physical link status of the switch ports that are connected to each firewall product. Because the firewall products are no longer directly inline and traffic is evenly distributed among them, the end-user experience is improved. The dynamic load balancing switches automatically recognize failed firewall products and redirect entire sessions through other available firewall products.
Although the use of firewall products provides a formidable defense against many attacks on a proprietary network of computer resources, firewall products are not a panacea for all network security problems—particularly those network security problems that originate from within a proprietary computer network. For example, even if virus scanning is provided at the firewall product, such virus scanning will only protect against viruses that come into the proprietary computer network from outside the computer network—typically from the Internet. Scanning for viruses using firewall products does nothing to guard against the more likely sources of intrusion, such as floppy disks containing unwanted or malicious code that are inserted into one individual computer resource in a proprietary computer network by an authorized user who uploads a program onto a floppy disk, inserts it into an individual computer, and inadvertently (or deliberately) spreads a virus throughout the proprietary computer network.
Accordingly, there remains a need in the art for owners of proprietary networks of individual computer resources to have greater security protection than is provided by embedded security utilities, by firewall products, or by firewall products with automatic intrusion detection tools.

Kernel-based network security infrastructure


A single-use bioreactor or container including an enclosure provided for containing a biological medium, and at least one device for making at least one impedance measurement in a physical, physico-chemical and/or biological process in this medium. The sensing device is fixed through a wall of the enclosure in such a way as to be an integral part thereof and includes a detection part in direct contact with an inside of the bioreactor or container and a connection part extending towards an outside of the enclosure.

The present invention relates to single-use biomass sensing devices. It also relates to a method for producing such sensors, associated with single-use bioreactors or with a probe/support made of stainless steel on standard bioreactors, made of stainless steel and glass.
The development of novel molecules by biotechnological way is still considered as the main direction of pharmaceutical development. Nowadays, the pharmaceutical industry recognizes significant advantages associated with single use:                safety, due to limitation of the risk of cross-contamination,        and gains in productivity obtained (i) by the reduction of operating costs, in particular labour costs; (ii) by the utilization of a high-density culture which helps to limit culture times and occupation of floor space; and (iii) by a more rapid and less expensive industrial scale application.
Conventionally the bioreactors utilized are reusable, made of a glass or stainless steel tank, requiring their cleaning, sterilization and constant re-validation. These operations, which are increasingly expensive as a result of continuous growth in regulatory and quality requirements, are eliminated by the introduction of single-use solutions.
There is a growing need for equipment such as single-use fermentation bioreactors, "upstream & downstream" storage and preparation tanks. Such systems are necessarily equipped with sensors provided for measuring physico-chemical, biochemical or biophysical parameters. There can in particular be mentioned sensors carrying out impedance spectroscopy, in particular the capacitive technology sensors designed by the present applicant.
These capacitive sensors make it possible to detect relative variations in capacitances of 10−5 in low-resistance media (a few tens of Ohms). This technique also makes it possible, by means of impedance spectroscopy, to determine the parameters of β dispersion curves (radio frequency). The measurements then provide not only a concentration of living cells but also indications regarding the morphology and the physiological state of the cells. The usual measurement probes are macroscopic in size and intended for stainless steel fermentation tanks. They typically utilize configurations with 4 electrodes in order to be free of the effects of double-layer polarization.
There can in particular be mentioned capacitive sensors specifically dedicated to conductance measurements, in particular for "downstream" type purification applications. These conductance sensors can have the same electrode geometries and structures as capacitive sensors allowing complete measurements of impedance with capacitance and conductance measurements.
The use of an aseptic connector is also known, which makes it possible to introduce solid sensors into a disposable fermenter provided this is in a very protected environment and under a laminar air flow hood. This solution is overall more expensive due to the production and operating cost of the solid sensors: decontamination, removal, cleaning, fitting of the sensor. Moreover, the solid sensors provided in order to equip single-use bioreactors must be sterilized before each use, which does not in itself limit the risk of contamination linked to the sequence of necessary tasks.

Single-use biomass sensing device, method for producing this device and single-use bioreactor incorporating this sensor


An appliance of the preparation of meat or similar products is disclosed, and which includes an outer casing, and an inner casing which is adapted to receive the food product. An air venting system is provided by which the inner casing may be closed and air tight, or opened so as to be in communication wit the outside air. A circulating fan and a heating element are positioned in the inner casing, and a control system is provided by which the appliance may be selectively operated in a cooking mode wherein the air venting system is closed, a grilling mode wherein the air venting system is open, and a hot maintenance mode wherein the air venting system is closed and the circulating fan and heating elements are operated at relatively low levels.

The present invention relates to an appliance for the preparation of meat or similar products, comprising an outer and an inner casing, a fan for circulating cooling air in the space between the inner and outer casing, a separate space in the inner casing with heating elements and an air circulation fan set up in it, which space is in communication by means of air admission openings with the actual treatment space for the products, and in which space a holder for the product to be treated, such as a rotating spit, grille or the like, is set up, while drive means for the fans, the rotating spit and the like are set up in the space between the inner and outer casing.
Such an appliance is known from Dutch Patent Application No. 8303095. The meat grill described in this application works as follows. The outside of the meat is sealed by means of radiation, during which it acquires a brown color and possibly a crisp crust, and moisture loss is also prevented. Circulating hot air by means of a fan in the treatment space causes the meat present in this space to be cooked through. However, this meat grill has a number of disadvantages.
In the first place, cooking takes a relatively long time, since heat transfer to the meat is reduced as a consequence of the sealing of the outside and drying out thereof. In addition, when the door of such a meat grill is opened cooking odours will escape into the room in which said meat grill is located. This is particularly objectionable if such a meat grill is in a shopping arcade or the like.

Appliance for the preparation of meat or similar products


One embodiment of the invention includes a method and system to obtain data for fees and surcharges charged by multiple providers for multiple services based on prior interactions with the service providers, and provide an estimate for fees and surcharges to be charged by one of the service providers for one of the services based on the prior interactions with the service providers. In one embodiment, the fee data is extracted from one of electronic publishing of fees, billings for services rendered, and employee expense reports. In one embodiment, the estimated fees and surcharges include restricted access to a first subset of data to a first predetermined group.

In the usual course of doing business, service providers, particularly travel service providers, frequently add numerous and varied fees and surcharges to the basic cost of a service. In some cases the total of the extra fees may approach or even surpass the cost of the base services. Therefore, it is important for customers of such service provider to track those fees. Moreover, fees among different providers are not always comparable, and many service providers purposely do not list or otherwise bring to light those fees, because hiding the fees and surcharges allows them to protect some high margin revenues.
What is clearly needed is a system and method for breaking out and estimating the various fees and surcharges charged by each service provider to an organization or to individuals in general that uses the services of competing providers, rather than listing just a basic negotiated service fee, thus allowing a true comparison of the overall cost of the purchased services.
To optimize the cost of purchased services to travel provisioning systems, such as travel arrangers and/or organizations, collected information about the cost structures of such service providers, for example, hotels, airlines, and others, may be used to make a comparative analysis. To make such an analysis, a breakdown of the costs into their components is necessary. Currently, no models for such an approach are known to the inventors to exist in the market. What is used is a market-price-based approach, but the problem with that approach is that if two companies are inefficient in different areas, their market price may be the same, so any opportunity to achieve savings is not visible.
What is clearly needed is a system and method to refine and support an analysis of the costs and cost breakdowns for services provided to a services provisioning system by allowing users to compare costs of components of services provided, extracting and comparing information of actual billing, and allowing users to mix and match the lowest-cost services or allowing users to direct cost savings into preferred partners.

Cost model analysis and breakdown for cost buildup


In a document feeder, documents are contained on a document rest in a stacked state. These documents are sequentially transported to a specified exposure region on a table glass member of a copying machine by a feeder and transporter and are then exposed. The documents are then discharged again onto the document rest. The documents are thereby circulated for copying. When the documents are small in number, the documents are not discharged until a copying operation of a necessary number of sheets is completed, and the documents are moved back and forth for exposure between a transport path of the feeder and the transporter. This design enables the time required for copying a small number of documents to be shortened.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a copying method and apparatus using a recirculating document feeder, abbreviated as RDH, which enables exposure by sequentially taking out documents contained in a stacked state in means for containing.
2. Description of the Related Art
A copying machine is recently provided with a document feeder to feed documents sequentially to an exposure region in order to copy a plurality of sheet-like documents of a size efficiently. Also by repeating such copying operation a plurality of times, a plurality of sets of copies can be made arranged in the same order as documents. A typical prior art device for obtaining a plurality of copies is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,499,710 in FIG. 1 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,179,215 in FIG. 2.
FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional drawing of a document feeder 1 of the typical prior art. In the document feeder 1, document containers 4 and 5 are situated on both sides of a exposure region 3 of a copying machine main body 2. These document containers 4 and 5 are constructed in the same manner, and in the state shown in FIG. 1. A plurality of documents 7 are stacked and contained in main body 6 of the document container 4 which is on document feeding side. The documents 7 are pressed toward a bottom plate 6a of the main body 6 by spring force of a spring member 8a from above via a pressing plate 8. In the vicinity of the bottom plate 6a of a main body 6, a discharge port 9 is formed directed to the exposure region 3, and when a discharge roller 10 provided for the bottom plate 6 is driven, the documents in the bottommost layer are discharged through the discharge port 9. The documents 7 discharged through the discharge port 9 are sent onto a platen 13 composing the exposure region 3 through means for guiding 11, and transported to a predetermined exposure position suitable for the size of the documents 7 by means for transporting 12 realized by a transport belt or the like.
After the image of the documents 7 is copied onto a copy sheet, the documents 7 are thrown into an input port 15 of an other document container 5 on document containing side from the transporting means 12 through means for guiding 14. The input port 15 is formed above the level of the discharge port 9, and in the document container 5 on document containing side, the pressing plate 8 is displaced upward of the input port 15 against spring force of the spring member 8a by means for raising and lowering 16 realized by an electromagnetic plunger or the like.
Accordingly, the documents taken out from the bottom side of the document container 4 are thrown into the input port 15 of the document container 5 sequentially after exposure is made, therefore the documents 7 are contained in the document container 5 in the same order as when the documents were contained in the document container 4. When copying operation by the documents 7 in the document container 4 is all finished, the guiding means 11 connects the input port 15 of the document container 4 and the transporting means 12, the guiding means 14 connects the discharge port 9 of the document container 5 and the transporting means 12, further each pressing plate 8 in the document container 4 and 5 is raised and lowered respectively, and copying operation described above is made with the documents 7 from the document container 5. By moving the documents 7 back and forth in this way between the document container 4 and the document container 5, a necessary number of copies can be made in the same order as the documents 7.
On the other hand, the construction having the two document containers 4 and 5 occupies a large installation space, therefore a recirculating document feeder 21 is put into practical use wherein a single document container 22 is provided as shown in FIG. 2 and the documents 7 taken out of the document container 22 are returned to the document container 22. In this recirculating document feeder 21, the documents 7 are taken out sequentially from the bottommost layer through a discharge port formed on a bottom plate 23a of a main body 23 of the document container 22 by a discharge roller 24, transported onto a platen 27 of a copying machine body 26 by means for transporting 25 and exposed, sent from the transporting means 25 via means for guiding 28, then thrown in from above the main body 23 of the document container 22. The documents 7 are thus sequentially taken out from the bottommost layer and exposed, then the documents 7 are stacked in the uppermost layer, and such operation is repeated to make a plurality of sets of copies in the same order as that of the documents.
In the document feeding apparatus 1 constructed as described above, when copying of a few number of documents 7 is attempted in the same way as a large number of documents, feed of the documents for next copying operation can be restarted only after the documents are exposed and transported from the document container 4 on one side to the other side, i.e., the document container 5, then the guiding means 11 and 14 are driven to switch the discharge port 9 and the input port 15 as well as the raising and lowering means 16 is driven to vertically displace the pressing plate 8, which takes time.
Also in the recirculating document feeder 21 in FIG. 2, when the documents 7 are few, the guiding means 28 is sprung up as shown by a reference mark 28a, and the documents 7 are contained temporarily in the transporting means 25 without the documents 7 being returned to the document container 22. However, it still takes time since the length of a transporting path does not change much when the size of the documents 7 is small or the documents are small in number.


A data communications protocol facilitates communications between a message entry device and a messaging center. The protocol permits an operator to enter a message and transmit it quickly, efficiently, and with confirmation. In an example application to short text messaging, two-way data communications between a message entry device and a message handling center, a small set of simple transactional commands is used for communicating messages to and from cellular telephones. Both the message entry device and the message handling center may independently initiate and send messages to the other. An input message is encoded by encapsulating the message between first and second delimiters, e.g., "{" and "}", and associating a message tag with the encapsulated message. Both the message tag and the encapsulated message are in human-readable ASCII format. The delimited message and associated message tag are further encapsulated by additional delimiters to form a protocol data unit with an associated protocol data unit tag. The message handling center simply parses the various delimited fields in accordance with the associated tags. No complicated encoding or decoding procedures are necessary.

There are a plethora of data communications protocols most of which were developed to meet a specific set of communication needs. For example, so-called "messaging" protocols were proposed and developed in the 1980's to address certain messaging applications like e-mail, phone mail, etc. The X.400 series of recommendations advanced by CCITT define one messaging protocol. Another more recent example of a data communications protocol is version 2.0 of the Telecator Data Paging (TDP) protocol specification recently published in 1995 by the Personal Communications Industry Association (PCIA). The TDP protocol suite is a set of communications protocols to provide data paging capabilities and is designed to support wireless one-way transmission of any type of binary data from an input device to a remote computer device via radio paging channels. As a result, different types of computers, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), and other portable devices can receive information transmitted over radio paging channels. Such information might be spreadsheet information, database updates, digitized fax, voice or video data, computer programs, or any other type of digitally encoded data. TDP was also designed in the hopes of supporting two-way paging applications for wireless devices like pagers and cellular phones where a paged device may return a response to the wireline or wireless message origination device.
In actuality, the TDP protocol suite includes a number of individual protocols including: a data input protocol known as the Telecator Message Entry (TME), a radio transport protocol known as Telecator Radio Transport (TRT), a radio receiver to remote computer data transfer protocol known as Telecator Mobile Computer (TMC), a Telecator Network Paging Protocol (TNPP) or Telecator Interswitch Paging Protocol (TIPP) utilized to move radio transmission data from one paging terminal to another, Telecator Format Conversion (TFC) used by a front end processor to send binary data through a port compatible with the Telecator Alpha-numeric Protocol (TAP), and a Wireless Message Format (WMF) which describes the format in which binary input data may initially be presented to a paging terminal. Ultimately, binary data initially sent from a Message Entry Device (MED) to a remote Mobile Computer Device (MCD) is expected to appear in the wireless message format for delivery to a pager.
The Telecator Message Entry (TME) protocol specifies certain rules for moving information between the MED and a paging network. The protocol expects entry device to "log in" to the paging system and possibly identify who the caller is, along with the specification of an optional password. For a particular set of binary data to transmit, one or more remote receivers may be specified so that the paging systems may forward the received data to the proper set of paging terminals which cover the geographic region where data transmission is to take place. Other TME control blocks allow input devices to define parameters such as the delivery priority, which specifies the desired time period within which the entire set of binary data should be transmitted.
The architecture of many data communication protocols follows the International Standards for Organization (ISO) structure for "layered protocols" beginning with an applications layer that defines the structure of the data and the control blocks which are transferred between two communicating devices. The application layer also defines the format of responses expected when control blocks are transferred. A transport layer defines how each application layer and control block is broken down into one or more packets so that they may be reliably moved between systems. The network routing layer defines how individual packets of the transport layer are properly directed to move between the two communicating devices if these devices are not directly connected to each other. The data link layer defines the structure of the data as it appears on a communications link. The data link layer defines how data bytes are represented so they are not confused with control information and how "check-sum" information is added to transmitted data so that the receiving data link layer software can detect transmission errors. Finally, the physical layer represents the physical hardware and driver control software which transmits and receives data bits over a communications circuit. To transfer message data, each layer in the stack performs its particular processing functions, advancing the processed information to the next layer in order to ultimately transmit data bits over the physical communications channel. When data is received on the channel, the process is reversed.
The particular layer of interest to the present invention is the application layer which defines communications procedures, data, and control structures used to move data and define control parameters between two devices. Two well known example applications that run on top of the application layer are electronic mail and electronic file transfer. Another example application of interest to the present invention is the transfer and delivery of short text messages between a message entry device and a messaging handling processor for delivery to a mobile radio terminal.
Generally, the structure of existing applications layers and the format of the control blocks are formally and rigidly defined by protocol notation known as Abstract Syntax Notation (ASN.1). ASN.1 is a formal language having a complex, encoded representation whose precise, formal nature removes any possible ambiguities from both representation and meaning. For example, instead of saying that a variable contains an integer value, a protocol designer who uses ASN.1 must state the exact form and range of the numeric values. More generally, ASN.1 defines precisely how to encode both names and data items in a message.
Unfortunately, ASN.1 has numerous and significant drawbacks including complexity, inflexibility, and high expense. The following is an example of just how complex it is just to log-in and confirm the log-in (before a message is even sent) using the TME protocol using ASN.1.
__________________________________________________________________________ // ASCII Representation of a Login Invoke PDU value LoginArgument::= loginID subscriberID: "tme_test", tmeVersion { majorVersion 2, minorVersion 0 } password "password" } // ASN.1 Representation of the Login Invoke PDU LoginArgument SEQUENCE [fieldcount (not encoded) = 3] loginID LoginId CHOICE [index = 0] suscriberId SubscriberId Character String [length = 8.0] "tme.sub.-- test" tmeVersion TmeVersion SEQUENCE [fieldcount (not encoded) = 2] majorVersion INTEGER [length = 1.0] 2 minorVersion INTEGER [length (not encoded) = 0.4] password Password Character String [length = 8.0] "password" Total PDV length = 22.0 // An ASN.1 Encoded output of the Login Invoke PDU TDPTypes CHOICE [index = 0] invoke SEQUENCE [fieldcount (not encoded) = 3] invokeID InvokeID CHOICE [index = 0] present INTEGER [length = 1.0] 1 opcode Code CHOICE [index = 0] local INTEGER [length = 1.0] 1 argument OpenType [length = 22.0] 0x4070746d655f746573740101010070617373776f7264 Total PDV length = 29.0 // Login Response PDU enclosed in a ROSE envelope. TDPTypes CHOICE [index = 1] returnResult SEQUENCE [fieldcount (not encoded) = 2] invokeId Invoke Id CHOICE [index = 0] present INTEGER [length = 1.0] 1 result SEQUENCE [fieldcount (not encoded) = 2] opcode Code CHOICE [index = 0] local INTEGER [length = 1.0] 1 result OpenType [length = 63.0] 0x4001010015313939936313130353039343932302e392d30353030002357656c636f6d65 . . . Total PDV length = 70.0 // Login Result after decoding-ASN.1 format. LoginResult SEQUENCE [fieldcount (not encoded) = 3] tmeVersion TmeVersion SEQUENCE [fieldcount (not encoded) = 2] majorVersion INTEGER [length = 1.0] 2 minorVersion INTEGER [length (not encoded) = 0.4] systemConfigDateTime GeneralizedTime [length = 21.0] 19961105094920.9-0500 carrierNewsflash Character String [length = 35.0] "Welcome to the Message Center [TME]" Total PDV length = 63.0 Received PDU:2 // Login Result ASCII representation. value LoginResult::= { tmeVersion { majorVersion 2, minorVersion 0 }, systemConfigDateTime "19961105094920.900-0500", carrierNewsflash "Welcome to the Message Center [TME]" } __________________________________________________________________________
From the above, it is plain that encoding a simple message just to deliver a login ID and password is amazingly complex.
Another problem with existing data communications protocols is they are increasingly antiquated. Current and future telecommunications systems require more comprehensive and more readily integratable features. For example, data are increasingly being sent over cellular digital packet data (CDPD) systems. Accordingly, for a message handling system to effectively interface with the CDPD system it must provide new services and features currently in demand but also must have the flexibility to adapt to and provide future communications needs.
A current example of a mobile data system/wireless computer network is the Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN). In such a network, mobile units such as cellular telephones may communicate with other mobile units through the PLMN or with stationary wireline units through more conventional wireline type networks such as the Public Switch Telephone Network (PSTN), the Internet, etc. More and more applications of mobile data systems require two-way communication to and from the mobile, wireless terminals. Even a relatively simple courier or taxi radio dispatch system where couriers/cabs are dispatched for a package pick-up should provide some return acknowledgment or confirmation message.
Unfortunately, many existing protocols are not well suited for such two-way data communications. For example, standardized protocols like the Telecator Data Paging (TDP) protocol suffer a number of limitations and drawbacks when messaging system designers and programmers try to put them into practice. Specifically, the TDP suite of protocols is directed and based on old paging protocols and paging networks and is not well directed to the special current needs, e.g., two-way data/text communications, of wireless mobile terminals or cellular telephones. Being directed to paging networks, TDP is not well suited to provide short text messaging services (SMS). SMS requires a much more flexible, comprehensive, and easily-used protocol to facilitate message transfer between a messaging service/operator and a message handling center for ultimate routing messages to and from a cellular telephone. In addition, the TME paging network controller permanently functions as the "server." "Client" devices are required to poll the network controller server to retrieve messages. It would be desirable to permit a messaging center to function both as a server and as a client that could independently initiate and send messages without first being polled. Another problem with the TME protocol is that its message delivery mechanism requires the use of a directory command which causes a list of message IDs to be sent to the client. Thereafter, the client must "pull" messages from the network server using a message reference. Such a message delivery approach is complex to implement because the number of messages is indeterminate. What is needed is a simple message delivery request mechanism that can be readily implemented and used.
Increasing demands for more capability and flexibility in communications protocol are further complicated by the need to keep portable radio terminals simple, small, and inexpensive. Because cellular telephones are already very small devices (and will get only smaller), they have limited amounts of memory and data processing capability. Because cellular telephones are battery-operated, power conservation is at a premium. As a result, cellular telephones are powered-off for long time periods. Another factor pertains to the fact that while some messages are for the human user of the cellular telephone, some messages are intended only for a computer located in the cellular telephone itself. For example, the telephone computer uses short messages for authentication, for activation or deactivation of cellular telephone features, etc. Factors like these make cellular telephone message delivery, confirmation, and origination quite challenging. Accordingly, a data communications protocol designed to optimally meet these challenges is needed.
Consider the following, real world situation where a telephone network operator provides a call answering service which permits a subscriber to call a special message service telephone number to have a text message delivered to a cellular telephone. After dialing the call answering service, the caller dictates over the phone a message which is typed into a message entry device by a human operator and sent on to a message handling center. The message handling center routes the message via the Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) to the cellular telephone over a radio channel.
What is needed in this situation is a data communications language, i.e., protocol, that is easy for an operator to enter the message and transmit it quickly, efficiently, and with confirmation. The protocol should permit the cellular telephone to acknowledge whether and when the message is successfully delivered and stored in the memory of the cellular telephone. The protocol must also adapt to the fact that, as mentioned above, cellular telephones are often turned-off, and as a result, there may be a large number of unsuccessful message delivery attempts. So the protocol should permit an operator to replace a message that may not have been successfully delivered, stored, or retrieved by or during a certain time frame. The originating caller should also be able to receive a notification message if the original message could not be successfully delivered within the specified time period.
Priority of messages is also an important feature in delivering messages to and from cellular telephones since radio bandwidth is a precious resource. Given the limited memory of the cellular telephone, another desired feature is the ability to erase messages after a certain time to open up storage for new messages. The caller may also be interested in determining the status of the message, e.g., whether the message has been received, read, etc. Other features that must be accommodated for short messages delivered to cellular telephones are variable message length capability and transmission to multiple destinations, e.g., multiple cellular telephones.
Of course, an important feature in a two-way messaging system is sending a message or other notification report from the messaging center to the message entry device. This "reverse" communications direction is not typically found for example in traditional paging systems. What is needed is a protocol that permits messages to be sent just as easily from a message handling center to an operator as from an operator to a message handling center without any special alerting function or polling operation.
As already described, a major problem with existing protocols is the use of very complicated encoding procedures, i.e., ASN.1 encoding. In addition, ASN.1 requires that an operator provide information for every required field. This is often inconvenient and unnecessary when certain fields do not apply for a particular message. In any event, ASN.1 transcoders are quite expensive, difficult to program against, complex to implement, and complex to debug. An encoding technique is needed that provides an unambiguous representation of communication variables, that is also easily understood by humans, and that is easy to decode. Moreover, the operator should not have to remember and be proficient with many different commands to program new features or new applications that are to run on top of this protocol. Programming new features or service elements should be straightforward, and the protocol should not be adversely impacted by inevitable changes and expansions in communications services.
The present invention provides a new protocol which meets these needs and overcomes these and other drawbacks with existing communications protocols. The protocol in accordance with the present invention employs a small set of simple transactional commands to effect communications between two computers and finds particularly advantageous application to short text message, two-way data communications between a message entry device and a message handling center for communicating messages to and from cellular telephones. Therefore, the protocol finds particular application to Public Land Mobile Networks (PLMN). The new protocol in accordance with the present invention, referred to as Computer Access Protocol (CAP II), is an application layer protocol which is independent of underlying layers. As such, the CAP II protocol may be used "on top of" standard lower layer protocols such as TCP/IP or X.25.
CAP II defines a client-server model where the client is the entity which establishes the connection, and the server is the entity to which the connection is established. Both the message entry device and the message handling center may function as a client and as a server. In this regard, CAP II is symmetrical in that communicating devices function as "peers," and there is no need for special alerts or polling by one device to receive messages from another device. Communicating devices may function in one communication as a "server" and in another as a "client." Human-readable, ASCII Protocol Data Units (PDUs) are exchanged between client and server.
Message encoding is easy to implement and use. An input message is encapsulated by a message entry device between first and second delimiters, e.g., "{" and "}", and a message tag is associated with the encapsulated message. Both the message tag and the encapsulated message are in human-readable, ASCII format. The delimited message and associated message tag are further encapsulated by, i.e., "nested" in, additional delimiters with one or more corresponding tags to form a protocol data unit that also has an associated protocol data unit tag. Message decoding is also easy. The receiving unit, e.g., a message handling center, receives binary symbols corresponding to the transmitted PDU and converts those received binary symbols into ASCII format. The resulting PDU is then parsed using the delimiters and associated tags to unpack the message. This parsing process is readily performed because the delimiters are easily detected and each tag identifies the content of the delimited information with which the tag is associated. Accordingly, no complicated encoding or decoding procedures are necessary.
In the particular application of the CAP II protocol to messaging services provided by a messaging handling center for processing messages between a message entry device and portable radios such as cellular telephones, the message handling center provides a plurality of messaging services including storing messages in electronic form and forwarding specific messages to destination devices under prescribed conditions. A mobile radio communications network connected to the message handling center includes several radio base stations for communicating voice and data call information over radio channels with portable radios within each radio base station's range. A message service center receives calls from persons who want to deliver text messages to portable radios. A human operator at the message service center enters a text message via a message entry device connected to the message handling center. The message entry device includes a data processor for encoding the text message and associated control information using the delimiters and delimiter tag described above to generate PDUs which are transmitted to the message handling center. The message handling center receives the PDUs, parses out the various field information and message tags, and delivers the text message to the appropriate portable radio by way of the mobile radio network and radio base station in accordance with the control information.
Significantly, the message handling center also receives messages generated by portable radios by way of the mobile communications network. A data processor in the message handling center encodes the radio text message and any related control information using the delimiter/tag encapsulation method described above to generate one or more PDUs which are transmitted to the message entry device. When the message entry device receives the PDUs, it parses out the text messaging control information using the delimiters and tags.
One of the message entry device and message handling center initiating a communication connection between the message entry device and message handling center is defined as a client and the other is defined as the server. Either the message entry device or the message handling center may independently initiate a communications connection as the client. A set of human-readable transaction commands is used by the client and server to transmit information over the established communications connection. Each transactional command includes a transaction request PDU sent from the client which initiates the transaction and a transaction confirm protocol data unit sent from the server which confirms whether the transaction request is successful. Some of the transactions may be marked to indicate that they include plural PDUs thereby binding the plural PDUs to the same transaction.
The set of human-readable transactional commands includes a BIND transaction used by the client to initiate a communications session between the client and server to permit plural transaction request PDUs and transaction confirm PDUs to be exchanged during the communications session. An UNBIND transaction is used to end the communications session. The set of transactions further includes a SUBMIT transaction initiated by the client to submit a message to the server, a DELIVER transaction initiated by the client to retrieve to message from the server; a REMOVE transaction initiated by the message entry device to delete a message stored in the message handling center; a REPLACE transaction initiated by the message entry device to replace a message stored in the message handling center; an INQUIRE transaction initiated by the client to inquire about the status of an earlier submitted message.
Many of the transaction commands include plural parameter fields encoded and decoded using corresponding tags and delimiters. Each parameter specifies a particular operation to be performed with respect to a submitted message. For example, plural destination addresses may be specified to transmit a PDU to plural different destinations. A deferred delivery time may be employed to specify when an attempt should be made to transmit the message. A priority may be associated with the message to control the order in which the message is transmitted, with higher priority messages being transmitted before lower priority messages. A message expiration time may be attached to the message after which expiration no further attempts will be made to transmit the message. A message delivery status may be used to inform the device submitting the message whether the message was successfully delivered, and if not, the reason for the failed delivery. A confirmation parameter indicates whether confirmation PDUs should be suppressed in order, for example, to facilitate transmission of long messages. A transaction reference is assigned by the originator of the transaction request. The transaction request is used to match a pending transaction request with a received transaction confirm. Other parameters include a maximum transaction window that represents the maximum number of outstanding transaction requests pending a confirmed transaction.

Data communications protocol for facilitating communications between a message entry device and a messaging center


The position of a body part area for a personal image in an input image is detected. According to the position of the detected body part area, the position of the origin of a coordinate system for an ornament image is defined. Based on the position of the defined origin, an ornament-arranged input image is outputted. When the personal image moves in the input image, the ornament image also moves by following the movement of the personal image. Even when both the personal image and ornament image move, the ornament image can be made not to interfere with the personal image. Therefore, the personal image can be clearly displayed. Moreover, the input image can be made to look more interesting by synchronizing the movement of the ornament image with the movement of the personal image.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus built into a communication device (for example, a TV phone, a TV conference system, a video mail system, a video chat system, an intercom, etc.) for handling image data. More particularly, the present invention relates to an image processing apparatus for editing a personal image (for example, a face image of a user, a whole-body image of the user, etc.).
2. Description of the Related Art
There is an amusement apparatus that prints and outputs a personal image of the user to various kinds of print media. The amusement apparatus overlaps a frame of ornaments (for example, a picture, a pattern, etc.) on the personal image of the user to make a composite image, and prints and outputs the composite image to a print media (for example, seal etc.).
The amusement apparatus, however, does not have, in itself, a function to adjust a positional relationship of the personal image and the ornaments. Therefore, even if the user has arranged the personal image to fit in the ornament frame, the ornament may overlap with the personal image, so that the ornament hides a part of the face (face part) of the user and/or a part of the head (head part) of the user, and as a result, the personal image becomes unclear.
Considering this point, a first reference (published Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-22929) discloses a technique that adds ornaments to a personal image, while making an ornament not overlap with a body part of the personal image, especially, a predetermined body part corresponding to a face and head.
Recently, a camera-built-in cellular phone has been put in practical use. The cellular phone has a function to overlap a frame of ornaments on a personal image to make a composite image and a function to transmit the composite image. If a transmitter uses such a camera-built-in cellular phone, a receiver can enjoy seeing the picture that the transmitter has edited.
The first reference assumes that ornaments do not move. According to the technique disclosed by the first reference, ornaments are added to a personal image such that the ornaments do not overlap with a body part of the personal image, especially, a predetermined body part area corresponding to a face and head.
Consideration of the first reference may be appropriate, since, in the first reference, the output is designated only to a printer that prints the composite image to a print media and an image once printed on the print media is rarely edited again.
However, the camera-built-in cellular phones mentioned above may have widespread use. In one of these cellular phones, a composite image is displayed on a display, without being printed to a print media. In the future, the user of one of the above-mentioned cellular phones will think that he/she wants to move ornaments in order to obtain more pleasure.
However, in the prior art, adding ornaments which do not move to a personal image which also does not move is only taken into consideration. Adding ornaments which move to the personal image is not taken into consideration at all in the prior art. For this reason, if the prior art is simply applied to a personal image which moves, the personal image and the ornaments may interfere with each other. As a result, the composite image becomes unclear and does not look more interesting.

Method and apparatus for image processing

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A method and apparatus for monitoring slack adjustment for braking in a vehicle is applicable to either drum or disc brake assemblies. The vehicle has several axle assemblies each with a pair of brake assemblies. A typical disc brake assembly includes a rotating disc, an actuator, a caliper with a brake lining supported on a backing plate, and a slack adjuster for adjusting the travel distance of the caliper to the disc. The actuator moves the brake linings of the caliper into contact with the rotating disc to brake the vehicle, resulting in a temperature increase in the brake linings. Temperature sensors are embedded in the brake linings of each brake assembly on each axle of the vehicle. The temperature of each brake lining is measured and compared with the temperature of the brake lining of its brake pair on the same axle. If the ratio of the two brake lining temperatures achieves a predetermined limit, a slack adjuster is deemed out of adjustment and a warning signal is sent to the vehicle operator.

This invention relates to a unique method and apparatus for monitoring brake slack adjustment in a vehicle.
A typical vehicle configuration includes several axle assemblies each with a pair of brake assemblies, one brake assembly at each wheel. The brake assemblies are typically either disc or drum type brakes and can be actuated hydraulically or pneumatically. For example, a typical disc brake assembly includes a rotating disc, an actuator, a caliper with a brake lining supported on a backing plate, and a slack adjuster for adjusting the travel distance of the caliper to the disc. The actuator moves the brake lining on the caliper into contact with the rotating disc to brake the vehicle, resulting in a temperature increase in the brake lining. As the lining wears, the distance that the caliper has to travel before it contacts the disc increases. The slack adjuster automatically adjusts the caliper such that the distance between the brake lining and the disc is optimal.
Over a period of time, slack adjusters can get out of adjustment which can result in ineffective braking. If the slack adjuster is over adjusted, the distance between the brake lining and the disc is too small which can result in the lining rubbing against the disc during non-braking conditions, and causing premature lining wear. If the slack adjuster is under adjusted, the distance between the brake lining and the disc is too large, resulting in delayed braking power. Thus, it is important to know when the slack adjusters are out of adjustment, so that they can be re-adjusted to provide optimal braking performance.

Method and apparatus for detecting an improperly adjusted slack adjuster


The frame or image of a video stream of a videoconference is divided into a series of segments for analysis. There is a primary grid, which covers the entire frame, and an alternate grid, which is shifted from the primary grid. Each segment is small enough to allow a neural network to efficiently operate on the segment without requiring downsampling. By operating on full resolution images, a participant can be identified at a greater distance from the camera. The entire frame is analyzed at a lower frequency, such as once per five seconds, but each segment containing a participant in the conference is scanned at a higher frequency, such as once per second, to maintain responsiveness to participant movement but also allow the full resolution operation.

During a videoconference, it is desirable to find the locations of participants, either as speakers or simply as attendees. Knowing the locations allows better framing decisions to make the experience more pleasurable to remote viewers. Neural networks have become very good at accurately finding individuals, either through face finding techniques or body finding techniques or some combination. However, neural networks are computationally intensive. Videoconference devices often have limited processing capabilities and have many tasks to perform besides finding individuals. To limit the processing resources utilized by a neural network performing face or body finding, the received images are often downsampled, such as from 1920 by 1080 for a full high definition (HD) input image stream to 256 by 256. While this downsampling limits the resources used in the participant finding process, the downsampling also limits the distance the participant can be from the camera. As the participant becomes farther from the camera, the number of pixels remaining to be analyzed quickly becomes too small for even the most advanced neural networks to correctly identify a participant. The participant could be farther from the camera if downsampling was not performed, but analyzing the full image using neural network techniques is too computationally intensive to allow any such analysis to be done on at a frequency to allow reasonable tracking of participant movement and still allow operation of the remaining tasks of the videoconferencing device. So, the videoconferencing device is developed with a choice of better participant tracking of just closer participants using downsampled images or detection of farther participants at the expense of participant tracking smoothness.

Enhanced person detection using face recognition and reinforced, segmented field inferencing


A receiver for receiving a multi-carrier modulated symbol is arranged to suppress a burst noise signal which may have been induced in the symbol. The symbol includes a plurality of pilot carriers as well as a plurality of data bearing carriers. The receiver comprises a burst noise detection processor operable to detect the temporal position of the burst noise signal which may have corrupted the symbol within a period occupied by the symbol, and a channel estimation processor operable to generate a decimated noise signal corresponding to the burst noise, from the recovered pilot carriers. An inverse Fourier transform of the decimated noise signal provides a plurality of estimated versions of the burst noise signal. A noise signal processor is operable to generate an estimate of the burst noise signal by identifying one of the plurality of estimated burst noise versions at the detected temporal location of the burst noise signal. The noise signal processor may be operable to set the signal samples other than the identified estimate of the burst noise signal to zero and to perform a Fourier transform, to provide a frequency domain version of the burst noise signal, thereby interpolating the decimated noise signal. The frequency domain noise signal estimate may be cancelled from the symbol by a noise cancellation processor in the frequency domain, before data is recovered from the symbol. The receiver finds application for Digital Video Broadcasting in which COFDM is employed.

An example of a radio communications system in which data is communicated using multi-carrier modulated symbols is the Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) system. The DVB system utilises a modulation scheme known as Coded Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (COFDM) which can be generally described as providing K narrow band carriers (where K is an integer) and modulating the data in parallel, each carrier communicating a Quadrature Amplitude Modulated (QAM) symbol. Since the data is communicated in parallel on the carriers, the same QAM-symbol may be communicated on each carrier for an extended period, which can be longer than a coherence time of the radio channel. By averaging over the extended period, the QAM-symbols modulated onto each carrier may be recovered in spite of time and frequency selective fading effects, which typically occur on radio channels.
To facilitate detection and recovery of the data at the receiver, the QAM-symbol are modulated onto each of the parallel carriers contemporaneously, so that in combination the modulated carriers form a COFDM symbol. The COFDM symbol therefore comprises a plurality of carriers each of which has been modulated contemporaneously with different QAM data symbols.
In some radio communications systems multi-carrier modulated symbols include pilot carriers, which communicate data-symbols known to the receiver. The pilot carriers provide a phase and timing reference to facilitate the detection and recovery of data at the receiver. For the Terrestrial version of the DVB standard (DVB-T) the multi-carrier symbol includes both Continuous Pilot (CP) carriers which remain at the same relative frequency position in the symbol and Scattered Pilots (SP). The SPs change their relative position in the symbol between successive symbols, providing a facility for estimating the impulse response of the channel via which the COFDM symbols are being communicated.
Although multi-carrier modulation schemes can provide a robust technique for communicating data in the presence of time and frequency selective fading and Gaussian noise, detecting and recovering data in the presence of impulsive burst noise induced at the receiver input presents a technical problem.

Receiver for a multi-carrier modulated symbol


In accordance with disclosed embodiments, there are provided systems, methods, and apparatuses for implementing a stateless, deterministic scheduler and work discovery system with interruption recovery. For instance, according to one embodiment, there is disclosed a system to implement a stateless scheduler service, in which the system includes: a processor and a memory to execute instructions at the system; a compute resource discovery engine to identify one or more computing resources available to execute workload tasks; a workload discovery engine to identify a plurality of workload tasks to be scheduled for execution; a cache to store information on behalf of the compute resource discovery engine and the workload discovery engine; a scheduler to request information from the cache specifying the one or more computing resources available to execute workload tasks and the plurality of workload tasks to be scheduled for execution; and further in which the scheduler is to schedule at least a portion of the plurality of workload tasks for execution via the one or more computing resources based on the information requested. Other related embodiments are disclosed.

The subject matter discussed in the background section is not to be assumed as prior art merely as a result of its mention in the background section. Similarly, a problem mentioned in the background section or associated with the subject matter of the background section is not assumed to have been previously recognized in the prior art. The subject matter in the background section merely represents different approaches, which in and of themselves may also correspond to claimed embodiments.
In the context of computing, scheduling is the method by which specified workloads are assigned to resources which are then responsible for completing the workloads. Such workloads may be, for example, virtual computation elements such as threads, processes, and data flows. The scheduling process applies available hardware resources such as processors, memory, hard drive space, network links, network addresses or IP (Internet Protocol) addresses, expansion cards, and so forth.
A scheduler responsible for performing the scheduling processes and generally will seek to perform a variety of functions in addition to scheduling work, such as optimizing utilizing of resources through a load balancing process which thus permits multiple users to share system resources more effectively.
Implementation of a scheduler is a technically complex task as there exist many criteria which affect operation of the scheduler and may in turn affect perceived performance of the underlying computing resources based on how the scheduler allocates resources and prioritizes competing needs.
Unfortunately, conventional schedulers fail to adequately address the needs of specified Quality of Service (QoS) targets or Service Level Targets (SLTs) such as those defining an exemplary 95th percentile expected completion time and resource usage for a given task. Moreover, it may be impossible to prove the correctness of a scheduling algorithm implemented by conventional schedulers as they generally lack sufficient extendibility and maintainability criteria.
The present state of the art may therefore benefit from the variously disclosed schedulers including the systems, methods, and apparatuses for implementing: (i) the stateless, deterministic scheduler and work discovery system with interruption recovery which is described herein; (ii) the scalable scheduler with heterogeneous resource allocation of large competing workloads types using Quality of Service (QoS) requirements which is described herein; and (iii) the scheduler with preemptive termination of existing workloads to free resources for high priority items, which is also described herein. Each of the described scheduler means are additionally operable within a cloud based computing environment in accordance with the described embodiments set forth below.

Systems, methods, and apparatuses for implementing a scheduler and workload manager with dynamic workload termination based on cost-benefit analysis


Cutting insert made of hard metal, cermet or ceramic substrate body with multi-layer coating applied thereto by CVD methods. The coating has a total thickness of 5 to 40 μm and, starting from the substrate surface, has one or more hard material layers, an alpha aluminum oxide (α-Al2O3) layer of a layer thickness of 1 to 20 μm and optionally at least portion-wise over the α-Al2O3 layer one or more further hard material layers as decorative or wear recognition layers. The α-Al2O3 layer has a crystallographic preferential orientation characterized by a texture coefficient TC (0 0 12)≧5 for the (0 0 12) growth direction.

Cutting inserts for material working, in particular for cutting metal working, comprise a hard metal, cermet or ceramic substrate body which in most cases is provided with a single-layer or multi-layer surface coating to improve the cutting and/or wear properties. The surface coatings comprise mutually superposed hard material layers of carbides, nitrides, oxides, carbonitrides, oxynitrides, oxycarbides, oxycarbonitrides, borides, boronitrides, borocarbides, borocarbonitrides, borooxynitrides, borooxocarbides or borooxocarbonitrides of the elements of groups IVa to VIIa of the periodic system and/or aluminium, mixed metal phases and phase mixtures of the afore-mentioned compounds. Examples of the afore-mentioned compounds are TiN, TiC, TiCN and Al2O3. An example of a mixed metal phase in which in a crystal a metal is partially replaced by another is TiAlN. Coatings of the afore-mentioned kind are applied by CVD methods (chemical vapour phase deposition), PCVD methods (plasma-supported CVD methods) or by PVD methods (physical vapour phase deposition).
Inherent stresses obtain in almost every material as a consequence of mechanical, thermal and/or chemical treatment. In the production of cutting inserts by coating a substrate body by means CVD methods, inherent stresses result for example between the coating and the substrate and between the individual layers of the coating from the different coefficients of thermal expansion of the materials. The inherent stresses can be tension or compression inherent stresses. When a coating is applied by means of PVD methods additional stresses are introduced into the coating by ion bombardment when using that method. In coatings applied by means of PVD methods compression inherent stresses generally prevail whereas CVD methods usually produce tension inherent stresses in the coating.
The effect of the inherent stresses in the coating and in the substrate body can be without a considerable influence on the properties of the cutting insert, but they can also have considerable advantageous or disadvantageous effects on the wear resistance of the cutting insert. Tension inherent stresses which exceed the tensile strength of the respective material cause fractures and cracks in the coating perpendicularly to the direction of the tension inherent stress. In general a certain amount of compression inherent stress in the coating is desired as surface cracks are prevented or closed thereby and the fatigue properties of the coating and thus the cutting insert are improved. Excessively high compression inherent stresses however can lead to adhesion problems and spalling of the coating.
There are 3 kinds of inherent stresses: macrostresses which are almost homogenously distributed over macroscopic regions of the material, microstresses which are homogenous in microscopic regions like for example a grain, and non-homogenous microstresses which are also non-homogenous on a microscopic plane. From a practical point of view and for the mechanical properties of a cutting insert macrostresses are of particular significance.
Inherent stresses are usually specified using the unit Megapascal (MPa), wherein tension inherent stresses have a positive sign (+) and compression inherent stresses have a negative sign (−).
It is known that hard metal cutting tools which are coated with hard material layers like for example TiN, TiC, TiCN, TiAlN, Al2O3 or combinations thereof can have excellent wear resistance but they can rather fail in a situation involving thermomechanical alternating loading in interrupted cutting operations as for example in crankshaft milling, by virtue of a loss in toughness in relation to uncoated cutting tools or those which are coated by means of PVD methods. A similar consideration applies to turning working in an interrupted cutting mode or under disadvantageous cutting conditions (for example vibrations caused by the machine or the workpiece clamping). For such applications under disadvantageous conditions, hitherto CVD coatings with a limited layer thickness (rarely more than 10 μm) are used as the embrittlement of the cutting material, caused inter alia by tensile stresses, increases with the thickness of the CVD coating. Highly wear-resistant kinds of cutting materials in contrast frequently involve layer thicknesses of 20 μm or more, but they can only be used in a continuous cutting mode under advantageous conditions. In the case of cutting inserts for turning working of steel or cast iron therefore both high wear resistance and also high toughness are desired, these being two properties which frequently cannot be achieved at the same time.
DE-A-197 19 195 describes a cutting insert have a multi-layer coating which is deposited in a continuous CVD method at temperatures between 900° C. and 1100° C. The change in material in the multi-layer coating from one layer to the next occurs due to a change in the gas composition in the CVD method. The outermost layer (cover layer) comprises a single-phase or multi-phase layer of carbides, nitrides or carbonitrides of Zr or Hf, in which internal compression inherent stresses prevail. The subjacent layers comprise TiN, TiC or TiCN and without exception have internal tension inherent stresses. The compression inherent stress measured in the outer layer is between −500 and −2500 MPas. That is intended to improve fracture toughness.
To increase the compression inherent stresses in the coating on the substrate body of cutting inserts or other tools it is known for them to be subjected to a mechanical surface treatment. Known mechanical surface methods are brushing and jet blasting treatment. Jet blasting treatment involves directing a fine-grain jet blasting agent of grain sizes of up to about 600 μm by means of compressed air under increased pressure on to the surface of the coating. Such a surface treatment can reduce tension inherent stresses or compression inherent stresses in the outermost layer and also in the subjacent layers. In regard to jet blasting treatment a distinction is drawn between dry jet blasting treatment in which the fine-grain jet blasting agent is used in the dry condition and wet jet blasting treatment in which the granular jet blasting agent is suspended in a liquid.
It was found that the choice of the jet blasting agent has a considerable influence on the changes in the inherent stresses in the coating and in the substrate of the cutting insert, in particular the hardness of the jet blasting agent in relation to the hardness and thickness of the coating. It was possible to show that, when using a jet blasting agent whose hardness is greater than that of the outermost layer of the coating, the wear mechanism in the jet blasting procedure is abrasion and high compression stresses occur only at the near surface regions of the layer to about 1 μm depth of penetration, and they very quickly relax again. In deeper layers or in the substrate there is substantially no reduction in the tension stresses or increase in the compression stresses. The inherent stress prevailing in the substrate after the coating process remains unchanged. It is not possible to achieve an increase in the toughness of the tool.
If the hardness of the jet blasting agent is equal to the hardness of the outermost layer of the coating then the wear mechanism in the jet blasting operation is surface spalling and there are high compression stresses which can act into deeper coating layers and in dependence on the layer thickness also into the substrate. With thick layers (>>10 μm) with wet jet blasting the stress in the substrate can be only little altered and tensile strength can be increased. If nonetheless there is a wish to increase the compression stress in the substrate even with thick layers, it is necessary to use very long dry jet blasting operations, which leads to an increase in lattice dislocations and can cause adhesion problems with the coating.
If the hardness of the jet blasting agent is less than that of the outermost layer of the coating surface bombardment (shot peening) is also substantially assumed as the wear mechanism of that outermost layer. The wear rate at the outermost coating is lower so that longer jet blasting times are possible without any layer removal worth mentioning. A further advantage is that in that respect no or only slight degrees of dislocation are produced in the uppermost layers of the coating. Depending on the respective choice of the method parameters (inter alia jet blasting agent, pressure, duration and angle) and layer thickness inherent stress changes can be achieved in different depths of the composite consisting of the hard metal and the coating. In other words, as a result of the jet blasting treatment, compression stresses can occur in different layers of the coating and also in the substrate.
DE-A-101 23 554 describes a jet blasting method using a granular jet blasting agent of a maximum diameter of 150μ. As a result, a reduction in tension inherent stresses or an increase in compression stresses is achieved in the outermost layer and the subjacent layers, preferably in the region near the surface of the substrate. Preferably compression stresses of some GPa are achieved in the uppermost layers.
Cutting inserts with an outer wear protection layer of alpha or gamma aluminium oxide for metal working have been in use for many years and are described in detail in the literature. It has been found that alpha aluminium oxide coatings with given preferential directions of crystal growth in deposition in the PVD or CVD methods can have particular advantages, in particular an improved wear characteristic, in which respect for different applications of the cutting insert different preferential orientations of the aluminium oxide layer can also be particularly advantageous. The preferential orientation of crystal growth is generally specified in relation to the planes defined by way of the Miller indices, for example the (001) plane, of the crystal lattice and are referred to as texture or fibre texture and are defined by way of a so-called texture coefficient (TC). For example cutting inserts with a wear layer of alpha aluminium oxide with (001) texture have advantages over other preferential orientations in steel machining in respect of relief face wear and crater wear as well as plastic deformation.
US-A-2007/0104945 describes cutting tools with α-Al2O3 wear layers with (001) texture and a columnar microstructure. That preferential orientation is revealed by high intensities of the (006) peak in the X-ray diffraction spectrum (XRD diffractogram) and is achieved by both nucleation and also growth of the α-Al2O3 layer being performed in the CVD method under given conditions. Nucleation is effected at ≦1000° C. on a TiAlCNO bonding layer by a multi-stage method in which the substrates are successively exposed to defined gas concentrations of TiCl4 and AlCl3, flushing steps in N2 and defined H2O concentrations. Nucleation of α-Al2O3 is then continued by growth without catalytic additives and finally at 950 to 1000° C. layer growth to the desired layer thickness takes place under a defined concentration ratio of CO/CO2 and in the presence of typical catalysts like H2S, SO2 or SF6, in concentrations≦1% by volume.
EP 1 953 258 also describes cutting tools with α-Al2O3 wear layers with a (001) texture on hard metal substrates with an edge zone enriched with Co binder. The preferential orientation of the α-Al2O3 wear layer is achieved by nucleation similarly to US-A-2007/0104945, but it will be noted that as a departure therefrom upon further growth of the layer the CO/CO2 ratio gradually increases.
EP-A-2 014 789 also describes cutting tools with α-Al2O3 wear layers with a (001) texture on hard metal substrates with an edge zone enriched with Co binder, which are said to be suitable in particular for cutting machining of steel at high cutting speeds, in particular for steel turning.

Cutting insert and method for production thereof

Abstract: The α-Al2O3 layer has an inherent stress in the region of 0 to +300 MPas, and the substrate within a region of 0 to 10 μm from the substrate surface has an inherent stress minimum in the region of −2000 to −400 MPas.


An address configuration circuit and a method for sharing a series bus connected to a first device between two secondary devices by a configuration within each secondary device of a different address, including, in a configuration phase, the temporary configuring of an output terminal of each secondary device in a mode of reading of the voltage present on this terminal to select one address out of two within the device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to devices communicating via a series bus. The present invention more specifically applies to an I2C bus which uses two respective clock and data bi-directional conductors, the exchanges of which are standardized.
The present invention more specifically relates to the connection of several identical (peripheral) devices on a same series bus to communicate with a central element (for example, a microcontroller).
The present invention more specifically applies to miniaturized systems, for example, cell phones or laptop computers.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
I2C buses are generally used between a master or host circuit and one or several slave or peripheral devices having functions called by the master device.
Due to the twin-wire structure of the I2C bus, the sharing of a same bus, that is, of two conductors connected to two input/output terminals of the master device by several peripherals, is a problem. The peripherals are indeed addressed via the data signal by insertion at the beginning of each frame of the address of the peripheral which is intended to receive the message.
A first known solution is to dedicate a bus to each device. This solution has the disadvantage of requiring multiple terminals on the host device.
A second known solution is to dedicate a specific fixed address to each peripheral, so that it can be selected by the host device. A disadvantage of such a solution is that it precludes any versatility in the peripherals.
A third known solution is to interpose a multiplexer between the host device and the peripherals to allow a sharing of two input/output terminals of the host device by several peripherals connected to individual buses up to the multiplexer. The addition of such a multiplexer becomes more expensive as the number of devices to be shared increases.
A fourth known solution is to provide, at the level of each peripheral, address selection terminals enabling it, by a connection of these terminals to a high or low supply level, to configure its address in a way that can be recognized afterwards by the host device. A disadvantage of this solution is that this requires, on the peripheral side, dedicated address selection terminals. Such a solution is in particular unavailable on low-cost integrated circuits.
A fifth known solution is to provide, on the host device side, a default address to control an address programming on the peripheral side. However, to avoid that two peripherals connected to the bus receive the same configuration instructions, it is necessary to add a separated logic circuit to deactivate (for example, by cutting off its power supply) one of the peripherals while the other one is being configured.