A projection conversion coefficient acquirer of an image processing apparatus acquires the same number of projection conversion coefficients, which are coefficients for doing projection conversion of an image, as the number of a plurality of reference points at differing positions in the image. A post-projection-conversion image acquirer does projection conversion on the image through each of the projection conversion coefficients, of which there are the same number as the number of the plurality of reference points acquired by the projection conversion coefficient acquirer, and acquires a plurality of post-projection-conversion images from the image, the number of the post-projection-conversion images being the same as the number of reference points. A weighted averager finds a weighted average for each of the coordinates of pixels comprising the plurality of post-projection-conversion images, using a plurality of weightings determined in accordance with distance from the plurality of reference points in the image. A weighted average image acquirer acquires a weighted average image in which the plurality of post-projection-conversion images have undergone weighted averaging by the weighted averager.

Recently, correction of blurring in video comprising a plurality of images (frames) has been accomplished through digital technology.
As a method of blur correction in videos, art for extracting feature points in four corners of an image and accomplishing projection conversion of the image using the amount of movement of the feature points of the four corners is disclosed for example in Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Kokai Publication No. 2011-97217.

Image processing apparatus capable of appropriate image conversion in all regions of an image in image transformation processing


A multi-layer packaging film comprising layers having varying degrees of cross-linking when subjected to electron beam (EB) radiation. The outer layer has a high degree of cross-linking to improve the adhesion, strength, toughness and heat resistance of the film and the inner layer has a low degree of cross-linking to improve the sealability. Bags made from the multiple layer films are especially useful for shrink packaging, and particularly for shrink packaging of meats having large cavities.

Heat shrinkable polymer films have gained substantial acceptance for such uses as the packaging of meats and other articles of food. This description will detail the usage of films for packaging meat; it being understood that these films are also suitable for packaging other products such as frozen foods and cheeses. Some of the films embodying this invention are normally used as heat shrinkable bags supplied to the meat packer with one open end, to be closed and sealed after insertion of the meat. After the product is inserted, air is normally evacuated, the open end of the bag is closed, such as by heat sealing, or applying a metal clip, and finally heat is applied, such as by hot water, to initiate film shrinkage about the meat.
In subsequent processing of the meat, the bag may be opened and the meat removed for further cutting of the meat into user cuts, for retail sale, for example, or for institutional use.
Successful shrink bags must satisfy a multiplicity of requirements imposed by both the bag producer and the bag user. Of primary importance to the bag user is the capability of the bag to survive physically intact the process of being filled, evacuated, sealed closed, and heat shrunk. The bag must also be strong enough to survive the material handling involved in moving the contained meat, which may weigh 100 pounds or more, along the distribution system to the next processor, or to the user. Frequently, the meat will have protruding bones that will puncture shrink bags that are not sufficiently strong. Thus, the bag must be strong enough to physically protect the meat.
It is also highly desirable to the bag user that the bag serve as a barrier to infusion of gaseous material from the surrounding environment. Of particular importance is provision of an effective barrier to infusion of oxygen, since oxygen is well known to cause spoilage of meat.
The bag producer requires a product which can be produced competitively while meeting the performance requirements of the user. Thus, the bag material should be readily extrudable, and susceptible to cross-linking by irradiation, with sufficient leeway in process parameters as to allow for efficient film production. The process should also be susceptible to efficient extended production operations. In the irradiation process, the film produced must have improved strength while the inner layer maintains sufficient sealability.
It is important to users of shrink bags that once the meat or other food article is placed in the bag, the bag can be heat sealed to form an air tight bond. Generally, the heat seal is formed by applying heat and pressure to the opposing sides of the bag mouth until the opposing inner layers of the film have fused together.
One of the problems encountered when heat sealing bags made from multiple layer films is that the sealing process causes the film to become deformed in the area where the heat is applied. A solution to this problem known in the art has been to cross-link the film layers by irradiation prior to heat sealing. Cross-linking the film provides improved toughness and increases the heat seal temperature range.
However, cross-linked thermoplastic films are more difficult to melt and produce weaker seals than unirradiated films when heat sealed. Users require that the seals maintain their integrity when the bag containing meat or other food article is immersed in hot water to shrink the film. A bag with weak heat seals that rupture when the bag is shrunk, is of no use. Thus, there is a need for an irradiated multiple layer film which can be made into a bag that will have strong seals when heat sealed.
It is known that heat shrinkable bags for food packaging may be made from multiple layer films in which individual layers have different degrees of cross-linking. Such multiple layer films have been fabricated by forming and irradiating the layers individually and then laminating or extrusion coating the layers to form the multiple layer film. These multiple step fabrication methods produce a more costly film.
Canadian Patent, 1,125,229 discloses a film structure having a heat sealable inner layer and an outer layer wherein the outer layer is cross-linked to a larger extent then the heat sealable layer. The differential cross-linking is achieved by adding a cross-linking enhancer compound to the outer layer, forming the structure, and then irradiating. The irradiation enhancer allows the irradiation dosage to be lowered to a point where the heat sealable inner layer is not adversely affected in its heat sealing characteristics by the radiation. However, the lower irradiation dosage does not produce a bag with the strength and toughness required by users.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,724,176 to Sun, discloses a heat shrinkable container having an unirradiated inner layer, a barrier layer and an irradiated outer layer. This film is coextruded and the outer layer is irradiated by precisely controlling the depth of material that the electron beam irradiation penetrates. This invention limits the cross-linking to the outer layer and therefore, does not improve the strength of the inner layer by cross-linking.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,055,328 to Evert discloses a multiple layer film in which the inner layer contains an antioxidant cross-linking inhibitor to control the degree of cross-linking.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,894,107 to Tse discloses oriented or unoriented multiple layer films with barrier layers that are irradiated for cross-linking. This invention does not teach the selection of polymers for individual layers with different degrees of cross-linking when irradiated.
Many of the multilayer heat shrinkable films with an uncross-linked inner layer and a cross-linked outer layer previously known in the art were made by extruding the outer layer separately from the inner layer. After the outer layer was extruded and irradiated, it would be laminated with the inner layer and any other additional layers to form the multilayer film. In the present invention, the additional expense of separately extruding the irradiated and unirradiated layers and then laminating the layers together is avoided. All of the layers of the films in the present invention can be coextruded and the entire film structure can be exposed to EB radiation. Such films would be widely accepted by those skilled in the art and meet with substantial commercial success.
It is an object of this invention to provide multiple layer cross-linked films with improved sealability and toughness. It is a further object of this invention to provide a coextruded multiple layer cross-linked film having these improvements after subjecting the fabricated multiple layer film structure to a single dose of irradiation. Another object of this invention is to provide a meat or food article packaging bag that will maintain the integrity of heat seals when it is shrunk wrapped.
It should be understood that the objectives stated in or inferred from this specification do not limit the invention as defined in the claims.
Irradiation of polymers causes the formation of covalent bonds between different polymer chains. This process is called xe2x80x9ccross-linkingxe2x80x9d. The overall effect of cross-linking is that the molecular weight of the polymer steadily increases with dose, leading to branched chains, until ultimately a tri-dimensional network is formed. This three dimensional network is referred to as the xe2x80x9cgel fractionxe2x80x9d. The gel fractions disclosed herein have been determined in accordance with ASTM D2765. The gel fraction molecules are insoluble while the unlinked molecules remain soluble and are referred to as the xe2x80x9csol fractionxe2x80x9d. These molecules are separated from the network although they may be highly branched and can be extracted from the bulk polymer by a process that uses a proper solvent. Thus, the gel fraction can be easily measured to determine the extent of cross-linking for various radiation doses.
It has been known in the art that irradiation of polymeric multiple layer films cross-links the layers and produces a film with improved toughness and strength. However, cross-linking also raises the normal melting temperature of a polymer and consequently reduces the heat sealability. Surprisingly, it has been found in the practice of this invention that by the selection of different polymers for the various layers of a multiple layer film, it is possible to have extensive cross-linking in one layer and a minimum amount of cross-linking in another layer when the film is irradiated. This allows the outer layer of a multiple layer film to be cross-linked to provide increased strength and toughness while the inner layer is not cross-linked and retains its heat sealability characteristics.
The multiple layer films in the invention have inner heat sealant layers and outer protective layers that have different degrees of cross-linking when subjected to electron beam irradiation. More significantly, these films experience incipient cross-linking at different levels of irradiation doses. Thus, by the selection of the materials for the protective and heat sealant layers as taught by this invention, it is possible to form an irradiated multiple layer film having a protective layer with significant cross-linking and a heat sealant layer with only minimal cross-linking.
The irradiation serves at least two significant purposes. First, it enhances the heat resistance of the protective layer of the film. This is evidenced by reduced failure rates in packages which have been heat shrunk or heat sealed. Second, the timing of the irradiation treatment being after the formation of the multiple layer film, substantial freedom is available in selecting the process for fabricating the multiple layer film. Thus the processes which tend to yield higher interfacial adhesion, such as coextrusion, are preferred. Because more desirable formation processes can be used, the resulting films may have substantially improved interfacial adhesion over similar films made by less desirable processes.
The amount of cross-linking in the protective and heat sealant levers is measured by the gel fraction of the material after irradiation. The higher the gel fraction, the greater the amount of cross-linking. Irradiation doses of from about 2 MR to about 10 MR are used to cross-link the films of this invention. The most preferred irradiation dose for the invention is from about 4 MR to about 6 MR. Within this range, the protective layer undergoes significant cross-linking that makes the film tougher and gives it added strength, while the heat sealant layer undergoes an insignificant amount of cross-linking and maintains its heat sealability.
A substantial end use for the films of the invention is in the fabrication of heat sealable shrink bags that are particularly useful in the packaging of meat, especially meat having bony projections or large cavities. Bags made according to this invention find particular utility in forming packages which are subjected to high temperature shrinking processes.
The bags produced from the films in this invention have the following advantages over bags known to the art: 1) the bags are tougher and exhibit superior puncture resistance; 2) the bags have a higher heat seal strength; 3) the bags have a higher burst value; and 4) the increased toughness and higher heat seal strength allow the bag machines to be operated at faster speeds.

Heat shrinkable film structures with improved sealability and toughness


A projective capacitive touch sensor includes a substrate, a plurality of electrode layers and a plurality of dielectric layers. The electrode layers are arranged on the substrate along a first direction. At least one dielectric layer is formed on each electrode layer and the dielectric layer has different widths along a second direction.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to a touch control device and, more particularly, to a projective capacitive touch sensor.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the popularity of the portable device, human-machine interface devices have been broadly adapted to portable devices, such as PDAs, cell phones and note books so as to humanize the operation thereof. And the touch screen plays an important role in humanize operation.
Presently, touch screens can mainly be divided into resistive, capacitive, infrared and SAW touch screens. Because the projective capacitive touch screen will not be deteriorated by moisture and the material of its touch surface has no function in touch detection mechanism, it is more suitably adapted to portable devices operated outdoors.
The projective capacitive touch screen mainly detects the capacitance variation of a touch-sensor pad induced by a conductive object approaching thereto so as to detect a position of the conductive object with respect to the touch screen. For example FIG. 1 shows a sensor array 9 of a conventional touch-sensor pad that includes a plurality of first sensor elements 91 coupled together, a plurality of second sensor elements 92 coupled together and a processing device 93, wherein the first sensor elements 91 and the second sensor elements 92 are coupled to the processing device 93 through conductive traces. The first sensor elements 91 and the second sensor elements 92 are disposed in a repetitive sequence on the sensor array 9 along a moving direction of the conductive object. The processing device 93 respectively calculates capacitance variations of the first sensor elements 91 and the second sensor elements 92 so as to identify a two-dimensional position of the conductive object approaching the sensor array 9. However, the sensor array 9 has a double layer structure thereby requiring more complicated process during manufacturing. Details of the sensor array 9 above can be referred to U.S. Patent Publication No. 2008/0007534.
Accordingly, it is necessary to provide a projective capacitive touch sensor having a single layer of sensing units so as to simplify the manufacturing process thereof.


Methods and apparatus for manufacturing a circular laminated component are disclosed herein. In one embodiment, a method comprises stamping an inlet stock of material to form a line of arc segments, the line of arc segments having: a plurality of notches along a first edge; a first longitudinal end; and a second longitudinal end opposite the first longitudinal end; wrapping the line of arc segments to form a circular segment having the first edge along an inner-circumferential diameter of the circular segment; joining the first longitudinal end to the second longitudinal end to form a circular laminate layer; and stacking a plurality of circular laminate layers to form a laminate disc.

Circular-shaped metallic components are frequently used in a variety of mechanical applications. For example, transmissions and clutches use circular mechanical races to selectively transmit torque from a power source (e.g., an engine) to an output (e.g., a vehicle's wheels). Similar shaped components may also be used in starter systems, multi-mode clutches, one-way clutches, and the like.
Manufacturing transmission components using coil or sheet metal by stamping results in low material usage to achieve the desired part geometry or mechanical/physical properties. Stamping multiple parts at once (e.g., nesting), and stamping several smaller components simultaneously or sequentially and interlocking them together to create various geometrical shapes generate a relatively high amount of waste material in the manufacturing of different sizes of transmission apparatuses.
To improve material usage, many different stamping techniques have been developed. Often, the goal is to reduce the quantity of manufacturing byproduct materials that cannot be sold to the customer as part of an end product. Different methods of transferring, positioning, and interlocking the sheet metal components have been employed to stamp and join them together to reduce the amount of material.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,208,503 discloses a method of manufacturing a stator magnetic circuit ring formed by a plurality of interleaved strips of metal. Such a stator includes many desirable attributes for use as an electric stator. The stator is formed by slitting, folding, and shearing only, without any punches or machining operations needed. Such manufacturing methods improve the magnetic flux properties desired for an electric stator. Further, the stator structure is radially elastic, to better maintain a small airgap relative to the rotor-stator airgap.
While these methods may be effective at creating an electric stator, engineers are continuing to seek additional strategies that reduce material wastage when manufacturing high-strength circular mechanical components, particularly for use in engine components. Clearly, there is a need for systems and methods for creating laminated mechanical components.


A method for managing transmission resources in a SIP-based communication system by a SIP registrar server can include receiving a first number of register requests from a first client from the number of clients, each register request corresponding to one slot in the predetermined first time period; receiving a second number of register requests from a second client of the number of clients, each register request corresponding to one slot in the predetermined first time period, wherein the second number of register requests exceeds the acceptable predetermined number of register requests for the second client, and assigning a number of slots not used by the first client within the predetermined first time period to the second client for sending the register requests which exceed the acceptable predetermined number of register requests for the second client. A system for implementation of the method and an apparatus can be utilized in embodiments of the method and the system.

A common phenomenon in Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) ecosystems are flash events. Such flash events may occur, for example, when a burst of legitimate register requests are received at the SIP registrar server, resulting from a connected client device acting strangely.
In prior art, Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) are known which are employed for monitoring a network or system with respect to malicious activities or policy violations. However, typical IDS are usually configured so as to work with tight thresholds so that register requests arriving at the registrar server in a burst due to, for example, a flash event as mentioned above will be dropped or blocked although being legitimate, as they will be classified as being part of a Denial of Service (DoS) attack by the IDS.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and system for managing transmission resources in a SIP-based communication system


A smart camera system including an image sensor and a controller is presented. The image sensor generates video data that is initially at a bit rate of a pre-determined bit rate value. The controller is coupled to the image sensor to transmit the video data. The controller includes a processor operating at a clock rate of a first frequency. The processor is coupled to memory, the memory including instructions, which when executed by the controller causes the smart camera system to perform operations. The operations include dynamically scaling the clock rate of the processor to an adjustment frequency in response to receiving an input to change the bit rate of the video data. The adjustment frequency for the clock rate of the processor based, at least in part, on the input bit rate value. The operations further include changing the bit rate to the input bit rate value. The input bit rate value being different than the pre-determined bit rate value and the first frequency being different than the adjustment frequency.

Video transmission over communication networks enables users to access live video remotely. For example, video streaming services such as YouTube and Twitch enable users to live-stream, e.g., real-time video transmission, from a camera or webcam over the internet remotely to viewers. However, real-time video transmission suffers from many pitfalls. For example, real-time video transmission over unreliable communication networks may incur various image quality problems, e.g., missing or distorted frames, freezing, stalls, interruptions, etc. These issues may be caused by bandwidth fluctuations, inadequate bandwidth, packet losses, and/or sender-side or receiver-side buffer underflow/overflow. Other issues that may hinder the transmission of the video include delay constraint, reliability requirements, throughput demand, network dynamics, etc.
Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding components throughout the several views of the drawings. Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of various embodiments of the present invention. Also, common but well-understood elements that are useful or necessary in a commercially feasible embodiment are often not depicted in order to facilitate a less obstructed view of these various embodiments of the present invention.

Quality-driven dynamic frequency scaling for energy optimization of smart camera systems


An eyeglass support is adapted for pinch-holding the eyeglass (5) between three first contact portions (41-43) and three second contact portions (61-63). The first contact portions form a height reference for positioning the eyeglass whereas the second contact portions ensure application of the eyeglass against the first contact portions while conforming to any possible shape for the eyeglass. The support suits for being incorporated in a reflection measurement apparatus. In particular, it is useful for measuring reflection of eyeglasses provided with antireflecting coatings or for rating a protection against UV hazards which is provided by an eyeglass to a wearer of the eyeglass.

Known optical analysis techniques such as reflectometry and ellipsometry involve reflection measurements. Also many apparatuses are commercially available for enabling these techniques.
But these apparatuses are designed for performing the reflection measurements on samples with planar reflecting faces. For example, the measured samples are silicon wafers provided with thin films as used for microelectronic applications. They may also be flat glass samples with coatings, for example in view of manufacturing architectural or automotive glazings, or also display panels.
However, reflection measurements performed on eyeglasses are required, in particular for quantifying a residual reflection of eyeglasses which are provided with antireflecting coatings, and for quantifying a protection efficiency which is provided to an eyeglass wearer against UV-radiation hazards. For eyeglasses with antireflecting coatings, the measurements deal with visible radiations, namely in the wavelength range comprised between 380 nm (nanometer) and 780 nm, and incidence angle values equal to or less than 17° (degree). For UV-protection rating, the measurements deal with UV-A and UV-B radiations, with wavelength values of between 280 nm and 380 nm, and incidence angle values such as 30° and even 45°.
But due to the curved shapes of eyeglass faces, either concave or convex, the currently available apparatuses do not allow performing reflection measurements on eyeglasses. Indeed, these apparatuses are not designed for exposing to a measurement light beam a face of a sample which is curved, and controlling a height of the sample face at the location of the measurement in this face. In addition, the curvature of the sample face causes errors in the measurement result if no attention is especially drawn on the optical consequences of the curvature of the measured face.
Starting from this existing situation, one object of the present invention is to allow reflection measurements for eyeglasses in a simple and efficient manner, and with high measurement accuracy.
Another object of the invention is to allow using one and same apparatus for quantifying the residual reflection of an eyeglass provided with an antireflecting coating effective in the visible wavelength range, but also for rating the UV-protection which is provided to an eyeglass wearer.
Still another object of the invention is to measure reflection on an eyeglass without damaging the eyeglass or requiring permanent alteration of the eyeglass.

Support, apparatus and method for performing a reflection measurement on an eyeglass

Essilor International (Compagnie Generale d'Optique)


The invention relates to a protective helmet, in particular a protective motorcycle helmet, comprising an outer shell (1) for distributing impact forces, a battery socket (2), which is firmly connected to the outer shell (1), for detachably accommodating a battery (3), and a line assembly (4), which is electrically connected to the battery socket (2), for supplying electricity by means of the accommodated battery (3) to an electric apparatus (5) which is mechanically coupled to the outer shell (1).

Modern protective helmets not only have mechanical devices and features such as a visor, a ventilation device and turbulators, but increasingly also additional electric apparatus, which are either fixedly provided on the protective helmet or can be fitted later.
The operation of such electric apparatus requires electrical energy, which may be provided by a battery, for example. Here and hereinafter, the term battery is supposed to be understood as denoting primary cells—i.e. non-rechargeable energy storage units—as well as secondary cells—i.e. rechargeable energy storage units. Such batteries have a storage capacity limited, in particular, by their size and weight. In this case, it is generally very laborious to replace the battery of an electric apparatus disposed on the protective helmet, and most frequently virtually impossible if the wearer of the protective helmet also wears motorcycling gloves.


A method of preparing a negative type pattern of a polyimide film is provided which includes applying to a substrate a sufficient amount of a photosensitive polymer composition to form a negative type pattern, the photosensitive polymer composition comprising a mixture of a poly(amido)imide precursor containing a repeating unit represented by the following formula (I), at least one kind of quinonediazide compound and an organic solvent: ##STR1## R.sup.1 is a trivalent or a tetravalent carbocyclic aromatic group or heterocyclic group; R.sup.2 is an aliphatic group having at least two carbon atoms, an alicyclic group, an aromatic aliphatic group, a carbocyclic aromatic group, a heterocyclic group or a polysiloxane group; X is --O-- or NR.sup.5 --, where R.sup.5 is a hydrogen atom or a monovalent organic group having 10 or less carbon atoms; R.sup.3 is a divalent organic group; R.sup.4 is a hydrogen atom or a monovalent organic group having 20 or less carbon atoms; Ar is a hexavalent or decavalent organic group represented by the formula ##STR2## k is an integer of 1.ltoreq.k.ltoreq.5, and j+k+1 is equal to the valence of Ar; m is independently 1 or 2; n is independently 0 or 1 and the values of m and n are in the range of 1.ltoreq.m+n.ltoreq.2; prebaking the composition at 50.degree.-130.degree. C.; irradiating the composition through a mask with actinic radiation to form an irradiated composition; developing the irradiated composition with a developing solution comprising a basic solution of a basic substance in a solvent comprising 0 to 10 parts by weight of water and 100 to 90 parts by weight of a water-soluble organic solvent to remove unexposed portions of the composition and form a negative type pattern; rinsing and drying the pattern; and post-baking the pattern at 200.degree.-500.degree. C.

As a heat-resistant photosensitive material, a photosensitive polyimide is widely used in insulating films for semiconductors, passivation films and the like, but it has various problems.
For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 54-145794 has suggested a method for mixing a compound containing a double bond and an amino group or its quaternary salt with a polyamic acid. However, since a large amount of the compound containing the amino group or its quaternary salt is added to the unstable polyamic acid solution, there is a drawback that the viscosity of the solution increases with time. Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Nos. 55-45746 and 60-100143 have suggested a method for involving reacting an unsaturated epoxy compound or an isocyanate compound having a double bond with the carboxyl group of a polyamic acid, but this method has a drawback that when the photosensitive unsaturated group-containing compound is reacted with the carboxyl group of the polyamic acid, a part of the polyamic acid decomposes, so that the viscosity of the solution changes. In Japanese Patent Publication No. 55-41422, there has been suggested a polymer in which an active functional group such as a double bond is introduced into the ester side chain of the polyamic acid, but when an acid chloride is reacted with diamine, a chloride remains as an impurity and the removal of this impurity is troublesome. Furthermore, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 60-6729 has suggested a method in which a diamine having a double bond is first synthesized and a polyimide is then synthesized by the use of this diamine, but the process of introducing a photosensitive functional group is complex and a considerable cost is taken.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,093,461 has reported a positive type heat-resistant resist obtained by adding a quinonediazide compound to a polyamic acid, but this resist has a disadvantage that the solubility of the polyamic acid in an alkali is too high, so that film loss is noticeable at the time of development and resolution is poor. U.S. Pat. No. 4,395,482 has reported a positive type heat-resistant resist obtained by adding a quinonediazide compound to a polyoxazole precursor synthesized from a diamine containing a hydroxyl group and a polycarboxylic acid, and Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 64-60630 has reported a positive type heat-resistant resist obtained by adding a quinonediazide compound to a polyamidoimide synthesized from a diamine containing a hydroxyl group and tetracarboxylic dianhydride. However, the hydroxyl group-containing diamine has a strong absorption in an ultraviolet region, so that the resist has a drawback that sensitivity is poor.
As is apparent from the foregoing, the conventional techniques have various problems, and thus it is desired to develop a photosensitive material by which such problems can be solved.

Method of preparing a negative pattern utilizing photosensitive polymer composition containing quinonediazide compound and a poly(amido)imide precursor


A hearing aid comprising a wireless transceiver (100) having an inductive antenna (101) and a trimming capacitor (104, 105, 300, 404) with at least two parallel signal paths, wherein at least one of said signal paths comprises a first capacitor (309, 310, 311, 312), a second capacitor (301, 302, 303, 304) and a switching transistor (305, 306, 307, 308) arranged such that the switching transistor (305, 306, 307, 308) is coupled in parallel with said first capacitor (309, 310, 311, 312) and coupled in series with said second capacitor (301, 302, 303, 304), whereby the voltage drop across the switching transistor (305, 306, 307, 308), when the switching transistor is set to off, will be lower than the voltage applied across the trimming capacitor (104, 105, 300, 404) due to voltage division between said first capacitor (309, 310, 311, 312) and said second capacitor (301, 302, 303, 304). The invention also provides a method of fitting a wireless transceiver (100) for a hearing aid.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to hearing aids. The invention more specifically relates to hearing aids having a wireless transceiver with improved transmission range. The invention also relates to a method of fitting a hearing aid comprising a wireless transceiver.
In the context of the present disclosure, a hearing aid should be understood as a small, microelectronic device designed to be worn behind or in a human ear of a hearing-impaired user. A hearing aid system may be monaural and comprise only one hearing aid or be binaural and comprise two hearing aids. Prior to use, the hearing aid is adjusted by a hearing aid fitter according to a prescription. The prescription is based on a hearing test, resulting in a so-called audiogram, of the performance of the hearing-impaired user's unaided hearing. The prescription is developed to reach a setting where the hearing aid will alleviate a hearing loss by amplifying sound at frequencies in those parts of the audible frequency range where the user suffers a hearing deficit. A hearing aid comprises one or more microphones, a microelectronic circuit comprising a signal processor, and an acoustic output transducer. The signal processor is preferably a digital signal processor. The hearing aid is enclosed in a casing suitable for fitting behind or in a human ear.
As the name suggests, Behind-The-Ear (BTE) hearing aids are worn behind the ear. To be more precise, an electronics unit comprising a housing containing the major electronics parts thereof is worn behind the ear. An earpiece for emitting sound to the hearing aid user is worn in the ear, e.g. in the concha or the ear canal. In a traditional BTE hearing aid, a sound tube is used to convey sound from the output transducer, which in hearing aid terminology is normally referred to as the receiver, located in the housing of the electronics unit and to the ear canal. In some modern types of hearing aids a conducting member comprising electrical conductors conveys an electric signal from the housing and to the receiver placed in the earpiece in the ear. Such hearing aids are commonly referred to as Receiver-In-The-Ear (RITE) hearing aids. In a specific type of RITE hearing aids the receiver is placed inside the ear canal. This is known as Receiver-In-Canal (RIC) hearing aids.
In-The-Ear (ITE) hearing aids are designed for arrangement in the ear, normally in the funnel-shaped outer part of the ear canal. In a specific type of ITE hearing aids the hearing aid is placed substantially inside the ear canal. This type is known as Completely-In-Canal (CIC) hearing aids. This type of hearing aid requires an especially compact design in order to allow it to be arranged in the ear canal, while accommodating the components necessary for operation of the hearing aid.
In some hearing aid types a wireless link is provided between the two hearing aids of a binaural hearing aid system. In this case an inductive wireless link is particularly advantageous because the power consumption can be very low over such small distances. Further, since the hearing aids of the binaural hearing aid system are adapted to be worn in or at a left and right ear of a hearing aid user, it is advantageous to employ an inductive wireless link because the magnetic field signals transmitted by the inductive wireless link are not significantly attenuated by the head of the hearing aid user.
In yet other types of hearing aids an inductive radio is used to wirelessly communicate with external signal sources or external relay devices, such as a hearing aid remote control or a hearing aid fitting system. In this type of hearing aids the external signal source or the external relay device must be within close range because the transmission range of the inductive radio falls off approximately with the distance raised to the third power and because the availability of electrical power and supply voltage is generally limited in a hearing aid.
2. The Prior Art
EP-B1-1688016 discloses a transceiver for a hearing aid. The transceiver has a trimming capacitor and a coupling capacitor that are implemented as off-chip components.
Generally, off-chip capacitors are advantageous in that they can sustain a higher voltage than on-chip components and disadvantageous with respect to size and cost. Especially it is relatively expensive to trim the off-chip capacitors since this requires use of external equipment such as e.g. a laser. Trimming of the capacitors is generally required in order to compensate deviations of the inductance of the inductive antenna from the nominal value.
In order to further optimize the transceiver performance it is advantageous that the resonance frequency of the transceiver is constant independent on whether the transceiver is transmitting or receiving. Generally, this puts rather strict requirements on the relative dependencies of the capacitance values of the trimming capacitor, coupling capacitor and the input capacitance of the Low Noise Amplifier (LNA) of the wireless transceiver, requirements that can be difficult to meet in practical implementations with the consequence of decreased transceiver performance and consequently higher power consumption if the requirements are not fulfilled.
It has been proposed in the art to use trimming capacitors that can be trimmed digitally, but these are limited in the voltage they can sustain.
It is a feature of the present invention to provide a hearing aid with an improved wireless transceiver, hereby providing a hearing aid with a long wireless transmission range while maintaining a hearing aid that provides relatively inexpensive manufacturing costs and the possibility of adjustment of the resonance circuit of the wireless transceiver during normal operation and without requiring the use of external equipment.
It is still another feature of the present invention to provide an improved method for fitting a hearing aid comprising a wireless transceiver.

Hearing aid with a wireless transceiver and method of fitting a hearing aid


Example embodiments relates to method and systems to restore content of a volume at a given point in time. A computing device to restore content of a volume at a given point in time comprises a physical processor and a machine-readable storage medium comprising machine readable instructions executable by the processor that cause the computing device to command a storage array to select a surviving snapshot that was created at a nearest point in time to the given point in time among a set of surviving read-only snapshots of content of the volume stored in the storage array, command the storage array to create an editable surviving snapshot of the selected surviving snapshot, perform a delta function associated with a deduplication system, the deduplication system comprising a set of backup objects for the set of surviving read-only snapshots and a set of backup objects for a set of non-surviving read-only snapshots of content of the volume and restore content of the volume at the given point in time by commanding the storage array to modify the editable surviving snapshot based on an output of the delta function. Each of the backup objects within the deduplication system comprises a manifest, the manifest comprising a list of chunk signatures that represents chunks of data. The delta function is performed between a manifest of a backup object of the selected surviving snapshot and a manifest of a backup object of a snapshot created at the given point in time.

Computer systems comprise host computing devices that communicate with storage devices to store data. The right backup and recovery services strategy may be a critical component in every company's IT infrastructure. Deduplication is a data compression technique that can be used to eliminate duplicate copies of repeated data. A snapshot can be a type of backup copy that can be used to create a copy of an application, disk or system.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP


Broadly, techniques for solving network routing within a predetermined error are disclosed. These techniques may be applied to networks supporting dedicated reserve capacity, where reserved capacity on links in the network is dedicated for a particular commodity (generally, a source and sink pair of computers), and shared recovery, where reserved capacity on links is shared amongst two or more commodities. These techniques use an iterative process to determine flows on each of the links in a network. Costs are set for each commodity, and primary and secondary (i.e., backup) flows are initialized. A commodity is selected and demand for the commodity is routed through the shortest path. Costs are updated for each potential failure mode. For each commodity, the flows and costs are updated. Once all flows and costs are updated, then it is determined if a function is less than a predetermined value. If the function is less than a predetermined value, then the commodity selection, and flow and cost adjustments are again performed. If the function is greater than the predetermined amount, then the network routing problem is solved to within a predetermined amount from an optimal network routing.

In a packet switching network, a packet of information is routed from a source to a destination by using a destination address contained in the packet. Packets of information are multiplexed onto network pathways. No particular path is reserved for data in a packet switching network, and a packet can generally take any path in the network. While a packet is not limited to any particular path, techniques exist for routing a packet based on certain criteria, such as speed, cost, distance, and Quality of Service (QoS).
An additional type of network that is becoming common is a label switching network. A label switching network runs in conjunction with a packet switching network, and uses labels placed into packets in order to route packets. Normal routing procedures for packet switching are disabled. A "tunnel" is created to connect a source with a destination. The appropriate labels are selected for packets emanating from the source and entering the network so that the packets follow the tunnel and end up at the destination. Label switching offers the benefit of providing tunnels for packets. Consequently, packets should arrive at the destination at more regular intervals, which is important in certain time-sensitive applications such as real-time audio and video.
Packet switching and label switching networks both are helped by methods that route demands on these networks. These methods can be used real-time, meaning that changes are made to the network in order to more efficiently route demands on the network, or can be used to determine when or how the network should be upgraded to support new demands. Problems with methods used to solve network routing are that they are complex and time-consuming. A need therefore exists for techniques that solve these problems.

Fast and scalable approximation methods for finding minimum cost flows with shared recovery strategies, and system using same


A vibrating apparatus, such as a shuttle type dot printer, has a vibrating unit mounted in the casing thereof and which, when it operates, generates vibrations in opposite lateral directions of the vibrating unit. The vibrating unit is mounted in the casing for providing interacting of vibrations which occur in the inside by leaf type springs connected between pairs of projections on the vibrating unit and the casing with the plane of the leaf type springs perpendicular to the lateral direction of the vibrations of the vibrating unit. The apparatus further has a locking device for locking the vibrating unit relative to the casing, which, when the casing is on a supporting surface, allows the vibrating unit to vibrate freely in the opposite lateral directions, and which, when the casing is lifted off the supporting surface, locks the vibrating unit to the casing.

A conventional apparatus for absorbing or damping vibration of a printer, such as a shuttle type dot printer, is disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. SHO 56-18442.
The print mechanism unit of this printing apparatus is supported on a base of the casing or housing thereof through a vibration absorbing material made, for example, of rubber.
This conventional apparatus has a defect that absorption or damping of the vibration of the unit is insufficient.
Such a conventional print mechanism unit has a print head which moves reciprocatingly in the right and left directions and makes the print mechanism unit a vibrating unit of the apparatus. The vibration absorbing material which supports the print mechanism unit in the casing or housing partially absorbs the vibration caused by this motion.
Moreover, a straight movement of the print mechanism unit in the left and right direction of the print mechanism unit caused by this movement of the print head, produces a component of force in the up and down direction. Further, the vibration absorbing material also moves in a very small circular motion during such vibration.
The weight of the print mechanism unit, the circular movement thereof and the up and down component caused by the vibrations of the print mechanism unit cause vibrations to be transferred to the housing through the same vibration absorbing material, and this in turn causes noise to occur.
To avoid this problem, the conventional vibration absorbing material provides high elasticity, i.e. a high resistance to deformation, in the up and down direction for increasing the stability in this direction.
However, to absorb the vibration caused by the movements of the print head, it is desirable to reduce the resisting force in the right and left directions which is provided by the vibration absorbing material, which is normally in the form of four rubber bodies, such as four feet supporting the print mechanism unit on the housing. To satisfy this requirement, the elasticity of the vibration absorbing material in the right and left directions should be made lower.
However, if the elasticity in the right and left directions of the vibration absorbing material is made lower, the elasticity in the up and down directions is also made lower at the same time, and this is the opposite effect to that which is desired for the best support of the print mechanism unit in the up and down directions, i.e. high elasticity so as to reduce support for the vibrating unit of the apparatus on the base of the housing.
It is not possible to reduce the elasticity of the vibration absorbing material in the right and left directions only, and at the same time either maintain the elasticity in the up and down directions or even increase it where the print mechanism unit is supported by the four rubber elastic bodies.
Therefore, the vibration absorbing material cannot provide a good effect both for providing stable support for the vibrating unit of the printing device on the base of the housing and at the same time absorbing the lateral vibration in the opposite lateral directions.
Further, it is the normal practice with machines which have a vibrating unit which moves relative to the base, such as the print mechanism unit of the shuttle type dot printer, to lock the vibrating unit relative to the casing of the machine when it is necessary to transport the machine. A conventional means for doing this is to provide a threaded hole in the vibrating unit of the machine and an unthreaded hole in the casing or housing, and to provide a bolt which is inserted through the unthreaded hole and threaded into the vibrating unit so as to lock the vibrating unit to the casing. When the machine reaches its desired location, the bolt is removed, and the machine placed on a desk, floor, or other supporting surface. The thus removed bolt, however, is then separate from the housing, and very frequently is misplaced, so that when it is desired to move the machine again, another bolt must be located.

Vibrating apparatus including means for absorbing vibration and for locking vibrating unit against movement


The invention provides an intermediate compound (5-[2-hydroxy-5-(1-hydroxy-1-methylethyl)-2-methyl-cyclopentyl]-3-methyl-p enta-2,4-dienyl)triphenylphosphonium salt for use in a multi-stage process for making an oxidative metabolite of the carotenoid, lycopene 2,6-cyclolycopene-1,5-diol. The intermediate compound has the formula: ##STR1##. wherein Ph is phenyl and X.sup.1- is chloride, bromide, or hydrogen sulphate.

As is known, carotenoids, inter alia, lycopene, play an important role in the chemoprevention (prophylaxis) of cancer [see, for example, J. S. Bertram, Pure & Appl. Chem. 66, 1025-1032 (1994) and the literature references mentioned therein; N. I. Krinsky, Nat. Antioxid. Health Dis. 1994, 239-261; J. S. Bertram, Oxid, Stress Aging 1995, 221-235; as well as T. Narisawa et al., Cancer Lett. 107(1), 137-142 (1996)], and their use in clinical research is well established. [A. Bendich, Pure & Appl. Chem. 66, 1017-1024 (1994) and the literature references mentioned therein]. Levy et al. have demonstrated the preventative activity of lycopene, having the formula ##STR2##
against the growth of human endometrial, breast and lung cancer cells [Nutr. Cancer, 24, 257-266 (1995)]. E. Giovannuci et al. disclose in J. Natl. Cancer Inst. 87, 1767-1776 (1995) that a diet rich in lycopene reduces the risk of prostate cancer.
The red carotenoid lycopene is present in tomatoes and among other fruits. A finding that, with respect to the activity against cancer, cooked tomatoes are substantially more active than raw could be due to the fact that after boiling the lycopene has an improved bioavailability; on the other hand, the biologically active compound could be an oxidation product or a metabolite of lycopene. In recent investigations on the carotenoid content of human blood plasma, new lycopene metabolites have been identified, namely, 2,6-cyclolycopene-1,5-diol and 5,6-dihydroxy-5,6-dihydrolycopene [F. Khachik et al., J. Cell Biochem. 1995 (Suppl. 22), 236-246 and 11th International Symposium on Carotenoids, Leiden 1996, O.P.1.3; as well as F. Khachik, Book of Abstracts, 213th ACS Nat. Meeting, San Francisco, Apr. 13-14, 1997]. The first-mentioned known metabolite, having the formula ##STR3##
shows activity in and is useful in the prevention of cancer growth in human and mouse cells.
Two syntheses of oxidative metabolites of lycopene have been reported, namely in Biosci. Biotechn. Biochem. 59, 2153-2155 (1995; Y. Lu et al.) and in the aforementioned 11th Int. Symp. on Carotenoids, Leiden 1996 (O.P.3.5; F. Khachik et al.). These are partial syntheses, each of which starts from lycopene itself. It has now been found that 2,6-cyclolycopene-1,5-diol (II) can be made by a multi-stage process, namely starting from the readily available .alpha.-terpinyl acetate. This process is the first total synthesis of an oxidatively produced metabolite of lycopene.

Intermediate compound (5-[2-hydroxy-5-(1-hydroxy-1-methylethyl)-2-methyl-cyclopentyl]-3-methyl-p enta-2,4-dienyl) triphenylphos-phosphonium salt, for making metabolites of lycopene


A system for preparing subcooled liquid oxygen based on mixing of liquid oxygen and liquid nitrogen and then vacuum-pumping, including atmospheric-pressure saturated liquid nitrogen and oxygen tanks. An inlet of the liquid nitrogen tank communicates with pressurized gas, and an outlet is connected to an inlet a of a secondary subcooler. An inlet of the liquid oxygen tank communicates with the pressurized gas, and a first outlet is connected to an inlet b of the secondary subcooler. An outlet c of the secondary subcooler is connected to an inlet d of a primary subcooler. An outlet e of the primary subcooler is connected to a pumping-out device through a rewarming device. A second outlet of the liquid oxygen tank is connected to an inlet n of the primary subcooler. An outlet o of the primary subcooler is connected to an inlet r of the secondary subcooler.

Cryogenic liquid hydrogen, liquid oxygen, and liquid methane are the preferred propellants for space travel and deep space exploration due to their high specific impulse, non-toxicity and non-pollution. The cryogenic propellants are needed to be stored in orbit for several months without discharge in future deep space exploration. However, considering the cryogenic characteristic of the liquid propellants, the space heat leakage still will enter a storage tank to vaporize a cryogenic liquid phase even if the best heat insulation method is adopted. This problem can be effectively solved by subcooling the cryogenic propellant from a normal boiling point state to the triple point temperature, that is, the subcooling treatment can increase the ability of the cryogenic liquid to accommodate the space heat leakage and prolong non-loss storage period. In addition, the subcooling treatment can also increase the density of the propellant and decrease the saturation pressure of the propellant, thereby reducing the size and wall thickness of the tank and increasing the payload of launch vehicles.
Based on analysis of thermodynamics, the subcooling of the cryogenic propellants can be performed mainly by a direct heat-exchange method (constant-pressure subcooling), a vacuum-pumping method (reduced pressure subcooling) and a helium bubbling method (concentration difference subcooling). The direct heat-exchange method can be classified into a cryogenic liquid-based heat exchange method and a cryogenic refrigerant-based heat exchange method according to the cooling source, where the former has a relatively poor subcooling efficiency and the latter has a more complicated system and higher cost. The helium bubbling method requires a large amount of precious helium as a working medium, causing a high cost. By contrast, the vacuum-pumping method can subcool the cryogenic working medium to a temperature near the triple point with a readily-available device and low cost, and thus is considered as one of the most feasible strategies to obtain the subcooled cryogenic propellants.
However, for the deeply subcooling of liquid oxygen, the traditional vacuum-pumping method has the following shortcomings. The liquid oxygen has a low triple point temperature (54.4 K), and a low saturation pressure (148 Pa) under the triple point temperature, so that the subcooling of liquid oxygen to this state will lead to large energy consumption. Optionally, the liquid nitrogen is firstly evacuated to its triple point and then used to subcool the liquid oxygen. Though the liquid nitrogen has a relatively high saturation pressure (12.6 kPa) at the triple point temperature, the triple point temperature is only 63.2 K, so that the liquid oxygen can only be subcooled to a state close to 63.2 K and cannot reach a triple point state.

System for preparing deeply subcooled liquid oxygen based on mixing of liquid oxygen and liquid nitrogen and then vacuum-pumping


A fascia assembly including a bumper beam, a bumper cover, and a sensor assembly is provided. The sensor assembly may include a bracket and a sensor. The sensor assembly is disposed between the beam and cover. The bracket may define a base bonded to a surface of the cover and a key hole. The sensor may include a connector, clip, and key for the hole. The sensor may be configured to rotate between first and second positions such that the clip prevents connector access in the first but not the second position.

Automotive vehicles use environment awareness to improve vehicle performance and vehicle safety features. Consumer appetites and automotive regulations may push demand for environment awareness improvements. Vehicle structures may operate with sensor systems to obtain information on a surrounding environment and direct corresponding vehicle responses. On-board vehicle systems may obtain different types of information from different locations on the vehicle. These vehicle systems may include sensors and sensor systems to assist in obtaining the information. A position and/or location of these sensors on-vehicle typically play a role in the operation of the sensor and sensor systems. Additionally, these sensor systems may be designed to facilitate efficient installation and/or assembly processes.

Bonded and rotatable vehicle sensor assembly


In a composite subsystem having a plurality of data base systems and data communication on a plurality of processors, a composite subsystem controller unifies other data base systems of the composite subsystem and distributed data base systems, and, at the occurrence of a fault in some subsystem, allows other subsystems to operate continuously, thereby facilitating the recovery after the faulty subsystem has started up, and makes management as to which data base system a transaction in execution has accessed so that the range of failure is confined, thereby facilitating the fault recovery. The check points of two processings including updating of information in the memory and accumulation of the updated information in the journal are detected so that the need of journals earlier than the check point is eliminated, and a check point dump is acquired without waiting for the end of transaction which has been active at the check point.

This invention relates to a control method for a distributed data base and, particularly, to a distributed data base system of the composite subsystem type suitable for a Joint operation with another plurality of data bases, and also to a method of fault recovery for a composite subsystem type online system.
In the conventional recovery control method for a distributed data base, as described in the proceeding of the 33rd (latter term of 1986) annual convention of Information Processing Society of Japan, pp. 907-908, a system down condition at a distributed site is not considered to be a system down condition of other sites, and a system down condition of a slave site is detected and isolated by a master site and a system down condition of the master site is detected by a slave site and the abnormality of master site is indicated by the slave site to other slave sites. In consideration of resumption of operation, the process of updating the data base uses a 2-phase protocol which is described in the publication "Principles of Data Base System", 1980, pp. 340-356, by Jeffrey D. Ullman, Computer Science Press. This allows the recovery without the occurrence of an inconsistency in the data even if a distributed site has gone down during the updating process in synchronism with data bases of other sites.
However, a down condition in the distributed data base access section within a distributed data base is not separated from a down condition of a local data base, and therefore a down in one site results in a down condition for both distributed access and local access.
The above-mentioned prior art does not treat separately the distributed data base access section within a distributed site and the local data base access section within a site, and therefore a down condition in a site always results in a distributed data base access down condition and a local data base access down condition, which creates a reliability problem.
In the conventional fault recovery method for an independent online system, as described, for example, in JP-A-54-114145, the system has an audit file (journal file) and a check point file (and a before look file in some cases) to sample journal and check point information in preparation for faults, and at the time of occurrence of a fault, the system attempts recovery using the journal and check point information corresponding to the fault. The online system to which the recovery method is applicable is confined to one having one data communication section and one data base section.
The above-mentioned prior art does not take into consideration fault recovery for a composite subsystem type online system, and in such system configuration each subsystem needs to have its own journal and to try fault recovery independently. However, when a job process (transaction) across several subsystems arises, a recovery process in synchronism with each other subsystem cannot take place, despite the need for synchronous information for recovery among the subsystems. The recovery of a transaction may be tried in synchronism after the faulty subsystem has started up, however, in case a subsystem does not start up promptly occurrence of an after fault, the remaining subsystems will have a transaction which is left unrecovered. Therefore, journal information necessary for the recovery of the transaction needs to exit continuously. If the online operation is resumed in this situation, the journal necessary for the recovery of the faulty transaction is buried in journals produced later, and the system is compelled to look for the journal information buried in the mass of journals after the faulty subsystem has recovered. On this account, at the time of occurrence of a fault in one subsystem, it is necessary to halt all subsystems and, after starting up all the subsystems, recover all transactions before resuming the online operation.
To cope with this problem, when journals of all subsystems are unified so that synchronous information for information updating is useful even if some subsystems do not start, information for other than the faulty subsystem can be recovered, however, in this case the journal needed by the faulty subsystem is buried in the unified journal, resulting also in a problem of looking for a necessary Journal in the mass of journals.
Furthermore, in the conventional online system of the composite subsystem type, each subsystem individually controls the state of access to the data base controlled by it. In case one transaction has updated data in a plurality of data base systems, the 2-phase committing method is used to guarantee the consistency of updating of the data base systems by the transaction. The 2-phase committing method is described in the publication "Principles of Database Systems", pp. 351-356, by Jeffrey D. Ullman, COMPUTER SCIENCE PRESS, 1980.
In the 2-phase committing method, a subsystem which has received a transaction reports the commencement of the transaction to all data bases prior to the access to the data base of the transaction. Upon receiving the report, each data base appends an identifier to the transaction for distinction among transactions in its own system, and returns it to the data communication system. In terminating the transaction, the data communication system specifies the identifier of each transaction and directs each data base to have a commit preparation for the transaction, as a first phase. The commit preparation is a preprocessing to guarantee the completion of the transaction, and it generally corresponds to the journal output process.
After receiving the commit preparation end reports from all directed data bases, the subsystem issues a commit instruction. If even a single data base has failed in commit preparation, the subsystem indicates the failure of the transaction to all data bases. Upon receiving the failure of the transaction, each data base reads the journal of the transaction produced in the commit preparation process, thereby implementing the data base restoration process.
In case one of data bases in the online system has failed, the whole system is brought to an abnormal termination so as to suspend all transactions in execution. After that, fault recovery processes for all transactions which have been in execution are carried out for each subsystem based on the journal.
In case a transaction in execution continues to be processed without suspension at the time of occurrence of a fault, the commit preparation will fail at the end of the transaction in execution, and the restoration process for the transaction will be carried out by all data base systems accessed by the transaction.
In the above-mentioned prior art, if a data base in an online system fails, it is not possible to find the transaction which has accessed the data base, and therefore all transactions in execution are subjected to fault recovery by bringing the whole system to an abnormal termination.
However, viewing the realistic job affair, even in such an online system including a plurality of data bases as mentioned above, a transaction in most cases makes access only to one data base, and there is little proportion of transactions making access to a plurality of data bases.
In the conventional method, when a data base in an online system has failed and not only the transaction in access to the failing data base but all transactions in execution are involved in the subject fault, even transactions which can proceed to normal processings are subjected to fault recovery. Namely, it is not intended positively to minimize the range of influence of a fault, and this is a problem in operating the system.
In the case of a method which allowed transactions in execution to continue to be processed and detects a transaction in need of fault recovery at the end of each transaction, even the transaction which already made access to the faulty subsystem at the occurrence of the fault goes on processing, and it will become necessary for the transaction, if updating continuously for other data base systems other than the faulty data base system, to have a great deal of restoration processes at the end of the transaction.
In the conventional check point acquisition process which is necessary for the fault recovery process, the process enters the wait state at the time of the check point until all transactions in execution are complete, as described, for example, in JP-A-58-@936. This is because transactions in execution are making access to the table which is the subject of the check point dump, and therefore if the acquisition of the check point dump is started during the execution of the transection, it will be, in case of journal acquisition before the time of the check point and table updating after the time of the check point, that the journal before the time of the check point is necessary at the time of the recovery of table.
The above-mentioned prior art does not consider a transaction which is in execution in a faulty subsystem and a transaction which does not terminate for a long period, such as the case of a transaction in execution in another host machine in a distributed data base, as has been experienced in the advent of composite subsystem type online systems, and the check point acquisition and validation cannot take place when a long term transaction exists, resulting in an abnormally long check point interval, which imposes not only a long fault recovery time, but the need of maintaining all external storages which contain journals in the accessible condition at the time of recovery.

Distributed data base system of composite subsystem type, and method of fault recovery for the system


Example implementations relate to persistent virtual address spaces. In one example, persistent virtual address spaces can employ a non-transitory processor readable medium including instructions to receive a whole data structure of a virtual address space (VAS) associated with a process, where the whole data structure includes data and metadata of the VAS, and store the data and the metadata of the VAS in a non-volatile memory to form a persistent VAS (PVAS).

Computing devices such as laptop computers, desktop computers, tablets, servers, and/or other types of computing devices may include a virtual memory system. In a virtual memory system, each process of the computing device may be provided a virtual address space (VAS). The address space for each process is virtual because the computing system may not actually include enough physical memory for every processes' address space to be loaded into physical memory at the same time.


A removable firebox for use in a portable, collapsible barbecue grill including retractable heating grate on top of the firebox and a retractable mid-level cooking grill for providing high-temperature cooking. A lower main grill is disposed in a base cavity of the barbecue grill for providing moderate temperature cooking. The firebox rests in the base cavity of the grill housing and provides heat to a cooking area defined by the base cavity, an upper lid of the housing and a pair of side walls extending upward from the base cavity. The firebox and/or the upper lid includes insulation and/or cooling baffles to protect users from heated surfaces. Venting is provided from the sides and rear of the grill housing. When collapsed, the grate and grills fold onto or are retracted within the firebox, and the entire firebox assembly is stowed in a sealed grill housing. The top and bottom portions of the grill housing mate to form a sealed container-like structure for convenient transportability or storage. The barbecue grill also includes foldable legs which lock into extend position, when deployed.

Outdoor cooking and barbecuing have become significant activities, but traditional barbecue grills have remained unchanged for quite a while. However, grills with vertical hearths have been known in the art for some time. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,999,472 to Einto, U.S. Pat. No. 3,783,855 to Newinger, U.S. Pat. No. 3,611,912 to Choc, U.S. Pat. No. 3,550,525 to Rabello, U.S. Pat. No. 3,175,549 to Bergsten, as well as that art mentioned in commonly-owned related U.S. Pat. No. 5,823,174 to Andress. It is believed that vertical grills have not been significantly utilized because prior models lacked convenience, practicality and efficiency.
For example, the vertical grill disclosed by commonly-owned U.S. Pat. No. 5,823,174 advantageously provided a vertical hearth that extended below a main cooking grill whereby convective and radiant heat from a heat source covered a relatively larger cooking area. Coupled with sidewalls, this grill design increased the amount of main grilling surface that was usable for grilling, roasting or baking. Also, prior vertical grills neither provided multiple cooking temperatures at plural cooking levels nor did they provide kettle rack in combination with other grilling surfaces. In addition, prior grills did not provide deployable or extendable grate or grill members that facilitated portability and stowing. Rotisserie rods were used in the past, but not in combination with multiple multi-temperature grilling surfaces. Also lacking in prior models was a removable firebox that accommodated these features. The present invention, however, overcomes many of these as well as other drawbacks and disadvantages.
It is therefore an objective of the present invention to provide a rapidly deployable, portable and/or stationary barbecue grill having a removable firebox that co-acts with a cooking chamber to provide multi-temperature cooking.
It is another objective of the present invention to allow such rapid deployment by providing collapsible barbecue grill components, such as folding legs and fold-out side walls, and at least one deployable cooking grid pivotally attached to a firebox.
It is another objective of the present invention to provide a firebox construction that supports at least one deployable and retractable heating grate and/or cooking grill.
It is a further objective of the present invention to provide a firebox-barbecue grill combination where the two, when deployed, act together to create multiple heating surfaces at multiple cooking temperatures to permit simultaneous cooking of varied food items.
It is yet another objective of the present invention to provide a firebox-barbecue grill housing combination wherein, upon deployment, airflow is provided at the rear and/or lower portions of the firebox thereby minimizing cooler air draft within or about the cooking chamber.
It is yet a further objective of the present invention to provide radiant-reflective surfaces in and/or about the firebox receptacle thereby confining and directing heat to a main cooking chamber of the barbecue grill.
It is yet a further objective of the present invention to provide a barbecue grill that supports rotisserie rod, including manual, mechanical or electro-mechanical drive means for the rotisserie rod.
It is another objective of the present invention to provide a firebox-barbecue grill housing construction that permits efficient cooling of housing parts.
It is another objective of the present invention to provide a barbecue grill with a large amount of grilling surface without substantially increasing the overall weight of the barbecue grill.
It is yet another objective of the present invention to provide sufficient heat beneath a main cooking grill thereby increasing the available cooking area of the main cooking grill.
It is also an objective of the present invention to provide a fixed, deployed barbecue grill having the above-specified objectives, wherein various components thereof (legs, grates, firebox, grills, sidewalls, etc.) may be secured or fastened in a fixed position rather than being retracted.
It is another objective of the present invention to provide a barbecue grill construction that is conveniently manufactured, either using sheet metal or aluminum casted housing parts.
It is a further objective of the present invention to provide a durable anti-warping firebox construction that resists warping when heated.
It is yet a further objective of the present invention to provide a firebox-grill housing combination that facilitates cooling and heat shielding of grill housing parts during fuel oxidation by providing insulation within and/or upon said grill housing and/or providing cooling baffles upon said firebox and/or grill housing.

Firebox for vertical hearth barbecue grill


A system for monitoring conditions relating to the status of items such as perishable food products stored in enclosed spaces has a number of sensors mounted in the spaces. Tables maintained by the system hold a description of the spaces to be monitored and the location and identity of the sensors within each space. The values detected by each sensor are periodically recorded and tested against benchmark values established for the stored items adjacent to the sensor. Values outside of the benchmark values create an alarm condition, and a set of alarm messages are displayed on a display unit. The alarm messages include suggested corrective actions. The user has the opportunity to signal to the system the corrective actions taken, and the system stores a record of these corrective actions in association with the corrective actions and the alarm condition.

Environments for spaces of many types must be accurately controlled. For example, it is routine to control temperature and humidity in occupied spaces. The environment within spaces used for storing or manufacturing products and apparatus of many types often must be controlled as well. For example, storage or manufacturing areas for electronic equipment often have temperature, dust and chemical contaminants, and humidity limits that must be closely observed. Over the years, a variety of reliable and effective control systems have been developed for meeting these requirements. However, for a variety of reasons these control systems sometimes fail, requiring human intervention. Further, it is often necessary to provide an historical record of these failures and also of proper operation.
For example, heating plants and air conditioners can fail because of a tripping circuit breaker, a short outage of fuel or electricity, or failure of a critical part of the system. In some cases these failures are nuisances only. In others, they may cause significant economic loss or may even threaten life or health of animals or humans. Consider the problem of controlling laboratory animals"" environment. After a period of time, an experimenter may have a significant investment of time and money in ongoing experiments that will be lost if prescribed environmental conditions for the animals are not maintained. These laboratories may not be staffed around the clock, so that a defect in the space""s environment may not be noticed for a period of many hours.
An even more important situation is controlling the environment in which food is stored. The need for food to have safe levels of various pathogens and contaminants can hardly be overstated. Anyone who has visited a modern supermarket knows of the sophisticated environmental controls for temperature and sometimes humidity as well, in produce displays. Yet these are nothing more than mechanical and electrical systems having large numbers of critical components, any of which are liable to failure. Although infrequent, failures can occur that affect the quality of the food. Refrigeration failures that persist for several hours are extremely costly, in that the food spoils and must be thrown out. Even worse, if the failure is intermittent the food may spoil in a way not readily noticeable, but that results in unhealthy food. For example, in a variety of inadequately refrigerated food products, E. coli and salmonella bacteria can grow to a level that may be harmful and yet leave no visual indication this has even happened. Even if the cooling and heating systems operate properly, improper loading of storage spaces, doors that don""t close properly, operator error, etc. can affect food safety and quality.
The system to be described in this patent application has been developed primarily to monitor the temperature environment for perishable foods, but the principles can be easily extended to other types of things and creatures as well. Experts generally regard perishable food produce held at a temperature above 41xc2x0 F. (5xc2x0 C.) for more than 4 hours total as unsafe to eat. Dangerous pathogens will not usually proliferate in food that is held between 38 and 41xc2x0 F. (4xc2x0 C.) but quality may be affected by spoilage, wilting, etc. So the standard for safe storage of perishable food products now sets 33-38xc2x0 F. (0.5-4xc2x0 C.) as the proper range for storage of these materials.
The federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Department of Agriculture (DA) are in the process of setting standards for storing fresh perishable foods. These standards are defined by rules identified by the acronym HAACP (Hazard Analysis of Critical Control Points). HAACP is currently under modification, but essentially specifies a set of required activities for food storage. These activities include:
specifying temperature limits for various types of food products
monitoring temperature of food products having temperature limits
notifying an operator when limits are exceeded
correcting the problem when temperature limits are exceeded to assure safety
documenting the preceding activities, and
verifying all of the preceding activities
At the present time, operators of food storage and marketing facilities perform these steps manually. Thermometers are placed in food display cases, and are periodically read and recorded manually. The people in charge of the facility take what seems to be the appropriate actions whenever a temperature is read as out of the stated limit, and then document and verify the corrective action.
This approach has a number of disadvantages. It is labor-intensive and therefore expensive. Since most of the time there is no problem, it is easy to lose the discipline needed to make the readings at the scheduled times. Since humans are involved, it is likely that the sensors will not be read as scheduled or will be read incorrectly. Manual reading cannot be done frequently enough to avoid loss of food quality or even pathogen growth when out of range temperatures occur. The corrective actions taken may not immediately correct the problem. For example, a corrective action of reducing the set point temperature will not easily solve the failure if the reason the temperature has risen above the limit because the case is overfilled or a cold air duct is obstructed. Manual readings may not detect brief temperature excursions past the limit, say those caused by defrosting. On the other hand, when manual readings do detect these excursions the response may be to take unneeded corrective actions.
Where sensors are not visible from outside the display case and must be read with the door open, further error in the readings may result. All of these conditions can result in erroneous monitoring of the conditions within food storage spaces.
Of course, similar considerations are present for freezer cases and hot food cases. In fact, hot food cases have the potential for very rapid pathogen growth if the temperature falls much below a safety temperature.
The result of all these considerations is that monitoring the storage environment generally and the temperature in particular for various foods is a difficult and expensive activity that may often result in inaccurate detection of food condition. If healthful food is detected as bad, this leads to unnecessary discarding of food and substantial unnecessary expense. If bad food is detected as good, this may give rise to a serious health issue, with enormous consequences both for consumers and the businesses in the food supply chain.
Accordingly, an alternative to manual sensor monitoring is advantageous. There have been systems described in the past that provide alternatives to manual monitoring. Among these, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,900,801 and 5,939,974 (both to Heagle et al.) teach a comprehensive system for monitoring food preparation, storage, and delivery. A number of patents described in the Heagle patents also disclose environmental monitoring systems.
We have developed a system for monitoring a varying and measurable parameter level at a plurality of points within a space. We expect that the users will usually chose to monitor the quality or condition of products stored in the space. We intend the term xe2x80x9cproductxe2x80x9d to include a wide variety of goods, food products, and material whose quality or condition is affected by some parameter or condition of the product""s environment such as temperature, humidity and moisture content, vibration, airborne contamination, microbial contamination, etc. The application we presently prefer for the system is to monitor the temperature within food storage spaces.
This system includes a plurality of product condition sensors each having an associated identifier code. Each sensor is to be placed in physical proximity to a product so as to measure the product condition parameter level. Each sensor provides a sensor signal encoding the measured parameter level.
We find it convenient to use a small computer along with appropriate software and some sort of interface for communicating with the sensors to provide the remaining elements of the invention.
The computer conveniently provides a memory as a further element of the system. The memory is first, for recording at least one predetermined parameter value in association with each sensor identifier code, and second, for recording in association with each predetermined parameter value, a set of message code strings for a plurality of messages. These message code strings encode printable messages providing status information or suggesting remedial action for a user when an out-of-range condition is detected for the condition sensed by the sensor. Thirdly, the memory records application software whose execution causes the computer to provide the desired functionality of the invention.
The computer""s display component functions as a display unit in this invention for providing a visual display of messages responsive to a display signal encoding the set of message code strings.
When the computer executes the application software recorded in the memory, it becomes physically and functionally a data analyzer. The computer/data analyzer element receives the sensor signal from a sensor and a predetermined parameter value recorded in the memory in association with that sensor""s identifier code. The data analyzer then compares the measured parameter value encoded in the sensor signal with the received parameter value associated with the sensor""s identifier code. Responsive to a predetermined relationship between the measured and recorded parameter levels, the data analyzer retrieves from the memory the set of message code strings associated with the recorded parameter value, and encodes the retrieved set of message code strings in a display signal provided to the display unit.


A correction image generating system comprises: a main body of an electronic apparatus, which main body comprises a display portion, a storage portion, a correction data generating portion, and an image data correcting portion; and an imaging portion. The predetermined image data is modified reference image data in which a reference image data is corrected by initial correction data generated in a manufacturing phase of the electronic apparatus; the display portion displays the reference image based on the modified reference image data; and the correction data generating portion generates the correction data based on a comparison result between the imaged image data or data based on the imaged image data, and the modified reference image data or data based on the modified reference image data.

For various uses including a display portion of a television receiver or a mobile apparatus, display apparatuses such as an organic electroluminescent (below-called "organic-EL") display apparatus and a liquid crystal display apparatus are being utilized. In these display apparatuses, a desired color (luminance) to be displayed based on an input signal and a color (luminance) actually displayed can differ due to the effect of the input-output characteristic that a display apparatus has. Therefore, correction such as so-called gamma correction is being carried out in accordance with the characteristic of the above-mentioned display apparatus.
Moreover, in an electronic apparatus comprising a display apparatus, display unevenness (below-called initial display unevenness) caused by manufacturing variations in the phase prior to the user starting use thereof, or, in other words, in the manufacturing phase prior to shipment of the electronic apparatus can be produced. The initial display unevenness is produced by non-uniformity in the characteristic of each of pixels comprised in the display apparatus. The picture quality of the display apparatus is improved by generating, prior to shipping the electronic apparatus, data for correcting image data to make it difficult for the user to visually recognize such initial display unevenness. Specifically, in the final phase of the manufacturing process, the display apparatus is caused to display therein an image based on predetermined image data input externally, and imaged image data of the image being displayed in the display apparatus is obtained using an external imaging apparatus. Then, by comparing the predetermined image data input and the imaged image data, correction data to remove the initial display unevenness is generated. After shipment, an image based on image data corrected using correction data obtained is displayed in the display apparatus (see Patent document 1, for example). As the predetermined image data described above, image data having a certain regularity, including image data in which gradation values are uniform or in which gradation values change continuously, is used. Such a technique makes it difficult to visually recognize the initial display unevenness of the display apparatus, which initial display unevenness is produced in the manufacturing phase, improving the picture quality at the time of use by the user.

Correction image generation system, image control method, image control program, and recording medium


The present disclosure is related to a display component. The display component may include a display module and a viewing angle switch module at a light-exiting side of the display module. The display module may include a plurality of columns of light-emitting pixels on a base substrate. Each of the light-emitting pixels may include a first electrode layer, a nanoparticle layer, and a transparent second electrode layer in this order on the base substrate. The nanoparticle layer may include nanoparticles of a first metal, each of the nanoparticles of the first metal having a convex protrusion on a side away from the first electrode layer. The transparent second electrode layer may include a nanoparticle of a second metal.

Dual view display mode refers to display of different images in different angles. That is, a user can view different images on a display screen from different angles. Compared to traditional display modes, dual view display mode increases utilization of the display screen, allowing a display screen to display two kinds of information at the same time. Currently, there has been great interest in dual-view display mode especially for applications such as cars and advertising screens.

BEIJING BOE DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.