In a solar power generator, a plurality of first solar cell strings (51) are formed in a way that, in each first solar cell string (51), two or more first solar cells (41) are connected in series and disposed in descending order of potential, with an end narrower in width facing one end (E1) in a first direction (D1), from another end (E2) in the first direction (D1). A plurality of second solar cell strings (52) are formed in a way that, in each second solar cell string (52), two or more second solar cells (42) are connected in series and disposed in descending order of potential, with an end wider in width facing the one end (E1) in the first direction (D1), from the another end (E2) in the first direction (D1). Each of the plurality of first solar cell strings (51) and each of the plurality of second solar cell strings (52) are aligned alternately along the second direction (D2) that is orthogonal to the first direction (D1).

So far, many spacecraft carrying solar panels have been launched into outer space. As a spacecraft becomes more sophisticated, a solar panel capable of supplying a large amount of power becomes necessary. Accordingly, it is becoming necessary to increase an output voltage of the solar panel. In general, a solar panel is configured by arranging a plurality of solar cell strings parallel to one another, and electrically connecting adjacent end parts of the solar cell strings adjacent to each other to one another by an inter-column connector. Each solar cell string is configured of series of solar cells connected in series. Therefore, a connection part of the solar cell strings adjacent to each other is a turnaround part of the series of solar cells connected in series. As the output voltage of the solar panel becomes higher, a potential difference between such connection parts becomes larger. And, with generated power of a solar cell being an energy source, discharge is more likely to occur between the solar cells.
In Patent Literature 1, as a measure to prevent the discharge between the solar cells, a solar panel where an insulation material such as an RTV adhesive and so on are filled in a gap between the solar cells and used as an insulating barrier is described. "RTV" is an abbreviation for Room Temperature Vulcanizing.

Solar power generator, solar array wing, and space structure


The invention relates to a filtering device for filtering a fluid, and in particular a liquefied plastic. The filtering device includes a control unit to control the position of a screen carrier by generating control signals such that the fluid pressure in a fluid inlet channel and/or in a fluid outlet channel remains within definable pressure ranges while a cavity is being filled.

Filtering devices are used in plastics processing machines, for example, when the purity of the plastic being processing must meet tough requirements. They are typically arranged between an extruder, which melts and conveys the plastic, and an applicator. Such filtering devices for filtering a fluid, in particular a liquefied plastic, and methods therefor are known from the prior art. DE 10 2007 057 816 A1, for example, describes such a filtering device comprising a screen carrier on which a screen is arranged.
Such a screen must be replaced or cleaned when it has been in operation for some time. In such a case, the screen carrier is moved from the production position (filtering position) into a screen replacement position. Once the screen has been replaced, the screen carrier must be brought back into the production process.
The challenge this poses is that the interior spaces of the screen carrier (cavity) are typically filled with air and that it is essential to prevent air from being introduced into the stream of plastic fluid.
For that reason, the screen carrier is firstly moved into a ventilation position after a screen replacement. In the ventilation position, liquefied plastic flows into the screen cavity, thus displacing any air therein from the screen cavity. The filling speed of the cavity can be regulated with the aid of a filling recess or a drainage groove. The screen carrier cannot be moved into its filtering position until the screen cavity has been completely filled with liquefied plastic. In addition to screen carriers which have a single cavity, other screen carriers are known from the prior art, which have a plurality of cavities, for example two or four cavities, which may be spaced apart from each other along a longitudinal axis of the screen carrier, for example.
Since the plastic flowing in is taken from the stream of fluid plastic to be filtered, filling the cavity poses a special challenge in that it has a negative effect on the system pressure if the cavity is filled too quickly from the stream of fluid plastic. If the cavity is filled too quickly and the fluid feed rate is constant, this results in an undesired drop in pressure within the system.
With that as motivation, DE 10 2006 019 445 A1 describes a method for controlling a plastics processing system. The aim of the method is to compensate for variations in pressure caused by filling a screen carrier cavity, as described above, by increasing the feed rate of a conveying device by regulating the rotational speed of a gear pump while simultaneously moving a screen carrier.
The disadvantage of the prior art described above is the delay in regulation between the drop in system pressure caused by filling the cavity, and the adjustment of the pump output. As a consequence, it is not possible for pressure variations to be ruled out with sufficient certainty, especially when the cavity is filled too quickly. Furthermore, this way of controlling the pump output according to the screen replacement operation is a factor which increases the complexity of the plastics processing machine on the whole, thus resulting in increased production costs and servicing work required for such a machine.

Filtering device and method for operating same


This invention is a method to rupture microbial cells in order to recover intracellular material in the cells comprising:. a) treating the cells with carbon dioxide under pressure sufficient to enter the cells for time sufficient to allow enough carbon dioxide into the cells to effect later rupture, then PA0 b) suddenly releasing the applied fluid pressure on the cells so that the outer wall or membrane of the cells is ruptured by the expansion of carbon dioxide within the cell. Preferably the remaining intracellular material of the cells is separated and recovered. Also the treatment can be in conjunction with lytic enzyme to increase rupture rates. Preferably the enzyme remains active and protein in the cells retains its native state in the ruptured cell suspension. The preferred time for treating is from between about one hour and about fifteen hours. It is also preferred to treat initially at a pressure of from above about 500 psi gage to about 5000 psi and a temperature of about 10.degree. to about 85.degree. C. For improved rupture efficiency, the treating is repeated at least once.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method for recovery of intracellular material by disruption of microbial cells with carbon dioxide under pressure.
2. Background Art
Microbial cells have long been recognized as an important source of commercially useful biochemicals, antibiotics, food and enzymes. With increasing demand of microbial products in industry and medicine, considerable efforts have recently been committed to develop technologies for production of intracellular microbial materials from microorganisms and various genetically altered cultures. Release of cell contents is also vital to many investigations of bacterial metabolism. In any case, the cell disruption is a necessary operation for recovery or isolation of protein, intracellular enzymes and organelles. A variety of disruption techniques had been developed, and some are available commercially. Mechanical methods appear to be favored at the present time by their economic advantages, although several non-mechanical methods, particularly the enzymatic lysis, have attracted great attention. However, many of these methods often degrade or denature proteins in the process.
Yeast is the most widely accepted traditional food item which has been exploited as a potential protein source; however, despite its nutritional value and abundant supply, the potential of yeast as a major food source has been hampered by various problems. Ideally, yeast cell biomass should be consumed directly as food or as food ingredients, but the thick cell wall reduces the digestibility and bio-availability of protein. The cell wall substances often cause allergic responses, diarrhea, and flatulence. Even after the cell wall is removed, some lipid components contribute to off-flavors by oxidation, and more importantly, the functional properties of proteins are impaired in the process. Finally, the protein from single cells contains a high level of nucleic acids, which can cause uricacidemia and gout.
The nature of the cell walls and their removal have been discussed in the literature. Autolysis (particularly, thio-activated autolysis) and enzymatic lysis are among the conventional techniques in wide use for disintegration of microbial cells, other than yeast, to recover intracellular enzymes. Although most microbial cell walls can readily be ruptured, yeast cell walls are very difficult to disintegrate. Selection of yeast strains with weaker cell walls and alkaline treatment can facilitate yeast protein recovery. Other methods, such as homogenization, freeze-thawing, and pressurization have been used to rupture the yeast cells.
Among these methods, pressurization may be the least expensive if the pressure can be kept at a reasonably low range. Prior investigation of gas pressure for rupturing cells, but not yeast cells, has found that carbon dioxide was effective at 500 psi.
Supercritical fluid (SCF) has recently demonstrated great potential in its applications to food and pharmaceutical industries. The fluid possesses a combination of "gas-like" and "liquid-like" properties. It penetrates like a gas, and functions like a liquid. Such unique characteristics of SCF have found broad applications in diverse areas, particularly for extraction and separation of natural products. Various prior studies have extensively applied SCF as a medium, in place of conventional solvents, in enzyme reactions.

Method for recovery of intracellular material by disruption of microbial cells with carbon dioxide under pressure


A multiprocessor having an input/output controller, a process controller, and a multidimensional arrays of field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), each FPGA having its own local memory. The multiprocessor may be programmed to function as a single-instruction, multiple-data (SIMD) parallel processor having a matrix of processing elements (PEs), where each FPGA may be programmed to operate as a submatrix array of PEs. The multiprocessor is especially useful for image processing, pattern recognition, and neural network applications.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to computer architecture for parallel processors.
2. Description of the Related Art
Even with the last decade's exponential growth in performance of integrated circuits, many high performance applications, such as image processing and neural network applications, still demand increased hardware speed. One approach to increase performance is to build massively parallel computers. Their high price and difficulty to program have resulted in a very low acceptance rate. Furthermore, the design cycle of such computers is usually long, and, as a result, their technology is often obsolete before they are commercially available. Consequently, users often prefer to use the latest high-performance general workstation that is much less expensive and more easy to program. A second approach to solving the performance problem is to design dedicated parallel hardware for one task (or a set of similar tasks). Their programming is usually simple (or even nonexistent) while their performance/cost ratio is high. However, they are not flexible and their design cycle is long.
Over the last few years, advances in programmable logic devices have resulted in the commercialization of field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) which are able to support relatively large numbers of programmable logic elements on a single chip. The size and speed of those circuits improve at the same rate as microprocessors' size and speed, since they rely on the same technology.
It is an aspect of the present invention to provide improved apparatus for data processing applications requiring a large number of operations, such as image processing, pattern recognition, and neural network algorithms.
It is another aspect to provide apparatus for data processing which provides greater flexibility and shorter design cycle than existing parallel processors.
A further aspect is to provide a more economical apparatus and process for virtual image processing (VIP) and neural network processing.
Further aspects and advantages of this invention will become apparent from the detailed description which follows.


A pulse location search device (400) is equipped with: a first search unit (401) that obtains a first location where a first pulse is located by conducting a first preliminary selection with respect to a first candidate group, and conducting a first search; a second search unit (402) that obtains a second location where a second pulse is located by using the first location and conducting a second search with respect to all of the location candidates of a second candidate group of locations where the second pulse is located; and a third search unit (403) that obtains a third location where the first pulse is located by using the second location and conducting a second preliminary selection with respect to the first candidate group, and conducting a third search with respect to the result of the second preliminary selection.

In mobile communication, compression coding of digital information of speech or image is indispensable for effective use of a transmission band. Among those technologies, there are high expectations of speech CODEC technologies widely used for mobile phones and there is a growing demand for better sound quality with respect to conventional high efficiency coding with a high compressibility. Furthermore, since the technologies are used in public, standardization is indispensable, and because of powerful intellectual property rights involved, research and development are being actively conducted in many companies worldwide.
In recent years, the standardization of CODEC capable of coding both speech and music is under study in ITU-T and MPEG, and there is a demand for more efficient and higher quality speech CODEC.
Performance of speech coding technologies has been greatly improved by CELP (Code Excited Linear Prediction) which is a basic scheme that models a speech vocalization mechanism established 20 years ago and skillfully applies vector quantization. CELP is adopted as many standard schemes in international standards such as ITU-T (International Telecommunication Union-Telecommunication Standardization Sector) standard G.729, ITU-T standard G.722.2, ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute) standard AMR (Adaptive Multiple Rate Coding), ETSI standard AMR-WB (Adaptive Multiple Rate Coding-Wide Band) or 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) 2 standard VMR-WB (Variable Multiple rate-Wide Band).
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a CELP coding apparatus. In FIG. 1, spectral parameters (LSP, ISP or the like) in CELP are quantized.
In FIG. 1, LPC analyzing section 101 applies linear predictive analysis (LPC analysis) to a speech signal, acquires an LPC parameter which is spectral envelope information and outputs the acquired LPC parameter to LPC quantization section 102 and perceptual weighting section 111.
LPC quantization section 102 quantizes the LPC parameter outputted from LPC analyzing section 101. LPC quantization section 102 then outputs the acquired quantized LPC parameter to LPC synthesis filter 109 and outputs an index (code) of the quantized LPC parameter to the outside of CELP coding apparatus 100.
On the other hand, adaptive codebook 103 stores past excitation used in LPC synthesis filter 109, and generates an excitation vector corresponding to one subframe from excitation vectors stored according to an adaptive codebook lag corresponding to an index indicated from distortion minimizing section 112, which will be described later. This excitation vector is outputted to multiplier 106 as an adaptive codebook vector.
Fixed codebook 104 is a codebook of excitation coding (also referred to as "excitation quantization" or "excitation vector coding"). Fixed codebook 104 stores beforehand a plurality of excitation vectors having a predetermined shape and outputs an excitation vector corresponding to the index indicated from distortion minimizing section 112 to multiplier 107 as a fixed codebook vector. Here, fixed codebook 104 is an algebraic excitation, and a case using an algebraic codebook will be described. The algebraic excitation is an excitation adopted in many standard CODECs.
Above-described adaptive codebook 103 is used to express a component with strong periodicity such as voiced sound. On the other hand, fixed codebook 104 is used to express a component with weak periodicity such as white noise.
Gain codebook 105 generates a gain for the adaptive codebook vector (adaptive codebook gain) outputted from adaptive codebook 103 and a gain for the fixed codebook vector (fixed codebook gain) outputted from fixed codebook 104, according to an instruction from distortion minimizing section 112 and outputs the respective gains to multipliers 106 and 107.
Multiplier 106 multiplies the adaptive codebook vector outputted from adaptive codebook 103 by the adaptive codebook gain outputted from gain codebook 105 and outputs the adaptive codebook vector after the multiplication to adder 108.
Multiplier 107 multiplies the fixed codebook vector outputted from fixed codebook 104 by the fixed codebook gain outputted from gain codebook 105 and outputs the fixed codebook vector after the multiplication to adder 108.
Adder 108 adds up the adaptive codebook vector outputted from multiplier 106 and the fixed codebook vector outputted from multiplier 107 and outputs the excitation vector after the addition to LPC synthesis filter 109 as an excitation.
LPC synthesis filter 109 generates a synthesized signal using a filter function, that is, LPC synthesis filter using the quantized LPC parameter outputted from LPC quantization section 102 as a filter coefficient and the excitation vector generated in adaptive codebook 103 and fixed codebook 104 as an excitation. This synthesized signal is outputted to adder 110.
Adder 110 calculates an error signal by subtracting the synthesized signal generated in LPC synthesis filter 109 from the speech signal and outputs this error signal to perceptual weighting section 111. This error signal corresponds to coding distortion.
Perceptual weighting section 111 applies perceptual weighting to the coding distortion outputted from adder 110 using the LPC parameter inputted from LPC analyzing section 101 and outputs the weighted distortion to distortion minimizing section 112.
Distortion minimizing section 112 acquires each index (code) of adaptive codebook 103, fixed codebook 104 and gain codebook 105 such that the coding distortion outputted from perceptual weighting section 111 becomes a minimum for each subframe and outputs these indices to the outside of CELP coding apparatus 100 as coded information. To be more specific, distortion minimizing section 112 generates a synthesized signal based on above-described adaptive codebook 103 and fixed codebook 104, a series of processes of acquiring coding distortion of this signal constitutes closed-loop control (feedback control) and distortion minimizing section 112 searches each codebook by changing the index to be indicated to each codebook in various ways within one subframe and outputs the finally acquired index of each codebook that minimizes coding distortion.
With an algebraic codebook used as a fixed codebook (also referred to as "stochastic codebook"), better coding performance can be obtained with a limited amount of calculation. The algebraic codebook is widely used in above-described ITU-T standard G.729, ITU-T standard G.722.2, ETSI standard AMR or ETSI standard AMR-WB or the like.
Here, the principles of the basic algorithm of fixed codebook search will be described.
First, a search for an excitation vector (also called "codebook vector" or "code vector") and derivation of the code will be performed by searching an excitation vector that minimizes coding distortion of equation 1 below.E=|u−(pHa+qHs)|2  (Equation 1)
where E is coding distortion,
u is a coding target,
p is a gain of the adaptive codebook vector,
H is a perceptual weighting synthesis filter,
a is an adaptive codebook vector,
q is a gain of the fixed codebook vector, and
s is a fixed codebook vector.
Since the adaptive codebook vector and the fixed codebook vector are generally searched through sequential optimization (in separate loops), the code of fixed codebook 104 is derived by searching the fixed codebook vector that minimizes coding distortion in equation 2 below.v=u−pHa E=|v−qHs|2  (Equation 2)
where E is coding distortion,
u is a coding target (perceptual weighted speech signal),
p is an optimum gain of the adaptive codebook vector,
H is a perceptual weighting synthesis filter,
a is an adaptive codebook vector (also called "adaptive excitation"),
q is a gain of the fixed codebook vector (also called "fixed excitation"),
s is a fixed codebook vector, and
v is a target vector of a fixed codebook search (also called "fixed excitation search").
Here, since gains p and q are determined after searching the code of the excitation, the search will be continued with ideal gains (also called "optimum gain"). The ideal gain means a gain that minimizes coding distortion. Therefore, equation 2 above may also be expressed as equation 3 below.
                    (                  Equation                                                              3                )                                                                      v          =                      u            -                                          u                ·                Ha                                                                                Ha                                                  2                                                                                E          =                                                                  v                -                                                                            v                      ·                      Hs                                                                                                        Hs                                                                    2                                                                          Hs                                                                    2                                              [        3        ]
Minimizing equation 3 indicating coding distortion is equal to maximizing cost function C of equation 4 below.
                    (                  Equation                                                              4                )                                                            C        =                                            (                                                v                  t                                                                  H                  ·                  s                                            )                        2                                              s              t                                                  H              t                                    Hs                                              [        4        ]
Therefore, in the case of a search for fixed codebook vector s composed of a small number of pulses such as an algebraic codebook, if vtH and HtH are calculated beforehand, above-described cost function C can be calculated with a small amount of calculation. That is, coding of the algebraic codebook is performed using an algorithm of searching a position and polarity that maximize above-described cost function C through a multiplexed loop of the same number of channels (also called "tracks") as that of pulses.
Furthermore, in the case of the pulse excitation, by preliminarily selecting the polarity based on whether the value of vtH is positive or negative simultaneously with multiplying the value of vtH and the value of HtH by the polarity, a polarity search can be omitted when searching pulse positions. This preliminary selection of polarity allows the amount of calculation to be exponentially saved.
In recent years, CODEC for encoding a wideband signal (16 kHz sampling) and an ultra-wideband signal (32 kHz sampling) is required in order to meet the need of higher quality, and the standardization is being carried forward in ITU-T, MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) or 3GPP or the like. As the bit rate for encoding wideband and ultra-wideband digital signals increases, the number of information bits of the fixed codebook for encoding an excitation also increases. The algebraic codebook allows high performance to be obtained through a search in simultaneous optimization (multiplexed loop), and therefore when the number of bits increases (the number of pulses increases), the amount of calculation increases exponentially.
Thus, in high quality CODEC, a method is widely adopted whereby pulses (channels or tracks) to be searched are divided into several groups, a search within each group is performed through a simultaneous optimization search and a search between groups is performed through sequential optimization. For example, when there are 32 candidates for positions at which one pulse among four pulses rises, 1048576 (32 to the fourth power) matching operations need to be performed. However, if four pulses are divided into two groups of two pulses each to be searched, performing a calculation of 32 to the second power twice requires only 2048 matching operations. In this case, since this search is a sequential optimization search, performance drops to a certain extent compared to a full simultaneous optimization search, but since the group is closed, there is no significant deterioration. For this reason, searches are performed by this grouping in recent years.
As an example of this pulse search, a case will be described using FIG. 2 where a search is performed assuming that the group size is two pulses. FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a flow of conventional fixed codebook search processing. The flow of search processing of a fixed codebook can be expressed as shown in FIG. 2 in a simplified manner. As shown in FIG. 2, two-pulse searches are performed the required number of times until the required number of pulses are searched. The results (pulses) obtained through the respective two-pulse searches are organized into a pulse sequence (not shown). There are various methods for organizing the results of two-pulse searches. For example, ITU-T standard G.718 uses an algorithm of increasing the number of pulses while searching two pulses at a time in a four-track configuration (see NPL 1). Here, the description thereof will be omitted.
FIG. 3 is a diagram schematically illustrating an algorithm of searching pulse positions by conventional grouping. FIG. 3 corresponds to one of the two-pulse searches in FIG. 2.
Before starting a search, parameters necessary for the search are determined using an inputted target or the like as preprocessing. Here, the target can be expressed by a vector and the target corresponds to target vector v of the aforementioned fixed codebook search. As parameters, target time inverse order synthetic vector (polarity preliminarily selected) vtH, correlation matrix between pulse synthetic vectors (polarity preliminarily selected) HtH, track number, and interval of pulse candidate positions of each track or the like are provided.
A search loop of track 1 is executed in a search loop of track 0 using these parameters. That is, the search loop of track 0 and the search loop of track 1 constitute a multiplexed loop. By conducting a search using this multiplexed loop, it is possible to obtain the searched position of each track, a correlation value forming the base of a synthetic numerator term until this search and a synthetic denominator term until this search.
FIG. 4 is a flowchart indicating an algorithm of searching pulse positions by conventional grouping. FIG. 4 is a more specific illustration of FIG. 3.
In FIG. 4, symbol "d[n]" is a target time inverse order synthetic vector (polarity preliminarily selected). Symbol "c[n][m]" denotes a correlation matrix (polarity preliminarily selected) between pulse synthetic vectors, where n≠m and values of n and m are doubled. Symbols "x" and "y" denote pulse candidate positions. Symbols "xx" and "yy" denote finally searched pulse positions. "Track 0" or "track 1" denotes a track number (one of 0, 1, 2 and 3 in FIG. 2). Symbol "ps_t" denotes the base of the numerator term of cost function C until before performing a search. Symbol "alp_t" denotes a synthetic value of the denominator term of cost function C until before performing a search. Symbol "L" denotes a subframe length. Symbol "step" denotes an interval of pulse candidate positions of each track ("4" in FIG. 4).
In FIG. 4, the flow starts when the aforementioned necessary parameters are inputted first. Then, to search pulse candidate position x, numerator term sqk of cost function C is set to "−1.0" and denominator term alpk is set to "1.0" (step ST11).
Next, it is determined whether or not pulse candidate position x is smaller than subframe length L (step ST12).
When pulse candidate position x is smaller than subframe length L (step ST12: yes), calculations ps0=ps_t+d[x] and alp0=alp_t+c[x][x] are performed (step ST13).
Next, a search of pulse candidate position y is started (step ST14), and it is determined whether or not pulse candidate position y is smaller than subframe length L (step ST15).
When pulse candidate position y is equal to or greater than subframe length L (step ST15: no), the next candidate position is selected (x=x+step) (step ST16) and the process is returned to step ST12.
On the other hand, when pulse candidate position y is smaller than subframe length L (step ST15: yes), calculations ps1=ps0+d[y], alp1=alp0+c[y][y]+c[x][y] and sq=ps1*ps1 are performed (step ST17).
Next, it is determined whether or not the value of (alpk*sq) is greater than the value of (sqk*alp1) (step ST18).
When the value of (alpk*sq) is equal to or smaller than the value of (sqk*alp1) (step ST18: no), the next candidate position is selected (y=y+step) (step ST19), and the process is returned to step ST15.
On the other hand, when the value of (alpk*sq) is greater than the value of (sqk*alp1) (step ST18: yes), the denominator term and the numerator term of cost function C are fixed, finally searched pulse positions xx and yy are fixed (step ST20), and the process is returned to step ST19.
Furthermore, in step ST12, when pulse candidate position x is equal to or greater than subframe length L (step ST12: no), ps_t=ps_t+d[xx]+d[yy] is calculated, and the denominator term of cost function C before conducting a search is determined to be the final denominator term of cost function C (step ST21).
Next, final pulse positions xx and yy, and synthetic value alp_t of the denominator term of cost function C and the value of numerator term ps_t of cost function C in that case are outputted (step ST22).
In FIG. 4, the numerator term of cost function C in equation 4 is sq and the denominator term is alp1. Cost function C is obtained by dividing the numerator term by the denominator term, but since the division involves a large amount of calculation, cross-multiplication is adopted when determining the magnitude of cost function C.
However, even when the above-described grouping is used, if the number of bits further increases, the amount of calculation becomes enormous.
Thus, ITU-T standard G.718 adopts a preliminary selection of pulse positions when searching pulses (see NPL 1). The preliminary selection of pulse positions means that positions where pulses are likely to rise or assumed to rise are selected beforehand from among pulse candidate positions to thereby reduce the number of pulse candidate positions that are included in the next loop.
An overview of a flow of search processing of the fixed codebook using a preliminary selection of pulse positions adopted in G.718 will be described using FIG. 5. FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a flow of conventional fixed codebook search processing. As described above, there are various methods of organizing the two-pulse search results, and G.718 uses an algorithm of increasing the number of pulses while searching two pulses at a time in a four-track configuration. Here, the description thereof will be omitted.
As shown in FIG. 5 as in the case of FIG. 2, this search processing of the fixed codebook performs two-pulse searches the required number of times, but performs a preliminary selection in the respective two-pulse searches. At this time, a relationship in ascending order of magnitude is set in the preliminary selection number of the respective two-pulse searches.
FIG. 6 is a diagram schematically illustrating an algorithm of searching pulse positions when performing a preliminary selection of pulse positions adopted in G.718. FIG. 6 corresponds to one of the two-pulse searches shown in FIG. 5.
As in the case of FIG. 3, before starting a search, parameters necessary for the search are acquired using an inputted target or the like as preprocessing. Here, the target can be expressed by a vector and corresponds to target vector v of the aforementioned fixed codebook search. As parameters, target time inverse order synthetic vector (polarity preliminarily selected) vtH, correlation matrix between pulse synthetic vectors (polarity preliminarily selected) HtH, track number, and interval of pulse candidate positions of each track or the like are provided.
By performing a preliminary selection of track 0 in the search loop of track 0 using these parameters, the number of times of entering the search loop of track 1 in the search loop of track 0 is limited. In the case of FIG. 6 as in the case of FIG. 3, the search loop of track 0 and the search loop of track 1 also constitute a multiplexed loop. By conducting a search using this multiplexed loop, the searched position of each track, correlation value forming the base of the synthetic numerator term until this search and the synthetic denominator term until this search are obtained.
FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an algorithm of searching pulse positions when performing a preliminary selection of pulse positions adopted in G.718. FIG. 7 is a more specific illustration of FIG. 6. In FIG. 7, parts having the same processing as that in FIG. 4 are assigned the same reference numerals and descriptions thereof will be omitted.
In FIG. 7, symbol "pick[n]" denotes a sequence in which the order of adopting each pulse position is described in the pulse position. Symbol "thres" denotes a value acquired from the number of candidates of specified candidate position x. Furthermore, the specified number of candidates are searched through a search only when pick[n] is a value smaller than the value of thres. Meanings of the other symbols are the same as those in FIG. 4, and so descriptions thereof will be omitted.
In FIG. 7, when pulse candidate position x is smaller than subframe length L (step ST12: yes), it is determined whether or not pick[x] is smaller than the value of thres (step ST50).
When pick[x] is smaller than the value of thres (step ST50: yes), calculations ps0=ps_t+d[x] and alp0=alp_t+c[x][x] are performed (step ST13).
On the other hand, when pick[x] is equal to or greater than the value of thres (step ST50: no), the next candidate position is selected (step ST16), and the process is returned to step ST12.
FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of fixed codebook searching apparatus 300 that can conduct a pulse search of the fixed codebook using the above-described conventional pulse searching method.
Preprocessing section 301 receives a target signal as input and acquires parameters necessary for a pulse search. Examples of parameters generated by calculation include "target time inverse order synthetic vector" (corresponding to vtH in equation 4) for which a polarity preliminary selection of each pulse position is performed and the result thereof is reflected, and "correlation matrix between pulse synthetic vectors" (corresponding to HtH in equation 4) for which the result of the polarity preliminary selection is reflected and values other than the diagonal term are doubled. Furthermore, examples of the parameters to be set include a track number to be searched, interval of pulse position candidates of the track with the number, subframe length and preliminary selection number. Preprocessing section 301 sends these parameters to control section 302.
Control section 302 receives the total number of bits as input, sends parameters necessary for a pulse search to multiplexed loop searching section 303 according to a timing signal from pulse sequence coding section 304, which will be described later, and controls multiplexed loop searching section 303 so as to conduct a pulse search. Examples of the parameters to be sent to multiplexed loop searching section 303 include, in addition to parameters sent from preprocessing section 301, a sequence in which the order of adopting each pulse position is described in the pulse position, a synthetic value of the numerator term and a synthetic value of the denominator term until before conducting a search. Control section 302 initializes the synthetic value of the numerator term and the synthetic value of the denominator term until before conducting a search when first driving multiplexed loop searching section 303 and sends the synthetic values sent from pulse sequence coding section 304 to multiplexed loop searching section 303 when conducting two-pulse searches in subsequent stages.
Multiplexed loop searching section 303 searches pulse positions using the multiplexed loop. In this case, multiplexed loop searching section 303 performs a preliminary selection in the outermost loop using the preliminary selection number and the sequence in which the order of adopting each pulse position is described in the pulse position, and outputs the searched pulse position, and the synthetic value of the numerator term and the synthetic value of the denominator term calculated in the pulse positions, to pulse sequence coding section 304.
Pulse sequence coding section 304 performs pulse coding using the pulse position searched by multiplexed loop searching section 303, the synthetic value of the numerator term and the synthetic value of the denominator term. Pulse coding as this fixed codebook is performed using the result of multiplexed loop searching section 303 operating a plurality of times. Pulse sequence coding section 304 sends the synthetic value of the numerator term and the synthetic value of the denominator term to control section 302 and sends a timing signal for urging multiplexed loop searching section 303 to perform the next operation to control section 302. Pulse sequence coding section 304 then finally outputs the code as the fixed codebook.
Here, when using the search processing in FIG. 2 as the pulse searching method, multiplexed loop searching section 303 does not include any configuration to perform a preliminary selection. As the pulse searching method, when the search processing in FIG. 5 is used, multiplexed loop searching section 303 is configured to perform a preliminary selection.
Thus, in order to adapt to a high bit rate fixed codebook search, methods have been conventionally invented such as a method of grouping channels (tracks) in an algebraic codebook to conduct a search in units of a small number of pulses and conduct individual searches for a small number of pulses in a closed loop, and further a method of performing a preliminary selection of positions in an outside loop then to further reduce the amount of calculation, so that high quality speech or music can be encoded while suppressing the amount of calculation.

Fixed codebook searching by closed-loop search using multiplexed loop

PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY CORPORATION OF AMERICA


The invention relates to a film comprising individual anchored filaments. More specifically, the invention relates to the female part of a hook-and-loop self-adhering support, comprising a plastic film and independent filaments which are fixed to one of the faces of the film. The invention is characterized in that part of the length of each filament is anchored to the plastic film, while the remainder thereof is disposed at a distance from the film, such as to form loops. According to the invention, the film is made from a non-elastic and non-heat-shrinkable material and the filaments have a count of less than 10, preferably less than or equal to 7.7, for example between 2 and 5 decitex.

Numerous devices and methods are described in patents relating to these female loop sections for hook and loop fastenings and in particular in the field of training pants. Taking into account the production imperatives, it is desirable to make available a female loop section which is as cost-effective as possible and to be able to produce it with the quickest production rate possible. For example the European patent No. 0 289 198 in the name of Procter & Gamble Company discloses a female loop section constituted by a film made of an elastic material and filaments soldered to the film according to a soldering pattern, the soldering being realised in such a way that loops are formed by the filaments between themselves and the film. In order to do this, it is necessary to provide a film made of an elastic material, even thermo-retractable. The production method of these female sections is complicated to implement, particularly by reason of the fact that a soldering stage and a film retraction stage are provided for forming the loops. Thus, the female section obtained is particularly costly. In fact, an elastic material (we are not even talking about a thermo-retractable material) is a costly material on the one hand and on the other hand the filaments, in order to withstand the different operations (soldering and stretching), are filaments with large diameters, particularly greater than 10 decitex, thus resulting in a high cost.

Film comprising individual anchored filaments


There is disclosed a method and system for identifying relevant training data points for a prediction by a machine learning algorithm (MLA). The method comprises determining indicators of influence for training data points used to train the MLA. A normalizing function is applied to the indicators of influence to determine normalized indicators of influence. Training data points having the highest and lowest normalized indicators of influence are output for display.

Machine learning techniques have proven to be useful for a variety of applications. Many different types of MLAs may be used to perform predictions. One issue common to many of the MLAs is that it is difficult to provide an explanation that a user can understand for why an MLA makes a specific prediction. Modern black box machine learning models output predictions that are often very difficult to interpret. The mathematical relationships that these models learn in order to make predictions from input data can be very obscure, especially as datasets grow in size and model architectures become more complex.
For those wishing to build trust in a model, and who are ultimately accountable for the decisions informed by a model's predictions, it is important to be able to explain these learned relationships. This is often referred to as the "explainability" or "interpretability" of the MLA. A user is typically less likely to rely on predictions made by an MLA when the user isn't able to understand how and why the MLA is making a prediction.
Various techniques have been developed to try to explain how an MLA makes a prediction. In some instances, MLAs have been designed specifically so that the predictions they make can be explained in a way that a human can understand. One example of this would be to integrate a decision tree that can be explained to the user as part of the MLA. But these MLAs that are explainable are typically less accurate than other MLAs that are less explainable, such as neural network based MLAs.
One approach that has been used to explain the predictions made by an MLA is to provide the user with training data points that were most influential on the prediction. An influence function can be used to determine which of the training data points had the greatest influence on the prediction. The influence function can identify the subset of training data that was most influential in the production of a given output prediction.
Because uncommon training data points typically have a larger impact on a model's learned parameters, these training data points are often found to be the most influential points when analysed using an influence function. However, these points are not representative of the training data distribution. Instead, they are uncommon points (outliers, mislabeled examples, or examples having very low probability). Moreover, these highly influential points tend to have a very broad impact on the model behavior, and the impact is not specific to a particular prediction. Identifying these uncommon points is useful for robustness analysis, but they do not serve as a useful form of explanation.

Systems and methods for identifying influential training data points


A machine for processing wire lattice mats made of welded-together longitudinal and cross wires, with a device for bending back cross wire end pieces extending beyond the longitudinal edge wires of the lattice mat to form loops, the bending device (U) having a bending template (14) which is displaceable in the a guide block (11) and a bending tool (10) eccentrically disposed on a bending plate (8) and pivotable around the bending template, the guide block located opposite the bending plate constituting a support surface (12) for the wire to be bent, and where the bending tool can be moved back and forth between a work position for a wire to be bent and a rest position, in which a penetration gap for a wire to be bent is formed between the support surface of the guide block and the bending tool.

It is known to use a bending device having an approximately circular-cylindrical bending template which is displaceable in the direction of its axis in a guide block, and a bending tool eccentrically disposed on a bending plate and pivotable around the bending template, the guide block located opposite the bending plate constituting a support surface for the wire to be bent, and where a device for welding the cross wire end pieces which are bent back to the longitudinal edge wires and, if desired, a device for beveling the loops are preferably disposed downstream of the bending device.
A bending device is known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,526,025, to which Austrian Patent AT-PS 377 713 corresponds, wherein the approximately circular-cylindrical bending template is axially displaceable between a working position, in which the front faces of the bending template and the bending plate touch, and a rest position, in which these two front faces delimit between each other a penetrating gap for the cross wire end piece to be bent. The front face of the bending template and the support surface of the guide block are located opposite the front face of the bending plate and during bending enclose the cross wire end piece to be bent, so that during bending the cross wire end piece can be supported on the one hand on the support surface of the guide block and on the other on the front face of the bending plate, by means of which shifting of the cross wire end piece out of the plane of the cross wires is prevented. In this bending device it is disadvantageous that, although in its initial position the bending tool can keep the feed path for the cross wire end piece bent into a loop free, an unbent, straight cross wire end piece cannot pass the bending device. It is furthermore possible to bend the cross wire end pieces of a wire lattice mat into loops in only one direction with the aid of this bending device.
A bending device for bending of hoops from rod-shaped material is known from German Patent Publication DE-C2 25 14 187. This bending device has a support frame which can be moved back and forth perpendicularly to the direction of the material feed, on which are disposed a rotatable bending plate provided with an eccentric bending block and a guide peg for the material to be bent, which can be moved back and forth in relation to the bending plate and is disposed almost in the center axis of the bending plate, but is not rotatable. Both the guide peg and the bending plate are located on the same side of the material to be bent. This bending device has the disadvantage that a support surface for the wire to bent is lacking on the side of the support surface located opposite the bending plate, so that during bending of cross wire end pieces of wire lattice mats into loops it is not possible to prevent the bent cross wire end sections from shifting out of the plane of the cross wires.

Machine for making wire lattice mats of welded longitudinal and cross wires with welded end loops

EVG Entwicklungs- u. Verwertungs-gesellschaft m.b.H.


A light fixture for use in low voltage outdoor lighting systems includes a lens assembly with a diffuser lens disposed on top of a lens support, a reflector hood and a mushroom-shaped reflector retaining cap removably mounted on top of the lens assembly. A socket and lamp extend through an opening in the lens support. The radial center of the hood has a flattened area that sits level on top of the cylindrical lens and has an opening through which a base portion of the retaining cap is inserted. A recess in the top of the lens has an opening at its bottom for receiving the base of the retainer cap which is attached with a fastener inserted through the top of the lens. An O-ring seals the lens to the lower surface of the hood and the lens and lens support are sealed to provide a water-resistant seal around the lamp. The lens support is attached to the top of a mounting post.

Environmental lighting, particularly outdoor lighting, is well known in commercial or public settings, such as parks and schools. Such lighting is also popular in residential applications, both to enhance the appearance and safety of the outdoor area and for security, to illuminate dark areas around a building or in a yard which may provide hiding places and unobserved entry points for intruders.
Landscape and outdoor lighting systems include one or more lighting fixtures which are connected to either a 12 V transformer or a standard 120 V AC line. Some lighting fixtures enclose a halogen lamp or conventional bulb within a housing, and include a reflector assembly and a lens or window within the housing. These fixtures may be used for highlighting features such as trees or statues, i.e., up-lighting or for pathway or ground lighting. Other fixtures, used almost exclusively in down-lighting applications, may have an open aspect, where the reflector, and sometimes the lamp and socket are open and directed toward the ground. These fixtures tend to be used in larger quantities within a lighting system since they are typically less expensive than the closed fixtures and are capable of washing large expanses of open area with glare-free light, e.g., pathways, driveways, patios, ground cover plants, and for perimeter lighting.
Pathway down lighting fixtures often have a hood or cowl shaped in the form of a bell, half-shell, cone, tulip, or pyramid that surrounds the lamp except for the lower end of the cowl from which the light emanates. In addition to preventing escape of light in an upward direction, the inner surface of the cowl acts as a reflector to optimize the amount of light directed toward the desired target area.
Outdoor light fixtures are prone to dirt build-up and/or corrosion that can diminish light output and accelerate deterioration and, ultimately, failure of the fixture. In closed fixtures, the effects of dirt build-up and/or oxidation can be reduced by sealing the lamp within a clear or translucent cylinder to create a moisture-proof chamber. To achieve the desired seal, the upper edge of the cylinder is typically glued to the hood using epoxy or silicone adhesive. Any accumulation of material on the cylindrical lens can be easily wiped away to restore full illumination capability. A drawback of the closed fixture designs is that one must disassemble the housing by separating the lens from a base portion to access the lamp for replacement. Another issue with closed fixtures is that the lens can break or crack. Since the lens is glued to the hood, the entire hood/lens assembly must be replaced if one wishes to ensure a well-sealed fixture. An exemplary closed fixture is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,874,905, of Beadle, which is incorporated herein by reference. In addition to being costly to replace both the lens and metal hood, introduction of a new hood into an established lighting system can detract from the aesthetics of the system since the new hood will not match the other fixtures because is has not weathered or oxidized, for example, to a verde finish in the case of copper.
Another drawback of current commercially available outdoor lighting systems is that such systems will remain in place for years. Due to the expense and effort of replacing an entire set of fixtures, the property owner will keep the same fixtures, even if they would prefer a change in appearance, for example, if the landscape design has changed, or the house or other building has been remodeled or painted a different color.
It would be desirable to provide a pathway light fixture that is attractive, resists breakdown in an outdoor environment, is easy to manufacture and service, and includes easily replaced critical components while still maintaining a good quality seal. The problems and deficiencies are clearly felt in the art and are solved by the present invention in the manner described below.

Pathway light fixture with interchangeable components


Described is a method and system for conducting a clinical trial. Medical data is obtained from a patient participating in the clinical trial. Then, the medical data and at least one identifier are transmitted, via a communications network, for storage at a remote server. The at least one identifier links the medical data to a record of the patient. Access to at least portions of the medical data is provided, via the communications network, to trial participants based on predefined clinical trial procedures. The remote server tracks accessing of the medical data by the trial participants and generation by the trial participants of work product responsive to the medical data.

Clinical trials of pharmaceutical/medical products are lengthy and expensive due in part to delays resulting from inefficiencies in communications between participants in the trial. For certain products, each day by which the introduction to the market is delayed may cost the pharmaceutical company millions of dollars.
In a typical case, review and transfer of medical data, such as radiology data ("R/D") including radiology image data, and related reports as currently handled among clinical trial participants unduly delay the clinical trial process. Typically, participants may transmit the medical data, including image data and related reports, by courier, mail or other document delivery services. Each such communication may delay the progress of the clinical trials by one or more days.
For example, in the case of radiology images, a radiologist reviews the radiology data and generates a radiologist report. The report is forwarded to a physician for the patient who reviews the radiologist report and makes his own report. The patient physician then forwards both reports along with the radiology data to a monitoring facility for the clinical trial and/or directly to a clinical trial administrator group. The reports along with the corresponding radiology data are reviewed and processed at the respective facilities in accordance with clinical trial protocols and standards.

System and method for conducting a clinical trial study


One embodiment of the invention concerns performing renormalization in content adaptive binary arithmetic coding (CABAC) only after multiple bins are processed.

Content adaptive binary arithmetic coding (CABAC) is an advanced entropy coding technique that may be used in, for example, the MPEG-4 advanced video codec (AVC) video standard as well as HD-DVD and Blu-ray video players. CABAC is a sequential process that may not allow compression of a second bin (i.e., input bit) until a previous first bin has been compressed or packed. To compensate for this sequential characteristic, a pipelined design may be necessary for fast throughput. Even with a pipelined design, however, there may be difficulty in obtaining a deterministic throughput CABAC design that processes, for example, 1 bin per clock cycle. This shortcoming may be due to limitations on conventional CABAC designs that require renormalization after each bin is processed. This renormalization limitation is computationally expensive and may be due to, for example, the unbalanced nature of these designs. In other words, after most bins are processed only a simple check up is required. Thus, in those instances the slow throughput may not manifest its shortcomings. However, in other instances a condensed calculation is required to perform coding. In those instances, a faster throughput may be beneficial.

Scalable context adaptive binary arithmetic coding


A method for removing horizontal and vertical lines in a document image while preserving integrity of the character strokes that intersect the lines. For each detected horizontal line, a vertical run length profile is calculated. Areas of the run length profile having two adjacent peaks with a valley in between are detected, which correspond to intersections of the horizontal line with non-vertical lines. A first derivative curve may be used to detect such peaks and valleys. Areas of the run length profile with large run length value for consecutive pixel locations are also detected, which corresponds to intersections of the horizontal line with near vertical lines. The horizontal line is removed in areas outside of the intersection areas, while preserving pixels within the intersection areas. Vertical line removal may be done similarly. This template-free method can remove lines in tables, forms, and underline and extract handwriting or printed characters.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to processing of document images, and in particular, it relates to a process for removal of horizontal, vertical, or other straight lines from the document image while preserving the continuity of character strokes that intersect such lines.
2. Description of Related Art
In digital processing of document images, i.e., digital images that represent documents, it is often desirable to remove horizontal and vertical lines within the image. Examples of such straight lines include underlines in text, and horizontal and vertical lines of tables and forms. For example, when applying OCR (optical character recognition) to a document image to extract text of the document, if is often desirable to remove underlines first because they interfere with character recognition. In another example, digital processing of images of bank checks often requires removal of various lines. The document image is typically obtained by scanning or photographing a hard copy document; line detection and removal can be performed before or after binarization which is a process that converts a gray-scale document image into a binary document image.
Various line detection and removal method have been proposed. Detecting line segments can be performed on binary images. This category of methods include run length coding, least square fitting, Hough transform, and mathematical morphology with a flat linear structuring element that is symmetric with respect to the neighborhood center. Least square fitting method can be affected significantly by noises. Run length coding is based on searching or tracing of local line-like structures as candidates of line segments. The block-adjacency graph (BAG) is a generalization of the line-adjacency graph where adjacency horizontal runs are merged. See, for example, Bin Yu and Anil K. Jain, "A Generic System for Form Dropout", IEEE Trans. PAMI, Vol. 18, No. 11, 1996 (hereinafter "Yu et al. 1996"). However, Run length code and its extension BAG methods often do not deliver satisfactory result where the lines to be removed are in disconnected pieces. In BAG-based system, both handwriting and machine printed characters can be extracted only if the blank form document is offered to generate form-structure template. Hough transform is extremely time-consuming, since it converts every pixel in the image into Hough parameter space through expensive trigonometric computation.
Detecting line segments can also be performed on gray-level document images. Typical methods include vectorization-based tracing, mathematical morphology, and line segment detector (LSD). LSD-based method does not work well for document images because LSD is based on gradient-fitting. Complicate text field gradient map can change local line gradient distribution.
Many existing line removal methods do not preserve the complete strokes of handwriting and printed characters that intersect the lines; as a result, individual symbols sometimes become disintegrated into several broken parts, or parts of the symbols are sometimes truncated, in the binarized image after line removal. FIG. 7 illustrates some examples of underline removal using a conventional method, where the result of broken characters and truncation can be seen. Some methods attempt to re-connect broken characters after line removal. For example, Yu et al. 1996 describes an approach to line removal which includes localization of lines, separation of characters and lines, and reconstruction of broken strokes introduced during separation.
Xiangyun Ye, Mohamed Cheriet, Ching Y. Suen, and Ke Liu, "Extraction of bankcheck items by mathematical morphology," International J. on Document Analysis and Recognition (1999) (hereinafter "Ye et al. 1999") describes a method of extracting characters from bank check images, which uses mathematical morphology for line detection. Broken strokes after line removal are then restored using dynamic kernels. In Ye's stroke restoration method, correct local orientation around the region of line and stroke intersection is needed to find the right dynamic kernels for mending broken stroke, but local orientation is dependent on the length and width of touching line and stroke.

Removal of underlines and table lines in document images while preserving intersecting character strokes


Apparatus for transmitting torque from the output shaft of the engine to the input shaft of the variable-speed transmission in a motor vehicle has a primary flywheel which is connectable to the output shaft, a secondary flywheel which is connectable to the input shaft by engaging a friction clutch, and one or more dampers which oppose rotation of the flywheels relative to each other. The flywheels define an annular chamber for the damper or dampers, and such chamber surrounds two closely adjacent portions of the flywheels which define a radially extending clearance for the flow of cooling air. The radially inner portion of the chamber is separated from the clearance by an annular seal which is located at most midway between the radially innermost and radially outermost portions of an annular friction surface on the secondary flywheel. Such friction surface is adjacent one friction lining of a clutch plate forming part of the friction clutch and being connectable to the input shaft of the transmission. An antifriction bearing is installed between the flywheels radially inwardly of the clearance.

The invention relates to torque transmitting apparatus in general, and more particularly to improvements in apparatus which can be used to transmit torque in the power trains of motor vehicles. Still more particularly, the invention relates to improvements in apparatus for transmission of torque between the output element of an engine and the input element of a variable-speed transmission in a motor vehicle.
Published German patent application No. 37 21 705 discloses a torque transmitting apparatus wherein a primary flywheel is connectable to the output shaft (e.g., a crankshaft) of a combustion engine and a secondary flywheel, which is coaxial with and is rotatable relative to the first flywheel and is connectable to the input shaft of a variable-speed transmission by way of a friction clutch. A bearing is installed between the two flywheels, and a damper is provided to oppose rotation of the flywheels relative to each other. The damper is installed in an annular chamber which is sealed from the atmosphere and contains a set of coil springs acting in the circumferential direction of the flywheels. The annular chamber is formed by portions of at least one of the flywheels, and one of the flywheels has a friction surface which can be engaged by a friction lining of a clutch plate serving to transmit torque to the input shaft of the transmission when the clutch is engaged.
Torque transmitting apparatus of the above outlined character have found widespread acceptance in the automobile making industry and are used in motor vehicles wherein the engine and the transmission extend in the direction of forward movement of the vehicle. In such vehicles, the space under the hood is not as limited as in vehicles wherein the engine and the transmission extend transversely of the direction of forward movement. On the other hand, there exists an urgent need for torque transmitting apparatus which exhibit the advantages of the aforedescribed apparatus and are sufficiently compact to find room in motor vehicles with transversely extending engine-transmission aggregates.

Apparatus for transmitting torque between the engine and the transmission of a motor vehicle


Digital predistortion system, methods and circuitry for adapting a predistortion system linearizing a non-linear element. The system is a multiply partitioned architecture that addresses long or “memory” effects, and separately addresses shorter duration effects. In a preferred method, the non-linear element is first modeled in software as a nonlinearity and a linearity in cascade form, preferably a Wiener model. The model is validated and adapted to minimize an observed error between the model and the non-linear element. The software model of the non-linear element is then used first to model a predistortion block that addresses short duration effects, and second to separately model a predistortion block that addresses longer duration effects. The models are software executable by an external processor in real time. Periodically the models are executed and used to update the adaptive parameters of the predistortion system without interrupting the system operation.

Generally, power amplifiers as are used in the communication art exhibit non-linear output characteristics, particularly as the transmit power level is increased in response to the input signal. Non-linear behavior results in distortion in the output signal that is undesirable, and may cause the communications system to fail to meet the required performance metrics as set by standards organizations or the governing regulatory agencies. However, as is well known, any power transistor driving a load will act in a non-linear fashion when operating in the transistor saturation region, that is, the linear relationship of the voltage input-voltage output characteristic is only maintained in the linear operation region of the transistor. As the input signal power is increased to and beyond the saturation point of the driving transistors in the power amplifier, the response of the transistor(s) does not change linearly and the power output characteristic therefore inherently becomes non-linear.
An important application for non-linear elements, for example, these power amplifiers, in the current art are in the area of wideband cellular communications. A typical application for a power amplifier is a forward or transmitter function for a cellular telephone base station (of course, the base station also receives, however the receiver function is not addressed here). Communication is accomplished using several well known standard protocols for voice and/or data transmission, for example CDMA, WCDMA, TDMA, GSM, EDGE, 3G and the like. These applications require and will continue to require increasing amounts of data to be transmitted over the cellular system. Further the communications units may be devices other than cell phones, including wireless portable email terminals, computers both fixed and portable such as laptops and palm computers, fixed location, handheld, and vehicle mounted telephone equipment, personal internet browsing devices, even video equipment and other communications or data receiver or transmitter applications. In these applications and other applications, RF transmit power is used and applied to a power amplifier with significant power consumption, so that distortion may occur when the input signal and the power applied take the power amplifier into operating regions where the output signal is not a linear function of the input signal.
FIG. 1 depicts a simplified schematic of the RF transmit portion (sometimes called the "analog" portion) for such a prior art base station application. (Only a single RF transmit function and one antenna is shown, however, many may be used). In FIG. 1, digital baseband transmit data VFF is input to a digital to analog converter (DAC) 3, which outputs analog data for transmission to a frequency converter 5 that is clocked by a local oscillator 15. The frequency converted analog signal is next presented to a power amplifier 11 using a signal attenuator 2, and the resulting analog amplified output signal Vout is presented to an antenna 14 for transmission. A feedback path then returns an observed version of the analog transmitted signal Vout, labeled VFB, for observation through a coupler 13. This is accomplished, for example, by coupling the antenna signal to a second frequency converter 17 through another attenuator 4. Frequency converter 17 is analogous to frequency converter 5 and is likewise clocked by local oscillator 15, the converted analog observation signal is then processed by analog-to-digital converter 19 and digital signals VFB are made available for observation, and for use in compensation of the transmit signal using feedback techniques. (Note that the voltage VFB is not the voltage received from other transmitters at the antenna, these are sent along a different path to an RF receiver, which is not addressed here).
During operation of such an RF transmit function, it is known that as for any power amplifier where a power transistor drives a load based on an input signal, if the output signal to be generated is such that the transistor enters its saturation region, the output becomes non-linear; that is the output no longer varies linearly with the input signal. This effect is described as non-linear distortion in the output signal.
One prior art approach to reducing the amount of "backoff" required is to modify the input signal prior to applying it to the power amplifier by applying "crest factor reduction" or CFR. When CFR or peak amplitude reduction is applied to a signal, large amplitude peaks are identified in the input signal, a compensating signal with an opposing crest is created and then this inverted signal is combined with the input signal so as to remove only the largest peaks in the input signal, and so reduce the crest factor, i.e. reduce the PAR, prior to presenting the signal to the power amplifier for transmission. Processors specifically designed to provide the CFR function are commercially available, for example Texas Instruments, Inc. supplies integrated circuits designated as part no. GC1115 particularly directed to implementing CFR in communications systems. The GC1115 is a crest factor reduction preprocessor that receives digital upconverted input signals as I (in phase) and Q (quadrature phase) form digital signals, for example, and outputs a modified I,Q, signal with the peaks removed for transmission with reduced PAR.
Other known approaches are to "linearize" the power amplifier by placing a preprocessing element between the input signal and the power amplifier. Prior art analog linearization approaches include the use of a non-linear, inverting amplifier in a feed forward architecture which is designed to produce a signal output that has distortion. This signal has distortion that is in direct opposition to the distortion observed in the power amplifier for a given input signal, the inverting distortion is amplified by a second amplifier, and the output is subtractively combined with the output of the power amplifier prior to presenting the signal to the antenna. In this manner, the overall response of the amplifier system as observed at the transmit antenna remains linear. Implementing such a system can be costly, and in fact it may not be possible to build a practical amplifier to achieve the desired performance goals.
As an alternative approach to linearizing power amplifiers, digital predistortion circuits ("DPD") are also known in the prior art and are increasingly used. An off the shelf predistortion circuit for use in linearizing an amplifier is sold by Intersil Corporation, designated Intersil part number ISL 5329. The digital predistorters of the prior art typically attempt to create an inverse distortion to that distortion expected or known in the power amplifier, and this inverse distortion is applied on the input signal prior to presenting the signal to the power amplifier. Thus the two amplifier gain stages are operated in a cascade, and the predistorter amplifier provides an "inverse" function to compensate for the distortion expected in the power amplifier. The predistorter and the amplifier are coupled in cascade to attempt to compensate the overall signal characteristic, and to cause it to be linear over the operating range of the power amplifier.
One disadvantage of the digital predistortion approaches of the prior art is that many current approaches assume the power amplifier is a "memoryless" non-linear amplifier. A memoryless approach begins with the premise that the output of the power amplifier at a given time depends solely on the input signal at that given time, and not on other effects. This may be considered a "0th" order polynomial representation filter. The prior art approach assumes the non-linear element distortion is simple, that is AM-AM (amplitude) and AM-PM (phase) distortion. However, in practice it is known that a power amplifier has significant "memory effect" performance characteristics. Frequency "memory effects" are due to variations in the frequency spacing of the input signals and may be characterized by shorter time constants. The temperature of the amplifier at an instant in time may in fact be partly determined by a thermal effect sometimes referred to as "self heating" that occurs during periods of peak power transmission, the temperature also depends on the environment which may include climate effects. The previous signal transmissions and the ambient operating environment therefore create various short and long term memory effects; thus an effective amplifier linearizing method and system must address these long term or memory effects, in addition to the memoryless effects.
FIG. 2 depicts one typical prior art approach to predistortion for a power amplifier. In FIG. 2, power amplifier 25 is depicted as a circuit element, the digital to analog converter, driving transistors, and in the feedback path, the required analog to digital converter, as are shown in FIG. 1 are not depicted in full in FIG. 2, but are included in the box enumerated 25 including the power amplifier denoted "PA".
Digital predistorter 21 modifies the input signal VIN before it is presented to the power amplifier 25 in a manner intended to invert the distortion that will occur in the power amplifier, and therefore, linearize the output of the overall system. An input signal sequence x(k) is received and is coupled to magnitude squared detecting unit 27 and a random access memory block 33 labeled RAM1. An adaptive device 29 is a programmable nonlinearity that receives the output of the magnitude detecting device 27. Adaptive device 29 may be implemented as a look up table (LUT) or alternatively, a more complex polynomial expression unit (POLY) or other method may be used.
The adaptive device 29 provides a predistortion signal to the multiplier 31. The node 31 uses input signal x (k) and the predistortion signal to present a corrected signal VFF to the power amplifier PA, which presents signal VOUT to the antenna or other output device. Note that in this predistortion scheme, it is observed that the predistorter can be made rotationally invariant, thus the adaptive circuit 29 only needs to receive the magnitude squared data of the input signal to affect the signals in the desired manner.
A feedback path provides a feedback form of output signal VOUT (appropriately frequency converted and following analog to digital conversion as shown in FIG. 2,) VFB, to a second random access memory device 35 labeled RAM2. Memory storage devices RAM1, RAM2 are coupled with a processing unit 37 labeled SP which may be, for example, a commercially available digital signal processor (DSP). Other processors such as fixed and floating point processors, reduced instruction set (RISC) machines, multiprocessor devices, and programmable microprocessors may be provided. Signal processor 37 uses information relating to the input signal VIN from the memory device RAM1 and correction information relating to the output signal VOUT from the memory device RAM2, and based on difference determined between the two captured stored signals, provides a correction signal to adaptive circuit 29. The correction signal relates to differences between the observed output signal VOUT and input signal VIN, and is based upon the assumption that ideally, the signals VOUT and VIN should be substantially equal except for scaling (the scaling being the desired gain provided by the power amplifier PA) and other intended differences. Undesired differences detected in the comparison between the input signal and the observed output signals are assumed to have been introduced by the predistorting device 21 or the PA 25; these are then sought to be cancelled by the correcting signal.
FIG. 3 is a graphical depiction of the VOUT—VIN curves of the prior art circuits of FIG. 2. The ideal or linear response is represented by the line labeled IDEAL in FIG. 3, the dashed line. The response for a typical power amplifier PA is the solid curved line labeled PA. The possible digital predistortion curve for a predistorting signal is the solid line labeled DPD. The combined response curve that can be expected is the line labeled DPD+PA in FIG. 3.
In FIG. 3, it can be seen that when the output voltage VOUT (vertical or Y axis) exceeds the voltage where the power amplifier transistors are saturated (VSAT) the response will become increasingly non-linear. However, even at voltages below that level, the operation of the power amplifier alone is non-ideal as can be seen from the curves, the response moves away from the linear, IDEAL line at lower operating voltages. However, in the area of the graph labeled "Feasible Operation" it is possible to linearize the amplifier (in a simple case, such as illustrated here) using a digital predistortion function that predistorts the signal, this is seen by comparing the curve labeled DPD+PA with the IDEAL curve, in the "Feasible Operation" region it is the same as the line labeled IDEAL, or in effect, the amplifier is linearized. In the area labeled "Infeasible Operation", it is not possible to correct the distortion. Thus the use of CFR techniques along with a digital predistortion scheme may be important in order to fully linearize a non-linear element in a particular application, otherwise even with a predistortion function, the system may operate in a non-linear region.
The design approach of a system incorporating a prior art predistortion circuit can be best understood by considering the system as two cascaded gain stages. This arrangement is depicted simply as two blocks in FIG. 4. Here the voltage characteristic of the digital predistorter 21 is depicted having a first voltage transfer characteristic, and the voltage characteristic of power amplifier 25 is depicted having a second voltage transfer characteristic exhibiting the typical non-linear characteristic of a power amplifier.
The design goal of a digital predistortion system is to create a combined linear input-output gain of G for the system, so that the gain F of the predistorter satisfies the function of:F(H(VIN))=G(VIN)=VOUT where H is the gain of the power amplifier, F is the gain of the predistorter, and G is the ideal linear gain of the cascaded system. Most of the digital predistortion effort expended is to increase the efficiency of the high power amplifier, and reduce the required size of the power amplifier. By linearizing the response, the predistortion approach allows the power amplifier to operate at higher power levels (reduces the need for backoff) and increases the efficiency, while lowering the size of the power amplifier required. Both of these effects (higher efficiency and lowered size) reduce cost.
With reference now to FIG. 5, there is shown an exemplary basestation system 50 as is known in the prior art for the forward transmission path for existing cellular systems. The power amplifiers in such a system are known to be non-linear elements.
In FIG. 5, network switch 51 is depicted which receives information from a networked system, for example, a typical network fabric in a conventional wired or land line telephony system. A plurality of base band processors 55 are coupled in a parallel fashion to receive and transmit information to and from the network switch 51. Element 57 is a baseband switch distribution block which combines (depicted only in the forward transmit direction, although received signals are also processed) baseband data for the individual communications channels for each baseband processor 55. Radio Card/RFM module 61 includes a formatter, forward transmit processor, data converter for transmission TX RF, and on the receiver side, data converter for received signals RX RF, a digital down converter which may be implemented, as shown here, with Texas Instruments part no. GC5016 programmable up/down converter or an equivalent, and a control processor 59.
Radio Card/RFM 61 includes processing circuitry for processing the baseband signals and in the prior art may incorporate digital predistortion circuitry. Power amplifier 41, as shown in FIG. 1, is a transmit power amplifier which is the amplification element to be linearized. Duplexer 65 will pass the signals to be transmitted to the antenna 71 and separates the received signals and passes those to tower mounted amplifier (TMA) modulator 67, which is coupled to the receive input of RFM 61. Radio Card/RFM 61 is shown as a single instantiation in FIG. 5; however in a practical system there may be many such cards. Power amplifier 41 is simplified for illustration and includes the amplifier and RF transmit and receive circuitry of FIG. 1 for the transmission of analog signals output at antenna 71. Duplexer TX/RX filter 65 combines and separates the transmitted and received signals. TMA block 67 is a tower mounted amplifier that performs the function of amplifying the received signals from the antenna 71. It is recognized that many other elements such as noise filters, bandpass filters, upconverters and downconverters, may be used as is known in the art.
Downconverter GC5016 is a commercially available digital downconverter integrated circuit available from Texas Instruments, Inc. and other similar circuits are available from other vendors. This integrated circuit receives digital data from the analog to digital converter in the power amplifier and provides a conversion to a lower frequency, and decimation of the signal required to use the received signal in the baseband processors.
In operation, the system of FIG. 5 receives signals from the Net Switch 51, these are individually processed by the baseband processors 55 as channels, these are then combined for transmit messages, (or separated for receive messages), by the baseband switch/distributor 57, and the signals are provided to one of the radio cards/RFM 61. The signals for forward transmission are then provided to the transmit processor in digital form, predistortion and linearizing steps are performed, the data is converted to analog format, up converted and once in the appropriate form, provided to the power amplifier 41 and driven out as a transmission signal on antenna 71. Received signals at the antenna are separated from the transmit signals in block 65, the duplexer, attenuated at TMA block 67 and provided to the analog to digital data converter RX RF, the digital data signals are then down converted by GC5016 integrated circuit or another similar downconverter, and provided through the BP IF/format block to the baseband switch 57, and then separated into channels for processing by the base band processors 55, and the resulting data is placed back in the switched network via switch 51.
Thus, there is a continuing need in the art for a system and method that provides efficient adaptive linearization of a non-linear element, such as a power amplifier for RF transmission. The system and methods should be realizable using commercially available technology. Embodiments and methods of the present invention described below address this need.

System and method for computing parameters for a digital predistorter


The present invention provides a waveguide slot antenna which utilizes a waveguide as a feeding line and has a linear-shaped slot provided in a wall of the waveguide. The waveguide slot antenna is characterized in that it comprises a pair of polarized wave conversion members surrounding an outer periphery of the slot and divided by a slit intersecting the slot. The present invention can provide a waveguide slot antenna capable of radiating a circularly polarized wave with a satisfactory axial ratio characteristic, over a wide band, only by adding a simple component to a conventional waveguide slot antenna.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a waveguide slot antenna, and particularly to a structure of a waveguide slot antenna capable of generating a circularly polarized wave.
2. Description of the Related Art
A waveguide slot antenna utilizing a waveguide as a feeding line has been used as an antenna element usable in a microwave band and a millimeter-wave band, in a base station for wireless communication terminals.
In use for wireless communication terminals, there are some situations in which, rather than a linearly polarized wave, a circularly polarized wave less susceptible to fading is desirable. Therefore, in connection with the need for a waveguide slot antenna adapted to radiate a circularly polarized wave, circularly polarized wave antenna devices using various waveguide slot antennas have been proposed.
Basically, a waveguide slot antenna having a linear-shape slot radiates a linearly polarized wave therefrom.
Thus, in a conventional waveguide slot antenna for radiating a circularly polarized wave, a linearly polarized wave is converted into a circularly polarized wave by combining a pair of linear slots to generate mutually orthogonal polarized waves, as disclosed in the following Non-Patent Documents 1 to 5. JP 2012-065229A discloses a waveguide slot antenna in which a linearly polarized wave is converted into a circularly polarized wave by coupling a parasitic element to a linear slot to generate orthogonal polarized wave components.
FIG. 11 is a perspective view illustrating an example of a conventional waveguide slot antenna for radiating a circularly polarized wave. As illustrated in FIG. 11, one wall section of a hollow waveguide 89 has a cross slot 59 composed of a combination of two linear slots 79, 79 and provided offset from a center line CL thereof parallel to an axis of the hollow waveguide 89.


A mailer is disclosed for distributing advertisements and invoices. The mailer provides an envelope for returning the invoices and a buck slip for displaying advertisements and incentives. The return mailer is attached to the mailer and removed from the mailer simultaneously upon the opening of the mailer.

Known mailer assemblies for direct mail applications have been constructed in various ways to provide a medium for disseminating information, advertisements and invoices. In many cases, a direct mail mailer assembly is provided with a tear-off portion which is to be removed by a recipient. The tear-off portion may be in the form of a return mailer, an order form for purchasing magazines or merchandise, an invoice for goods or services rendered, or a form for returning needed information to the sender.
One example of a known mailer having a return mailer is U.S. Pat. No. 2,016,063 to E. T. White. White discloses an envelope consisting of a single sheet of paper divided into four leafs. The front page on the first leaf contains a window for displaying a mailing address, and the front page on the fourth leaf contains the corresponding mailing address. To display the mailing address, the leafs are folded upon each other so that the front page of the fourth leaf is beneath the front page of the first leaf.
White includes a return mailer that is connected within the mailing envelope. To retrieve the return mailer, the mailer envelope must first be opened and the return mailer must then be torn off the mailer envelope.
The return address is found on the rear page of the forth leaf. To address the return mailer, the forth leaf must first be torn off of the third leaf, and the forth leaf must then be attached to the mailer envelope with the address displayed on the rear page of the forth leaf.
The extra steps, of removing the return mailer, removing the page having the return address, and combining the two, will likely dissuade a recipient from mailing the return mailer. Accordingly, White fails to teach a return mailer that is pre-assembled for the user the that detaches from the mailer upon the opening of the mailer.
Another prior art envelope is U.S. Pat. No. 6,019,280 to Peterson. Peterson discloses a tri-fold mailer. The mailer has a return postcard that is integral to the second or third leaf of the mailer. To remove the return postcard, the envelope must first be opened and the return postcard must then be torn from the mailer. This aspect of Peterson is problematic because it requires the recipient to take further steps to remove the return postcard. Accordingly, Peterson fails to teach a mailer having a return mailer that is automatically detached from the mailer upon the opening of the mailer.
Peterson also teaches advertising buck slips, where the buck slips are loosely placed within the mailer prior to mailing to the recipient. The leafs are placed within the center of the mailer and the mailer is sealed about all four edges to secure the advertisements. If any of the sides of the mailer open in transit, then the advertisements would fall out. Further, sealing each edge of the mailer requires more glue than only sealing, for example, the top edge of the mailer with glue, and creating a seal on the bottom edge by folding the mailer leafs.
Peterson fails to teach a mailer having buck slip advertisements that are permanently attached to the mailer. With the advertisements secured to the mailer, the sides of the mailer would not need sealing.
Another mailer with a return mailer is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,960,237 to Bendel. Bendel discloses a multiply outgoing mailer, where each sheet is the same size as each other sheet and each sheet is adhered to each consecutive sheet. In Bendel, the return mailer is retrieved from the mailer by opening the mailer and tearing the sheet or sheets with the return mailer from the remainder of the mailer. The sheets that comprise the return mailer are then folded about fold lines to create the form of the return mailer.
The problem with Bendel is that the user is required to take a series of steps before the return mailer can be used, including opening the envelope, separating the return mailer from the mailer, and forming the return mailer from the separated sheet. These steps would discourage the user from utilizing the return mailer. Accordingly, Bendel fails to teach a return mailer chat is formed prior to reaching the recipient and removed from the mailer upon the opening of the mailer.


Channel fluctuation values on propagation paths of modulated signals transmitted from a plurality of antennas are estimated, an eigenvalue of a channel fluctuation matrix created with the above-mentioned channel fluctuation values as elements is found in order to relate antenna received signals to modulated signals, and using that eigenvalue, receiving antenna selection, combining of modulated signals, and weighting processing on soft decision decoded values, are performed, and modulated signals are demodulated. By this means, it is possible to perform demodulation processing based on the effective reception power of a modulated signal (that is to say, the essential reception power, of the reception power obtained by a receiving apparatus, that can be effectively used when demodulating a modulated signal), enabling the precision of demodulation of modulated signals to be improved.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a receiving apparatus, transmitting apparatus, and reception method, and more particularly to a receiving apparatus, transmitting apparatus, and reception method applied to a radio communication system that uses multiple antennas.
2. Description of the Related Art
To date, intense research and development has been carried out on radio communication systems that use multiple antennas to allow transmission and reception of a greater amount of data in a limited frequency band. Examples of radio communication systems that use multiple antennas are a MIMO (Multiple-Input Multiple-Output) system in which both the transmitting apparatus and receiving apparatus are equipped with a plurality of antennas, and a MISO (Multiple-Input Single-Output) system in which the transmitting apparatus is equipped with a plurality of antennas and the receiving apparatus is equipped with a single antenna.
In a radio communication system that uses this kind of multi-antenna technology, since modulated signals transmitted from a plurality of antennas are multiplexed on a propagation path and received by an antenna at the receiving end, if demodulation processing including signal separation processing cannot be carried out with high precision the receive data error rate characteristics degrade, and as a result, it is not possible to achieve the original aim of increasing the data transmission speed.
Possible ways of improving the precision of separation and demodulation of each modulated signal include increasing the pilot symbols inserted in each modulated signal, but when pilot symbols are increased, propagation efficiency degrades proportionally, with the result that it is not in fact possible to achieve the original aim of increasing the data transmission speed.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Base station, communication system including base station, and transmission method