What is claimed is:
1. A method of connecting a printed circuit having wiring formed on a printed circuit board, to a metal terminal, wherein the wiring is directly connected to the metal terminal by welding.
2. The method according to claim 1, wherein a low-fusion-point metal layer is formed on at least one of to-be-connected surfaces of the wiring and the metal terminal, and the wiring is welded to the metal terminal by melting the low-fusion-point metal layer.
3. The method according to claim 2, wherein a low-fusion-point metal layer is melted by resistance welding.
4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the welding is resistance welding.
5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the welding is ultrasonic welding.
6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the welding is laser welding.
7. The method according to claim 3, wherein two power supply terminal electrodes are used for resistance welding, the two power supply terminal electrodes being brought, during the resistance welding, into contact with those two portions of the metal terminal, which are separate by a predetermined distance and fall within an area in which the metal terminal overlaps the printed circuit.
8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the power supply terminal electrodes are tungsten electrodes or molybdenum electrodes.
9. The method according to claim 4, wherein two power supply terminal electrodes are used for resistance welding, the two power supply terminal electrodes being brought, during the resistance welding, into contact with those two portions of the metal terminal, which are separate by a predetermined distance and fall within an area in which the metal terminal overlaps the printed circuit.
10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the power supply terminal electrodes are tungsten electrodes or molybdenum electrodes.
11. The method according to claim 3, wherein two power supply terminal electrodes are used for resistance welding, one of the two power supply terminal electrodes being brought, during the resistance welding, into contact with that portion of the metal terminal, which falls within an area in which the metal terminal overlaps the printed circuit, and the other of the two power supply terminal electrodes being brought, during the resistance welding, into contact with the wiring of the printed circuit.
12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the power supply terminal electrodes are tungsten electrodes or molybdenum electrodes.
13. The method according to claim 4, wherein two power supply terminal electrodes are used for resistance welding, one of the two power supply terminal electrodes being brought, during the resistance welding, into contact with that portion of the metal terminal, which falls within an area in which the metal terminal overlaps the printed circuit, and the other of the two power supply terminal electrodes being brought, during the resistance welding, into the wiring of the printed circuit.
14. The method according to claim 13, wherein the power supply terminal electrodes are tungsten electrodes or molybdenum electrodes.
15. The method according to claim 1, wherein the metal terminal is a first terminal attachment to be engaged with a second terminal attachment provided at an end portion of an electrical wire or another printed circuit to be connected to the first-mentioned printed circuit.
16. The method according to claim 2, wherein the metal terminal is a first terminal attachment to be engaged with a second terminal attachment provided at an end portion of an electrical wire or another printed circuit to be connected to the first-mentioned printed circuit.
17. A method of reinforcing a junction between a flexible printed circuit having a conductive pattern formed on an insulating film, and a metal connection terminal having a connection plate end portion connected to the conductive pattern at an end portion of the flexible printed circuit, comprising the steps of:
directly connecting the connection plate end portion of the metal connection terminal to the conductive pattern at the end of the flexible printed circuit by a method selected from the group consisting of resistance welding, ultrasonic welding and laser welding; and
sealing a resultant junction between the connection plate end portion and the conductive pattern with a resin mold section, the resin mold section being tapered such that a thickness thereof gradually reduces from a connection terminal side to a flexible printed circuit side.
18. The method according to claim 17, wherein in the step of sealing the junction, the resin mold section is made of a polyamide-based hot melt resin.
19. The method according to claim 17, wherein in the step of sealing the junction, the resin mold section is made of a polyurethane-based hot melt resin.
20. The method according to claim 17, wherein in the step of sealing the junction, the resin mold section is made of a polyolefin-based hot melt resin.
21. The method according to claim 17, wherein in the step of sealing the junction, the resin mold section is made of a polyester-based hot melt resin.
22. A structure in which a first terminal attachment is connected to a printed circuit having wiring formed on a printed circuit board, the first terminal attachment being arranged to be engaged with an electrical wire or another printed circuit,
wherein:
the first terminal attachment includes a receiving section for receiving a second terminal attachment provided at an end portion of the electrical wire or said another printed circuit, and a flat plate section continuously extending from the receiving section, the flat plate section being directly connected to the wiring of the printed circuit by one of resistance welding, ultrasonic welding and laser welding.
23. A junction structure between a flexible printed circuit and a connection terminal, comprising:
a flexible printed circuit having a conductive pattern formed on an insulating film;
a metal connection terminal having a connection plate end portion directly connected to the conductive pattern at an end portion of the flexible printed circuit by one of resistance welding, ultrasonic welding and laser welding; and
a resin mold section sealing a junction between the flexible printed circuit and the metal connection terminal, the resin mold section being tapered such that a thickness thereof gradually reduces from a connection terminal side to a flexible printed circuit side.
24. The junction structure according to claim 23, wherein the resin mold section is made of a polyamide-based hot melt resin.
25. The junction structure according to claim 23, wherein the resin mold section is made of a polyurethane-based hot melt resin.
26. The junction structure according to claim 23, wherein the resin mold section is made of a polyolefin-based hot melt resin.
27. The junction structure according to claim 23, wherein the resin mold section is made of a polyester-based hot melt resin.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
We claim:
1. A method of decoding received data block, said method comprising:
receiving a symbol block of at least one data symbol, wherein each data symbol corresponds to an encoded data bit;
padding the symbol block with at least one padding symbol; and
decoding the padded symbol block using a decoder.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein
the receiving step receives the symbol block and places the symbol block into a buffer; and
the padding step pads the symbol block by placing at least one padding symbol into the buffer before the symbol block.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein
the receiving step receives the symbol block and places the symbol block into a buffer; and
the padding step pads the symbol block by placing at least one padding symbol into the buffer after the symbol.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein
the receiving step receives the symbol block and places the symbol block into a buffer; and
the padding step pads the symbol block by placing at least one padding symbol into the buffer in between at least two symbols in symbol block.
5. The method of claim 1, the padding symbol substantially represents zero, and negative infinity.
6. The method of claim 1, further comprising
providing a plurality of padded interleaver tables including one first entry associated with each data symbol in the symbol block and one second entry associated with each padding symbol,
wherein a first padded interleaver table of the plurality of padded interleaver tables has a first number of first entries, a second padded interleaver of the plurality of padded interleaver tables has a second number of first entries, and
the decoding step includes sending the padded symbol block with N data symbols and the padded interleaver table with D first entries to the decoder, where ND.
7. A method of decoding data comprising:
receiving a block of data symbols wherein the block includes at least one data symbol and each data symbol represents an encoded data bit;
determining if the block data symbols has a number of data symbols equal to a threshold value M;
if the number of data symbols is less than M, padding the block of data symbols with at least one padding symbol; and
decoding the padded block of data symbols.
8. The method of claim 7, wherein
the determining step counts the data symbols in the block of data symbols and compares the counted number to the threshold value M.
9. The method of claim 7, wherein
the receiving step receives the block of data symbols and places the data symbols into a buffer; and
the padding step pads the block of data symbols by placing at least one padding symbol into the buffer before the block data symbols.
10. The method of claim 7, wherein
the receiving step receives the block of data symbols and places the data symbols into a buffer; and
the padding step pads the block of data symbols by placing padding symbols into the buffer after the block data symbols.
11. The method of claim 7, wherein
the receiving step receives the block of data symbols and places the data symbols into a buffer; and
the padding step pads the block of data symbols by placing padding symbols into the buffer in between at least two data symbols in the block of data symbols.
12. The method of claim 7, wherein the padding bits substantially represent zero and negative infinity.
13. The method of claim 7, further comprising
providing a plurality of padded interleaver tables including a number of first entries D including a first entry associated with each data symbol and a second entry associated with each padding symbol,
wherein a first padded interleaver table of the plurality of padded interleaver tables has a first number of first entries,
a second padded interleaver of the plurality of padded interleaver tables has a second number of first entries,
the number of data symbols in the block of data symbols is N, and
if the number of data symbols N is less than M, the decoding step includes sending the padded block of data symbols with N data symbols and the padded interleaver table with D decoding symbols to the decoder, where ND.
14. A decoding system comprising:
a buffer for receiving a symbol block wherein the symbol block has at least one symbol and each symbol represents an encoded data bit;
an interleaver unit containing a plurality of padded interleaver tables;
a padding unit for creating padded symbol blocks by adding padding symbols to the buffer containing the symbol block; and
a decoder for decoding the padded symbol blocks.
15. The decoding system of claim 14, wherein
the decoder is a turbo decoder including at least two decoder units connected in series, and
a first decoder unit receives and processes the padded symbol block and generates a first output and a second decoder receives and processes the first output and generates a second output including decoded data.
16. The decoding system of claim 14, further comprising:
a counter for counting a number of data symbols N in the symbol block,
a comparing unit for comparing N to a threshold number M of symbols required for operation of the decoder;
wherein the padding unit places padding symbols into the buffer, if the comparing unit indicates N is less than M.
17. The decoding system of claim 14, wherein
the padding unit places padding symbols into the buffer before the symbol block, after the symbol block, or in between two symbols in the symbol block.
18. The decoding system of claim 14, wherein
the padding symbols substantially represent zero and negative infinity.
19. The decoding system of claim 14, wherein
the interleaver unit includes a first padded interleaver table of the plurality of padded interleaver tables having a first number of first entries D associated with the data symbols and a second number of second entries associated with the padding symbols, and
a second padded interleaver of a plurality of padded interleaver tables having a third number of first entries D associated with the data symbols and a fourth number of second entries associated with the padding symbols.
20. The decoding system of claim 14, wherein
each padded interleaver table of the plurality of padded interleaver tables has a first number of first entries D associated with the data symbols and a second number of second entries associated with the padding symbols,
the symbol block has a third number of data symbols N, and
the decoder performs decoding using the padded symbol block and a padded interleaver table, where ND.