Author: claimsbot

1. A method for determining quality of service parameters on a multi-hop network, comprising:
in a data transmission process in a transmission path from a user equipment to a base station, acquiring statistics of quality of service QoS parameters of a relay link in the transmission path, wherein the statistics of the QoS parameters of the relay link are statistics collected on changed QoS parameters in the relay link; and
determining, according to the statistics of the QoS parameters of the relay link and in combination with QoS parameters that need to be maintained in the transmission path and radio interface topology information in the transmission path, QoS parameters that need to be acquired by an access link and the relay link in the transmission path.
2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the acquiring the statistics of the QoS parameters of the relay link in the transmission path comprises:
acquiring statistics of QoS parameters of a direct relay link in the transmission path; or
when receiving a data feedback response, acquiring statistics of QoS parameters of a direct relay link in the transmission path, and receiving statistics that are of QoS parameters of other relay links and are reported by each relay node that is responsible for scheduling other relay links;
wherein the direct relay link is a direct relay link between the base station and a relay node in the transmission path, and other relay links are relay links other than the direct relay link in the transmission path.
3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the acquiring the statistics of the QoS parameters of the relay link in the transmission path comprises:
receiving statistics of QoS parameters of the relay link reported by each relay node.
4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the QoS parameters that need to be acquired by the access link and the relay link comprise:
QoS parameters that need to be maintained by the access link and the relay link; or
QoS parameters, which need to be acquired by the access link, that need to be maintained by other relay links in the transmission path other than the QoS parameters that need to be maintained by the access link, and QoS parameters, which need to be acquired by the relay link, that need to be maintained by the access link and other relay links other than the QoS parameters that need to be maintained by the relay link.
5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: correspondingly determining the QoS parameters that need to be acquired by the access link and the relay link in the transmission path, and sending the QoS parameters that need to be acquired by the access link and the relay link to each relay node responsible for scheduling the access link and the relay link.
6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the sending the QoS parameters that need to be acquired by the access link and the relay link to each relay node responsible for scheduling the access link and the relay link comprises:
in a bearer update process, sending, in a periodic or an event-triggered manner, the QoS parameters that need to be acquired by the access link and the relay link to each relay node responsible for scheduling the access link and the relay link, wherein the QoS parameters that need to be acquired by the access link and the relay link are carried in a radio resource control message.
7. The method according to claim 2, further comprising:
sending a request for acquiring the statistics of the QoS parameters of the relay link in the transmission path to each RN, and acquiring the statistics of the QoS parameters of the relay link in the transmission path.
8. A method for maintaining quality of service on a multi-hop network, comprising:
in a data transmission process in a transmission path from a user equipment to a base station, receiving quality of service QoS parameters that are sent from the base station and need to be acquired by a local-hop link, wherein the QoS parameters that need to be acquired by the local-hop link are determined by the base station according to acquired statistics of QoS parameters of a relay link in the transmission path and in combination with QoS parameters that need to be maintained in the transmission path and radio interface topology information in the transmission path, and the local-hop link is direct links of relay nodes from the user equipment to the relay nodes in the transmission path and comprise an access link and the relay link in the transmission path; and
acquiring, according to the received QoS parameters that need to be acquired by the local-hop link, QoS parameters that need to be maintained by the local-hop link, and making a scheduling decision on the local-hop link to maintain QoS of a traffic flow corresponding to the QoS parameters.
9. The method according to claim 8, further comprising:
correspondingly receiving the QoS parameters that are sent from the base station and need to be acquired by the local-hop link; and reporting, by each relay node, the statistics of the QoS parameters of the relay link in the transmission path to the base station in a periodic or an event-triggered manner.
10. The method according to claim 8, wherein the QoS parameters that need to be acquired by the local-hop link comprise:
QoS parameters that need to be maintained by the local-hop link; or
QoS parameters that need to be maintained by other links in the transmission path other than the QoS parameters that need to be maintained by the local-hop link.
11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the acquiring, according to the received QoS parameters that need to be acquired by the local-hop link, the QoS parameters that need to be maintained by the local-hops comprises:
calculating out, by each relay node according to the received QoS parameters that need to be maintained by other links, the QoS parameters that need to be maintained in the transmission path, and radio interface topology information in the transmission path, the QoS parameters that need to be maintained by the local-hop link.
12. The method according to claim 11, wherein acquiring, by each relay node, the QoS parameters that need to be maintained in the transmission path comprises:
receiving, by each relay node, the QoS parameters that are sent from the base station and need to be maintained in the transmission path; and acquiring, by the base station, the QoS parameters that need to be maintained in the transmission path from a bearer setup request message sent from a core network; or
receiving, by each relay node, a bearer setup request message sent from a core network, and acquiring the QoS parameters that need to be maintained in the transmission path from the bearer setup request message.
13. A base station, comprising:
an acquiring unit, configured to acquire, in a data transmission process in a transmission path from a user equipment to a base station, statistics of quality of service QoS parameters of a relay link in the transmission path, wherein the statistics of the QoS parameters of the relay link are statistics collected on changed QoS parameters in the relay link; and
a determining unit, configured to determine, according to the statistics of the QoS parameters of the relay link acquired by the acquiring unit and in combination with QoS parameters that need to be maintained in the transmission path and radio interface topology information in the transmission path, QoS parameters that need to be acquired by an access link and the relay link in the transmission path.
14. The base station according to claim 13, further comprising a sending unit configured to send the QoS parameters that need to be acquired by the access link and the relay link as determined by the determining unit to each relay node responsible for scheduling the access link and the relay link.
15. The base station according to claim 14, further comprising:
a requesting unit, configured to send a request for acquiring the statistics of the QoS parameters of the relay link in the transmission path to each relay node.
16. A relay node, comprising:
a receiving unit, configured to receive, in a data transmission process in a transmission path from a user equipment to a base station, quality of service QoS parameters that are sent from the base station and need to be acquired by a local-hop link, wherein the QoS parameters that need to be acquired by the local-hop link are determined by the base station according to acquired statistics of QoS parameters of a relay link in the transmission path and in combination with QoS parameters that need to be maintained in the transmission path and radio interface topology information in the transmission path, and the local-hop link is direct links of relay nodes from the user equipment to the relay nodes in the transmission path and comprise an access link and the relay link in the transmission path;
an acquiring unit, configured to acquire, according to the QoS parameters that are received by the receiving unit and need to be acquired by the local-hop link, QoS parameters that need to be maintained by the local-hop link; and
a scheduling unit, configured to make a scheduling decision on the local-hop link according to the QoS parameters that are acquired by the acquiring unit and need to be maintained by the local-hop link to maintain QoS of a traffic flow corresponding to the QoS parameters.
17. The relay node according to claim 16, further comprising:
a reporting unit, configured to report the statistics of the QoS parameters of the relay link in the transmission path to the base station in a periodic or an event-triggered manner.

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 toilet bowl plunger, comprising:
a plunger handle having first and second end regions;
an inverted cup-shaped plunger portion connected to said second end region of said handle portion;
a fluid reservoir associated with said toilet bowl plunger for containing a disinfectant fluid or the like; and
a fluid dispensing mechanism associated with said toilet bowl plunger for dispensing said disinfectant fluid from said reservoir out from said toilet bowl plunger upon activation by a user.
2. A toilet bowl plunger as recited in claim 1 wherein:
said fluid reservoir is situated in an interior space within said handle.
3. A toilet bowl plunger as recited in claim 2 wherein:
said fluid dispensing mechanism comprises a fluid dispensing part including a first one-way valve situated within said second end region of said plunger handle portion.
4. A toilet bowl plunger as recited in claim 3 wherein:
said fluid dispensing mechanism comprises an activating part including a second one-way valve situated in said plunger handle.
5. A toilet bowl plunger as recited in claim 4 wherein:
said activating part further includes an activating handle coupled to said second one-way valve.
6. A toilet bowl plunger as recited in claim 1, wherein:
said fluid dispensing mechanism comprises a valve situated at said second end region of said plunger handle.
7. A toilet bowl plunger as recited in claim 1 wherein:
said fluid dispensing mechanism comprises a valve adapted to dispense the disinfectant fluid into a space defined by an inner concave surface of said inverted cup-shaped plunger portion.

1. A network system, comprising:
a direct conversion radio transceiver coupled to a digitizer, integrated within a first integrated device;
a medium access controller coupled between a baseband processor and digital control circuitry, integrated within a second integrated device; and
a digital interface that couples said first integrated device to said second integrated device;
wherein said digitizer comprises:
a in-phase receive path analog-to-digital converter;
a quadrature-phase receive path analog-to-digital converter;
a in-phase transmit path digital-to-analog converter; and
a quadrature-phase transmit path digital-to-analog converter;

wherein said digital interface comprises transceiver-side digital interface circuitry, including:
a plurality of latches coupled to said digital-to-analog converters and to said analog-to-digital converters;
a bi-directional bus driver coupled between said plurality of latches and a bi-directional bus; and
address control and timing circuitry coupled to said latches; and

wherein said digital interface further comprises controller-side digital interface circuitry, including:
a second bi-directional bus driver coupled to said bi-directional bus;
a second plurality of latches coupled between said second bi-directional bus driver and said baseband processor; and
second address control and timing circuitry coupled to said second plurality of latches.
2. The network system according to claim 1, wherein said first integrated device comprises a multi-chip module.
3. The network system according to claim 1, wherein said first integrated device comprises an integrated circuit.
4. The network system according to claim 1, wherein said second integrated device comprises an integrated circuit.
5. The network system according to claim 1, wherein said digital interface comprises a serial bus.
6. The network system according to claim 1, wherein said digital interface comprises a parallel bus.
7. The network system according to claim 1, wherein said digital interface comprises a hybrid serialparallel bus.
8. The network system according to claim 1, wherein said digital interface comprises a multiplexed bus.
9. The network system according to claim 1, wherein said digital interface comprises a direct connection between said first and second integrated devices.
10. The network system according to claim 1, wherein said digital interface is an all-digital interface.
11. The network system according to claim 1, wherein said direct conversion radio transceiver comprises a receive path coupled between said digitizer and an antenna system, said receive path including:
a low noise amplifier coupled to said antenna system;
an automatic gain control module coupled to said low noise amplifier;
in-phase and quadrature-phase direct down-converters coupled to said automatic gain control module; and
receive analog circuitry coupled between said in-phase and quadrature-phase direct down-converters and said digitizer.
12. The network system according to claim 1, wherein said direct conversion radio transceiver comprises a transmit path coupled between said digitizer and an antenna system, said transmit path including:
transmit analog circuitry coupled to said digitizer;
in-phase and quadrature-phase direct up-converters coupled to said transmit analog circuitry; and
power amplifier circuitry coupled between outputs of said in-phase and quadrature-phase direct up-converters and said antenna system.
13. The network system according to claim 11, wherein said direct conversion radio transceiver further comprises a transmit path coupled between said digitizer and said antenna system, said transmit path including:
transmit analog circuitry coupled to said digitizer;
in-phase and quadrature-phase direct up-converters coupled to said transmit analog circuitry; and
power amplifier circuitry coupled between outputs of said in-phase and quadrature-phase direct up-converters and said antenna system.
14. The network system according to claim 13, wherein said direct conversion radio transceiver further comprises:
a clock generator coupled to said in-phase and quadrature-phase direct down-converters and to said in-phase and quadrature-phase direct up-converters; and
a frequency synthesizer coupled to said clock generator.
15. The network system according to claim 1, wherein said digitizer further comprises an automatic gain control digital-to-analog converter.
16. The network system according to claim 1, wherein said second integrated device comprises an internal system bus coupled between said medium access controller and said controller.
17. A network system, comprising:
a direct conversion radio transceiver;
a baseband processor;
a digitizer coupled between said direct conversion radio transceiver and said baseband processor; and
a digital interface coupled to said baseband processor, said digital interface configured to couple to a medium access controller;
wherein said direct conversion radio transceiver, said baseband processor, and said digitizer are integrated in an integrated device;
wherein said digitizer comprises:
a in-phase receive path analog-to-digital converter;
a quadrature-phase receive path analog-to-digital converter;
a in-phase transmit path digital-to-analog converter; and
a quadrature-phase transmit path digital-to-analog converter;

wherein said digital interface comprises transceiver-side digital interface circuitry, including:
a plurality of latches coupled to said baseband processor;
a bi-directional bus driver coupled between said plurality of latches and a bi-directional bus; and
address control and timing circuitry coupled to said latches; and

wherein said digital interface further comprises controller-side digital interface circuitry, including:
a second bi-directional bus driver coupled to said bi-directional bus;
a second plurality of latches coupled between said second bi-directional bus driver and said medium access controller; and
second address control and timing circuitry coupled to said second plurality of latches.
18. The network system according to claim 17, wherein said integrated device comprises a multi-chip module.
19. The network system according to claim 17, wherein said integrated device comprises an integrated circuit.
20. The network system according to claim 17, wherein said digital interface comprises a serial bus.
21. The network system according to claim 17, wherein said digital interface comprises a parallel bus.
22. The network system according to claim 17, wherein said digital interface comprises a hybrid serialparallel bus.
23. The network system according to claim 17, wherein said digital interface comprises a multiplexed bus.
24. The network system according to claim 17, wherein said digital interface comprises a direct connection between said baseband processor and said medium access controller.
25. The network system according to claim 17, wherein said digital interface is an all-digital interface.
26. The network system according to claim 17, wherein said direct conversion radio transceiver comprises a receive path coupled between said digitizer and an antenna system, said receive path including:
a low noise amplifier coupled to said antenna system;
an automatic gain control module coupled to said low noise amplifier;
in-phase and quadrature-phase direct down-converters coupled to said automatic gain control module; and
receive analog circuitry coupled between said in-phase and quadrature-phase direct down-converters and said digitizer.
27. The network system according to claim 17, wherein said direct conversion radio transceiver comprises a transmit path coupled between said digitizer and an antenna system, said transmit path including:
transmit analog circuitry coupled to said digitizer;
in-phase and quadrature-phase direct up-converters coupled to said transmit analog circuitry; and
power amplifier circuitry coupled between outputs of said in-phase and quadrature- phase direct up-converters and said antenna system.
28. The network system according to claim 26, wherein said direct conversion radio transceiver further comprises a transmit path coupled between said digitizer and said antenna system, said transmit path including:
transmit analog circuitry coupled to said digitizer;
in-phase and quadrature-phase direct up-converters coupled to said transmit analog circuitry; and
power amplifier circuitry coupled between outputs of said in-phase and quadrature-phase direct up-converters and said antenna system.
29. The network system according to claim 28, wherein said direct conversion radio transceiver further comprises:
a clock generator coupled to said in-phase and quadrature-phase direct down-converters and to said in-phase and quadrature-phase direct up-converters; and
a frequency synthesizer coupled to said clock generator.
30. The network system according to claim 17, wherein said digitizer further comprises an automatic gain control digital-to-analog converter.
31. The network system according to claim 17, wherein said second integrated device comprises an internal system bus coupled between said medium access controller and said controller.
32. The network system according to claim 1, wherein said first integrated device is positioned independently from said second integrated device.
33. The network system according to claim 1, wherein said first integrated device is implemented within a single integrated circuit.
34. The network system according to claim 1, wherein said second integrated device is implemented within a single integrated circuit.
35. The network system according to claim 1, wherein said digital control circuitry communicates with said medium access controller using a packet-based format.
36. The network system according to claim 17, wherein said integrated device is implemented within a single integrated circuit.

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 device for the hand and forearm of a user, comprising:
a glove portion; and
a sleeve integrally attached to the glove portion and including an elastic portion and a flexible support portion comprising a soft foam, wherein the elastic portion is configured to contact a substantial portion of a forearm of a user and the flexible support portion is configured to minimize impact to the forearm and comprises a tacky outer surface to enhance catching of a ball, and wherein the sleeve comprises a securement portion configured to secure the sleeve to the forearm of the user, wherein the securement portion comprises air bladders that extend down a length of the forearm.
2. The device of claim 1, wherein the flexible support portion comprises a plurality of support strips dimensioned no more than about 1 inch apart.
3. The device of claim 1, wherein the elastic portion is comprised of nylon.
4. The device of claim 1, wherein the flexible support portion is positioned substantially on an exterior surface of the elastic portion.
5. The device of claim 1, wherein the elastic portion is configured to contact a substantial portion of a bicep of the user.
6. The device of claim 1, wherein the flexible support portion is configured to minimize impact to an inner forearm of the user.
7. The device of claim 1, wherein the sleeve comprises a elbow insert configured to minimize impact to an elbow of the user.
8. A device for the forearm of a user, comprising:
a sleeve including an elastic portion and a flexible support portion, wherein the elastic portion is configured to contact a substantial portion of a forearm of a user and the flexible support portion comprises a single continuous flexible support strip having a tacky outer surface to enhance catching of a ball, and comprising a soft foam operable to partially absorb a force from the ball to minimize impact to the forearm, the elastic portion being configured to interact with a glove of the user, and wherein the sleeve comprises a securement portion configured to secure the sleeve to the forearm of the user, wherein the securement portion comprises air bladders that extend down a length of the forearm.
9. The device of claim 8, wherein the elastic portion comprises a hand portion configured to contact an interior surface of the glove of the user.
10. The device of claim 9, wherein the elastic portion is comprised of nylon.
11. The device of claim 8, wherein the single continuous flexible support strip is disposed about an inner forearm of the user to minimize impact to the inner forearm.
12. A device for the hand and forearm of a user, comprising:
a glove portion; and
a sleeve integrally attached to the glove portion and including an elastic portion, a flexible support portion and a securement portion, wherein the elastic portion is comprised of nylon and is configured to contact a substantial portion of a forearm of a user, the flexible support portion comprises a plurality of support strips disposed about the forearm of the user and running in a direction substantially parallel with a length of the forearm of the user, the plurality of support strips each being individually surrounded on all sides by the elastic portion and comprising soft foam having a tacky outer surface to enhance catching of a ball and to partially absorb a force from the ball to minimize impact to the forearm, and the securement portion is configured to secure the sleeve to the forearm of the user, wherein the securement portion comprises air bladders that extend down a length of the forearm.