U.S. patent application number 13/966654 was filed with the patent office on 2013-12-19 for method of controlling radio resources, and radio system.
This patent application is currently assigned to Core Wireless Licensing S.A.R.L.. The applicant listed for this patent is Core Wireless Licensing S.A.R.L.. Invention is credited to Karri RANTA-AHO, Antti TOSKALA.
Application Number | 20130336291 13/966654 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 37232282 |
Filed Date | 2013-12-19 |
United States Patent
Application |
20130336291 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
RANTA-AHO; Karri ; et
al. |
December 19, 2013 |
METHOD OF CONTROLLING RADIO RESOURCES, AND RADIO SYSTEM
Abstract
There is provided a radio system, comprising: a receiver for
receiving uplink channel traffic; a measuring unit for measuring
periodicity of the received uplink channel traffic; and a control
unit for controlling discontinuous uplink operation on the basis of
the measured periodicity of the received uplink channel
traffic.
Inventors: |
RANTA-AHO; Karri; (Espoo,
FI) ; TOSKALA; Antti; (Espoo, FI) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Core Wireless Licensing S.A.R.L. |
Luxembourg |
|
LU |
|
|
Assignee: |
Core Wireless Licensing
S.A.R.L.
Luxembourg
LU
|
Family ID: |
37232282 |
Appl. No.: |
13/966654 |
Filed: |
August 14, 2013 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
13480551 |
May 25, 2012 |
8526324 |
|
|
13966654 |
|
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|
11976431 |
Oct 24, 2007 |
8199660 |
|
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13480551 |
|
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Current U.S.
Class: |
370/335 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04W 72/0446 20130101;
Y02D 70/1224 20180101; Y02D 70/1246 20180101; H04W 52/0225
20130101; Y02D 70/25 20180101; Y02D 70/1242 20180101; H04W 76/28
20180201; Y02D 30/70 20200801; Y02D 70/1244 20180101; Y02D 70/23
20180101 |
Class at
Publication: |
370/335 |
International
Class: |
H04W 72/04 20060101
H04W072/04 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Oct 25, 2006 |
FI |
20065676 |
Claims
1. A method of controlling radio resources, the method comprising:
receiving uplink channel traffic; measuring periodicity of the
received uplink channel traffic; and controlling discontinuous
uplink operation on the basis of at least one of measurement
statistics, a gating pattern, a transmission pattern, an activity
pattern, and timing information that are based on the measured
periodicity.
2. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining cumulative
distribution of first transmission instants over a predetermined
time period when measuring the periodicity of the received uplink
channel traffic.
3. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining whether or
not to activate the discontinuous uplink transmission operation on
the basis of the measured periodicity of the received uplink
channel traffic.
4. The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining the
activity pattern on the basis of the measured periodicity of the
received uplink channel traffic; and aligning the transmission
pattern to the activity pattern.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the measuring is performed by a
measuring unit.
6. The method of claim 5, wherein the measuring unit resides in a
base station of a network.
7. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving downlink
channel traffic; measuring periodicity of the received downlink
channel traffic; and controlling discontinuous downlink operation
on the basis of a measured periodicity of the received downlink
channel traffic.
8. The method of claim 7, wherein the downlink channel traffic is
network-originated.
9. The method of claim 8, wherein information relative to the
downlink channel traffic is available at radio network controllers
of a network.
10. The method of claim 9, wherein the network comprises a
Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN).
11. A radio system in a network infrastructure, comprising: a
receiver configured to receive uplink channel traffic; a measuring
unit configured to measure periodicity of the received uplink
channel traffic; and a control unit configured to control
discontinuous uplink operation on the basis of at least one of
measurement statistics, a gating pattern, a transmission pattern,
an activity pattern, and timing information that are based on the
measured periodicity.
12. The radio system of claim 11, wherein the measuring unit is
configured to determine a cumulative distribution of first
transmission instants over a predetermined time period when
measuring the periodicity of the received uplink channel
traffic.
13. The radio system of claim 11, wherein the control unit is
configured to determine whether or not to activate discontinuous
uplink transmission operation on the basis of the measured
periodicity of the received uplink channel traffic.
14. The radio system of claim 11, wherein the measuring unit
resides in a base station of the network infrastructure.
15. The radio system of claim 11, wherein the control unit resides
in a radio network controller of the network infrastructure.
16. The radio system of claim 11, wherein the measuring unit is
configured to determine the activity pattern on the basis of the
measured periodicity of the received uplink channel traffic and
align the transmission pattern to the activity pattern.
17. The radio system of claim 11, comprising at least one radio
network controller configured to provide downlink channel
traffic.
18. The radio system of claim 17, wherein the downlink channel
traffic is utilized to control discontinuous downlink operation on
the basis of a measured periodicity of the downlink channel
traffic.
19. A computer-program product comprising a non-transitory
computer-readable medium having computer-readable program code
embodied therein, the computer-readable program code adapted to be
executed to implement a method of controlling radio resources, the
method comprising: receiving uplink channel traffic; measuring
periodicity of the received uplink channel traffic; and controlling
discontinuous uplink operation on the basis of at least one of
measurement statistics, a gating pattern, a transmission pattern,
an activity pattern, and timing information that are based on the
measured periodicity.
20. The computer-program product of claim 19, wherein the method
further comprises: determining the activity pattern on the basis of
the measured periodicity of the received uplink channel traffic;
and aligning the transmission pattern to the activity pattern.
Description
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is a continuation of and claims priority
from U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/480,551, filed on May 25,
2012. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/480,551 is a continuation
of and claims priority from U.S. patent application Ser. No.
11/976,431, filed on Oct. 24, 2007 which is now U.S. Pat. No.
8,199,660. U.S. Pat. No. 8,199,660 claims priority from Finland
Application No. 20065676, filed on Oct. 25, 2006. U.S. patent
application Ser. No. 13/480,551, U.S. Pat. No. 8,199,660, and
Finland Application No. 20065676 are incorporated herein by
reference.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0002] The invention relates to a method of controlling radio
resources, to a radio system, to a radio network controller, to a
base station, to a control module, and to a computer-readable
distribution medium having computer executable components for
executing a computer process for controlling radio resources.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0003] High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA) is a packet-based
data service in a WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access)
uplink with a typical data transmission capacity of a few megabits
per second, thus enabling the use of symmetric high-speed data
services, such as video conferencing, between user equipment and a
network infrastructure.
[0004] An uplink data transfer mechanism in the HSUPA is provided
by physical HSUPA channels, such as an E-DPDCH (Enhanced Dedicated
Physical Data Channel), implemented on top of WCDMA uplink physical
data channels, such as a DPCCH (Dedicated Physical Control Channel)
and a DPDCH (Dedicated Physical Data Channel), thus sharing radio
resources with the WCDMA uplink physical data channels. Physical L1
(Layer 1) control information is carried on an E-DPCCH that is code
multiplexed with the E-DPDCH channels.
[0005] Discontinuous uplink transmission operation (uplink gating)
is well suited for services like voice over IP (VoIP) having a
periodic data source, such as a speech encoder producing a speech
frame every 20 ms (AMR). With IP (Internet protocol) based
services, a session is configured at a layer above radio (session
initiation protocol, SIP, being used), so it is not known in a
radio network controller (RNC) or in node B that a PS (packet
switched) domain service is VoIP or any other service with periodic
transmission of packets, such as push to talk over cellular (PoC).
This is even more the case when using 3.sup.rd party clients like
Skype, which hide the type of data actually being transmitted. This
makes it difficult to determine which users could be using
discontinuous uplink without their service quality being
impacted.
[0006] An activated uplink gating pattern gives best gains when the
uplink activity needed for maintaining the link can be synchronized
with the activity of the data source. Because other periodic
traffic sources, such as VoIP, can also be introduced, the only
usable pattern cannot be optimized solely for VoIP use (such as PS
Video). However, currently periodic traffic is treated like any
other packet data stream. Uplink gating is described in 3.sup.rd
Generation Partnership Project; TR 25.903, V0.2.0 (2005-11).
[0007] Therefore, a need exists to consider improvements for the
radio resource control in an HSUPA system.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0008] An object of the invention is to provide an improved method
of controlling radio resources, an improved radio system, an
improved radio network controller, an improved base station, an
improved control module, and an improved computer-readable
distribution medium.
[0009] According to an aspect of the invention, there is provided a
method of controlling radio resources. The method comprises:
receiving uplink channel traffic; measuring periodicity of the
received uplink channel traffic; and controlling discontinuous
uplink operation on the basis of the measured periodicity of the
received uplink channel traffic.
[0010] According to another aspect of the invention, there is
provided a radio system, comprising: a receiver for receiving
uplink channel traffic; a measuring unit for measuring periodicity
of the received uplink channel traffic; and a control unit for
controlling discontinuous uplink operation on the basis of the
measured periodicity of the received uplink channel traffic.
[0011] According to another aspect of the invention, there is
provided a radio network controller, comprising: a receiver for
receiving information related to measured periodicity of received
uplink channel traffic; and a control unit for controlling
discontinuous uplink operation on the basis of the received
information.
[0012] According to another aspect of the invention, there is
provided a base station, comprising: a receiver for receiving
uplink channel traffic; a measuring unit for measuring periodicity
of the received uplink channel traffic; and a transmitter for
sending information related to the measured periodicity of the
received uplink channel traffic for enabling discontinuous uplink
operation to be controlled on the basis of the measured periodicity
of the received uplink channel traffic.
[0013] According to another aspect of the invention, there is
provided a control module, comprising: a measuring unit for
measuring periodicity of received uplink channel traffic; and a
control unit for controlling discontinuous uplink operation on the
basis of the measured periodicity of the received uplink channel
traffic.
[0014] According to another aspect of the invention, there is
provided a computer-readable distribution medium having computer
executable components for executing a computer process for
controlling radio resources. The process comprises: receiving
uplink channel traffic; measuring periodicity of the received
uplink channel traffic; and controlling discontinuous uplink
operation on the basis of the measured periodicity of the received
uplink channel traffic.
[0015] According to another aspect of the invention, there is
provided a radio system, comprising: receiver means for receiving
uplink channel traffic; measuring means for measuring periodicity
of the received uplink channel traffic; and processing means for
controlling discontinuous uplink operation on the basis of the
measured periodicity of the received uplink channel traffic.
[0016] According to another aspect of the invention, there is
provided a radio network controller, comprising: receiver means for
receiving information related to measured periodicity of received
uplink channel traffic; and processing means for controlling
discontinuous uplink operation on the basis of the received
information.
[0017] According to another aspect of the invention, there is
provided a base station, comprising: receiver means for receiving
uplink channel traffic; measuring means for measuring periodicity
of the received uplink channel traffic; and transmitter means for
sending information related to the measured periodicity of the
received uplink channel traffic for enabling discontinuous uplink
operation to be controlled on the basis of the measured periodicity
of the received uplink channel traffic.
[0018] According to another aspect of the invention, there is
provided a control module, comprising: measuring means for
measuring periodicity of received uplink channel traffic; and
processing means for controlling discontinuous uplink operation on
the basis of the measured periodicity of the received uplink
channel traffic.
[0019] The invention provides several advantages.
[0020] In an embodiment of the invention, determining which users
should use discontinuous uplink operation is enabled. Performance
gain from gating can be maximized Extra delays can be minimized or
even fully avoided.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0021] In the following, the invention will be described in greater
detail with reference to the embodiments and the accompanying
drawings, in which
[0022] FIG. 1 shows an example of a radio system;
[0023] FIGS. 2A and 2B illustrate examples of discontinuous
transmission patterns;
[0024] FIG. 3 illustrates an example of physical channels and
procedures associated with an embodiment;
[0025] FIG. 4 shows an example of user equipment and a network
infrastructure according to an embodiment; and
[0026] FIG. 5 illustrates a method of controlling radio resources
according to an embodiment.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0027] FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a radio system to which the
present solution may be applied. Below, embodiments of the
invention will be described using the UMTS (Universal Mobile
Telecommunications System) as an example of the wireless
telecommunications system. The invention may, however, be applied
to any wireless telecommunications system that supports HSUPA
protocol elements, such as HARQ (Hybrid Automatic Retransmission
Request) and Node B scheduling. The structure and the functions of
such a wireless telecommunications system and those of the
associated network elements are only described when relevant to the
invention.
[0028] The wireless telecommunications system may be divided into a
core network (CN) 100, a UMTS terrestrial radio access network
(UTRAN) 102, and user equipment (UE) 104. The core network 100 and
the UTRAN 102 form a network infrastructure of the wireless
telecommunications system.
[0029] The UTRAN 102 is typically implemented with wideband code
division multiple access (WCDMA) radio access technology.
[0030] The core network 100 includes a serving GPRS support node
(SGSN) 108 connected to the UTRAN 102 over an lu PS interface. The
SGSN 108 represents the center point of the packet-switched domain
of the core network 100. The main task of the SGSN 108 is to
transmit packets to the user equipment 104 and to receive packets
from the user equipment 104 by using the UTRAN 102. The SGSN 108
may contain subscriber and location information related to the user
equipment 104.
[0031] The UTRAN 102 includes radio network sub-systems (RNS) 106A,
106B, each of which includes at least one radio network controller
(RNC) 110A, 110B and nodes B 112A, 112B, 112C, 112D.
[0032] Some functions of the radio network controller 110A, 110B
may be implemented with a digital signal processor, memory, and
computer programs for executing computer processes. The basic
structure and the operation of the radio network controller 110A,
110B are known to one skilled in the art, and only the details
relevant to the present solution are discussed in detail.
[0033] The node B 112A, 112B, 112C, 112D implements a Uu interface,
through which the user equipment 104 may access the network
infrastructure. Some functions of the base station 112A, 112B,
112C, 112D may be implemented with a digital signal processor,
memory, and computer programs for executing computer processes. The
basic structure and operation of the base station 112A, 112B, 112C,
112D are known to one skilled in the art and only the details
relevant to the present solution are discussed in detail.
[0034] The user equipment 104 may include two parts: mobile
equipment (ME) 114 and a UMTS subscriber identity module (USIM)
116. The mobile equipment 114 typically includes radio frequency
parts (RF) 118 for providing the Uu interface. The user equipment
104 further includes a digital signal processor 120, memory 122,
and computer programs for executing computer processes. The user
equipment 104 may further comprise an antenna, a user inter-face,
and a battery not shown in FIG. 1.
[0035] The USIM 116 comprises user-related information and
information related to information security in particular, such as
an encryption algorithm. The basic structure and operation of the
user equipment 104 are known to one skilled in the art, and only
the details relevant to the present solution are discussed in
detail.
[0036] FIGS. 2A and 2B illustrate examples of discontinuous
transmission patterns. The example of FIG. 2A shows an example of
an uplink DPCCH discontinuous transmission pattern for a 2 ms E-DCH
TTI (Transmission Time Interval), and the example of FIG. 2B shows
an example of an uplink DPCCH discontinuous transmission pattern
for a 10 ms E-DCH TTI. The uplink DPCCH transmission pattern
defines the minimum set of slots where the UE shall transmit the
UL-DPCCH. Intervals 210 illustrate 10 ms E-DPDCH/E-DPCCH radio
frames. Intervals 211 illustrate 2 ms E-DPDCH/E_DPCCH sub-frames.
Intervals 216 illustrate a UE discontinuous transmission cycle 1.
Intervals 218, 220 illustrate a UE discontinuous transmission cycle
2. Intervals 212 illustrate an inactivity threshold for the UE
cycle 2. Interval 214 illustrates a UE discontinuous transmission
offset.
[0037] Each three-part block 230 to 253 in FIGS. 2A and 2B
illustrates 2 ms subframes with transmission. The blocks 230
illustrate E-DCH transmission (2 ms TTI in FIG. 2A, and 10 ms TTI
in FIG. 2B). The blocks 240 to 243 illustrate DPCCH transmission
patterns, and the blocks 250 to 253 illustrate DPCCH transmission
(2 ms E-DCH TTI in FIG. 2A, and 10 ms E-DCH TTI in FIG. 2B).
[0038] FIG. 2 illustrates the end result after determining the
E-DCH activity pattern and timing, and aligning the DPCCH
transmission pattern thereto. Without proper timing information on
the E-DCH transmission, alignment of the DPCCH transmission pattern
is impossible and thus, the DPCCH needs to be transmitted more
frequently: during the DPCCH activity pattern AND during the E-DCH
activity.
[0039] FIG. 3 illustrates an example of physical channels and
procedures associated with an embodiment. A vertical axis 112
represents the node B of a network infrastructure (NIS), a vertical
axis 110 represents the radio network controller (RNC), and a
vertical axis 104 represents the user equipment.
[0040] The user equipment 104 may be connected to node B 112 over
an uplink physical data channel 302, such as an E-DPDCH (Enhanced
Dedicated Physical Data channel), a data channel of the E-DCH,
defined in the 3GPP specification. The uplink physical data channel
302 is used for delivering packet traffic from the user equipment
104 to the network infrastructure 112, and it is also typically
used for high priority services, such as conversational class
speech services and RRC (Radio Resource Control), in relation to
the HSUPA data transfer capacity.
[0041] High data-rate packet-services on the uplink are provided by
a physical HSUPA channel, such as an E-DPDCH (Enhanced Dedicated
Physical Data Channel) defined in the 3GPP specification. The
E-DPDCH transfers data blocks in predetermined temporal intervals,
such as a TTI (Transmission Time Interval). Each data block is
received, and a CRC (Cyclic Redundancy Check) procedure, for
example, is used to test the success of the reception of the
block.
[0042] According to an embodiment, node B measures the periodicity
of the uplink traffic received (periodicity of the E-DCH), and
generates control information on the basis of the measurement 304.
The measured periodicity can indicate, for example, a cumulative
distribution of the 1.sup.st transmission instants within a given
period of time, such as a 100 ms or a 200 ms window over several
seconds. The control information 306 comprising, for example,
measurement statistics (distribution) and/or a pattern suggestion
with timing details is then transmitted to the RNC 110.
[0043] According to an embodiment, the RNC 110 makes a decision
about activating a discontinuous uplink operation on the basis of
the received measurement statistics and/or pattern suggestion 308.
For example, the RNC 110 decides whether or not a discontinuous
uplink transmission operation (uplink gating) is to be activated.
According to an embodiment, the RNC 110 can reconfigure parameters
received with the control information if it is detected that the
traffic characteristics change. Thus, node B 112 may continue
making the measurements.
[0044] FIG. 4 shows an example of user equipment and a network
infrastructure according to an embodiment. User equipment 104
supporting the HSUPA protocol includes an HSUPA channel generator
(HSUPA CG) that generates a physical HSUPA channel 420
(E-DPCCH/E-DPDCH) from an HSUPA logical channel, such as an E-DCH
(Enhanced Dedicated Channel). An HSUPA receiver (HSUPA RX) 422
located in a network infrastructure 400 receives the physical HSUPA
channel 420 transmitted over the radio interface. The HSUPA
receiver 422 decodes data blocks transmitted over the physical
HSUPA channel 420 and provides an decoding report 424 to a
retransmission controller (RETX CNTL) 426. The decoding report 424
typically includes results of the success of the decoding of each
data block.
[0045] The retransmission controller 426 receives the decoding
report 424 and implements parts of an HARQ protocol. The
retransmission controller 426 generates a block acknowledgement
message 428 for each data block. The acknowledgement message 428 is
inputted into a block acknowledgement message transmitter (BAMTX)
430 that transmits a block acknowledgement message to the user
equipment 104 over the radio interface.
[0046] The user equipment 104 includes a block acknowledgement
message receiver for communicating a block acknowledgement message
between the user equipment 104 and the network infrastructure 400.
The HSUPA channel generator of the user equipment 104 may carry out
a retransmission procedure according to the HARQ protocol on the
basis of the block acknowledgement message.
[0047] In an embodiment, the network infrastructure 400 includes a
control module 470 for controlling discontinuous uplink operation.
The control module 470 comprises a measuring unit 472 and an uplink
gating control unit 474 for controlling discontinuous uplink
operation. The measuring unit 472 may reside in a base station of
the network infrastructure 400 and the uplink gating control unit
474 may reside in a radio network controller. However, it is also
possible that the measuring unit 472 and/or the uplink gating
control unit 474 reside in any other parts of the network
infrastructure 400. The measuring unit 472 and the uplink gating
control unit 474 may be implemented with a microprocessor, a signal
processor or separate components and associated software.
[0048] In an embodiment, the measuring unit 472 measures
periodicity of the received uplink channel traffic, and the uplink
gating control unit 474 controls uplink gating on the basis of the
measured periodicity of the received uplink channel traffic.
[0049] In an embodiment, the measuring unit 472 is configured to
determine a cumulative distribution of first transmission instants
over a predetermined time period when measuring the periodicity of
the received uplink channel traffic.
[0050] In an embodiment, the measuring unit 472 is configured to
provide measurement statistics related to the measured periodicity
of the received uplink channel traffic.
[0051] In an embodiment, the measuring unit 472 is configured to
provide a transmission pattern and timing information related to
the measured periodicity of the received uplink channel
traffic.
[0052] In an embodiment, the measuring unit 472 is configured to
provide a gating pattern and timing information related to the
measured periodicity of the received uplink channel traffic.
[0053] In an embodiment, the measuring unit 472 is configured to
determine an activity pattern of the received uplink channel
traffic on the basis of the measured periodicity of the received
uplink channel traffic; and to align a transmission pattern to the
activity pattern.
[0054] In an embodiment, the uplink gating control unit 474 is
configured to determine whether or not to activate discontinuous
uplink transmission operation on the basis of the measured
periodicity of the received uplink channel traffic.
[0055] In an embodiment, the uplink gating control unit 474 is
configured to control discontinuous uplink operation on the basis
of at least one of: measurement statistics, a gating pattern, a
transmission pattern, an activity pattern and timing information
that are based on the measured periodicity.
[0056] In an embodiment, the uplink gating control unit 474 is
configured to reconfigure information related to the measured
periodicity of received uplink channel traffic when it is detected
that the traffic characteristics have changed.
[0057] FIG. 5 illustrates a method of controlling radio resources
according to an embodiment.
[0058] The method starts in 500.
[0059] In 502, uplink channel traffic is received by a network
infrastructure over a physical channel.
[0060] In 504, periodicity of the received uplink channel traffic
is measured.
[0061] In 506, discontinuous uplink operation decisions are made on
the basis of the measured periodicity of the received uplink
channel traffic.
[0062] The method ends in 508.
[0063] Similar information about periodicity could also be
collected for the downlink traffic and be used to parameterize the
downlink discontinuous operation with High Speed Downlink Packet
Access (HSDPA). Downlink traffic is network originated, so
information is readily available at the radio network controller to
be used for downlink discontinuous operation parameterization for
sending data over the downlink physical channels.
[0064] The embodiments of the invention may be realized in a radio
system comprising a controller. The controller may be configured to
perform at least some of the steps described in connection with the
flowchart of FIG. 5 and in connection with FIG. 3. The embodiments
may be implemented as a computer program comprising instructions
for executing a computer process for controlling uplink gating.
[0065] The computer program may be stored on a computer-readable
distribution medium readable by a computer or a processor. The
computer-readable distribution medium may be, for example but not
limited to, an electric, magnetic, optical, infrared or
semiconductor system, device or transmission medium. The computer
program medium may include at least one of the following media: a
computer readable medium, a program storage medium, a record
medium, a computer readable memory, a random access memory, an
erasable programmable read-only memory, a computer readable
software distribution package, a computer readable signal, a
computer readable telecommunications signal, computer readable
printed matter, and a computer readable compressed software
package.
[0066] Even though the invention has been described above with
reference to an example according to the accompanying drawings, it
is clear that the invention is not restricted thereto but it can be
modified in several ways within the scope of the appended
claims.
* * * * *