Author: claimsbot

1. A communication network system comprising:
a plurality of communication terminals, each comprising:
a first transmitting device; and
a first receiving device,
the communication terminals connected via a transmission channel, information being transmitted and received among said communication terminals through said first transmitting device and said first receiving device, at least two of said communication terminals being used as relay terminals, each of said relay terminals comprising:
a second transmitting device configured to perform only one-to-one communication;
a second receiving device configured to perform only one-to-one communication;
a received-information relay device configured to transmit information received from said first receiving device to said second transmitting device, the received-information relay device configured to transmit information received from said second receiving device to said first transmitting device;
a relay-terminal-information transmitting device configured to transmit relay terminal information to said first transmitting device, the relay terminal information comprising terminal identification information of said relay terminals and terminal identification information of a terminal to which said relay terminals are providing relay services
a relay terminal storage device configured to store the terminal identification information of said relay terminal, identification information of another relay terminal and relay situations of the relay terminals, which are acquired from the relay terminal information received from said first receiving device; and
a changing device,
wherein when the relay terminal which is providing the relay services discontinues the relay services, the changing device refers to the relay terminal storage device to determine whether an available relay terminal is present or absent, and
if the changing device determines that there is an available relay terminal, the changing device provides an instruction is to the terminal which is receiving the relay services to change the available relay terminal.
2. The communication network system according to claim 1, wherein said relay-terminal-information transmitting device is configured to transmit the relay terminal information regularly.
3. The communication network system according to claim 1, wherein, when the relay terminal discontinues the relay services the terminal which is receiving the relay services changes from the relay terminal to the available relay terminal, and the available relay terminal then stores received information addressed to the terminal which is receiving the relay services until a connection is established between the available relay terminal and the terminal which is receiving the relay services.
4. A communication network system comprising:
a plurality of communication terminals, each comprising:
a first transmitting device; and
a first receiving device,
the communication terminals connected via a transmission channel, information being transmitted and received among said communication terminals through said first transmitting device and said first receiving device, at least one of said communication terminals being used as a central relay terminal, and at least one of said communication terminals being used as a relay terminal, said relay terminal comprising:
a second transmitting device configured to perform only one-to-one communication;
a second receiving device configured to perform only one-to-one communication;
a first received-information relay device configured to transmit information received from said first receiving device to said second transmitting device, the first received-information relay device configured to transmit information received from said second receiving device to said first transmitting device; and
a relay-terminal-information transmitting device configured to transmit relay terminal information to said first transmitting device, the relay terminal information comprising terminal identification information of said relay terminal and terminal identification information of a terminal to which said relay terminal is providing relay services
said central relay terminal comprising:
a relay-terminal storage device configured to store terminal identification information of said relay terminal, terminal identification information of another relay terminal and relay situations of the relay terminals, which are acquired from the relay terminal information received from said first receiving device; and
a second received-information relay device,

wherein when the central relay terminal receives from a terminalin the plurality of communication terminals a request to provide the relay services, the second received-information relay device refers to the relay-terminal storage device to obtain terminal identification information of an available relay terminal and transmits the obtained terminal identification information of the available relay terminal to the terminal which makes the request.
5. The communication network system according to claim 1, wherein each relay terminal comprises at least two of said first transmitting device and at least two of said first receiving device.
6. The communication network system according to claim 1, wherein each relay terminal comprises at least two of said second transmitting device and at least two of said second receiving device.
7. The communication network system according to claim 1, wherein each relay terminal comprises at least two of said first transmitting device, at least two of said first receiving device, at least two of said second transmitting device and at least two of said second receiving device.
8. A communication network system comprising:
a communication terminal comprising:
a first transmitting device; and
a first receiving device;
a plurality of relay terminals, the communication terminal and the relay terminals connected to each other via a transmission channel, the communication terminal transmitting and receiving information to and from the transmission channel through said first transmitting device, each of said relay terminals comprising:

a second transmitting device configured to perform only one-to-one communication;
a second receiving device configured to perform only one-to-one communication;
a third transmitting device configured to perform only one-to-N communication;
a third receiving device configured to perform only one-to-N communication, each of the relay terminals transmitting and receiving information to and from the transmission channel through the third transmitting device and the third receiving device;
a received-information relay device configured to transmit information received from said third receiving device to said second transmitting device, the received-information relay device configured to transmit information received from said second receiving device to said third transmitting device;
a relay-terminal-information transmitting device configured to transmit relay terminal information to said third transmitting device, the relay terminal information comprising terminal identification information of said corresponding relay terminal and terminal identification information of a terminal to which said corresponding relay terminal is providing relay services;
a relay terminal storage device configured to store the terminal identification information of said corresponding relay terminal, terminal identification information of another relay terminal and relay situations of the relay terminals, which are acquired from the relay terminal information received from said third receiving device; and
a changing device,
wherein when the corresponding relay terminal which is providing the relay services discontinues the relay services the changing device refers to the relay terminal storage device to determine whether an available relay terminal is present or absent, and
if the changing device determines that there is an available relay terminal, the changing device provides an instruction to the terminal which is receiving the relay services to change the available relay terminal.
9. A relay terminal for use in a communication network systems, which comprises a plurality of communication terminals, each of the communication terminals comprising:
a first transmitting device; and
a first receiving device,

the communication terminals connected via a transmission channel, information being transmitted and received among said communication terminals through said first transmitting device and said first receiving device, one of said communication terminals being used as said relay terminal, said relay terminal comprising:
a second transmitting device configured to perform only one-to-one communication;
a second receiving device configured to perform only one-to-one communication;
a received-information relay device configured to transmit information received from said first receiving device to said second transmitting device, and the received-information relay device configured to transmit information received from said second receiving device to said first transmitting device;
a relay-terminal-information transmitting device configured to relay terminal information to said first transmitting device, the terminal information comprising terminal identification information of said relay terminal and terminal identification information of a terminal to which said relay terminal is providing relay services;
a relay terminal storage device configured to store the terminal identification information of said relay terminal, terminal identification information of another relay terminal and relay situations of the relay terminals, which are acquired from the relay terminal information received from said first receiving device; and
a changing device,
wherein when the relay terminal which is providing the relay services discontinues the relay services, the changing device refers to the relay terminal storage device to determine whether an available relay terminal is present or absent, and if the changing device determines that there is an available relay terminal, the changing device provides an instruction to the terminal which is receiving the relay services to change the available relay terminal.

The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.

1. A method for controlling resource entitlement in a resource-on-demand system, the method comprising:
predicting, by a resource allocator in a computer system, a resource consumption of a resource compartment for a time interval;
determining, by the resource allocator, a resource entitlement for the resource compartment for the time interval such that the resource entitlement is equal to the predicted resource consumption divided by a target resource utilization; and
sending the resource entitlement to a resource scheduler to allocate the resource entitlement to the resource compartment.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein predicting a resource consumption of a resource compartment for a time interval further comprises:
determining resource consumptions for previous time intervals for the resource compartment; and
predicting the resource consumption for the resource compartment for the time interval based on the resource consumptions for the previous time intervals.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein predicting the resource consumption for the resource compartment for the time interval based on the resource consumptions for the previous time intervals further comprises:
predicting the resource consumption for the resource compartment for the future time interval using one of an auto-regressive model, ANOVA decomposition, and a multi-pulse model.
4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
measuring a resource consumption for the resource compartment for the time interval; and
storing the resource consumption for the time interval.
5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
using the stored resource consumption and other stored resource consumptions for the resource compartment to predict a resource consumption and determine a resource entitlement for a future time interval.
6. A predictive control system for controlling resource entitlement for a resource compartment comprising:
a resource scheduler operable to schedule a resource entitlement for the resource compartment;
a sensor operable to determine resource consumption of the resource compartment; and
a predictive controller operable to predict a resource consumption of a resource compartment for a time interval and determine a resource entitlement for the resource compartment for the time interval such that the resource entitlement is equal to the predicted resource consumption divided by a target resource utilization, and the predictive controller is further operable to send the resource entitlement to the resource scheduler to allocate the resource entitlement to the resource compartment.
7. The system of claim 6, wherein the resource entitlement is an allocation of a resource comprising one of CPU cycles, network bandwidth, and storage space.
8. The system of claim 6, wherein the predictive controller comprises a predictor operable to predict the resource consumption of the resource compartment for the time interval based on measured consumptions for previous time intervals.
9. The system of claim 6, wherein the resource compartment comprises one of a process group and a virtual machine.
10. The system of claim 6, wherein the sensor measures the resource consumption for the resource compartment for the time interval after the resource entitlement is allocated to the resource compartment, and the measured resource consumption is stored for predicting resource consumption for future time intervals.
11. A computer readable storage device upon which is embedded programmed instructions which when executed by a processor will cause the processor to perform a method for controlling resource entitlement in a resource-on-demand system, the method comprising:
predicting a resource consumption of a resource compartment for a time interval;
determining a resource entitlement for the resource compartment for the time interval such that the resource entitlement is equal to the predicted resource consumption divided by a target resource utilization; and
sending the resource entitlement to a resource scheduler to allocate the resource entitlement to the resource compartment.
12. The computer readable storage device of claim 11, wherein predicting a resource consumption of a resource compartment for a time interval further comprises:
determining resource consumptions for previous time intervals for the resource compartment; and
predicting the resource consumption for the resource compartment for the time interval based on the resource consumptions for the previous time intervals.
13. The computer readable storage device of claim 12, wherein predicting the resource consumption for the resource compartment for the time interval based on the resource consumptions for the previous time intervals further comprises:
predicting the resource consumption for the resource compartment for the future time interval using one of an auto-regressive model, ANOVA decomposition, and a multi-pulse model.
14. The computer readable storage device of claim 11, wherein the method further comprises:
measuring a resource consumption for the resource compartment for the time interval; and
storing the resource consumption for the time interval.
15. The computer readable storage device of claim 14, wherein method further comprises:
using the stored resource consumption and other stored resource consumptions for the resource compartment to predict a resource consumption and determine a resource entitlement for a future time interval.

1. A haptic device to be overlaid on a manipulation face for receiving a manipulation from a user, the haptic device comprising:
a pouch formed from the manipulation face and a transparent sheet overlaid thereon with a gap;
a liquid or gel-like substance sealed within the pouch and configured to transmit a pressure orand pressure vibration therethrough; and
an actuator configured to generate a haptic signal in the transparent sheet andor the substance so as to be transmitted to the user.
2. A haptic device to be overlaid on a manipulation face for receiving a manipulation from a user, the haptic device comprising:
a pouch formed from a pair of transparent sheets having a gap therebetween and overlaid on the manipulation face, at least one of the transparent sheets which receives the manipulation from the user being deformable;
a liquid or gel-like substance sealed within the pouch and configured to transmit a pressure orand pressure vibration therethrough; and
an actuator configured to generate a haptic signal in the transparent sheet andor the substance so as to be transmitted to the user.
3. The haptic device of claim 1, further comprising:
a sensor configured to detect the pressure orand pressure vibration generated upon the manipulation from the user onto the pouch; and
a controller configured to generate a driving signal for the actuator based on a detection result by the sensor.
4. The haptic device of claim 3,
wherein the actuator and the sensor are provided as a self-sensing transducer.
5. The haptic device of claim 1,
wherein the manipulation face is a face of a touchscreen.
6. A deformable overlay to be overlaid on a face of a durable contact surface comprising:
a flexible sheet attached to the face of the touch screen at its perimeter via an elastic double-sided adhesive tape;
a pouch formed by the flexible sheet and the face of the durable contact surface;
a substance sealed in the pouch;
an overlay-linked vibrotactile transducer configured to generate a shear and bending wave which propagates at least over a top outer surface of the flexible sheet; and
a detector configured to detect a contact event and its location with respect to the durable contact surface.
7. The deformable overlay of claim 6,
wherein the flexible sheet is formed from a transparent and elastic material.
8. The deformable overlay of claim 6,
wherein the flexible sheet is formed from a non-transparent or translucent and elastic material.
9. The deformable overlay of claim 6,
wherein the substance is a transparent liquid or gel-like substance.
10. The deformable overlay of claim 6,
wherein the substance is a natural or synthetic liquid or gel-like substance having a density similar to the density of the hypodermis of the human skin.
11. The deformable overlay of claim 6,
wherein the substance is a non-transparent elastic substance, foam material or a like having a density similar to the density of the hypodermis of the human skin.
6. The deformable overlay of claim 6,
wherein the substance is a natural or synthetic liquid or gel-like substance having a density similar to a density of a hypodermis of a human skin,
wherein the density of the hypodermis of the human skin is about 1100 kgm3.
6. The deformable overlay of claim 6,
wherein the flexible sheet is provided in pair,
wherein one of the pair of flexible sheets is attached to the face of the durable contact surface via the elastic double-sided adhesive tape, and
wherein the pouch is formed between the pair of flexible sheets.
14. The deformable overlay of claim 13,
wherein at least the other one of the pair of the flexible sheets on a top side opposite to the durable contact surface is formed to be transparent flexible and elastic so that a shear and bending wave propagates between a point of touching by a user and a position of the overlay-linked vibrotactile transducer.
15. The deformable overlay of claim 13,
wherein both of the pair of the flexible sheets are non-transparent flexible sheets, and
wherein the substance is a non-transparent elastic substance, foam material or a like having a density similar to the density of the hypodermis of the human skin.
16. The overlay of claim 6,
wherein the overlay-linked vibrotactile transducer includes an actuator.
17. The deformable overlay of claim 16,
wherein one or more of the overlay-linked vibrotactile transducers are provided near a bezel of the durable contact surface,
wherein each of the overlay-linked vibrotactile transducers is placed onto an outer surface of the flexible sheet, onto an inner surface of the flexible sheet, or onto the face of the touch screen, and
wherein each of the overlay-linked vibrotactile transducers generates a shear and bending wave which propagates toward a point of touching by the user.
13. The deformable overlay of claim 13,
wherein the substance is an ionic gel, the bottom-side flexible sheet has an electrical contact with the substance, and the top-side flexible sheet does not have an electrical contact with the substance, thereby forming a gel-based audio speaker.
6. The deformable overlay of claim 6,
wherein the flexible sheet and the overlay-linked vibrotactile transducer are integrally implemented such that a piezoelectric polymeric material is covered with a transparent and electrically conductive layer as an electrode or such that conductors orand piezo-actuating components are embedded.
20. The deformable overlay of claim 13,
wherein the pouch formed from the pair of flexible sheets has an extension which is provided outwardly of the durable contact surface, and
wherein the overlay-linked vibrotactile transducer is placed at the extension outside the durable contact surface.
21. The deformable overlay of claim 6,
wherein the overlay-linked vibrotactile transducer is placed on the inner surface of the flexible sheet and inside the substance.
22. The deformable overlay of claim 6,
wherein the overlay-linked vibrotactile transducer is placed on the face of the durable contact surface and inside the substance.
13. The deformable overlay of claim 13,
wherein the overlay-linked vibrotactile transducer is placed between the pair of flexible sheets and inside the substance.
24. The deformable overlay of claim 23,
wherein the overlay-linked vibrotactile transducer is sandwiched between the pair of the flexible sheets so that the overlay-linked vibrotactile transducer has a contact with the substance only at its perimeter.
25. The deformable overlay of claim 20,
wherein the overlay-linked vibrotactile transducer is placed on an inner surface of the bottom-side flexible sheet or the top-side flexible sheet, or is sandwiched between the pair of the sheets withwithout a gap.
26. The deformable overlay of claim 6,
wherein the overlay is provided to cover wholly or partially the face of the durable contact surface.
27. The deformable overlay of claim 6,
wherein the overlay is provided in plurality to cover respective parts of the face of the durable contact surface.
28. The deformable overlay of claim 6,
wherein there is provided a vibrotactile transducer as a counterpart vibrotactile transducer, in addition to the overlay-linked vibrotactile transducer.
29. The deformable overlay of claim 28,
wherein the overlay-linked vibrotactile transducer and the counterpart vibrotactile transducer are configured to generate different vibration signals.
30. An attachment unit comprising:
the deformable overlay of claim 6; and
a casing provided to support the flexible sheet of the overlay.
31. The attachment unit of claim 30,
wherein the attachment unit is attached to a mobile device having the touchscreen such that the flexible sheet directly touches or indirectly faces with the touchscreen.
32. The attachment unit of claim 30,
wherein the attachment unit is attached to a portable electronic device.
33. The attachment unit of claim 32, further comprising:
a printed circuit board;
a rechargeable battery;
an external power supply connector configured to receive a DC external power;
an internal power supply connector configured to supply an electrical power stored in the rechargeable battery with the attached portable electronic device; and
an information exchange connector configured to exchange information with the portable electronic device and another device, the information including a coordinate of the point of touching by the user on the touchscreen or a modulated parameter for a vibration signal.
34. The attachment unit of claim 30,
wherein the rechargeable battery is a nickel-cadmium cell, a NiMH battery, or a lithium cell.
35. The attachment unit of claim 34,
wherein the electrical power stored in the rechargeable battery is supplied to the portable electronic device when a remaining amount of a main battery thereof becomes low.
36. The attachment unit of claim 33,
wherein the printed circuit board includes a microprocessor host controller interface, a memory, and a transducer controller,
wherein the transducer controller controls not only the overlay-linked vibrotactile transducer but also the counterpart transducer.
37. The attachment unit of claim 36,
wherein the memory is a non-volatile memory.
38. The haptic device of claim 1,
wherein the manipulation face is configured to receive a pressure manipulation from the user.
39. The haptic device of claim 2,
wherein the manipulation face is configured to receive a pressure manipulation from the user.

The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.

1. A power supply system comprising:
a power transmitting unit operable to transmit electric power; and
a power receiving unit operable to receive the electric power transmitted from the power transmitting unit, and to supply the electric power to a receiving side load,
wherein the electric power transmitted from the power transmitting unit is received in a noncontact manner and supplied to the receiving side load coupled to the power receiving unit,
wherein the power receiving unit generates a burst signal notifying that the electric power is short or surplus when the electric power of the receiving side load becomes short or surplus, and
wherein the power transmitting unit controls the increase and decrease of the electric power to be transmitted to the power receiving unit, based on a signal interval of the burst signal generated by the power receiving unit.
2. The power supply system according to claim 1,
wherein the power receiving unit comprises:
a power secondary inductor operable to generate electromotive force in response to a magnetic field change;
a rectifier operable to convert into a DC (direct current) voltage an AC (alternating current) voltage induced across both ends of the power secondary inductor;
a power-receiver voltage controller operable to measure a level of the voltage outputted from the rectifier and supplied to the receiving side load, and operable to output the burst signal after controlling an interval at which the burst signal is outputted depending on the measured voltage level; and
a control primary inductor operable to be excited based on the burst signal generated by the power-receiver voltage controller, and
wherein the power transmitting unit comprises:
a power primary inductor operable to be excited based on an AC signal;
a control secondary inductor operable to generate electromotive force in response to a magnetic field change of the control primary inductor; and
a power-transmitter voltage controller operable to detect the burst signal from an AC signal induced across both ends of the control secondary inductor, operable to determine whether the electric power of the receiving side load is short or surplus by measuring an output interval from the detected burst signal, and operable to control the increase and decrease of the power to be transmitted to the power receiving unit by controlling the AC signal to be supplied to the power primary inductor.
3. The power supply system according to claim 2,
wherein the power-receiver voltage controller comprises:
a voltage detector operable to detect whether the voltage level outputted from the rectifier and supplied to the receiving side load is lower than a lower limit voltage threshold, or higher than an upper limit voltage threshold higher than the lower limit voltage threshold, or within the limits of a reference voltage between the lower limit voltage threshold and the upper limit voltage threshold;
a burst interval setting unit operable to set up an interval at which the burst signal is outputted, based on the voltage level detected by the voltage detector; and
a burst signal generator operable to generate and output the burst signal at the interval set up by the burst interval setting unit, and
wherein the power-transmitter voltage controller comprises:
a burst signal detector operable to detect transmission of the burst signal, based on an AC signal induced across both ends of the control secondary inductor;
an interval measuring unit operable to measure an output interval of the burst signal detected by the burst signal detector; and
a controller operable to determine whether the electric power of the receiving side load is short or surplus, based on the output interval of the burst signal measured by the interval measuring unit, operable to control the AC signal to be supplied to the power primary inductor by changing a period or the number of times to excite the power primary inductor.
4. The power supply system according to claim 1,
wherein the power receiving unit comprises:
a power secondary inductor operable to generate electromotive force in response to a magnetic field change;
a rectifier operable to convert into a DC voltage an AC voltage induced across both ends of the power secondary inductor;
a power-receiver voltage controller operable to measure a level of the voltage outputted from the rectifier and supplied to the receiving side load, and operable to output the burst signal after controlling an interval at which the burst signal is outputted depending on the measured voltage level; and
a switching unit coupled between one end of the power secondary inductor and the rectifier, and operable to change series impedance of the power secondary inductor by performing an ONOFF operation based on the burst signal generated by the power-receiver voltage controller, and
wherein the power transmitting unit comprises:
a power primary inductor operable to be excited based on an AC signal;
a filter unit operable to filter out a resonance frequency produced by the power primary inductor and a parasitic capacitance; and
a power-transmitter voltage controller operable to detect the burst signal from a signal outputted from the filter unit, operable to determine whether the electric power of the receiving side load is short or surplus by measuring an output interval from the detected burst signal, and operable to control the increase and decrease of the power to be transmitted to the power receiving unit by controlling the AC signal to be supplied to the power primary inductor.
5. The power supply system according to claim 4,
wherein the power-receiver voltage controller comprises:
a voltage detector operable to detect whether the voltage level outputted from the rectifier and supplied to the receiving side load is lower than a lower limit voltage threshold, or higher than an upper limit voltage threshold higher than the lower limit voltage threshold, or within the limits of a reference voltage between the lower limit voltage threshold and the upper limit voltage threshold;
a burst interval setting unit operable to set up an interval at which the burst signal is outputted, based on the voltage level detected by the voltage detector; and
a burst signal generator operable to generate the burst signal at the interval set up by the burst interval setting unit, and operable to control motion of the switching unit, and
wherein the power-transmitter voltage controller comprises:
a burst signal detector operable to detect a burst signal from a combined signal of the burst signal outputted from the filter unit and the excitation signal of the power primary inductor;
an interval measuring unit operable to measure an output interval of the burst signal detected by the burst signal detector; and
a controller operable to determine whether the electric power of the receiving side load is short or surplus, based on the output interval of the burst signal measured by the interval measuring unit, and operable to control the AC signal to be supplied to the power primary inductor by changing a period or the number of times to excite the power primary inductor.