All The Claims

1. A throttle valve for an air control system, comprising:
a throttle plate pivotally attached in the throttle bore of a throttle body, said throttle plate having a first major face and a spaced and opposed second major face;
said throttle plate being pivotable along an axis for metering the air flow in a throttle bore, said throttle plate attached to a throttle shaft; and
a wedge portion affixed to an outboard edge of said first major face of said throttle plate, wherein at least a portion of a material forming said wedge portion extends through said throttle plate and contacts said second major face of said throttle plate, said wedge portion having a thickness and profile for restricting a portion of the throttle bore and acting to limit air flow as said throttle plate is pivoted for opening of the throttle bore during acceleration of the vehicle, wherein said wedge portion does not contact any portion of said throttle shaft.
2. The throttle valve of claim 1 wherein the wedge portion is overmolded onto the throttle plate.
3. The throttle valve of claim 2 wherein the wedge portion has a sloped outer edge.
4. The throttle valve of claim 2 wherein the wedge portion has a triangular cross-section appearance.
5. The throttle valve of claim 2 wherein the throttle plate has a radially outer most edge and said wedge portion is thickest at said outermost edge and tapers toward said throttle plate in a direction toward the center of the pivotal axis of the plate.
6. The throttle valve of claim 5 wherein an outer peripheral wall extends from said outermost edge, said outer peripheral wall having an angle of from about 7\xb0 to about 90\xb0.
7. The throttle valve of claim 1 wherein the airflow is substantially cut off on one hemispherical side of said throttle bore, over a range of angular motion of from 1\xb0 to about 20\xb0.
8. The throttle valve of claim 1 wherein the airflow is substantially limited on one hemispherical side of the throttle bore, over a range of angular motion of from 1\xb0 to about 15\xb0.
9. A throttle valve for an air control system, comprising:
a throttle plate pivotally attached in a throttle bore of a throttle body, said throttle plate having a first major face and a spaced and opposed second major face;
said throttle plate being pivotable along an axis for metering the air flow in a throttle bore, said throttle plate attached to a throttle shaft; and
a wedge portion overmolded to and affixed to an outboard edge of said first major face of said throttle plate, wherein at least a portion of a material forming said wedge portion extends through said throttle plate and contacts said second major face of said throttle plate, said wedge portion having a thickness and profile for restricting a portion of the throttle bore and acting to limit air flow as said throttle plate is pivoted for opening of the throttle bore during acceleration of the vehicle, wherein said wedge portion does not contact any portion of said throttle shaft;
said throttle wedge including an outermost wall portion, said outermost wall portion having an angle of from about 70\xb0 to about 90\xb0 with respect to said throttle plate.
10. The throttle valve of claim 9 wherein the wedge portion is overmolded onto the throttle plate.
11. The throttle valve of claim 10 wherein the wedge portion has a sloped outer edge.
12. The throttle valve of claim 10 wherein the wedge portion has a triangular cross-section.
13. The throttle valve of claim 10 wherein the throttle plate has a radially outer most edge and said wedge portion is thickest at said outermost edge and tapers toward said throttle plate in a direction toward the center of the pivotal axis of the plate.
14. The throttle valve of claim 13 wherein an outer peripheral wall extends from said outermost edge, said outer peripheral wall having an angle of from about 70\xb0 to about 90\xb0.
15. The throttle valve of claim 9 wherein the airflow is substantially limited on one hemispherical side of said throttle bore, over a range of angular motion of from 1\xb0 to about 20\xb0.
16. The throttle valve of claim 9 wherein the airflow is substantially limited on one hemispherical side of said throttle bore, over a range of angular motion of from 1\xb0 to about 15\xb0.
17. The throttle valve of claim 16 wherein said wedge includes a slanted wall extending from said outer peripheral wall toward said axis, wherein said surface is positioned substantially perpendicular to a wall of said throttle bore.
18. A throttle valve for an air control system, comprising:
a throttle plate pivotally attached in a throttle bore of a throttle body, said throttle plate having a first major face and a spaced and opposed second major face;
said throttle plate being pivotable along an axis for metering the air flow in a throttle bore, said throttle plate attached to a throttle shaft; and
a wedge portion overmolded onto an outboard edge of said first major face of said throttle plate, wherein at least a portion of a material forming said wedge portion extends through said throttle plate and contacts said second major face of said throttle plate, said wedge portion having a thickness and profile for restricting a portion of the throttle bore and acting to limit air flow as said throttle plate is pivoted for opening of the throttle body during acceleration of the vehicle, wherein said wedge portion does not contact any portion of said throttle shaft;
said wedge portion including an outermost wall portion, said outermost wall portion having an angle of from about 80\xb0 to about 90\xb0 with respect to said throttle plate for providing clearance of said wedge portion of a side wall of said throttle bore during pivoting of said throttle plate;
said wedge portion having a slanted wall portion extending from said outer peripheral wall toward said axis, wherein said surface is positioned substantially perpendicular to a wall of said throttle bore when said valve plate is tilted at an angle of from about 1\xb0 to about 15\xb0.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claims which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.

1. A method for operating a wireless network, comprising:
(a) collecting and analyzing information from the wireless network into a collection and analysis system coupled to the wireless network, wherein the information includes location information on a plurality of mobile transceivers communicating with the wireless network and the information is collected when certain defined thresholds are triggered; and
(b) optimizing the wireless network’s operation from a network control system coupled to the wireless network by intelligently steering radio frequency (RF) signal beams transmitted from the wireless network in the direction of one or more of the plurality of mobile transceivers using the collected and analyzed information.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the location information comprises E911 location information.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein the information further includes one or more types of information selected from a group comprising Hand Off (HO) information, Power information, Measurements, and System Parameters from the wireless network.
4. The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying and resolving problems using the collected and analyzed information.
5. The method of claim 4, wherein the identifying and resolving step further comprises identifying problems in the wireless network, and correlating the identified problems with the collected and analyzed information.
6. The method of claim 5, wherein the correlating step further comprises correlating the identified problems with mobile transceiver location information from the collected and analyzed information.
7. A method for operating a wireless network, comprising:
(a) collecting and analyzing information from the wireless network into a collection and analysis system coupled to the wireless network, wherein the information includes location information on a plurality of mobile transceivers communicating with the wireless network; and
(b) optimizing the wireless network’s operation from a network control system coupled to the wireless network by intelligently steering radio frequency (RF) signal beams transmitted from the wireless network in the direction of one or more of the plurality of mobile transceivers using the collected and analyzed information, wherein the optimizing step further comprises setting dynamic dedicated handoff (HO) thresholds for individual mobile transceivers based on the collected and analyzed information and the individual mobile transceivers each have a unique, assigned HO threshold.
8. The method of claim 7, wherein the optimizing step further comprises dynamically allocating radio frequency (RF) signal power in the wireless network based on the collected and analyzed information.
9. The method of claim 8, wherein the dynamically allocating step further comprises dynamically assigning RF signal power to cells, sectors within cells, and mobile transceivers based on the collected and analyzed information.
10. The method of claim 7, wherein the optimizing step further comprises performing handoffs for individual mobile transceivers based on their unique, assigned HO (hand off) threshold and their location.
11. The method of claim 10, wherein the performing step comprises performing handoffs for individual mobile transceivers in order to minimize interference levels.
12. The method of claim 7, wherein the intelligently steering step further comprises intelligently forming an RF signal beam based on the collected and analyzed information.
13. A system for operating a wireless communications network, comprising:
(a) a data collection and filter system, coupled to the wireless communications system, for collecting and analyzing information from the wireless network, wherein the information includes location information on a plurality of mobile transceivers communicating with the wireless network and the information is collected when certain defined thresholds are triggered; and
(b) a network control system, coupled to the wireless communications system and the data collection and filter system, for optimizing the wireless network’s operation by intelligently steering radio frequency (RF) signal beams transmitted from the wireless network in the direction of one or more of the plurality of mobile transceivers using the collected and analyzed information.
14. The system of claim 13, wherein the location information comprises E911 location information.
15. The system of claim 13, wherein the information further includes one or more types of information selected from a group comprising Hand Off (HO) information, Power information, Measurements, and System Parameters from the wireless network.
16. The system of claim 13, wherein the data collection and analysis system further comprises means for identifying and resolving problems using the collected and analyzed information.
17. The system of claim 16, wherein the means for identifying and resolving further comprises means for identifying problems in the wireless network, and correlating the identified problems with the collected and analyzed information.
18. The system of claim 17, wherein the means for correlating further comprises means for correlating the identified problems with mobile transceiver location information from the collected and analyzed information.
19. A system for operating a wireless communications network, comprising:
(a) a data collection and filter system, coupled to the wireless communications system, for collecting and analyzing information from the wireless network, wherein the information includes location information on a plurality of mobile transceivers communicating with the wireless network; and
(b) a network control system, coupled to the wireless communications system and the data collection and filter system, for optimizing the wireless network’s operation by intelligently steering radio frequency (RF) signal beams transmitted from the wireless network in the direction of one or more of the plurality of mobile transceivers using the collected and analyzed information, wherein the network control further comprises means for setting dynamic dedicated handoff (HO) thresholds for individual mobile transceivers based on the collected and analyzed information and the individual mobile transceivers each have a unique, assigned HO threshold.
20. The system of claim 19, wherein the network control further comprises means for dynamically allocating radio frequency (RF) signal power in the wireless network based on the collected and analyzed information.
21. The system of claim 20, wherein the means for dynamically allocating further comprises means for dynamically assigning RF signal power to cells, sectors within cells, and mobile transceivers based on the collected and analyzed information.
22. The system of claim 19, wherein the network control further comprises means for performing handoffs for individual mobile transceivers based on their unique, assigned HO (hand off) threshold and their location.
23. The system of claim 22, wherein the means for performing comprises means for performing handoffs for individual mobile transceivers in order to minimize interference levels.
24. The system of claim 19, wherein the means for intelligently steering further comprises means for intelligently forming an RF signal beam based on the collected and analyzed information.

1. A computer-implemented method for rating telephone calls comprising:
receiving a destination number, of a called party, for a telephone call;
determining a first rate for the telephone call based on the destination number;
determining a second rate for the telephone call based on a geotagged phone location of the called party;
comparing the first rate to the second rate; and
selecting the first rate or the second rate, based on the comparison, to be billed to the called party.
2. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the geotagged phone location is GPS-determined.
3. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the geotagged phone location is IP-address-determined.

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

1. A vehicle circumferential image providing device configured to provide an image at a circumference of a vehicle to a driver, the vehicle circumferential image providing device comprising:
a plurality of imaging units configured to image the circumference of the vehicle, wherein the plurality of imaging units are configured to image in mutually different directions;
a first image processing unit configured to coordinate convert images at the circumference of the vehicle imaged by the plurality of imaging units using a ground surface as a reference surface, and generate an overhead image by combining the coordinate-converted images;
an edge detecting unit configured to detect edges in the overhead image generated by the first image processing unit;
a determining unit configured to determine continuity of edge lines extending over connected parts of the coordinate-converted images, among edge lines detected by the edge detecting unit; and
a second image processing unit configured to perform imaging processing by setting edge lines at a far side of the vehicle to match edge lines at a near side of the vehicle, thereby setting the edge lines to be continuous at the connected parts, when the edge lines extending over the connected parts of the coordinate-converted images are discontinuous.
2. The vehicle circumferential image providing device according to claim 1, wherein the second image processing unit is configured such that, when a plurality of edge lines extending over the coordinate-converted images are present, and edge lines at the far side of the vehicle are discontinuous among the plurality of edge lines, the second image processing unit sets the edge lines at the far side of the vehicle to be continuous at the connected parts while maintaining the continuity of the edge lines at the near side of the vehicle.
3. The vehicle circumferential image providing device according to claim 2, further comprising a unit configured to determine whether a plurality of edge lines extending over the connected parts of the coordinate-converted images constitute the same object, wherein the second image processing unit is configured such that, when it is determined that the plurality of edge lines extending over the connected parts of the coordinate-converted images constitute the same object, the second image processing unit specifies edge lines present at the near side of the vehicle and edge lines present at the far side of the vehicle.
4. The vehicle circumferential image providing device according to claim 1, wherein the second image processing unit is configured such that, when the edge lines extending over the coordinate-converted images are discontinuous, and the edge lines have inflected points, the second image processing unit sets the edge lines to be continuous at the connected parts so that the edge lines do not exceed a tangent line connecting points at which an object represented by the edge lines contacts the ground surface.
5. The vehicle circumferential image providing device according to claim 1, wherein the second image processing unit is configured such that, when a plurality of edge lines extending over the coordinate-converted images are present, and the edge lines at the near side of the vehicle are continuous among the plurality of edge lines, the second image processing unit sets the edge lines at the far side of the vehicle to be continuous at the connected parts while maintaining the continuity of the edge lines at the near side of the vehicle.
6. The vehicle circumferential image providing device according to claim 1, wherein the second image processing unit is configured to perform at least one of a shift process of shifting an edge, a thinning process of thinning a pixel, and a compression process of compressing an image, to set edges to be continuous at the connected parts.
7. The vehicle circumferential image providing device according to claim 6, wherein the second image processing unit is configured to perform a process of filling a predetermined color into a part losing pixel information in an overhead image, by performing at least one of the shift process, the thinning process, and the compression process.
8. The vehicle circumferential image providing device according to claim 1, wherein the edge detecting unit is configured such that, when a speed of the vehicle is equal to or higher than a predetermined speed, the edge detecting unit performs edge detection in a region farther from the vehicle in the overhead image than from the vehicle when a speed of the vehicle is less than the predetermined speed.
9. The vehicle circumferential image providing device according to claim 1, wherein the edge detecting unit performs edge detection in a region of a proceeding direction of the vehicle in the overhead image.
10. A vehicle circumferential image providing method for providing an image at a circumference of a vehicle to a driver, the vehicle circumferential image providing method comprising:
a step of imaging mutually different directions of the circumference of the vehicle;
a step of coordinate-converting the images at the circumference of the vehicle imaged using a ground surface as a reference surface, and generating an overhead image by combining the coordinate-converted images;
a step of detecting edges in the generated overhead image;
a step of determining continuity of edge lines extending over connected parts of the coordinate-converted images, among detected edge lines; and
a step of performing imaging processing by setting edge lines at a far side of the vehicle to match edge lines at a near side of the vehicle, thereby setting the edge lines to be continuous at the connected parts, when the edge lines extending over the connected parts of the coordinate-converted images are discontinuous.