Author: claimsbot

1. A system for controlling packet forwarding through a point-to-point (p2p) connection between first and second end nodes of a packet network domain having a mesh topology, the system comprising:
a sub-ring network instantiated in the network domain, the sub-ring network comprising a pair of topologically diverse ring spans extending between the first and second end nodes;
wherein each of the end nodes is controlled to forward packets of the p2p connection through the sub-ring network in accordance with a ring network routing scheme, and an intermediate node traversed by one of the ring spans is controlled to forward packets of the p2p connection through the ring span in accordance with a linear path routing scheme.
2. The system as claimed in claim I, wherein at least one of the end-nodes is designated as a Ring Protection Link Owner, and is controlled to impose a channel block to prevent forwarding of traffic of the sub-ring network through a selected one of the ring spans.
3. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the network domain is any one of an Ethernet domain, an IP domain, a Provider Backbone Transport (PBT) domain, a Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) domain, and a Virtual Private LAN Service (VPLS) domain.
4. The system as claimed in claim 2, wherein one span of the sub-ring network is designated as a Ring Protection Span, and wherein respective channel blocks are imposed at opposite ends of the Ring Protection Span.

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

What is claimed is:

1. A method for reinforcing a slope using a reverse analysis technique comprising the steps:
studying a underground water level, slope configuration, a soil condition status and rock joint orientation in connection with an applicable limit of the slope, on the basis of which determining soil parameters including a cohesion and an internal friction angle using the Janbu method are determined so as to be adapted to characteristics of the deformed ground;
analyzing stability of the slope using the soil parameters by the Janbu method to estimate a driving force and a resistance force of the slope;
planning a construction section of a reinforcement zone to be constructed with reinforcement members in order to increase the resistance force of the slope;
determining a position and a quantity of subterranean horizontal drain holes in consideration of the underground water level condition to study an external stability;
checking an internal stability within the reinforcement zone against a critical failure section in consideration of a pull-out force and a shear capacity of the reinforcement member; and
preparing design drawings so as to satisfy the external and internal stabilities and carrying out a reinforcement construction work.
2. A method according to claim 1, wherein an apparent cohesion increasing with construction spacing between the reinforcement members is preferably
48
C
=
3.6
_
~

4.2
_
when a SD40:25MM reinforcing steel bar is used,
49
C
=
4.9
_
~

5.6
_
when a SD40:29MM reinforcing steel bar is used,
50
C
=
5.9
_
~

7.5
_
(

t
m
2
)
when a SD40:32MM reinforcing steel bar is used as a nail bar.
3. A method according to claim 1, wherein the step of carrying out the reinforcement construction work comprises the steps of: insert-laying the reinforcement members in the slope in accordance with the design drawings; mixing cement, water and high fluidizing agent with each other to produce grout and gravitationally injecting the grout around the reinforcement members; laying slope drain holes in the slope in such a manner that they, extends beyond the reinforcement zone in accordance with the design drawings; installing main earth-pressing steel plates, PVC-coated wire mesh and sub earth-pressing steel plates to fix the reinforcement members; and treating surfaces of the slope with general artificial soil covering or artificial soil covering mixed with natural monofilaments by a spray vegetation attaching method.
4. A method according to claim 1, wherein a safety factor of the slope is 1.4 or more in the construction section of the reinforcement zone.
5. A method according to claim 1, in the case of a weathered residual soil layer slope or a rock mass slope having remarkable joint orientation, the step of determining the soil parameters may be performed by determining a dip angle (a bedding plane angle or a plunge angle) () of the slope joint as the internal friction angle () and inversely calculating a cohesion (C) at the determined internal friction angle under a condition for limit equilibrium state Fs1.0.
6. A method according to claim 1, in the case of an unsaturated earth cut slope ground, the step of determining the soil parameters may be performed by determining the internal friction angle () through a direct shear test and inversely calculating the cohesion (C) at the constant internal friction angle (const.) under a condition for limit equilibrium state Fs1.0.
7. A method according to claim 1, in the case of degradation or deformation of the slope, the step of determining the soil parameters may be performed by determining the internal friction angle () through the direct shear test and inversely calculating the cohesion ( C ) considering an estimated failure line under a condition for limit equilibrium state 0.85F,1.03.
8. A method according to claim 1, in the case that the slope is unstable and forms an irregular stratified profile corresponding to a limit equilibrium state, the step of determining the soil parameters may be performed preliminarily by assuming that a critical failure line passes through the lowest portion of an upper stratum of the slope, determining the internal friction angle (r) through the direct shear test for a specimen of the upper stratum of the slope and inversely calculating the cohesion ( C ) under a condition for limit equilibrium state 0.9F,1.05, and secondarily by assuming that the critical failure line passes through the lowest portion of a lower stratum of the slope, determining the internal friction angle (r) through the direct shear test for a specimen of the lower stratum of the slope and inversely calculating the cohesion ( C ) under a condition for limit equilibrium state 0.9F,1.05.

1. An automated object dimensioning system for measuring dimension-related parameters of a scanned object transported along a conveyor belt structure, comprising:
a system housing having a light transmission aperture, supportable above a conveyor belt structure;
an optical bench, disposed within said system housing;
a laser beam production module disposed within said system housing, for generating an amplitude modulated laser beam;
a scanning mechanism, mounted on said optical bench, for projecting and said amplitude modulated laser beam through said light transmission aperture, and repeatedly scanning said amplitude modulated laser beam across the width of said conveyor belt structure;
a light collecting mechanism, mounted within said system housing, for collecting laser light reflected off said scanned object and focusing said reflected laser light;
a photodetector, mounted on said optical bench, for detecting said focused laser light and producing an electrical signal corresponding thereto;
signal processing circuitry, disposed within said system housing, for processing said produced electrical signal and, during each scan of said amplitude modulated laser beam across said scanned object, generating a row of raw digital range data representative of the distance from said scanning element to sampled points along said scanned object, measured with respect to a polar-type coordinate system symbolically-embedded within said automatic object dimensioning system;
a preprocessing data buffer, disposed within said system housing, for storing rows of raw digital range data produced by said signal processing circuitry; and
a programmed digital image processor, disposed within said system housing, for
(i) receiving rows of raw range data from said preprocessing data buffer,
(ii) processing data, including said rows of raw digital range data buffered in said preprocessing data buffer, so as to automatically produce a range data map representative of the space above said conveyor belt structure and buffer said range data map, and trace contours within said buffered range data map, and
(iii) computing dimension-related parameters of the object represented by said image contours traced within said buffered range data map.
2. The automated object dimensioning system of claim 1, wherein said programmed digital image processor comprises:
a first data processing stage for automatically processing said rows of raw digital range data in said preprocessing data buffer so as to produce said range data map representative of the space above said conveyor belt structure, and
a second data processing stage for automatically tracing said contours within said buffered range data map, wherein said traced contours are represented by a first set of indices (m,n) indicative of objects being transported along said conveyor belt structure.
3. The automated object dimensioning system of claim 2, wherein said programmed digital image processor comprises:
a third data processing stage for automatically processing said first set of indices (m,n) associated with said traced contours so as to detect vertices associated with polygonal-shaped objects extracted from said range data map, said detected vertices being represented by a second set of indices (m,n) and indicative of polygonal-shaped objects corresponding to objects being transported along said conveyor belt structure.
4. The automated object dimensioning system of claim 3, wherein said programmed digital image processor comprises:
a fourth data processing stage for automatically processing said second set of indices (m,n) associated with said detected vertices so as to detect a set of candidate corner points associated with the corners of a particular object being transported along said conveyor belt structure, said candidate corner points being represented by a third set of indices (m,n) and indicative of the corners of a particular object being transported along said conveyor belt structure.
5. The automated object dimensioning system of claim 4, wherein said programmed digital image processor comprises:
a fifth data processing stage for automatically processing said third set of indices (m,n) associated with detected corner point candidates so as to reduce said set of candidate corner points down to a set of corner points most likely to correspond to the corner points of a regular-shaped polygonal object, said most likely set of candidate corner points being represented by a fourth set of indices (m,n) and indicative of the corners of a regular-shaped polygonal object which most likely corresponds to the particular object being transported along said conveyor belt structure; and
a sixth data processing stage for automatically processing said fourth set of indices (m,n) associated with the corner points of a regular-shaped polygonal object so as to compute said dimension-related parameters of the object represented by said image contours traced within said buffered range data map.
6. The automated object dimensioning system of claim 5, wherein said sixth data processing stage further comprises:
a first data processing substage for automatically processing said fourth set of indices (m,n) associated with the corner points of a regular-shaped polygonal object so as to compute the surface area of the object represented by said traced contours within said buffered range data map; and
a second data processing substage for automatically processing said fourth set of indices (m,n) associated with the corner points of said regular-shaped polygonal object so as to compute the average height of the object represented by said traced contours in said buffered range data map, referenced relative to a global Cartesian-type coordinate reference system symbolically embedded within said system housing.
7. The automated object dimensioning system of claim 6, wherein said sixth data processing stage further comprises:
a third data processing substage for automatically processing said fourth set of indices (m,n) associated with the corner points of said regular-shaped polygonal object so as to compute the x, y, z coordinates corresponding to the corners of the object represented by said traced contours in said buffered range data map, referenced relative to said global Cartesian-type coordinate reference system.
8. The automated object dimensioning system of claim 2, wherein said first data processing stage employs window-type convolution kernals that smooth and edge-detect the raw range data and thus improve its quality for subsequent dimension data extraction operations.
9. The automated object dimensioning system of claim 2, wherein said first data processing stage includes means for subtracting detected background information (including noise) from the continuously updated range data map as to accommodate for changing background lighting conditions.
10. The automated object dimensioning system of claim 1, wherein said scanning mechanism comprises a polygonal-type laser scanning mechanism for scanning said amplitude modulated laser beam across the width of said conveyor belt structure.
11. The automated object dimensioning system of 1, wherein said scanning mechanism comprises a holographic-type laser scanning mechanism for scanning said amplitude modulated laser beam across the width of said conveyor belt structure.
12. The automated object dimensioning system of claim 1, wherein said photodetector comprises an avalanche-type photodetector mounted on said optical bench.
13. The automated object dimensioning system of claim 1, wherein said object is a package.

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 decoding circuit of a Viterbi decoder, the decoding circuit comprising a branch metric unit and an add-compare-select unit, the branch metric unit computing a branch metric value and outputting the branch metric value to the add-compare-select unit, wherein the add-compare-select unit comprising:
a plurality of adders, each adder receiving a branch metric value from the branch metric unit and an old path metric value to generate a new path metric;
a comparator for comparing the old path metrics to generate a selective signal; and
a multiplexer for receiving the new path metrics from the plurality of adders to output a decision bit according to the selective signal.