A multi-channel linear predictive analysis-by-synthesis signal encoding method detects (S26, S27) inter-channel correlation and select one of several possible encoding modes (S24, S29, S30) based on the detected correlation.

Conventional speech coding methods are generally based on single-channel speech signals. An example is the speech coding used in a connection between a regular telephone and a cellular telephone. Speech coding is used on the radio link to reduce bandwidth usage on the frequency limited air-interface. Well known examples of speech coding are PCM (Pulse Code Modulation), ADPCM (Adaptive Differential Pulse Code Modulation), sub-band coding, transform coding, LPC (Linear Predictive Coding) vocoding, and hybrid coding, such as CELP (Code-Excited Linear Predictive) coding [1-2].
In an environment where the audio/voice communication uses more than one input signal, for example a computer workstation with stereo loudspeakers and two microphones (stereo microphones), two audio/voice channels are required to transmit the stereo signals. Another example of a multi-channel environment would be a conference room with two, three or four channel input/output. This type of applications is expected to be used on the Internet and in third generation cellular systems.
General principles for multi-channel linear predictive analysis-by-synthesis (LPAS) signal encoding/decoding are described in [3]. However, the described principles are not always optimal in situations where there is a strong variation in the correlation between different channels. For example, a multi-channel LPAS coder may be used with microphones that are at some distance apart or with directed microphones that are close together. In some settings, multiple sound sources will be common and inter-channel correlation reduced, while in other settings, a single sound will be predominant. Sometimes, the acoustic setting for each microphone will be similar, in other situations, some microphones may be close to reflective surfaces while others are not. The type and degree of inter-channel and intra-channel signal correlations in these different settings are likely to vary. The coder described in [3] is not always well suited to cope with these different cases.

Multi-channel signal encoding and decoding


A method and apparatus for centralized control of a network is described. The network includes a number of nodes. The method includes creating a database and storing the database on a master node of the network. The database contains topology information regarding a topology of the network. Each of the nodes is coupled to at least one other of the nodes, with the master node being one of the nodes.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of information networks, and more particularly relates to a protocol for configuring routes over a network.
2. Description of the Related Art
Today's networks carry vast amounts of information. High bandwidth applications supported by these networks include streaming video, streaming audio, and large aggregations of voice traffic. In the future, these demands are certain to increase. To meet such demands, an increasingly popular alternative is the use of lightwave communications carried over fiber optic cables. The use of lightwave communications provides several benefits, including high bandwidth, ease of installation, and capacity for future growth.
The synchronous optical network (SONET) protocol is among those protocols employing an optical infrastructure. SONET is a physical transmission vehicle capable of transmission speeds in the multi-gigabit range, and is defined by a set of electrical as well as optical standards. SONET's ability to use currently-installed fiber optic cabling, coupled with the fact that SONET significantly reduces complexity and equipment functionality requirements, gives local and interexchange carriers incentive to employ SONET. Also attractive is the immediate savings in operational cost that this reduction in complexity provides. SONET thus allows the realization of a new generation of high-bandwidth services in a more economical manner than previously existed.
SONET networks have traditionally been protected from failures by using topologies that dedicate something on the order of half the network's available bandwidth for protection, such as a ring topology. Two approaches in common use today are diverse protection and self-healing rings (SHR), both of which offer relatively fast restoration times with relatively simple control logic, but do not scale well for large data networks. This is mostly due to their inefficiency in capacity allocation. Their fast restoration time, however, makes most failures transparent to the end-user, which is important in applications such as telephony and other voice communications. The existing schemes rely on 1-plus-1 and 1-for-1 topologies that carry active traffic over two separate fibers (line switched) or signals (path switched), and use a protocol (Automatic Protection Switching or APS), or hardware (diverse protection) to detect, propagate, and restore failures.
A SONET network using an SHR topology provides very fast restoration of failed links by using redundant links between the nodes of each ring. Thus, each ring actually consists of two rings, a ring supporting information transfer in a "clockwise" direction and a ring supporting information transfer in a "counter-clockwise" direction. The terms "east" and "west" are also commonly used in this regard. Each direction employs its own set of fiber optic cables, with traffic between nodes assigned a certain direction (either clockwise or counter clockwise). If a cable in one of these sub-rings is damaged, the SONET ring "heals" itself by changing the direction of information flow from the direction taken by the information transferred over the failed link to the sub-ring having information flow in the opposite direction.
The detection of such faults and the restoration of information flow thus occurs very quickly, on the order of 10 ms (for detection) and 50 ms (for restoration) for most ring implementations. The short restoration time is critical in supporting applications, such as current telephone networks, that are sensitive to quality of service (QoS) because such short restoration times prevent old digital terminals and switches from generating red alarms and initiating Carrier Group Alarms (CGA). These alarms are undesirable because such alarms usually result in dropped calls, causing users down time aggravation. Restoration times that exceed 10 seconds can lead to timeouts at higher protocol layers, while those that exceed 1 minute can lead to disastrous results for the entire network. However, the price of such quickly restored information flow is the high bandwidth requirements of such systems. By maintaining completely redundant sub-rings, an SHR topology requires 100% excess bandwidth.
An alternative to the ring topology is the mesh topology. The mesh topology is similar to the point-to-point topology used in inter-networking. Each node in such a network is connected to one or more other nodes. Thus, each node is connected to the rest of the network by one or more links. In this manner, a path from a first node to a second node uses all or a portion of the capacity of the links between those two nodes.
Networks based on mesh-type restoration are inherently more capacity-efficient than ring-based designs, mainly because each network link can potentially provide protection for fiber cuts on several different links. By sharing the capacity between links, a SONET network using a mesh topology can provide redundancy for failure restoration at less than 100% of the bandwidth capacity originally required. Such networks are even more efficient when traffic transits several links. However, restoration times exhibited by such approaches range from several minutes to several months.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method for routing information over a network employing centralized control


A cylinder head assembly and a method of providing an air-fuel mixture from a carburetor to a cylinder of an internal combustion engine are disclosed. The cylinder head assembly includes a cylinder head and a component coupled to the cylinder head. The cylinder head includes a first port having a first passage linking a first end to an intersection, and a second passage linking a second end to the intersection, where the intersection includes an abrupt transition between the first and second passages. The component includes a tongue that protrudes into the first passage from the first end to proximate the intersection, where the tongue is positioned along at least a portion of an inner side of the first passage, and where the tongue is gradually-reduced in thickness at least proximate the intersection.

The present invention relates to internal combustion engines. In particular, the present invention relates to the flow of air-fuel mixture in an engine from a carburetor to a cylinder by way of an intake port of the cylinder head, and also the flow of cooling air around the cylinder head of the engine and the carburetor.
The cylinder head of an internal combustion engine includes an intake port into which an air-fuel mixture is delivered from the carburetor of the engine. The intake port is commonly formed from first and second channels that intersect one another at 90 (or approximately 90) degrees, and thus is L-shaped. Typically, the two channels are cylindrical or approximately cylindrical (or conical), e.g., such that the channels have circular or elliptical cross-sections. A carburetor end of the L-shaped intake port, at which is an opening of the first of the two channels, receives the air-fuel mixture from the carburetor. A cylinder end of the L-shaped intake port, at which is an opening of the other of the two channels, interfaces the interior of the cylinder of the engine and forms a valve seat for an intake valve governing the flow of the air-fuel mixture into the cylinder. An additional channel extends beyond the intersection of the first and second channels, parallel to the second channel, and forms a guide/support for the valve stem.
Manufacturing an intake port with this design is relatively simple to perform and therefore cost-effective. Formation of the intake port only requires the casting/diecasting or drilling (from perpendicular angles) of the two channels into the cylinder head. However, an intake port manufactured by way of low cost casting or drilling processes provides for imperfect flow characteristics of the air-fuel mixture within the intake port, which in turn can hinder performance of the engine. In particular, the inner 90 degree corner of the L-shaped intake port introduces a stall region in the flow of the air-fuel mixture. That is, due to the corner, the flow of the air-fuel mixture past the valve into the cylinder is slowed down near the corner. Consequently, the amount of air-fuel mixture that flows into the side of the cylinder proximate the inner 90 degree corner is reduced in comparison with the amount that flows into other portions of the cylinder. As a result, filling of the cylinder is incomplete and so the engine combustion is uneven and less efficient.
Alternate conventional ways of forming an intake port do not substantially resolve these problems and/or introduce other problems. For example, while it is possible to form an intake port from a pair of channels that are at greater than 90 degrees relative to one another (e.g., at 120 degrees), this does not substantially eliminate the problem of stalling of the flow of the air-fuel mixture near the inner corner formed by the intersection of the two channels. Additionally, the diecasting of passages at such obtuse angles is more difficult to perform and therefore more costly. Also for example, while it is possible to ameliorate the effects of the inner corner by grinding away the corner (or xe2x80x9cporting the headxe2x80x9d), such process is also relatively difficult and costly to perform and, in particular, is difficult to perform in a standardized, consistent manner.
Conventional engines also commonly suffer from problems relating to undesirable air circulation characteristics around the outside of the cylinder heads as well. Conventional cylinder heads typically are attached to the carburetors from which the air-fuel mixture is to be provided. This physical attachment/proximity can be undesirable insofar as the heat of the cylinder and cylinder head can be transferred to the carburetor and overheat the carburetor and negatively impact its performance. Indeed, due to the proximity of the carburetor and the cylinder head, it is possible for the heat of the cylinder head to affect the temperature and performance of the carburetor simply by way of the air flow that occurs around these components, particularly cooling air flow supplied by the engine fan.
It would therefore be advantageous if a new cylinder head assembly could be designed in which the flow of air-fuel mixture through the intake port was not significantly stalled, such that the air-fuel mixture was evenly delivered to the cylinder. It would additionally be advantageous if the new cylinder head assembly was designed to reduce the amount of heat transferred from the cylinder and cylinder head to the carburetor attached to the cylinder head. It would further be advantageous if the new cylinder head assembly was simple and not costly to manufacture.
The present inventors have discovered a component that, when coupled to a conventional cylinder head, reduces the stalling of the flow of air-fuel mixture through the intake port of the cylinder head and consequently improves the delivery of air-fuel mixture to the cylinder, thus improving engine performance. The component is specifically mounted to the cylinder head at the carburetor end of the L-shaped intake port, and includes a tongue that protrudes into the intake port. The tongue extends along a side of the first passage of the L-shaped intake port from the carburetor end up to the inner 90 degree corner of the L-shaped intake port. The surface of the tongue, along with the remaining exposed portion of the first passage, forms a modified passage extending from the carburetor end to the inner 90 degree corner of the L-shaped passage. The surface of the tongue is tapered and/or rounded as it approaches the inner 90 degree corner such that, given the addition of the tongue, stalling of the flow of air-fuel mixture is largely or entirely eliminated. By employing a tongue to modify the L-shaped intake port, the L-shaped intake port can still be manufactured using conventional, low-cost casting or drilling techniques.
The shape of the modified passage created by the first passage and tongue can vary depending upon the embodiment. In some embodiments, the first passage has a tapered surface opposite the surface at which the tongue is to be positioned, such that the first passage is elliptical in cross-section and decreases in cross-sectional area as one proceeds toward the inner 90 degree corner. In certain of these embodiments, the addition of the tongue tends to create a modified passage that is largely cylindrical and that intersects the second passage at greater than 90 degrees.
In certain embodiments, the component is attached to the carburetor end of the L-shaped intake port in between the cylinder head and the carburetor, which are both attached to the component on opposite sides of the component. The component is preferably manufactured from a heat resistant material such that heat transfer from the cylinder head to the carburetor through the component is limited. Further, in some embodiments, the component includes a baffle that extends outward on either side of the interface between the carburetor and the cylinder head, further extends outward to curve over the carburetor, and further extends outward to curve under the cylinder head. Thus, air flow from the cylinder head to the carburetor is limited, and cooling air from the fan is primarily directed toward the cylinder head and away from the carburetor.
In particular, the present invention relates to a cylinder head assembly comprising a cylinder head and a component coupled to the cylinder head. The cylinder head includes a first port having a first passage linking a first end to an intersection, and a second passage linking a second end to the intersection, where the intersection includes an abrupt transition between the first and second passages. The component includes a tongue that protrudes into the first passage from the first end to proximate the intersection, where the tongue is positioned along at least a portion of an inner side of the first passage, and where the tongue is gradually-reduced in thickness at least proximate the intersection.
The present invention further relates to a component for implementation in an internal combustion engine, the component being positioned in between a cylinder head and a carburetor of the engine. The component includes means for protruding into a port of the cylinder head and limiting stalling of a flow of air-fuel mixture within the port.
The present invention additionally relates to a method of providing an air-fuel mixture from a carburetor to a cylinder of an internal combustion engine. The method includes providing a cylinder head with an L-shaped intake port formed by first and second channels that interconnect at an abrupt intersection, where a first end of the L-shaped intake port is coupled at least indirectly to the carburetor to receive the air-fuel mixture from the carburetor, and where a second end of the L-shaped intake port is coupled to the cylinder. The method further includes providing a tongue within the first channel of the L-shaped intake port between the first end and the intersection, where an internal volume of the L-shaped intake port that is open for conducting the air-fuel mixture is reduced by the tongue. The method additionally includes providing the air-fuel mixture from the carburetor to the first end of the L-shaped intake port, and directing the air-fuel mixture through the internal volume of the L-shaped intake port as reduced by the tongue. The method further includes communicating the air-fuel mixture past an open valve and into the cylinder, where an abruptness of the abrupt intersection between the first and second channels is reduced by the tongue.

Component for governing air flow in and around cylinder head port


There is disclosed a configuration for multiplexing the USB signals onto the IEEE 1284 signals thereby allowing a single connector on the device to support either protocol. Within the device, each protocol block is connected to transceiver to compensate for differences in driver/receiver characteristics for the protocol. The outputs of the transceivers are connected to a signal conditioner to allow proper selection of termination impedance. A controller senses whether a passive adapter is attached to the connector. When the passive adapter is not connected the controller selects the 1284 protocol and its associated transceiver and signal conditioning. If the passive adapter is connected, the controller selects the USB protocol and its associated transceiver and signal conditioning. The passive adapter connects pre-selected pins on the device's connector to a USB connector. There is also described an arrangement to allow the passive adapter and device to provide USB hub functions.

Numerous types of communication links and communication protocols are used to interconnect devices and allow interconnected devices to communicate with one another. This has become true with connections between a computer and its peripheral devices such as printers, scanners, backup tape drives, modems, keyboards, mouse, and others.
First to appear was the RS-232 serial communication. The RS-232 serial communication protocol provided adequate communication speeds for relatively slow devices. However, as some devices, such as printers, gained speed, the RS-232 protocol did not provide a reliable link between the computer and the device. A parallel protocol commonly known as centronics was created. The centronics protocol provided adequate communications from the computer to the device, but communication from the device to the computer was very limited. Eventually, the centronics port could not provide the high-speed communication link required. To allow bidirectional communications and higher speed, the IEEE-1284-1994 (IEEE Standard Signaling Method for Bidirectional Parallel Peripheral interface for Personal Computers, herein incorporated by reference) communication protocol was developed. At the first layer, or physical layer, the 1284 protocol uses bi-directional data lines; all lines use controlled impedance to allow for higher speed. The 1284 protocol is backwards compatible with the centronics protocol.
Recently, there has been developed yet another protocol for interfacing peripheral devices to the computer known as the Universal Serial Bus (USB) as described in USB Specification Revision 1.0 herein incorporated by reference. At the first layer, physical layer, the USB uses serial data with controlled impedance to achieve a 12 Megabits per second data channel. The USB is not backward compatible with any of the previously mention protocols.
Many of the peripheral devices that communicate to the computer are increasing in speed and decreasing in cost and size. For example, as printers have progressed from 300 dpi to 600 dpi to 1200 dpi, the amount of data has increased 16 fold. Similarly, these same printers have increased from 4 pages per minute to 24 pages per minute. The price and size has remained relatively constant.
To help increase the likelihood that the peripheral device will operate with the large number and widely varying computers, the peripheral device must support several communication protocols. However, at present, this would require several different connectors; RS-232, centronics/1284, and USB for example. This adds additional cost and uses precious printed circuit assembly (PCA) space. Many printers have already added a network option.
Prior to the present invention, there are two ways to support both the centronics/1284 and USB ports. First, as described above, the peripheral designer can design the product with both connectors. Second, the designer may elect to support one on the peripheral and then provide or sell an external active converter.

Apparatus and method for providing multiple protocols through a common connector in a device


A multiplexer/demultiplexer structure is provided which multiplexes multiple channel signals through a common tee of a tee/manifold mulitplexer arrangement. This multiplexing significantly reduces the number of tees required for a given number of multiplexed channels. Accordingly, mulitplexer/demulitplexer design time is reduced and fabricated multiplexers/demultiplexers are lighter, smaller and less expensive. The tee multiplexing is facilitated with multiple access apertures that are isolated by a septum. The septum forms reduced-height waveguides which define a path length between apertures that is sufficient to significantly reduce higher-order modes and, therefore, apeture interactions.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to waveguide structures and more particularly to waveguide multiplexers/demultiplexers.
2. Description of the Related Art
Frequency-division multiplexing is the process of transmitting a plurality of input signals over a common transmission path by assigning a different frequency channel for each signal. Thus, the combined signals can subsequently be separated by filtering and by providing separate transmission paths for the filtered signals. The filtering and providing processes are those of frequency-division demultiplexing. Because demultiplexing is the inverse function of multiplexing, the following discussion is restricted, for simplicity, to multiplexing.
Low-loss, high-power frequency-division multiplexing in the microwave region is facilitated by the use of waveguide multiplexers which typically form a plurality of input ports for the reception of microwave input channel signals and a single output port for delivery of the multiplexed signals onto a common transmission path. Generally, this path leads to common signal-processing structures, e.g., a microwave amplifier or a radiating antenna.
In conventional waveguide multiplexers, a plurality of input waveguides (typically referred to as tee's) are joined to a single output waveguide (typically referred to as a manifold) in a way that enhances electromagnetic signal transfer. For example, each tee is arranged to form an E-plane junction with the manifold in one exemplary multiplexer structure and an H-plane junction in another. In most multiplexer waveguide structures, the manifold has an open-circuited end for transmission of the multiplexed input signals. Opposite the open-circuited end, the manifold has a short-circuited end and the tees are spaced by selected distances from the shorted end. Each tee also terminates in a short-circuited end and forms an aperture in this short-circuited end for signal access to that tee. A waveguide filter is coupled to the aperture so that channel filtering is associated with signal transmission through the tee.
In practice, a number of problems complicate multiplexer design. First, each input signal travels down its respective tee and splits into two signals which propagate in opposite directions along the manifold. One signal propagates towards the manifold's open-circuited end and the other propagates to, and is reflected from, the manifold's short-circuited end. Tee and manifold distances must therefore be carefully chosen so that each reflected signal from the manifold's short-circuited end adds to signals entering the manifold from that reflected signal's respective tee, i.e., these signals must be substantially in phase when they meet.
Secondly, the reflected signals from the manifold's short-circuited end again split as they successively reach each tee, with one signal portion propagating down the manifold and the other portion propagating up that tee and being reflected from that tee's short-circuited end. Tee and manifold distances must also be chosen so that signals reflected from tee shorted ends arrive in phase with signals entering the manifold from that reflected signal's respective tee.
Because they lie in different frequency channels, each of the input signals propagates with a different guide wavelength .lambda.g. A successful multiplexer design must therefore take the different propagation wavelengths into account and realize a dimensional layout that enhances signal additions at each tee so as to enhance the transmitted channel energy at the manifold's open-circuited end.
Multiplexer design is further complicated by impedance mismatches at the junctions of the tees and the manifold which generate additional signal reflections. An acceptable multiplexer design must reduce these impedance mismatches as much as possible and yet accommodate the reflected signals from the remaining mismatches.
Impedance mismatches can result in an apparent electrical short circuit wall at a specific frequency. A manifold resonance can be created between this apparent electrical wall and the manifold's short-circuited end or any one of the tee short-circuited ends. These types of resonances further degrade multiplexer performance.
In addition, multiplexer transmission-line discontinuities (e.g., tee-manifold junctions) generate higher-order electromagnetic modes. Because multiplexers are generally associated with nonlinear processes (e.g., high-power amplification), the input signals typically include frequency harmonics and this combination of discontinuities and harmonics generates higher-order harmonic modes which propagate in the multiplexer with different guide wavelengths. At other discontinuities (e.g., downstream waveguide junctions), energy is exchanged between these propagating modes. A successful multiplexer design must also control the energy exchanges of propagating higher-order modes in order to enhance the transmitted channel energy.
These complications of multiplexer design generally increase exponentially with each additional frequency channel that is included in the multiplexer. It has been found, for example, that although a satisfactory design can be found relatively quickly for an eight channel waveguide multiplexer, a satisfactory design for a sixteen channel multiplexer is exceedingly difficult to obtain.

Multiplexer/demultiplexer structures and methods


A telephone is provided for delivering content to a client that is coupled to a communications network. The telephone includes a processor and a network interface operable to couple the telephone to the communications network. The telephone also includes a handset operable to provide oral communication by a user of the telephone using the network interface. Furthermore, the telephone includes a memory that is coupled to the processor and operable to store content for delivery to the client using the network interface. The content that is stored is associated with the operation of the telephone. In a particular embodiment, the client to which the content is delivered is a Web browser, and the content is at least one HyperText Markup Language document to be displayed in the Web browser.

The creation of the World Wide Web was the catalytic event that has led to today's explosive growth of the Internet. The ability to present information to users in an attractive and user-friendly fashion took the Internet out of the lab and brought it to the desktop and into the home. The Web has become the most popular method of interacting with remote computers on the Internet, and is fast becoming the interface of choice for many other computer applications. Although Web pages are typically downloaded from servers on the Internet, Web pages may also be delivered over a local area network, typically referred to as an intranet. In addition to their use in transmitting and receiving Web pages, the Internet and local area networks have also recently begun to be used for telecommunications. Such telecommunications are typically referred to as Internet telephony or Internet Protocol (IP) telephony.

Telephone-based hypertext transport protocol server


A system for multiplexing photodetector signals from a scintillation detector. The system includes a detector module having a number of scintillator blocks, each scintillator block having a number of photosensors, and a number of multiplexing circuits. Each multiplexing circuit includes a number of inputs, a signal polarity inverter and at least one differential output attached to the signal polarity inverter. The multiplexing system inverts the polarity of preselected signals from the photosensors and selectively combines signals of different polarities to calculate event positioning and total energy.

Medical imaging is one of the most useful diagnostic tools available in modern medicine. Medical imaging allows medical personnel to non-intrusively look into a living body in order to detect and assess many types of injuries, diseases, conditions, etc. Medical imaging allows doctors and technicians to more easily and correctly make a diagnosis, decide on a treatment, prescribe medication, perform surgery or other treatments, etc.
There are medical imaging processes of many types and for many different purposes, situations, or uses. They commonly share the ability to create an image of a bodily region of a patient, and can do so non-invasively. Examples of some common medical imaging types are nuclear medical (NM) imaging such as positron emission tomography (PET) and single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), electron-beam X-ray computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and ultrasound (US). Using these or other imaging types and associated machines, an image or series of images may be captured. Other devices may then be used to process the image in some fashion. Finally, a doctor or technician may read the image in order to provide a diagnosis.
In traditional PET imaging, a patient is injected with a radioactive substance with a short decay time. As the substance undergoes positron emission decay, it emits positrons which, when they collide with electrons in the patient's tissue give off two gamma rays. The gamma rays emerge from the patient's body simultaneously at substantially opposite directions. A number of these gamma ray pairs eventually reach scintillation devices positioned in opposing locations around the patient. The scintillation devices often are configured as a ring of scintillation devices surrounding the patient. When each of the gamma rays of the pair interact with the scintillation devices, a burst of light is emitted and detected. The light is usually transmitted through a lightguide to a photodetector where the light photons are converted to an electrical signal. The electrical signals produced by the photodetector are then interpreted by a processor and accumulated, from which an image of the region of interest may be reconstructed.
Gamma-ray signals from a scintillator such as LSO (lutetium oxyorthosilicate) and BGO (bismuth germanate) have an intrinsic shape, the signals have a fast rising edge following a slow falling edge. The signals can be estimated as a function of:
            V      0                  (      t      )        ≈            A      1        ×          m      0        ×          (                                    1                          τ              1                                ×                      ⅇ                                          -                t                            /                              τ                1                                                    -                              1                          τ              0                                ×                      ⅇ                                          -                t                            /                              τ                0                                                        )      where the decay time-constant τ0 is determined by the scintillation crystal, and time-constant τ1 is mainly determined by the characteristics of the photosensor, the open-loop gain of the first amplifier in the front-end electronics, and the input capacitance (A1 and m0 are factors associated with the number of emitted photons from the crystal in response to excitation by a gamma ray and conversion to a voltage). When τ0>>τ1 (which is the case for LSO and BGO crystals), τ1 dominates the rising edge of the signal pulse, and τ0 dominates the pulse falling edge. The Laplace transfer-function of the above equation is:
      H              (      s      )        =                    A        1                    τ        1              ×                  s                              (                          s              +                              1                                  τ                  0                                                      )                    ×                      (                          s              +                              1                                  τ                  1                                                      )                              .
The falling edge of the scintillation signal is a first-order exponential decay function, so the shape of the signal is always unipolar; it is either positive or negative depending on the electronic readout circuits used.
"Multiplexing" as used in NM electronics refers to encoding of combinations of signals from different photodetectors or photodetector segments to determine the spatial location of a gamma event in the scintillator. See U.S. Pat. No. 3,011,057 to Anger, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, in particular FIG. 2. Resistor network based multiplexing methods also have been invented and implemented in "Position-Sensitive PMT" (PS-PMT) and "Multi-Channel PMT" (MC-PMT) PET/PEM (Positron Emission Mammography) systems. These resistor networks process signals only from current sources, such as PS-PMT and MC-PMT anode outputs. Thus, such resistor-based networks cannot be implemented in voltage source detectors. For example, an Avalanche-Photo-Diode (APD) PET detector must have a charge-sensitive amplifier to amplify the APD output at the first stage. Naturally, subsequent amplifier outputs are voltage sources rather than current sources.
More importantly, the resistor network schemes have limited signal dynamic range. The "multiplexing" detector blocks will share one position histogram image. So histogram images and position lookup tables are actually not multiplexed event though the signal channels are. This mapping (or multiplexing) design could cause poorer crystal identification ability, ultimately leading to potential degradation of PET image resolution.
In a combination PET system such as MR/PET, the PET main electronics cannot be close to the MR scanner. Practically, they need to be located outside, in a MR RF-shielded room. In this case, longer signal transmission cables are needed to connect between the PET detectors and the main electronics. Cable shielding and grounding potential could become an issue.
Therefore, it is desired to have multiplexing design that can be implemented for both current and voltage detector sources, and wherein each block can have its own position histogram image and lookup table and the scintillation crystal can be better identified, so the nearby crystal elements have less crosstalk problems.

Signal polarity inverting multiplexing circuits for nuclear medical detectors


An image file consists of a file header, reduced-and-compressed image data, and compressed original image data. The reduced-and-compressed image data is obtained by compressing reduced image data expressing a reduced image of an original image in serial order of bit planes. The reduced image is then reproduced and displayed on an image display for an image search, in place of the original image itself, whereby efficiency in an image search is improved.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of storing and transmitting image data, and more particularly to an image data format suitable for an image search using an image display.
2. Description of the Background Art
In general, original image data obtained by reading an original is stored or transmitted in the form of an image file in which the original image data follows a file header. An example of such an image file IF.sub.M is illustrated in FIG. 1, and the file header includes information for identifying the filed image.
When the amount of the original image data is very large, the original image data is often compressed through a data compression technique and then filed in the form of an image file IF.sub.N shown in FIG. 2, in order to reduce memory capacity required for storing the original image data. Image data requiring the data compression are classified into two types, one of which is that expressing an original image of large size and the other is that having a fine pixel pitch. For example, about 245 megabytes are required for storing a color image of A2 size with a pixel pitch of 160 pixels/cm, as a total capacity for color components of yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C) and black (K). By means of the data compression, the required memory capacity is reduced so that such an original image data can be stored in an image memory whose capacity is not quite large.
However, even if an original image data is compressed, the amount of the original image data is still large, and a relatively large time is required for fully displaying the original image on a display device through serial access of the original image data. Therefore, when a plurality of images are serially displayed on a display device in order to find a desired original image within the plurality of images, the total time until the desired original image is found is inevitably long. Furthermore, if the respective sizes of the filed images are large, a display device of large size and an image buffer memory of large capacity must be prepared. Since a display device having a quite large size is not practical, each of the filed original images should be displayed part by part if the respective sizes of the filed original images are larger than the size of an ordinary display device.

Method of storing and transmitting image data as an image file suitable for an image search


Disclosed is a portable interactive modular selling room that recreates the home environment in a retail business location to help educate the user for sales and training purposes. The plug and play selling system utilizes standard electrical connectors to allow for seamless integration within a store without the need of electricians or construction contractors. Encompassing all five senses in an interactive environment develops an intellectual and emotional connection with the user which allows the product implementation to demonstrate features and value in a more meaningful and engaging manner over traditional retail environments. The computer system implemented inside of the system encompasses an interaction engine which utilizes sensors and monitoring equipment to record and analyze the user to provide real-time responses and also feedback to a central database for future interaction development. Increased customer satisfaction improves sales which allows for the sales system to remain economically viable.

Mattress shopping ranks high on the list of people's least favorite activities for many reasons. A sea of "look alike" products is very confusing. Row upon row of naked beds lined up like coffins is not an ideal atmosphere in which to engage the consumer. The retail environment shown in FIG. 16 is typical. Retailers in general, and bedding retailers in particular, have great difficulty establishing an intellectual and emotional connection with the consumer. Survey after survey indicates that what happens at the point of interaction between the consumer and the retailer affects both parties. For the consumer, a positive experience, making a connection, increases their willingness to purchase and enhances their overall level of satisfaction. For the retailer, delivering a more meaningful and engaging customer experience is critical to developing ongoing repeat business and its long term viability. The manner in which the consumer and the retailer interact is in need of significant improvement. The inventors have created an instrument and process that fundamentally changes the consumer-retailer dynamic.
The modular portable design of the disclosed invention enables ordinary people such as retail sales staff to assemble the sales room by snapping the modular pieces together instead of requiring the expense of construction contractors to build the room from scratch. Many retail stores limit themselves to simply displaying the product line on top of racks due to the additional construction expensive instead of allowing the user to experience the entire environmental experience of a combination line of products. The design of the innovative factory pre-fabricated selling room remains economically viable yet adds an array of addition features not found in conventional trade show rooms.
It is against this background that various embodiments of the present invention were developed.

Portable interactive modular selling room


A seedling container comprises a body member which is provided with a plurality of longitudinal cavities for seedlings. Each cavity is provided with a plurality of circumferentially extending barriers spaced along the length of the cavity. Each barrier preferably comprises a V-shaped recess in the cavity surface to trap the tip of a root therein.

Seedling containers are available which comprise a styrofoam block provided with a plurality of cone-shaped cavities therein for the tree seedlings.
In use, seeds, together with a growing material, such as a compost mixture, is introduced into the cavities. When the seeds germinate and the seedlings grow, a root structure is developed in the growing material which is easily extracted from the cavity due to the conical form of the cavity. The growing material and root structure is in the form of a plug when removed from the cavity and the seedling is planted in the soil by making an appropriate hole with a dibble in the soil to receive the plug.
To give the seedling the best chance of surviving the transplanting operation, it is essential for the seedling to have a well-developed and healthy root structure. It should not become potbound, i.e. the roots should not be pot bound, i.e. spiral, and the roots should be branched out as much as possible so that the roots can spread out quickly in the ground once transplanted and take hold.
In order to promote branching, chemical treatment methods have been employed, such as treating the cavities in which the seedlings are grown with a copper carbonate solution. This is intended to stop root growth where contact with the copper compound is made and thus cause side roots to form. However, this method has the disadvantages that the ends of the roots are chemically burned off, thus defeating the purpose of producing a healthy natural root, and further, the seedlings treated in this way are susceptible to copper imbalances.


A method and apparatus are provided for operatively connecting a controller to an external circuit, by connecting the external circuit to a circuit card mounted for slidable movement into operative engagement with a connection element disposed on a side surface of the controller. The circuit card is slidably supported in a receiver adapted for positioning the controller with respect to the circuit card.

Modern buildings typically include a plurality of controllers, located throughout the building, for providing de-centralized control of building subsystems, such as heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. Such controllers typically are connected, via an electrical circuit external to the controller, to control panels and/or computers located remotely from the controller which supply electrical power and control signals to the controller, which, in turn, redirects the power and control signals to the equipment connected to the controller.
Such controllers typically include active and passive electrical and/or electronic components for performing localized signal conditioning and control functions.
Such controllers are susceptible to being damaged during construction of the building, and/or installation of the control system into a building. It is desirable, therefore, to provide an apparatus and method for progressively installing the controller, during initial rough-in of the building and sequential finishing operations, to limit exposure of the controller, and associated interconnection equipment, to potential damage during construction. It is further desirable, that such an improved method and apparatus provide a compact overall package of the controller, and its related interconnecting elements, which is preferably relatively flat and accessible from one side of a wall upon which the controller is mounted, and in a form which minimizes the projection of the controller and its related interconnecting devices away from the wall.
Prior apparatuses and methods for mounting controllers in buildings through utilization of traditional methods, such as plugging circuit cards into connectors extending axially from a back plane, are not entirely satisfactory in meeting the desires laid out above.

Method and apparatus for progressively connecting a controller to an external circuit of a building


A folding chair comprising a seat and a backrest carried by a folding structure, wherein the folding structure comprises a first structure defining a pair of front legs and a second structure defining a pair of rear legs, articulated to each other about a transverse axis by means of a pair of joints and movable relative to one another between an open position and a closed position, wherein the first structure comprises two first side elements and the second structure comprises two second side elements and wherein each of said joints comprises a first half-joint fixed to a respective first side element and a second half-joint fixed to a respective second side element, wherein the first and the second half-joints are rotatable relative to one another about said transverse axis, wherein the first structure comprises a pair of rods mounted within respective first side elements and movable between a raised position and a lowered position.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a folding chair comprising a folding support structure movable between an open position and a closed position and carrying a seat and a backrest.
Description of Prior Art
The U.S. Pat. No. 3,705,744 by the same inventor describes a folding chair in which the backrest is fixed to a rectangular frame defining the front legs and in which a second U-shaped frame defining the rear legs is articulated to the first frame about a transverse axis. The seat is articulated around the same transverse axis.
The U.S. Pat. No. 5,524,966 by the same owner describes a folding chair provided with three structures defining, respectively, the front legs, the rear legs and the seat, which are mutually articulated about a common transverse axis. The backrest of the chair forms part of a fourth structure separate from said three structures and articulated on one of them about the common axis. In the conditions of use of the chair, the backrest can tilt backwards against the action of a spring.
Folding chairs of this type have the disadvantage that the backrest is aligned to the structure defining the front legs. In the position of use, the backrest forms an angle greater than 90° relative to the seat. This makes the chair more uncomfortable with respect to non-folding chairs in which the backrest is essentially perpendicular to the seat. If, on the other hand, the backrest in a folding chair was essentially perpendicular to the seat in the position of use, in the closed position the chair would have large overall dimensions.


An apparatus is provided for mounting a video recording device to the pylon of a ski boat such that the video recording device tracks the motion of the skier during a ski run in response to movement of the ski rope.

Water skiing is a popular activity both at the recreational and tournament levels. As is well known, the outboard or inboard motors of ski boats produce a wake which extends rearwardly from the stern of the boat for a number of feet. The skier grasps a ski rope attached to a pylon mounted to the boat and typically maneuvers in a side-to-side direction, back and forth across the wake, during a skiing run. The extent of side-to-side movement of the skier can vary significantly depending on the length of the ski rope, the skill of the skier, the type of activities being performed during a ski run and the like.
Many individuals have found it desirable to record their ski runs or those of others on video. Typically, a video camera or other video recording device is mounted in a fixed position to some part of the ski boat facing in a direction toward the stern of the boat. A wide angle lens is generally used in an attempt to maintain the skier in the frame of the video recording device as he or she maneuvers in the side-to-side direction. Very often the skier is visible for only part of the ski run, particularly when a longer ski rope is used. Alternatively, an individual located in the ski boat may attempt to record the ski run by manipulating the video recording device manually. The quality of the resulting video is completely dependent on the skill of the individual, and his or her ability to consistently maintain the skier centered in the frame of the video recording device.


The present invention involves a short arc discharge lamp having a quartz envelope with a bulb and a plurality of arms having a specified cross-section, and wherein one or more electrode rods are supported within the lamp arms for specific alignment. Support elements for the electrode rods are made of high temperature metal and have a flat central portion with a central orifice of sufficient dimension to permit one of the electrode rods to pass into the central orifice, and have at least two legs, and preferably four legs, radially extending from the flat central portion. The legs have outer portions terminating with pods formed at substantially right angles to the flat central portion of the support element, the legs being of sufficient length to fit the support element within a specified cross-section of the envelope arms so as to contact an inside surface of the envelope arms with the pods. There is also provided means for securing the support elements within the envelope arms.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to support elements for short arc lamp electrode rods. More specifically, such support elements of the present invention are metal and provide significant passage areas for circulation of gas within the arms of the lamp.
2. Prior Art Statement
Short arc lamps have been in use for many years and typically involve xenon or other gas within a quartz glass envelope with an anode and cathode separated by a gap across which an arc passes during use. Xenon is particularly useful because it emits a daylight-like discharge.
The electrodes are attached to electrode rods in opposite positions to each other and these rods extend into quartz arms for contact with electrical connectors. The electrode rods are supported so as to be centrally located axially within the quartz arms, and so as to align the electrodes with one another.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,559,472 describes a discharge lamp or arc lamp with specified support element structures for the electrode rods (referred to as "elongated electrodes"). The high pressure arc lamp described has a quartz glass enclosure defining a discharge space and quartz arms extending away from the discharge space are provided with elongated electrodes (assemblies) extending respectively through the quartz arms. These electrode assemblies carry respective electrodes at their inner ends and the electrode assemblies are sealed hermetically to the respective envelope portion. In order to support the electrodes within the envelope, respective support elements are fitted around the electrodes in spaced relation to the envelope and quartz arms. Means including a respective resilient element engaging each support member, are provided to hold the support elements in their axial position around the respective electrode assemblies. The resilient elements are each held between the respective electrode and the inner surface of the respective support element to continuously urge the axially outer surface of the support element resiliently against the respective inner diameter of the quartz arms.
Unfortunately, the lamp described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,559,472 above retains the gases within the bulbous portions or bulb of the envelope and the sputtering and blackening which occurs limits the illumination and the life of the lamp.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,463,281 describes another arc lamp wherein the electrode rods are supported by spring biased quartz plugs. These plugs are of less mass than the previously described prior art electrode supports and are spring loaded toward the center, with notches or openings cut out for gas to flow through. However, these spaces do not permit or induce significant enough gas flow to substantially reduce the negative sputtering effects described above. In fact, larger cut outs cannot be made without causing or risking cracking or shattering of the glass supports.
Thus, while various supports have been developed for short arc lamp electrode rods, none suggest or teach the present invention metallic supports with their configurations and advantages described herein.


Determining correspondence between image regions can include: selecting first and second regions of visual content including pixels in a computer system, the first region comprising a first patch to be mapped to the second region; selecting at least two heuristics for use in mapping the first patch to the second region, the heuristics selected from the group consisting of: (i) nearby-pixel mapping evaluation; (ii) random-perturbation mapping evaluation; (iii) evaluation of multiple mapping candidates identified in an iterative search process; and (iv) enrichment to increase a collection of mapping candidates; and identifying, using the selected heuristics, at least one patch in the second region for the first patch.

Image likeness, such as a correspondence between regions of one or more images, can be defined in many different implementations that depend on such correspondences. For example, this can include algorithms for correspondence in computer vision, such as wide baseline stereo matching and motion tracking, and graphics algorithms for image summarization, image completion, synthesizing textures, images and video, and others.
For example, a similarity score between images can be computed by a bidirectional similarity metric, which measures the distance from each patch in one image to the other image, and vice versa. A bidirectional similarity can be evaluated based on a patch distance metric. A bidirectional similarity computation can involve calculating nearest neighbor patches, which can be computationally demanding. Even with available approximation techniques, the bidirectional similarity calculation may not be quick enough for use in interactive applications for very large images. Moreover, approximation techniques may not be useable with certain distance metrics.


The present invention provides for novel methods of sample preparation and analysis involving reproducibly reducing the complexity of a nucleic sample. The invention further provides for analysis of the above sample by hybridization to an array which may be specifically designed to interrogate the desired fragments for particular characteristics, such as, for example, the presence or absence of a polymorphism. The invention further provides for novel methods of using a computer system to model enzymatic reactions in order to determine experimental conditions before conducting actual experiments.

The past years have seen a dynamic change in the ability of science to comprehend vast amounts of data. Pioneering technologies such as nucleic acid arrays allow scientists to delve into the world of genetics in far greater detail than ever before. Exploration of genomic DNA has long been a dream of the scientific community. Held within the complex structures of genomic DNA lies the potential to identify, diagnose, or treat diseases like cancer, alzheimers or alcoholism. Answers to the world's food distribution problems may be held within the exploitation of genomic information from plants and animals.
It is estimated that by the Spring of 2000 a reference sequence of the entire human genome will be sequenced allowing for types of genetic analysis that were never before possible. Novel methods of sample preparation and sample analysis are needed to provide for the fast and cost effective exploration of complex samples of nucleic acids, particularly genomic DNA.

Complexity management and analysis of genomic DNA


Encoding and decoding methods and apparatus as described. In one example, a method of embedding auxiliary information into an audio signal includes sampling the audio signal to create an audio block; receiving a code; determining frequency components that will be used to represent the code, wherein different sets of frequency components represent respectively different information and wherein one frequency component from each set of frequency components is located in a code band and there are multiple code bands and spacing between adjacent code bands is equal to or less than the spacing between adjacent frequency components of each code band; determining amplitudes of the frequency components that will be used to represent the information, wherein the amplitudes of the frequency components are determined by a masking ability of the audio block; synthesizing the frequency components that will be used to represent the information, wherein the frequency components are synthesized with the determined amplitudes; and combining the synthesized code frequency components with the audio block.

Identifying media information and, more specifically, audio streams (e.g., audio information) is useful for assessing audience exposure to television, radio, or any other media. For example, in television audience metering applications, a code may be inserted into the audio or video of media, wherein the code is later detected at monitoring sites when the media is presented (e.g., played at monitored households). The information payload of the code/watermark embedded into original signal can consist of unique source identification, time of broadcast, transactional or additional content metadata. Monitoring sites typically include locations such as, for example, households where the media consumption of audience members or audience member exposure to the media is monitored. For example, at a monitoring site, codes from the audio and/or video are captured and may be associated with audio or video streams of media associated with a selected channel, radio station, media source, etc. The collected codes may then be sent to a central data collection facility for analysis. However, the collection of data pertinent to media exposure or consumption need not be limited to in-home exposure or consumption.

Methods and apparatus to perform audio watermarking and watermark detection and extraction


A vehicle including a control valve to lift and lower a boom. The vehicle further includes a control circuit to control a speed of the boom lowering via a pressure compensator that balances a first pressure signal downstream of a control valve during the boom lowering and a second pressure signal from a hydraulic user interface so that, upon increasing of the first pressure signal during the boom lowering, the control valve progressively closes.

Normally the boom of a vehicle is lifted via a hydraulic linear actuator and is lowered taking advantage of gravity applied to the boom itself or to a load carried by the boom. According to a known approach, the lowering speed of the boom depends on the mass of the load carried by the boom. In particular, the higher the load, the higher the lowering speed given the same position of a distributor valve controlled by a user of the vehicle via, e.g. a joystick. Therefore, in case of high load, the user shall control the distributor valve to increase the hydraulic resistance in order to decrease the boom lowering speed. Furthermore, where a high load is carried by the boom, a relatively small correction on the distributor valve may cause a relatively high change in lowering speed because the control circuit becomes more sensible to the commands by the user. This poses safety issues.

Vehicle with a boom comprising a hydraulic control circuit with a load control valve


Apparatus for handling transport incubators for infants and adaptable for handling any hospital patient conveyance having a wheeled base. The apparatus includes a carrier having a wheeled undercarriage, a hoistable elevator platform affixed to the undercarriage and a handle for steering and propelling the carrier. The undercarriage and the elevator platform are interconnected by a pair of cross-linked X-shaped lazy tongs that are interconnected by a cross member that is connected to the ram of a hydraulic cylinder for raising and lowering the elevator platform. The elevator platform is provided with a loading guide and locking mechanism to ensure that a patient conveyance cannot be inadvertently disembarked therefrom. A brake mechanism is also provided on the wheeled undercarriage to prevent unintentional movement thereof. The apparatus is used for moving heavy or heavily laden patient conveyances to and from ambulances of other raised surfaces.

Transport incubators represent an advance in infant health care equipment for the care of infant patients. Transport incubators typically include an infant incubator provided with a wheeled base which is equipped with life support and monitoring instrumentation, oxygen tanks and other emergency care supplies. Transport incubators are used for moving ill or injured infants to hospital and have proven valuable in sustaining the lives of infants during transport, however, the use of transport incubators is not without problems. Their weight and inherent unwieldiness render them difficult to load and unload from an ambulance. Transport incubators having wheeled bases equipped with life support and monitoring systems may weigh as much as 100 kg. They can pose a serious threat of potential back injury for ambulance operators who must lift them from the ground surface to an ambulance floor or vice versa. A need has therefore been recognized for an apparatus to assist ambulance operators in handling such loads. The present invention addresses the problem of moving transport incubators or other wheeled hospital patient conveyances to or from an ambulance, loading dock, or similar raised surface without arduous manual lifting.

Method and apparatus for handling infant transport incubators


A processing system for processing a substrate with a plasma comprises a processing chamber defining a process space including a support structure for supporting a substrate within the process space. A gas inlet in the chamber introduces a process gas into the chamber and a showerhead positioned within the chamber disperses process gas from the inlet. A supply of electrical energy biases the showerhead to form a plasma with process gas dispersed by the showerhead. First and second electrical insulator elements are positioned between the showerhead and the processing chamber, and are operable to electrically insulate the showerhead from the processing chamber. The first and second electrical insulator elements each have a passage therethrough for passing a process gas from the gas inlet through the insulator element and the respective passages of the insulator elements are laterally spaced from each other. A channel is formed in one of the elements and extends between the spaced passages to couple the passages together and form a complete passage through the first and second insulator elements for passing a process gas to the showerhead.

Gas plasmas are widely used in a variety of integrated circuit (IC) fabrication processes, including plasma etching and plasma deposition applications applied to a semiconductor substrate. Generally, such plasmas are produced within a processing chamber by introducing a low-pressure process gas into the processing chamber and then directing electrical energy into the chamber for creating an electrical field therein. The electrical field creates an electron flow within the chamber which ionizes individual process gas molecules by transferring kinetic energy to the gas molecules through electron-molecule collisions. The electrons of the electron flow are accelerated within the electric field in the processing chamber for efficient ionization of the gas molecules, and the ionized molecules of the process gas and free electrons collectively form what is referred to as a gas plasma or plasma discharge.
The gas plasma created within the processing chamber may be utilized without any additional process gases, such as for etching the exposed surface of a substrate, or it may be used in combination with other selected process gases for depositing various material layers onto a substrate. For example, within an etching process, the ionized plasma particles will generally be positively charged, and the substrate will be negatively biased such that the positive plasma particles are attracted to the substrate surface to bombard the surface and thus etch and remove a layer of material therefrom.
If it is necessary to deposit thin material films or layers onto the substrata, such as to provide conductive and ohmic contacts for IC fabrication, a deposition process, such as chemical vapor deposition (CVD) may be used. In CVD, process gases are pumped into the processing chamber and the gases chemically react proximate the substrate to form reaction by-products which then deposit on the substrate to form the desired material layer. A CVD process using a gas plasma is generally referred to as a plasma-enhanced CVD or PECVD process. PECVD is often used, for example, for lowering the process temperatures and thermal energy that are usually necessary for a proper chemical reaction with standard CVD. In PECVD, electrical energy delivered to form and sustain the plasma reduces the thermal energy necessary for the chemical reaction.
One common hardware configuration for plasma etching and PECVD is referred to as a parallel plate RF discharge device. In such a device, a planar substrate support and a planar gas supply element, such as a showerhead, are oriented generally parallel with each other in a processing chamber. One or both of the electrodes are electrically biased with RF energy to operate as opposing RF electrodes for energizing one or more of the process gases into an ionized plasma. The distance between the electrodes is relatively small with respect to the dimensions of the electrodes, and the distance may be around 1 inch, for example. The process gas is introduced through small holes within the showerhead electrode, and RF power is applied to the showerhead, requiring that the showerhead be insulated from any ground reference. One such PECVD process and showerhead structure is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,567,243, which is commonly owned with the present application. Another suitable showerhead structure is disclosed in U.S. Ser. No. 08/940,779, entitled "Apparatus and Method for Preventing the Premature Mixture of Reactant Gases in CVD and PECVD Reactions," which is also commonly owned with the present application. Both the issued patent and pending application are completely incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.
The ground reference for the parallel plate device is generally the metal processing chamber in which the electrodes are disposed. The substrate support electrode may or may not be grounded as well. An insulator, in the form of a plate of insulative material (e.g. quartz) is positioned between the grounded chamber and the showerhead electrode. The electrodes and insulator plate are usually flat, planar structures, although they may have some curvature to them. Since the process gas is passed to the showerhead electrode, it is necessary for the gas to pass through the insulator plate. However, the holes or openings which must be formed in the insulator plate to allow gas passage to the showerhead electrode, may be detrimental to the stability of the plasma.
More specifically, the openings through the insulator provide a plasma breakdown path between the biased RF electrode and the grounded processing chamber. The plasma breakdown occurs when plasma is formed within the openings and creates an electrically conductive path between the RF showerhead electrode and a ground reference, such as the chamber lid or some other portion of the processing chamber. The plasma will then have a tendency to arc to ground, which detrimentally affects the stability of the plasma and, as a result, the stability of the plasma process. The plasma breakdown usually occurs at a particular RF power level and system pressure and thus limits the RF power that may be applied to the plasma discharge. The limitation of plasma power will reduce the density of the plasma. The relationship between the breakdown power and the gas pressure is determined by various system parameters, such as the dimension of the processing chamber, the RF frequency, and the type of process gas utilized.
An additional drawback to the existence of a breakdown plasma in the insulator openings occurs when the processing system is utilized for PECVD. In such a case, a plasma discharge in the openings may lead to deposition of a conductive coating therein. This may further lead to plasma instability and is a problem even under processing conditions where plasma arcing and breakdown does not actually occur.
Some techniques have been employed to prevent a plasma breakdown; however, such techniques generally complicate the fabrication of the plasma processing system, and thus increase the overall expense of the system. For example, the insulator plate may be made thicker to increase the lengths of the openings in the plate. Furthermore, the openings may be profiled with grooves or flutes to lengthen the effective path length through the openings. Still further, the openings might be angled to also lengthen the effective path length through the openings. Such techniques increase the complexity of the insulator plate construction, and therefore, increase the fabrication costs of the plate.
Another solution to the problem of breakdown voltage is to maintain the pressure in the processing chamber within a range that will allow a higher amount of RF power to be delivered to the plasma without breakdown. However, such a limitation also limits the operation of the parallel plate device and its applications in plasma processing.
Accordingly, it is an objective of the present invention to maintain a stable plasma within a parallel plate discharge device over a wide range of process conditions and pressures.
To that end, It is another objective of the invention to reduce and prevent plasma breakdown within a parallel plate device using an insulator between the showerhead electrode and the ground reference.
It is still another objective of the invention to reduce and prevent plasma breakdown within a parallel plate device without increasing the overall cost and complexity of the device.
It is another objective of the invention to reduce plasma deposition of a conductive coating within the opening in an insulator plate of a parallel plate device used in a PECVD process.

Method and apparatus for insulating a high power RF electrode through which plasma discharge gases are injected into a processing chamber


A dental product is provided in a dual-compartment dispenser that includes a first and second composition in respective compartments thereof. The first composition includes a zinc salt while the second composition includes a bicarbonate salt. Preferably the first composition also contains a peroxygen compound or a C.sub.2 -C.sub.20 carboxylic acid. The zinc salt in combination with the bicarbonate salt achieves an enhanced antitartar effect.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention concerns a dental composition and method for controlling tartar formation on teeth.
2. The Related Art
Baking soda, chemically known as sodium bicarbonate, has become a popular ingredient in dental compositions. A considerable body of literature describes sodium bicarbonate dentifrices. These include U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,935,305, 3,937,803, 3,937,321, 3,937,804, 3,943,240 and 4,160,022, all to Delaney et al assigned to the Colgate-Palmolive Company.
Further patents in this area include U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,547,362, 4,623,536 and 4,943,429, all to Winston et al, assigned to the Church & Dwight Company, which markets Arm & Hammer brand toothpaste.
Sodium bicarbonate toothpastes such as the Arm & Hammer brand have become commercially successful because of association of the featured ingredient with malodor reduction and antibacterial activity. Whether these perceived effects are real is subject to debate. However, there is evidence to suggest that baking soda does not have antitartar activity.
Oral compositions containing both sodium bicarbonate and a peroxide have been acclaimed by the dental profession, especially through the work of Keyes. See Keyes et al. "Periodontics and Oral Hygiene", January 1978, pages 51-56.
There is a storage stability problem in formulating the products containing the two key elements of the Keyes technology. Decomposition occurs unless unusual measures are taken to separate the components. A quite successful approach to the problem has involved physical segregation of the peroxide into a compartment separate from the bicarbonate. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,849,213, 4,687,663 and 4,528,180, all to Schaeffer, disclose a package with a dual-compartment respectively storing a peroxide gel and a bicarbonate paste. A successful commercial product known as Mentadent.RTM. has utilized the dual-compartment package concept to provide consumers with a storage stable product. Technology utilized in this product is reported in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,037,633 and 5,037,634, both to Williams et al. While this product has been found to have a modest level of antitartar activity, there remains room for significant improvement.
Zinc compounds, especially zinc citrate, have a long history of use as antitartar actives. In the United States, zinc citrate has been formulated into the Close-Up.RTM. and Aim.RTM. brand products by Chesebrough-Pond's. Typical of the zinc antiplaque and antitartar technology is that described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,022,880 (Vinson et al), 4,647,452 (Ritchey et al) and 5,104,644 (Douglas). While zinc-formulated toothpastes have clinically demonstrated tartar reduction performance, they are generally no more effective than the commercially more prevalent pyrophosphate based technology. Taste problems limit use of higher zinc levels which would be expected to improve performance. There have been no successful attempts to combine zinc salts with bicarbonate to achieve any stable products. Our own experiments have demonstrated that zinc salts rapidly decompose bicarbonate.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide dental compositions with improved antitartar activity.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a dental composition incorporating sodium bicarbonate in a product that exhibits significant antitartar activity while being storage stable.
It is a still further objective of the present invention to provide a dental composition incorporating sodium bicarbonate that exhibits improved antitartar activity yet minimizes taste problems often associated with antitartar actives.
These and other objects of the present invention will become more readily apparent upon consideration of the more detailed description and Examples which follow.

Dental compositions with zinc and bicarbonate salts

Chesebrough-Pond's USA Co., Division of Conopco, Inc.


The invention relates to the information storage. It consists of a computer, a precise rotary table, a writing laser source, a readout laser source, a spatial filter, a spatial light modulator, lens, mirrors, photorefractive crystals (such as doubly doped lithium niobate), and a phase-mismatch adjustor; Due to used a green light (532 nm) as the writing light, and a red light (670 nm) as the readout light, the signal-to-noise ratio is improved greatly and the problem of fixing the stored information is solved. The transmission configuration is used to realize the high-density digital storage in which the irregular lens is designed to work as a phase-mismatch adjustor and read out the whole stored image with no distortion and loss. The dynamically differential encoding and decoding technique is used to suppress the bit-error-rate to lower than 10xe2x88x926.

The invention relates to the field of the information storage.
At present, most of storage devices, such as magnetic discs, compact discs, etc., record data in a two-dimensional manner, with a lower storage capacity being from about 10 GB up to about 35 GB and a slower access rate being not more than 1 MB/s, so as to be not by far able to satisfy the needs for information storage, information transmission, and information processing in the future. The data storage of a high density has been all along an indispensable key field in the development of the information technology and the computer technology. By the year of 2005 when the network of new kind and the multimedia of third generation appear, for any computer, at least 100 GB of the external storage capacity and at least 40 MBps of the data transfer rate will be demanded. But unfortunately, existing various kinds of external storage devices can not satisfy these demands, even DVD compact disc systems which have just entered markets are far away from this object. The only way solving these problems is to use new principles, new technologies, and new materials in order to develop a storage technology and system of a new generation having a high density and a high speed.
The three-dimensional storage technology based on the holographic storage have a number of good properties such as a large capacity of data storage, a short access time and a high data transfer rate. The three-dimensional holographic storage technology records and read information as two-dimensional holographic pages, and data are record in parallel through the volume of the crystal rather than localized on a surface or thin film as in traditional storage. In this way, a high-density (in the order of 1013 bit/cm3 or greater) information storage could be realized by this kind of three-dimensional optical storage, with a high data transfer rate being equal or more than 109 bits/s and a readout time for one data page (up to 106 bits per page) being smaller than 100 xcexcs. At present, however, in many prior three-dimensional storage configurations, so called 90xc2x0-configuration is widely used and the green light is used as the readout beam. Therefore it is difficult to guarantee against the fixing time and it is not ease to miniature the system.
An object of the invention is to provide a three-dimensional optical storage systems, which could realize a high-density information storage with a short writing and read access time, and to resolve the problem of the information fixing time to meet the ever-increasing need for the information storage of multimedia data and to adapt to the future need of a high-speed information development.
The only-readable three-dimensional optical storage of the invention consists of two systems: one is the writing system which includes a computer, a beam splitter, a precise rotary table, a light-source for writing, lenses, a spatial light modulator, a spatial filter, mirrors, a photorefractive crystal (such as doped or doubly doped LiNbO3 or LiTaO3) and a charge-coupled device (CCD); another one is the readout system which includes a computer, a precise rotary table, a slit, a phase-mismatch adjustor, a light source for readout, a photorefractive crystal (such as doped or doubly doped LiNbO3 or LiTaO3), lenses and CCD. The photorefractive crystal used in the readout system is the one in which the information has been recorded by way of the writing system.
The intersect angle 2 xcex8 of the two writing beam from the lens 106 and mirror 108 is within the range of 10xc2x0xcx9c35xc2x0; the angle between the light from the phase-mismatch adjustor 202 and the diffracted light from the photorefractive crystal 204 to the lens 207 is 180xc2x0-2xcex1, the relationship between xcex1 and xcex8 is xcex wsin xcex8=xcexr sin xcex1, where xcexw and xcexr are the wavelengths of writing light and readout light, respectively.
The spatial light modulator is used to show under the control of a computer the information which will be stored, the photorefractive crystal is fixed onto the precise rotary table which is controlled by the computer to get to any desired angle, and the CCD collects the image to the computer for further processing. The phase-mismatch adjustor is used to compensate for the phase mismatch when the red light is used for read out the stored images, which were recorded by the green light. The phase-mismatch adjustor is an irregular double-convex lens, with the transverse focus length range of 50xcx9c400 mm and the longitudinal focus lens range of 300 mmxcx9c+∞
The implementation mode of the of the invention is: using the photorefractive crystals (doped or doubly doped LiNbO3 or LiTaO3) as the three-dimensional holographic storage optical disc materials; using the green light (wavelength 532 nm) from the solid-state laser to write the information in the crystal according to the holographic way through the photorefractive effect of the crystals in the transmission configuration; and using the red light (typical wavelength xcx9c670 nm) from the semiconductor laser as the readout beam; where the phase-mismatch adjustor is a specially designed irregular double-convex lens, and the dynamically differential technique is used to encode and decode the computer files.

Only-readable three-dimensional optical storage device


Electrode device for active medical implants with an elongated electrode body (2) having a proximal end and a distal end (1), a tip contact pole (6) on the distal end (1), at least one ring contact pole (5) before the distal end (1), electrical supply leads (3, 4) to the tip and ring contact pole (6, 5), and a high-frequency filter (11) before the distal end (1), which has electrical contact to the tip contact pole (6) and is connected to the supply lead (4) thereof.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an electrode device for active medical implants.
2. Description of the Related Art
The background of the invention is that the subject matter of the invention is relevant primarily in conjunction with cardiac pacemakers, implantable defibrillators, and other types of active implantable electromedical devices. The latter typically comprise at least one current/voltage-carrying supply lead in the electrode device—which is typically referred to simply as an "electrode"—, the distal end of which is located e.g. in a ventricle and is used to measure cardiological potential signals or to transmit relevant therapeutic current signals.
In the case of implantable electromedical devices, the compatibility of such electrode devices with high-frequency magnetic fields of the type used in imaging diagnostic methods in particular which are based on magnetic resonance—so-called MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) methods—is a serious problem. In such MRI methods, a magnetic alternating field pulsed with radio frequency (RF) is superimposed on a strong static magnetic field, the former being used to change the energy state of the protons in the tissue being investigated and produce MRI signals from the tissue.
Due to the laws of electromagnetic induction, this magnetic alternating field induces alternating voltages in the supply lead of the electrode devices—under discussion here—of electromedical device implants; the energy of the alternating voltages is converted to heat in particular at the electrically conductive contact poles of the electrode device with human tissue. This can result in considerable heating e.g. of the tip contact of a cardiac electrode, thereby impairing or even damaging the surrounding cardiac tissue or cardiac tissue in contact therewith.
To prevent these problems, U.S. Pat. No. 7,363,090 B2 proposes the use of filters on the basis of oscillating circuits composed of a coil in parallel with a capacitor, which is assigned to the corresponding supply lead for the tip contact pole or a ring contact pole of a corresponding electrode of an implantable electromedical device. The filters disclosed in this known patent are designed in practical application by the patent owner as relatively bulky components that reinforce the electrode device along a certain length and impart unfavorable mechanical properties to the electrode equipped therewith. Furthermore, the filter is accommodated in a closed housing that does not provide passage for the guide wires that are typically used when implanting an electrode. The potential uses of this known electrode having a filter device are therefore limited.
US 2009/0281592 A1 makes known filtering components for reducing heating of pacemaker electrodes of an electromedical implant caused by the effect of high-frequency magnetic fields produced during MRI procedures, in which case an induction coil is provided around a non-conductive central portion of a shaft that interconnects a tip contact pole to an inner coil conductor of the electrode device. By mounting an induction coil on the shaft, inductive signal filtering can be provided so as to reduce electrode tip heating, without requiring the incorporation of a lengthy, bulky inductor along the length of the electrode. Capacitive elements can also be integrated in the shaft to create an LC filter circuit. As an alternative thereto, a so-called "air coil" is disclosed in this publication as an inductive element, in which case the shaft can be omitted.
The filter devices according to the prior art typically result in excessive stiffening of the electrode device along a certain length.


A truck bed dumping system for converting a vehicle has a bed positioned behind a cab of the vehicle into a dump truck. The system includes a support structure that has at least one pulley attached to the top end. A coupler is fixedly coupled to the forward section of the bed of the vehicle. A pair of support members is fixedly coupled to a bottom surface of a rear section of the bed making the bed pivotable. A winch is fixedly coupled to the frame of the vehicle and positioned adjacent the bottom end of the support structure. A cable for raising and lowering the forward section of the bed is wound about the winch and abuts the pulleys. The winch moves the bed between the raised and lowered positions. An actuator for controlling the winch is positioned in the cab of the vehicle.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to truck bed dumping systems and more particularly pertains to a new truck bed dumping system for converting a vehicle having a bed positioned behind a cab of the vehicle into a dump truck.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of truck bed dumping systems is known in the prior art. U.S. Pat. No. 5,447,361 describes a portable dumping insert for a pickup truck. Another type of truck bed dumping systems is U.S. Pat. No. 3,826,534 having a dump body for a pickup truck.
While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives and requirements, the need remains for a system that converts a truck having a standard fixed bed into a dump truck.
The present invention meets the needs presented above by making the fixed bed pivotable, and incorporating a winch with a pulley assembly on a frame that is attached to the front section of the bed.
Still yet another object of the present invention is to provide a new truck bed dumping system that can utilize an existing winch on a vehicle.
To this end, the present invention generally comprises a support structure that has at least one pulley attached to the top end. A coupler is fixedly coupled to the forward section of the bed of the vehicle. A pair of support members is fixedly coupled to a bottom surface of a rear section of the bed making the bed pivotable. A winch is fixedly coupled to the frame of the vehicle and positioned adjacent the bottom end of the support structure. A cable for raising and lowering the forward section of the bed is wound about the winch and abuts the pulleys. The winch moves the bed between the raised and lowered positions.
An actuator for controlling the winch is positioned in the cab of the vehicle.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the invention in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the invention that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
The objects of the invention, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the invention, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.


A method and apparatus using two sets of polarized light detection systems are disclosed for optically measuring absolute displacement. In the first detection system a step motor is controlled to drive an analyzer to trace synchronously the displacement being measured by comparison of the magnitude of the intensity of two orthogonal light beams and then the number of control pulses from the step motor becomes a value of the displacement measured; and by comparison with the magnitude the intensity of a plurality of light beams with phase difference from a plurality of light paths in the second polarized light detection system the section of system operation is ascertain and consequently the absolute displacement is detected and measured.

Linear displacement or angular displacement is a basic physical value. Displacement sensors are extensively used in scientific research and industrial processes. Most of the displacement sensors being used today are potential type and photoelectric encoder type. Potential type displacement sensors are simple in structure. Being a traditional contact type sensor available at low cost, potential type displacement sensors' service life is short, and their accuracy and reliability are low. Photoelectric encoder type displacement sensor can measure angular displacement directly, and it can measure straight line displacement through a mechanical converter as well. However, its structure is complicated, and its production cost is high. Polarized light detection type displacement sensor can be designed with an external converter same with or similar to photoelectric encoder type displacement sensor, but its structure for the sensor portion is simple and its production cost is relatively low.
One of the basic issues needs to be solved for polarized light detection type displacement sensor is its inherent non-linearity, a revealed by Malus Law. The solution available today is by pre-calibration on mechanical components or by linearization through electronic circuit. However, pre-calibration would bring the need of a quite complicated mechanical structure, and the result of calibration would depend on mechanical precision. On the other hand, linearization of measurement data requires A/D, micro-controller and means the need of a complicated electronic circuit. Another basic issue needs to be solved for polarized light detection type displacement sensor is the drifting of light source intensity. The effect of the existing solutions, such as light feedback and temperature compensation, is very limited. The third issue needs to be solved for polarized light detection type displacement sensor is wide range measurement. The solution being used now is the utilization of the cyclic property of polarized light detection, which requires a continuous processing on the photoelectric signal, and means an increase of system complication and cost. For instance, the cost of absolute photoelectric encoder is much higher than incremental photoelectric encoder. The way to create a wide range absolute displacement sensor by using polarized light detection is an important issue needs to be solved.

Method and apparatus for optically measuring absolute displacement