Abstract: An embodiment and/or method to improve communication in a vehicle. Voice signals of the occupants of a vehicle may be picked up on an individual basis via separately arranged microphones. The individually picked-up voice signals may then be amplified separately for each occupant in an input stage and filtered for purposes of minimizing interference levels and for frequency adaptation. The signals may be subjected in a process stage to a signal processing that may be specific to each output channel, in the form of a delay correction and a level differentiation. And, via an adaptation stage having a level adaptation, the signals may then be distributed to likewise separately assigned loudspeakers, in accordance with the spatial conditions of the vehicle and the desired loudness level. The embodiment and/or method may be effectively used in passenger cars, larger vehicles including multimedia buses and trucks, ships, trains and airplanes/airborne spaces.

Abstract: A method of teaching pronunciation is provided which includes communicating by a voice portal server to a user a model word and detecting a response by the user to the voice portal server. The method also includes comparing the response word to the model word and determining a confidence level based on the comparison of the response word to the model word. The method further includes comparing an acceptance limit to the confidence level and confirming a correct pronunciation of the model word if the confidence level one of equals and exceeds the acceptance limit.

Abstract: The present invention stably provides a high-strength hot-dip galvanized steel sheet having a high tensile strength and no non-plated portions and being excellent in workability and surface properties even when the employed equipment has only a reduction annealing furnace and a steel sheet containing relatively large amounts of Si, Mn and Al that are regarded as likely to cause non-plated portions is used as the substrate.

Abstract: A battery and an electrically heated catalytic converter (EHC) are connected to an alternator in a parallel arrangement via a changeover switch. The changeover switch operates between a first position where it connects the battery to the alternator and a second position where it connects the EHC to the alternator. An electronic control unit (ECU) is provided for controlling the changeover switch and the alternator. When the changeover switch is to be switched between the first and the second position, the ECU first terminates the power generation of the alternator before it actually switches the changeover switch in order to reduce the electric current flowing through the switch.

Abstract: An amplitude demodulator for demodulating a quadrature-amplitude modulated stereo signal for radio receivers, where a digital intermediate-frequency signal is constructed from a received signal, the intermediate-frequency signal is converted into a baseband, creating two orthogonal components thereby, a magnitude signal and a phase signal are derived from the orthogonal components, a tangent is constructed from the phase signal, and the tangent is multiplied by the magnitude signal to create a stereo difference signal.

Abstract: Disclosed is a method for the optimum utilization of disk-shaped base material in the manufacture of optoelectronic components with variable-period grating. The method helps avoid material losses by arranging optoelectronic components on a disk-shaped base material in an optimum manner and is based on obtaining variants of nominally identical individual component patterns by mathematical rotation and mirroring, forming a unit cell through shifting of the individual component pattern variants, and reproducing the unit cell in the x and y directions until the active surface of the mask or the entire surface of the disk-shaped base material is tightly covered. The method may be used for the manufacture of photonic components based on DFB, DBR, or sampled grating structures.