An apparatus and method for providing a dynamic mapping of channel numbers to physical frequencies for some cells of a cellular telephone system, for use in case of a cellular telephone system representing physical frequencies by channel numbers and providing a fixed mapping of channel numbers to physical frequencies. The method includes a step of providing an information element indicating the dynamic mapping, and is performed in a way that is compatible with an existing channel numbering space, thereby keeping unchanged any existing signaling messages. The method also provides for a change in a dynamic mapping: a duplicated mapping is broadcast in which two non-overlapping sets of channel numbers are both mapped at least in part to a same frequency block, the broadcasting being continued for a predetermined time assumed to be of sufficient extent that any mobile phones operating in the cells will have decoded the duplicated mapping.

The present invention relates to cellular communications, and more particularly to the assignment (mapping) of channel numbers to physical frequencies, for use in communications under the global system for mobile communications (GSM).
Various bands are provided by the global system for mobile communications (GSM) standard for cellular communications, including the GSM 900 band (which in turn includes an extension band, called the E-GSM band), R-GSM for railway cellular communications, and, for traditional cellular applications, the DCS 1800 band, the PCS 1900 band, GSM 450, GSM 480, GSM 850 and the newly added GSM 700 band. Each band is divided into two sub-bands, an uplink sub-band and a downlink sub-band. The uplink sub-band is for mobile transmission (to the serving base station), while the downlink sub-band is for base station transmission to a mobile phone. Each sub-band is divided into 200 kHz frequency slots, each such frequency slot being indicated by an ARFCN (Absolute Radio Frequency Channel Number). Each ARFCN is shared by up to eight mobiles, each using it in turn in a time division multiplex mode, i.e. each mobile is assigned a frequency slot and a time slot in a time division multiple access (TDMA) frame. The combination of a succession of time slots (every eighth time slot beginning with a specified time slot, such as every 3rd time slot out of every eight time slots) and a frequency slot (specified by an ARFCN) indicates what is called a physical channel.
The GSM band, which is illustrated in FIG. 1, and the corresponding mapping from channel numbers (i.e. ARFCNs) to physical frequencies is:
Fup(n)=890.2 MHz+0.2*(nxe2x88x921) MHz (1xe2x89xa6nxe2x89xa6124), and
Fdown(n)=935.2 MHz+0.2*(nxe2x88x921) MHz (1xe2x89xa6nxe2x89xa6124).
The extension band is as follows:
Fup(n)=880.2 MHz+0.2*(nxe2x88x921) MHz (1xe2x89xa6nxe2x89xa650), and
Fdown(n)=925.2 MHz+0.2*(nxe2x88x921) MHz (1xe2x89xa6nxe2x89xa650).
In both of these mappings, i.e. in both the GSM band and the extension band, the quantity n is the ARFCN. As mentioned, a physical channel consists of a carrier frequency given by the ARFCN, and every 8th time slot on the frequency, each time slot having a duration of 4.615/8 ms, often denoted as a burst, there being 8 time slots in a TDMA frame, which therefore has duration 4.615 ms.
The total number of ARFCNs currently supported by GSM signaling is 1024. Excluding GSM 700 (i.e. release 4 of the 3GPP standards), a total of 262 ARFCN values are unused. (GSM 900 uses 124+50 ARFCNs; R-GSM uses 20 ARFCNs; DCS 1800 uses 374 (PCS 1900 uses a subset of DCS 1800 numbers); GSM 400 uses 35+35 numbers, and GSM 850 uses 124. The total amounts to 762 ARFCN values.) However, only two separate large blocks of unallocated ARFCNs exist, 341-511 and 886-954, supporting a total bandwidth of 48 MHz (a total of 240 ARFCN values). Allocating 15 MHz or 74 carriers (at 200 kHz per carrier) (and also a 200 kHz guard band for the operating band) for GSM 700 would leave a very limited number of ARFCNs for future frequency bands, not enough to support any new band allocation like the planned 2.5 GHz IMT (International Mobile Telephony) 2000 extension band.
ARFCNs are currently defined with 10 bits. Several signaling messages include ARFCNs. An obvious alternative to extend the ARFCN range would be to use more than 10 bits. However, such a change would also change all messages that include ARFCNs, and would also change many other messages that do not contain ARFCNs but refer to them.
What is needed, therefore, is a new, dynamic ARFCN allocation procedure that would maintain the existing signaling messages, mostly unchanged, but would also make possible supporting significantly wider spectrum allocations compared to the existing fixed ARFCN mapping. Ideally, no changes to information elements referring to 10-bit ARFCNs would be made.
Accordingly, the present invention is an apparatus and corresponding method for providing for a dynamic mapping of channel numbers to physical frequencies for some cells of a cellular telephone system, the method for use in case of a cellular telephone system representing physical frequencies by channel numbers and providing a fixed mapping of channel numbers to physical frequencies, the cellular telephone system composed of a plurality of public land mobile networks each of which provide coverage in a different set of cells of the cellular telephone system, the dynamic mapping to be used by a particular public land mobile network and so for all the cells for which cellular communication is provided by the particular public land mobile network, the method including the steps of: selecting a set of physical frequencies; selecting from the channel numbers a set of channel numbers sufficient in number to correspond, one-to-one, to the selected physical frequencies; determining a dynamic mapping of the selected physical frequencies to the selected set of channel numbers; and providing to mobile phones in the cells of the public land mobile network an information element indicating the dynamic mapping, the information element including information sufficient to determine the first and last channel number of the dynamic mapping and the first and last physical frequency of the dynamic mapping; wherein the step of providing the information element indicating the dynamic mapping is performed in a way that is compatible with an existing channel numbering space, and so allows keeping unchanged any existing signaling messages.
In a further aspect of the invention, the channel numbers are represented using numbers indicated by at most 10 bits.
In another further aspect of the invention, the cellular telephone system has unused channel numbers and unused physical frequencies. In some applications according to this aspect of the invention, in the step of selecting a set of physical frequencies, the physical frequencies are selected from the physical frequencies not used by the public land mobile network but available for use by the public land mobile network. In some of these applications, in step of selecting channel numbers, the channel numbers are selected from the channel numbers not used by the public land mobile network but available for use by the public land mobile network; and in such applications, the dynamic mapping is sometimes specific to the public land mobile network in that the dynamic mapping would provide channel numbers for only the frequencies actually used by the public land mobile network.
In another further aspect of the invention, the information element includes: a first value indicating the first channel number being mapped; a range value indicating the number of channel numbers being mapped in addition to the channel number indicated by the first value; and a first frequency value, indicating the physical frequency to which the first channel number is being mapped.
In yet another further aspect of the invention, so as to provide for a change in a dynamic mapping being used by a public land mobile network, a duplicated mapping is broadcast by the public land mobile network in which two non-overlapping sets of channel numbers are both mapped at least in part to a same frequency block, the broadcasting being continued for a predetermined time period assumed to be of sufficient extent that any mobile phones operating in the cells of the public land mobile network will have decoded the duplicated mapping. In a still further aspect of the invention, instead of broadcasting the duplicated mapping, the public land mobile network conveys the duplicated mapping via a point-to-point transmission to each mobile phone using the public land mobile network.
Thus, with the present invention it is possible to maintain all existing signaling messages unchanged. The changes to signaling are limited to providing two new system information messages, one for broadcast and one for dedicated mode. In addition, one GPRS Packet System Information message is extended with relevant information, and the GSM handover command is extended to include dynamic mapping information.

Method for dynamically mapping channels for new GSM frequency bands


A starter relay comprises a container composed of an electrical insulating hard resin, a resistor having a positive resistance temperature coefficient and housed in the container, and contact springs of feeding devices having conduction and resilience configured to press the resistor to establish connection with the resistor. The contact springs each include a body, two arms extending from the body, and spaced press-fit contacts extending from the arms to press the resistor. The press-fit contacts of one of the contact springs and the press-fit contacts of the other are arranged in crossed directions. Thus, a broken fragment of the resistor is not pinched between the contact springs even when the resistor pinched is broken.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a starter relay for use in a single-phase induction motor and so forth.
2. Description of the Related Art
A starter relay of this type may comprise a resistor 1 having a positive resistance temperature coefficient (PTC), which is pinched between a pair of contact springs 5, 6 in the form of separated V-shapes and housed in a container 2 of an electric insulator as shown in FIG. 4. This is well known as a starter relay 100X for a single-phase induction motor to drive a compressor incorporated in a household refrigerator (see Patent Document 1: JP-A 5-15178).
The resistor 1 may be made of barium titanate ceramics (Curie point: 130° C.), which has an electrical resistance that sharply increases when heated up to a certain temperature or higher.
The starter relay 100X is disposed as connected to an auxiliary winding of the single-phase induction motor. On starting of the single-phase induction motor, the temperature at the resistor 1 is low. Accordingly, the resistor 1 has a low electric resistance so that large starting current flows in the auxiliary winding to begin starting. The current flowing in the resistor 1 elevates the temperature by self-heating, which increases the electrical resistance, which lowers the current flowing in the auxiliary winding.
A starter relay 100Y having a structure shown in FIG. 5 is also well known (see Patent Document 2: JP-A 8-266076). In the starter relay 100X shown in FIG. 4, the resistor 1 is inserted between the contact springs 5, 6 while expanding the space between the contact springs 5, 6. In this case, the contact springs 5, 6 apply a pinching force against both sides of the resistor 1 from the time of insert. The force may damage the surface of the resistor 1 and cause a contact failure between the resistor 1 and the contact springs 5, 6 because of deflected opening of the contact springs 5, 6. In the starter relay 100Y, to the contrary, when a main container 2A and a lid container 2B are not integrated, a pair of contact springs 5, 6 has a small pinching force against the resistor 1. (Therefore, the resistor 1 can be installed between the contact springs 5, 6 with an easy work). On the other hand, when the main container 2A and the lid container 2B are integrated and protrusions 2C are fitted into required portions, the pair of contact springs 5, 6 applies a large pinching force for press-pinching the resistor 1. This starter relay 100Y is thus configured to solve the above problem associated with the starter relay 100X.
The starter relay 100X and the starter relay 100Y are structured such that the pair of contact springs 5, 6 pinching the resistor 1 from both sides can press and pinch surface-symmetrical sites of the resistor 1 from both sides. Accordingly, when the resistor 1 is broken, a broken fragment of the resistor is pinched between the pair of contact springs 5, 6. In this case, that portion radiates heat and elevates the temperature when power is supplied from terminals 7, 8, possibly resulting in production of smoke as a problem.


A multimedia decoder is provided that inserts synchronization words into elementary linear pulse-code modulation (LPCM) audio bitstreams. In one embodiment, the multimedia decoder includes a pre-parser, a memory, and an audio decoder module. The pre-parser receives a multimedia bitstream and separates it into an audio substream and a video substream, and inserts a synchronization words before each data packet in the audio substream while forming it into an elementary bitstream. The memory is coupled to the pre-parser to buffer the elementary audio bitstream, and the audio decoder module is coupled to the memory to retrieve the elementary audio bitstream and convert it into a digital audio signal. The inserted synchronization word may comprise between from four to ten bytes in length. In one particular implementation, the inserted synchronization word includes the ASCII representation of the letters LSILOGIC. The insertion and subsequent detection of a synchronization word in the elementary audio bitstream advantageously provides for robust synchronization in the presence of bitstream corruption while maintaining multimedia decoder modularity.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of multimedia compression, and in particular to a multimedia decoder having synchronization words included in a linear PCM elementary bitstream.
2. Description of the Related Art
Digital audio and video programs in initial sampled form and final playback form comprise an enormous amount of data, indeed so much that it would be prohibitively expensive to store or to secure the necessary bandwidth and power to transmit programs of moderate quality and length. To address this problem, compression techniques are commonly employed to reduce the amount of data by which the program is represented during storage and transmission, after which the program is reconstructed by some matched decompression method. To ensure compliance between transmitters and receivers of various manufacturers, several compression standards have been established. For audio compression, MUSICAM and Dolby AC-3 are popular. For multimedia (audio/video) compression, MPEG and DVD are popular.
These standards are not completely distinct and independent, e.g. DVD employs MPEG video compression techniques and allows for use of MUSICAM and AC-3 audio compression techniques. Although attention herein is directed primarily to the DVD standard, much of what is said is also applicable to systems operating according to other compression standards, and exclusion of such systems is not intended.
A compressed bitstream created in accordance with the DVD standard consists of interleaved substreams. Examples of substreams which may be included in a DVD bitstream include audio substreams, a video substream, sub-picture unit (SPU) substreams, and navigation substreams. Each substream consists of data packets having a packet header and a packet payload. The packet header includes identifying information specifying which substream the packet belongs to and where it belongs in that substream. The packet header also includes information specifying the payload type and size, and any compression parameters which may be required for decompression.
To reconstruct the original data from the DVD bitstream, a DVD decoder locates the beginning of a packet, then reads the packet header to determine the substream membership. The decoder then routes the packet payload and portions of the packet header to the appropriate elementary bitstream buffer. Various modules of the decoder then operate on the contents of each buffer to reconstruct the associated program component (i.e. audio, video, SPU, navigation), and the reconstructed program component is finally presented to an appropriate output channel for delivery to the user.
As used herein, "substream" refers to the stream of data packets associated with a program component, and elementary bitstream refers to the data which is written to the elementary bitstream buffers, i.e. the contents of the data packet minus the identifying header fields, but including header fields which specify decompression parameters that may be needed by the ensuing decoder modules.
Synchronization of the decoder modules to their respective bitstreams is required for proper decoding, e.g. the decoder modules must be able to distinguish decoding parameters from data. When data packets become corrupted, the potential exists for all subsequent data to become undecodable due to loss of synchronization. It is desirable to provide a decoder with a means for synchronizing all program components whereby synchronization may be maintained in the presence of substream corruption.

On-screen display format reduces memory bandwidth for time-constrained on-screen display systems


A high speed communication apparatus for a computerized axial tomography (CAT) scanner utilizes large diameter slip rings to permit continuous rotation of a rotatable gantry. A communication signal is applied at a first point on one slip ring, and is terminated by a resistive termination at a point 180.degree. opposite the driving point. The communication signal may then be received at any point on the slip ring. The drive and termination connections to the slip ring may be made by brushes, with the receive connection being made by a physical connection to the slip ring. Alternately, the drive and terminate connection may be made by physical contact, with the receive connection being made by a brush.

The field of the invention is Computerized Axial Tomography (CAT) scanners, and more particularly, CAT scanners of the type employing a gantry adapted for continuous rotation.
CAT scanners utilize a rotating gantry to obtain multiple X-ray images, or "views", at progressively different rotational angles. Each set of images is referred to in the art as a "slice". A patient is disposed in a central opening of the gantry on a table which is movable axially, thereby enabling slices to be obtained at multiple axial positions as well. All of the slices obtained are then processed in a computer according to known algorithms to produce enhanced images for diagnostic purposes.
The rotating gantry includes an X-ray apparatus and electronics necessary to generate image data for each view. It is therefore necessary to supply electrical power to the rotating gantry to power the electronics, and particularly to provide a high voltage supply for operation of the X-ray tube. Additionally, it is necessary to provide for communication of the image data, and other control information, between the electronics on the rotating gantry and a set of stationary electronics. The stationary electronics then process the raw image data into the enhanced form.
The data rate for communication between the stationary and rotating electronics is an important factor because it is desirable to obtain the desired views as fast as possible to reduce patient discomfort and to maximize equipment utilization. A view typically comprises 730 channels, with a 16 bit representation for each individual channel output (i.e. 11.68K bits per view) and is typically repeated 1,000 times per second, yielding a net data rate requirement of approximately 12 Megabits per second (Mbits/sec) for image data alone.
In order to provide a communications link with the requisite data rate, prior CAT scanners have employed an umbilical cable connected to the rotating gantry. One or more flexible, shielded coaxial cables are used in the umbilical cable for high speed communications, and other conductors are used for power and discrete control signals. The umbilical cable is typically capable of plus or minus 360.degree. of rotation, so that the gantry is limited to a total of 720.degree. of rotation. In operation, the gantry is accelerated to a desired rotational speed and the desired views are taken before the 720.degree. limit is reached. Near the 720.degree. limit, the gantry is decelerated to a stop, and then accelerated in the reverse direction to acquire more views. The gantry thus cycles back and forth within the 720.degree. limit.
Such "cycling" type CAT scanners have two main disadvantages. One disadvantage is that the decelerating and re-accelerating of the gantry is fairly time consuming. The gantry, with all equipment in place, is both large and massive, so that even with large motors, the time consumed in accelerating the gantry can be substantial. The second disadvantage is somewhat of a corollary to the first, in that the need to repeatedly accelerate such a large mass produces a large amount of mechanical stress and wear.
Another type of gantry is known in the art in which brush and slip rings are used for power and communications. In that case, the gantry is free to rotate continuously, eliminating the need for the above described back-and-forth movement of the gantry and thereby providing a greater proportion of time for the acquisition of the desired views. However, prior CAT scanners utilizing brushes and slip rings for communications have suffered a serious limitation of the data rates which can be achieved. The gantry and the slip rings thereon are necessarily both large and unshielded. The slip rings are therefore subjected to substantial electrical noise from external sources. However, the greater problem is in achieving high data rate communications. In that case, a very fast edge rate is needed for the signal applied to the slip rings, while the round trip time on interconnect around the slip rings is much greater than the edge rate, resulting in an unstable oscillatory response. Also, the electrical path length around the rings is an appreciable fraction of a bit period, so that energy propagating around the rings in opposite directions may arrive at a reception point at substantially different times in a bit period, causing garbled reception.
Therefore, a need exists for a high speed communications apparatus for a CAT scanner which provides for both continuous rotation and for reliable, high speed communications.

High speed communication apparatus for computerized axial tomography (CAT) scanners


A polymer electrolyte composition including a metal salt and at least one polymer comprising a poly(glycidyl ether), where the at least one polymer is amorphous at ambient temperature. The poly(glycidyl ether) polymer can be a blend of poly(glycidyl ether) polymers, can be a poly(glycidyl ether) polymer blended with a mechanically strong solid polymer, and can be a block of a block copolymer that also includes a polymer block forming a mechanically strong solid polymer.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to polymer electrolytes.
2. Related Art
(Note: This application references a number of different publications as indicated throughout the specification by one or more reference numbers in brackets, e.g., [x]. A list of these different publications ordered according to these reference numbers can be found below in the section entitled "References.")
As our energy economy begins to rely on renewable, but more intermittent energy sources such as solar and wind, safe, high-energy density storage will be come increasingly important. Polymer electrolytes hold promise for the development of higher energy density lithium-ion batteries that can be adapted to a variety of applications. By eliminating the need for volatile, flammable, and toxic small-molecule electrolytes, these solvent-free solid-state batteries, in which a moderate to high molecular weight polymer is mixed with a lithium salt, also increase battery safety and introduce new degrees of design flexibility. The greatest motivation behind the design of solid polymer electrolytes is that highly-energetic metallic lithium anodes may be safely used in lieu of less-energetic intercalation compound anodes [1]. The dominant challenge to advancing these materials commercially has been the development of a polymer material that is able to dissolve and dissociate lithium salts and allow for lithium ion mobility while maintaining mechanical strength and electrode separation. To date, poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) has been the most frequently and thoroughly studied polymer electrolyte due to its good solvating properties and conductivities greater than 10−4 S/cm above 70° C. However, below 65° C., PEO conductivity drops off dramatically as a result of crystallization, thus making PEO ill-suited for most battery applications that require operation at ambient temperatures. As a result, recent work has sought to modify PEO to eliminate crystallinity while retaining good solvating, conducting, and structural properties. Strategies employed include PEO oligomer crosslinking [2-7], synthesis of rubbery block copolymers [8,9] with or without incorporation of plasticizing agents [10], and most successfully, development of supramolecular architectures such as combs [11] and dendritic structures [12-14]. While these techniques have yielded increases in conductivity at lower temperatures, as yet they have been unable to meet the requisite conductivity of 10−3 S/cm deemed necessary for commercial viability. Moreover, continuing improvements have come at the cost of increasingly sophisticated synthetic schemes that might not be feasible on an industrial scale. Still yet other modifications have yielded systems that are increasingly similar to the small-molecule systems they are to replace [15].

Polymer electrolytes based on poly(glycidyl ether)s

The Regents of the University of California


A method of forming a curved touch surface is disclosed. The method can include depositing and patterning a conductive thin film on a flexible substrate to form at least one touch sensor pattern, while the flexible substrate is in a flat state. According to certain embodiments, the method can include supporting the flexible substrate in the flat state on at least one curved forming substrate having a predetermined curvature; and performing an anneal process, or an anneal-like high-heat process, on the conductive thin film, wherein the anneal process can cause the flexible substrate to conform to the predetermined curvature of the at least one curved forming substrate. According to an embodiment, the curved forming substrate can include a first forming substrate having a first predetermined curvature and a second forming substrate having a second predetermined curvature complementing the first predetermined curvature.

Recently, input devices using touch sensors, such as track pads, touch screens and the like, have become increasingly popular. In portable computing devices such as laptop computers, the input devices are commonly track pads (also known as touch pads). With a track pad, the movement of an input pointer (i.e., cursor) usually corresponds to the relative movements of the user's finger (or stylus) as the finger is moved along a surface of the track pad.
In the case of hand-held personal digital assistants (PDA) or mobile devices, the input devices tend to utilize touch-sensitive display screens. When using a touch screen, a user can make a selection on the display screen by pointing directly to objects on the screen using a stylus or finger. Touch screens can include a touch sensor panel, which can be a clear panel with a touch-sensitive surface, and a display device such as a liquid crystal display (LCD) that can be positioned partially or fully behind the panel, or integrated with the panel, so that the touch-sensitive surface can cover at least a portion of the viewable area of the display device. Touch screens can allow a user to perform various functions by touching the touch sensor panel using a finger, stylus or other object at a location often dictated by a user interface (UI) being displayed by the display device. In general, touch screens can recognize a touch event and the position of the touch event on the touch sensor panel, and the computing system can then interpret the touch event in accordance with the display appearing at the time of the touch event, and thereafter can perform one or more actions based on the touch event.
Touch sensor panels can generally be very thin, and can include a substrate with a thin patterned film laminated (or otherwise deposited or formed) thereon. However, due to the desired thinness of the substrate and thin film, difficulties can occur during fabrication due to the risk of damaging components of the touch sensor panel.
For example, when flexible substrates are processed by depositing the thin film, the transition temperature, at which point the substrate can warp or deform, may be relatively low. Generally, any processing of a flexible plastic substrate, for example, has to be below 150° C. or else it can deform. However, annealing the thin film at a high temperature (above 150° C.) is often desired, since it can improve the thin film's resistivity and optical properties. Hence, annealing the thin film while adhered to the flexible plastic substrate can cause an unwanted deformation in the substrate.


A removable ink supply comprises an ink container including a coupler configured to removably engage a receiver of an ink supply station of an image forming apparatus. The coupler includes an end portion including an array of key holes with each key hole configured to removably receive a respective one key of an array of at least partially conductive keys of the receiver of the ink supply station. A conductive component of the coupler is positioned within the coupler and spaced apart from the end portion. The conductive component is in axial alignment with at least some of the respective key holes to be positioned for selective, removable contact with at least some of the respective keys of the receiver. An absence or a presence of removable contact between the conductive component and the key indicates an out-of-ink status of the image forming apparatus.

While older-style printers included cumbersome techniques for replacing ink or toner, newer-style printers typically permit simple replacement of ink or toner cartridges. A typical image forming apparatus is designed to receive a uniquely corresponding ink supply container or reservoir for each different color ink or toner. Accordingly, various attempts have been made at using lockout mechanisms to ensure that each reservoir is installed in the proper receptacle of the image forming apparatus. Unfortunately, conventional lockout mechanisms fail to provide sufficient assurance of proper matching between ink reservoirs and their corresponding receptacles at the image forming apparatus.

Combination ink status and key arrangement for ink supply

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


An outer COM object can be provided with privileged access to protected functionality in an inner COM object. An inner COM object can offer a custom protected interface to an outer COM object by creating a new inner internals COM object that is not available to a calling application or by creating a new extension IUnknown interface that can be used to access the protected content. An outer COM object can override behavior in an inner COM object. An inner COM object can offer access to custom behavior to an outer COM object by creating a new inner internals COM object that is not available to a calling application. The new inner internals COM object can implement a new interface that provides access to the customized (override) content or can create a new extension IUnknown interface that can be used to provide access to the customized (override) content.

An "object" in an object-oriented programming language is an encapsulated module of code and related data that is accessible to clients through interfaces accessing well-defined and controlled connection points, known as the object's methods and properties. A collection of objects can be created to perform the functions desired in a computer application.
Component Object Model (COM) is a binary interface standard for software componentry used to enable communication and dynamic object creation in any programming language that supports it. The term COM is often used in the software development world as an umbrella term that encompasses the OLE, OLE Automation, ActiveX®, COM+ and DCOM technologies. COM provides a language-neutral way of implementing objects so an object can be used in an environment different from the one in which it was created.
One mechanism that enables object reuse in COM is containment delegation. Containment delegation is a mechanism in which one object (the "outer" object) uses functionality of another object (the "inner" object) to provide interface implementations to the outer object's clients. The outer object "contains" the inner object. The outer object exposes interfaces to a client, but its implementation of some of those interface properties and methods explicitly delegates to the inner object's methods. Containment for an outer object can be implemented by the outer object creating the inner objects it uses; using its pointer to the inner object, a call to a method in the outer object generates a call to a method in the inner object.
COM aggregation is an extension to containment delegation of COM objects in which the outer object exposes interfaces from the inner object directly. That is, when a client of the outer object requests an interface, if the outer object does not have an implementation of that interface, it forwards the request to the inner object. If the inner object returns an interface, the outer object's client then makes method and property calls directly to that inner object. Note that the inner object can itself be an outer object to a third object, and might similarly forward the interface requests. The outer-most object is called the "controlling" object. If a client is interacting with an inner object and requests a new interface, the inner object forwards the request to the controlling object, so that the outer objects have an opportunity to answer a request before inner objects. This aggregation algorithm can be useful when the outer object delegates all calls to one of its interfaces to the same interface in the inner object. COM aggregation can avoid extra implementation overhead in the outer object in this case.

Protected and virtual interfaces for COM aggregation


The present application is directed to a horizontally-laid tangential rooftop wind power generator comprising: a generator mounted on a chassis and coupled to a tangential fan wheel or a plurality of tangential fan wheels, all housed in a cover with two long fan openings one at each of the two sides. Wind-directing panels extend outwardly from the two fan openings to form two shrouded duct openings.

In general, wind power generators can be categorized into two types, namely (a) vertical axis wind power generator and (b) horizontal axis wind power generator. In addition to having smaller wind-swept area, a vertical axis wind power generator always poses unbalanced thrust and torque on tower mast during operation while its returning wind blades head against incoming wind. Therefore, problems in association with low wind energy efficiency, high construction cost, excessive vibration and unbalanced torque hence incurring more maintenance cost and additional guy wires for balancing etc. are found in comparison with a horizontal axis wind power generator. Meanwhile, technology development for horizontal axis wind power generator is mature as reliability in operation with better power output efficiency has been recognized. Thus, horizontal axis wind powered generators are engaged in large scale wind farms all over the world.
A modern commercial wind farm is always located distant from cities at remote area where wind energy source is abundant. Voltage of electricity generated has to be stepped up prior to distribution of electrical power through distant transmission grids to energy consuming factories and cities. High costs in initial investment and thereafter maintenance, high loss of energy in transmission and high cost for power distribution are major problems which engineers and scientists are addressing for.
Wind energy output for a wind power generator is functional to wind-swept area of blades, height of nacelle above ground, and wind speed in accordance with Wind Formula. In this regard, wind power generators are mounted on high towers or masts with large rotor span of wind blades. Apart from high initial investment cost, a wind power generator must be installed distant from building due to vibration and noises in operation thereby prohibiting application of wind power generators in residential dwellings.

Horizontally-laid tangential rooftop wind power generator


A method and apparatus for performing a procedure by manipulating a bone are disclosed. The apparatus can include a bone engaging portion and a digital manipulation portion. The bone engaging portion can engage the bone and then the digital manipulation portion can be used to manipulate the bone. The method can use the apparatus to perform a procedure with the apparatus.

Portions of the anatomy can generally be formed relative to one another to allow for a natural articulation, support, movement, or the like. Nevertheless, due to various circumstances, such as injury, disease, or the like, various portions of the anatomy can become damaged. For example, a bone portion may become damaged, including having a growth, or the like, in a manner that is substantially unnatural. It may be selected to perform a procedure relative to the bone portion to recreate the more natural bone portion.
For example, a resection of the distal clavicle using arthroscopy is a procedure that can be selected for treatment of arthritis that can affect the acrominoclavicualar joint. In the resection procedure, a portion of the end of the clavicle affected by the arthritic condition can be removed. The removal of the portion of the clavicle can be performed with a burr that can be inserted subacromial from below the clavicle and viewed with an arthroscope. It will be understood that any appropriate procedure can be performed, such as resection with a burr, a saw, removal of bone spur, or the like. Nevertheless, it can be selected to apply pressure to the dorsum of the clavicle to manipulate and position it. Commonly, it is attempted to move the clavicle with no attachments or tools.
Generally, it is attempted to maneuver the clavicle with hand pressure to the dorsum of the clavicle to bring it into view of the arthroscope for viewing by a user, such as a physician. It can be difficult to position the clavicle in a selected position due to lack of understanding of anatomy by an assistant, swelling or tissue volume in the surgical area, other damage to the anatomy in the surgical area, or the like.
Therefore, it is desired to provide a method and apparatus to move a bone into a selected area for performing a surgical procedure on the selected bone or relative to the selected bone. It will be understood that the bone that can be manipulated can be any appropriate bone, such as the clavicle. It may be desirable to provide a method and apparatus to move the bone without vast experience of the specific anatomy or the surgical procedure. Although, it will be understood that it is also desirable to provide a method and apparatus for a user, such as a surgeon, to both position the bone and perform a procedure relative to the bone.

Method and apparatus for manipulating bone during a surgical procedure


A skin beautifier contains sphingomyelin, which is a phospholipid, as an effective ingredient. In addition, skin-beautifying food or feed contains sphingomyelin as an effective ingredient. The present invention provides a skin beautifier and skin-beautifying food or feed supplying effects on beauty, such as skin-moisturizing and protecting effects, skin-roughness-preventing and improving effects, and a wrinkle-preventing effect, by oral ingestion thereof.

The skin is an interface of an organism with the environment, prevents moisture loss from the body, and has a skin barrier function preventing the invasion of biotoxic substances, such as microorganisms and allergens, from the environment. Intercorneocyte lipids, ceramides in particular, and sebum in the stratum corneum are said to bear these functions. It is said that the stratum corneum must contain 10 to 20% moisture to function normally and maintain a healthy condition. The moisture is retained in the stratum corneum by the skin barrier function and flexibility and elasticity of the skin are thereby maintained.
When the moisture in the stratum corneum decreases, the stratum corneum loses the flexibility and is hardened. This causes chapping. In so-called roughened skin, i.e., a condition that the dermatoglyphic patterns disappear or are unclear, a significant decrease in the moisture content is observed in the stratum corneum. Roughened skin is not only a cosmetic problem of poor appearance but also a preliminary stage causing a skin disease, and has a pathological meaning. In addition, improvement of roughened skin makes a dried skin surface soft and smooth and further leads to an improvement of fine wrinkles.
It is known that when the skin barrier function of the stratum corneum decreases, the loss of moisture from the skin is serious compared with that in a healthy condition. In addition, an increase in transepidermal water loss (TEWL) through the skin is observed. This TEWL is closely involved in the barrier function and the moisturizing function of the stratum corneum and is used as an indicator of the skin barrier function.
Therefore, a healthy condition of the skin, i.e., a beautified skin condition, can be achieved by increasing the moisture content of the skin or suppressing an increase in TEWL.
Furthermore, recently, it has become a problem in animals, particularly in pets, that skin conditions are aggravated by influence of allergy or the like. The skin conditions can be improved and healthy skin conditions can be realized by moisturizing and protecting the skin.
Ceramides are one of human skin components and have skin-moisturizing and protecting functions and skin-roughness-preventing and improving effects. As cosmetics utilizing ceramides, skin cosmetic products containing a member of ceramide family, such as ceramides, glucosylceramides, and galactosylceramides, and diisopropylamine dichloroacetate or γ-aminobutyric acid are known (Patent Document 1). However, there are problems such that ceramides applied to the skin cannot reach nor be absorbed in the skin due to a barrier of epidermal lipids and that cosmetic ingredients other than ceramides cause irritation and inflammation.
In addition, health foods containing ceramides composed of sphingosine, a fatty acid, and a sugar, as an effective ingredient are also known (Patent Document 2). As the raw materials for the ceramides, composed of sphingosine, a fatty acid, and a sugar, those derived from Amorphophalus konjac and rice are commercially available. However, these raw materials contain ceramides in a low amount less than 3%. Therefore, in order to achieve the effects by oral ingestion, it is necessary to blend a large amount of the raw materials. In addition, since their prices are high, the health foods are unsatisfactory. Therefore, materials which can be readily ingested from daily food are desired.
Sphingomyelin accounts for about 30% of phospholipids in milk and has a structure in which phosphocholine is bonded to a ceramide skeleton composed of sphingosine and a fatty acid. Sphingomyelin is known to be present in the brain and nerve tissues in large amounts (Non-Patent Document 1). It is also known that sphingomyelin is slightly contained in food such as yolk.
It is reported that a sphingomyelin is absorbed through the small intestine in blood vessels when orally ingested (Non-Patent Document 2). In addition, it is known that a sphingomyelin in the stratum glanulosum of the skin is hydrolyzed by sphingomyelinase into a ceramide to be supplied to the stratum corneum (Non-Patent Document 3).
However, it has not been reported that the oral ingestion of a sphingomyelin can provide beauty effects, such as skin-moisturizing and protecting effects, skin-roughness-preventing and improving effects, and a wrinkle-preventing effect.
[Patent Document 1]: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 01-22810
[Patent Document 2]: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 11-113530
[Non-Patent Document 1]: Harper's Biochemistry, 24th Ed. 1997, 162.
[Non-Patent Document 2]: Schmelz, et al. J. Nutr. 1994, 124, 702-712.
[Non-Patent Document 3]: Uchida, et al. Seikagaku (The Journal of Japanese Biochemical Society) 2001, 73(4), 269-272.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a skin beautifier which has beauty effects, such as skin-moisturizing and protecting effects, skin-roughness-preventing and improving effects, and a wrinkle-preventing effect, by oral ingestion thereof and which contains a safe raw material derived from food as an effective ingredient. In addition, it is an object of the present invention to provide a skin-beautifying food or feed which has beauty effects, such as skin-moisturizing and protecting effects, skin-roughness-preventing and improving effects, and a wrinkle-preventing effect, by oral ingestion thereof and which includes a safe raw material derived from food.


An implantable lead in the form of an electrical conductor wire having an insulating layer of impervious plastic surrounding the surface of the electrical conductor wire and further having an exterior surface covering of porous PTFE. The impervious plastic insulating layer is preferably a thermoplastic and most preferably a thermoplastic fluoropolymer such as ETFE, FEP or PFA. The exterior surface covering of porous PTFE offers improved flexibility and biocompatibility in comparison to conventional lead wires having silicone exterior surfaces, while the impervious plastic insulating layer prevents loss of insulating integrity resulting from wetting out of the porous PTFE exterior surface by body fluids. Methods of making the implantable lead are also described.

Conventional implantable leads for use with implantable electrical devices such as cardiac pacemakers and defibrillators are typically constructed of at least one electrical conductor that is preferably wound into a helical form and having an outer insulation layer of tubular form coaxially surrounding the electrical conductor. The tubular insulation is most commonly of an elastomeric material such as silicone or polyurethane. The combination of a helically wound conductor with elastomeric outer insulation provides these conventional constructions with a substantial amount of potential elastic deformation in the direction of the length of the lead.
The fundamental requirements of implantable leads are that they must have excellent mechanical integrity, insulating properties and biocompatibility, and must be flexible with a long flex life to accommodate attachment to a beating heart or other anatomical flexures.
Conventional implantable leads have several disadvantages. The silicone or polyurethane outer coverings are not ideally biocompatible and are frequently known to provoke adverse tissue reactions over time. They are also known to fail due to exposure to blood chemistry. Silicone leads result in cases of acute allergic responses in some patients. Silicone leads promote formation of a fibrous sheath which can ultimately encapsulate the lead. Polyurethane leads frequently fail due to environmental stress cracking and metal ion oxidation. Additionally, these leads are known to break during attempts to remove them from implanted patients by the application of a tensile force. In these cases the remaining portion must be abandoned within the patient's body or must be surgically removed.
Implantable lead wires using insulation materials other than the conventional silicones or polyurethanes have been described previously. U.S. Pat. No. 4,573,480 describes an implantable electrode lead in the form of a helically wound conductor having a tubular insulating layer surrounding the helically wound wire wherein the tubular insulating layer is porous polytetrafluoroethylene (hereinafter PTFE) having a pore size limited to a maximum size described as "being essentially impervious to body fluids to prevent tissue growth thereon." This pore size is described as being not larger than 4 microns. While pore sizes of this range and smaller are known to preclude cellular ingrowth, the material remains pervious to body fluids which will wet out such an insulating layer shortly after implantation. The result is that the effectiveness of the electrical insulation is destroyed. This patent also teaches that the tubular porous PTFE insulating layer may alternatively be provided with an outer covering of smooth and impervious material. While this alternative construction prevents the wetting out of the porous PTFE layer by body fluids, it loses the biocompatible advantage provided by the blood or tissue contacting outer surface of porous PTFE.

Implantable electrophysiology lead and method of making


A developing apparatus for xerography including a developing roll, a regulator member for controlling developer thickness located proximate to the developing roll, and an elastic plate member arranged to elastically apply pressure to uniformly spread the developer on the developing roll.

The present invention relates to a developing apparatus, and more particularly to a developing apparatus for xerography by which an electrostatic latent image is developed using magnetic developer.
Two different types of magnetic developer compositions are well known in the prior art for xerography developing apparatus. One comprises only magnetic toner and is therefor called a one component developer. The other comprises magnetic carrier particles and insulating toner particles, and is called a two component developer.
The two component developer composition requires two different storage chambers for toner particles and carrier particles. This creates problems in that the whole developer apparatus becomes larger and the controller for toner density becomes complicated. To simplify the whole developing apparatus or to minimize the maintenance, the one component developer is preferred instead of the two component developer.
The developing apparatus typically includes a developing roll, a device for regulating toner layer thickness (hereinafter it is called a doctor blade). The developer roll includes a magnetic brush for uniformly applying the toner on the roll. The clearance between the doctor blade and developing roll for the one component developer should be about one tenth of that for the two component developer. Due to this fact, dust, and agglomerated toner particles caused by electrostatic agglomeration and magnetic agglomeration, tend to clog the aforesaid clearance. This interferes with the magnetic brush on the developing roll, causing poor application of toner by the magnetic brush on the developing roll. This also creates a problem in developing the electrostatic latent image (as demonstrated in FIG. 4). These problems cause misprints by the formation of white lines on the final photograph in a longitudinal direction.
To solve the aforesaid misprint problem, in the prior art as shown in FIG. 5, improvements have been proposed in which magnetic member (12) is arranged near the clearance between the doctor blade (3) and developing roll (1), or to make the front edge of the doctor blade (13) round as in the prior art shown in FIG. 6.
However, heretofore, the aforementioned improvements have not successfully overcome the problems, and they each have disadvantages, described as follows:
(1) Problem with the arrangement of magnetic member.
While the magnetic field of the magnetic member successfully prevents the magnetizable dust from clogging the doctor blade, the field cannot capture the non-magnetic dust and other nonmagnetic particles. Furthermore, the magnetic member cannot remove all of the magnetizable dust and other particles. Moreover, once the clearance between the doctor blade and developing roll has been clogged, the effectiveness of the arrangement is lost.
(2) Problem with the round edge of the doctor blade.
The round edge of the doctor blade allows dust and motes to pass through the clearance which are about the same size of or a little bit larger than the clearance between the doctor blade and developing roll. The particles, however, which are much larger in size than the clearance, cause the clearance to become clogged, and thus cause misprints.
The present invention is intended to overcome the problems of the prior art, discussed above. An object of the present invention is to provide a developing apparatus for xerography by which the aforementioned difficulties are solved.


This invention provides an anisotropic nanostructure represented by the formula:RuxM1-x,wherein 0.6≤x≤0.999, and M represents at least one member selected from the group consisting of Ir, Rh, Pt, Pd, and Au, and wherein Ru and M form a solid solution at the atomic level, and the anisotropic nanostructure has an anisotropic hexagonal close-packed structure (hcp).

Although Ir catalysts are known to have a high catalytic activity for oxygen evolution reactions (OERs) (Non-patent Literature (NPL) 1 to 5), an overpotential of 250 mV or more is required.
RuOx is a catalyst with a high OER activity. In acidic solutions, however, its activity drops sharply. Although NPL 6 reports Y2Ru2O7-δ as an Ru-based OER catalyst, its activity at 1 mA cm−2 is retained for only 8 hours.
NPL 7 reports Ru2-CNx as a catalyst that is active both for OERs and hydrogen evolution reactions (HERs) in acidic solutions; however, an overpotential of 250 mV is required for OERs, and its HER activity is inferior to that of the commercially available Pt/C.
NPL 8 discloses nanosheet-type Ru based on a solvothermal method, and nanosheet-type RuO2 obtained by oxidizing the nanosheet-type Ru in air; however, both of these have low HER and OER activities.
NPL 9 discloses an oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalyst of IrOx/SrIrO3 in an acidic solution. However, an overpotential of 270 mV is required to achieve 10 mA/cm2 oxide.
Patent Literature (PTL) 1 discloses Pd—Ru solid solution alloy nanoparticles; however, PTL 1 nowhere discloses an anisotropic crystal structure.
PTL 2 discloses a Pd—Ru alloy electrode material. In the Examples, the material is produced at a reaction temperature of 200° C., and FIG. 6 shows its poor durability.

Anisotropic nanostructure, production method therefor, and catalyst


A golf putter head having a visual alignment aid includes a face member and a back body both of which may be selected from a plurality of differently configured face members and back bodies. The face member has a front surface, a top ledge, a rear surface, and a visual alignment aid comprising a rear edge parallel to the front surface. The rear edge is defined by the intersection of the rear surface and the top ledge. The back body comprises a flange portion that extends rearwardly and has an upper surface that is displaced below the top ledge. The face member and back body are selected from materials having contrasting colors so that the rear edge of the face member is contrasted against the background of the back body.

This invention relates generally to golf putters and, in particular, to golf putter heads having visual alignment indicators.
It is well known that putting accuracy depends at least in part on the ability of the golfer to properly align the putter with the ball prior to stroking the ball. Because of this, many putter designs include markings or other visual aids to assist the golfer in lining up the putter with the ball. U.S. Pat. No. 6,203,443 to Britton discloses a putter having a rearwardly extending flange. The flange has a plurality of sight lines that are raised above the top surface of the flange so as to be disposed exactly parallel to the face of the putter. U.S. Pat. No. 5,913,731 to Westerman discloses a putter having a blade portion and a mallet portion. The mallet portion has a top surface that includes a sight line that terminates rearward of the blade portion. The blade portion also has a top surface that includes a sight line. U.S. Pat. No. 5,470,070 to Bendo discloses a xe2x80x9cTxe2x80x9d shaped putter having a plurality of longitudinal sight lines that extend to the face of the putter. U.S. Pat. No. 4,527,799 to Solheim discloses a putter having a beveled portion on the top surface of the face. The beveled portion can be viewed for use as a reference even with the club head tilted forward while addressing a ball, and which, as viewed by the golfer, appears to be horizontal when either the toe or heel portion of the club is raised up from the putting surface. None of these prior art putters include a visual indicator comprising a top surface edge that is parallel to the face in combination with a rearwardly extending flange portion that has a contrasting finish to enhance the visibility of the top edge surface.
In accordance with the present invention, a putter head having an enhanced visual indicator is disclosed. The putter head includes a face member and a back body which may be selected from a plurality of differently configured face members and back bodies. The face member includes a top ledge that extends between toe and heel ends of the face member. The face member has a front surface arranged for striking a golf ball and a rear surface having an upper edge that is substantially parallel (i.e. within about two degrees) to the front surface. The top ledge is disposed between the front and rear surfaces. A cavity formed in the rear surface has a recessed bottom surface with the cavity being circumscribed by a rim surface.
The back body is formed of a material having a color or finish that contrasts with the finish of the face member. In a preferred embodiment, the back body has a mating section with a shape that matches the shape of the cavity in the rear surface of the face member so that when the putter is assembled, the mating section of the back body will be disposed within the face member cavity. When the putter head is assembled, the upper edge of the mating section of the back body will be disposed underneath the top ledge of the face member. Therefore, the parting line between the face member and the back body will be concealed by the top ledge of the face member and thus will not be visible from directly above the putter head. Moreover, the upper edge of the rear surface will be contrasted against the back body so that the upper edge of the rear surface is plainly visible to provide an enhanced visual indicator for aligning the club with the ball prior to putting. The back body may also include additional sight lines perpendicular to the upper edge of the rear surface to act as additional alignment indicators.
The face member and the back body are attached to each other by a pair of screws, and a membrane may be placed in the cavity in the rear surface of the face member between the recessed bottom surface thereof and the mating section of the back body. The membrane is preferably formed of an elastomeric material to dampen vibrations and alter the sound made when a golf ball is struck on the front surface of the face member.

Putter head with visual alignment indicator


A portable recording and/or reproducing apparatus for receiving and recording and/or reproducing data and management data to and/or from a recording medium having a data area in which data are stored and a management data area in which the management data for managing these data are stored has a selecting circuit, a reproducing circuit, and a control circuit. The selecting circuit selects, in accordance with a user operation, group management data to be stored in the recording medium. The group management data are stored in the management data area and manage, as a data group, plural data stored in the data area. The reproducing circuit reads the selected group management data and the data group managed thereby. The control circuit controls the reproducing circuit to reproduce the plurality of data managed by the selected management data.

The present invention generally relates to a recording and/or reproducing apparatus, a portable recording and reproducing apparatus, a data transfer system, a data transfer method, and a data recording and reproducing method.
Various types of consumer audio visual devices are in widespread use, allowing users to personally enjoy music software and video software. For example, users own audio systems by which information is reproduced from disc record media such as a CD (Compact Disc) (trademark) and an MD (MiniDisc) (trademark) for example or record information thereto and portable reproducing devices by which information is reproduced from the above-mentioned disc recording media. These audio systems allow users to reproduce desired CDs and MDs or record desired music pieces for example to MDs, which are recordable, thereby creating users"" original discs.
The related-art portable music reproducing devices, for example, portable CD players and portable MD players are intended to reproduce only one type of recording medium; for example, one CD or MD is loaded at time in these portable devices. Generally, one unit of a recording medium is provided as one music album in which plural music pieces (a music collection) are recorded. Therefore, a user may only reproduce one music collection at a time by a single portable player. In other words, if a user wants to reproduce music pieces recorded on plural music collections by a single portable player, the user must change the discs every time such a situation occurs. In the case of stationary audio systems, a disc changer system allows the reproduction of music pieces recorded on plural music collections by automatically changing the discs. However, the portable devices, which inevitably are required to be light in weight and small in size, cannot accommodate such a disc changer system.
With recording/reproducing devices using such recording media that users can record music data as MDs and memory cards based on flash memory, music collections provided by CDs for example can be recorded or users may selectively record desired music pieces. If the storage size of a recording medium is large enough, plural music collections may be recorded on a single recording medium. These recording/reproducing devices, when applied to portable players, allow users to listen to plural music collections only by loading one recording medium in a portable players. However, with these portable players, management is not made on a music collection basis on a recording medium. If the above-mentioned recording/reproducing devices record a collection of 10 pieces of music and another collection of 8 pieces for example on a single recording medium, management is made on the basis that 18 pieces are simply recorded on the recording medium, not on the basis that two collections of 10 pieces and 8 pieces are recorded. Therefore, if users want to reproduce only one of the collections, they cannot specify the desired one for reproduction.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to execute the reproduction of pieces of music (or main data) contained in plural music collections (namely, collections of main data) on a single recording medium while retaining the nature of collection as a music collection, without use of a recording-medium changer system, namely without changing recording media recorded with the main data.
In carrying out the invention and according to a first aspect thereof, there is provided a recording/reproducing apparatus for recording/reproducing data to/from a recording medium having a data area in which data are stored and a management data area in which management data for managing the data are stored, including selecting means for selecting group management data to be stored in the recording medium in accordance with a user operation, the group management data, stored in the management data area, managing, as a data group, a plurality of the data to be stored in the data area, reading means for reading the selected group management data and the data group managed by the group management data, and transfer means for transferring the group management data and the data group read by the reading means to an external apparatus.
In carrying out the invention and according to a second aspect thereof, there is provided a portable recording and reproducing apparatus for receiving data and management data for managing the received data, recording the received data and the received management data to a recording medium, and reproducing the recorded data from the recording medium, including recording means for recording a received data group in a data area of a recording medium and group management data for managing the received data group in a management data area of the recording medium, selecting means for selecting, in accordance with a user operation, the group management data to be recorded in the recording medium, reproducing means for reproducing a plurality of data managed by the selected group management data, and control means for controlling the reproducing means so as to reproduce, in units of the received data group, the plurality of data managed by the selected group management data.
According to a third aspect thereof, there is provided a data transfer system including a recording/reproducing apparatus for recording/reproducing data to/from a first recording medium having a data area in which data are stored and a management data area in which management data for managing the data are stored, the recording/reproducing apparatus including first selecting means for selecting, in accordance with a user operation, group management data to be stored in the first recording medium, the group management, stored in the management data area, managing a plurality of the data as a data group, reading means for reading the selected group management data and the data group managed by the selected group management data, and transfer means for transferring the read group management data and the data group managed by the group management data to an external device, and the data transfer system also including a portable recording and reproducing apparatus for receiving data and management data for managing the data received from the recording/reproducing apparatus and recording the received data and the received management data onto a second recording medium, including recording means for recording a data group received from the recording/reproducing apparatus into a data area of the second recording medium and the group management data into a management data area thereof, second selecting means for selecting, in accordance with a user operation, the group management data recorded on the second recording medium, reproducing means for reproducing a plurality of the data managed by the group management data, and control means for controlling the reproducing means so as to reproduce the plural data, in units of the data group, managed by the selected group management data.
According to a fourth aspect thereof, there is provided a recording/reproducing apparatus for recording/reproducing data to/from a recording medium having a data area in which music data are stored and a management data area in which management data for managing a plurality of the music data are stored, including selecting means for selecting, in accordance with a user operation, album management data to be stored in the recording medium, the album management data, stored in the management data area, managing a plurality of the music data as album data, reading means for reading the selected album management data and the album data managed thereby, and transfer means for transferring the read album management data and the read album data managed thereby to an external device.
According to a fifth aspect thereof, there is provided a data transfer method for transferring data from a recording medium having a data area in which data are stored and a management data area in which management data for managing the data are stored, including the steps of selecting group management data to be stored in the recording medium in accordance with a user operation, the group management data, stored in the management data area, managing, as a data group, a plurality of pieces of data to be stored in the data area, reading the selected group management data and the data group managed by the group management data, and transferring the read group management data and the read data group to an external apparatus.
According to a sixth aspect thereof, there is provided a data recording and reproducing method for receiving data and management data for managing the data to record the data and the management data to a recording medium and reproduce the data and the management data therefrom, including the steps of recording a received data group in a data area of a recording medium and group management data for managing the received data group in a management data area of the recording medium, selecting, in accordance with a user operation, the group management data to be recorded in the recording medium, reproducing a plurality of data managed by the selected group management data, and controlling the reproducing step so as to reproduce the plurality of data managed by the selected group management data in units of the received data group.
According to a seventh aspect thereof, there is provided a method for recording data and management data for managing the data transferred from a first recording medium having a data area in which the data are stored and a management data area in which the management data are stored and reproducing the data and the management data from the first recording medium, including the steps of selecting, in accordance with a user operation, group management data to be stored in the first recording medium, the group management, stored in the management data area, managing a plurality of the data as a data group, reading the selected group management data and the data group managed by the selected group management data, and transferring the read group management data and the data group managed by the group management data to an external device, recording the data group to a data area of a second recording medium and the group management data into a management data area thereof, selecting, in accordance with a user operation, the group management data recorded on the second recording medium, reproducing a plurality of the data managed by the group management data, and controlling the reproducing step so as to reproduce, in units of the data group, the plural data managed by the selected group management data.
According to an eighth aspect thereof, there is provided a data transfer method for transferring data from a recording medium having a data area in which the data are stored and a management data area in which management data for managing the data, including the steps of selecting, in accordance with a user operation, album management data to be stored in the recording medium, the album management data, stored in the management data area, managing a plurality of the music data as album data, reading the selected album management data and the album data managed thereby, and transferring the read album management data and the read album data managed thereby to an external device.
As described, the present invention provides the following advantages. The recording/reproducing apparatus according to the invention can send plural pieces of main data constituting a main data aggregate such as music collections for example to the portable apparatus for example along with collection managing data for managing these plural pieces of main data as the main data aggregate. The portable apparatus according to the invention manages records the received plural pieces of main data (for example, music data) on a recording medium and manages these data for reproduction by use of the received collection managing data, thereby reproducing the main data while retaining the concept of an aggregate such as a music collection. Consequently, the portable apparatus can execute various operations by making distinction between the plural main data collections on a single recording medium, thereby providing an advantage that user-specified reproducing operations such as the reproduction on a discrete music collection basis and the reproduction over plural music collections for example while retaining the concept of music collections without changing recording media. Further, if a recording medium to be loaded in the portable apparatus is of fixed type rather than changeable, the present invention allows users to listen to the reproduction of plural music collections. Still further, the capability of transferring the main data in a unit of a music collection between the recording/reproducing apparatus and the portable apparatus facilitates for users to easily handle the aggregates, which are music collections, thereby enhancing the user-friendliness of these apparatuses.
As described, the collection managing data can manage the number of times the main data collections are transferred and the number of times each piece of main data constituting a main data collection is transferred. In addition, the transfer control means of the recording/reproducing apparatus can control the execution of the transfer of each selected main data collection and each piece of main data in accordance with the number of times these data are transferred, thereby providing the appropriate transfer control for implementing copyright protection for example.
In addition, the collection managing data can manage the editing of the main data collections and the transfer control means of the recording/reproducing apparatus can control the execution of transferring the selected main data collection in accordance with the editing information managed by the collection managing data, thereby implementing copyright protection and transferring the main data collections of proper contents.
As described, the reproduction control means of the portable apparatus can control the reproduction of plural main data collections transferred and recorded on a recording medium in a specified reproduction sequence or in a random manner, thereby realizing the various manners of reproduction over plural main data collections (or plural music collections).
Moreover, the reproduction control means of the portable apparatus can control the execution of sequential reproduction, reproduction in specified order, and random reproduction of each piece of main data constituted specified one of the main data collections transferred and recorded on a recording medium, thereby realizing the reproduction of one main data collection (one music collection).
Consequently, the present invention allows various user-specified reproduction modes while retaining the music collections as conceived by users, thereby significantly enhancing user-friendliness.

Recording and/or reproducing apparatus, portable recording and reproducing apparatus, data transfer system, data transfer method, and data recording and reproducing method


A method and apparatus for virtual camera operation is disclosed. Virtual camera operation may include identifying potential subjects of a video stream by identifying faces of participants in the input video stream. Virtual camera operation may include determining a speaking state of each participant in the input video stream based on their respective identified face. Virtual camera operation may include identifying a subject of the input video stream based on the speaking state. Virtual camera operation may include generating, using a processor, an output video stream including a portion of the input video stream based on the subject.

In videography, human camera operators may attempt to provide an optimized visual experience to their viewing audience. In video, providing an optimized visual experience can include adjusting the scope of the content included in the video to focus a viewer's attention to what is considered important. A human camera operator can capture adjust the scope of the content included in the video by manually operating the video camera. The manual operation of the camera can include controlling the camera to change from one subject to another in a larger scene. For example, a human camera operator can control the camera to perform cuts, pans, zooms, or tilts.
For example, a scene may include interview between an interviewer and an interviewee. The interviewer may begin speaking and the human camera operator may control the camera to limit the scope of the content included in the video to a region surrounding the interviewer's face. The interviewer may stop speaking, the interviewee may begin speaking, and the human camera operator may control the camera to limit the scope of the content included in the video to a region surrounding the interviewee's face.


A recording control apparatus is connected to and in communication with a recording apparatus capable of recording a broadcasting video image on a storage unit and has two or more operating state levels that differ in power consumption. The recording control apparatus includes an acquisition unit configured to acquire program information about a program currently being viewed, a determination unit configured to determine a user's recording tendency level as to a program currently being viewed based on the program information acquired by the acquisition unit, and a control unit configured to issue a command to control the operating state level of the recording apparatus based on the recording tendency level determined by the determination unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording control apparatus configured to control a recording operation of a recording apparatus capable of recording received video data, and a method for controlling the recording control apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, video systems connecting a recording apparatus such as a hard disk drive (HDD) recorder and a television have enabled control to record video data of a program in the HDD recorder by sending an instruction for recording from the television side. If a user viewing the television program wants to record the program, such a video system can readily record the program in an HDD recorder without requiring a user's direct operation of the HDD recorder. Such a recording function is hereinafter referred to as "immediate recording function".
As described above, a process of sending a recording instruction to the HDD recorder has been facilitated, however, the HDD recorder cannot necessarily start recording just at a user's desired timing. This is mainly because the HDD recorder requires certain time to start operating. In the case of starting the HDD recorder from a power-off state to a recordable state, it usually requires several tens of seconds. This results in a problem that a recording starting time delays, and a desired scene may be missed.
In order to solve the problem, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-50315 discusses a data recording and play-back apparatus that automatically records a program that a user regularly views. This data recording and play-back apparatus specifies a program that a user regularly views and, if the user does not view the program at that broadcast time, executes control to automatically record the program. The method for automatically recording a program further includes a technique by which, if the power is in an off-state when the program is to be recorded, the power of the data recording and play-back apparatus is switched on.
In order to cut off the starting time of the HDD recorder, there is another technique in which, instead of switching the power completely off, the HDD recorder is kept in a standby state during which the HDD recorder can be swiftly switched to a recordable state. In this standby state, many systems of the HDD recorder are kept energized, and thus, the power consumption during the standby state is higher than that during a power-off state.
The technique discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-50315 identifies a program that a user regularly views and automatically records the program. However, the identified program might not match the user's preference or desire. For example, the technique discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-50315 automatically records even a program that a user regularly viewed in the past but does not view any more. In addition, the technique does not address the case where the recorder records a program currently being broadcast immediately in response to a user's instruction.
Thus, the recorder may automatically record a program that a user does not intend to record. As a result, the data recording and play-back apparatus wastes power. Further, such recording may occupy lots of recording capacity of the data recording and play-back apparatus.
From the viewpoint of solving the above problems, immediate recording by a user's manual operation is preferable. However, if the HDD recorder is kept operating in a recordable state so as to record a program just at a desired timing, while undesired programs are not recorded, power consumption barely decreases.

Recording control apparatus and method for controlling recording control apparatus


A request to initiate a performance of an operation on an embedded subscriber identity module (eSIM) profile stored in an embedded universal integrated circuit card (eUICC) of a machine-to-machine (M2M) device is sent from a backend service of a wireless communication carrier to a subscription management service. A callback message is then received at the backend service from the subscription management service indicating that the operation is performed on the eSIM profile, in which the callback message including an eUICC identifier (ID) of the eUICC or an Integrated Circuit Card identifier (ICCID) of the eSIM profile. A profile state entry of the eSIM profile is locate via the backend service in an eSIM profile state database. The profile state entry of the eSIM profile is then updated via the backend service in the eSIM profile state database with an updated profile state of the eSIM profile after the operation.

The use of embedded universal integrated circuit cards (eUICCs), also referred to as embedded subscriber identity modules (eSIMs), are becoming increasingly prevalent in consumer and machine-to-machine (M2M) communication fields. Unlike a traditional UICC or SIM card that exists as a removable smart card that is transferable between multiple device, an eUICC is an integrated circuit that is not designed to be user removable, i.e., it is generally embedded with or soldered to other electronic components of a device.
An eUICC may be provisioned with one or more eSIM profiles, in which each eSIM profile contains a unique international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) number that enables a corresponding device to obtain telecommunication services from a wireless communication carrier. Other data that are stored in the eSIM profile may include carrier network information, security authentication information, a list of accessible network services, and/or so forth. The wireless communication carrier may transfer an eSIM profile to the eUICC via an over-the-air (OTA) update. M2M devices are networked machines that use the telecommunication services provided by the wireless carrier to communicate with other machines. For example, a M2M monitoring device that is embedded in a vehicle may automatically send vehicle tracking and operation information to a remote support device at a control center. In another example, a M2M device in the form of a smart home appliance may automatically send diagnostic information to a monitoring device at a service center in case of appliance malfunction. Accordingly, a M2M device that is equipped with an eUICC may be remotely set up to receive telecommunication services from a wireless communication carrier without having to be provisioned with a physical SIM card from the wireless communication carrier.
Additionally, once an eSIM profile is installed on an eUICC of a M2M device, the wireless telecommunication carrier may perform remote operations with respect to the eSIM profile. The remote operations may include remotely activating the eSIM profile so that the M2M device can authenticate to and obtain telecommunication services from the wireless communication carrier. The remote operations may further include remotely disabling the eSIM profile to terminate the access of the M2M device to the telecommunication services, or remotely deleting the eSIM profile from the eUICC of the M2M device.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Enhancements to eSIM profile operation callbacks using a machine-to-machine (M2M) device


Methods and devices for detecting consistency between an invisible radiation field and a visible light field are provided. In an example, the method includes: an invisible radiation field is obtained by controlling a size of an opening of a beam limiting device; a first projection image is captured by an Electron Portal Imaging Device (EPID) as a distribution map of the invisible radiation field; a visible light field is obtained by turning on a light field lamp without changing the size of the opening of the beam limiting device; a phantom is positioned at each of vertices of the visible light field; a second projection image is captured by the EPID as a vertex distribution map of the visible light field; and deviation information between the invisible radiation field and the visible light field is determined according to the distribution map of the invisible radiation field and the vertex distribution map of the visible light field.

In the medical radiotherapy technology, before radiotherapy is performed on a subject or when radiotherapy is being performed on the subject, tumors and normal organs are monitored in real time by medical imaging equipment. In this way, the radiation of the high-energy ray beam can be adjusted in real time according to changes in the tumor position, so that the radiation field of the high-energy ray beam follows the target volume tightly, so as to ensure that the tumor position is accurately irradiated.
Since high-energy rays are invisible to the naked eye, if the tumor position is accurately radiated by the high-energy ray beam, a visible light field of a visible light beam can assist in high-energy ray localization. In this case, if the light field of the visible light beam and the radiation field of the high-energy ray beam are highly coincident, the accuracy of the radiation field of the high-energy ray beam is relatively high.
NEUSOFT MEDICAL SYSTEMS CO., LTD. (NMS), founded in 1998 with its world headquarters in China, is a leading supplier of medical equipment, medical IT solutions, and healthcare services. NMS supplies medical equipment with a wide portfolio, including CT, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), digital X-ray machine, ultrasound, Positron Emission Tomography (PET), Linear Accelerator (LINAC), and biochemistry analyser. Currently, NMS' products are exported to over 60 countries and regions around the globe, serving more than 5,000 renowned customers. NMS's latest successful developments, such as 128 Multi-Slice CT Scanner System, Superconducting MRI, LINAC, and PET products, have led China to become a global high-end medical equipment producer. As an integrated supplier with extensive experience in large medical equipment, NMS has been committed to the study of avoiding secondary potential harm caused by excessive X-ray irradiation to the subject during the CT scanning process.

Detecting consistency between radiation field and light field

Shanghai Neusoft Medical Technology Co., Ltd.


The present disclosure provides memory level error correction methods and apparatus. A memory controller is intermediate the memory devices, such as DRAM chips or memory modules, and a processor, such a graphics processor or a main processor. The memory controller can provide error correction. In an example, the memory controller includes a buffer to store instructions and data for execution by the controller and a replay buffer to store the instructions such that operations can be replayed to prior state before the error. An error detector receives data read from the memory devices and if no error is detected outputs the data. If an error is detected, the error detector signals the memory controller to replay the instructions stored in the replay buffer.

A memory device is used to store data or representations of data for recall at a later time. Errors produced when reading information representing data or produced when the stored data is recalled or read back are very undesirable. One of the main goals of any memory device is to receive the same data back as was written to the memory device. To help achieve one of the main goals, errors are detected so that a read back or recall operation can be retried or corrected.


A method of bank to bank trimming for a locomotive engine during steady state operation comprises receiving a plurality of operating parameter signals, receiving a fuel quantity signal for each of a standard cylinder bank and a donor cylinder bank, providing a trim map, determining whether the engine is operating in a steady state condition based on the plurality of operating parameter signals, determining a target fuel injection duration for each of the standard cylinder bank and the donor cylinder bank if the engine is operating in a steady state condition, and adjusting an actual fuel injection duration to equal the target fuel injection duration for the standard cylinder bank and the donor cylinder bank.

Locomotives are used extensively to transport people and large quantities of materials across the country. Locomotive engines must meet government regulations dictating exhaust emission limits for a number of substances, including nitrogen oxides (NOx). One common means of reducing NOx emissions is exhaust gas recirculation (EGR). In an engine equipped with an EGR system exhaust from some cylinders of the engine is redirected back into the air intake. This reduces the oxygen available for combustion, resulting in less NOx formation.
However, in order to direct exhaust flow into the air intake, many systems create back pressure on the donor cylinders which provide the recirculated exhaust. The backpressure reduces the breathing capacity of the donor cylinders. This results in a lower air to fuel ratio, producing higher temperatures in the exhaust gas and parts of the cylinder, in particular the donor cylinder heads. Over time, the increased temperature can damage the cylinder heads and other exhaust components and make the engine less reliable. Moreover, the lower air to fuel ratio can lead to increased emissions of particulate matter.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,903,289 to Zielinski et al. discloses an EGR system in which the amount of fuel injected into each cylinder is different between a first and a second group. This system operates during transitional periods to allow for more rapid response to changing conditions. However, there is a need for a system which more completely and directly addresses the complications caused by the EGR system backpressure.

Bank to bank trimming system for a locomotive engine


Method of producing steel slag free from disintegration completed through the modification of slag in molten state by use of a small amount of modifier while increasing the temperature of slag, wherein the chemical composition of the steel slag and modifier to be charged is analyzed beforehand, a small amount of boron-containing compounds and the first modifier consisting of silicate-containing minerals, etc. by which the basicity of the steel slag after treated settles in the range between 1.6 and 1.9 are mixed to the slag and, further, the exothermic and powdery second modifier consisting of one or two and more among aluminum, aluminum dross, magnesium, and magnesium slag is charged together with agitating gas by bubbling.

The present invention relates to a method of modifying steel slag including free lime (F.CaO), free magnesia (F.MgO), and dicalcium silicate (.UPSILON.-2CaO.SiO.sub.2), and having a liability to raise expansion and disintegration.
Steel slag in molten state, if being cooled as it is, is difficult to dispose and offers no usage other than for fertilizer, because it includes free lime, free magnesia, and .UPSILON.-2CaO.SiO.sub.2 and has a nature of expansion and disintegration.
As the method of treating steel slag described above, it has known to modify such steel slag into stable minerals such as 2CaO.Al.sub.2 O.sub.3.SiO.sub.2 or 2CaO.MgO.2SiO.sub.2 by charging it with silicate-containing minerals or red mud as a modifier as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,711,662 and 4,179,279.
In the method described above, however, there has been a problem that a sufficient modifying reaction is difficult to obtain, because a large amount of modifier consisting of silicate-containing minerals and red mud is charged and does not mix sufficiently with steel slag and, moreover, it absorbs the heat and lowers the temperature of the steel slag.
To solve the problem described above, there has known a method of modifying molten steel slag containing mainly dicalcium silicate by adding boron-containing minerals so as to prevent the powdering of slag in cooling as laid open in U.S. Pat. No. 4,655,831 which is characterized by the addition of above-said boron-containing minerals whose crystal water content is adjusted to 4 to 12% by weight.
Though above-said method is effective to the steel slag containing dicalcium silicate as its major component, there still has been a problem that the method of only adding above-said boron-containing minerals is not effective to the slag in reducing process in electric furnace, the slags such as those produced from continuous casting, etc., and containing free lime and free magnesia in addition to above-said dicalcium silicate, and even the steel slag produced from stainless steel making process if it contains free lime and free magnesia in addition to dicalcium silicate, and the slag after treated still has a nature of expansion and disintegration, and the slag containing heavy metal such as Cr may allow the elusion of Cr.sup.6+ ion therefrom.
As the method to solve these problems, it is known as effective to add silicate-containing minerals further and, as the arts relating to this aspect, there are methods of modifying steel slag published in Japanese Patent laid open Nos. 62-162,657, and 62-87,442.
In Japanese Patent laid open No. 62-162,657, there is proposed a method of modifying steel slag characterized by the modification of steel slag through a fusing reaction raised by adding to the steel slag in molten state with boric acid or boron-containing compounds by the amount by which the content of B.sub.2 O.sub.3 in the slag becomes 0.1 to 0.3% by weight, and one or two and more of modifiers among silicate-containing stones and minerals and their weatherings, regulus, coal ash, glass chips, and foundry waste sand by the amount corresponding to 3 to 5% by weight of the slag. And, as the silicate-containing stones and minerals, it is disclosed to use one or two among obsidian, perlite, liparite, expansive shale, etc.
In above-said method, however, there has been a problem that a smooth reaction is not obtained if the temperature of steel slag in molten state is low.
In Japanese Patent laid open No. 62-87,442, there is proposed a method of modifying steel slag characterized by adding to the steel slag in molten state with boric acid or boron-containing compounds, and at least one kind of modifier among silicate-containing stones and minerals and their weatherings, slag, coal ash, glass chips, and at least one kind of exothermic substance among Al, Si, bark, coal, carbonaceous shale, pulp chips, sawdust, corrugated cardboard, and wastes of packing material.
And, in this method, it is also proposed that above-said exothermic substance is spread into a ladle or put on the bottom of ladle in place of laying slag.
In this case, however, there has been a problem that the exothermic substance does not mix sufficiently with the steel slag and, accordingly, sufficient modifying reaction may not be obtained if the temperature of steel slag is low, and if the exothermic substance is charged by above-said method.
Further, in the conventional method described above, because the basicity (CaO/SiO.sub.2) of slag is not considered in the treatment, there has been a problem that the total amount of CaO becomes large to make the fluidity of slag poor due to its too high basicity even if the specified amount of silicate-containing minerals, etc. is charged and, even if the exothermic substance is charged through bubbling, it does not mix well with the slag, and sufficient modifying reaction may not be obtained.