A transparent container has two immiscible liquids of different densities, colors and viscosities. A pump with a magnetic coupling injects the denser liquid upwardly into the less dense liquid in response to changes in sound volume or frequency of the vicinity of the device providing a geyser display reactive to music or voice. Pump control circuitry includes a microphone, an amplifier; a filter for extracting a beat from dance music or syllabic content of speech; an amplitude detector for detecting a short-time amplitude envelope; a long time averager providing a reference signal proportional to the average sound level and an attenuator; a comparator connected to both the averager and the attenuator to change state when the attenuated version of the short time amplitude envelope momentarily rises above reference signal to provide an activating signal to a pump power controller causing electric power to be delivered to the pump.

The invention relates to sound activated liquid display devices, such as lamps.
Liquid display lamps of the general type which comprise a liquid container with a transparent wall portion in which two immiscible liquids having different visual characteristics and specific gravities or densities are mingled or merged for viewing through the wall portion to provide an interesting visual effect are well known and have been sold worldwide in large numbers for very many years.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,387,396, issued 1968 to Smith, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, describes one version in which the first, denser liquid can be a wax or jelling agent having a melting point above ambient/room temperature and normally resting as a mass at the bottom so that a portion thereof melts when heated from below by the lamp bulb, forming one or more globules of reduced density which separate, floating up into circulation and temporary suspension in the first liquid before cooling and falling back to the bottom of the container to coalesce with the remainder of the second liquid mass.
The rate of separation and mingling of the denser liquid with the less dense liquid is substantially constant as a constant heat source is taught, but could not change/react quickly even if a variable heat source were utilized as heat transfer rates are inherently relatively slow.
It is an object of the invention to provide a sound activated liquid display device in which the rate of mingling of two or more immiscible liquids of different densities and visual characteristics changes quickly in response to sounds, for example, music and voices.
According to one aspect, the invention provides a display device comprising a liquid container with a transparent wall portion containing two immiscible liquids having different visual characteristics and different specific gravities or densities and/or different viscosities and means responsive to changes in one or more sound parameters in the vicinity of the device, such as changes in volume or frequency, for injecting/circulating/mingling one liquid into another at rates related to the sound changes, for viewing through the wall portion to provide an interesting visual effect that reacts to music or voices.
One liquid can be injected into the other for dispersion and suspension therein as one or more distinct globules at rates and sizes determined by deviations from ambient sound levels.
The introduction of one or more liquids into another may be accomplished by one or more respective pumps, valves, injectors, or gravity-fed devices. Thus, a less dense liquid may be injected downwards into a denser liquid from the top, subsequently floating to the top, and a denser liquid may be injected upwards from the bottom, subsequently sinking. The immiscible liquids may, for example, be oil and water and, usually, more colored liquids are injected into less colored or clear liquids. By using multiple liquids and injecting means, a display with great, even rhythmic, movement can be produced with each liquid of a different specific gravity or viscosity reacting to a different sound frequency and or sound level.
The display device may include a lamp and means may also be provided to change the level of illumination provided by the lamp in response to changes in one or more sound parameters in the vicinity of the device.
Thus, the display device may include one or more pumps and/or valves that are controlled by an electronic circuit which includes: a microphone, pre-amp, AGC, selective frequency filters and motor and illumination control circuit.
According to another aspect, the invention provides a method of providing a liquid display by co-mingling immiscible liquids of different appearances at rates determined by changes in sound parameters particularly in the audio range.


An inkjet recording method and apparatus includes: forming a color image with color inks and an invisible ink by while scanning a first recording head multiple times on a same recording area of the recording medium, forming a thinned-out image, and jetting an invisible ink from a second recording head in accordance with an adhering amount of the color inks per unit area, wherein a nozzle pitch of the first recording head is from 10 to 50 μm, the color inks contain pigments, organic solvent with high boiling point and water, a dot formed by the color inks has a size of 10 to 50 μm, the recording medium has a transferred amount at 0.04 seconds of absorption time of 10 ml/m2 or more, a micro-porous layer containing inorganic fine particles and a hydrophilic binder and a 20-degree specular gloss of 20 to 45%.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a novel inkjet recording method and inkjet recording apparatus.
2. Description of Related Art
An inkjet recording mode is one for recording images and texts by flying minute droplets of ink to adhere onto a recording medium by various operation principles, and has advantages such as relatively high speed, low noise and easiness of multiple coloration. In the above inkjet recording mode, various improvements have been performed in various fields such as an ink, inkjet recording medium and inkjet recording apparatus, and at present, the mode has become rapidly popular for various fields such as various printers, facsimiles and computer terminals. In particular, recently high-quality picture technology in the printer has been improved, and its level has come at a picture quality of photograph.
As the inkjet recording apparatus used in the inkjet recording mode, for enhancing a printing speed, those where multiple ink jet openings (nozzle sections) and ink liquid paths are integrated as a recording head where multiple recording elements are integrated/arrayed (hereinafter also referred to as a multihead) are used. Additionally, for corresponding to coloration, those where multiple recording heads composed of the above configuration are comprised are frequently used. In that case, it is general that heads which ejaculate inks of respective colors are disposed in parallel with a main scanning direction.
Here, when a color image picture is printed, differently from those where only characters are printed in a black-and-white printer, various factors such as color density, gradation and uniformity are important to obtain high-quality pictures. In particular, with respect to the uniformity, slight dispersion of nozzle units which occurs in difference of multihead fabrication steps influences jetting amounts and jetting directions of inks at respective nozzles, and becomes a cause which finally deteriorates image quality as uneven density of a printed image. Also, speed variation at a main scanning of a carriage where heads are loaded, variation of sub scanning paper feeding amount of the recording medium, and variation of a distance between a recording medium surface and a nozzle face on the recording medium cause deterioration of the image.
For the above problems, a so-called multi-pass recording method has been proposed where image deterioration due to the dispersion of respective nozzles and various variations is reduced by scanning multiple times the recording head having multiple nozzle sections onto the same recording area on the inkjet recording medium and forming an image of a complementary thinning-out pattern. As a mask used in this case, as described in JP-Tokukaisho-60-107975A, the method of using a complementary pattern with a constant thinning-out rate of a certain rule is the commonest.
However, as described below, when using such a regular mask, conversely uneven colors, stripe unevenness and white spots sometimes remarkably appear, and thus, the method of using a mask pattern without regularity has been proposed as an improving countermeasure of this. By forming an image thinned out of this thinning-out pattern without regularity, it is possible to prevent the uneven density and uneven colors produced due to a synergistic effect of regularity of the image and regularity of the mask, and realize high-quality picture and high speed printing to some extent (for example, refer to JP-Tokukaihei-7-52390A, JP-Tokukai-2002-96461A, and JP-Tokukai-2002-144552A.).
Whereas, the present applicant has found that when a certain inks and a recording medium is used, and in particular when high-quality printing such as silver halide photograph is required, sufficient image quality is not obtained only by the proposed thinning-out printing method. This is illustrated below.
The inks used in the inkjet recoding mode are broadly divided into dye inks where color materials are dissolved in solvents and dispersion inks where color materials, mainly pigments are dispersed in solvents. The dye dissolves in the solvents and is in a molecular state or a cluster state, which makes its absorption spectrum sharp, and develops clear color with high purity. Additionally, there is no particle pattern due to particles and no scattered light and reflected light occur, therefore it is possible to obtain an inkjet image with high translucent feeling and clear color phase. The dye has a property excellent in scratch/abrasion resistance because no color material particle is present on the surface of media. The dye, however, has drawbacks of poor light resistance because dye molecules tend to break by photochemical reaction. The reduction in dye molecular number directly reflects upon a color density. It is an actual state that the inkjet recording image using the dye inks is the high image quality but the poor image stability against light, and the technology which is superior to silver halide photographs in the light of stability has not appeared yet.
As the method for solving this problem, pigment inks where the pigments with good light resistance are used as colorants have been used for the intended use where the high light stability is required.
However, when the pigment inks are used, the pigment particles locate at the upper part of the ink accepting layer after the printing. Therefore, it occurs a difference of glossiness, texture and the like between a shadow portion where adhering amount of the ink is large, and a white portion where the surface of a recording medium is exposed or a high-light portion where an adhering amount of the ink is small. As a result, it was impossible to obtain an image of high definition such like a silver halide photograph. An attempt of obtaining an image of high definition which has a quality comparable to an silver halide photograph has been made, in which invisible ink containing polymer latex and the like is jetted onto a white or high-light portion of an image in order to dissolve the difference of glossiness and the like, so that glossiness evenness of the surface of a recording medium is improved (for example, see JP Tokukai 2003-266913A).
In order to prevent uneven image density due to regular pattern of an image, thinned-out image has been used in which the above-described recording head including a plurality of nozzle parts is scanned a plurality times on one recording area of a recording medium and the thinned-out images are formed in each of the scans according to a thinning-out pattern without regularity such as a random pattern.
However, when an inkjet image recording according to the thinning-out pattern without regularity is performed using the pigment inks, a dot position formed at each scanning has no regularity. Therefore, the case where the ink droplets of cyan, magenta, yellow and black are adjacently printed on the inkjet recording medium at the same scanning becomes frequent. As a result, the respective ink droplets are mixed one another, which causes aggregation of pigment particles, and a phenomenon that glossiness of an image portion becomes uneven occurs. Even if the invisible ink is adhered onto a surface of a recording medium, the image has poor transparency and depth and it is impossible to obtain an image of high definition such as a silver halide photograph.
In particular, in order to form the image at high definition like a silver halide photograph, when a recording medium having a micro-porous layer containing inorganic fine particles with a mean particle size of 100 nm or less is used, an absorption speed of inks is fast and the aggregation of pigment particles present on the recording medium occurs more easily. Besides, it has been found that due to using the mask pattern without regularity, a probability that different color dots are adjacently printed becomes high, and the formation of image at high definition becomes difficult because the pigment particles having different color tone are mixed on the recording medium.
This is because when using the regular thinning-out pattern, the position of each ink formed on the recording medium at one scanning can be finely controlled and mixture of the dots can be effectively inhibited whereas it is difficult to perform such a control in the case without regularity.

Inkjet recording method and inkjet recording apparatus


In the method and system for automated data diagnosis, a relational data base is formed of attributes characterizing an entity. The framework computes optimal diagnosis for a diagnostic inference problem which separates the desirable attributes from the undesirable attributes. The user of the system is permitted to specify certain parameters based on which the system computes a set of optimal or near optimal association rules between the attributes of a specific process, product, or other entity. The system and method of the present invention considers the simplicity of conditions in addition to support and confidence when ordering them, contributes the notion of tight conditions and semi-equivalence to remove redundant rules, uses the concept of the top fringes which allows near optimal conditions to be found, in addition to optimal conditions. Numeric as well as non-numeric attributes can be analyzed.

Various applications exist wherein a plurality of aspects of a process are measured and determined whether the result of the process is desirable or not. Such applications may include fault diagnosis of manufacturing lines for any product, analyzing credit risk for banks, mortgage, and credit card companies, analyzing potential insurance fraud, analyzing bank accounts for illicit activity such as money laundering, illegal International transfers, etc. In such applications, it is useful to infer conditions on the measurements (or other parameters of the application) that separate out the desirable results from the undesirable ones. These kinds of problems are called diagnostic inference problems. The ability to perform this inference often results in corrective actions that increase the probability of obtaining a desirable result.
In numerous applications, relational data bases record information about a domain. A relational data base, as known to those skilled in the art, is a data base which stores all its data within tables. All operations on data are conducted in the tables themselves or alternatively, a resulting table is produced. Each such table is a set of rows and columns described in J. D. Ullman, Principles of Data Base and Knowledge Base Systems, Computer Science Press, 1989.
In the relational data bases associated with applications, the data base tuples, which are the rows of the data base are used to record information about a particular entity. While the columns of the data base, represent the attributes, which are specific parameters of the analyzed entity. In order to separate out the rows with desirable results from the undesirable results, specific association rules are established which are applied to the relational data base of the application domain. The association rules are rules presentable in the form of C1→C2, where C1 and C2 are conditions that are used to determine whether the entity is desirable and where the condition C2 is not necessarily fixed.
The problem of association rule mining was first introduced in R. Agrawal, T. Imielinski, A. Swami, "Mining Association Rules Between Sets of Items in Large Databases", In Proc. of ACM SIGMOD, 1993, pp. 207-216. The work was limited only to non-numeric data, and all association rules were found that exceed specified criterion such as lower bounds for support and confidence.
The body of work on association rules is extensive, and many aspects of the issue have been developed over the years. For example, in R. Srikant and R. Agrawal, "Mining Quantitative Association Rules in Large Relational Tables", In Proc. of ACM SIGMOD, pp. 1-12, 1996, a framework was introduced which was designed to find association rules in data sets that include numeric attributes. The authors present concepts of k-completeness and interest, which are used to reduce the number of rules that need to be considered explicitly and to eliminate redundant rules.
The primary weakness of the framework, however, is that as with R. Agrawal, et al. (supra), the framework relies just on the support and confidence lower bounds to determine which rules to select. Relying simply on support and confidence lower bounds poses problems of an excessive number of rules being returned for analysis, as well as the possibility of not returning a rule of interest if the bounds are not made too high.
A further critique of frameworks that rely just on support and confidence lower bounds has been presented in S. Brin, R. Motwani, and C. Silverstein, "Beyond Market Baskets: Generalizing Association Rules to Correlations"; in Proc. of ACM SIGMOD, pp. 265-276, 1997. R. Srikant and R. Agrawal, "Mining Quantiative Association Rules in Large Relational Tables"; as well as in Proc. of ACM SIGMOD, pp. 1-12, 1996. However, these papers do not address the issue of the simplicity of rules.
The paper of R. J. Bayardo, R. Agrawal, D. Gunopulos, "Constraint-based Rule Mining in Large, Dense Databases". In Proc. of ICDE, pp. 188-197, 1999 presents a framework that addresses the issue of rule simplicity. The paper proposes a notion of a rule improvement constraint, in which a more complicated rule is not returned if its improvement over a simpler rule is small. However the framework only applies to non-numeric data, and again relies heavily on support and confidence lower bounds.
Two other frameworks of note are Y. Aumann and Y. Lindell: "A Statistical Theory for Quantitative Association Rules". In Proc. of ACM SIGKDD, pp. 261-270, 1999 and R. J. Miller and Y. Yang. "Association Rules Over Interval Data". In Proc. of ACM SIGMOD, pp. 452-461, 1997 address finding association rules for numeric data. Neither framework uses the traditional definitions of support and confidence of rules, but both frameworks rely heavily on constraints to determine which rules to return.
Another approach to association rule mining is to find those rules that are optimal or near optimal according to some criteria. Representative papers in this area include S. Brin, S. R. Rastogi, and K. Shim. "Mining Optimized Gain Rules for Numeric Attributes". In Proc. of ACM SIGKDD, pp. 135-144, 1999; T. Fukuda, Y. Morimoto, S. Morishita, and T. Tokuyama. "Data Mining Using Two-Dimensional Optimized Association Rules: Scheme, Algorithms, and Visualization". In Proc. of ACM SIGMOD, pp. 13-23, 1996, and R. Rastogi, K. Shim "Mining Optimized Support Rules for Numeric Attributes". In Proc. of ICDE, pp. 126-135, 1999. These papers study ways to efficiently find optimal association rules according to measures such as gain, support, and confidence in certain restricting settings.
Another paper dealing with optimal association rule mining, presents a partial ordering for association rules based on support and confidence. This framework is however disadvantageous in that it fails to consider the simplicity of conditions or to remove redundant rules. In addition, the framework is limited only to non-numeric attributes.
It would therefore be highly desirable to have a technique for optimal association rules mining which is applicable to both numeric and non-numeric attributes, and which would consider the simplicity of conditions in addition to support and confidence as well as to optimize efficiency by removing redundant rules. It also would be highly desirable that this technique would involve mining not just of one rule at a time, but mining of a set of k rules for some number k.

Method and system for optimal data diagnosis


A highly accurate reproduction of visual intensity and contrast rather than the conventional 8-bit color depth is more and more used, motivating the development of an enhanced dynamic range called high bit-depth. A method for encoding a first, low bit-depth image of M bit RGB pixels and a second, high bit-depth video image of N bit RGB pixels, M<N, both having same spatial resolution, comprises generating a first transfer function based on color histograms of the first and the second video image, generating a second transfer function based on the first transfer function, applying the second transfer function to the first video image, wherein a transformed first video image is generated, calculating and encoding the residual, encoding the first video image and transmitting the encoded first video image, the second transfer function and the encoded difference.

In recent years, highly accurate reproduction of visual intensity and contrast rather than the conventional 8-bit color depth is more and more used in many fields, such as medical imaging, high-quality video-enabled computer games and professional studio and home theatre related applications. This process motivates the development of an enhanced dynamic range, which is called high bit-depth herein, for the convenience of comparison with the conventional 8-bit color depth. On contrast to the fact that advances in electronic sensors, processors and storage devices have resulted in very high pixel resolutions for both capturing and display devices, the color capacities of digital imaging systems have evolved in a very slow pace. 8-bit color depth has been dominant for capturing and display devices since the first generation of digitalized visual contents emerged.
Color bit-depth scalability is potentially useful considering the fact that in a considerably long period in the future standard 8-bit and higher-bit digital imaging systems will simultaneously exist in consumer marketplaces. Different color bit-depths are of particular importance for example for terminal display devices during multimedia content deliveries.

Method and apparatus for encoding video color enhancement data, and method and apparatus for decoding video color enhancement data


A printer and method of generating hard copy comprising only one ejection step from either a thermal printing mechanism using one print head or a thermal printing mechanism using first and second thermal printing heads. The thermal printing mechanism with one printing head operates bilaterally. Alternatively, the thermal printing mechanism simultaneously operates dual thermal printing heads with only one ejection for release of a thermally sensitive hard copy output media.

The present novel invention relates generally to a thermal printer adapted to more efficiently print a thermal hard copy output resulting in less time to produce a thermal print. More specifically, the present invention relates to a thermal printing mechanism and method of utilizing a bilateral single head printer or multiple heads for printing alternate or multiple rows simultaneously in multiple colors.
Technology related to the novel invention is disclosed in Japan Patent No. 8,072,282 assigned to Fuji. Also, U.S. Pat. No. 5,367,321 assigned to Kyocera, discloses an electrical circuit system comparable to that used in the novel improved invention. The problem of improving print speed in related printers is addressed in both Japan Patent No. 6,127,267 assigned to Sharp and U.S. Pat. No. 4,774,529 assigned to Xerox. Of further background relevance are Japan Patent No. 7,214,870 assigned to Brother Kogyo; U.S. Pat. No. 5,196,864 assigned to Eastman Kodak; and, Japan Patent No. 7,184,410 assigned to Silver Seiko.
More relevant is Japan Patent No. 8,072,282 which discloses the use of three staggered print heads arranged linearly to improve print speed and Japan Patent No. 6,127,267 wherein two parallel electrodes provide simultaneous recording. Japan Patent No. 7,214,870 also discloses an arrangement wherein one or more print heads are arranged in parallel.
For additional background purposes, U.S. Pat. No. 5,367,321 issued to Shigenori, et al. discloses multiple insulating substrates to form a linear heating element in a thermal printer and U.S. Pat. No. 4,774,529 suggests a printing system for increasing the speed of a multi-color printer when utilized in a single color mode by repositioning the recording head cartridge from a first level to a second level to enable two lines of information to be created during a single scanning pass when it has been determined by the electronic means to be of the same color.
Other art appears in U.S. Pat. No. 5,196,864 wherein a multiple print head thermal printer is disclosed.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,946,297; U.S. Pat. No. 5,000,595; and, Japan Patent No. 7,184,410 refer to the use of four separate line print heads being mounted and teaches how to split a line into four prints using four separate print heads and then joining the line together.
Today""s thermal printers are designed with one thermal head and multiple donor media types. Typically, the donor media is composed of multiple areas of different donor material which are mechanically linked in a specific sequential order. Typically, three areas of color specific donor material are required for a photographic quality thermal hard copy print. For a typical donor today, that sequence of color specific donor material may be yellow, magenta, and cyan. Other donor materials may be composed of a base sequence of four color specific donor areas: yellow, magenta, cyan, and black. The particular sequence of donor material (whatever that may be) is repeated in a serial fashion to complete a roll of donor material.
Referring to prior art, FIG. 1, in producing a thermal hard copy output, donor material (usually the least thermally active color, yellow 15) is positioned over the thermal paper 13. Mechanical rollers 16 and 17, edge and color sensors are used to recognize and position the desired donor material color over the thermal output paper. A thermal head 11, in which pixels 12 (typically 300 per inch) are arranged in a linear fashion, is positioned at the edge of the thermal paper. Digitized control data is then applied to each pixel simultaneously (usually pulse modulated) such that a row or line of one color is printed onto the thermal paper. Through stepper motors and mechanics, and control logic, for example, such as disclosed by the electrical circuit system in Kyocera which is adopted and incorporated herein by reference, either the thermal print head or thermal output paper is advanced one line or row and the thermal transfer process is repeated for that row. This whole sequence is repeated until one color is thermally transferred onto one full sheet of desired thermal output paper. The thermal paper is projected, as shown in prior art FIG. 1b, donor material is advanced to the next color area, and the thermal output paper is re-inserted, as shown in prior art FIG. 1c. The entire process is repeated until the next color (for example, magenta 18) in the sequence is transferred onto the thermal output paper. This process is repeated again with donor material advancing to the next color area until all colors of the donor material are transferred or thermally printed onto the thermal output paper. The problem with this process is that it requires a relatively lengthy time period to complete. More particularly, it is time-consuming, mechanically intensive and requires four paper projections for a donor composed of four independent color areas per each thermal print.
The novel invention resolves the problem of lengthy time consumption and four paper projections for a donor composed of three independent color areas for each thermal print. Specifically, the novel invention significantly reduces the required projections and mechanical steps, and thereby the printing time necessary for a thermal printer to produce a thermal print.
An object of this invention is to provide a novel combination of steps in a thermal printer printing process wherein the output paper is retained and thermal printing occurs in a bilateral direction instead of a unilateral direction and wherein the output paper is ejected after the application of each color.
This object is achieved by a novel integration of a preferred embodiment thermal printer mechanism having a donor media which contains a yellow media section, a magenta media section, a cyan media section, and a black media section, all of which are positioned mechanically between the thermal print head and the thermal output media by the rotation of two roller spools. In addition, the thermal print head contains a mounting mechanism that works like a universal socket wherein the thermal head is precisely positioned over the donor media at the correct angle when the head is traveling in a left to right motion as well as a right to left motion. The stepper motor control is adapted to direct a bi-directional stepper motor and comprises the electronics therefor.
One of the most outstanding advantages of the present invention is that the use of the above described mechanical and electrical combination significantly increases the printing speed of thermal head printers approximately 30% or more.

Thermal printer with bi-directional print head movement and method thereof


An apparatus is provided for performing an activated clotting time test on a sample of blood containing platelets, the apparatus comprising a plurality of test cells, said cells being adapted for receiving an aliquot portion of said sample, wherein each of said cells comprises an anticoagulant and a platelet inactivating agent, and wherein at least one of said cells further comprises a clotting activator, wherein a clotting time is determined for each of said aliquot portions, and wherein a relative clotting time for each of said aliquot portions comprising the clotting activator is determined as compared to a reference clotting time for said at least one cell containing no clotting activator, wherein said relative clotting times in said cells are determinative of the clotting activation of said clotting activator.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to measuring and determining the effectiveness of antiplatelet reagents or platelet function inhibitors in the coagulation of blood.
More specifically, the present invention relates to a method of determining the effectiveness of antiplatelet reagents or platelet inhibitors on the mechanical activation of platelets.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Blood coagulation is a complex chemical and physical reaction that occurs when blood comes into contact with an activating agent, such as an activating surface or an activating reagent. In accordance with one simplified conceptual view, the whole blood coagulation process can be generally viewed as three activities: agglutination of platelets, blood clotting, and fibrous tissue formation. In vivo, platelets flow through the blood vessels in an inactivated state because the blood vessel lining, the endothelium, prevents activation of platelets. When a blood vessel is damaged, however, the endothelium loses its inert character and platelets are activated by contact with tissue underlying the damaged site. Activation of the platelets causes them to become xe2x80x9cstickyxe2x80x9d and adhere together. Additional platelets then adhere to the activated platelets and also become activated. This process continues until a platelet xe2x80x9cplugxe2x80x9d is formed. This platelet plug then serves as a matrix upon which blood clotting proceeds.
If the chemical balance of the blood is suitable, thrombin is then produced which causes conversion of fibrinogen to fibrin, which forms the major portion of the clot mass. During clotting, additional platelets are activated and trapped in the forming clot, contributing to clot formation. As clotting proceeds, polymerization and cross-linking of fibrin serves as the permanent clot. Thus, platelet activation plays a very important function in blood coagulation.
A number of different medical apparatuses and testing methods exist for measuring and determining coagulation and coagulation-related activities of blood. These apparatuses and methods provide valuable medical information to an attending physician. For example, the information assists a physician in prescribing medication, predicting post-operative bleeding and prescribing various therapies. Some of the more successful techniques of evaluating blood clotting and coagulation are the plunger techniques illustrated by U.S. Pat. No. 4,599,219 to Cooper et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,752,449 to Jackson et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 5,174,961 to Smith, all of which are assigned to the assignee of the present invention, and all of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Automated apparatuses employing the plunger technique for measuring and detecting coagulation and coagulation-related activities generally comprise a plunger sensor cartridge or cartridges and a microprocessor controlled apparatus into which the cartridge is inserted. The apparatus acts upon the cartridge and the blood sample placed therein to induce and detect the coagulation-related event. The cartridge includes a plurality of test cells, each of which is defined by a tube-like member having an upper reaction chamber where a plunger assembly is located and where the analytical test is carried out, and a reagent chamber which contains a reagent or reagents. For an activated clotting time (ACT) test, for example, the reagents include an activation reagent to activate coagulation of the blood. A plug member seals the bottom of a reagent chamber. When the test commences, the contents of the reagent chamber are forced into the reaction chamber to be mixed with the sample of fluid, usually human blood or its components. An actuator, which is a part of the apparatus, lifts the plunger assembly and lowers it, thereby reciprocating the plunger assembly through the pool of fluid in the reaction chamber. The plunger assembly descends on the actuator by the force of gravity, resisted by a property of the fluid in the reaction chamber, such as its viscosity. When the property of the sample changes in a predetermined manner as a result of the onset or occurrence of a coagulation-related activity, the descent rate of the plunger assembly therethrough is changed. Upon a sufficient change in the descent rate, the coagulation-related activity is detected and indicated by the apparatus.
Certain discoveries have recently been made which contribute to a better understanding of the role of platelets in an activated clotting time (ACT) test. Such discoveries suggest that the activation of the platelets has a significant and previously unappreciated effect on ACT test results. It has long been suspected that platelet activation contributes to total blood coagulation times, but there has been no technique available for confirming and quantifying the impact of platelet activation on ACT. It has been discovered that the initial contact and interaction of the blood sample with the activating reagent has an impact on the platelet activation, which may make the ACT test results variable and operator dependent. Without understanding and controlling the effect of platelet activation on the ACT there is a probability of inconsistent and inaccurate clinical test results. The degree and extent of the impact may depend on operator technique, but the impact and the extent of the impact has been unappreciated and unquantified. No previously known ACT test has intentionally taken into account the effect of platelet activation on the test results.
In developing and testing the improved high sensitivity coagulation detection apparatus employing the plunger technique, described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,174,961, (referred to hereinafter as the xe2x80x9csecond generation ACT apparatusxe2x80x9d) identical blood samples were tested on both the second generation ACT apparatus and the assignee""s earlier apparatus, illustrated by that described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,752,449 (referred to hereinafter as the xe2x80x9cfirst generation ACT apparatusxe2x80x9d). Each of these patents are specifically incorporated herein by reference. When results obtained by the second generation ACT apparatus were compared with the results obtained from the first generation ACT apparatus, it was discovered that with identical blood samples and identical test cartridges, the second generation ACT apparatus produced consistently longer coagulation times than the first generation ACT apparatus. It was also noted that a still earlier and different version of the assignee""s apparatus (referred to hereinafter as the xe2x80x9cHMS apparatusxe2x80x9d) produced coagulation times similar to those of the second generation ACT apparatus. The principal difference noted between the first and second generation of ACT apparatus, that also differentiated the first generation ACT apparatus from the HMS apparatus, was that both the second generation ACT apparatus and the HMS apparatus reciprocate the plunger at a relatively high rate, while the first generation ACT apparatus reciprocates the plunger at a relatively slower rate, during initial mixing of the sample with the activation reagent. The faster reciprocation rate of the second generation ACT apparatus is desirable during testing because the faster rate results in increased sensitivity for detection of clot formation during the test.
While the reasons for the discoveries described herein may not be completely understood at this time, it is believed that upon initial contact of the blood with the activating reagent, the platelets are very susceptible to the amount and type of agitation they encounter. In accordance with this belief, platelets are visualized as coming into contact with activating particles and being activated at the surface of the particle. Slowly lowering the flag-plunger assembly leads to the generation of low shear forces within the blood sample bringing the platelets into better contact with the activating particles thus allowing the platelets to adhere to the particles, achieving full activation. Under these conditions the platelets in the blood sample rapidly activate in which they expose platelet factor 3 activity and possibly release platelet factor 4 activity. Under the conditions of the assay, activation of both of these components will shorten the blood clotting time. However, if the shear rate in the blood sample is changed to higher shear forces by increasing the fall rate of the flag-plunger, the more violent agitation may strip the platelets from the surface of the activating reagent particles before the platelets are fully activated, thus prolonging or adding the previously unappreciated variability of some measure of uncontrolled platelet activation to the amount of time required to achieve clotting in an ACT test.
Although previous apparatuses using the plunger sensing technique have proven generally satisfactory, the need for certain enhancements has been identified. Specifically, while these techniques can measure and detect coagulation and coagulation-related activities in a sample of blood, none are designed to conveniently measure and determine the effectiveness of antiplatelet reagents or platelet function inhibitors on the mechanical activation of platelets.
A need therefore exists for a method of determining the effectiveness of therapeutic levels of platelet function inhibitors in a variety of circumstances. Until this invention, no such devices or methods existed.
The present invention provides an improved method for measuring and determining the effectiveness of antiplatelet reagents or platelet inhibitors on the coagulation of blood. More specifically, one embodiment of the present invention is directed to an apparatus for performing an activated clotting time test on a sample of blood, said apparatus comprising a plurality of test cells, said cells being adapted for receiving an aliquot portion of said sample, wherein each of said cells comprises an anticoagulant and a platelet inactivating agent, and wherein at least one of said cells further comprises a clotting activator, wherein a clotting time is determined for each of said aliquot portions, and wherein a relative clotting time for each of said aliquot portions comprising the clotting activator is determined as compared to a reference clotting time for said at least one cell containing no clotting activator, wherein said relative clotting times in said cells are determinative of the clotting activation of said clotting activator.
This invention further provides a method of determining the effectiveness of antiplatelet reagents or platelet function inhibitors on the mechanical activation of platelets. More specifically, one embodiment of the present invention is directed to a method of determining a dose response for a platelet inhibitor. The method includes the steps of placing a predetermined amount of heparin in each cell of a multicell test cartridge, placing an optimized amount of a mechanical platelet and/or clotting activator in each cell, and placing a measured amount of platelet inhibitor in each cell, the amount of inhibitor in each cell differing from the amount in each other cell. An aliquot of a blood sample is added to each cell, and the blood sample aliquot, platelet and/or clotting activator and platelet inhibitor are mixed. Each cell sample is allowed to clot, and the clotting time for each cell is measured. The relative clotting times are used to calculate and determine the platelet inhibition effect of the platelet inhibitor.
Additional advantages and novel features of this invention shall be set forth in part in the description that follows, and in part will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the following specification or may be learned by the practice of the invention. The advantages of the invention may be also realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities, combinations, and methods particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

Apparatus for determining platelet inhibitor response


A light source device includes plural solid-state light sources, plural collimator lenses, a collection system, and a fluorescent layer that generates fluorescence from at least a part of the lights from the collection system, wherein at least one anamorphic surface is provided in an optical path from the plural collimator lenses to the fluorescent layer. The plural solid-state light sources are located in positions different from focal positions of the plural collimator lenses in an optical axis direction.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a light source device and a projector.
2. Related Art
In related art, a light source device including plural solid-state light sources, plural collimator lenses that respectively nearly parallelize lights from the plural solid-state light sources, and a collection system that collects light from the plural collimator lenses has been known (for example, Patent Document 1 (JP-A-2010-78975)). According to the light source device in related art, the plural solid-state light sources are provided and high-intensity light can be output.
However, in the light source device in related art, there has been a problem that, for handling of the lights from the plural solid-state light sources, the downstream optical elements (the collection system, an integrator system, etc.) become larger and reduction in size and weight of the light source device becomes difficult.
FIG. 9 is a top view showing an optical system of a projector 900 according to a related earlier application. The sign 901 denotes an illumination device and the sign 902 denotes a light source device.
The inventors of the invention have diligently made further studies for solving the problem, and, as a result, had a thought of a light source device further including "a reflection part 940 that reflects lights from plural collimator lenses 932 (i.e., lights from a solid-state light source array 920) so that distances between optical axes may be made smaller" in addition to the configuration of the related-art light source device as shown in FIG. 9, for example, and already filed it as Japanese Patent Application 2010-268091. According to the light source device of the related earlier application, compared to the light source device in related art, the distances between the optical axes in the lights entering the downstream optical elements can be made smaller, and, as a result, upsizing of the downstream optical elements can be suppressed and reduction in size and weight of the light source device compared to the light source device in related art can be realized.
Incidentally, obtainment of desired color lights by combining solid-state light sources with a fluorescent layer has been widely known. However, in the case where the fluorescent layer is applied to the light source device including the plural solid-state light sources like the light source device in related art, an excessive thermal load may be applied to the fluorescent layer and its life may be made shorter due to deterioration and burnout of the fluorescent layer. In this case, for example, light intensity per unit area of the light entering the fluorescent layer (hereinafter, "light intensity per unit area" will be referred to as "light intensity") may locally exceed 300 W/mm2 (see FIG. 6D, which will be described later). The inventors of the invention have made mention of its solution in the related earlier application.
Specifically, as shown in FIG. 9, by using additional optical elements such as "a downstream collimator system 961 that is provided at the downstream of a collection system 950 and nearly parallelizes light from the collection system 950, a homogenizer 962 that homogenizes an in-plane light intensity distribution of the light from the downstream collimator system 961, and a downstream collection system 966 that collects the light from the homogenizer 962", the peak intensity of the light entering the fluorescent layer (shown by the sign 974 in FIG. 9) can be reduced. As a result, the thermal load applied to the fluorescent layer can be suppressed, and the life can be extended by suppression of the deterioration and burnout of the fluorescent layer.
However, in the above described light source device, there is a problem that light use efficiency may be reduced because the light from the solid-state light source reaches the fluorescent layer through many optical elements. Further, there is another problem that reduction in size and weight of the light source device as the original goal becomes difficult because the number of optical elements forming the light source device is larger.


A data block read-out control apparatus includes: an order buffer that stores an identifier sequence in which sort-unit identifiers corresponding to data blocks stored in reception buffers prepared for each sort unit are arranged in arrival order of the data blocks; a detecting unit that detects a head position of the sort-unit identifiers in the identifier sequence; a determining unit that determines a data block to be read out from one of the reception buffers, based on at least the head position of the sort-unit identifiers and a read-out rule of data blocks from the reception buffers defined in advance; and a reading-out unit that reads out the data block determined in the determining unit, from the one of the reception buffers, wherein the sort-unit identifiers are expressed by a minimum bit number to express all sort units corresponding to the data blocks stored in the reception buffers.

In the related art, there is a technique of storing multiple types of arrival packets in a plurality of reception buffers for each type and reading out a packets from the plurality of reception buffers according to predetermined priority control content.
For example, in packet-based transaction, an ordering rule of packet forwarding based on a priority assigned to each packet is applied so as not to cause deadlock due to the stall of transaction. In the case of forwarding packets according to the order determined based on this rule, for example, a plurality of reception buffers provided for each packet type and a mechanism to hold/refer to the packet arrival order are prepared. The packet arrival order is prepared to forward the packets in the packet arrival order. Meanwhile, the plurality of reception buffers are prepared for inter-packet pass forwarding according to the priority. The inter-packet pass forwarding represents to forward a packet having a certain type before a packet which has another type and has been reached earlier than the packet having the certain type, according to the priority.
FIG. 9 illustrates a packet read-out control apparatus which is one of conventional techniques. The packet read-out control apparatus illustrated in FIG. 9 generates and records tags as order information indicating the arrival order for each packet, in order to hold and refer to the order information of arrival packets.
To be more specific, in the packet read-out control apparatus illustrated in FIG. 9, when reception packets reach, according to the type identifiers in the reception packets, the reception packets are respectively stored in one of a plurality of reception buffers (FIFO: First In First Out) prepared for each packet type ("A", "B" and "C" in this case).
Meanwhile, when reception packets reach, a reception trigger is generated and the type identifiers in the reception packets are input in a tag generation circuit. In the tag generation circuit, in the wake of the reception trigger, a reception order tag generation counter generates reception order tags corresponding to the type identifiers. The reception order tags are respectively stored in one of a plurality of tag buffers (FIFO) prepared for each packet type, according to the type identifiers.
An arbitration circuit reads out a tag value stored in the head of each of the plurality of tag buffers, refers to the reception order indicating each tag value, and checks the reception order (arrival order) of the packet corresponding to each tag value, namely the packet stored in the head of each reception buffer. Meanwhile, the arbitration circuit determines a packet to be read out, according to predetermined priority control content, namely an ordering rule (read-out rule) between packet types, and provides a read-out instruction to a reception buffer. Thus, the packet is read out from the corresponding reception buffer and forwarded.    Patent Document 1: Japanese National Publication of International Patent Application No. 2005-518578    Patent Document 2: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2-117241    Patent Document 3: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 5-227210    Patent Document 4: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 11-298521
However, the above conventional technique has the following problem. That is, if a tag indicating the order of each packet is generated and recorded in a tag buffer, the circuit amount of the tag buffer itself increases. For example, it is presumed that there are three reception buffers and each of these reception buffers can store 16 packets. Meanwhile, in a case where each reception buffer stores 16 packets of the maximum storage number, when the tag value generated for each packet indicates the arrival order of each packet, it is requested that the tag values represent the sum of the maximum storage numbers of the reception buffers, that is, values of 48 (16×3=48) patterns. In this case, the minimum bit number to indicate the tag values of 48 patterns is six bits.
Therefore, the minimum capacity for the tag buffers is 288 bits (6 (tag value)×16 (packet maximum storage number)×3 (reception buffer number)=288 [bit]).


A wire feeding system, for use with apparatus that processes the wire in conjunction with intermittent advancement of the wire, the feeding system operating to de-reel the wire from a reel and supply the de-reeled wire to the apparatus, the system comprising wire drive structure to positively advance the wire; lost motion structure between the wire drive structure and the wire processing apparatus to maintain the wire taut during intermittent operation of the wire processing apparatus; and the wire drive structure comprising belt loop structure having elongated wire gripping stretch structure. Adjustability of the belt loops is also provided, along with use of associated wire guide means for wires of different diameters.

This invention relates generally to the feeding of cable or wire to processing means, such as a cutter or insulation stripper; and more particularly concerns apparatus for feeding the cable or wire from a de-reeling means to a wire or cable feed mechanism which operates intermittently.
In apparatus, as referred to, there is a problem of converting supply wire de-reeling travel from a first velocity or velocities upon de-reeling from a supply reel, to an intermittent feed velocity as the wire is fed to processing means. The latter operates intermittently, for example, due to the fact that the wire travel must be stopped while the wire is cut or stripped (of insulation). For example, lower pulley excursion, up and down, with its associated mass, tended toward instability, and excessive vibration of the system. See for example reference to speed fluctuations and oscillations in U.S. Pat. No. 4,793,564. There is need for accurately and reliably driving the wire intermittently, as referred to, for such purposes.
There is also need for an improved wire drive means to be incorporated in such apparatus, and characterized as positively gripping and driving the wire endwise, while the wire is compressively gripped lengthwise thereof.

Cable and wire pre-feed apparatus, using endless belt wire drive


A dual band communication method and a wireless local area network (WLAN) device, First determining a service type of a service in a switching period according to a preset policy, where the switching period includes one first timeslot in which a first radio frequency (RF) channel works and one adjacent second timeslot in which a second RF channel works, and determining, according to the determined service type and a preset service quality requirement corresponding to the service type, maximum duration of the switching period in which the service quality requirement is met, and when time division multiplexing (TDM) is performed on a baseband processor, controlling the switching between the first RF channel and the second RF channel according to the maximum duration, hence actual duration of the switching period is less than or equal to the maximum duration.

Existing communications devices may be classified, according to supported bands and concurrent manners of different bands, into the following types: single band single concurrent (SBSC) device, dual band single concurrent (DBSC) device, and dual band dual concurrent (DBDC) device. The SBSC device integrates with one set of Media Access Control (MAC) layer/physical (PHY) layer/radio frequency (RF), where the RF has only one set of radio frequency channel, which may work at only one band, which generally is a 2.4 gigahertz (GHz) band. The DBSC device integrates with one set of MAC/PHY/RF, where the RF has two sets of radio frequency channels, one set of radio frequency channel supports 2.4 GHz, and the other set of radio frequency channel supports 5 GHz. A DBSC device may be switched to either the band of 2.4 GHz or the band of 5 GHz, and cannot work at the two bands at the same time. A DBDC device integrates with two sets of MAC/PHY/RF, where the RF has two sets of radio frequency channels, which work at 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz respectively, and may work at the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands simultaneously. However, the DBDC has relatively high cost. Therefore, in the prior art, dynamic switching between 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz is usually performed by means of DBSC, to achieve the effect of time division multiplexing (TDM) communication at the two bands, and this manner may be referred to as dual band adaptive concurrent (DBAC).
Although a communications device is switched between the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands by means of the DBAC, so that the communications device satisfies a requirement that communication is performed at the two 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands at the same time, in the prior art, a timeslot allocation manner used when the communications device controls switching between the two bands is mainly: allocating fixed timeslots to the two 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands. However, in actual communication, it usually occurs that for the two 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands, there are many services at one band, and few services at the other band. For example, there are many to-be-processed packets at 2.4 GHz, and few to-be-processed packets at 5 GHz. The packets at 2.4 GHz need to be executed according to a sequence of a software queue, and there are many packets in the queue, but the timeslot of 2.4 GHz is fixed, and when it is time to switch to 5 GHz, there may be many packets not processed yet, and these packets need to wait for the next period, which prolongs a packet waiting time. However, a real-time service (such as a video service or a voice service) is a service sensitive to a delay, and a longer delay may cause a decrease in quality of service (QoS).

Dual band communication method and WLAN device


A fuel vapor processing apparatus of an internal combustion engine for a vehicle comprises a main canister, a sub-canister connected to the main canister in series and located closer to the atmosphere than the main canister is, a first one-way valve through which the fluid flows from the main canister to the sub-canister, and a second one-way valve through which the fluid flows in the reverse direction, the first and second one-way valves being provided in parallel between the main canister and the sub-canister.

1. Industrial Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fuel vapor processing apparatus of an internal combustion engine in a vehicle.
2. Description of Relative Art
In a conventional fuel vapor processing apparatus, fuel vapor generated in a fuel tank while an engine of a vehicle is stopped is absorbed by absorbents in canisters, and the absorbed fuel vapor is purged while the engine is operated, so that it is supplied to the engine through a suction air passage and burned in the engine. In such a known apparatus, as disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Unexamined Publication No. 61-25568, a main canister and a sub-canister are connected in series, and also, the sub-canister is provided closer to the atmospheric side than the main canister is.
In this apparatus, the sub-canister is located on the atmospheric side of the main canister because such an arrangement suppresses release of the fuel vapor into the atmosphere when the pressure in the fuel tank is increased or decreased and the fuel vapor is not adequately absorbed in the main canister.
More specifically, during driving of the vehicle, the fuel vapor in the canisters is completely purged. Then, when the engine is stopped, the temperature in the fuel tank falls during the night, and the pressure in the fuel tank becomes negative to the atmospheric pressure. In such a case, the air is introduced from the outside (the atmosphere) via the sub-canister and the main canister in order to prevent breakage of the tank.
Next, in the daytime, when the temperature in the fuel tank rises, fuel vapor is generated, and the pressure in the fuel tank becomes positive to the atmospheric pressure. Then, the vapor and the air in the fuel tank is released into the atmosphere via the main canister and the sub-canister in order to prevent breakage of the tank.
In this case, most of the fuel vapor is absorbed in the main canister, and an amount of the fuel vapor which is absorbed in the sub-canister connected to the atmospheric side of the main canister is small, so that it is possible to reduce an amount of the fuel vapor which is released into the atmosphere.
In the conventional technique described above, if the engine is stopped and left as it is for a long time, the fuel vapor in the main canister diffuses and flows into the sub-canister, and consequently, the concentration of the fuel vapor in the sub-canister reaches the same value as that of the fuel vapor in the main canister.
In this state, when the temperature in the fuel tank rises and the fuel vapor in the fuel tank is released into the atmosphere via the main canister and the sub-canister, the fuel vapor having the same concentration as the fuel vapor in the main canister is released from the sub-canister into the atmosphere, thereby polluting the atmospheric air considerably.
In order to solve such a problem, the area of a passage which communicates the main canister with the sub-canister is decreased to reduce diffusion of the fuel vapor into the sub-canister. However, it results in a new problem that the purge flow rate during operation of the engine is decreased, thereby deteriorating the purge performance.


Providing traffic flow control services includes receiving requests at an arbiter of a traffic control subsystem. The traffic control subsystem is in a first state, and the requests are received from vehicle transmitters in proximity of the traffic control subsystem. Traffic flow control services also include applying a pre-defined condition to the requests and implementing a traffic flow control activity responsive to application of the pre-defined condition. The traffic flow control activity includes maintaining the first state or changing the first state of the traffic control subsystem to a second state.

The present invention relates to traffic control systems, and more specifically, to context-based traffic flow controls.
Designing systems of roads and associated traffic controls to permit optimal flow of vehicles can be a challenge. Frequently, a traffic control system that is historically known to be optimal during a particular time of day may be far from optimal at that time of day due to events, such as weather conditions, construction detours, traffic accidents, etc. Further, creating and maintaining optimal traffic control systems is expensive. In addition to a network of traffic lights and signage, many highly trafficked areas are also assigned traffic control police to safely direct vehicles through busy intersections and high-volume traffic merging areas. Cash-strapped municipalities would benefit from a system that is able to provide optimal traffic flow while generating income at the same time.

International Business Machines Corporation


A system and method for transmitting and accessing real-time amateur sports data is provided. The system allows spectators of amateur sporting events to record game data on a mobile electronic device and share live game updates with other amateur sports fans. The system includes a software application configured to operate on a mobile electronic device. Game data may be input into the software application and uploaded to a remote database by way of a wireless network. The remote database may allow third party users to access the game data as it is uploaded to the database in order to follow the progress of the game in real time.

Many sports fans enjoy following the live action of a sporting event as it takes place. Fans often attend live sporting events to witness the action in person, or follow a game of interest on a live television or radio broadcast. However, in some instances, fans are unable to either attend a sporting event or follow the game on television or radio. Therefore, various utilities have been developed to provide sports fans with alternative means for tracking live sporting events. For example, internet utilities such as Game Cast allow fans to track game data and statistics over the internet as a game progresses. These internet programs and utilities rely on statistics and data submitted from persons attending the game. Typically, a person at the sporting event may enter game data into a personal computer or other computing device with internet capabilities. The computer or computing device may connect to the internet using internet service provided by the sporting venue. Stats and game data input into the computing device may then be uploaded to the internet and streamed directly to internet users.
Unlike professional sports, amateur sporting events are rarely broadcast on television or radio. Sporting events such as youth sports games, school-sponsored sporting events, amateur adult sports leagues, college sports, and other recreation sporting events are often attended only by friends and relatives of the players. Scoring for such games is often kept by pencil and paper and recorded by a league official when the game is complete. Therefore, fans of amateur sports that are unable to attend a scheduled event are often unable to follow live game action. Moreover, other interested parties such as local and national media outlets that do not have sufficient resources to cover amateur sporting events are often unable collect game information for distribution to news websites or newspapers.
Friends and relatives of persons competing in amateur sports would likely welcome live game updates. For example, parents of children playing in a youth baseball game may appreciate live internet or text message updates for games that they are unable to attend. Additionally, fans attending an amateur sporting event may enjoy greater access to details about the sporting event, such as live statistical data and game information. However, unlike professional sports venues, amateur sporting venues typically do not provide internet access to allow computing devices to connect to the internet. Therefore, there is a need in the art for a new interface to improve the availability of live amateur sports data.

Transmission and retrieval of real-time scorekeeping


A fully automated, sensor-driven, catch system for a hydraulic livestock squeeze chute which includes a plurality of spaced-apart sensors positioned on the chute.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a hydraulic livestock squeeze chute and more particularly to a fully automated, sensor-driven catch system for a hydraulic livestock squeeze chute.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the practice of livestock husbandry, it is necessary to restrain livestock such as cattle and bison by way of a squeeze chute having a tail gate, a head gate, and opposite side squeeze panels. The squeeze chute is commonly used for treating or performing typical procedures on livestock such as weighing, vaccinations, identification references, doctoring, and sorting. The head gate portion of the hydraulic squeeze chute is used to catch the animal's head and to restrain the animal. The side squeeze chute apparatus of the squeeze chute restrains the animal's body to keep the animal still and safe with the tail gate of the squeeze chute keeping secondary animals from coming into the chute while it is occupied. The conventional aspects of a squeeze chute are to keep the animals still and safe to administer the typical procedures.
All hydraulic squeeze chutes; of which Applicant is aware, in the industry today require that the operator manually operate the levers of a valve body on the hydraulic squeeze chute to catch the animal and restrain it to hold it still while treating or processing the animal. With a person performing the function, there can be missed catches due to lack of concentration or distraction. This can lead to catching the animal in the wrong place, potentially hurting the animal, as well as causing excess wasted time.

Fully automated, sensor-driven, catch system for a hydraulic livestock squeeze chute

Abstract: One of the sensors is positioned just outwardly of the tail gate assembly of the chute and another sensor is positioned just inwardly of the tail gate assembly of the chute. A plurality of middle sensors are positioned between the tail gate and head gate assemblies of the chute. One of the sensors is positioned just inwardly of the head gate assembly and another sensor is positioned just outwardly of the head gate assembly.

Abstract: The sensors send signals to a control module which controls the hydraulic cylinders of the tail gate assembly, the side squeeze panels and the head gate assembly. The sensors sense the movement of the animal as it passes through the chute.


A waterborne photoimageable composition or photoresist comprises a latex binder polymer based on a waterborne dispersion of a photopolymerizable urethane acrylate oligomer having sufficient carboxylic acid functionality to render it develop able in alkaline aqueous solution and a photo initiator chemical system and other components to produce an aqueous coatable and alkali develop able photoresist composition.

Photoimageable compositions useful as resists for forming printed circuits, printing plates, solder masks or the like have been used for some time now. The earliest photoresists were solvent-borne and solvent developable. The invention of aqueous developable resists represented an advance in reducing solvent emissions in the printed circuit board manufacturing plant and the environment in general. This can be seen from U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,100,047, 4,564,580 and 4,133,909, herein incorporated by reference, which describe aqueous coatings, also from U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,953,309 and 4,361,640, herein incorporated by reference, which teach aqueous developing compositions. The continued emphasis in reducing organic solvents has spurred the search for waterborne photoresists which are formulated and applied as aqueous liquids with out the addition of any organic solvents.
A critical requirement for photoresist, especially liquid photoresist, is the ability to evaporate the solvent carrier during a brief heat cycle to yield a tack-free surface. This permits intimate contact with the artwork used to define the image. Another requirement is the ability of the liquid photoresist to fully wet the surface and form a continuous film as the copper clad laminate used to manufacture printed circuit boards often has a variety of surface irregularities. These requirements have limited the development of successful waterborne products of this type.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,045,435, herein incorporated by reference, describes a waterborne photoresist composition which is developed in alkaline aqueous solution. The composition comprises a multi functional monomer, a photo initiator and a latex of water-insoluble carboxylated acrylic copolymer. To stabilize the composition and adjust the viscosity, this patent teaches neutralizing the latex polymer to at least 25% with a base, such as ammonia, another amine, or sodium hydroxide.
A liquid such as a waterborne photoresist liquid will only wet and spread over a surface if the forces of attraction between the liquid and the substrate are greater than the cohesive forces within the liquid. Accordingly, the surface energy of the liquid must be at or below the surface energy of the substrate. Thus, to coat a copper substrate having a surface energy of 35 dynes/cm, the surface energy of water, which has a surface energy of 72 dynes/cm, must be reduced. U.S. Pat. No. 5,045,435 teaches that this can be accomplished with the aid of a suitable surfactant.
A surfactant is a material with both hydrophillic and hydrophobic properties. Surfactants can be divided into three major chemical classes; hydrocarbons, silicones and fluorochemicals, these designations referring to the hydrophobic portion of the molecule. The hydrophobe is attached to a hydrophilic group, which can be anionic, cationic or non-ionic in nature.
According to U.S. Pat. No. 5,389,495, herein incorporated by reference, neither hydrocarbon surfactants nor silicon surfactants are particularly suitable in waterborne photoimageable compositions. Although all types of surfactants are found to sufficiently lower surface energy, it is found that hydrocarbon and silicone surfactants encounter problems with respect to dewetting of the copper substrate. Dewetting produces voids which results in an unsuitable coating. Furthermore, if the photoimageable composition is intended as a plating resist, silicone from the silicone-based surfactant can leach into the plating solution, creating potential bath failure. Of the major classes of surfactants, hydrocarbon based surfactants are found to be the least effective in reducing the surface tension of the liquid and do not produce defect-free coatings. Furthermore, hydrocarbon based surfactants contribute to the overall volatile organic components (VOCs) in the coating, which is contrary to the purpose of producing waterborne coatings.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,045,435 gives examples wherein fluorocarbon-based surfactants are used in waterborne photoimageable compositions but applicant has found that these compounds do not perform well and produce undesirable side effects. U.S. Pat. No. 5,389,455 gives examples wherein fluoroaliphatic oxyethylene adduct surfactants are used in waterborne photoimageable compositions. Applicant has found that these compounds are difficult to work with in a production environment and results can vary substantially with a change in surfactant concentration as small as 0.1% by weight of the surfactant.

Waterborne photoresists made from urethane acrylates


A method for reducing imbalance between multiple compressors supplying air to an engine is disclosed. In one embodiment, engine boost pressure is limited by choking flow through a compressor. The method may reduce compressor surge during some operating conditions.

Engines can utilize compression devices such as turbochargers and superchargers for boosting intake air. Some engines can include twin turbochargers each having a compressor arranged along separate air intake passages of the engine. Operation of the compressors can be controlled by wastegates arranged in exhaust passages bypassing the turbines. However, under some conditions, airflow provided by the separate turbochargers can become unbalanced. In particular, one of the compressors may experience surge if the turbochargers become sufficiently unbalanced.
Anti-surge valves may be used to remedy the imbalance between the turbochargers in some intake systems. However, in the example of a single anti-surge valve on a common intake system, single side compressor surge may still occur under selected conditions. For example, an engine with a common intake manifold for receiving intake air from each compressor can enter a condition where one of the compressors enters a surge condition, but the other compressor does not. Once a single side surge occurs, the surge condition can begin to oscillate between the compressors, which can cause an objectionable noise that may be referred to as noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH).
As one example, the above issues may be addressed by a method of operating a vehicle propulsion system including an engine having an intake manifold communicating with two compressors arranged in separate intake passages, the method comprising: adjusting a boost pressure provided to the engine by the first and the second compressors in response to a total flow of air consumed by the engine, said first and second compressors cooperating to provide the total flow; and during an imbalanced flow condition between the first and the second compressors, choking flow through the first compressor before the second compressor experiences surge. For example, the method may include limiting the boost pressure responsive to the total flow of air, where the choking limits a further reduction of flow through the second compressor, thereby reducing potential for surge.
In this way, a flow limitation resulting from the choke limit of a first compressor of the twin turbocharger system can be used to restrain a second compressor from entering a surge condition. For example, as the flow provided by the first compressor increases to its choke limit, any further reduction in the flow provided by the second compressor is limited by the total flow. Thus, by limiting the boost pressure to a suitable level based on a function of the total flow of intake air provided to the engine, single side compressor surge can be reduced or eliminated.
Note that there are various ways to adjust and/or limit boost pressure, including adjusting and/or limiting a corresponding compressor pressure ratio, for example.

Twin turbocharged engine with reduced compressor imbalance and surge


A plasma display panel includes a first substrate and a second substrate facing each other with a plurality of discharge cells formed therebetween. A plurality of scan electrodes and a plurality of sustain electrodes are alternately arranged on the second substrate, and a discharge cell comprises a first sustain electrode, a second sustain electrode, and a scan electrode.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a plasma display panel (PDP) and a driving method thereof.
2. Discussion of the Background
Generally, a PDP displays images by exciting a phosphor with ultraviolet rays from gas discharge occurring in a discharge cell. The PDP may be classified as an AC type and a DC type according to driving voltage waveforms and discharge cell structure, and may be classified as a facing or surface discharge type according to electrode construction. Three electrode surface discharge type PDPs are commonly used.
A conventional three electrode, surface discharge PDP includes a plurality of address electrodes arranged in a column direction on a rear substrate and covered with a dielectric layer. Barrier ribs may be arranged in the column direction on the dielectric layer between, and in parallel with, adjacent address electrodes. A phosphor layer is typically formed on the surface of the dielectric layer and the sides of the barrier ribs. Further, a scan electrode and sustain electrode pair are arranged in parallel in a row direction on the front substrate and sequentially covered with an upper dielectric layer and a protective layer. The front and rear substrates are arranged facing each other with a discharge space formed therebetween, so that the scan electrodes and the sustain electrodes are perpendicular to the address electrodes. Discharge spaces at intersections of the address electrodes and the scan and sustain electrode pairs form discharge cells. Additionally, a PDP having a closed type of barrier rib construction has recently been applied to improve discharge properties. Such PDPs may have row barrier ribs arranged on the dielectric layer of the rear substrate such that they pass between closed discharge cells in a column direction.
Generally, in a PDP driving method, one frame may be divided into a plurality of subfields, and each subfield may comprise a reset period, an address period, and a sustain period.
The reset period is a period for erasing wall charges formed by a previous sustain discharge and for setting up the wall charge in order to stably perform a subsequent address discharge. The address period is a period for selecting cells to be turned on and turned off and for accumulating a wall charge on the turned on cell (addressed cell). The sustain period is a period for performing a sustain discharge to display an image on the addressed cell.
More specifically, in the address period, turn-on/turn-off pattern signals are applied to the address electrodes while applying a scan voltage to corresponding scan electrodes and non-scan voltages to the remaining scan electrodes. An address discharge occurs between a scan electrode and a corresponding address electrode to which the turn-on pattern signal has been applied to form a wall charge. In the sustain period, a sustain discharge waveform may be alternately applied to the sustain electrode and the scan electrode of all discharge cells, and sustain discharges occur at the discharge cells in which the wall charge is formed in the address period.
FIG. 1 shows a a conventional PDP with a closed type barrier rib construction.
As shown in FIG. 1, an address electrode 2 and a barrier rib (not shown) are arranged in a column direction, and barrier ribs 3 are arranged in a row direction, on a rear substrate 1. Further, a scan electrode 6 and a sustain electrode 7 pair are arranged on a front substrate 5 between the barrier ribs 3.
Generally, the address discharge, which is one of the most important aspects regarding PDP driving, is affected by structures (especially, the barrier rib) in the discharge space. In particular, in a PDP having the closed barrier rib structure, the address discharge may be relatively weak, thereby requiring a high address voltage.
Further, with a PDP using high pressure gas, including high partial pressure of Xe, has been developed. However, in a highly efficient PDP, the level of brightness occurring by a one time sustain discharge may be very high, which may make for poor low gray scale expression.

Plasma display panel and driving method thereof


A process for preparing a substituted or unsubstituted 9,10-diarylanthracene including reacting an organometallic substituted or unsubstituted aryl compound with a substituted or unsubstituted anthraquinone to yield a substituted or unsubstituted diol; and reacting the substituted or unsubstituted diol with a reducing agent to yield the substituted or unsubstituted 9,10-diarylanthracene is disclosed. An electroluminescent device comprising a light-emitting layer comprising the substituted or unsubstituted 9,10-diarylanthracene is also disclosed.

Organic light emitting devices (OLEDs) are useful for display applications and in particular, mobile hand held display applications. To achieve efficient electroluminescence OLEDs have typically been manufactured to include separate layers of a hole transport material (HTM) and an emitting electron transport material (ETM). During operation, an applied electric-field causes positive charges (holes) and negative charges (electrons) to be respectively injected from the anode and the cathode of the OLED to recombine and thus produce light emission. In other known OLED displays, the hole transport and electron transport layers are doped with organic dyes in order to enhance the efficiency or to improve the stability of the OLED. OLEDs have also been developed in which hole transport material and emitting electron transport material are mixed together in one single layer.
One problem associated with OLEDs is the development of high-performance materials with desirable properties. Many new materials with RGB (red, green, blue) emitting colors have been developed to meet the requirements for full-color displays. While green emitting materials are relatively well developed for OLEDs, satisfactory blue materials with good color purity, high efficiency, and good stability are still in demand. One such known material is 2-tert-butyl-9,10-bis-(β-naphthyl)anthracene.
In a typical OLED, the light emitting layer can be present between a hole transport layer and an electron transport layer. The light-emitting can comprise a host material doped with a guest material (dopant), as shown in FIG. 1. The light emitting layer can provide an efficient site for the recombination of the injected hole-electron pair followed by energy transfer to the guest material which can produce highly efficient electroluminescence. Ideally, the same host material should be able to be doped with an appropriate guest material to be able to produce red, green, or blue emission depending on the color emission from the guest material. It can be difficult to find a larger energy gap host material than the blue emitting guest material. The compound 2-tert-butyl-9,10-bis-(β-naphthyl)anthracene (TBADN) can have an excellent wide energy gap host for color OLEDs.


A heat collection apparatus is mounted to the heat source using a gimbal plate, which includes a gimbal joint. The gimbal joint enables application of a retaining force to the heat collection apparatus as a single-point load. The retaining force is applied along a vector that is collinear to the face-centered normal vector of the thermal interface of the heat source. This results in a balanced and centered application of the retaining force over the thermal interface area. The gimbal plate is mounted directly to a circuit board using spring means. The spring means regulate the amount of mating force directed through the gimbal joint to the heat collection device. Because the gimbal joint is rotation-compliant, the two mating faces making up the thermal interface are forced into a parallel mate. In this manner, a high performance TIM interface is generated.

As integrated circuits increase in size and complexity, dissipating the increasing amount of heat being generated by these integrated circuits is critical. As the high end for thermal solutions increases, so does the size of the cooling systems used to provide such thermal solutions. Unfortunately, larger cooling systems include more mass. Where a thermal interface is necessary, mounting such a cooling system becomes more challenging and often leads to damage of the cooling system or surrounding components, including the integrated circuit to be cooled.
Further, depending on the mounting configuration, the mass can act as a lever arm on the system, leading to partial or total separation of the heat collector and the integrated circuit at the thermal interface. Such conditions of non-uniformity at the thermal interface lead to degradation in the performance of the cooling system.
Certain applications provide only a limited space for cooling systems. In such space constrained applications, multiple component cooling systems are often integrated to minimize space. Such integrated cooling systems again result in higher mass, which when mounted to a heat source, can suffer from the same difficulties and problems described above.
There is therefore a need for a more effective mounting or joining mechanism to provide a thermal interface between a cooling system and a heat source.

Semi-compliant joining mechanism for semiconductor cooling applications


Compounds having the formula (I) pharmaceutical compositions containing them and their methods of use for the treatment of neurological disorders related to amyloid β protein production and neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's disease. These compounds inhibit γ secretase and thereby inhibit the production of amyloid β protein, thereby acting to prevent the formation of neurological deposits of amyloid protein.

Alzheimer's Disease (AD) is a progressive, neurodegenerative disease characterized clinically by progressive loss of memory, cognition, reasoning, judgment and emotionally stability. AD is a common cause of dementia in humans and a leading cause of death in the United States. AD has been observed in races and ethnic groups worldwide and presents a major public health problem throughout the world. No treatment that effectively prevents AD or reverses the clinical symptoms and underlying pathophysiology is currently available and the disease is currently considered among experts to be incurable.
The histopathological manifestations of AD are characteristic lesions known as amyloid (or senile) plaques and neurofibrillar tangles that are found in the regions of the brain associated with memory, reasoning and cognition. Similar alterations are observed in patients with Trisomy 21 (Down's syndrome) and hereditary cerebral hemorrhage with amyloidosis of the Dutch-type.
The major constituent of amyloid plaques is amyloid β protein. Amyloid β protein is derived from the proteolytic cleavage of amyloid precursor protein (APP). Processing of APP to amyloid β protein and other APP fragments is governed by a group of enzymes known as secretases. One type of secretase, γ-secretase, is responsible for the protein cleavage that produces amyloid β protein. Compounds that inhibit either β or γ secretase activity, either directly or indirectly would reduce the production of amyloid β protein resulting in the treatment or prevention of disorders associated with amyloid β protein. Thus there is a continuing need for compounds that inhibit amyloid β protein production. The present invention meets this and related needs by providing a family of novel compounds and related methods of use.


A system and method of determining a disposition of an electronic device as installed, in-need-of-repair, or in-storage are provided, using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) devices on the electronic devices and a sensor which detects disposition. Diagnostic test results and locations of installed devices may also be communicated to the RFID associated with the device and provided in a response to an interrogation. Shared memory on the device is integrated with the RFID device to store utilization and health history on the device for later retrieval. The disposition data is provided in a response to an interrogation of each device. Optionally, a communications device on a chassis housing electronic devices provides the disposition and location of all installed devices in response to an interrogation. The device disposition and location information is communicated to the communications device upon installation via a processing unit integral to the chassis.

Currently, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) systems are being used in various industries to keep stock of items in inventory that are marked with identifying sensors or so-called Radio Frequency (RF) tags. Such systems typically include several RF transmitters placed in locations of interest. An RF tag is placed on each inventory item. The vendor can then successfully track inventory by identifying the presence or absence of an item in a particular location through its RFID tag. By appropriate placement of the RF transmitters, the location of each tagged item is then determined. This conventional system works especially well for inventory items in transit as they are shipped from location to location. RF transmitters appropriately placed, for example, on loading docks, inside a truck, or inside a warehouse can be used to track the status of a tagged item upon purchase to its final designation.
In industries that utilize electronic devices, particularly network service industries, tracking electronic device inventory can be more troublesome due in part to the proximity of the items being tracked. In the telecommunications industry, for example, electronic devices for each node in a network may be installed in adjacent bays or chassis on an equipment rack (frame). Devices that may housed in the same network node include servers, network switches/routers, multiplexers, optical-to-electrical (O/E) converters, and circuit packs. In some cases, it is also desirable to track many of the electronic components within each of these electronic devices, e.g., processors, controllers, memory chips, and the like. The network node itself may occupy a building, or one floor of a building. It is desirable to track not only the location of each device within the network node, but also its disposition in order to distinguish items being stored on a shelf from those which are installed and in use.
It is known that the disposition of an electronic device can be inferred by appropriate placement of an RF transmitter on an equipment rack or live chassis. If the presence of an RF tag associated with a particular electronic device is detected, it is assumed that the device is installed and in use.
In particular, solutions to the problem have been attempted and described in related art, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,847,856 to Bohannon. The Bohannon patent uses multiple sensor pairs to determine the juxtaposition or relative alignment between inventory components. By carefully tracking the physical location of cables using properly placed transmitters and tags, the method determines physical connections between the cables and device ports. Electrical connectivity itself, however, is never verified, but only inferred from the tracked physical locations.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,796,506 to Pradhan, et al., determines the particular location of each tagged electronic device on an equipment rack using a large number of sensors that require careful reader-to-tag alignment. An RF transmitter is placed on each bay of the rack and detects the ID of the tag corresponding to the electronic device installed in the bay. Because the physical location of each transmitter is known, the location of the corresponding electronic device it detects is also known.
Both these schemes can only infer disposition of the tagged devices and do not verify electrical connectivity of the electronic device with the live chassis. In addition, both methods require a large number of carefully aligned sensors in order to detect the location of electronic devices at the rack level. Such an arrangement increases cost due to the large number of sensors required, as well as the cost of installation and continual upkeep.
Because of these costs, the physical location and disposition of electronic devices within a data center or network node are still most commonly determined by manual inventory checks.
There is a need, therefore, particularly in the telecommunications industry, for a method and system for determining the location and disposition of electronic devices within an area in which installed devices are in close proximity to shelved items, such as in a network node.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and system for determining asset disposition using RFID


Methods for formal verification of circuits and other finite-state systems may improve efficiency and capacity of popular binary decision diagram (BDD) based algorithms. A lazy pre-image computation method builds new transition relation partitions on-demand only for relevant next internal variables of a state predicate, and conjoins only next state relations for relevant next internal variables to a pre-image including the state predicate. A lazy backward reachability analysis method makes iterative use of the lazy pre-image computation method to compute the set of states reachable to a given set of states in zero or more transitions. A lazy equivalence checking method makes iterative use of the lazy pre-image computation method to compute conditions that necessarily must be satisfied to disprove equivalence. These methods may provide for symbolic model checking of circuits and other finite state systems previously too large to be completed successfully using BDD based algorithms.

This invention relates generally to automated design verification, and in particular to efficient use of binary decision diagrams to perform automated symbolic model checking for very large scale integrated circuit designs and other finite state systems.
Modern design of very large-scale integrated circuits often involves years of research and the efforts of hundreds of engineers. Automated formal verification methods are an essential part of the design effort, reducing errors, lost time and risk to financial investment.
As the size and complexity of designs increase, much effort is expended to improve the efficiency of automated formal verification methods. One technique used in symbolic model checking to improve efficiency is to employ binary decision diagrams (BDDs). A BDD is a directed acyclic graph that represents a Boolean expression. For each Boolean variable, there are two outgoing edges representing true or false assignments to the variable. The use of BDDs permits computation times, which are some polynomial function of the number of expression variables. Alternative representations such as clauses or truth tables require execution times, which are some exponential function of the number of expression variables. Therefore, use of BDDs has been popular in the formal verification community since the late 1980""s.
BDDs, however, are not without drawbacks. The ordering of variables is critical to an efficient use of BDDs. Poor variable ordering can increase a BDDs size and cause exponential execution times. One method for symbolic model checking using BDDs comes from Carnegie Mellon University and is known as Symbolic Model Verify (SMV).
Over the years, techniques have been developed to improve performance and capacity of BDD-based algorithms. One technique is called Cone of Influence (COI) reduction. In COI reduction, an abstraction is built for a circuit model consisting of next state functions only for variables in the dependency closure of variables of interest in the circuit specification. One drawback is that all variables in the dependency closure do not necessarily influence the variables of interest in the circuit specification. A second drawback is that the abstraction that is built and used for each model-checking step may include portions that are useful in only a few of the model checking steps. Therefore needless extra computations are potentially performed, resulting in little benefit to the circuit verification.
Some methods have attempted to improve upon COI reduction by starting from a small portion of the dependency closure and extending the portion only when model checking fails to produce a satisfactory result. But these techniques also perform unnecessary computations on portions that are not relevant to the particular model-checking step being performed.
One method called the bounded cone of influence (BCOI) was proposed by A. Biere et al for symbolic model checking without BDDs [A. Biere, E. Clark, R. Raimi, and Y. Zhu; Verifying safety properties of a PowerPC(trademark) microprocessor using symbolic model checking without BDDs; CAV""99; 1999]. However, even the BCOI method potentially includes irrelevant variables in the abstraction it builds, and the technique is not applicable to improve the widely used BDD-based approaches.