In the present invention, a drive circuit 12 drives a solid-state image-pickup element 11 in synchronism with a synchronizing signal generated by a synchronizing signal generation circuit 13, and the solid-state image-pickup element 11 issues an output signal prior to an end time of a horizontal blanking period by a time period T.sub.A. This output signal is processed in a digital signal processing circuit 14 and is issued as a picture signal. At that time, the picture signal is delayed from the synchronizing signal by a time period (T.sub.B -T.sub.A) owing to the signal processing, whereas the synchronizing signal is delayed by a delay circuit 15, in which a delay time made by subtracting a time period T.sub.A from a delay time T.sub.B of the digital signal processing circuit 14 is given, and can be issued in a proper timing for a picture signal output of the digital signal processing circuit 14. Further, by incorporating the delay circuit 15 in an LSI which constitutes the digital signal processing circuit 14, a circuit-construction can be minimized and a disturbance, which is given to the picture signal by the synchronizing signal, can be remarkably eliminated.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a signal processing part of a digital-signal-processing camera.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
In recent years, many digital-signal-processing cameras have been developed. Hereinafter, an example of the above-mentioned conventional digital-signal-processing camera is described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a construction of the conventional digital-signal-processing camera. In FIG. 7, numeral 51 designates a solid-state image-pickup element; numeral 52 designates a drive circuit which drives the solid-state image-pickup element 51 so that the solid-state image-pickup element 51 can issue an output signal prior to an end time of horizontal blanking period by a time period T.sub.A (approx. 1 .mu.sec) within a horizontal blanking period; numeral 53 designates a synchronizing signal generation circuit which generates a synchronizing signal; numeral 54 designates a digital-signal-processing circuit which processes output signals of the solid-state image-pickup element 51; numeral 55 designates a picture signal output of the digital-signal-processing circuit 54; numeral 56 designates a synchronizing signal which is generated by the synchronizing signal generation circuit 53.
FIG. 6 shows a construction of a digital filter in the digital-signal-processing circuit. Numeral 61 designates delay elements; numeral 62 designates multipliers; numeral 63 designates an adder.
Operation of the conventional digital-signal-processing camera as constructed above is described hereafter.
First, having a synchronism with the synchronizing signal 56 generated by the synchronizing signal generation circuit 53, the drive circuit 52 generates drive pulses for solid-state image-pickup element to drive the solid-state image-pickup element 51, so that the solid-state image-pickup element 51 issues an output signal prior to an end time of horizontal blanking period by a time period T.sub.A (approx. 1 .mu.sec) within a horizontal blanking period. The digital-signal-processing circuit 54 makes signal processings such as low-pass filter, edge-emphasizing filter and noise reduction filter on the output signal issued from the solid-state image-pickup element 51, and issues as the picture signal 55. Further, the synchronizing signal 56, which has been generated in the synchronizing signal generation circuit 53, is issued together with the picture signal. The digital signal-processing circuit 54 is thus composed of several digital filters. As shown in FIG. 6 (e.g., "Digital Filter" of the seventh chapter of "Digital-signal-processing of picture" by Takahiko FUKINUKI, published by NIKKAN KOGYO SHINBUNSHA), a digital filter is composed of the delay elements 61, the multipliers 62 and the adder 63.
According to such a construction as this, an input signal is delayed through the delay elements 61 of M steps, and turns into an output signal. For example, to have total 100 steps delay elements of the digital filter in the digital-signal-processing circuit with an operation of a clock of 10 MHz is to issue a picture output signal with a delay time of T.sub.B (10 .mu.sec). Therefore, the picture output signal shall be delayed by a time (approx. 9 .mu.sec) of (T.sub.B -T.sub.A) from the horizontal blanking period.
In the above-mentioned construction, the conventional analogue-signal-processing has a delay time of only about 1 .mu.sec and hence delay of a picture signal, which is within the horizontal blanking period, causes no trouble; whereas the digital-signal-processing circuit consists of the digital adder and multiplier and the delay elements, and the digital-signal-processing realized by the whole 100 steps of delay elements generates a delay time of about 10 .mu.sec even when it is driven by a clock of 10 MHz. FIG. 3 is a signal chart of the digital-signal-processing camera, wherein there is a problem that the horizontal blanking signal A and the picture signal D are overlapped each other as shown in FIG. 3. Further, when it is intended that the horizontal synchronizing signal B and the horizontal blanking signal A are made to have a delay time of about 10 .mu.sec, which arises in the digital-signal-processing circuit, by the solid-state image-pickup element and the drive circuit so as to timely match the horizontal synchronizing signal F and the horizontal blanking signal E with the picture signal D, there arises no problem in the horizontal blanking signal E because it is not used to drive the solid-state image-pickup element and is therefore disposed away from the solid-state image-pickup element and the drive circuit so as not to give a disturbance; but the horizontal synchronizing signal F, which is used to drive the solid-state image-pickup element, gives a disturbance to the output signal C of the solid-state image-pickup element, disabling use of the picture signal.


A gripping device for gripping a cable and having a first jaw with a first gripping element, a second jaw with a second gripping element, and at least one fastener for fastening the first and second jaws to each other. At least one of the first and second gripping elements has a configuration that makes at least two points of contact with the cable. A system for gripping a cable and having a gripping device fastened to a support structure, where the gripping device has a first jaw with a first gripping element, a second jaw with a second gripping element, and at least one fastener for fastening the first and second jaws to each other. At least one of the first and second gripping elements has a configuration that makes at least two points of contact with the cable.

Several devices exist for gripping cables or cords, including gland nuts and clamping devices.
Gland nuts utilize gripping elements that can be tightened or loosened around a cable or cord using screwed fasteners (screws or bolts) for adjusting the gripping elements. For example, a gland nut device may include two or three gripping elements located around a circumference of the device and connected to each other by screwed fasteners, such that when the screwed fasteners are adjusted the gripping elements are either pulled toward each other (e.g., to clamp around a cable) or pushed away from each other (e.g., to release a cable). Such gland nut devices are prone to any problems associated with using screwed fasteners, such as screws or bolts, such as the screwed fasteners stripping out upon tightening or loosening. In addition, such gland nut devices require tools for tightening and loosening the gripping elements.
Clamping devices utilize a set of jaws to engage a cable. The jaws squeeze the cable between the jaws to grip the cable in the gripping elements of the jaws. For example, as shown in FIG. 1, oppositely facing jaws 10 are positioned on opposite sides of a cable 11. Flanges 12 are also positioned between the jaws 10, wherein the flanges 12 position the jaws relative to a gland nut (not shown). Each of the jaws 10 has a gripping element 13 for gripping the cable 11. The gripping elements 13 have a radius of curvature, such that the gripping elements 13 are concaved recesses in the jaws 10. As shown in FIG. 1, when the radius of curvature of the circumference of the cable 11 is smaller than the radius of curvature of the gripping elements 13, a single point of contact 14 exits between each gripping element 13 and the cable 11. As shown in FIG. 2A, when the radius of curvature of the circumference of the cable 11 is the same as the radius of curvature of the gripping elements 13, then contact exits across the entirety of each gripping element 13. Of course, contact across the entirety of each gripping element 13 may provide for a more secure grip of the cable 11 by the gripping elements 13 of the jaws 10. However, only one cable diameter "fits" in the gripping elements 13. Further, as shown in FIG. 2B, if the jaws 10 become displaced relative to each other (directions of arrows), then a perfect fit between the cable 11 and the gripping elements 13 of the jaws 10 is lost. In particular, single points of contact 14 then exist between the cable 11 and the gripping elements 13 of the jaws 10.


An electrochemical cell comprises an inlet and an outlet for an electrolyte flow, and two unipolar electrodes. Each electrode comprises a structure with a network of through-passages, surrounded by a solid frame. The electrolyte enters via inlets, circulates via the passages of the electrodes, passes through the space between the electrodes and leaves via an outlet. The structure and the frame are based on carbon.

The invention relates to an electrochemical cell with an electrolyte flow, comprising at least two electrodes having parallel flat main faces, each electrode comprising a structure with a network of through-passages perpendicular to the main faces of the electrode.
The invention also relates to a production method of such a cell.

Electrochemical cell with an electrolyte flow, comprising through-electrodes and production method

Comissariat a l'Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives


A method, computer-program product, and user interface are provided for verifying correct translations data network elements. Translation-verification commands are executed in batch to receive a group of data sets, which are stored in a capture file. A benchmark file is provided that contains correct translations data. Both files, or derivatives thereof, are synchronizing and automatically comparing to each other to identify any data mismatches. Entities associated with the network elements of interest are automatically notified of the mismatches as well as details related to the mismatches. Erroneous routing information is automatically identified in the network elements. Persons are notified automatically of errors or network anomalies.

A telecommunications network or group of networks are made up of many devices and components that collectively communicate data from a desired starting point to a termination point. A common network element is a telecommunications switch. A switch, or switching system, can take the form of a mechanical, electrical, or electronic device that opens or closes circuits, completes or breaks electrical paths, or selects paths or circuits upon which to communicate data. Switches can be used in connection with a circuit-based network or a packet-based network.
For data to be routed correctly, correct translation (alternatively "translations") information must be in place. The act of "translation" refers to the interpretation by a switching system of all or part of a destination code to determine the routing of call or data traffic. "Translation information" refers to information related to routing data through a communications network. If translations data is wrong, a variety of problems can occur, not limited to calls dropped, data lost, busy signals, and other types of service interruptions.
Ensuring that correct translation information is present in a communications network is a task persistently pursued by telecommunications carriers. Currently, however, verifying translation information is a difficult, time-consuming, and expensive task. Translations analysts enter translations requests. A translations request is a request to modify translation information. If a new area code is introduced into a system, for example, then analysts will submit translations requests to modify translation information so that calls will be routed properly. But because verifying translation information is a cumbersome task, a telecommunications carrier may simply not verify that the translations request was entered correctly. Some carriers may opt to manually verify translation information, but will do so at lengthy intervals because of the resource-intensive nature of processing the data associated with verifying translation information. Translation information can be gathered by submitting a translation-verification command.
A translation-verification ("traver") command can be submitted to receive back translation information. Table I illustrates a series of traver commands and data sets that are respectively returned incident to each command.
TABLE ICommand Line Traver Results>traver 1 5412983439 2984567 ntDIGIT TRANSLATION ROUTES1 LINE5412984567STTREATMENT ROUTES. TREATMENT IS: GNCT1 NCAANN2 T1203 LKOUT+++ TRAVER: SUCCESSFUL CALL TRACE +++>traver 1 5412983439 411 ntDIGIT TRANSLATION ROUTES1 PTLDOR131GTO411ST2PTREATMENT ROUTES. TREATMENT IS: GNCT1 NCAANN2 T1203 LKOUT+++ TRAVER: SUCCESSFUL CALL TRACE +++>traver 1 5412983439 511 ntTREATMENT ROUTES. TREATMENT IS: VACT1 VCAANN2 T1203 LKOUT+++ TRAVER: SUCCESSFUL CALL TRACE +++>traver 1 5412983439 911 ntDIGIT TRANSLATION ROUTES1 VFG: THD911911STTREATMENT ROUTES. TREATMENT IS: GNCT1 NCAANN2 T1203 LKOUT+++ TRAVER: SUCCESSFUL CALL TRACE +++...>traver 1 5412983439 101022219137917000 ntDIGIT TRANSLATION ROUTES1 PTLDORWA3MD9137917000ST2 PTLDORWA3MD29137917000ST3 EAPEG4 NCAANNTREATMENT ROUTES. TREATMENT IS: GNCT1 NCAANN2 T1203 LKOUT+++ TRAVER: SUCCESSFUL CALL TRACE +++>traver 1 5412983439 101028819137917000 ntDIGIT TRANSLATION ROUTES1 PTLDOR62AMD69137917000ST2 PTLDOR62AMD29137917000ST3 EAPEG4 NCAANNTREATMENT ROUTES. TREATMENT IS: GNCT1 NCAANN2 T1203 LKOUT+++ TRAVER: SUCCESSFUL CALL TRACE +++>traver 1 5412983439 101033319137917000 ntDIGIT TRANSLATION ROUTES1 UTC77PH9137917000ST2 UTC77AF9137917000ST3 EAPEG4 NCAANNTREATMENT ROUTES. TREATMENT IS: GNCT1 NCAANN2 T1203 LKOUT...
An exemplary syntax follows for a traver command (as implemented in an illustrative switch, the DMS100 switch offered by the Nortel Networks Corporation of Brampton, Ontario): : "traver L initiation point| |destination point|NT." The first parameter "L" refers to "line," but could also be "tr" for "trunk" or "v" for "virtual trunk." The second parameter, |initiation point|, can be an originating phone number or other origination address. The third parameter, |destination|, can be a destination phone number or some other target address. Finally, the last parameter "NT" represents a mode that corresponds to an amount of data returned incident to issuing the traver command. Alternatives include a "t" for "table mode"—which returns table data—or "nt" for "no tables"—which does not return table data.
As can be seen from Table I, the data returned incident to submitting multiple traver commands (manually, one after another) appears in a format that is difficult to read. If an analyst were charged with the task of confirming that the data in Table I reflects accurate translation information, then he or she would have to laboriously peruse through each line item and compare the line item against some other data set that is hopefully correct. Such a process lends itself to human error. The prior art does not offer an efficient method to verify whether current translation information is correct or whether a translation analyst's routing schemes are working correctly.
More data items than only those shown in Table I can, and often are, be returned to verify whether calls are routed correctly based on translation information. Typically, a trunk-group order is returned. An exemplary trunk-group order includes primary high, intermediate high, direct final, and ultra final. This trunk-group order corresponds to a primary route, secondary route, tertiary route, and final route. The data returned displays what trunk groups are being hit upon while data is attempting to arrive at a desired termination point. Absent the present invention, the results returned must be manually analyzed line by line, character by character. Shortcomings of the prior art are particularly visible when an outage occurs.
If some event, such as a natural phenomenon or human error, results in a service outage, then customers will be out of service until the problem is fixed. To the extent translation data is compromised, new translation data must be populated in the correct switch elements. A paramount step in the process to reestablishing service is to verify that translation information is the same as what it was prior to the outage.
A prior-art process for verifying data would involve an analyst typing in one traver command, reading each line and character of data returned, and verifying that the data returned is the same as it was prior to the outage. Such a process can consume a great deal of time, from several hours to possibly days. Meanwhile, data communications would be interrupted for the duration of the outage: emergency calls would not get through, individuals would not be able to place phone calls, access to networks such as the Internet would be disrupted, and a litany of other problems would stem from such an outage. The translations analyst must be trained to be able to interpret the data returned from issuing the traver commands.
If a network-translations analyst implemented a translations-change request, then good practice would be to verify that the new translation information corresponds to the desired change. But because issuing a traver command and then comparing the results to potentially out-dated values is a time-consuming process, such verification is often simply not made.
Absent the present invention, a carrier is often relegated to learning about translations errors from its customers. That is, when bad translation information exists in a switch, the error may not be discovered until a customer attempts to dial a phone number or otherwise communicate data traffic that relies on the correctness of the translation information. In particularly bad situations, a user's service may be so interrupted that he or she may not even be able to contact the carrier to notify them of the error. In such situations, the user may have to bear additional inconvenience of notifying the carrier from a different location.
The current state of the art could be improved by providing a method and system that allows current translation information to be compared against a defined benchmark efficiently. Moreover, a method and system are needed to allow multiple verification commands to be run in batch and have the data returned be automatically compared against benchmark data to identify any mismatches.

Method for evaluating data in elements of a communications network


An interactive wagering system is provided that promotes wagering to users at user equipment. The user equipment may be based on a set-top box and television, a personal computer, a cellular telephone with a display, or other such devices. Wagering may be promoted by notifying the user of an opportunity to place a wager on a given race. Wagering may also be promoted by providing the user with an on-screen opportunity to sign up for a wagering television channel or interactive wagering service. The on-screen promotions that are displayed to the user may be targeted based on the television programming that is being displayed or the user""s interests. The user""s activities may be monitored to collect information on the user""s interests. If a particular race or the like is being discussed during a television program, the user may be provided with an opportunity to wager on that race. In this situation, racetrack, race, and horse selections may be made in advance for the user.

This invention relates to interactive wagering systems and methods, and particularly to wagering systems and methods that allow users to place wagers on live wagering events, such as thoroughbred races, harness races, dog races, etc., at locations remote from the locations where the wagering events take place, such as the users""homes. More particularly, this invention relates to wagering systems and methods that allow users to conveniently place wagers on live wagering events using wagering information that is provided with wagering-related video content.
Wagering on live events, such as thoroughbred races, harness races, dog races, etc., is an exciting and increasingly popular leisure activity. However, it is difficult or inconvenient for many racing enthusiasts to attend wagering events in person. Although off-track betting establishments provide greater access to wagering opportunities, they are still inconvenient because users must spend time locating and traveling to such establishments to place wagers.
The above-described difficulties that faced wagering enthusiasts were addressed in commonly-assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,830,068 (xe2x80x9cthe ""068 patentxe2x80x9d) of Brenner et al. entitled xe2x80x9cInteractive Wagering Systems And Processes,xe2x80x9d which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. The ""068 patent discloses interactive wagering systems and processes that allow wagering enthusiasts to place wagers on live wagering events, such as horse races, from the convenience of their homes through the use of an in-home wagering terminal. The disclosed systems and processes give the users the opportunity to place wagers on live events being conducted at many different venues. In addition, the disclosed systems and processes provide the user with the opportunity to place many different types of wagers, ranging from the simple to the very complex, through an intuitive, on-screen interface. Information that may assist the users in making wagering decisions, such as odds, weather, track conditions, and handicapping data, is also provided through the on-screen interface.
More recently, ODS Technologies, L.P. announced the launch of the TVG Networkxe2x80x94a television channel dedicated to delivering programming relating to horse racing. In addition to live coverage of racing events, the TVG Network may broadcast profiles, reviews and/or feature presentations that relate to certain horses, jockeys, trainers, owners, tracks, racing events, etc. Many TVG Network viewers may, as a result of watching the broadcast, become interested in placing a wager based on the subject matter of the broadcast. However, unless specifically mentioned in the broadcast, the viewers may not know when a wagering opportunity relating to the subject matter of the broadcast will be available, if at all. Even if the wagering opportunity is mentioned, the users would have to pay close attention to gather the information they would need to place a wager.
Moreover, users who are watching programming other television channels may not even be made aware of the availability of the interactive wagering service or of the TVG Network wagering television channel.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide improved ways in which to promote wagering services such as interactive wagering and wagering television channels.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide improved ways to bring interactive wagering opportunities to the attention of television viewers.
These and other objects of the invention are provided in accordance with the principles of the present invention by providing systems and methods that alert users who are watching a television channel of the presence of an interactive wagering service. Users may also be provided with an opportunity to sign up for the interactive wagering service. Promotional material may be displayed to provide users with information on a wagering television channel that the users may sign up for. Systems and methods may also be provided that provide a user with immediate notification of a wagering opportunity relating to a broadcast, and that simplify the process of placing a wager based on the broadcast. The broadcast may be a wagering television channel broadcast or a conventional television channel broadcast.
Users may be alerted to the presence of an interactive wagering service using a pop-up ticker or other notification that appears as an overlay on top of the video for the currently-displayed television channel. Such a pop-up ticker may be displayed at any suitable time. For example, the pop-up ticker may be displayed whenever the user is watching horse-racing related television. The pop-up ticker may also be displayed when the user is watching television programming related to other subjects or is watching any other television programming. If desired, such a pop-up ticker may be used to promote the wagering television channel.
Wagering information may be provided to a user terminal in connection with wagering-related television broadcasts. This information may be provided using any suitable technique, such as by embedding the information in a broadcast signal or otherwise providing the information in association with a broadcast signal, providing the information as part of a television program guide database, providing the information in a continuous data stream not associated with any particular broadcast signal, providing the information on demand by the user, or providing the information periodically (e.g., once per day or once per hour, etc.)
Broadcast wagering information and other such wagering information may be used to link the broadcast to an interactive wagering interface provided by the user terminal, such as the wagering interface disclosed in the ""068 patent. Any known arrangement for providing the wagering information with the television broadcast may be used. For example, the wagering information can be embedded in unused portions of the broadcast signal, such as the horizontal or vertical blanking intervals. Alternatively, the wagering information may be provided in separate signal, such as an FM subcarrier or in a separate digital data stream. The manner by which the wagering information relating to the television broadcast is provided may be selected in part on the particular hardware platform on which the wagering interface is implemented.
When the user terminal receives wagering information relating to a broadcast, the interactive wagering application that supports the interactive wagering service or other suitable application may display a visual indication on the user""s display to notify the user that there is a wagering opportunity available relating to the broadcast the user is watching. The visual indication may be, for example, a small icon generated by the interactive wagering application that is displayed as an overlay on top of a wagering-related broadcast.
In one embodiment, a non-interactive icon is displayed that simply serves as notification that the user may use the interactive wagering service to place a wager relating to the broadcast. For example, if a particular horse is being discussed on the wagering-related broadcast channel, the icon may be displayed to notify the user that there is an opportunity to place a wager on the horse being discussed. Upon seeing the icon, the user can invoke the wagering application to place a wager on that horse.
In another embodiment of the invention, the displayed icon may be interactive, and may be selected by the user using any type of suitable user input device, such as a remote control unit or a keyboard. The interactive wagering interface may respond to the user""s selection of the displayed icon in various ways, depending on the level of sophistication desired. In one embodiment, the user""s selection of the displayed icon causes the user terminal to invoke the interactive wagering interface, and then allows the user to navigate through the available menus to place a wager, if desired. For example, when the icon is selected, the user terminal may display a main menu screen of the interactive wagering service. From there, the user can use the wagering service menu system to place a wager relating to the subject matter of the wagering-related television broadcast.
The wagering information included with the wagering-related broadcast may streamline the user""s wagering experience by allowing the wagering application to bypass some of the menus that would otherwise be provided to the user. Specifically, in addition to providing an indication of a wagering opportunity, the transmitted wagering information may include more detailed information about the wagering opportunity that can be used in place of user responses to menu prompts in the wagering application. For example, if the wagering-related broadcast is discussing a particular horse, the wagering information can include a racetrack identification, a race identification, and a horse identification. If the user selects the interactive icon, the wagering application may use that information to bypass the menus that would otherwise be displayed to allow the user to select a racetrack, race, and horse. The first menu presented to the user may be, for example, a menu that allows the user to select a wager type and amount for the identified racetrack, race, and horse. The data supplied by the broadcast wagering information may be clearly displayed to the user to ensure the user fully appreciates what it is he or she is in the process of wagering on.
The initial menu displayed to the user may be based on the type of information included in the broadcast wagering information. For example, if the wagering information only identifies a racetrack (if, for example, the wagering-related broadcast is profiling a particular racetrack), then the wagering application may display a menu of races being run at that track.
Although the wagering application may direct the user to a particular menu, the user would be able to navigate to other menus as well, including those that may have been bypassed. The user can return to the wagering-related broadcast at any time (e.g., by pressing a designated key on the user input device).
In an alternative embodiment of the invention, the broadcast wagering information may be used in connection with a modified wagering application that displays a small overlay on the wagering-related broadcast. The overlay allows the user to continue to watch the broadcast while considering possible wagering opportunities. The overlay may be displayed automatically when the broadcast wagering information indicates that there is a wagering opportunity. Alternatively, the overlay may be displayed in response to the user""s selection of the interactive icon discussed above. Scaled video can be used as an alternative to an overlay (depending on the hardware platform) to avoid obscuring the underlying video content.

Interactive wagering system with promotions


In one embodiment, a method comprises receiving, by a website server device providing a website service, a request from an identified user of a user device, the request requesting network content provided within the website service; determining by the website server device an absence of new network content within the website service relative to a last prior access by the identified user to the website service; and obtaining, by the website server device for presentation to the identified user within the website service, an ordered list of network items most likely to be preferred by the identified user.

The exponential growth of information available to users of various information networks (for example, broadcast, satellite, or cable television; wide area networks such as the World Wide Web or the Internet), requires organizing the presentation of the available information in an efficient and effective manner. Collaborative filtering attempts to organize presentation of information to a user in a wide area network (for example, the World Wide Web) based on automatically predicting the interests of a user by establishing relationships between items of interest to the user (for example, items recently viewed by the user at a commercial website) and other items that have been determined as of interest to other users. Item-based collaborative filtering, illustrated for example at the website "amazon.com" (users who bought x also bought y) is based on the premise that if a number of users purchase both items "x" and "y", then another user viewing (or purchasing) the item "x" also may be interested in the item "y".
Other examples of filtering content include human directed programming (for example, conventional network television programming), demographic based targeting that classifies individuals according to demographics, content based targeting (for example, Google AdSense available on the World Wide Web at the website address "google.com/adsense"), user defined filters (for example, a TiVo® WishList search on a commercially-available TiVo® Digital Video Recorder), popularity based targeting, domain-specific knowledge recommendation systems (for example, available at the website address "pandora.com") and ratings-based filtering (for example, a ratings system provided by the online service "Netflix" at the website "netflix.com").
Web site operators can attract new users based on the network content of their website service. Website services can utilize data structures stored on user devices, referred to as "cookies", enabling a user to determine whether new content (e.g., new messages) have been added to a website service. However, website operators need to provide new and/or updated content via their website service on a regular basis in order to ensure existing users continue to utilize their website service.

Socially collaborative filtering for providing recommended content to a website for presentation to an identified user


A method of tone mapping high dynamic range images for display on low dynamic range displays wherein a high dynamic range image is first accessed. The high dynamic range image is segmented into different regions such that each region is represented by a matrix, where each element of the matrix is a weight or probability of a pixel. An exposure of each region is determined or calculated and the exposure values are applied to the regions responsive to the weight or probability. The different regions are then fused together to obtain a final tone mapped image.

The tone mapping problem relates to tone reproduction of high dynamic range (HDR) content on low dynamic range (LDR) displays. In most applications, the tone mapping process must usually meet two requirements: keep image details, e.g. local contrast; and maintain the appearance of relative brightness. Current known work on tone mapping focuses on the first requirement and simply neglects the second one, which is usually the most important from the artists' perspective. Additionally, the currently available tone mapping algorithms do not allow manipulating the tone of different parts of the picture and thus often fail to match the sensation of the original HDR content.
High dynamic range (HDR) has received much attention in recent years as an alternative format for digital imaging. The traditional Low Dynamic Range (LDR) image format was designed for displays compliant with ITU-R Recommendation BT 709 (a.k.a. Rec. 709), where only two orders of magnitude of dynamic range can be achieved. Real world scenes, however, have a much higher dynamic range, around ten orders of magnitude in daytime, and the human visual system (HVS) is capable of perceiving 5 orders of magnitude at the same time.
The amount of visual content available in HDR format is increasing: the latest advances in digital sensors and film stock allows content creators to capture images with very high dynamic range, and computer generated graphics (e.g. animation films, visual effects and games) allow creating visual content with virtually unlimited dynamic range. HDR displays, however, are not mainstream devices yet; a few HDR display devices are already available as prototypes and top-of-the-line HDTVs, but the number of such displays is still very small compared to the widely used LDR displays.
In order to display an HDR image on a LDR display device, a tone mapping method is employed to map the HDR image, which is usually available as radiance, to 8 bit RGB index numbers. The tone mapping process is not obvious because it has to simulate the process that happens in the HVS so that the tone mapped LDR image can deceive the HVS into believing it is close enough to the original HDR image. This requires the tone mapping algorithm to be able to maintain both the local contrast and the perceptual brightness.
Tone mapping for HDR image has been studied in recent years in computer graphics as well as in image/video processing communities. Roughly speaking, tone mapping methods can be classified into two primary categories: global tone mapping and local tone mapping.
Global tone mapping uses a global curve to map radiance to image intensity. Although it has the advantages such as low complexity and easy manual control, it is not able to keep all the details when it comes to considerably high dynamic range. Therefore, global tone mapping is not suitable for applications that require very high quality output (like post-production).
Local tone mapping methods, on the other hand, offer a higher quality result by compressing each individual pixel according to local image characteristics. In particular, these methods try to simulate the visual adaptation that happens in the HVS, but in practice most of them do not mimic the behavior of the HVS explicitly. Instead, they make simple assumptions about the HVS and then try to compress the dynamic range of the image using these assumptions to get a visually good-looking result. Even if with careful fine-tuning of the local tone mapping method it is possible to generate convincing results for a relatively wide range of HDR images, the understanding of visual adaptation is still far from complete. Therefore, there is no algorithm that behaves like the human eye. Additionally, these methods do not offer good manual control of the tone mapping process, severely limiting the creativity typically involved in tone correction processing.
Tone mapping is not only studied by image processing researchers, but also by painters as well as film photographers. They face the same problem of using a limited dynamic range media (i.e. canvas for painters and print paper for photographers) to represent the high dynamic range scenes. Referring to FIG. 1, here we review the "Zone System" 100, which is a photographic technique formulated by Ansel Adams and Fred Archer. The Zone System assigns numbers from 0 through 10 to different perceptual brightness, with 0 representing black, 5 middle gray, and 10 pure white. These values are known as zones. In the theory of the Zone System, a photographer first identifies the key elements in the scene and places these elements on the desired zones.
This process relies on the perception of the scene rather than the measurement of the radiance. Then a light meter is used to measure the radiance for each key element in the scene. As there can be only a single exposure value per shot, an exposure value is chosen such that the most important element is mapped to the desired zone. As a result, other (also important) elements may be mapped to the "wrong" zone, becoming either too dark or too bright. Afterwards, in the printing process, this problem is fixed by applying a "dodge and burn" operation, which is a printing technique where some light is withheld from a portion of the print during development (dodge), or more light is added to that region (burn). Therefore, a key element that is mapped to a lower zone than the desired one will be exposed in the light longer than the rest part of the picture. Similarly, the key element that is mapped to a higher zone than the desired one will be exposed less. This local processing will guarantee that the key elements of the picture are mapped to the desired zone in the final output. In other words, the perceptual brightness of these key elements remains consistent with how they look like in real life.
This approach can be used with digital images, but there is no method with good performance in automatic mode that at the same time provides intuitive control in a user-assisted mode.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


One-part case for digital records' carriers with possibility of connection with cases of the same type presented in FIGS. 1 and 7 and made of the polymeric material using the technology of injection moulding consists of the lower portion (1) and the upper portion (2) connected by one or more foldable joints (3). The portions of the case are fitted with elements which are used for interpositioning of the cases of the same type, in the form of spherical projections (7) and spherical indentations (8), and with elements for interconnecting of the cases of the same type, in the form of elastic consoles (4) and slots (6). The cases are joined into separable stacks of two or more cases of the same type by pressing the loose ends of the elastic consoles (4) of the open upper case into the slots (6) of the closed lower case. The stacked cases represent a single solid body within which there is no movement of the cases. The stack can be disassembled at any point by stretching the stack. The discs can be inserted into or released from the stacked case without having to separate the stacked cases by disassembling the connection for the locking of the individual respective case in the stack.

On the contemporary market there are no disc storage cases which could be connected together into stacks. The cases are commonly used in the form of low rectangular or square prisms of different thicknesses which are stored at workplaces into specially designed cabinets, on the shelves, racks and into cases.
In the literature on patents there have been no solutions offered for disc storage cases that may be interconnected into stacks.
The problem of handling a large number of cases at work and elsewhere has been solved by various versions of separable racks such as described in the patent documents NL9300261, EP1117098, WO02080177, WO0068950, DE19851972 and WO9613036. All the mentioned solutions are based on the application of different storage elements into which the cases are inserted, and which may be combined as necessary into vertical or horizontal stacks of various heights or lengths. These storage elements enable arranging of cases into vertical or horizontal stacks which are not suitable for transport since the cases inserted into the storage elements still have certain freedom of movement in the direction in which the cases are inserted and/or taken out from the storage elements, which allows the cases to fall out from these racks during transportation. Some of the mentioned racks are composed of the storage elements which are mounted one upon the other or one next to the other without being connected and without the possibility of disassembling the stacks in every direction.
The documents on patents WO920382, WO9222902 and GB2282524 describe the racks made of holding elements for disc storage cases interconnected by pivot around which they can rotate in order to access the single discs. These racks are not suitable for transportation since the storage elements and cases have the freedom of rotation around the rack pivot. The solutions mentioned in the state-of-the-art technology recognise the problem of handling the disc cases and indicate the method of solving it. The solution is a simple case such as a solid case which can be assembled without any additional connecting elements with the cases of the same type into relatively solid separable stacks of arbitrary height suitable for transportation and handling. It is precisely such a solution which has been provided in this invention.

One piece connectable case for optical media


An image forming device for implementing satisfactory color calibration includes a color calibration pattern generating unit that generates a color calibration pattern in a form according to an area where it is to be formed, and a visualizing unit that visualizes the color calibration pattern generated by the color calibration pattern generating unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming device that supplies test images for color calibration.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is known to provide an image processing method by which, where calibration is required while n images are being consecutively formed, the processing for image formation is suspended to process calibration and resumed after the completion of this calibration processing. Moreover, it is known to provide a method by which color patches are printed at regular intervals during the use of a printer, these color patches are detected with a sensor, and color calibration values are determined on the basis of the detected colors.

Image forming device, pattern formation method and storage medium storing its program


Materials and methods for making conformable stents. The stents can be generated by, for example, injecting a fluid into a scaffold on the outer surface of an angioplasty balloon inflated at the site of a stenosis, and allowing the fluid to harden or set, thus generating a stent that can remain in the vessel at the site of stenosis.

Angioplasty is the mechanical widening of a narrowed blood vessel or a blood vessel that has become obstructed due to, for example, atherosclerosis. The term "angioplasty" has come to include all manner of vascular interventions typically performed in a minimally-invasive or "percutaneous" method.
Coronary angioplasty, also referred to as percutaneous coronary intervention, is a therapeutic procedure to treat stenotic (narrowed) coronary arteries of the heart found in coronary heart disease. These stenotic segments can result from the build-up of cholesterol-laden plaques that form due to atherosclerosis. Coronary angioplasty typically is performed by an interventional cardiologist.
Peripheral angioplasty refers to the use of mechanical widening to open blood vessels other than the coronary arteries. This procedure often is referred to as percutaneous transluminal angioplasty, or PTA. PTA is most commonly performed to treat narrowing in the leg arteries, especially the common iliac, external iliac, superficial femoral, and popliteal arteries. PTA also can be used to treat narrowing of veins. In addition, atherosclerotic obstruction of the renal artery and carotid artery stenosis can be treated with angioplasty.
Any of these angioplasty procedures can include placement of a stent to prevent or counteract constriction of localized blood flow. The stent can act as a scaffold, remaining in place permanently to help keep the vessel open. A stent typically is inserted through a main artery in the groin (femoral artery) or arm (brachial artery) on a wire or catheter (e.g., a balloon catheter, in the case of balloon angioplasty), and threaded up to the narrowed section of the vessel. In a balloon angioplasty procedure, the balloon can be inflated to push the plaque out of the way and expand the vessel. In a balloon angioplasty/stent placement procedure, a stent either can be stretched open by the balloon at the same time as the artery, or can be inserted into the vessel immediately after the angioplasty procedure. Once in place, the stent helps to hold the vessel open, thus improving blood flow. In addition, since angioplasty can result in tears or dissections in the intimal lining of blood vessels, stents can push back these flaps of tissue and thereby maintain vessel patency.

Conformable stents and methods for making

Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research


A system and method for digital communications combine features of multiuser diversity and frequency diversity allocation schemes. The system and method retain advantages of multiuser allocation whenever possible by assigning a fraction, α, of the available bandwidth to users in channels where the users are experiencing high SNR. Recognizing that channel state information at the transmitter is not perfect, however, the system and method allocate the remaining bandwidth, 1−α, pseudorandomly according to frequency diversity.

Wireless digital communications systems are poised to offer a cost-effective alternative to cable and DSL data services. So called "WiMAX" technology, based on the IEEE 802.16e air interface standard is a promising framework for broadband wireless applications. It has the potential to enable full internet and digital voice services for both fixed and mobile users.
The physical layer architecture for IEEE 802.16e OFDMA systems is based on orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) modulation. Since OFDM divides the total bandwidth into multiple narrowband sub-bands, the effects of frequency selective fading are reduced. The OFDM system allows for a simple receiver structure while maintaining high link quality. The technology also employs adaptive modulation and coding in both the downlink and the uplink to deal with variations in link quality. This enables WiMAX to offer multiple date rates at the physical layer which can be adapted dynamically based on the integrity of the air link.
Multiple users share the total system bandwidth by multiplexing their data in both time and frequency. In an adaptive OFDM system, spectral efficiency can be improved by allocating time-frequency resources based on throughput requirements, quality of service constraints and the channel qualities of each user. A scheduler, which optimizes resource allocation for multiple active users, becomes a key element in such a solution. In present code-division multiple access (CDMA) systems, spectral efficiency decreases with an increasing number of active users because of intra-cell interference due to imperfect orthogonality of the downlinks. In an adaptive OFDM system, where orthogonal time-frequency resources are given to the user who can utilize them best, the spectral efficiency instead increases with the number of active users. This effect is known as multiuser diversity.
To take greatest advantage of multiuser diversity, channel state information must be available at the transmitter. When perfect channel information exists, i.e. knowledge of the signal to interference and noise ratio (SINR), for every possible time-frequency bin, an optimal assignment of spectral resources can be accomplished. Of course, in reality channel state information is never perfectly known.
Conversely when poor or no channel information is available, the best allocation of spectral resources may be to distribute time-frequency bins to users randomly across the entire system bandwidth. This mode of operation is known as frequency diversity.
Particularly in the case of mobile users, where channel state information is not only imperfect, but also constantly changing, neither multiuser diversity nor frequency diversity represents an optimal solution. Multiuser diversity may not work well in a changing mobile communications environment where the quality of channel state information is variable. On the other hand, frequency diversity ignores channel state information that may be useful even though it is imperfect.
What is needed is a mode that combines the best features of multiuser diversity and frequency diversity modes. Such a solution would enable WiMAX and other OFDMA digital communications systems to achieve better net spectral efficiency.

Subcarrier allocation in OFDMA with imperfect channel state information at the transmitter


According to a control device for a stepping motor of the present invention, in a first operation mode, a microstep driving section 16 is selected, and an output of this microstep driving section 16 is applied to a driving section 21 through a command selector 12, whereby a stepping motor 25 is microstep driven by this driving section 21. Furthermore, in a second operation mode, a forced driving section 15 is selected, and an output of this forced driving section 15 is applied to the driving section 21 through the command selector 12, whereby the stepping motor 25 is forced driven by this driving section 21, i.e., a high-speed rotation of a rotor 29 is started from any rotation angle with the microstep driving. Furthermore, in a third operation mode, a driving pattern generating section 13 is selected, an output of this driving pattern generating section 13 is applied to the driving section 21 through the command selector 12, whereby a high-speed rotation driving of the stepping motor 25 is continued by this driving section 21.

A stepping motor has characteristics of being small, and having high torque and long life-time. A driving method by an open-loop control utilizing simple controllability of the stepping motor is generally employed therefor. However, in the driving by the open-loop control, there are some problems such as a loss of synchronism wherein a rotation angle of the motor departs from the target, a vibration of the motor, a difficulty in achieving a high-speed rotation, etc. On the other hand, in a driving method by a closed-loop control, an encoder is provided to the stepping motor, and the motor is controlled while detecting the rotation angle of the motor by the encoder, whereby the loss of synchronism and the vibration are suppressed and the high-speed rotation potential improves, though a control system therefor becomes complex.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,963,808 describe a configuration capable of utilizing a two-phase stepping motor in the two types of operation modes while switching the open-loop control with the two-phase stepping motor and the closed-loop control employing the two-phase stepping motor as a DC motor. In addition, also described herein is a technique in which the number of output pulses in one cycle of the encoder for detecting the rotation angle of the stepping motor is set to be a multiple of the number of magnetic poles in the rotor of the stepping motor. The stepping motor is one-phase excited so as to start the rotation of the rotor from the state in which the rotor is at rest in a predetermined position. An exciting current of the stepping motor is switched every time a predetermined number of pulses are output from the encoder in response to this rotation, thereby suppressing a phase difference between the output pulse and the exciting current of the stepping motor to a predetermined error or less without adjustment.
FIG. 7 shows the conventional device for closed-loop controlling the stepping motor.
In FIG. 7, a control section 124 drives and controls a stepping motor 125 according to either of a first operation mode and a second operation mode. In the first operation mode, the microstep driving, for controlling the rotation angle of a rotor 129 of the stepping motor 125 by the closed-loop control, in which a current command is output from the control section 124 to a driving section 121, is conducted at a timing at which the current command is generated by the control section 124. Furthermore, in the second operation mode, the rotor 129 of the stepping motor 125 is rotated at a high speed by a closed-loop control in which the rotation angle of the rotor 129 is detected by an encoder 128, the detected rotation angle is provided to the control section 124, and a current command is output from the control section 124 to the driving section 121.
The driving section 121 includes an A-phase current driver 122 and a B-phase current driver 123, which are independent from each other. The A-phase current driver 122 and the B-phase current driver 123 are provided with an A-phase current command and a B-phase current command from the control section 124 through a data selector 137 to form currents of the current commands, respectively, and provide these currents to an A-phase stator 126 and a B-phase stator 127, thereby driving the stepping motor 125. Specifically, the A-phase current driver 122 and the Bphase current driver 123 include a D/A converter for converting digital data representing the A-phase current command and the B-phase current command to analog signals, and an amplifier for amplifying and outputting the analog signal.
The stepping motor 125 is of a two-phase PM type, and a stepping angle by the two-phase excitation is 18.degree.. The stepping motor 125 includes a rotor 129 made of a permanent magnet, in which N-poles and S-poles are polarised at every angle of 72.degree. and five poles are polarised for the N-pole and the S-pole in one round, and a two-phase excitation coil including the A-phase stator 126 and the B-phase stator 127. The A-phase stator 126 and the B-phase stator 127 include yokes in which N-poles and S-poles are polarised at every angle of 72.degree. and five poles are polarised for the N-pole and the S-pole in one round, and these yokes are positioned around the rotor 129. The magnetic poles of the yoke of the A-phase stator 126 and the magnetic poles of the yoke of the B-phase stator 127 are offset with respect to each other by 18.degree..
A slit disc 131, in which slits are formed at every angle of 4.5.degree., is fixed to a rotor axis 130. A pitch of an angle of 4.5.degree., at which each slit of the slit disc 131 is formed, is determined such that it becomes 1/integer of a pitch of an angle of 72.degree. at which each magnetic pole of the rotor 129 is formed (herein, 1/16). Especially, since the number of phases of the stepping motor 125 is two phases, the pitch of the angle of 4.5.degree. at which each slit is formed is determined so as to satisfy a relationship of 1/(a multiple of 2), i.e., 1/16=1 /(2.times.8).
A photosensor 132 includes an LED of light emission side and a phototransistor of light reception side, and is of a transparent type in which the LED and the phototransistor are placed on both sides of the slit disc 131. The phototransistor detects the slit of the slit disc 131 by receiving light output from the LED with the phototransistor through the slit of the slit disc 131. The phototransistor outputs an output signal according to the presence and absence of the slit of the slit disc 131. The photosensor 132 is contained in the housing 133 with the slit disc 131, thereby being protected from stain and damage caused by breakage and/or dust.
An output of the photosensor 132 is binarized by a comparator 134. The comparator 134 not only simply compares the output of the photosensor 132 with a reference value so as to output signals of a high level and of a low level, but also switches the high level and the low level of the output signal only when the output of the photosensor 132 is changed between two reference values, thereby avoiding a malfunction due to chattering.
A pulse signal output from the comparator 134 is input to a control section 124 and a hexadecimal counter 135.
A counter 135 counts up in the range of an enumerated value 0-15 every time a single pulse signal is input from the comparator 134; and after the enumerated value reaches 15, the counter 135 initializes the enumerated value to be 0 at a timing of the next count-up, and outputs the enumerated value circulating in the range from 0 to 15 as a binary number of 4 bits. Furthermore, when the clear signal is input from the control section 124, the counter 135 initializes the enumerated value thereof to be 0.
A 4 input/4 output code converter 136 is provided with an enumerated value of four bits from the counter 135, converts the enumerated value to a code of four bits, and outputs this code. The relationship between these enumerated values and the code is shown in a code table 81 of FIG. 8. Herein, 4 bits representing codes output from the code converter 136 are referred to as a P bit, a Q bit, a P inverted bit, and a Q inverted bit. A discrete value input to the code converter 136 is represented not by an actual binary number of 4 bits but by a decimal number.
As seen from the code table 81, each of bits representing codes output from the code converter 136 is one that is obtained by dividing cycles of a pulse signal output from the comparator 134 so as to be 1/16. Phases of the P bit and the Q bit from the code converter 136 are offset with respect to each other by four cycles of a pulse signal output from the comparator 134. Likewise, phases of other P invert bit and Q invert bit from the code converter 136 are offset with respect to each other by four cycles of the pulse signal output from the comparator 134.
A data selector 137 inputs a select signal of 3 bits from the control section 124 as well as four bits, i.e., a P bit, a Q bit, a P inverted bit, and a Q inverted bit, selects two among the P bit, the Q bit, the P inverted bit, and the Q inverted bit according to this select signal, and outputs these selected bits as an A-phase current command and a B-phase current command. These A-phase and B-phase current commands are applied to the driving section 121, and currents of the current commands are applied to the A-phase stator 126 and the B-phase stator 127, thereby rotating the rotor 129.
Details of three bits representing the select signal are a rotation direction data CW (1 bit) and a motor initial state data CM (2 bits).
The rotation direction data CW represents "1" when the stepping motor 125 is rotated in a clockwise direction, and "0" when it is rotated in a counterclockwise direction.
The motor initial state data CM represents an excitation state of the A-phase stator 126 and the B-phase stator 127 of the stepping motor 125 at a point in time when a first operation mode ends. After the stepping motor 125 is once set at a one-phase excitation state by the microstep driving in the first operation mode, the control of driving in a second operation mode is conducted. The one-phase excitation state in the first operation mode includes four states, i.e., a state that only the A-phase stator 126 is excited in the positive direction, a state that only the B-phase stator 127 is excited in the positive direction, a state that only the A-phase stator 126 is excited in the negative direction, and a state that only the B-phase stator 127 is excited in the negative direction. The motor initial state data CM is provided with either of "1", "2", "3", and "4" in the above order according to the state from which a switching to the second operation mode is conducted.
A correspondence between the motor initial state data CM and the rotation direction data CW and two bits selected by and output from the data selector 137 is shown in table 82 of FIG. 9. In this table 82, the motor initial state data CM is represented not by an actual binary number of 4 bits but by a decimal number.
Next, an operation of a stepping motor having such a structure will be described.
First, the control section 124 determines a rotation direction of the rotor 129 of the stepping motor 125. For example, the rotation direction is set to be a clockwise direction. Then, the one-phase excitation state is set up by the microstep driving in the first operation mode to rotate the rotor 129 of the stepping motor 125 to a position of said state.
The one-phase excitation state includes four types of states, as described above. However, a position of the rotor 129 also includes four positions, typically, it is a position at which the rotor 129 reaches in the first place when the rotor 129 is rotated from a rest position in the determined rotation direction. Herein, it is a position of the state in which only the A-phase stator 126 is excited in the positive direction.
After this one-phase excitation state is maintained for 1-2 ms, the control section 124 outputs a clear signal to the counter 135 so that an enumerated value becomes 0. In addition, the control section 124 outputs the motor initial state data CM and the rotation direction data CW to data selector 137.
Herein, "1" is set at the motor initial state data CM so that the rotation direction is clockwise, and "1" is set at the rotation direction data CW in order to start driving from the state that only the A-phase stator 126 is excited in the positive direction. These data values are continuously maintained until the rotor 129 shifts from a first operation mode to a second operation mode, i.e., from a high-speed operation state to a rotation angle controlling state.
When "1" is set at the motor initial state data CM, and "1" is set at the rotation direction data CW, an A-phase current command and a B-phase current command output from the data selector 137 are the P-bit and the Q-bit, as seen from the table 82. And, at a point in time when the enumerated value of the counter 135 is cleared, both the A-phase current command and the B-phase current command (the P-bit and the Q-bit) becomes "0" (low level), as shown in the code table 81. At this time, the operation mode state becomes the second operation mode state, and respective currents of the A-phase current command and the B-phase current command are provided from the driving section 121 to the A-phase stator 126 and the B-phase stator 127, whereby the rotor 129 rotates in the clockwise direction from a rest position of the one-phase excitation state.
After the rotation of the rotor 129 starts in the second operation mode, a pulse signal is output from the binary counter 134 every time the rotor 129 rotates by an angle of 4.5.degree.. When a pulse signal of second cycle is output, the enumerated value of the counter 135 becomes "2", and the A-phase current command becomes "1" (High). Thereafter, the A-phase current command changes every eight cycles of a pulse signal output from the binary counter 134. Likewise, a pulse signal of the sixth cycle of the binary counter 134 is output, the enumerated value of the counter 135 becomes "6", and the B-phase current command becomes "1". Thereafter, B-phase current command changes every eight cycles of a pulse signal output from the binary counter 134.
That is, the A-phase current command and the B-phase current command are selected among the P bit, the Q bit, the P inverted bit, the Q inverted bit according to a rotation direction and a rest position of the one-phase excitation state, and updated every eight cycles of a pulse signal output from the binary counter 134 in response to the rotation of the rotor 129 while maintaining a phase difference of four cycles of a pulse signal output from the binary counter 134.
Respective currents of the A-phase current command and the B-phase current command are continuously provided to the A-phase stator 126 and the B-phase stator 127, whereby the rotor 129 continues to rotate in the clockwise direction. The A-phase stator 126 is excited in the positive direction or in the negative direction in response to the A-phase current command "1" or "0", and the B-phase stator 127 is excited in the positive direction or in the negative direction in response to the B-phase current command "1" or "0". Thus, the A-phase stator 126 and the B-phase stator 127 are excited while consistently maintaining a certain relationship with the angle position of the rotor, respectively, and rotated without causing a loss of synchronism due to an abrupt increase of the load or the like.
The rotor 129 is sometimes controlled at any rotation angle by the microstep driving as well as at the four rotation angles by the above-described four one-phase excitation states. That is, the rotor 129 is sometimes rested at any other rotation angle by appropriately adjusting each of the currents of the A-phase stator 126 and the B-phase stator 127 in a well-known manner.
In the conventional apparatus, when the rotor 129 is rotated from a state that the rotor 129 is rested at any rotation angle, it is required to shift to the second operation mode through the first operation mode. Therefore, since the rotor 129 is rotated from any rotation angle to a rotation angle of the one-phase excitation mode by the microstep driving at a point in time when the first operation mode starts, this rotation requires some extra time.
Furthermore, the one-phase excitation state of the rotor 129 has to be maintained for a certain period until the rotation angle of the rotor 129 becomes stable. This is because a magnetic power between the rotor 129 and each of the stators 126 and 127 functions as a kind of spring power, this spring power and a mass of the rotor 129 form a kind of oscillatory system, and a vibration occurs in the rotor 129 when the rotating rotor 129 stops at any rotation angle. The operation is on standby for a certain period until this vibration decreases and the rotation angle of the rotor 129 becomes stable. Since the rotor 129 reciprocatingly rotates in the clockwise direction and the counterclockwise direction while the rotor 129 is vibrating, even when an output of the encoder 128 is counted by the counter 135 to detect the rotation angle of the rotor 129, this detected rotation angle includes a large error with respect to an actual rotation angle of the rotor 129. Therefore, it is necessary to wait for the output of the clear signal for initializing the enumerated value of the counter 135 until the damped vibration is completely calmed down. This time period is about 10-20 ms, which is not a negligible length of time in some applications to which the stepping motor 125 is directed. For example, when the stepping motor 125 is applied to a typical CD-ROM apparatus or the like, and an optical head is moved along a radial direction of a disk by the stepping motor 125, a standby period of 10-20 ms occurs, which is very long.
Furthermore, when the stepping motor 125 is applied to an optical disk apparatus or the like, and a focus of an optical head is controlled by the stepping motor 125, the damped vibration of the rotor 129 travels to the optical head, thereby adversely affecting a radial position servo of the optical head.
Thus, the present invention is provided in view of the above conventional problems, and an object thereof is to provide a control device for a stepping motor capable of rotating a rotor from any rotation angle within a very short time period without a vibration of the rotor, and a driving device for an optical head employing a control apparatus for the stepping motor.

Stepping motor control device and optical head drive device

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A frame sync detecting circuit and FSK receiver sequentially derive a moving average value (□) from oversample values of a received word pattern, for given symbol periods, and a difference between the moving average value and an average value for the given symbol periods in a given sync word pattern is determined as DC offsets Δf. Subsequently, the DC offset Δf is subtracted from the received word pattern, and correlation processing with respect to the sync word pattern is performed to determine a correlation value (●). If the correlation value exceeds a predetermined threshold, it is determined that a sync word candidate has been received, and symbol values of the received word pattern after the DC offset correction are compared with respective symbol values of the sync word pattern. A sync word pattern detection is determined if errors in the symbols are within a given range.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a frame sync detecting circuit which is suitably implemented in an FSK demodulator circuit or the like, and an FSK receiver using the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the FSK (Frequency Shift Keying) modulation scheme, demodulation is performed by frequency-voltage conversion. In this demodulation, voltages having levels corresponding to a plurality of (e.g., two or four) frequencies are output as a demodulated signal, and a DC offset is superimposed on the demodulated signal in connection with an error between transmitted and received frequencies. While, in a phase modulation scheme, demodulation is performed by phase-voltage conversion, and a DC offset also occurs in connection with an error between transmitted and received phases, the following description will be made based on only the FSK modulation scheme. If the DC offset is included, it will become difficult to detect a specific word pattern for frame synchronization or the like. This is particularly prominent in 4-level FSK where a symbol voltage interval (symbol frequency deviation interval) is narrow. Therefore, as a conventional technique of detecting a word pattern after performing offset correction, for example, JP 2006-339859A has been proposed.
In a sync signal detecting unit disclosed in JP 2006-339859A, in order to detect a frame sync word inserted in a given position of each frame, a product-sum operation-based correlation value between a detected signal and a known frame sync word is firstly calculated. Subsequently, if the correlation value has a peak value which is equal to or greater than a given threshold value, after the detected signal is determined to be a frame sync word candidate, a DC offset value is determined from an average value in the detected signal, and offset correction is performed by subtracting the DC offset value from the detected signal. Then, a vector error (square sum of errors) for all symbol data of the detected signal after the correction and the known frame sync word is calculated. If the vector error is less than a given threshold value, the sync signal detecting unit determines that the detected signal is an intended frame sync word, and therefore synchronization is established. In this way, synchronization can be accurately detected from an initial signal, while eliminating a response lag due to DC offset removal.
In the above conventional technique, a correlation between a detected signal and a known frame sync word is calculated, and then a DC offset value obtained from an average value in the detected signal is used for correction. Thus, a determination on a frame sync word candidate can be performed relatively rapidly, as described above. However, the correlation (convolution) processing is performed under a condition that the detected signal includes a DC offset, and thereby a threshold value for a final determination on frame synchronization establishment becomes lower. Consequently, noise or main data (in FSK, traffic channel) is liable to be erroneously determined as a frame sync word, which causes cases where it adversely takes longer time to establish synchronization.

Frame sync detecting circuit and FSK receiver using the same


Provided is a superconducting cable capable of maintaining a predetermined thermal insulation property without having a vacuum thermal insulation structure. The superconducting cable of the present invention includes: a cable unit 100, in which a core having a superconductor layer and an electrical insulation layer is housed in a core-housing pipe; a thermal insulation member 200 which is provided outside the cable unit and maintained in a non-vacuum state; and a sealing member for preventing the permeation of moisture into the thermal insulation member. By equipping the outside of the cable unit with the thermal insulation member 200 which is maintained in a non-vacuum state, it is made possible to maintain the predetermined thermal insulation property without having a vacuum thermal insulation structure.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a superconducting cable.
Particularly, the invention relates to a superconducting cable that does not have a vacuum thermal insulation structure, or a superconducting cable that has a vacuum thermal insulation structure and that can maintain the thermal insulation performance even if the vacuum condition is destroyed.
(b) Description of Related Art
The superconducting cable as shown in FIG. 8 is a proposed conventional superconducting cable. FIG. 8 is a sectional view of a three core-in-one type superconducting cable having a structure in which three cores 110 are housed in a thermal insulation pipe 600.
A cable core 110 is equipped with a former 111, a superconductor layer 112, an electrical insulation layer 113, a shielding layer 114, and a protective layer 115, in an enumerated order from the center thereof. The conductor layer 112 is formed by spirally winding superconducting wires in multiple layers on the former 111. Generally, a superconducting wire has a structure of tape-like shape in which a plurality of filaments consisting of an oxide superconducting material are arranged in a matrix such as a silver sheath. The insulation layer 113 is formed by winding an insulation paper such as a semisynthetic insulation paper. The shielding layer 114 is formed by spirally winding a superconducting wire, which is similar to the conductor layer 112, on the electrical insulation layer 113. An insulation paper or the like is used as the protective layer 115.
On the other hand, a thermal insulation pipe 600 is structured such that a thermal insulation material (not illustrated) is arranged between the double pipes consisting of an inner pipe 610 and an outer pipe 620, the inside of the double pipe is evacuated. An anticorrosion layer 630 is formed outside the thermal insulation pipe 600. Furthermore, the space existing inside the former 111 (in the case where the former is hollow) and a space between the inner pipe 610 and the cores 110 are filled with a coolant such as liquid-nitrogen or the like which circulates therein so that the thermal insulation pipe may be in a usable condition in a state of the insulation layer 113 being impregnated with the coolant.    [Patent document 1] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2002-140944 (FIG. 2)
However, there have been the following problems with respect to the above-mentioned superconducting cable.
(1) The vacuum thermal insulation structure needed for the superconducting cable results in a large-sized cable. In order to make a vacuum thermal insulation structure, it is necessary to use a thermal insulation pipe having a double pipe structure and to evacuate the space between the inner and the outer pipes of the thermal insulation pipe. Therefore, the thickness of the thermal insulation pipe increases, and particularly the outer diameter of the superconducting cable becomes large-sized. Accordingly, the manufacturing cost of the superconducting cable becomes high.
(2) The maintenance and control of the vacuum performance of the thermal insulation pipe are complex. Using an evacuated thermal insulation pipe having a double pipe structure requires the maintenance and control of the vacuum performance in the manufacture, construction and operation steps of the superconducting cable. Particularly, when a malfunction occurs to the vacuum performance of the thermal insulation pipe, it takes a large amount of time to recover the pre-determined vacuum condition once again. Depending on the conditions, it may be difficult to recover the pre-determined vacuum condition within a given period of time, which might result in failure of maintaining the coolant temperature, thereby causing a lack of a power transmission property.


An ink refill container 63 includes a container main body 64 including an ink storage chamber 76, an ink outlet-forming portion 66 provided on an end portion of the container main body forming an ink outlet 65 that allows the ink to flow out from the ink storage chamber, and a valve 74 provided in the ink outlet-forming portion configured to openably seal the ink outlet, in which the ink outlet-forming portion includes a positioning portion 73 on an outer side of the ink outlet-forming portion. in which the positioning portion 73 is closer to the container main body than the valve 74 is to the container main body in a central axis direction of the ink outlet, and in which the positioning portion partially abuts against an ink tank 41-45 when the valve is opened for refilling the ink to the ink tank, to thereby position the valve relative to the ink tank.

In a recording device, previously, that performs recording by ejecting ink onto a medium, an ink tank that stores ink is connected to the recording device in a manner that allows the ink tank to refill the ink. In addition, when only a small amount of ink remains in the ink tank in the recording device, an ink refill container is used to externally refill the ink to the ink tank (see, for example, Patent Literature 1).

Ink refill container, ink refill system, and ink refill adapter


A method of producing surface features having topological variances in the scribeline areas of a wafer adjacent to the dies. Surface features are used to reduce fracturing of molding compound and to prevent movement of the molding compound with respect to the surface of a die in a plastic encapsulated integrated circuit.

Plastic encapsulated integrated circuits have been found to suffer damage due to stresses caused by thermal expansion and contraction in the molding compound surrounding the integrated circuit. Stressing, resulting from temperature cycling of the chip and other thermal coefficient of expansion mismatches of the materials, causes mechanical stresses in the plastic encapsulated integrated circuits. The highest of these stresses occur near the comers of the encapsulated die. The mechanical force exerted on the comers of the die results in several types of damage in the die, which are discussed below. The amount of damage found in the integrated circuit is a partly a function of the layout strategy of the area near the comer of the die.
As a result of the thermal expansions and contractions and resulting mechanical stresses in the molding compound, delamination, or movement of the molding compound with respect to the surface of the die occurs. When the thermally induced stresses are great enough to produce fractures in the molding compound, the area of damage to the die may be increased, and thin film cracking on the die is possible. As might be expected, such damage to the die, as a result of the stress, can cause the performance of the plastic encapsulated integrated circuit device to suffer, or cause the entire circuit to fail.
Previous attempts to solve the problem of molding compound movement have focused on comer structures on the die composed of metal and contact layers. In such structures, metal and contact layers are placed onto the comer of the die to act as a bonding area for the molding compound, as will be shown in conjunction with FIG. 1. However, metal and contact layers have a limited depth or topological variance, and thus, a lower ability to lock the molding compound to the die. Additionally, the comer structures do not reduce the threat of mold compound fractures.
Another problem facing plastic encapsulated integrated circuits is delamination. Delamination occurs when the molding compound separates from the surface of the die. If delamination occurs, and the separation is large enough, the topological variations of the comer structures can no longer restrain the movement of the molding compound with respect to the die surface. When movement of the molding compound with respect to the surface of the encapsulated die occurs, thin film cracking as well as damage beyond the area covered by the comer structure is possible.
Attempts to alleviate the problem of molding compound movement by utilizing comer structures, have an additional drawback. Comer structures placed onto the surface of the die reduce the available active die area.
A method or means is needed which reduces molding compound fracturing, prevents movement of the molding compound with respect to the die surface, and does not require using active die space to achieve these results.

Method of producing a scribelined layout structure for plastic encapsulated circuits


A control information transmission method includes that: a first station sends a wireless signal including control information, where the control information is used for instructing a specified second station in a sleep state to perform one or more of following operations: state update, sleep mode transition, leaving the sleep state, and an operation after leaving the sleep state. A secondary module of the second station receives and decodes a wake-up signal to obtain control information and identity identifier information, and sends the control information and the identity identifier information to a control module; and the control module of the second station determines, according to the identity identifier information, whether the second station is a target second station of the wake-up signal, and parses and completes an operation indicated in the control information.

In wireless communication systems, power saving performance has always been valued. With the development of the Internet of Things (IoT), a variety of applications have brought a large number of self-powered devices to access the wireless network. Due to the large number of devices or due to the limitations of the application environment, it is not feasible to change batteries or charge frequently, so it is necessary to put forward higher power saving requirements for the design of such applications and devices.
Traditional wireless local area networks (WLAN) systems and cellular network systems have corresponding power saving mechanisms. When no communication needs to be performed, the terminal device enters a sleep state and wakes up to receive information at a predetermined time.
The power saving mechanism supported in the traditional WLAN for users is as follows: a power saving user and an access point agree on a listening interval of the power saving user. When the power saving user is in the sleep state and the access point has data to be sent to the user, the user is notified through indication information in a beacon frame; and the power saving user wakes up only at the agreed time to listen to the beacon frame and parse the indication information to learn whether any data for the power saving user exists. The listening interval is generally set to hundreds of milliseconds.
A power saving mechanism of the cellular network system is similar to that of the WLAN. In the radio resource control (RRC) connected state, a discontinuous reception (DRX) mechanism exists, and the power saving user and the base station agree on sleep time and wake-up time. If the base station needs to send data to the power saving user, the data can only be sent at the agreed wake-up time of the user. In the RRC idle state, the power saving user periodically wakes up to listen to a paging message, and both the serving base station and the non-serving base station need to send the paging message at a specific moment to contact with the power saving user.
In the 802.11ah of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the power saving characteristics of sensor-type devices has been improved. Power saving users may decide the wake-up time and may wake up to actively send information to the access point so as to obtain the data of the user cached in the access point. Although the user does not need to wake up periodically under this mechanism, the user must wake up at least once in a certain period of time to actively query whether any data of the user exists on the access point.
In order to further improve the power saving performance of the terminal device, it is necessary to propose a mechanism in which the terminal does not need to wake up periodically when no communication needs to be performed. One way is to add a low-power-consumption module to the original communication system (hereinafter referred to as the primary module). When no communication needs to be performed, the primary module saves power to the greatest extent (the primary module is in a deep sleep state or is turned off), and only the low-power-consumption module is responsible for listening to a channel. A relevant signal is sent to the low-power-consumption module only when other devices have a demand to communicate with the primary module, and the low-power-consumption module then triggers the primary module to enter a working state to complete communication with other devices. In practical applications, such type of device has the demand to move across cells.
In practical applications, such type of device has the demand to move across cells, and currently no solution exists for such mobile demand.

Control information transmission method and apparatus


A computer-implemented method for generating a semantically segmented image and a depth completion image using a convolutional neural network (CNN) from an input visible image and/or an input depth image. A central component of the CNN for semantic segmentation and depth completion is a common representation that allows both tasks to be performed when given any of these combinations of input images (i) both an input visible image and an input depth image, (ii) only an input visible image, or (iii) only an input depth image.

Computer vision is a field of endeavor which aims at providing computers with high-level understanding from digital images. It seeks to automate tasks that the human visual system can do. One of these tasks is known as "semantic" segmentation.
Generally, segmentation is the process of partitioning an image into sets of pixels. More specifically, when each of these sets of pixels corresponds to an entity whose type can be identified (e.g., a car, a person, a building, etc.), the segmentation is semantic. In practice, semantic segmentation consists in assigning a class label to each pixel among a predetermined set of classes.
Semantic segmentation has a strong interest in many applications that require an understanding of scenes to assist with navigation, including robotics and autonomous driving. In a similar context, semantic segmentation may be used in augmented reality to understand scenes (e.g., to find virtual objects in scenes and regions in which virtual objects may be added).
For semantic segmentation, RGB-D cameras may be used to collect color and depth information for different computer vision tasks. Information collected by the depth camera is complementary to RGB images. Advantageously, the information collected by the depth camera may potentially help decode structural information of the scene and improve the performance of semantic segmentation.
A Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) is a type of Neural Network that has a connection pattern between the neurons inspired by the visual cortex of animals. A CNN is suitable for image processing, and more specifically semantic segmentation, as they may be used to recognized entities in images.
After a supervised learning stage, where a CNN is trained by feeding it a training set of images that is already segmented (i.e. provided with the labels of to each pixel in the frames of the videos), the CNN may be used at runtime to segment inputted images (i.e., unsegmented images that are input to the CNN).
When RGB images are augmented with depth information, one possibility is to incorporate the depth information into a semantic segmentation framework. Different so-called "fusion-based" methods have been developed (including deep features pooling, dense feature, multiscale fusion, etc.) that enable such an incorporation.
Such fusion-based methods, like FuseNet (as disclosed by Hazirbas, C., Ma, L., Domokos, C., Cremers, D. in "Fusenet: Incorporating Depth into Semantic Segmentation via Fusion-based CNN Architecture", published in ACCV, 2016) use an encoder-decoder architecture, where the encoder part is composed of two branches of networks that simultaneously extract features from RGB and depth images and fuse depth features into the RGB feature maps as the network goes deeper. Moreover, training individual RGB and depth modality models has been replaced with joint learning. It has been shown that the semantics predictions of a jointly learned network can be fused more consistently than predictions of a network trained on individual views (see the disclosure by Ma, L., Stückler, J., Kerl, C., Cremers, D., in "Multi-View Deep Learning for Consistent Semantic Mapping with RGB-D Cameras", published in IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), pp. 598-605, 2017).
Such existing methods, whether modality models are independently or jointly trained, assume the dominance of the RGB modality, eventually complementing it with depth information. Further, such existing methods adopt the fusion-based representation which benefits by complementing the RGB modality with the depth modality to reduce the uncertainty of segmentation and labelling.
However, such existing fusion-based approaches requires both modalities (i.e., RGB and depth images) to be available when training the models and using them at runtime. Should one of the two modalities be missing (e.g., because of a faulty depth camera), segmentation using such methods does not operate as intended. In such cases, RGB segmentation may be relied on (but with a loss of performance). In a more complex alternative, an additional CNN may be used to estimate a depth image from the RGB image (i.e. reconstruct the depth image); the estimated depth image is then used as input in the fusion-based approach (but again with a loss of performance).
There continues therefore to be a need for improved segmentation methods that overcome these and other problems. In particular, there continues to be a need for more robust and fault-tolerant segmentation methods that have consistent and improved results.

Method and apparatus for semantic segmentation and depth completion using a convolutional neural network


A device for transporting and heating a liquid may be installed between a means for circulating the liquid and a wiper brush constituting a wiping system of a vehicle window. The device may include a wall that delimits at least one liquid circulation duct and in which may be embedded a heating element. The heating element may include at least one first electrically conductive strand and one second electrically conductive strand. A spacing means that extends at least between said strands may be provided within the wall.

The technical sector of the present invention is that of the systems for supplying and/or distributing screen-wash liquid for motor vehicles. Such a system accompanies a vehicle window wiping installation. More particularly, the invention targets a device for transporting and heating the liquid conveyed between a tank and a spraying system.
Motor vehicles are routinely equipped with wiping installations and washing systems to ensure the wiping and washing of the windscreen, and thus prevent the driver's vision of his or her environment being disrupted. These wiping installations comprise arms describing an angular reciprocal movement at the end of which are installed elongate brushes, which in turn bear scraper blades made of an elastic material. These blades rub against the windscreen and dispel the water by bringing it outside the field of vision of the driver. The brush is attached to the rotating arm of the windscreen wiper by an assembly consisting of a mechanical connector and an adapter. The connector is a part which is fixed directly onto the structure of the brush, the adapter being an intermediate part which makes it possible to fasten the connector, and consequently the brush, onto the arm of the windscreen wiper. These two parts are linked to one another by a transversal axis which allows their relative rotation.
The washing systems comprise a device for feeding a screen-wash liquid which is routed from a tank located in the vehicle and which is sprayed towards the windscreen by nozzles generally located on the bonnet, on the windscreen bay grating or on the windscreen wiper itself for a better distribution of the liquid. In the case of nozzles placed on the brushes, the screen-wash liquid is routed, before being distributed between them, by pipelines which are fixed onto the arms of the windscreen wiper and which are connected to a distribution system of the brush at the connector. The connector thus comprises orifices suitable for receiving, by a leak-tight link, the endpieces of said pipelines.
When the temperature of the screen-wash liquid is too low, for example below 5° C., the screen-wash liquid is heated to de-ice it or keep it de-iced. For this, a transport duct reheats the screen-wash liquid taken from a tank by a pump at the time when the screen wash control is actuated, generally by the control lever placed alongside the steering wheel and controlling, among other things, the actuation of the windscreen wipers.
The heating of the liquid in the transport duct is ensured by a heating element which runs next to the duct. It has also been proposed to incorporate this heating element inside the duct but such an incorporation poses problems of positioning of the heating element relative to the duct in which the liquid circulates, which is reflected in a degradation of the liquid heating function and a reduction of its efficiency over the length of the heating element. Furthermore, the arrangement of the heating element is not managed satisfactorily since overheating has been detected in certain areas of the heating element. It will be understood from the above that liquid transport and heating device as described above presents drawbacks.

Device for transporting and heating a liquid for a vehicle window wiping system