text:
|Publication number
|Publication type
|Application number
|Publication date
|Aug 11, 1998
|Filing date
|Jun 7, 1995
|Priority date
|Jun 7, 1995
|Fee status
|Also published as
|Publication number
|Andrew L. Norrell, Vladimir Parizhsky
|Original Assignee
|3Com Corporation
|Export Citation
|BiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan
|Patent Citations (38), Non-Patent Citations (3), Referenced by (35), Classifications (8), Legal Events (9)
|External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, Espacenet
A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material that is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent files or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
The present invention relates generally to electronic communication systems and, more particularly, to a system for timing recovery in a receiver. A receiver accepts a transmission signal sent to it by a remote transmitter over a transmission medium, such as, for example, a telephone cable, microwave link, or other "channel." Such media introduce distortion, noise and other impairments into the received signal, which can cause the receiver to make decoding errors, such that the receiver does not receive an exact duplicate of the message, or symbols, being transmitted.
A transmitter, such as found in a modem, typically parses a message into groups of bits, and encodes each of these groups of bits into symbols, thus creating a sequence of symbols from a sequence of bits. These symbols are complex numbers of the form a +j*b, where j is the square root of the value (-1). The full set of allowed complex numbers for a given modulation system of a transmitter is known as the system's signal constellation. The encoding process is performed at a periodic rate, called the symbol rate. Once generated, the symbols are filtered by the transmitter to control signalling bandwidth, and then modulated by a carrier wave, which creates a signal that is suitable for transmission over a communication channel.
The exact symbol rate of a transmitter is typically under the control of a local time reference, such as a crystal oscillator. While, it is possible to communicate this timing information explicitly, the system constraints of most transmitters are usually such that it is undesireable to invest either signalling bandwidth or increase signal power for this purpose. Therefore, the discrete amplitude and phase changes imposed on the carrier wave are actually used to convey two things to the receiver: the data sequence, and the timing information necessary to decode this sequence at the receiver.
A receiver, such as found in a modem, is designed to estimate the transmitted sequence with the minimum number of errors possible. Ideally, the receiver's local timing reference will be identical to that of the remote transmitter, in both frequency and phase. However, modems for data communication over the telephone network can have local clock references that vary as much as +/-200 parts per million (ppm) between remote transmitter and local receiver. Thus, because of such discrepancies, the receiver must extract information from the incoming signal in order to estimate the frequency and phase of the clock associated with the incoming signal, so that the incoming signal may be sampled at the optimum times.
A common method used for recovering timing from such a waveform is called Envelope Derived Timing (EDT), which is based on the phenomena that periodic changes in phase and amplitude in the carrier waveform cause changes in the carrier's power envelope. A receiver utilizing EDT can reconstruct the symbol rate clock from the variations in the power envelope detected by the receiver.
A carrier waveform modulated by the transmitter in the manner described above will occupy a frequency spectrum that is centered around the carrier frequency and at least as wide as the symbol rate, plus some excess bandwidth. The portion of this spectrum that is associated with the power envelope are the regions centered at the carrier frequency plus one-half the symbol rate and the carrier frequency minus one-half the symbol rate. These two frequency regions are generally known as the band edges.
Unfortunately, the power envelope of a signal can be adversely affected by channel impairments, particularly amplitude and phase distortion at the band edges. To compensate for such impairments, many receiver designs include an adaptive equalizer which compensates for amplitude and phase distortion on the transmission channel in the data recovery path. Such equalizers depend on accurate timing recovery in order to function properly. For example, some systems have sometimes used a straightforward timing loop configuration, without compensating for amplitude or delay distortion of the transmitted message. With careful tuning of the receiver, this approach may prove adequate for slower transmissions with, for example, a transmitted symbol rate of 2400 symbols per second ("s/s"). See the standards adopted by the International Telecommunications Union--Telecommunications Standardization Sector ("ITU-T") up through v.32bis. However, faster transmission rates may require better techniques for recovering timing information.
Typically, a receiver reconstructs the timing envelope from energy near the upper and lower bandedges of the signal. Often, the wider the bandwidth used, the more distortion that is introduced into the signal by, for example, the transmission channel. Indeed, the requirements of ITU-T Standard v.34, which describes symbol rates as high as 3429 s/s, pushes the signal bandedges (where useful timing information is located) into severely distorted regions of telephone channels.
In such frequency regions, there is substantial rolloff (reduced signal strength) induced by the telephone transmission line. Further, these frequency regions may be subjected to considerable delay distortion. This type of distortion, which is related to the rate of change of phase with respect to frequency, causes signal energy in one band edge to arrive at the receiver at a different time than energy from the other bandedge. The timing envelope is most robust when the energy from the upper and lower sidebands arrives at the timing envelope detector simultaneously, and is degraded otherwise. For example, if the delay characteristic of a given channel is 5 milliseconds at the lower bandedge and 2 millisceconds at the upper bandedge, then if the transmitter simultaneously sends a burst of energy at both bandedges, the upper bandedge portion of this energy will arrive 3 ms. before the lower bandedge energy. If the transmitted burst is of 5 ms. duration, then there will be a strong envelope for 2 ms., but if the burst is of 2 ms. duration, there is no real timing information available to the receiver. The data sent by the transmitter is intentionally randomized in order to achieve certain spectral characteristics. Since timing energy is implicit in the phase and amplitude of the carrier wave, some data patterns (ie., those with dramatic changes) produce a strong timing signature while others do not. Short sequences rich in timing information patterns are more likely than long ones. Therefore, in order for the receiver to extract as much timing information as possible, it is important not to waste shorter patterns bursts, such as those of less than 3 ms. in the example above. These short patterns are wasted in a system that does not have timing equalization.
The timing recovery system in a modem's receiver is often the limiting factor in achieving high transmission speeds on a telephone channel. The rest of the modem receiver's systems, such as, for example, equalizers, carrier tracking loops, and echo cancelers, are often capable of operating at higher data rates than the timing recovery system. In order to maintain high symbol rate transmission, some have simply tried not to operate on channels with severely limited transmission characteristics, or, alternatively, have used complex techniques of questionable stability.
Applicants have noted that, on certain channels with severe delay distortion at higher or lower frequencies, a major limitation to higher symbol rate transmission is often the relative delay distortion of the modem signal at the bandedges. Thus, in a principal aspect, the present invention relates to an envelope derived timing system in a data receiver.
The system receives a signal that has been modulated by changing the amplitude and phase of the carrier at discrete periodic intervals. The signal is sampled and digitized by an Analog to Digital Converter at a sample rate that is high enough to preserve the information content of the incoming signal. The signal may be used by, for example, an equalizer and decoder, to obtain a data signal.
The system includes a timing interpolator and a timing loop interconnected to the timing interpolator. The timing loop includes a timing compensator which receives the sampled signal and delays upper and lower bandedge energy to compensate for delay distortion at the upper and lower bandedges. The timing compensator provides time-compensated component signals. A timing recovery system processes the time-compensated component signals and responsively provides a phase control signal to the interpolator.
Thus, an object of the present invention is improved envelope derived timing recovery in an electronic data transmission system. Another object is a timing recovery system that more reliably allows the transmission of data at a higher rate. Still another object is a timing recovery system that operates more reliably with transmission lines that introduce impairments into a transmitted signal. These and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention are discussed or apparent in the following detailed description.
The preferred embodiment of the present invention is described herein with reference to the drawings wherein:
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an electronic data transmission system utilizing the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the transmitter shown in FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a graph illustrating a simple four-point mapping system that may be utilized by the transmitter shown in FIG. 2;
FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the receiver shown in FIG. 1;
FIG. 5 is a block diagram of the envelope derived timing system shown in FIG. 4;
Referring to FIGS. 1-6, the present invention is shown as an equalized envelope derived timing system. The system is utilized in an electronic data transmission system 22. See FIG. 1. The transmission system 22 is shown in FIG. 1 for purposes of illustration only, since a great variety of such systems exist. The transmission system 22 includes two sources of information, such as exemplary computers 24, 26, and two transmit/receive devices, such as exemplary modems 28, 30, that are interconnected via a communication medium 32. The transmit/receive devices may, of course, be within, or a part of, the sources of information. The modems each include a transmitter 34, 36 for sending data along the medium, and a receiver 38, 40 for receiving the transmitted signal from the medium. As shown in FIG. 2, a transmitter may include a scrambler 202, encoder or mapper 204, filter 206, a complex multiplication operation 208 to shift the center frequency of the filtered symbols, and digital to analog converter 212. There are, of course, many different receiver and transmitter architectures. The structure shown in the drawings are for illustration purposes only. Preferably a modem such as seen in FIGS. 1-6 may be implemented by a microprocessor operating under stored program control. Such modems include a Read-Only Memory (ROM) for storage of control programs and permanent data and Random Access Memory (RAM) for temporary storage of programs and data. Input/Output (I/O) circuitry is incorporated either in the microprocessor or in peripheral chips for receiving and transmitting information to and from the microprocessor.
The data transmission device shown in FIG. 2 first randomizes, or scrambles data received from the computer. This operation insures the presence of timing energy in the subsequent transmit waveform. The data is advantageously randomized by the scrambler prior to any other processing in order to guarantee sufficient timing energy in the transmit signal.
Next, the encoder/mapper maps and encodes data bits received from the scrambler into symbols at the rate of once per symbol period. FIG. 3 shows a simple four-point mapping system for 4800 bits per second ("bps") from ITU-T standard v.32 for 4800 bits per second transmission. In the simple illustrative example shown in FIG. 3, each pair of bits is mapped to one of four points. This data-to-symbol mapping may, in different systems, take one of the following forms: amplitude modulation, amplitude and phase modulation, generally known as Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM), a combination of forward error correction and QAM called Trellis Coded Modulation (TCM), or one of various other techniques.
The resulting sequence of symbols is then processed by the filter 206 and summing point 208 to generate a complex signal 210. The real part of the complex signal is then converted at 212 to an analog waveform by the converter and transmitted via the communications channel to the other modem. The transmitting modem may be considered remote to the modem receiving the information.
The resulting transmit waveform passes through the communications channel and is processed by the receiver. The receiving device must, among other things, recover symbol timing in order to optimally decode the symbol stream, and thus recover the transmitted data. This is often done with a well-known technique called Envelope Derived Timing ("EDT").
A description of conventional timing recovery concepts can be found in The Theory and Practice of Modem Design, by John A. C. Bingham, Chapter 7, or Digital Communication, by Edward A. Lee and David G. Messerschmitt, Chapter 15. A description of interpolator based timing recovery can be found in Floyd M. Gardner's article: Interpolation in Digital Modems--Part 1: Fundamentals, IEEE Transactions on Communications, Vol. 41, No. 3, March 1993, or Part 2: Implementation and Performance, Vol 41, No. 6, June 1993.
The exemplary receiver shown in FIG. 4 includes input, interpolation, and equalization stages as seen at 402, 404 and 406 respectively. The input stage 402 includes a filter 408, summing point 410, and Automatic Gain Control ("AGC") 412. Initial processing of the received transmitted signal 401 is done at the input stage to prepare the signal for further processing.
The input to this first stage is asssumed to be a sequence of discreet time samples represented as digital words that are output from an Analog-to-Digital-Converter (not shown). The noise filter 408 performs several functions, such as filtering of noise added during transmission over the communication channel. The noise filter 408 can also be designed to eliminate D.C. offset imperfections inherent in Analog-to-Digital-Converters often used in modem receivers, as well as power line and power supply noise terms at harmonics of 60 Hz that are introduced by analog electronic components of the modem or terminal equipment. The summing node 410 subtracts an estimate of the local transmitter's echo from the receiver's input path. This is a necessary part of any full duplex modem that utilizes the same band of frequencies for transmission in both directions. The input signal to the Automatic gain Control (AGC) 412 varies in amplitude by 40 dB. or more, depending on the characteristics of the communications channel. The output of the AGC compensates for this uncertainty in receive signal level and furnishes a signal of known constant amplitude to the second stage described below. The second stage includes a phase splitter, timing interpolator, and the Timing Recovery Control Process 418. The phase splitter 414 converts the real signal generated by AGC 412 to its complex components (represented in the drawings by double lines). Such complex components may be represented in the form x+j*y , where x and y are a pair of orthogonal axes that form a two-dimensional space.
The demodulation element 417 shifts the center frequency of the complex signal from the phase splitter 414, which is still centered at the approximately the transmitter's carrier frequency, to approximately zero. This demodulation process is the counterpart of the modulation process 208 in the transmitter block diagram, FIG. 2. The reason that the demodulated signal's center frequency is only approximately zero is because the local time reference that generates the demodulation waveform exp{j*Wc N/T} is, in general, not exactly equal to that of the remote transmitter, and also because the communications channel may introduce frequency shift of several Hertz. This frequency shift is not significant to the operation of the timing recovery system, which is concerned with the difference in upper and lower sideband frequencies, not in the absolute frequencies of the upper and lower sidebands.
The interpolator 416 converts the signal from the demodulation process, which typically is at a sample rate of three samples per symbol, referenced to the local transmitter's symbol rate, to a signal with a sample rate of two samples per symbol, but referenced to the symbol rate of the remote transmitter, which may be significantly different that the local transmitter's symbol rate, as described in the Background of the Invention section. The estimate of the frequency and phase of the remote transmitter is of course produced by the timing recovery system in the local receiver. Under ideal conditions, the local receiver's symbol rate frequency and phase would be precisely equal to that of the remote transmitter, and the channel would not introduce impairments that would make timing recovery problematic. There would be no need for sophisticated timing recovery structures in this case.
Timing interpolator 416 generates a complex signal baseband which is processed by the output stage 406. The output stage includes an equalizer 420 and a decoder, carrier loop, or other equipment 422 that may utilize the data provided. The equalizer receives the complex signal from the timing interpolator and compensates for, or equalizes, the channel response. Such a filter may minimize the intersymbol interference. The modem such as seen at 30 or 28 may include, for example, a decoder, or slicer, that estimates the symbol sequence inherent in the transmitted signal. Such data may then be provided, for example, to the associated computer 24 or 26. The Timing Recovery Control 418 can be understood by first considering a perfect channel, where the transmit waveform arrives at the receiver undistorted. Consider the following sequence of transmitter symbols: "CCCCCCCCCCACACAAAAAAAAA", chosen for the purpose of illustration. It is a possible sequence, although it might not agree with one's intuitive concept of "random".
The envelope derived timing system takes the real and imaginary components of the receive waveform, which is of course sampled at a minimum of twice the symbol rate, and adds together the square of the x (real) component and the square of the y (imaginary) component. Consider the time domain behavior of the Timing Envelope ("TE") during the transmitter sequence above: The timing envelope will stabilize at a Direct Current ("DC") level during the period of "CCCCCCCC" or "AAAAAAAA", or any repeated symbol. The period of "ACACAC" will produce a sinusoid at the symbol rate for the duration of the pattern. This sinusoid contains the frequency and phase information necessary to recovery timing.
From this simple illustration, it can be seen that the timing information is data dependent. Consider the behavior of the timing envelope in the frequency domain. The "CCCCCCCCC" and "AAAAAAAA" patterns produce terms at 0 Hz. (in the transmitter baseband), and the "ACACACAC" pattern produces two tones, at (+/-) Fb/2, where Fb is the symbol rate. The receiver recovers timing information by intermodulating these two tones. This process produces a tone at frequency equal to the difference in the frequencies of the two tones. If the transmitted data pattern is viewed as a series of bursts of alternating patterns interspersed with bursts of repeated symbols, a certain portion of the total transmitter energy is in the regions known as the upper and lower bandedges, at Fb/2 and -Fb/2, respectively, of the data signal. This term is used because the bandedges represent the maximum positive and negative discreet frequencies that can be generated by any valid repeating sequence of symbols.
This concept of timing can be generalized to any pattern and mapping scheme. Any data pattern that produces energy near one bandedge also produces energy near the other bandedge. If these two lobes of energy both survive through the transmission channel, including the transmitter's spectral shaping filter, they may contribute to the timing recovery process in the receiver.
Envelope derived timing as described above works well on channels with moderate amplitude and delay distortion, but may perform poorly when these channel impairments are severe. A preferred embodiment circumvents these problems in an efficient manner by allowing a data receiver's timing recovery system to perform well, even on severely impaired channels with a minimal increase in complexity.
Unlike the energy in the region of the upper and lower bandedges that is useful for recovering timing, the remainder of the energy is not useful for timing recovery, and in fact interferes with the process. This "midband" energy can be thought of as interference or noise from the point of view of the timing recovery system. This concept of a Signal to Signal+Noise Ratio (S/S+NR) can be associated with the timing system.
The effect of amplitude rolloff on the timing envelope's S/S+NR is easy to understand when viewed in the frequency domain. If the energy at (+/-) Fb/2 is severely rolled off, the timing envelope sees much less relative timing energy, and a lower S/S+NR.
Another common problem associated with a communications channel is differential delay distortion. Suppose, for purposes of illustration, that the transmit signal consisted of two sinusoids, one at the lower bandedge and one at the upper bandedge, and that they were turned on simultaneously. This is the signal that would be produced by a burst of "ACACAC" in the example above. Assume that the communications channel has different delay at the two bandedges. Applicants have noted that this delay difference is a more significant factor than the the relative phase of these bandedge components, as others may have assumed. The delay difference (in milliseconds) can represent many symbol intervals. The relative phase difference in these sinusoids can only be resolved to the range 0 to 360 degrees by phase measurement.
Importantly, Applicants have noted that, to achieve optimum timing recovery, it is useful to introduce compensation so that the delays of the lower and upper bandedges are the same at the input to the timing envelope detector.
As mentioned above in the Background of the Invention section, such time delay compensation was not necessary for older modem standards that avoided frequencies in the severely distorted regions of the transmission channel. The problem often appears, however, when the modem attempts to use all available signaling bandwidth to achieve the highest possible data rate.
Following the model described above, the timing envelope exists only when the lower bandedge energy and upper bandedge energy arrive simultaneously, and are intermodulated by the squaring process. Furthermore, this timing envelope is only valid when the simultaneous upper and lower bandedge tones are associated with the same burst of data in the transmitter. No valid indication of timing phase is learned by the receiver if, for example, upper sideband energy associated with one burst of transmitter data coincides with lower sideband energy from a previous burst. The envelope detector may produce a tone at the symbol rate, but the phase and frequency of this tone is incidental, and not in general related to the actual symbol rate. If the differential delay between +Fb/2 and -Fb/2 exceeds the length of a given burst of alternations, no valid timing information is produced by that event. The greater the differential delay between bandedges, the less likely that a bursts of alternations will contribute to timing content in the timing envelope. Therefore, the timing envelope's S/S+NR is reduced for a channel with differential delay distortion.
One embodiment of the equalized envelope derived timing system of the present invention is shown in FIG. 5. Again, this approach is selected for illustration purposes, and there are many ways in which the embodiment shown in FIG. 5 may be implemented.
The embodiment shown in FIG. 5 explicitly compensates for differential delay distortion at the upper and lower bandedges. This embodiment also advantageously compensates for the effects of amplitude distortion on the communications channel.
The signal entering the Timing Interpolation Filter 504 is preferably sampled at a rate of 3 samples per symbol, and the center frequency of this signal is approximately 0. Timing Filter 504 generates an output signal at 2 samples per symbol, with no change in center frequency. These samples are placed in the equalizer delay line 506 where they are used for two purposes: as samples for the adaptive equalizer, which is part of the receiver's data recovery path, and also as samples for the Upper Band Edge Filter (UBEF) 508 and Lower Band Edge Filter (LBEF) 512, which are part of the Envelope Derived Timing Recovery system. The UBEF and LBEF can use different sets of samples from the delay line 506. A preferred embodiment uses 9 samples for the LBEF and 9 samples for the UBEF. For illustration purposes, assume that it has been determined that the the communications channel is delaying the lower bandedge energy more than the upper bandedge by 12 sample intervals. The LBEF could be configured to use the most recent samples, which could be labelled x(0)-x(8), and the UBEF will be configured to use the set of samples x(12)-x(20). (The larger index for xo indicates older, or more delayed, samples). In this manner, the delay in the upper bandedge path may be built out to be equal to the delay in the lower bandedge path. The samples used by the LBEF and UBEF are determined by the inputs T1 and Tu, respectively, which are generated in a manner to be explained.
The complex outputs of the UBEF and LBEF are summed together at the complex summing node 514, and this complex sum is processed by the Complex Squaring Function module 516 to produce the Timing Envelope which is an input to Band Pass filter (BPF) 518. BPF 518 passes energy at the symbol rate, and removes components near D.C. The output of the BPF 518 is processed by the Phase Comparator (PC) 520 which compares the phase of the BPF output to the local timing reference to produce an error term. The output of the PC block 520 is generated at the receive symbol rate.
The error term produced by PC 520 is accumulated over many symbol intervals to advantageously remove the effects of noise and interference from data patterns that do not contain valid timing information. This accumulation is performed by the Integrate and Dump (I and D) block 522. The output of this I and D block is generated at a reduced sample rate. This reduced rate is determined by the integration period of the I and D block, which is preferably 128 symbol periods.
The output of the I and D block is next processed by the Slicer block 524, which performs a SGN function, which generates a +1 or -1 depending on the sign of the input value.
The output of the Slicer is next processed by the PLL Loop Filter (PLL-LF) 526. PLL-LF is advantageously designed to predict the best sample phase and frequency for the Timing Interpolator Filter 504. The output of the PLL-LF is generated at the receive symbol rate and is added to the Timing Accumulator (TA) 528.
The TA 528 takes the predictor information from the PLL-LF, and decides when to begin processing the next batch of receive samples in the Timing Interpolator Filter (TIF) 504, and what timing offset should be used to generate the Interpolator Coefficients that will be used by the TIF. The Number of Samples per Baud (NSPB) output is nominally 3, but can be adjusted +/-1 to accomodate an overspeed or underspeed scenario. TA 528 generates a Timing Interpolator Parameter (TIP) output for the Coefficient Computation (CC) block 530. The Coefficient Computation (CC) block 530 converts the TIP to a set of filter interpolation coefficients with the desired delay characteristics for use by TIF 504.
Amplitude Distortion Compensation
The upper bandedge filter 508 passes energy in a region centered at the upper bandedge, and the lower bandedge filter 512 passes energy in a region centered at the lower bandedge. The rest of the energy which includes all the energy in the center of the band, contains no timing information, and is sharply attenuated by the upper and lower bandedge filters. This has the effect of improving the timing envelope S/S+NR on all channels, but the effect is most dramatic when the channel is severely rolled off at one or both bandedges.
This filtering technique is superior to simple amplitude equalization of the channel prior to extraction of the timing envelope, because equalization boosts the desired energy at the bandedges, but also boosts the unwanted energy near the bandedges.
Delay Distortion Compensation
The group delay at the upper and lower bandedges are defined as Du and D1, respectively. Let Dd=Du-D1, the differential delay between upper and lower bandedges. Assume that Dd can be estimated accurately. Let Dc=compensation delay=-Dd. Then, the two parameters Tu and T1 can be established such that Tu-T1=Dc.
Furthermore, set either T1=0 or Tu=0, depending on the sign of Dc. If Dc is negative, Tu=0, and T1=-Dc. Alternatively, if Dc is positive, T1=0, and Tu=Dc.
Thus, the parameters Tu and T1 are advantageously used to introduce delay into either the upper or lower bandedge filter. The difference in delay in these filters is opposite in sign to the differential delay imposed by the channel. Therefore, the channel delay is equalized in the region that contains timing energy. This compensation is achieved with a single degree of freedom, Dc. This parameter can preferably be estimated at the beginning of modem training, for example, and fixed during data transmission.
This Delay line 506 is part of the modem receiver's adaptive equalizer, which is implemented as an adaptive Finite Impulse Response (FIR) filter. The samples in this delay line are also used as the sample set for the bandedge filter, which is preferably implemented as a fixed coefficient FIR filter. If it is desired to introduce a delay of N symbols in the upper bandedge filter, and the filter has K coefficients, then the most recent 2N samples are skipped, and the next K samples starting at sample 2N, are processed. The equalizer delay line 506 is of finite length, but long enough for the desired compensation. This is because, if the delay line is long enough to compensate for amplitude and delay distortion in general, it is long enough to compensate for the differential delay distortion at a particular pair of frequencies.
The estimation of parameters Tu and T1 can be accomplished by a number of means. In a preferred embodiment, the parameters Tu and T1 are initialized to a compromise value for initial receiver training. The receiver's adaptive equalizer is trained initially with this compromise value for timing compensation. This value for timing compensation will not be optimum for many channels of interest, but this primarily effects long term stability of the receiver, and does not significantly effect the short term convergence of the equalizer.
At a convenient point in the training sequence, the equalizer coefficients are analyzed. The delay distortion is computed at a point near the upper bandedge, and a corresponding point near the lower bandedge. The two delays are subtracted to produce the desired result, Dc. Tu and T1 are then determined as discussed above. The bandedges are preferably not used because the adaptive equalizer can generate an ambiguous result at these particular frequencies.
Several alternative methods exist to determine the appropriate time delay to compensate for delay distortion, including compromise delay equalizer at input of the modem receiver. Also, the modem may simply conduct a test during a training, or handshake, sequence before any data is transmitted. During the training sequence, the bandedge delay for a known signal may be measured and then used for appropriate compensation during the later data transmission.
The input to the Timing Interpolator Filter 504 shown in FIG. 5 is a sequence of complex numbers -x(n)+j'y(n) (the time index n is understood). This frequency spectrum of this complex baseband signal is centered at 0, and has both positive and negative frequencies. The upper bandedge filter substantially passes only positive frequencies centered around +fb/2, and the lower bandedge filter only negative frequencies centered around -fb/2.
In order for a filter to discriminate between positive and negative frequencies, it must operate on complex numbers. These filters also must have complex coefficients. Hence the inputs are complex, the coefficients are complex, and the two outputs are complex.
The coefficients for the UBEF 508 and LBEF 512 are preferably generated by first designing a low pass prototype filter, and then modulating this prototype filter's coefficients by a complex sinusoid at +fb/2, and at -fb/2, which generates the two sets of coefficients desired, for the upper and lower bandedge filters. Although the foregoing description of the preferred embodiment will enable a person of ordinary skill in the art to make and use the invention, five detailed assembly language subroutine-- listings are included below. The first listing subroutine, entitled "Estimate Differential Delay Compensation," estimates the differential delay distortion near the upper and lower bandedges, and generates the paramters Tu and T1, which determine what samples are used by the UBEF and LBEF.-- The second listing, subroutine, entitled "Receiver Baud Timing Recovery System," implements TIF 504 management, UBEF/LBEF 508/512 management, complex summing node 514, Complex Squaring Function 516, BPF 518, and PC 520 functions.
The third listing, entitled "Baud Loop Filter," implements the Slicer 524, PLL-LF 526, TA 528 functions, and the UBEF/LBEF 508/512 filter functions. The code for managing the UBEFILBEF function is contained in the "Receiver Baud Timing Recovery System" listing described above.
The fourth listing, entitled "Update Baud Timing Parameter," decomposes the data from the Timing Accumulator into two parts: (1) NSPB, nominally 3, but adjusted by +1 or -1 depending depending on relative frequencies of local and remote symbol rate, and accumulated error, and (2) The Timing Interpolation Parameter which is used to generate the coefficients of the interpolator filters. This subroutine also generates the coefficients for this timing interpolator. The fifth listing, entitled "3:2 Timing Interpolator," computes the T/2 outputs for the Receive Equalizer Sample Delay Line 506 based on the interpolation coefficients. While the code for this interpolator function resides in "3:2 Timing Interpolator", it is under the control of code in the "Receiver Baud Timing Recovery System" described above. Each of the programs listed below may be converted into machine executable form using the `320C2/C5x Assembler available from the Texas Instruments Corporation. Additional detailed features of the system will become apparent to those skilled in the art from reviewing these programs. ##SPC1##
A preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described herein. It is to be understood, of course, that changes and modifications may be made in the embodiment without departing from the true scope and spirit of the present invention, as defined by the appended claims.
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|Godard, (1978), Passband Timing Recovery in an All Digital Modem Receiver, IEEE Transactions on Communications, vol. Com 26, No. 5, pp. 517 523.
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|U.S. Classification
|375/355, 375/362, 375/326
|International Classification
|Cooperative Classification
|European Classification
|Apr 4, 1997
Owner name: U.S. ROBOTICS ACCESS CORP., ILLINOIS
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|Mar 5, 2002
|Maintenance fee reminder mailed
|Feb 13, 2006
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text:
Democracy or fascism; Earl Browder's report to the Ninth Convention of the Communist Party
New York: Workers Library Publishers, 1936. Pamphlet. 47p., wraps slightly edge worn else very good condition, 5x7.25 inches. *Seidman B497.
Cat.No: 101394
Price: $12.00
See all items in 1930S, Communist Party USA, Labor - American
See all items by Earl Browder

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Tower of Guns Review— 08/01/2015
A million bullets, almost as large as a person, flying at you from all directions. The source of these dangerous flying projectiles: turrets.
In 2013, we saw the development of the Oculus Rift VR, Virtuix Omni and OUYA console. Each of these were developed with money raised via the crowd-funding platform; Kickstarter, and all of them will affect the gaming industry in a different way.
Having followed Kickstarter for the past few months, I have noticed many video game projects include a stretch goal which will bring in Oculus Rift VR support. Quite a few of these wouldn't have existed without the development of VR. One game which sadly didn't achieve funding was Alone, a horror game which I felt utilized VR in a pretty nifty way. You were literally playing a game within a game as the walls between virtuality and reality broke down.
Although I haven't seen too much coverage on the Virtuix Omni, I put that down to the fact that it isn't as affordable or portable as the Rift , but in the future games may look at offering support. My guess is that the games will be action-based, likely FPS.
At first glance, the OUYA seems a great console as it offers indie developers the chance to put their game out in the console market without any cost to them, apart from acquiring the console to ensure it works properly. However, there doesn't seem to be any quality control in place due to the large amount of games that are now available, but only a few ever receiving good coverage, namely Tower Fall. I am expecting this to change this year as I feel most of the projects were released too quickly which is why only a few are 'successful' in capturing the whole community.
Kudos to the team behind Kickstarter because without it, none of these projects would have come to our attention. I wonder what you are going to bring us this year.
We have to remember that although both Rift and Omni went into development last year, both of them weren't slated for release until 2014.
Imagine the amount of pride that would come with backing a project that changes the future of a whole industry.
So, what about future projects?
I believe we can expect that larger companies are looking into developing similar products at cheaper prices, but they won't be able to begin making them because hopefully both Oculus and Virtuix have secured patents. If not, then there will be competition from the beginning which, due to the community support of these two projects, will easily be crushed.
It seems there is only one way we can progress in virtual reality from here, and that is 4D gaming. How awesome would it be to feel the chill of the wind as you tracked up the side of the mountain to your objective? The question is how can someone do this.
Honestly, I think there is a pretty clever way they could partially implement this that wouldn't disrupt with the Rift or Omni, but I want to leave it to the inventive people out there. Also, if no-one manages to figure a way to do it, I always have that career option open.
This year I would like to ask you to support an innovative project, because the feeling of being involved in a few gaming projects is pretty exciting. Imagine the amount of pride that would come with backing a project that changes the future of a whole industry.
– Callum


text:
The literature review deals with the points of view of the eminent scholars, who have assessed the chosen topic from different angles. Therefore, the chapter would assess the chosen topic from different angles to understand in a better way. The chosen topic would be assessed by using different models and theories such as, SERVQUAL model of service quality and SPC model related to the factor of customer loyalty. The aspect of customer satisfaction would also be depicted.
(Source: created by author)
The term service quality refers to the assimilation of two factors that is service and quality. Therefore, maintaining a perfect equilibrium, between the two factors would enhance the overall scenario. As opined by Bansal & Taylor (2012), service quality can be measured according to the judgment given by the customers after using the products or services. On the other hand, Barnes (2009) has stated that the service quality can be said to be positive when, the features of the products or the services can meet the implied needs. Therefore, service differentiation is prerequisite to take the companies to the path of growth.
The service sector is highly heterogenous. However, four basic aspects are there, which differentiate the service sector from the product selling sector. These are such as, intangibility, heterogeneity, inseparability and perishability. Intangibility means that services cannot be attributed to a thing. Therefore, Bowen & Chen (2011) has stated that services are consumed but the services cannot be possessed. On the other hand, heterogeneity refers to the factor of keeping the service quality equal on all the parameters. Products have their own standards, as opined by Caruana (2012). However, services have the factor of heterogeneity. According to Chada & Kapoor (2009), inseparability refers to the factor that services are produced and distributed among the users at the same time. Therefore, services cannot be stored for an indefinite time. Lastly, the factor of perishability does not persists in the case of services as, these have no shelf life.
SERVQUAL model of service quality refers to measuring the service quality by using the gap between the delivered services and the expected level of service. The model speaks of five aspects such as, reliability, responsiveness, empathy, assurances and tangibles. The model is a type of analytical tool. This model can help the management of a company to assess the gap between the provided service quality and what the customers desire from the company. Chen (2011) has stated that the model is an exploratory one and does not describe the actual gaps in the offered service.
(Source: Chow & Komaran, 2012, p.82)
Dick & Basu (2010) have opined that perceived value for the customers refer to the overall assessment of how the presented service provides the intended benefit to the users. Therefore, the value for money products or the services would obviously satisfy the customers. Five dimensions are there according to Howat, Crilley & McGrath (2009), such as, quality, price, behavioural price, emotional response and reputation. Therefore, customer satisfaction is the ultimate criterion to decide whether the services meet the perceived quality standard or not (Hafeez & Muhammad, 2012). The researcher has thus observed that customer value and customer loyalty are the two important factors of customer perceived value.
Customer satisfaction refers to fulfilling the demands and wishes of the customers through providing effective service. Different customers have different level of expectation from the companies. Therefore, the telecom companies would find it quite difficult to understand the general notion of perceived service quality. As opined by Huang & Yu (2012), the Indian telecom sector has a varied customer response as, the gap between the provided service and the desired quality varies considerably.
The model specifies that there is a relation between the aspect of customer loyalty and employee productivity. Therefore, if the companies are trying to appease the customers to retain them, the best way would be to make the employees happy. One of the most important derivatives from this model is that customer satisfaction can result into customer loyalty (Eshghi, Roy & Ganguli, 2009). Therefore, the telecom companies have the option of encouraging the customers to work positively to make the customers loyal. The model also reveals that if the employees are happy and contented, the quality of service provided would automatically improve. Therefore, ultimately the companies would secure a positive image and credibility in the market. Figure 2.3: Service-profit-chain (SPC) model
(Source: Akbar & Parvez, 2010, p.52)
The researcher has thus evaluated the process of securing the criterion of retaining the existing customers by assessing different models and theories. Therefore, the Indian telecom sector has seen many ups and downs regarding customer loyalty. On that note, John (2011) has noted that the telecom companies has tried to lure the customers by providing enough rewards and offers at first. However, gradually the companies have understood that retaining the customers is a tedious job as, the plethora of options before them make the customers look for better options. However, Paulrajan & Rajkumar (2011) have argued that the telecom companies can retain the customers without providing any additional bonus by simply developing the quality of service. If the customers are loyal, retaining them would not be a problem. The problem of low frequency band is plaguing the Indian telecom companies to offer better service to the customers (Punniyamoorthy & Raj, 2009).
This chapter has thus described the relevant models and theories that are helpful to assess the applicability of customer retention policies. Various problems faced by the telecom companies have found a proper mention here. As the paper has described, the service profit chain is quintessential to understand the criterions that are quite helpful to make the customers loyal. On the other hand, SERVQUAL model has helped the researcher to evaluate the factors that influence the service quality meted out to the customers.


text:
Movie : 24 (Single) (Kaalam Yen Kadhali)
Music : A.R.Rahman
Production : 2D Entertainment & Studio Green
Director : Vikram Kumar
Starring : Suriya, Samantha, Nithya Menen
Year Released : 2016
Language : Tamil
Lyrics : Vairamuthu
Singer(s) : Benny Dayal & A. R. Rahman
24 is an Indian Tamil-language science fiction thriller film, directed by Vikram Kumar and produced by 2D Entertainment & Studio Green. This film stars Suriya, Samantha, Nithya Menen in the lead role. The films soundtrack and background score were composed by A.R.Rahman with Lyrics By Vairamuthu
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text:
well, before the 3Ms, i did lots of fun riding, swimming, yoga and all kinds of other stuff. the weekend rides were super fun and i had great company. saturday was with the-fast-tri-girls-of-north-county-with the-pretty-bike-kits and the sunday was a double date with james, bethany, and chris along the coast and through rancho santa fe. great times! i am really okay with taking time off of running, i am just sad this means i may not be racing. i really want to race- i'm ready! all dressed up and no place to go!
but its really too early to say that i'm not racing since i have no clue what is wrong (or i hope the clue i have is wrong). and its not painful except when running. something just ain't right...
see, still happy even though it's gray!
other than that, i have some BIG FUN NEWS (to me). I am the lucky inheriter/long-term borrower of a POWERTAP! cool huh? for anyone not a cyclist, it is this little computer that tracks your actual power and wattage output on the bike to see how much work you are actually doing (or how much you are lollygagging). other measures like heart rate or pace are so variable dependent on conditions (like wind!) and power is much less impacted by these kinds of variables. i'm just in the phase now of spedning time collecting data with the thing, but pretty soon will be tracking my progress. good thing my little data lover, james, is helping me out. i owe him big time, but not as big as super generous Trevor who was kind enough to let me inherit it! this is huge and he has no idea how much its going to help me out- now i have nowhere to hide- no sandbagging!!!
other than that, i was bummed to miss james' trail race in malibu this weekend, but grad school called. i'm in the final stretch, so no complaints...i can't wait until summer!


text:
Download Mahjong of Thrones apk 1.0.7 free for Android smartphone
Posted by GrupoAlamar in Puzzle | Aug. 3, 2016 | 12 Comments
Apk file size: 19.0 MB
The game Mahjong (also known as mah-jongg-jongg, mahjongg, mijang, Shanghai, Taipei, Morejongg, Mindjongg, Mahjong Solitaire, etc.), aims to remove all the tiles from the board. Find identical tiles with some extreme right or left free (i.e., does not have a contiguous tile) and click on the same couples until the possibilities have run down or are no more tiles on the board.
After playing some games, some tricks are discovered, or it is often to improve the technique with which they become more fun. The elimination of some tiles will open more possibilities than others, making it easier to remove them of the board.
The original Mahjong is an ancient chinese game played with similar parts but under a different concept. The original game is played with 136, 144, 152 or more blocks thick bone and bamboo, usually by four people. For now enjoy this addictive game of solitaire in your device.
The main features of Mahjong of Thrones are:
-Excellent graphics.
-Good gameplay.
-Awesome music.
-A perfect history.
GrupoAlamar part of our Puzzle and have average installs from 10000 to 50000. Last Update Aug. 3, 2016. Google play rating is 79.3822. Current verison is 1.0.7. Actual size 19.0 MB.
Similar applications
12 Comments
R Hollandsworth
Love this game... Lots of levels, and harder each time......
Sharon Sharp
Cant shuffle the tables nice size and color shoud be able to go higer than level two
Carol Buott
Unable to plsy as game freezws my tablet
Jennifer Makidon
Awesome and cool
Robbie Markwell
I. Love. It. Mahjong. Thones
Ann Fagan
Marjong game of thrones Thought graphics dull game slow
April Rains
Mahjong of Throned Can't get past opening pg. Please help. Don't know what to do
Linda Guerrero
Hard to download!
Debra Lamoureux
Mahjong Game of Thrones One of the best puzzle games I've ever played. Love the tiles.
Tracy Phillips
Fix What good is a game if you can't play
Denise Clayton
Mahjongofthrones I love it so much that I don't ever want to stop playing the game it is so relaxing that it helps me sleep when I have trouble sleeping.
Linda Reynolds
Mahjong throne Entirely too complicated to figure out how to play Explanations would have been welcome


text:
The purpose of the Advisory Committee is to provide guidance of both a theological and practical nature to Word & Deed Ministries.
Mr. Jim Beeke - International Educational Consultant.
Dr. Gerald M. Bilkes - Professor of Old & New Testament, Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary.
Rev. Richard Bout - The URC Missions Coordinator. Rev. Bout has fifteen years of experience on the mission field, having planted churches and having served the Iglesia Vida Eterna in Tepic, Mexico.
Rev. C. Heiberg - Pastor, Zion United Reformed Church (Sheffield).
Rev. Danny Hyde - Pastor, Oceanside United Reformed Church.
Rev. Mark Vander Hart - Associate Professor of Old Testament Studies and Ministerial Apprenticeship Program Director, Mid-America Reformed Seminary
Rev. Frank Van Dalen - Executive Director of the Foreign Missions Board of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church.


text:
Environment Updates
8,000 Volunteers Join the UK's Biggest Ever Community Beach Clean Project
Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 21 April, 2016 – Surfers Against Sewage's Big Spring Beach Clean delivered a record-breaking 231 beach cleans at coastal locations across the UK during the week of the 11th – 17th of April. Led by SAS, 8,000 passionate beach clean volunteers came together to remove a staggering 35 tonnes of marine litter from some of the nation's favourite beaches, recycling an incredible 10 tonnes of marine plastics in the process, making this the most successful Big Spring Beach Clean ever.
Surfers Against Sewage's Big Spring Beach Clean is now the single biggest week of community-led beach clean activity in the UK. The removal of 35 tonnes of marine litter, the majority of which was plastic, makes an immediate and tangible difference to the health of our marine environment with every piece of litter removed no longer posing a threat to marine wildlife and the aesthetic beauty of our beaches.
Until now the vast majority of the plastic collected at all beach cleans went straight to landfill, a fact that beach clean volunteers found hugely upsetting and frustrating when so much of it could have been recycled.
It was this feeling that led SAS to join forces with Parley for the Oceans to commit to recycling as much of the plastics collected during the Big Spring Beach Clean as possible. Recognising the need to begin viewing the immense amounts of plastics in our oceans as a resource rather than waste, Surfers Against Sewage is delighted to say that volunteers filled 35 bespoke sacks with plastics, which will be recycled as part of SAS's growing efforts to recycle plastics through innovative circular economy projects, including Parley For The Ocean A.I.R Strategy.
Surfers Against Sewage is also working on an increasing number of campaigns to stop the flow of plastics into our oceans, capturing them before they can cause harm to oceans, waves, beaches and wildlife.
Parley's A.I.R. Strategy is an innovative approach that aims to redefine industry standards and end the cycle of pollution based on three pillars of action: AVOID – INTERCEPT – REDESIGN.
As part of the INTERCEPT phase these sacks, which contain millions of pieces of plastic such as recently littered single use water bottles, ghost fishing nets, and countless tiny 'mermaids tears', are headed to the SAS HQ in Cornwall from across the UK where a massive, co-branded 20ft shipping container is waiting.
Once full, the plastics will be distributed to the Parley Collaborator Network for use in awareness-building recycling initiatives and product innovation.
With over 5,300 items per mile(1), the amount of litter on our beaches is horrifying and often overwhelming but our coastal communities will not admit defeat. 8,000 people, from all walks of life and of all ages chose to donate their precious time to help tackle marine litter on the beaches that give them and their communities so much joy. 35 tonnes of litter is an epic effort and millions of pieces of plastic recycled sets a truly inspiring, global awareness raising, example.
The Big Spring Beach Clean 2016 has set a 'marine litter revolution' in motion and the battle against marine litter has entered a new phase!
Hugo Tagholm, Chief Executive of Surfers Against Sewage says:"Surfers Against Sewage is delighted to be collaborating with Parley For the Oceans, and engaging communities with projects to stop the flow of plastic into our seas. The single-use plastic vandalism of our coastlines has to stop and plastics valued as a resource we can't afford to let accumulate in the marine environment."
Cyrill Gutsch, Founder of Parley for the Oceans says: "Current plastic is a design failure.
It needs to go. But this can't happen overnight. We need to avoid plastic wherever we can, stop producing more of it, and retrieve and revive what has already ended up in nature. But to solve the problem for good, we have to invent a new material.
Collaboration is the magic formula, because nobody can solve this complex problem alone. With Surfers Against Sewage, we found the impactful partner we need. Together we can turn this around."


text: Lewis, Gary M wrote: > > >Hmmm... the TTQ for arguments sake is 2700 pounds and makes 225 hp from a > > >1.8 liter motor. that's about 12 pounds/hp with a motor that makes 125 hp > > >per liter. Impressive! > > > > > >The S4 on the other hand is - lets say 3400 pounds- makes 250 hp (US) or > > >about 13.6 pounds per hp. Call that about 92.6 hp per liter. for the sake > > of > > >comparison, the US AAN make around 100 hp/liter This car weighs in at about 3550 Pounds. > > > > Matt didn't say the above, Rich did. I don't completely agree with the > above statement as the tuning potential of a 30v V6 Biturbo vs. a 20v I4 > single turbo should be far greater, even greater than our beloved 20v I5's. > Ignoring radical internal modifications, the S4 BT should easily make 300+ > (TAP says 340, chips only). Thats 126 hp per liter. I know of Ur-S4/S6 > folks who do the full boat, rods, pistons, and crank, and are still under > 400hp. One of those German tuners (Mr. Cool, Paul "I get people to give me > their new Quattro's" Rivera told me who it was, I forgot tho') say with > internals, 450 hp is easy for the new V6bt. Thats 167 hp per liter. I know > the 4cyl 20v is capable of similar numbers, but would you rather have a 4 > banger making 450, or a V6? > MTM and ABT have gotten 400+ reliable HP from the 2.7 Bi-T. It has enormous tuning potential. > > > Stopped by Carlsen in Palo Alto and picked up the brochure on the neu S4. > > Spec sheet missing a few things: > > - weight > > > German site says 1510 kg (call it 3,325 lbs) > Inside Audi says about 3550, Automatic at 3700 (about) (this is from memory if I am wrong, please correct) > > > - max turbo boost (tuning potential) > > Are there 2 boost guages? No boost gauges in the car. The Multifunction gauge does not show boost. > > > > Paul, can you shed a bit of light here?? I know you have some tuning info > these nice folks would love to hear... > I am in love with this car. Tons o torque! Best brakes of any Audi shy of the RS-2 (of which I have never driven, only lusted after). Stiff-non shakable chassis. Good driving position. Excellent control and pedal feel. This car is close to the refinement that I love in M3's. Major step forward. However, 4 Oxy sensors, 2 Turbos, and lots of heat. Will it hold up like our dearly loved I-5's? I hope so. Maybe better if Audi has done their homework. OBD2 was the best thing that happened to Bosch to sell Oxy sensors! > > > Do we (the list) have factual- as opposed to speculative- info on these > > missing specs? How different is this car going to be from the A4 (other > > than > > the obvious- 2 extra cylinders.) > > > Go to: > http://www.audi.de/ > They have an English version, bunch o' S4bt stuff... > > > I like the color options better than TT. I think the Nogaro blue (RS2) > > and silver interior would be nice. > > > The Silver interior was _really_ nice. In blue, the car would be > beautiful... > > Gary Lewis > 88 5kcstq 1.8 bar 110km Pearl w/Fuchs, K24 turbo, 2-piece EM > 86 5kcstqw Sapphire and Platinum, stock > Mergers, Acquisitions, Public Offerings > (818) 384-7600 I think Silver or Nogaro Blue would be my pick. Or......in Germany they will do a custom color to your sample. I think I love Wood interiors. The Carbon Fibre was neat. like the 93 S4's. It is all subjective. Great car. We will see a lot of tuning for this car. Mov'it has a 4 wheel Brembo Kit for this car already. As far as the TT Quattro 225ps model VS the S4, I think I would pick the S4 for it's comfort and potential. I like 4 doors. I like taking friends and family along. Love the TT, but I guess I am too pragmatic---cancel that--too much in love with sedans (anybody that owns more than 3 Audis cannot be called pragmatic).. Ciao Paul Rivera 91 200 tqa


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Cooking with Rania sponsored by KitchenNet
"Mediterranean Flavors"
Check out the Tools�The following products offered by KitchenNet.com were highlighted or used by Rania on today's segment. Click on any product for more information.
Watch Rania Again�Cooking with Rania can be seen on KDKA's "Pittsburgh Today Live" every Wednesday at 9:00 AM. Click on the �KDKA� buttons to see and hear Rania demonstrate how to prepare today�s recipes.
Get The Recipes�You can download or print Rania�s recipes by clicking on the following links.* Today's delicious recipe:
- Lamb Tagine
|*get free Adobe Reader


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Download Newspapers of New Zealand apk 1.7.1 free for Android smartphone
Posted by Newspapers Apps in News & Magazines | Aug. 2, 2016 | 1 Comments
Apk file size: 2.1 MB
Newspapers of New Zealand gives you the chance to experience all the latest news from New Zealand and all around the world in a very compact way from the comfort of your own phone or tablet.
The menu button ≣ situated on the left is all you need to start using Newspapers of New Zealand and stay informed of everything surrounding you. You can also access this menu by swiping your finger from the left part of the screen to the right
Included newspapers/news sites in Newspapers of New Zealand are:
New Zealand Herald, Dominion Post, The Press, Otago Daily Times, Waikato Times, Southland Times, Hawkes Bay Today, Manawatu Standard, Ashburton Guardian, Bay of Plenty Times, Gisborne Herald, Northern Advocate, Nelson Mail, Oamaru Mail, Taranaki Daily News, Wairarapa Times-Age, Wanganui Chronicle, Timaru Herald, Daily Post, Greymouth Star, Sunday Star-Times, Gulf News, Local Matters, Raglan Chronicle, Times Live, Business to Business, Korea Post, Indianz Outlook, Kuk Punjabi Samachar, Google news New Zealand, Yahoo news New Zealand and many other newspapers/news sites.
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Newspapers Apps part of our News & Magazines and have average installs from 500 to 1000. Last Update Aug. 2, 2016. Google play rating is 90.0. Current verison is 1.7.1. Actual size 2.1 MB.
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Mary Gibbons
Love it I have all the newspapers in on play thanks


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Soul in the Flow
A free audio training from Maria Carbonell
How to create a life you love in the flow of your soul and have the inner freedom to be, do and have anything you desire using the tips on this FREE Audio Series
Maria Carbonell is an Ayurvedic Health Practitioner and Soul Life Coach. She guides women to create and build a life they love aligned with their soul, setting them free of many internal constraints that hold them back from personal and professional fulfillment. Maria has successfully guided, coached and inspired women all around the world move through major life transitions and to re-define their life path and purpose through a self-discovery process guided by her coach, health and energy training, ancient wisdom traditions and her intuitive callings. www.samaayurveda.com


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After borrowing a BMW from a friend to go from Scotland to Manchester, England, for a Stone Roses concert last June, the driver forgot where he parked it.
To his excuse, the Etihad Stadium, which hosted the event, has a multi-storey car park, that he thoroughly searched over the next five days, before giving up, ManchesterEveningNews wrote.
The next step saw the owner contact several companies and the local council to see if the vehicle was either located or removed, but it was all in vain - the car couldn't be found, so it was then reported as lost/stolen, two months later.
However, the incident took a 180-degree turn right before New Year's Eve, when police officers reported finding the BMW - in the parking lot, and after checking the records, they contacted the owner to give him the good news.
"Officers have found a car in a multi-storey lost since June, driver visiting city parked it, but couldn't remember where. Driver apparently spent five days searching car parks in the city, before reporting it as lost/stolen", Inspector Phil Spurgeon from GMP City Center wrote on social media.
Upon finding the car, the police Inspector then raised another question - how much is the parking bill: "We can't imagine what the ticket machine is going to say when they finally put the ticket in - £££££££££". It is estimated that the bill may be in the region of £5,000 ($6,140).
Update on earlier Tweet; cops find car lost by driver in car park for 6 months after @thestoneroses gig. MEN report: https://t.co/PvV31RxhFL— GMP City Centre (@GMPCityCentre) December 31, 2016
Photo Google Maps


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|Applies To:
|The Modbus Plus protocol supports devices known as terminal I/O. These devices are not PLCs in that they can't be programmed and are simply used by Modbus Plus PLCs and SCADA systems for remote control of sensors / actuators. Due to the fact that they are not full PLCs, they have inherent limitations which must be considered when configuring a Citect project which uses them.
|Modbus Plus terminal I/O modules such as
the 170 BDI (16x input module) and 170 BDO (16x output module)
contain only the following registers:
Device on-line check.
Using the default configuration, the Modbus Plus driver will attempt to read some discrete digital inputs in the range 10001 - 10017 to ascertain whether the unit is on-line. Unfortunately, these addresses don't exist for terminal I/O. To make the device on-line check work with TIO, the option InitType=3 should be added to the CITECT.INI file (in the [MODBUS] section) as described in the KB article Q1146.
Even though the TIO modules may have 16 physically discrete digital inputs or outputs, the units must actually be addressed as words. This is furthermore implied by the fact that the 400000 range of addresses is the only valid I/O range for these units. In order to address individual bits within these words, the addressing format 400001.X should be used, where X is the bit number in the word. In no case should the 100000 range of address be used to address digital inputs for TIO modules.
Related Links


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This man is my idol. This is a perfect example of how men should react to the cunt when it misbehaves. Notice the nagina who came to the cunts rescue half way through the video but was too much of a pussy to do anything. I loved the part when the becky boo looking cunt cried "how dare you say that to us, we are women". Hahahahahahaha, the cunts really think that they are excused from any responsibility since they have a stinky STD infested hole between its legs, however the cab driver thought differently. I love how becky boo got freaked out and left her friend (the cunt with the big nose) who insisted on remaining in the car. The best part is when the cab driver called the big nose cunt "a cunt" at the end of the video. If I knew who this cab driver was, I would gladly paypal him $100 as kudos for this. This guy was cool headed, IMHO. If I were this uber cab driver, and I was in a bad mood, in a rural area with no cameras around, and the cunts pulled a stunt like this, lets just say that it may be a long time before it would be fucking its badboy any time soon. This is a perfect example of how all men should react to the cunts misbehavior.
Cheers. ROAI!


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Our Sponsor
Our Sponsor is the Wirral Academy Trust, established by The Sixth Form College in Birkenhead to raise aspirations, widen horizons and assist in transforming the lives of young people across Wirral and beyond.
The Trust's philosophy is that high academic standards go hand-in-hand with the development of character, manners and behaviour and that these lay the foundations that will enable students to excel in all that they do. Together the Trust will work with the school to develop a modern curriculum that is delivered in a warm and supportive environment allowing education to be both enjoyable and challenging. Maths, English and Science will be given high priority and the Trust is committed to working with the school to achieve excellence in these core skills.
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Wirral Academy Trust
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The 2010 Pitchfork Music Festival will be held at Chicago's Union Park on July 16 – 18, and festival organizers have announced the first batch of bands slated to perform. This year's festival welcomes the highly anticipated return of legendary band Pavement as they make one of their first appearances since reuniting! Pavement will perform on Sunday night. Friday features indie-rock, chart-topping mainstays Modest Mouse, while Saturday and Sunday sees performances by LCD Soundsystem, Raekwon, Here We Go Magic, St. Vincent, Lightning Bolt, Cass McCombs and Sleigh Bells. Stay tuned, as more bands will be announced in the coming weeks.
Tickets are on sale at www.pitchforkmusicfestival.com
The 2010 Pitchfork Festival Lineup so far:
Modest Mouse
LSD Soundsystem
St. Vincent
Lightning Bolt
Cass McCombs
Here We Go Magic
Sleigh Bells


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I'm sorry, this is quite long but it can be longer. please read and advice .
I've been going out with my boyfriend for about 18 months now.
The story is----
Hmmnn. I love him (at least I think so) and he tells me he loves me every time he gets the opportunity to say it.
Don't get me wrong I said think I love him because of the circumstances that surrounds our relationship. We are from different religious background and as I grew up my parents never fail to remind me to not to marry outside my religion.I always put that in mind before I date, it was different when I met him. I avoided starting a relationship but he was very persistent like his life would end if I did not agree. Somehow we started dating not because of his persistence but because I felt different with him (call it love): he is not a trouble maker and he seems much matured to me unlike other guys that have tried to ask me out, Plus he is good looking too (though not a point for me but that's the physical aspect my friends see, can't stop hearing, He looks so sweet and nice. Don't leave this guy o.
We are at a stage where everybody that sees us together ask us why we are not married yet, like when we get an i.v. for someone's wedding, his friends will jokingly say it's you guys' turn o. he has not asked me to marry him and I don't want to press him but he has shown gestures like he calls me "iyawo mi" and has a pet name for me that means my beloved.
My problem with our relationship-------
Despite my parents wish. I want to marry the person I love and that loves me too. They are having a fit already and to them I'm not seeing anyone. I meet guys every now and then my cousins even want to introduce me to rich nice guys that have shown interest in me but of course I've declined. As I said earlier, he tells me he loves me but I believe he just says it but not show it. He is always busy, at first I understood because I know how tight his schedule is. He is also trying to set up his own business which explains why he's always broke. I understand so I hardly expect gifts but a girl needs affection ad needs to be pampered too, no matter how little, don't u think? We never go out. His idea of being together is me coming over to his place, when I want it vice versa; he reminds me how he has to plan a strategy to meet my parents so they will accept him and his idea of showing affection is talking to me on the phone everyday. I loved that at first as he's always checking on me but I'm getting bored, we never do anything fun. When I try to complain, he will be apologetic and melt my heart by saying he agrees and he'll change but he never does. He didn't call me on my birthday and I was very sad because my toasters kept calling to take me out but my dear friend was no where to be found only to tell me he had been extraordinarily busy and didn't forget and he would make it up to me, it's been over a month, no outing, no gift? I'm not materialistic (that may be a problem because I don't ask him for things) but a gift means a lot to me even if it's just chewing gum. It means I'm in the person's mind. Ask me do i give him gifts, yes I know the surprise I gave on his last birthday.
[I know my parents want my happiness and will give their consent if I do not bring home anyone else and they are sure he's the best person for me. Note, I have not told him this so he doesn't take advantage of it, I would, if I see more seriousness. I'm not very happy at the moment and I can't boast and say he can always be there for me. I'm ready for marriage and if you ask him the same, he'll say yes. I'm confused here. What should I do now? Am I expecting too much?


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I'm not shy to admit that Valentine's Day is my favorite holiday. A day set aside to celebrate love and friendship? Why wouldn't you get excited about that? 🙂
This year, I came across a few special gifts that could be just what you need to make the day one to remember:
For the Guys: Do you love a well-dressed man? I came across Texas-Standard and immediately thought of a gift for my husband. This company has top-quality clothing and all of their products are proudly designed and distributed in Dallas, Texas. Their line of shirts are classic, soft, and look incredible. My husband is wearing the Standard Sport Shirt in the Bluebonnet Check style. What he loves about this shirt is that it looks just as good with jeans and khakis as it does with a suit. The Pocket Tee ($34.50 in gray, navy, and off-white) and Polos are also an excellent choice when searching for a classic gift that will actually get worn. Since this line is new, your man could be an early adopter of this awesome brand! Check out their Instagram for cool pics and ideas about how to style their shirts. (Bonus: Texas-Standard also takes 10% of all of their profits and donates them to partner charities, Ten to Texas.)
For the Girls: I don't know a girl who doesn't love a pretty piece of jewelry. Valentine's Day is the perfect time to give her a little something extra special, and a gorgeous Swarovski crystal heart necklace from Isabelle Grace Jewelry is an awesome choice. I've worn this necklace for several weeks now, and every time I do, someone stops and asks me where I got it. For $74, it's a budget-friendly way to give her your heart on Valentine's Day! The Hearts Alight Necklace comes in several different Swarovski crystal colors, with chains available in gold or silver. You can also get personalized jewelry at Isabelle Grace, so that's another great option for tailoring your gift for her. (And if she's a mom, you can get your children's names and initials put on them…so sweet!)
For Friends & Family: See the cute box full of goodies in my photos? It's a an Abolishionist box from Otherly, who has curated advocacy art into a themed gift box experience. Each gift box includes carefully selected items that relate to a cause, and benefit a flagship non-profit that is leading the way in that area of social need. This box in particular highlights the need to abolish modern slavery, which is a cause close to my heart. Otherly also buys their gift items from companies that offer ethically (often locally) sourced products, and that promote Fair Trade® and slave-free standards. If you know someone who has a passion for the New Abolitionist movement, this is a meaningful gift of love. And hey, even if they don't know much about modern slavery or the cause, it's a great opportunity to share about it! This isn't a subscription box service; these gift boxes are available for a limited time and are one-of-a-kind.
For Yourself: I can't even tell you how much I squealed over this dress. It's from one of my secret weapon online stores, AmiClubwear. Don't assume everything on the site is sexy, going-out clothes, because I've found several of my prettiest dresses for work here, and for an amazing price! Sure, you'll still find plenty of sexy dresses, but you can find something like this beautiful long-sleeve patterned dress for $30. Spend a little time on the site and you'll see just how many gorgeous things you can find for some of the best prices online. This dress is such a beauty; it's got so much going on, you can be simple with makeup and accessories. It's going to be my Valentine's Day dress. 🙂
Photography: S. Jackson


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As a part of the beauty industry since 1991 and a business owner for 16 years, Michael has seen a lot of changes in the industry but also many areas that very much stay the same.
Michael first found Strategies as a new business owner himself, attending Incubator in the Fall of 2001 in Chicago. The information he heard as an attendee changed his view on his business and how to move forward for the future. In his 16 years of ownership many things changed around him, but the foundation that was built in that first class stayed the same. Quite simply, it fundamentally changed his approach to our industry.
That one class opened up a relationship with Strategies that has lasted ever since. Michael now has the privilege of teaching, mentoring, and coaching others as to how to reach their business and personal goals using the solid business principles that Strategies teaches.
As a presenter and coach Michael believes that, "There is no magic pill, or easy fix. However a willingness to work hard and stay true to the systems that drive your business will allow you to reach the goals you have set." His job is to help you stay accountable to reaching that objective, and as a teacher/presenter giving you the tools needed to get the job done.


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175 PMP Sample Questions
Questions are based on:
PMBOK® Guide 5th Edition
PMP® Examination Content Outline
This document is intended to help you prepare yourself for the PMP® (Project Management Professional) exam, offered by PMI® (the Project Management Institute). In order to pass this preparation test, you should correctly answer 131 out of 175 questions in 3:30 hours.1 This document includes 175 PMP2 prep test items (questions & answers). Each question has one best answer. The process of item generation and review for this prep test followed tightly the description in the PMP Creden-tial Handbook3, page 8, published by PMI.


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SPRINGFIELD - A local man remained jailed on a trafficking cocaine charge Wednesday after officers spotted his car in a known drug area Tuesday evening.
Juan Sontell Hall of Springfield was also charged with possession of cocaine within 1,000 feet of a public school and parole violation, said Effingham County Sheriff Jimmy McDuffie.
Deputies recovered 31 grams of powder cocaine in the incident, said Capt. Mike Bohannon of the sheriff's criminal investigations division. Members of the sheriff's drug unit were conducting a surveillance operation at Brothers Keepers Trailer Park on Tusculum Road near Springfield about 8:30 p.m. Tuesday when they noticed a car driven by Hall going into the neighborhood. Drug agents watching the area recognized Hall behind the wheel.
When he parked, they approached the car because they knew he was driving with a suspended license, Bohannon said. As the deputies walked up to the car, they spotted what appeared to be a large amount of cocaine in plain view. A field test conducted by the lawmen confirmed the substance was cocaine.
Hall was on parole after being conviced of selling cocaine, Bohannon said. He was also charged because his car was parked within 1000 feet of an adult education/alternative school. An investigation was continuing, deputies said.
Savannah Morning News © 2018. All Rights Reserved. Contact Us | Privacy Policy


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Garlicfest featured pizza, bread, fudge and ice cream
BENNINGTON >> The scent of garlic carried heavy in the air this weekend, marking the return of "Garlicfest" at Camelot Village.
Thousands of people turned out for the two-day event, officially known as the Southern Vermont Garlic and Herb Festival. The 21st annual celebration of all things garlic drew 200 vendors. Attendees were treated to demonstrations, live music, and of course, the food – from traditional entrees and festival offerings and endless samples of raw garlic, to the more unusual, like garlic-flavored ice cream and lemonade. In the word of more than one attendee, just call it "garlic love."
That love for garlic isn't just for its taste or vampire-repelling properties. It's good for you, as Suzy Gilman of Willowtree Organic Farm in Stephentown, N.Y., will attest.
"Sixteen seasons I've been planting garlic. And 16 seasons, no cold," she said.
An herb, to be classified as such, needs to have culinary, dyeing and medicinal qualities. The skins of some garlic varieties can be used to dye yarn. And the ancients thought garlic had medicinal properties. Today, science has shown that the sulphur compounds in garlic can lower blood pressure and cholesterol, improve circulation, and boost the immune system.
"Socrates, the father of modern medicine, said, 'Let your medicine be your food, and your food be your medicine,'" Gilman said.
Organizers planned for 15,000 attendees throughout the weekend. By the end of the day on Saturday, they clocked just under 8,000 people, according to Matt Harrington, executive director for the Bennington Chamber of Commerce.
"I'd say we're at record pace," Harrington said just after 3 p.m. on Saturday. "Usually we see some waves of people, but today, we saw a steady stream."
At the festival's peak on Saturday, a line of westbound Route 9 traffic stretched from the gates, into the village of Old Bennington, and down to the Monument Elementary School. Law enforcement officers were at the gates to direct cars. But festival traffic is a good problem to have, said Mike Harrington, the town's economic development director.
"More traffic means more feet on the street," Mike Harrington said. "Anything that brings people to town is great. We hope people stop downtown and see what else the town has to offer."
Matt Harrington said the event wouldn't be possible without the volunteers. It takes about 100 people to help out the week leading up to the event, he said.
"I look at this in amazement. My staff couldn't do this heavy lifting alone," he said.
The brothers have been emceeing the event for about five years. Both said their favorite part is seeing people have a great time and hearing about where they're from. Visitors to their booth came from all over the country.
"I think we sometimes forget about the beauty that we live in," Matt Harrington said. "But we've had lots of people stop by our booth today and say how much they love coming to Vermont."
Visitors to Willowtree Organic Farm's booth could buy garlic pickles, as well as garlic cherry fudge. Gilman said she's been making the fudge for years and it's always been a hit. She said her favorite garlic dishes are garlic mashed potatoes and garlic hamburgers. And it's great on toasted buttered bread.
Her favorite variety is Spanish Roja, a hardneck heirloom.
"It has a nice bite. But swallow it to the back of your tongue, and it's got a gourmet finish," she said.
Sabrina Superneau-Gilman has been helping her grandmother since she was six or seven. Now 20, she was helping run the vendor booth.
"I like to see all the smiling faces, and appreciate garlic," she said. "It's funny to see a little kid leave with a big pickle in their hand – it's as big as their face."
Adam McAllister and his family make the nearly 300-mile trip from Holley, N.Y., each year. It's one of several events they attend annually where they represent their own A&L Garlic Farms.
"It's one of the best. Maybe second only to the festival in Hudson, New York," McCallister said of the Bennington festival.
He's been planting for about 10 years, he said, adding: "Deer were eating all of my crops. So, I switched to garlic. Because, deer aren't Italian."
What's his favorite recipe? That's a tough one, McCallister said.
"Here's something better than a recipe, here's a tip for when you don't think your garlic will store much longer," he said. "Peel them, chop them up, put them in an ice cube tray, and fill them with water. Freeze them, and then put them in Ziplock bags. If you're making sauce or something, just drop an ice cube in."
Like others, McAllister said he enjoys being around people who just love garlic.
"You'd be surprised how many people do," he said.
Contact Ed Damon at 802-447-7567, ext. 111.
If you'd like to leave a comment (or a tip or a question) about this story with the editors, please email us. We also welcome letters to the editor for publication; you can do that by filling out our letters form and submitting it to the newsroom.


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Sallie Mae Workers Allege Botched Review In ERISA Appeal
In their opening brief before the appellate court, Sallie Mae staffers said the trial court gave too much weight to the "Moench presumption" review standard allowing deference to the decision-making of plan fiduciaries, arguing that this standard was prematurely applied when determining the...
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Perfect for social media campaigns and blogs. Web photos (up to .5 MP). 1 Seat.
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bridge, suspension bridge, no people, outdoors, sunset, horizontal, dramatic sky, water, architecture, built structure, golden gate bridge, famous place, international landmark, connection, golden gate, strait, channel
golden gate bridge photo