Provided is a display technique whereby it is possible for an area, which an operator desires to zoom and display, to be zoomed and displayed in conformity with the size of the screen through a simple operation. This is achieved by an information processing apparatus capable of displaying any desired area, which has been designated in an image (801) displayed on a screen, upon enlarging the size of the area, the apparatus including: partitioning unit (step S1303) configured to partition the image into a plurality of areas based upon a given command; identifying unit (step S1304) configured to identify each area of the partitioned image; storage control unit (step S1304) configured to store results of the identification in storage means in association with the information concerning user operation; and pointer moving unit (step S1311) configured to successively move a pointer that is for designating each area. An area (any of blocks 0 to 6), which has been designated by the pointer, is enlarged and displayed in conformity with the size of the screen (step S1310).

So-called "zooming" is known as a display technique for enlarging and reducing the size of any area of an image, which is displayed on a screen, to display the area at an optimum size. Zooming generally can be classified as follows depending upon how what particular area of an image displayed on a screen is zoomed: First, the entire screen is displayed upon zooming it to any size using the center of the screen as a reference. This is the most common type of zooming (for example, see the specification of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 09-026769). Second, there is zooming referred to as "point zooming". In this type of zooming, zooming is performed to any size centered on a point that the operator has designated in an image displayed on a screen, and the zoom display is presented in such a manner that the point is situated at the center of the screen after zooming (for example, see the specification of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-324974). Third, there is zooming referred to as "area zooming". In this type of zooming, the zoom display is presented in such a manner that the area specified by the operator is zoomed so as to fit the size of the screen (for example, see the specification of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-282454).
Further, methods of designating an area (method of area designation operation) used in the "area zooming" known generally include a method of designating a rectangle based upon a diagonal line and a method of designating the area upon changing the position or size of a rectangle provided in advance.
However, in the first type of zooming (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 09-026769), the fact that the zooming reference is the center of the screen means that the image zoomed and displayed on the screen will not necessarily coincide with the area that the operator actually desires to be zoomed and displayed. For this reason, the operator must perform a position adjustment appropriately using vertical and horizontal scrolling functions (and carry out zooming again in certain cases) after zooming in such a manner that the area that the operator desires to be zoomed will be displayed upon being fitted to the screen.
In the case of the second type of zooming (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-324974), the point desired to be zoomed and displayed can be designated by the operator, but since zooming is performed centered on the point designated by the operator, it is required that the operator designate accurately the center position of the area desired to be zoomed and displayed. In actuality, however, it is difficult for the operator to designate the center position accurately, and the zoom display obtained may not coincide with the area the user desires to zoom and display. As in the first type of zooming, it is necessary for the operator to perform a position adjustment appropriately (and carry out zooming again in certain cases) after zooming so as to display the image on the screen as desired.
In the third type of zooming (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-282454), the area desired to be zoomed and displayed can be designated at will and displayed so as to fit the size of the screen. This makes it possible to avoid the problem of non-coincidence between the area desired to be zoomed and displayed and the area actually zoomed and displayed. However, in order to implement area zooming, areas desired to be zoomed and displayed require commands individually, whenever zooming is carried out, through use of designating input means such as a pointing device to enter the extent of the area desired to be zoomed and displayed. When it is desired to perform zooming with respect to a plurality of areas, a technical problem which arises is poor operability.
Furthermore, in instances where part of an image that will not fit on the screen is zoomed, it is required with all of the first to third types of zooming that the image be moved using the vertical and horizontal zooming functions before zooming so that the area desired to be zoomed and displayed will be displayed temporarily on the screen. In this case also a technical problem which arises is poor operability.
Another method of designating an area is to analyze image information, extract an area based upon the layout or features using a recognition technique and designating this area as the scope of the display (see the specifications of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 06-282258 and 08-202856). However, this method not only is not effective for application to an image from which features are difficult to extract, but the user must also perform a selecting and specifying operation with respect to areas that have been decided as a result of automatic recognition. Consequently, a technical problem which arises is poor operability in a case where an area desired to be displayed has been decided beforehand.

Information processing apparatus, method and storage medium


In one embodiment a method includes at first a network device, identifying an attribute of the first network device, selecting a function that defines how the attribute is to be summarized together with a same attribute of a second network device, generating a message that comprises a set of information comprising an identification of the attribute and the function, and sending the message to, e.g., a next higher node in a network hierarchy of which the network device is a part. Multiple such messages may be received at an aggregation node that then summarizes the attributes according to respective functions, and sends or publishes a summarized version of the attributes to a still next higher node in the network hierarchy.

"Cloud computing" can be defined as Internet-based computing in which shared resources, software and information are provided to client or user computers or other devices on-demand from a pool of resources that are communicatively available via the Internet, or other electronic network. Cloud computing is envisioned as a way to democratize access to resources and services, letting users efficiently purchase as many resources as they need and/or can afford.
In some possible implementations, cloud computing comprises linking backend resources (e.g., memory, processors, etc.) to provide web-based services, applications, and data storage. This approach has the potential effect of providing services at lower cost than current options, and with less complexity, greater scalability, and wider reach. However, linking the capabilities of such backend systems to each other and to client or user devices can be daunting, especially in view of the fact that there may be many thousands of such backend systems, clients and users, each having different capabilities, attributes and needs.


A stacked antenna, comprising a lower path which may include a coplanar microstrip capable of feeding and stacked antenna and an upper patch which may include at least one slot-like part thereon, wherein the at least one lower patch may be coupled to the upper patch. The lower patch may further include at least one strip-like part formed by at least one hole in the lower patch and the coupling may be accomplished between the lower patch and the upper patch by the at least one strip-like part of the lower patch at least partially crossing over or partially crossing.

In some antenna applications it may be desirable to have elements that are reduced in size. Normally, a patch element is roughly half a wavelength in extent in the medium that supports it, such as, but not limited to a dielectric substrate, which may be too large on devices where space is a premium, such as mobile phones, GPS receivers and even on air and spacecraft. Other applications may include antenna arrays, where the element spacing needs to be small (in the order of half a wavelength), such as phased array antennas.
Thus, there is strong need in the industry for a stacked antenna with broad band capabilities and improved performance characteristics in a compact size.


The invention provides a coding system and a decoding system wherein a discrete cosine transform which provides a high coding efficiency is approximated to allow reversible coding and decoding while maintaining the high coding efficiency and a system which includes such coding and decoding systems. Reversible coding is realized by multiplying a transform matrix by a fixed number for each row to approximate the transform matrix with integer values, performing re-quantization in a basic region defined by a multiple of a determinant for suppressing redundancy while maintaining a condition wherein reversible coding is possible in the basic region, and performing re-quantization for the entire region making use of the fact that such basic region appears periodically in a signal space.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to transform coding for digital signals, and more particularly to coding of audio signals or video signals.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a linear transform coding system is known as a coding system for an audio or video signal. In the linear transform coding system, a plurality of samples obtained by sampling a signal are linearly transformed first and then coded, and depending upon a manner of selection of the base of the linear transform, compression coding can be achieved.
A best known transform coding system is discrete cosine transform (which may be hereinafter referred to simply as DCT) coding. It is known that the DCT achieves the highest compression coding of signals which conform to a highly correlated Markov maintenance model, and the DCT is utilized widely for international standardized systems. The DCT technique is disclosed in detail in K. R. Rao and P. Yip, "Discrete Cosine Transform Algorithms, Advantages, Applications", ACADEMIC PRESS, INC., 1990, translated into Japanese by Hiroshi Yasuda and Hiroshi Fujiwara, "Image Coding Technique", Ohm, 1992.
By the way, since the DCT is a transform which uses real numbers, coding (compression coding) by the DCT inevitably is non-reversible coding. In other words, lossless, reversible coding or distortion-free coding by which decoded signals accurately coincide with original signals is impossible with the DCT.
This will be described below with reference to FIG. 13 which illustrates a linear transform of a set of two digital signals.
Referring to FIG. 13, values which can be assumed by the original signals are represented as grating points on a two-dimensional space. Each of the grating points is called integer grating point of the original signals and is represented by a mark ".largecircle.". Each of the integer grating points is considered to represent a region (called integer cell) delineated by solid lines.
The original signals are linearly transformed and quantized into integral values with a suitable step. The linear transform can be regarded as a coordinate transform, and integer grating points of original signals are also arranged in a grating-like arrangement with a different inclination and/or a grating width. However, the grating points are displaced by conversion into integers or quantization in the transform region.
In FIG. 13, a quantization grating point in the transform region is indicated by a mark "x", and a quantization cell in the transform region is indicated by broken lines.
As seen from FIG. 13, for example, an integer point A of the original signals is quantized to another point B by the transform, and returns to the point A by an inverse transform. In other words, a reversible transform is realized.
However, another quantization point C of the original signals is quantized to a further point D and is displaced to a different point E by the inverse transform. Consequently, the transform in this instance is non-reversible transform. Besides, the point E is transformed to a different point F and then inversely transformed to another different point G. This signifies that repetitions of coding and decoding progressively increase the difference between the original image and the transformed image, or in other words, the error is accumulated.
This phenomenon can be eliminated by reducing the quantization step size after a transform. However, the reduction of the quantization step size yields transformed quantization points which will not be transformed, and this is a reverse effect from the point of view of compression coding.
The reversible coding is a desired technique for some application fields. The reversible coding is desired, for example, for a television system for a business use which repeats dubbing more than ten times after an original picture is imaged until it is broadcast.
Hadamard transform is known as an example of transform coding which realizes reversible coding. A two-element Hadamard transform and inverse transform are given by the following expressions (1) and (2), respectively: ##EQU1##
In the two-element Hadamard transform given above, since the integer vector (x1, x2) is transformed into another integer vector (y1, y2), full reversible coding is possible. A four-element or eight-element Hadamard transform can be defined using the two-element Hadamard transform recurrently and still allows full reversible coding.
However, the Hadamard transform described above is also a redundant transform.
As can be seen from the expressions (1) and (2) above, y1 is the sum of x1 and x2, and y2 is the difference between x1 and x2. Accordingly, if y1 is an even number, also y2 is an even number, but if y1 is an odd number, then also y2 is an odd number. In other words, one half ones of transformed quantization points are redundant points which are not used.
A method removing the redundancy of the Hadamard transform is already known.
For example, Japanese Patent Publication No. Heisei 2-62993 (title of the invention: "Coding and Decoding Apparatus for Pixel Signals") discloses a method of eliminating the redundancy using the relationship between an odd number and an even number after a transform.
However, for any other transform coding than the Hadamard transform, a coding system which realizes reversible coding and eliminates the redundancy to such a degree that the coding system can be used sufficiently for practical use of compression coding.
Particularly for a discrete cosine transform (DCT) which is known in that it is high in transform efficiency among various transform coding methods, no method of performing reversible coding is known.

Lossless transform coding system for digital signals


When an intercom slave issues a call signal, all video terminals registered as terminals display images provided from the intercom slave. When an audio terminal responds to a call signal, control is performed to allow speech communications between the intercom slave and the audio terminal having responded to the call signal, to stop displaying of the images of the intercom slave by each video terminal and to cause the video terminal selected by the audio terminal to display the images. A combination of the selected video terminal and the audio terminal is registered. The audio terminals are displayed in a list form for selection. The video terminal receiving a radio wave with the highest intensity from the audio terminal is selected.

A conventional intercom apparatus with a camera includes an intercom slave that maybe simply referred to as a "slave" hereinafter and is formed of a call switch used by a visitor for calling a resident, a set of a microphone and a speaker used for speech communications between the visitor and the resident, and a camera for taking an image of the visitor. The intercom system also includes an intercom master which will be simply referred to as a "master" hereinafter, is connected to the slave through a non-polar analog two-wire line and is formed of a display displaying an image taken by a slave imaging unit as well as a microphone and a speaker for speech communications with the visitor. The intercom system further includes a sub-master that can make communications with the visitor similarly to the master, and has substantially the same structure as the master.
Each of the master and the sub-master includes a data compression/expansion unit for compressing or expanding video and audio data provided from the slave, a data communication unit performing simultaneous data transmission and reception between the master and the sub-master, and a control unit controlling data processing, communications and the like. The master and the sub-master are connected together over a Local Area Network (LAN) through communication units that arranged in the master and the sub-master, respectively.
Since the master and the sub-master are connected together through a LAN cable, these can transmit data of sounds, characteristics, images and the like to and from a communication terminal inside an external network when a LAN home gateway connecting the indoor LAN cable to the external network is arranged in or around a house. Likewise, these may be connected to an ISDN (Integrated Service Digital Network) line through a router, a DSU (Digital Service Unit) and the like, and thereby the Internet becomes available (Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2003-078629 (Patent Document 1)). The ISDN is a digitized public communications network, and is the integrated services digital network over which a user can use services such as telephone, facsimile, data communications and the like through a single interface.
Another video intercom system is also proposed. This system includes a control unit that connects a camera-equipped intercom slave to a home network connecting a plurality of home electric devices and house facilities together for transmitting and receiving data, and connects the camera-equipped intercom slave to general-purpose devices such as a television receiver, a telephone and the like over the network. There is still another video intercom system (Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2004-289657 (Patent Document 2)). In this system, a general-purpose device that cannot be directly connected to the home network is connected to it through a conversion interface block.
There has been a system in which a portable audio terminal for performing speech communications is independent of a video terminal for transmitting and receiving images, and call setting is processed on an management server side so that the portable audio terminal can be combined with the video terminal during speech communications by the portable audio terminal, and can be used as a video telephone. This structure of the video telephone system includes the video terminal for transmitting and receiving images, the audio terminal for transmitting and receiving sounds by radio, wireless-to-wired communications converter terminal for mutual conversion between wireless and wired communications, managing means for managing terminal information about a plurality of video terminals and audio terminals, call control means for controlling calling between the terminals according to the information in the managing means, and a management server formed of communication control means performing communications with the audio and video terminals. In this structure, the management server performs the control until a logical audio data channel opens between the audio terminals and a logical data channel opens between the video terminals (Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2004-165949 (Patent Document 3)).    Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2003-078629    Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2004-289657    Patent Document 3: Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2004-165949

Intercom system with imaging function as well as audio terminal, video terminal, home gateway device and intercom adapter constituting the system


A strand end fitting includes a housing adapted to be attached to a mounting pin located on a moveable member and having a passageway extending therethrough. The strand end fitting also includes a longitudinal member having an aperture therethrough telescopingly disposed within the passageway whereby a strand extends through the longitudinal member and has a retainer member secured thereon which abuts the longitudinal member. Once the longitudinal member is properly positioned within the housing a locking structure prevents relative movement between the longitudinal member and the housing.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to cable end fittings and more particularly, to a cable end fitting for adjusting the tension in a cable strand.
2. Description of Related Art
Cable strand end fittings are typically mounted on a mounting post of a carburetor or throttle body of an engine. A strand of a motion control cable extends through the end fitting and has a member staked on one end of the strand to prevent the strand from exiting the end fitting. However, there is no adjustment mechanism on the end fitting to allow the slack or tension in the strand to be varied or adjusted.
Positioning devices have been used in the past to position an end of a conduit for a motion control cable. An example of such a positioning device is disclosed in Fillmore U.S. Pat. No. 4,177,691. This patented positioning device includes an elongated adjustment member attached to the conduit of the motion control cable and having teeth disposed on opposite sides of the adjustment member. The adjustment member extends through a passageway in a support member adapted for attachment to a support structure. The patented positioning device also includes a locking member positioned transversely to the adjustment member which cooperates with the teeth on the adjustment member to prevent movement of the adjustment member relative to the support member. One problem with the above patented device is that the conduit is adjusted and not the strand or cable. An additional probelm is that the support member must be mounted adjacent the end of the conduit and a second member used to connect the cable strand to the mounting post of the carburetor or throttle body.


A wireless location system is disclosed including one or more location centers for outputting locations of mobile stations (MS) for both local and global MS location requests via Internet communication between a distributed network of location centers. The system uses a plurality of MS locating technologies including those based on: two-way TOA and TDOA; pattern recognition; distributed antenna provisioning; GPS signals. Difficulties, such as multipath, poor location accuracy and poor coverage are alleviated via such technologies in combination with: (a) adapting and calibrating system performance according to environmental and geographical changes; (b) capturing location signal data for continual enhancement of an historical database; (c) evaluating MS locations via heuristics and constraints related to terrain, MS velocity and MS path extrapolation, and (d) adjusting likely MS locations. The system is useful for 911 emergency calls, tracking, routing, people and animal location including applications for confinement to and exclusion from certain areas.

Introduction
Wireless communications systems are becoming increasingly important worldwide. Wireless cellular telecommunications systems are rapidly replacing conventional wire-based telecommunications systems in many applications. Cellular radio telephone networks ("CRT"), and specialized mobile radio and mobile data radio networks are examples. The general principles of wireless cellular telephony have been described variously, for example in U.S. Pat. No. 5,295,180 to Vendetti, et al, which is incorporated herein by reference.
There is great interest in using existing infrastructures for wireless communication systems for locating people and/or objects in a cost effective manner. Such a capability would be invaluable in a variety of situations, especially in emergency or crime situations. Due to the substantial benefits of such a location system, several attempts have been made to design and implement such a system.
Systems have been proposed that rely upon signal strength and trilateralization techniques to permit location include those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,818,998 and 4,908,629 to Apsell et al. ("the Apsell patents") and U.S. Pat. No. 4,891,650 to Sheffer ("the Sheffer patent"). However, these systems have drawbacks that include high expense in that special purpose electronics are required. Furthermore, the systems are generally only effective in line-of-sight conditions, such as rural settings. Radio wave surface reflections, refractions and ground clutter cause significant distortion, in determining the location of a signal source in most geographical areas that are more than sparsely populated. Moreover, these drawbacks are particularly exacerbated in dense urban canyon (city) areas, where errors and/or conflicts in location measurements can result in substantial inaccuracies.
Another example of a location system using time of arrival and triangulation for location are satellite-based systems, such as the military and commercial versions of the Global Positioning Satellite system ("GPS"). GPS can provide accurate position determination (i.e., about 100 meters error for the commercial version of GPS) from a time-based signal received simultaneously from at least three satellites. A ground-based GPS receiver at or near the object to be located determines the difference between the time at which each satellite transmits a time signal and the time at which the signal is received and, based on the time differentials, determines the object's location. However, the GPS is impractical in many applications. The signal power levels from the satellites are low and the GPS receiver requires a clear, line-of-sight path to at least three satellites above a horizon of about 60 degrees for effective operation. Accordingly, inclement weather conditions, such as clouds, terrain features, such as hills and trees, and buildings restrict the ability of the GPS receiver to determine its position. Furthermore, the initial GPS signal detection process for a GPS receiver is relatively long (i.e., several minutes) for determining the receiver's position. Such delays are unacceptable in many applications such as, for example, emergency response and vehicle tracking.
Differential GPS, or DGPS systems offer correction schemes to account for time synchronization drift. Such correction schemes include the transmission of correction signals over a two-way radio link or broadcast via FM radio station subcarriers. These systems have been found to be awkward and have met with limited success.
Additionally, GPS-based location systems have been attempted in which the received GPS signals are transmitted to a central data center for performing location calculations. Such systems have also met with limited success. In brief, each of the various GPS embodiments have the same fundamental problems of limited reception of the satellite signals and added expense and complexity of the electronics required for an inexpensive location mobile station or handset for detecting and receiving the GPS signals from the satellites.
Radio Propagation Background
The behavior of a mobile radio signal in the general environment is unique and complicated. Efforts to perform correlations between radio signals and distance between a base station and a mobile station are similarly complex. Repeated attempts to solve this problem in the past have been met with only marginal success. Factors include terrain undulations, fixed and variable clutter, atmospheric conditions, internal radio characteristics of cellular and PCS systems, such as frequencies, antenna configurations, modulation schemes, diversity methods, and the physical geometries of direct, refracted and reflected waves between the base stations and the mobile. Noise, such as man-made externally sources (e.g., auto ignitions) and radio system co-channel and adjacent channel interference also affect radio reception and related performance measurements, such as the analog carrier-to-interference ratio (C/I), or digital energy-per-bit/Noise density ratio (Eb/No) and are particular to various points in time and space domains.
RF Propagation in Free Space
Before discussing real world correlations between signals and distance, it is useful to review the theoretical premise, that of radio energy path loss across a pure isotropic vacuum propagation channel, and its dependencies within and among various communications channel types. FIG. 1 illustrates a definition of channel types arising in communications:
Over the last forty years various mathematical expressions have been developed to assist the radio mobile cell designer in establishing the proper balance between base station capital investment and the quality of the radio link, typically using radio energy field-strength, usually measured in microvolts/meter, or decibels. First consider Hata's single ray model. A simplified radio channel can be described as:Gi=Lp+F+Lf+Lb−Gt+Gr  (Equation 1)where                Gi=system gain in decibels        Lp=free space path loss in dB,        F=fade margin in dB,        Lf=transmission line loss from coaxials used to connect radio to antenna, in dB,        Lm=miscellaneous losses such as minor antenna misalignment, coaxial corrosion, increase in the receiver noise figure due to aging, in dB,        Lb=branching loss due to filter and circulator used to combine or split transmitter and receiver signals in a single antenna        Gt=gain of transmitting antenna        Gr=gain of receiving antennaFree space path loss1 Lp as discussed in Mobile Communications Design Fundamentals, William C. Y. Lee, 2nd, Ed across the propagation channel is a function of distance d, frequencyf (for f values <1 GHz, such as the 890-950 mHz cellular band):
                                          P            or                                P            t                          =                  1                                    (                              4                                π                                                                                dfc                            )                        2                                              (                  equation                                                              2                )            where
Por=received power in free space
Pt=transmitting power
c=speed of light,
The difference between two received signal powers in free space,
                              Δ          p                =                                            (              10              )                                                  log                                            (                                                      p                                          or                                                                                2                                                                            P                                          or                                                                                1                                                                      )                                              =                                    (              20              )                                                  log                                            (                                                      d                    1                                                        d                    2                                                  )                                                                (              dB              )                                                          (                  equation                                                              3                )            indicates that the free propagation path loss is 20 dB per decade. Frequencies between 1 GHz and 2 GHz experience increased values in the exponent, ranging from 2 to 4, or 20 to 40 dB/decade, which would be predicted for the new PCS 1.8-1.9 GHz band.
This suggests that the free propagation path loss is 20 dB per decade. However, frequencies between 1 GHz and 2 GHz experience increased values in the exponent, ranging from 2 to 4, or 20 to 40 dB/decade, which would be predicted for the new PCS 1.8-1.9 GHz band. One consequence from a location perspective is that the effective range of values for higher exponents is an increased at higher frequencies, thus providing improved granularity of ranging correlation.
Environmental Clutter and RF Propagation Effects
Actual data collected in real-world environments uncovered huge variations with respect to the free space path loss equation, giving rise to the creation of many empirical formulas for radio signal coverage prediction. Clutter, either fixed or stationary in geometric relation to the propagation of the radio signals, causes a shadow effect of blocking that perturbs the free space loss effect. Perhaps the best known model set that characterizes the average path loss is Hata's, "Empirical Formula for Propagation Loss in Land Mobile Radio", M. Hata, IEEE Transactions VT-29, pp. 317-325, August 1980, three pathloss models, based on Okumura's measurements in and around Tokyo, "Field Strength and its Variability in VHF and UHF Land Mobile Service", Y. Okumura, et al, Review of the Electrical Communications laboratory, Vol 16, pp 825-873, September-October 1968.
The typical urban Hata model for Lp was defined as Lp=Lhu:LHu=69.55+26.16 log(f)−13.82 log(hBS)−a(hMS)+((44.9−6.55 log(HBS)log(d)[dB])  (Equation 4)where
LHu=path loss, Hata urban
hBS=base station antenna height
hMS=mobile station antenna height
d=distance BS-MS in km
a(hMS) is a correction factor for small and medium sized cities, found to be:1 log(f−0.7)hMS−1.56 log(f−0.8)=a(hMS)  (Equation 5)For large cities the correction factor was found to be:a(hMS)=3.2[log 11.75hMS]2−4.97  (Equation 6)assuming f is equal to or greater than 400 mHz.The typical suburban model correction was found to be:
                              L                      H            suburban                          =                              L            Hu                    -                      2                                      [                                                log                                                        (                                          f                      28                                        )                                                  2                            ]                                -                      5.4                                      [              dB              ]                                                          (                  Equation                                                              7                )            The typical rural model modified the urban formula differently, as seen below:LHrural=LHu−4.78(log f)2+18.33 log f−40.94[dB]  (Equation 8)
Although the Hata model was found to be useful for generalized RF wave prediction in frequencies under 1 GHz in certain suburban and rural settings, as either the frequency and/or clutter increased, predictability decreased. In current practice, however, field technicians often have to make a guess for dense urban an suburban areas (applying whatever model seems best), then installing a base stations and begin taking manual measurements. Coverage problems can take up to a year to resolve.
Relating Received Signal Strength to Location
Having previously established a relationship between d and Por, reference equation 2 above: d represents the distance between the mobile station (MS) and the base station (BS); Por represents the received power in free space) for a given set of unchanging environmental conditions, it may be possible to dynamically measure Por and then determine d.
In 1991, U.S. Pat. No. 5,055,851 to Sheffer taught that if three or more relationships have been established in a triangular space of three or more base stations (BSs) with a location database constructed having data related to possible mobile station (MS) locations, then arculation calculations may be performed, which use three distinct Por measurements to determine an X, Y, two dimensional location, which can then be projected onto an area map. The triangulation calculation is based on the fact that the approximate distance of the mobile station (MS) from any base station (BS) cell can be calculated based on the received signal strength. Sheffer acknowledges that terrain variations affect accuracy, although as noted above, Sheffer's disclosure does not account for a sufficient number of variables, such as fixed and variable location shadow fading, which are typical in dense urban areas with moving traffic.
Most field research before about 1988 has focused on characterizing (with the objective of RF coverage prediction) the RF propagation channel (i.e., electromagnetic radio waves) using a single-ray model, although standard fit errors in regressions proved dismal (e.g., 40-80 dB). Later, multi-ray models were proposed, and much later, certain behaviors were studied with radio and digital channels. In 1981, Vogler proposed that radio waves at higher frequencies could be modeled using optics principles. In 1988 Walfisch and Bertoni applied optical methods to develop a two-ray model, which when compared to certain highly specific, controlled field data, provided extremely good regression fit standard errors of within 1.2 dB.
In the Bertoni two ray model it was assumed that most cities would consist of a core of high-rise buildings surrounded by a much larger area having buildings of uniform height spread over regions comprising many square blocks, with street grids organizing buildings into rows that are nearly parallel. Rays penetrating buildings then emanating outside a building were neglected. FIG. 2 provides a basis for the variables.
After a lengthy analysis it was concluded that path loss was a function of three factors: (1) the path loss between antennas in free space; (2) the reduction of rooftop wave fields due to settling; and (3) the effect of diffraction of the rooftop fields down to ground level. The last two factors were summarily termed Lex, given by:
                              L          ex                =                  57.1          +          A          +                      log                                      (              f              )                                +          R          -                      (                                          (                                  18                                                                                log                                                              (                      H                      )                                                                      )                            -                              18                                                                                log                                                        [                                          1                      -                                                                        R                          2                                                                          17                                                                                H                                                                                ]                                                                                (                  Equation                                                              9                )            The influence of building geometry is contained in A:
                    A        =                              5                                                                                log                                            [                                                      (                                          d                      2                                        )                                    2                                ]                                              -                      9                                                                          log                                                                          d                    +                      20                        log                                      {                                                tan                                                        [                                          2                                                                    (                                                  h                          -                                                      H                            MS                                                                          )                                                              ]                                                                    -                  1                                            }                                                          (                  Equation                                                              10                )
However, a substantial difficulty with the two-ray model in practice is that it requires a substantial amount of data regarding building dimensions, geometries, street widths, antenna gain characteristics for every possible ray path, etc. Additionally, it requires an inordinate amount of computational resources and such a model is not easily updated or maintained.
Unfortunately, in practice clutter geometries and building heights are random. Moreover, data of sufficient detail has been extremely difficult to acquire, and regression standard fit errors are poor; i.e., in the general case, these errors were found to be 40-60 dB. Thus the two-ray model approach, although sometimes providing an improvement over single ray techniques, still did not predict RF signal characteristics in the general case to level of accuracy desired (<10 dB).
Work by Greenstein has since developed from the perspective of measurement-based regression models, as opposed to the previous approach of predicting-first, then performing measurement comparisons. Apparently yielding to the fact that low-power, low antenna (e.g., 12-25 feet above ground) height PCS microcell coverage was insufficient in urban buildings, Greenstein, et al, authored "Performance Evaluations for Urban Line-of-sight Microcells Using a Multi-ray Propagation Model", in IEEE Globecom Proceedings, 12/91. This paper proposed the idea of formulating regressions based on field measurements using small PCS microcells in a lineal microcell geometry (i.e., geometries in which there is always a line-of-sight (LOS) path between a subscriber's mobile and its current microsite).
Additionally, Greenstein studied the communication channels variable Bit-Error-Rate (BER) in a spatial domain, which was a departure from previous research that limited field measurements to the RF propagation channel signal strength alone. However, Greenstein based his finding on two suspicious assumptions: 1) he assumed that distance correlation estimates were identical for uplink and downlink transmission paths; and 2) modulation techniques would be transparent in terms of improved distance correlation conclusions. Although some data held very correlations, other data and environments produced poor results. Accordingly, his results appear unreliable for use in general location context.
In 1993 Greenstein, et al, authored "A Measurement-Based Model for Predicting Coverage Areas of Urban Microcells", in the IEEE Journal On Selected Areas in Communications, Vol. 11, No. 7, 9/93. Greenstein reported a generic measurement-based model of RF attenuation in terms of constant-value contours surrounding a given low-power, low antenna microcell environment in a dense, rectilinear neighborhood, such as New York City. However, these contours were for the cellular frequency band. In this case, LOS and non-LOS clutter were considered for a given microcell site. A result of this analysis was that RF propagation losses (or attenuations), when cell antenna heights were relatively low, provided attenuation contours resembling a spline plane curve depicted as an asteroid, aligned with major street grid patterns. Further, Greenstein found that convex diamond-shaped RF propagation loss contours were a common occurrence in field measurements in a rectilinear urban area. The special plane curve asteroid is represented by the formula x2/3+y2/3=r2/3. However, these results alone have not been sufficiently robust and general to accurately locate an MS, due to the variable nature of urban clutter spatial arrangements.
At Telesis Technology in 1994 Howard Xia, et al, authored "Microcellular Propagation Characteristics for Personal Communications in Urban and Suburban Environments", in IEEE Transactions of Vehicular Technology, Vol. 43, No. 3, 8/94, which performed measurements specifically in the PCS 1.8 to 1.9 GHz frequency band. Xia found corresponding but more variable outcome results in San Francisco, Oakland (urban) and the Sunset and Mission Districts (suburban).
Summary of Factors Affecting RF Propagation
The physical radio propagation channel perturbs signal strength, frequency (causing rate changes, phase delay, signal to noise ratios (e.g., C/I for the analog case, or Eb/No, RF energy per bit, over average noise density ratio for the digital case) and Doppler-shift. Signal strength is usually characterized by:                Free Space Path Loss (Lp)        Slow fading loss or margin (Lslow)        Fast fading loss or margin (Lfast)
Loss due to slow fading includes shadowing due to clutter blockage (sometimes included in Lp). Fast fading is composed of multipath reflections which cause: 1) delay spread; 2) random phase shift or Rayleigh fading; and 3) random frequency modulation due to different Doppler shifts on different paths.
Summing the path loss and the two fading margin loss components from the above yields a total path loss of:Ltotal=Lp+Lslow+Lfast Referring to FIG. 3, the figure illustrates key components of a typical cellular and PCS power budget design process. The cell designer increases the transmitted power PTX by the shadow fading margin Lslow which is usually chosen to be within the 1-2 percentile of the slow fading probability density function (PDF) to minimize the probability of unsatisfactorily low received power level PRX at the receiver. The PRX level must have enough signal to noise energy level (e.g., 10 dB) to overcome the receiver's internal noise level (e.g., −118 dBm in the case of cellular 0.9 GHz), for a minimum voice quality standard. Thus in the example PRX must never be below −108 dBm, in order to maintain the quality standard.
Additionally the short term fast signal fading due to multipath propagation is taken into account by deploying fast fading margin Lfast, which is typically also chosen to be a few percentiles of the fast fading distribution. The 1 to 2 percentiles compliment other network blockage guidelines. For example the cell base station traffic loading capacity and network transport facilities are usually designed for a 1-2 percentile blockage factor as well. However, in the worst-case scenario both fading margins are simultaneously exceeded, thus causing a fading margin overload.
In Roy, Steele's, text, Mobile Radio Communications, IEEE Press, 1992, estimates for a GSM system operating in the 1.8 GHz band with a transmitter antenna height of 6.4 m and an MS receiver antenna height of 2 m, and assumptions regarding total path loss, transmitter power would be calculated as follows:
TABLE 1GSM Power Budget ExampleParameterdBm valueWill requireLslow14Lfast7Llpath110Min. RX pwr required−104TXpwr = 27 dBmSteele's sample size in a specific urban London area of 80,000 LOS measurements and data reduction found a slow fading variance ofσ=7dBassuming log normal slow fading PDF and allowing for a 1.4% slow fading margin overload, thusLslow=2σ=14dBThe fast fading margin was determined to be:Lfast=7dB
In contrast, Xia's measurements in urban and suburban California at 1.8 GHz uncovered flat-land shadow fades on the order of 25-30 dB when the mobile station (MS) receiver was traveling from LOS to non-LOS geometries. In hilly terrain fades of +5 to −50 dB were experienced. Thus it is evident that attempts to correlate signal strength with MS ranging distance suggest that error ranges could not be expected to improve below 14 dB, with a high side of 25 to 50 dB. Based on 20 to 40 dB per decade, Corresponding error ranges for the distance variable would then be on the order of 900 feet to several thousand feet, depending upon the particular environmental topology and the transmitter and receiver geometries.
Summary
It is an objective of the present disclosure to provide a system and method for to wireless telecommunication systems for accurately locating people and/or objects in a cost effective manner. Additionally, it is an objective of the present disclosure to provide such location capabilities using the measurements from wireless signals communicated between mobile stations and a network of base stations, wherein the same communication standard or protocol is utilized for location as is used by the network of base stations for providing wireless communications with mobile stations for other purposes such as voice communication and/or visual communication (such as text paging, graphical or video communications). Related objectives for the present disclosure include providing a system and method that:
(1.1) can be readily incorporated into existing commercial wireless telephony systems with few, if any, modifications of a typical telephony wireless infrastructure;
(1.2) can use the native electronics of typical commercially available, or likely to be available, telephony wireless mobile stations (e.g., handsets) as location devices;
(1.3) can be used for effectively locating people and/or objects wherein there are few (if any) line-of-sight wireless receivers for receiving location signals from a mobile station (herein also denoted MS);
(1.4) can be used not only for decreasing location determining difficulties due to multipath phenomena but in fact uses such multipath for providing more accurate location estimates;
(1.5) can be used for integrating a wide variety of location techniques in a straight-forward manner; and
(1.6) can substantially automatically adapt and/or (re)train and/or (re)calibrate itself according to changes in the environment and/or terrain of a geographical area where the present disclosure is utilized; and
(1.7) can utilize a plurality of wireless location estimators based on different wireless location technologies (e.g., GPS location techniques, terrestrial base station signal timing techniques for triangulation and/or trilateration, wireless signal angle of arrival location techniques, techniques for determining a wireless location within a building, techniques for determining a mobile station location using wireless location data collected from the wireless coverage area for, e.g., location techniques using base station signal coverage areas, signal pattern matching location techniques and/or stochastic techniques), wherein each such estimator may be activated independently of one another, whenever suitable data is provided thereto and/or certain conditions, e.g., specific to the estimator are met;(1.8) can provide a common interface module from which a plurality of the location estimators can be activated and/or provided with input;(1.9) provides resulting mobile station location estimates to location requesting applications (e.g., for 911 emergency, the fire or police departments, taxi services, vehicle location, etc.) via an output gateway, wherein this gateway:                (a) routes the mobile station location estimates to the appropriate location application(s) via a communications network such as a wireless network, a public switched telephone network, a short messaging service (SMS), and the Internet,        (b) determines the location granularity and representation desired by each location application requesting a location of a mobile station, and/or        (c) enhances the received location estimates by, e.g., performing additional processing such as "snap to street" functions for mobile stations known to reside in a vehicle.
Yet another objective is to provide a low cost location system and method, adaptable to wireless telephony systems, for using simultaneously a plurality of location techniques for synergistically increasing MS location accuracy and consistency.
It is yet another objective of the present disclosure that at least some of the following MS location techniques can be utilized by various embodiments of the present disclosure:
(2.1) time-of-arrival wireless signal processing techniques;
(2.2) time-difference-of-arrival wireless signal processing techniques;
(2.3) adaptive wireless signal processing techniques having, for example, learning capabilities and including, for instance, artificial neural net and genetic algorithm processing;
(2.4) signal processing techniques for matching MS location signals with wireless signal characteristics of known areas;
(2.5) conflict resolution techniques for resolving conflicts in hypotheses for MS location estimates;
(2.6) enhancement of MS location estimates through the use of both heuristics and historical data associating MS wireless signal characteristics with known locations and/or environmental conditions.
Yet another objective is to provide location estimates in terms of time vectors, which can be used to establish motion, speed, and an extrapolated next location in cases where the MS signal subsequently becomes unavailable.

Wireless location using location estimators


A game board for playing a game upon which wagers are made. The board comprises an upper playing surface (12) presenting a plurality of player areas with each of the player areas including at least one wager indicator (20, 22, 24). Each wager indicator (20, 22, 24) is characterized by including a lens (27) substantially flush with the playing surface (12) and a sensor (28) for sensing the presence of a chip on the lens (27). The sensor (28) comprises a photocell under the lens (27) and in the center thereof for sensing the presence of a chip on the lens (27). The lens (27) is circular and a light (30), comprising a plurality of light emitting diodes in a circular tube, is disposed about the circumference of the lens (27) and around the sensor (28). A register (34) accumulates the wagers on each indicator (20, 22, 24) and a switching device (36) maintains the light (30) for each indicator (20, 22, 24) illuminated after a chip is removed from the lens (27).A light shield (54) is disposed between the sensor (28) and thelight for preventing light rays from the light from reaching the sensor (28).

There are various card games in which a wager is placed on the table by placing one or more chips on a designated spot on the gaming surface. There are various games in which a coin or chip is inserted into a slot and the wager is indicated by a light. Such systems are shown in the U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,819,186 to Hinterstocker; 4,838,557 to Floyhar; 5,536,016 to Thompson; 5,364,104 to Jones et al, 5,377,994 to Jones, 5,393,067 to Paulsen et al, and 5,573,249 to Johnson. In some games it is often desirable to remove the chips after the bet is made. In other words, it is often desirable for a player to place a bet, yet allow a dealer to remove the chips from the betting area while the bet remains in force during play.


An electric power-regulating system includes an electric-load end, a power-supply end, a power regulator, a DC-bus device, a flywheel energy-storage device, a switch device and a controller. The flywheel energy-storage device connects the DC-bus device. The switch device is connected between the flywheel energy-storage device and the DC-bus device. The switch device provides at least one current-flow direction between the DC-bus device and the flywheel energy-storage device. The controller controls the power regulator and the flywheel energy-storage device. When a voltage of the DC-bus device exceeds a operation range, the controller selectively limits the current-flow direction of the switch device. Further, when a voltage-bias direction of the switch device and the current-flow direction are the same, the controller allows a current of the DC-bus device to flow into or out of the flywheel energy-storage device in the current-flow direction. In addition, an electric power-regulating method is also provided.

In the art, flywheel energy storage is one of energy storage techniques that stores the electric energy into a high-speed rotating flywheel in a format of mechanical energy. Generally, a typical flywheel device is consisted of supportive bearings, electric machinery, a protective casing and a power converter circuit. Thus, the flywheel energy storage utilizes the flywheel to fulfill a system that can store the electric energy and perform conversion between the mechanical energy and the electric energy. The system introduces a motor to convert the electric energy into the mechanical energy to be stored in a high-speed rotating flywheel. Upon a need of electricity, the flywheel would drive a generator to produce the required electricity. Namely, energy storage and release can be easily achieved through acceleration and deceleration of the flywheel.
Definitely, a single flywheel energy-storage unit can only provide a limited capacity for energy storage, and thus is unable to meet a demand of a large information center for an uninterruptible power system. Hence, a flywheel energy-storage array is developed to include a plurality of the flywheel energy-storage units, so that more storage capacity can be obtained. However, to the flywheel energy-storage array having a plurality of flywheels, a systematic and balanced control upon the flywheel energy-storage array is necessary. Currently, methods for controlling the flywheel energy-storage array include an equal-torque discharging method, an equal-power discharging method and an equal-time discharging method. Thereby, efficiency and flexibility in managing the flywheel energy can be enhanced.
In the art, a static switch is introduced to promote the control independence of each flywheel. However, in using the static switch, precise control timing is necessary. Since the static switch provides only a close state and an open state, so strict operational-state monitoring upon the close/open timing is crucial, or a system error could be inevitable. In addition, while the static switch is applied to the system, the complexity of system would be increased due that some devices of the system and the flywheel energy-storage array may be connected with a common DC bus. Since electric energy exchange among these devices always exists, the close/open timing of the static switch can't be accurately controlled. Consequently, a DC capacitor would experience unstable charging for a substantial time, from which the flywheel as well as the associated devices might function abnormally so as to affect the electric quality of the grid. In addition, while the voltage of the DC bus is abnormal, the system may force the flywheel energy-storage array or a specific flywheel to be offline from the grid. However, such a resort implies that a termination of energy supply from the flywheel is inevitable, and the quality in electricity supply of the grid would be reduced.
Thus, it is urgent and necessary in the art to provide an improved electric power-regulating system and method thereof for lessening the aforesaid situations.

Electric power-regulating system and method thereof

INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH INSTITUTE


A system and method for testing a device with multiple interfaces by generating a predetermined data pattern within the device, transmitting the pattern to a test analyzer, generating a second predetermined data pattern within the test analyzer, and simultaneously transmitting the second test pattern to the device where the second test pattern is verified. The first and second test patterns may be the same or different, depending on the application. Further, the transmit and receive paths may be tested separately and independently in addition to simultaneously.

a. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains generally to electronic devices having communication interfaces and specifically to testing and verification of communication interfaces.
b. Description of the Background
High speed communications interfaces are commonplace in today's computers. Ever increasing data rates make testing and verifying the communications interfaces increasingly difficult. Often, very expensive and costly test equipment is required to perform various tests needed to debug the interface as well as certify compliance with interoperability standards.
A common method for testing is to configure the device under test (DUT) with an internal loopback. The loopback may take data received on one port and relay the data out another port. Generally, the DUT performs little or no processing of the data during the test. A piece of expensive test equipment can be used to generate the data stream that is sent to the DUT, then analyze the returned data stream to check if the data were transmitted without error.
When errors are detected using the loopback method, it is impossible to detect whether the errors occurred on the receive side or transmit side of the DUT. The design engineer or technician often has a very difficult time isolating the problem.
Further, the transmit and receive channels of the DUT cannot be tested independently. In some cases, the various channels may have different performance standards to maintain, which is impossible to fully exercise when one channel has a lower performance capability than another.
It would therefore be advantageous to provide a system and method to test a device having multiple communication channels simultaneously yet being able to determine if errors occurred in a transmit channel or receive channel. It would be further advantageous if such a system further enabled testing of transmit and receive channels separately.


A ball screw device comprises a nut having a thread groove in the inner peripheral surface thereof, a screw shaft having a thread groove in the outer peripheral surface thereof and a plurality of balls interposed between the respective thread grooves. In the screw shaft, the thread groove is of at least substantially one turn. In the screw shaft is provided a ball circulation groove for coupling the downstream and upstream sides of the thread groove so that the balls are returned to the upstream side from the downstream side so as to be thereby circulated.

A ball screw device comprises a screw shaft having a thread groove in the outer peripheral surface thereof and a nut having a thread groove in the inner peripheral surface thereof and externally mounted on the screw shaft. A plurality of balls are interposed between the respective thread grooves of the screw shaft and the nut. In such a ball screw device, the balls circulate between the respective thread grooves according to the rotational movement of the nut or the screw shaft, which causes a relative telescopic motion between the nut and the screw shaft. In this case, it is necessary, irrespective of the telescopic motion, to provide a structure to prevent the balls from slipping out of between the respective thread grooves. One of such structures is a ball circulation mechanism. The ball circulation mechanism couples both ends of a ball passageway shaped by the respective thread grooves of a screw shaft and a nut to form a closed loop, and thereby circulate the balls in the closed loop. The conventional ball circulation mechanism employs a so-called deflector. The deflector is described below.
The deflector, in general, serves to couple the upstream side of the thread groove, which balls are rolled from, and the downstream side thereof, which the balls are rolled to, so that the balls on the downstream side of the thread grooves are returned to the upstream side thereof over a ridge. The deflector is, being fitted into a radial through hole formed in the nut, fixed to the through hole by an adhesive. The deflector has, in the inner diameter surface thereof, a ball circulation groove of meandering shape for returning the balls from the downstream side, over the ridge, to the upstream side in substantially one turn of the thread grooves.
Such a ball screw device requires an externally mounted part, that is the deflector, which generates additional costs for the deflector, processing the through hole for mounting the deflector in the nut and mounting the deflector to the nut. Besides, when the deflector is mounted to the through hole of the nut rather imprecisely, the ball circulation groove and thread groove cannot be precisely positioned, which results in a degraded circulation performance of the balls. Thus, mounting the deflector requires precision, which is costly.
Therefore, a main object of the present invention is to provide a ball screw device capable of circulating balls without using a deflector.
Another main object of the present invention is to provide a ball screw device capable of circulating balls without using a deflector, and therefore without additional costs.


To improve the efficiency of pressure detection, a driver applies a positive-phase signal to a capacitance element from an opposite side to a coupling point in a control device. Another driver applies a reverse-phase signal to another capacitance element from an opposite side to the coupling point. A control unit detects pressures applied to the capacitance elements based on a potential fluctuation at the coupling point.

The present invention relates to a pressure sensor device, a control device, and a pressure sensor unit.
Conventionally, there is known a capacitance sensor that inputs a pulse signal to a capacitor and detects a pressure applied to the capacitor by using a signal output from the capacitor (for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-30901).

Pressure sensor device, control device, and pressure sensor unit


A method for translating attribute data carried in Common Management Information Protocol (CMIP) Protocol Data Units (PDUs) to/from custom designed data structures. A supplementary method for incorporating user's preferences on the data structures and the relationships between different fields in these data structures and the corresponding attribute values is also provided. The translation method automatically performs conversions between the user-designed data structures and various CMIP requests/responses automatically, and, in accordance with user's preferences. The method allows users to simplify and/or compact the storage representation of the Managed Objects by taking advantage of application specific knowledge, and by eliminating unnecessary fields from CHOICE data types in the target data structures. Benefits of the methods presented in this disclosure include automatic translation of CMIP PDUs to/from user-designed data structures, ability to store Managed Object data in space-efficient manner, and automatic generation of data structures for use in communicating with devices using proprietary data representation.

1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to a technique and translator for translating attribute-data carried in various CMIP PDUs into user-designed data structures. Typically one data structure is used to represent the attribute-data of an instance of a Managed Object class defined using GDMO specifications. The ability to store data in user-designed structures, as opposed to some mechanically generated structures is useful for a variety of purposes (simpler data representation, compact storage, easier integration with other applications, etc.) in implementing Telecommunications Management Network (TMN) applications.
2. Background of the Invention
The GDMO information modeling and the CMIP protocol provide a very powerful and generic framework for implementing OSI systems management. However, the power and generality of this framework has a high cost in terms of the complexity involved in the implementation of Systems Management applications based on the CMIP protocol.
There are at least four methods that may be of some use in implementing CMIP protocol based management applications.
Anezaki describes a method in U.S. Pat. No. 4,994,948 for automatically generating C structures by parsing ASN.1 definitions. This method does not provide any mechanism for the users to customize the C structures, and also does not have any special support for the semantics of CMIP PDUs and GDMO constructs.
Bapat describes a translator in U.S. Pat. No. 5,295,256 for translating objects defined using ASN.1 and GDMO constructs into a relational database schema for persistent storage. This method also performs mechanical translations, without allowing users to customize the data representation. This method also does not have any special support for the translation of CMIP PDUs to/from target data representation.
X/Open CAE Specification C502 describes a method for translating objects defined using ASN.1 and GDMO constructs into C data structures; these C structures are mechanically generated, without allowing the user to define the target data structures.
X/Open CAE Specification C306 defines an Application Programming Interface for accessing the CMIP PDU data that is translated according to mechanical mapping schemes described in X/Open CAE Specification C502. This method also does not provide any direct support for users to define the target data structures for representing the Managed Object data and performing automatic translations between CMIP PDUs and the user data structures. With this method, such translations should be performed completely by user-written code.
All of the above approaches retain the complexity of data representation, and leave it to the users to implement the mapping between the attribute data in CMIP PDUs to application-specific data structures. However, because of the need to handle a large number of Managed Object (MO) classes, attributes, ASN.1 types and different types of CMIP PDUs, it becomes a tedious and error-prone process to implement translations for all resulting permutations and combinations. Consequently, there is a need for a simple, reliable method to make these translations.

Automatic translation between CMIP PDUs and custom data structures


An apparatus for MEMS electrospray nozzle for mass spectroscopy formed with top and bottom of SiN, and a between layer of material. The material between the top and bottom forms a filter and also reduces the amount of dead space in the nozzle.

Miniaturization of chemical analysis systems has been desirable in fabricating compact liquid chromatographs and capillary electrophoresis chips. The prior art in MEMS technology have been mainly in the field of UV absorbance and electro-chemi-luminescence for on-chip detection. These optical methods are not viable for most biomolecules, e.g. protein and peptide, detection. It is desirable to have an on-chip detection element that has the femtomole sensitivity and versatility provided by a mass spectrometer (MS). MS also allows minimal liquid sample preparation.
Most conventional mass spectrometers are too large to accommodate MEMS systems. Hence, a method and apparatus which couples MEMS systems to a non-MEMS mass spectrometer is desired. More specifically, an on-chip interface that has the advantage of directly connecting the two systems together is desired.
MEMS chemical systems can generate ions for MS analysis with electrospray ionization (ESI). ESI can detect large molecules, e.g. molecules up to 200 KDa, directly from the liquid sample. This capability is desirable for MEMS protein and peptide analysis. Bio-assaLy methods such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification are not as useful in such a large molecule range. Other advantages of ESI include: soft ionization, ease of use, and complete compatibility with liquid chromatography.
Conventional ESI is done using glass capillaries. If MEMS devices are interfaced using this conventional technique, the liquid sample needs to be piped out with capillary tubing to the MS intake. There, the sample molecules are ionized and then, detected. Dead volume is the internal volume that the liquid takes up from the inlet of the device to the actual point of analysis. The point of analysis in the case of ESI is where the droplets are sprayed out. Smaller dead volume is advantageous. Increase in overall system dead volume can obviate certain advantages gained in MEMS miniaturization of the liquid separation stage. The present disclosure teaches decreasing the overall system dead volume.
The present disclosure provides an apparatus that can couple MEMS systems and mass spectrometry systems using ESI without these drawbacks. Recently, in "Multichannel Microchip Electrospray Mass Spectrometry", Xue et al, Anal. Chem, 1997, vol. 69, p. 426-430 and in "Generating Electrospray from Microchip Devices Using Electrosmotic Pumping", Ramsey et al, Anal. Chem, 1997, vol. 69, p. 1174-1178; Xue et al and Ramsey et al have both tried interfacing flat-edged glass micro-channels with cross-sections of 10 .mu.m deep by 60 .mu.m wide to an MS and demonstrating electirospray (ES).
The present disclosure uses an overhanging silicon nitride micro-channel. The preferred dimensions are 1 .mu.m high by 2 .mu.m wide. This micro-channel dramatically reduces the wetted surface area at the ESI tip. Reduction of this orifice diameter and tip surface area correspondingly reduces the size of the fluid cone during electrospray, thus reducing the internal volume that the liquid occupies from the inlet of the device to the actual point of analysis. This internal volume is called the dead volume. In addition to reducing dead volume, the nozzle has integrated particle filter structures. These filter structures functions to reduce MEMS ESI tip clogging.


A system and method for a metal sequestration composition comprising combining a galactaric salt or galactaric acid with a metalloid oxyanion, and an alkali compound. The system and method enable the production of a metal sequestration composition that either alone or in combination with other functional components (e.g. surfactants, solvents, pH modifiers) provide water treatment or cleaning compositions.

Conventional detergents and corrosion inhibitors are used in the vehicle care, food and beverage (e.g., the dairy, cheese, sugar, meat, food, and brewery and other beverage industries), warewashing, and laundry industries include alkaline detergents. Detergents, particularly those intended for institutional and commercial use, generally contain phosphates, nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA) and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA). Phosphates, NTA and EDTA are components commonly used in detergents to remove soils and to sequester metal ions such as calcium, magnesium and iron.
In particular, NTA, EDTA or polyphosphates such as sodium tripolyphosphate, and their salts, are used in detergents because of their ability to solubilize preexisting inorganic salts and/or soils. When calcium, magnesium and iron salts precipitate, the crystals may attach to the surface being cleaned and cause undesirable effects. For example, calcium carbonate precipitation on the surface of ware can negatively impact the aesthetic appearance of the ware, giving an unclean look. In the field of laundry washing, if calcium carbonate precipitates and attaches onto the surface of fabric, the crystals may leave the fabric feeling hard and rough to the touch. In the food and beverage industry, the calcium carbonate residue can affect the acidity levels of foods. The ability of NTA, EDTA and polyphosphates to remove metal ions facilitates the detergency of the solution by preventing hardness precipitation, assisting in soil removal and/or preventing soil redeposition into the wash solution or wash water.
One application in which metal sequestering agents are useful is in detergent formulations. Detergents are cleaning mixtures composed primarily of surfactants, builders, bleaching-agents, enzymes, and fillers. Two of the major components are surfactants and builders. The surfactants are responsible for emulsification of oil and grease while builders are added to extend or improve the cleaning properties of the surfactant. The builder can be a single substance or a mixture of substances and commonly serve multiple functions. An important builder function is the sequestration of metal cations, typically calcium and magnesium cations in hard water. The builders act as water softening agents by sequestering calcium and magnesium cations and preventing the formation of water insoluble salts between cations and anion components in the wash solution, such as surfactants and calcium ions. In the case of laundry detergents, builders also help prevent the cations from binding to cotton, a major cause of soil retention on cotton fabrics. Other functions of builders include increasing alkalinity of detergent solutions, deflocculating surfactant micelles, and inhibiting corrosion.
While effective, phosphates and NTA are subject to government regulations due to environmental and health concerns. Although EDTA is not currently regulated, it is believed that government regulations may be implemented due to environmental persistence.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for an alternative, and preferably environmentally friendly, cleaning composition that can replace the properties of phosphorous-containing compounds such as phosphates, phosphonates, phosphites, and acrylic phosphinate polymers, as well as non-biodegradable aminocarboxylates such as NTA and EDTA.

Galactarate based metal sequestration composition


A GaN-based diode may include an intrinsic GaN-based semiconductor layer, GaN-based semiconductor layers configured to have a first conductivity type and bonded to the intrinsic GaN-based semiconductor layer. A first electrode made of metal is placed on a surface opposite a surface bonded to the GaN-based semiconductor layers of the intrinsic GaN-based semiconductor layer; a second electrode is placed on a surface opposite to a surface bonded to the intrinsic GaN-based semiconductor layer of the GaN-based semiconductor layers of the first conductivity type. Voltage-resistant layers configured to have a second conductivity type are formed in regions of the intrinsic GaN-based semiconductor layer that come in contact with edges of the first electrode.

Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a gallium nitride (GaN)-based Schottky diode and a method of fabricating the same.
For rectification, a three-phase AC generator, a generator AC bridge, or a rectifier is used. In general, the rectifier is formed of 6 semiconductors each having a pn switching unit made of silicon. In order for the diodes to operate, the diodes are designed to tolerate high current (e.g., up to current density of 500 A/cm2) and high temperature (e.g., up to a depletion layer temperature Tj of <225° C.). In general, a voltage drop in a flow direction, that is, a flow voltage UF, is about 1 volt at high current levels. When the diodes operate in a blocking direction, a very low blocking current IR flows up to a breakdown voltage UZ. The blocking current greatly rises upon reaching the breakdown voltage UZ. Accordingly, rise of a voltage higher than the breakdown voltage UZ is suppressed.
Diodes are divided into a high-blocking diode (HS-diode) having a breakdown voltage UZ in a region between about 200 to 400 volts and a Z-diode having a blocking voltage in response to voltage of a vehicle electricity system between about 20 to 40 volts. The high-blocking diodes (HS-diodes) should not operate at breakdown. The Z-diodes may also be subject to a load up to a very high voltage within a short time at breakdown. Accordingly, the diodes are installed to restrict voltage of a generator that has excessively risen when a load varies or a load dump drops.
Some of the well-known disadvantages of a pn-diode flow voltage include a forward loss and reduced efficiency of the generator attributable to the forward loss. In a generator of 100 A, an average forward loss reaches about 200 W because two diodes connected in series are inserted into the center of the generator. The heating of diodes and a rectifier related to the generator needs to be reduced by expensive cooling measures (e.g., a cooler and/or a fan).
In general, so-called Schottky Barrier Diodes (SBDs) are mounted instead of the pn-diodes in order to reduce a forward loss. The Schottky-diode is a metal-semiconductor conversion device having an electrical characteristic curve similar to that of the pn-diode. Unlike in the pn-diode, in the Schottky-diode, a flow voltage can be freely selected within a specific limit by selecting a metal, and may be set to be lower than that of the pn-diode. Accordingly, the flow voltage UF of 0.5 V to 06 V, for example, may be implemented without difficulties. When metal is selected, a so-called (energy-) barrier height (PhiBn) is defined. Only electrons capable of overcoming the barrier may help a current flow. The barrier height may have an influence on properly selecting a "barrier metal". Furthermore, the barrier height (PhiBn) is also applied to a semiconductor used (semiconductor materials: a covalent bond or ion semiconductor, n- or p-doping).
In general, the Schottky diode has low price competitiveness because it is made with an expensive gallium nitride (GaN) substrate.

Gallium nitride-based diode and method of fabricating the same


A ground fault locating method for a power distribution network includes: monitoring each phase line of three phase distribution lines, and in the event of occurrence of waves with fault features, performing wave recording to obtain phase line record files; combining the record files corresponding to each of the three phase lines to obtain fault record files; and synthesizing the fault record files to form a transient record file, determining a fault location according to a wave having a maximum change in wave amplitude between two points in the transient record file, and displaying the fault location in a wiring diagram. The ground fault locating method for a power distribution network can significantly improve accuracy of single-phase ground fault detection.

In a power distribution network system in China, single-phase ground faults occur at a highest occurrence rate and account for about 80% of all faults. Single-phase ground faults may frequently occur in wet weather, which not only affect normal power supply to users, but also may generate over-voltages to burn out equipment and even cause inter-phase short circuits resulting in accidents. Therefore, such faults may seriously affect safety of power distribution equipment and a power distribution network. When single-phase ground faults occur, fault currents are low and fault features are indistinct and different, thus, it is quite difficult to detect and determine a single-phase ground fault. In a conventional art, a single-phase ground fault is detected mainly by the following methods.
1: A low-current fault line selection device is used. But, the low-current fault line selection device may only select a line with a ground fault and provide an indication signal, and may not locate the fault. Moreover, a fault feature of the low-current ground fault is indistinct, and it is difficult to select a line for a resonant grounding system. Thus, location accuracy of the device is not so high.
2: A signal source method is used. The principle of this method is that, when a single-phase ground fault occurs, indistinct signals generated in case of the ground fault are manually amplified and features of asymmetric current signals on a faulty line are analyzed to determine and locate the fault. In such a manner, connection of a signal source to a primary side may bring potential safety hazards to the line, and a high-resistance ground fault may not be accurately detected. Herein, the side that a power supply and input power are connected to is called the primary side.
3: A conventional single-phase ground fault indicator is used. But, the conventional single-phase ground fault indicator may not accurately extract a high-frequency transient current. Thus, inaccuracy of the high-frequency transient current makes fault determination and location accuracy low.
From the above, how to accurately detect a single-phase ground fault is a technical problem urgent to be solved by those skilled in the art at present.

Ground position of the ground fault method for power distribution network, system, and storage medium

BEIJING GUODIAN TONG NETWORK TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD

STATE GRID JIBEI ELECTRIC POWER CO., LTD

STATE GRID QINHUANGDAO POWER SUPPLY COMPANY


A receiving housing for a hand-held power tool includes a first housing part (13) having an opening (15), a board (20) with electronic component (17, 18, 19) arranged in the first housing part (13) at a distance (A) from the opening (15), and a second housing part (14) for closing the opening (15) and forming, together with the first housing part (13), a receiving space (16), with the second housing part (14) having at least one sleeve section (26) an axial length (L) of which at least corresponds to the distance (A) between the board (20) and the opening (15).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a receiving housing for a hand-held power tool including a first housing part having an opening, a board provided with electronic component and arranged in the first housing part at a distance from the opening, and a second housing part for closing the opening and forming, together with the first housing part, a receiving space.
2. Description of the Prior Art
For controlling a hand-held power tool such as, e.g., a hammer drill, chisel hammer, circular or saber saw, grinder, screw-driving tool or the like, there are provided electronic devices which are arranged in a receiving housing. Such a housing has a first housing part having an opening and a second housing part for closing the opening, with the two housing part forming a receiving space. In the first housing part, a board, which is equipped with electronic components, is arranged at a distance from the opening.
Swiss Patent CH 665 150 A5 discloses a receiving housing for an electrical hand-held tool. The housing has a first tub-shaped housing part having an opening. In the first housing part, there is arranged a board equipped with electronic components such as control elements, optical display elements or with a plug. The board is arranged at a distance from the opening. In order to protect the board, the opening in the first housing part is closed with a cover plate that forms the second housing part. The cover plate is secured on the first housing part with a locking mechanism. The cover plate is transparent at least in the region of the optical display elements so that their light is visible.
The drawback of the known solution consists in that between the first and second housing part, moisture or dust can penetrate in the receiving space, which leads to the malfunction of the electronics.
In order to protect such housings from outside influences, in particular, from penetration of moisture or dust in the receiving space, the receiving space is filled, after connection of the housing parts, with a sealing mass.
The drawback of the known solution consists in that the electronic components which should be visible from outside or mechanically accessible, are also completely sealed.
The object of the invention is to provide a receiving housing of the type discussed above and in which some electronic components are visible from outside or are mechanically accessible and in which the receiving space is sealed for protecting the electronics.

Receiving housing for a hand-held power tool


A component joining apparatus, which can realize positioning between a component and a substrate with high accuracy by avoiding influence of thermal expansion of the substrate at the time of joining the component to the substrate by heating at a high temperature, includes a component supply head holding a component and a heating stage heating and holding a substrate, in which a heating region where the heating stage contacts the substrate includes a joining region of the substrate in which the component is joined, and the substrate is larger than the heating stage and a peripheral part of the substrate does not contact the heating stage.

As a method of joining and positioning the component with high accuracy in a related-art component joining apparatus, there is an apparatus having a structure of performing positioning using pins or the like (for example, refer to JP-A-S62-213486 (Patent Literature 1). FIG. 5 and FIG. 6 show a related-art positioning structure disclosed in Patent Literature 1. FIG. 5 is a plan view of a solid-state imaging apparatus. FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along A-A of FIG. 5.
First, a ceramic receptacle 22 in which a solid-state imaging device 21 having a cover glass 26 on a top surface thereof is fixed and positioning members 23 and 24 having holes for positioning 23a and 24a made of metal are prepared.
Next, a solder 25 in a paste state with a high melting point is applied to the positioning members 23 and 24.
At the time of joining, the ceramic receptacle 22 is set in an assembly jig and reference pins of the assembly jig are inserted into the holes 23a and 24a to be heated and joined.
As a result, the positioning members 23 and 24 having the holes for positioning 23a and 24a are joined to the ceramic receptacle 22. The positioning members 23 and 24 are joined to portions of notched grooves 22a and notched portions 22b. The solid-state imaging apparatus is fitted to a substrate and the like by using the holes for positioning 23a and 24a.
However, the component is thermally expanded from positions of reference pins as references at the time of joining with solder at a high temperature in the related-art structure, therefore, positioning accuracy will deteriorate due to the difference in shapes between joining parts and joined parts of the component caused by thermal expansion.

Component joining apparatus, component joining method and mounted structure

PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.


Allowing external computing systems to access a data conference with low risk of eavesdropping. An external computing system accesses a virtual lobby before joining the data conference. The virtual lobby is an object that may include a list of computing systems admitted to the lobby. An external computing system joins the lobby when it is included in a waiting list associated with the lobby. Being joined to the lobby does not allow full access to the live data exchanges in the data conference, but does facilitate functions that are less sensitive such as notifying a conference organizer that the joined party in the lobby would like to join the data conference. Upon receiving notice that an external computing system has joined the lobby, the conference organizer then provides further authorization for the external computing system to enter the data conference using any number of in-band or out-of-band mechanisms.

1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to data conferencing. More particularly, the present invention relates to securely facilitating data conferencing between computing systems in an intranet and computing system in an external network.
2. Background and Related Art
Computing and networking technology has transformed the way we work and play. Networks have become so prolific that a simple network-enabled computing system may communicate with any one of millions of other computing systems spread throughout the globe over a conglomeration of networks often referred to as the "Internet". Such computing systems may include desktop, laptop, or tablet personal computers; Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs); telephones; or any other computer or device capable of communicating over a digital network.
One application of particular significance in a network environment is data conferencing. Data conferencing involves the on-line real time exchange of data. Data conferencing is often employed in conjunction with audio and/or video conferencing, and may include any exchange of real-time information that is the subject of real-time multi-party communications. For example, whiteboard drawings may be drawn by one party to the data conference and displayed to the other parties in the data conference in a process referred to in the field as "whiteboarding". "Whiteboarding" refers to a data conferencing application (such as MICROSOFT NETMEETING) that is often based on T.120 standards. In addition, a common document may be mutually edited by a number of remote conferencing users using common application sharing applications, such as those found as part of the T.120 standard. Data conferencing is particularly flexible in that any type of information may be exchanged as is suitable for the data conferencing application. Voice and audio information may also be exchanged over data networks.
One issue in any conference is that that access to the conference needs to be controlled, particularly in conferences in which sensitive information is to be conveyed. In many types of conferences, there is an inherent level of security enabled by the form of conference itself. For example, absent extensive impersonation efforts, access to physical in-person conferences or meetings may be controlled since typically individual participants recognize those other participants who are in attendance, or the person may at least present credentials and thereby be physically recognized prior to entering the conference. If there is an uninvited person in the conference, that person may be recognized as uninvited, and excused from the conference, or simply refused admittance. Similarly, a video conference allows individuals to establish a high degree of confidence in the identity of each other by the human ability to visually recognize familiar faces, although the ability to observe can sometimes be somewhat more limited in a video conference as compared to an in-person conference. Furthermore, there are cases in which a person has never seen the video conferencing participant before. In such a case, that person would not have a basis for visually recognizing that participant. A telephone conference allows individuals to recognize each other by voice recognition although there is further opportunity for eavesdropping, and it is not guaranteed that a given individual would have heard the voice of another participant before the teleconference. In data conferencing, the data itself may provide little or even no information that allows each other to authenticate themselves. Accordingly, there is significant risk of eavesdropping in data conferencing.
One method for securing against eavesdropping is to authenticate each data conferencing participant at the time the participant joins the data conference. This works particularly well when all of the participants are within a common intranet or other trusted network administered by a common entity since secure and consistent authentication schemes may be employed within a common network.
However, oftentimes, computing systems that are external to the intranet are to communicate in the data conference. To enable this, a conference organizer may establish a conferencing object that has a certain conference identifier. In this description and in the claims, an "object" is an instance of a class that defines properties and methods associated with the class. The conference organizer or the conferencing server may establish a password required to enter the conference. The conference organizer or conferencing server then communicates the conference time, conference identifier, and password to the designated invitees of the conference. This communication may be, for example, an instant message, an e-mail, a telephone call, an SMS message, or the like. The external participant logs in at the designated time by providing the conference identifier and password. The external participant is then provided access to the data conference.
This method for allowing external participants permits some level of security. However, the conference identifier and password may sometimes be transmitted in the clear and thus is subject to unintended interception. These uninvited parties may then be permitted access to the conference against the will of the conference organizer. Accordingly, what would be advantageous are mechanisms in which invited external participants may join a data conference while providing better protection against eavesdropping.