2512 results about "Lower order" patented technology

An encoder comprising predictive coding means for encoding electronic signals input thereto is disclosed. The predictive coding means is adapted to operate in a first high prediction order mode and in a second lower prediction order mode. The predictive coding means operates in the first and second modes in dependence on an input electronic signal comprising a transient signal. Preferably, the second mode comprises a transient recovery sequence of prediction orders. The transient signal detector determines predictive coding gain as well as a difference in predictive coding gain for a sequential input signal exceeding a threshold. The prediction orders are gradually increased for subsequent signals until the first mode (high) prediction order is attained. A transmission of electronics signals provides for an indication of initiation of a second mode for the predictive coding. Circuitry is included for reception of the second mode initiate signal. There is also disclosed a decoder for decoding signals encoded by the encoder.

A corneal inlay protects ocular structures from harmful wavelengths of light while maintaining acceptable color cosmetics, color perception, overall light transmission, photopic vision, scotopic vision, color vision, and/or cirdadian rhythms. The corneal inlay can also include a pinhole effect to increase depth of focus. In some embodiments, the corneal inlay can also correct refractive errors including, but not limited to, higher order aberration, lower order aberration, myopia, hyperopia, astigmatism, and/or presbyopia.

The invention discloses a method for recovering the waste heat of a thermal power plant and heating and supplying heat to hot water in a stepping way. In the method, low-temperature heat-net return water is firstly mixed with circulating cooling water positioned on an outlet of a cooling condenser or exchanges heat with the circulating cooling water positioned on the outlet of the cooling condenser to be increased in temperature and then sequentially delivered into an each-step vapour absorption type heat pump and a vapor-water heat exchanger in a series connection way to be gradually heated to be increased in temperature to heat supplying temperature and finally discharged through a water supplying pipeline; the circulating cooling water absorbs the waste steam condensation heat of a steam turbine in the cooling condenser, then one path of the circulating cooling water is directly mixed with the low-temperature heat-net return water or heats the low-temperature heat-net return water through the heat changer, the other path of the circulating cooling water is delivered into an each-step absorption type heat pump unit to be used as a low-order heat source of the absorption type heat pump unit, and the redundant heat of the circulating cooling water is discharged to the environment through a cooling tower. The invention uses the steam extraction of the steam turbine as a driving heat source of the absorption type heat pump so that the low-temperature heat-net return water is heated in a stepping way, thereby reducing the effective energy loss; the waste heat of the discharged steam of the steam turbine is sufficiently recovered in a direct heating way and an absorption type heat pump temperature increasing heating way, therefore, the comprehensive energy usage efficiency of the thermal power plant is enhanced.

Embodiments of the invention are directed to apparatus and methods for converting spatially homogeneously polarized light into spatially inhomogeneously polarized light having a fast axis orientation that varies in a smooth and continuous manner over a pupil aperture. A space-variant waveplate referred to herein as a polarization converter includes an optically transmissive window characterized by a symmetric stress birefringence that provides at least λ/4 retardance and, more particularly, λ/2 retardance over an annular region centered about the optical axis of the window. Structural embodiments of the polarization converter include a mechanical compression housing and a thermal compression housing. Radially and azimuthally polarized vortex beams including cylindrical vector beams and counter-rotating beams can be generated from uniformly plane polarized input beams propagating through the polarization converter. Low-order polarization vortex beams can be optically combined to produce higher-order scalar vortex beams. Embodiments of the invention are also directed to various optical illumination and imaging systems utilizing the apparatus and methods described herein.

Methods and apparati for marking digital material and for detecting marks therein. For mark detection, the material is divided into a plurality of blocks, to which a non-collision resistant compression function is applied. Compression outputs are placed in a shift register, whose value is tested for predetermined values or patterns. Mark embedding may be performed by modifying the data (for example by altering low-order bits and other non-critical regions) such that the outputs of the compression operation, when used as an input to the shift register, yield a predetermined value or pattern. A Hamming Majority operation, computed as the most common bit in a block, may be used as the compression operation, enabling marking and mark detection with material of virtually all types and formats. Mark detection technology may be implemented in media writers and other devices to determine whether the digital material is copyrighted or otherwise protected. An override capability is provided to allow authorized parties to bypass the protection.

A disk drive is disclosed comprising a head actuated over a disk comprising a plurality of tracks defined by a plurality of servo sectors. An estimated track ID is generated representing an estimated radial location of the head. A high order Gray code in a first servo sector is detected, and errors in the high order Gray code are corrected using the estimated track ID to generate a corrected Gray code. The corrected Gray code is decoded into a first part of a detected track ID. A low order track code is detected in the first servo sector, and the low order track code is decoded into a second part of the detected track ID. The first part of the detected track ID is combined with the second part of the detected track ID.

The present invention is to provide a digital video-audio signal recording and reproducing apparatus that allows the number of channels of audio data and the data width per sample to be changed corresponding to user's settings. 24-bit/sample audio data that is input as serial data to Ch 1 of the digital video-audio signal recording and reproducing apparatus is separated into high order 16 bits and low order eight bits. The high order 16 bits are recorded in a region of Ch 1 of a record medium. The low order eight bits are stored to a region of low order eight bits of Ch 3 paired with Ch 1 of the record medium. Mode information that represents that 24-bit data is separated into paired channels is added to record data each edit unit of video data. When dat is reproduced, data of paired channels is combined corresponding to the mode information so as to restore 24-bit data. Since the 24-bit data is treated as 16-bit data, the record format of 16-bit data can be used for the 24-bit data.

The present invention employs hierarchical modulation to simultaneously transmit data over different modulation layers using a carrier RF signal. Each modulation layer may be of a higher or lower order than the other modulation layers. Certain embodiments of the present invention may transmit different information on the different modulation layers. Other embodiments of the present invention may use the different layers for processing different information streams.

A method and apparatus are disclosed for transmitting symbols in a multiple antenna wireless communication system, such that the symbols can be interpreted by a lower order receiver (i.e., a receiver having a fewer number of antennas than the transmitter). For example, subcarriers from one or more symbols can be transmitted such that each of the subcarriers are active on only one of the antennas at a given time. In one implementation, the subcarriers are diagonally loaded across logically adjacent antennas. The symbols can include one or more long training symbols and optionally a SIGNAL field that indicates a duration that a receiver should defer until a subsequent transmission. In this manner, a transmitter in accordance with the present invention may be backwards compatible with a lower order receiver and a lower order receiver can interpret the transmitted symbols or defer for an appropriate duration.

An apparatus, method and system for geographical tracking entry and/or exiting of an asset into and/or out of a defined geographical boundary and reporting the same. Entry and exit tests compare position fixes with various thresholds and parameters to determine if the asset has entered or exited the geographical boundary. Tests are sequenced such that tests having lower levels of complexity (lower order) are performed before tests having higher levels of complexity (higher order). In this way, most position fixes are processed using computations having a lower order of mathematical complexity than conventionally implemented.

Lower order control devices control plural battery cells configuring plural battery modules. An input terminal of the low order control device in the highest potential, an output terminal of the low order control device in the lowest potential, and a high order control device are connected by isolating units, photocouplers. Diodes which prevent a discharge current of the battery cells in the battery modules are disposed between the output terminal of the low order control device and the battery cells in the battery module on the low potential side. Terminals related to input/output of a signal are electrically connected without isolating among the plural low order control devices.

A predistortion linearizer for predistorting a radiofrequency (RF) signal includes a first third-order predistortion linearizer having an input for receiving the RF signal, and a second third-order predistortion linearizer connected in cascade with the first linearizer, whereby fifth order nonlinearities are introduced into a cascaded, predistorted RF output signal. Cascading additional third-order linearizers similarly provides higher-order linearizers.

A wavelet transform unit performs a wavelet transform on original images and a quantization unit quantizes wavelet transform coefficients. A ROI selector selects a region of interest or regions of interest in the original image, and a ROI mask generator generates ROI masks with which the wavelet transform coefficients (which are also called ROI transform coefficients) corresponding to the regions of interest are specified. By referring to the ROI masks, a lower-bit zero substitution unit substitutes low-order bits of non-ROI transform coefficients with zeros. An entropy coding unit entropy-codes the wavelet transform coefficients sequentially from high-order bit-planes, after the substitution. A coded data generator turns coded data into streams together with parameters and then outputs coded images.

A dielectric waveguide integrated plasma lamp (DWIPL) with a body comprising at least one dielectric material having a dielectric constant greater than approximately 2, and having a shape and dimensions such that the body resonates in at least one resonant mode when microwave energy of an appropriate frequency is coupled into the body. A dielectric bulb within a lamp chamber in the body contains a fill which when receiving energy from the resonating body forms a light-emitting plasma. The bulb is transparent to visible light and infrared radiation emitted by the plasma. Radiative energy lost from the plasma is recycled by reflecting the radiation from thin-film, multi-layer coatings on bulb exterior surfaces and/or lamp chamber surfaces back into the bulb. The lamp further includes two- or three-microwave probe configurations minimizing power reflected from the body back to the microwave source when the source operates: (a) at a frequency such that the body resonates in a single mode; or (b) at one frequency such that the body resonates in a relatively higher mode before a plasma is formed, and at another frequency such that the body resonates in a relatively lower order mode after the plasma reaches steady state.

Memory resources are effectively utilized by visually setting an external memory resource as an internal memory resource. A first storage controller has a multilayer memory hierarchy constructed by LDEV (logical device) connected from LUN, and VDEV (virtual device) connected to the lower order of the LDEV. At least one of the VDEVs is constructed by mapping the memory resources arranged in external storage controllers. The functions of a stripe, RAID, etc. can be added in the mapping. Various kinds of functions (remote copy, variable volume function, etc.) applicable to the normal internal volume can be also used in a virtual internal volume by using the external memory resource as the virtual internal memory resource so that the degree of freedom of utilization is raised.

A battery system includes a battery module that is constituted with a plurality of serially connected battery cells, a plurality of integrated circuits that group the battery cells by a plurality thereof so as to perform processing on battery cells in each group, a first transmission path through which a command signal is transmitted via a first insulating circuit from a higher-order control circuit that controls the plurality of integrated circuits to a highest-order integrated circuit of the integrated circuit, a second transmission path through which a data signal collected by the plurality of integrated circuits is transmitted from the highest-order integrated circuit to a lowest-order integrated circuit, and a third transmission path through which the data signal is transmitted from the lowest-order integrated circuit to the higher-order control circuit via a second insulating circuit.