A patient restraint, especially suited for pediatric patients, for securing and supporting the child during lumbar puncture procedures. A platform base supports the child on its side, acting as a lateral restraint. A padded mid-back support board, fixed to a bottom edge of the platform base, provides support for the lumbar region; an opening in the board provides access to the L4-L5 interspace region of the back. The child is clamped against this support board by a moveable padded abdominal stabilizer which is mounted on the platform base. A cervical support board is hinged to the mid-back support, and is fastened into an angled position to the mid-back support. A padded, triangular knee support is mounted to the base, at a position along a positioning groove which is inwardly angled from the bottom edge of the base, so that as the knee support moves inwardly, it moves upwardly. A child positioned against the mid-back support is secured by clamping the abdominal stabilizer against the child, holding its lower body and pelvis fixed against the mid-back support in proper position to expose the L4-L5 interspace. The spine is then tensioned by bending up the cervical stabilizer, flexing the upper back into the desired curved position, and also raising the knee stabilizer to bend and hold the legs in a bent position, thus approximating the desired fetal position.

This patent relates to the field of medical apparatus for immobilizing patients, especially pediatric patients.
A particular need exists for immobilizing a patient when performing a procedure which requires exact placement of an invasive probe or needle; this is particularly important when such placement includes the risk of serious injury or damage from an inadvertent motion of the patient. Notable among such procedures are spinal tap or lumbar puncture procedures, involving the insertion of a needle into the spinal canal through the spaces between lumbar vertebrae; any motion of the patient while the needle is inserted runs a serious risk of spinal damage. Since spinal taps are very uncomfortable, the risk of such motion is particularly severe in children.
Several patient immobilizers have been developed for holding small children in a proper position for a spinal tap. Such immobilizers usually involve strapping the child into a rigid position.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,829,079 discloses a patient immobilizer in which two angled, opposed pads bear against the cervical-occipital and posterior thigh areas to maintain a patient in an essentially bowed, fetal position The pads are mounted at the ends of telescoping shafts, which are secured only at one end.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,620,535 shows an infant immobilizer which is an anchor plate with straps attached, the straps securing the ankles, wrists, and cervical area of the infant to position the infant in a bent spine position for a spinal tap.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,732,145 shows a spinal tap immobilizer in which the patient is positioned over a fixed V-shaped frame, and held in position on the frame by wrist, ankle and neck straps.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,223,670 discloses a spinal tap restraint in the form of a flexible panel with a plurality of straps to restrain the legs and arms from motion, while securing the body in a suitably bent posture.
Other patient immobilizers are known. U.S. Pat. No. 3,223,084 discloses an immobilizer in which the patient lies on a supporting platform from which rises, on a post, a pelvic clamp which is lowered, clamping the pelvis and thighs. This patent notes that pediatric patients may exhibit fear and hysteria when excessively confined. Children further exhibit a squirming motion when the pelvic region is not restrained from turning or rotation.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,672,364 discloses a patient restraint in which opposed pads are positioned by means of straps to a bed to provide orthopedic tension.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,578,833 discloses an oscillating hospital bed in which a child may be secured by opposed support packs, mirror images of one another, which are positioned by a bracket, comprising two flat strips joined by a hand screw. These supports are used in conjunction with straps about the patient.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,844,550 discloses a pelvic immobilizer in which opposing plates, one fixed to a platform to support the back of a patient, and the other sliding against the front of the patient, with padded supports engaging the two pelvic bones, serve to clamp and immobilize the pelvis against significant forces.


A shutter is designed for use with an optic fibre which is designed to emit rays in a cone in a selected viewing direction. A mount carries the optic fibre to emit such cone. Associated with the mount is structure for rotatably mounting the shutter, or rotor to rotate between ON and OFF positions. The shutter is shaped to provide a panel which blocks the cone in the viewing direction in the OFF position. The shutter is shaped to define, in an ON position, a central opening for passage of the cone of light in the viewing direction. Rotation between the ON and OFF positions is about 90.degree.. An Electromagnetic drive is used to drive the shutter between the ON and OFF positions. The fibre is centrally located relative to the fibre mount. A plurality of shutters, each with its own drive may be arranged in line, in a single strip module.

This invention relates to a shutter element to move between ON and OFF positions to selectively interrupt light from an optic fibre to a viewer. The combination of shutter and optic fibre can be used in an array for display or information purposes or individually as an indicator.
The shutter element may be combined with a fibre mount and a drive for the shutter newly designed for this purpose. However it may also be used to replace an ambient light disk in mountings previously designed for ambient light disks but modified to provide an optic fibre mount.
In the latter application it is noted that there are a number of designs for diametrically mounting a disk which is (usually) electromagnetically driven to display a light or a dark face to a viewer. Examples of such designs are:
U.S. Pat. No. 3,942,274 Mar. 9, 1976 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,156,872 May 29, 1979 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,243,978 Jan. 6, 1981 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,577,427 Mar. 25, 1986 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,860,470 Aug. 29, 1989
Such patents are commonly owned with this application. In such patents a disk is provided with pivotal mounting and rotated through, approximately 180.degree., to display a light or a dark side to the viewer. Thus the display or indicator depends on ambient light to illuminate the disk's bright side.
It is sometimes desireable to use optic fibres for display or indicator elements. Elements using such fibres usually require a shutter at the output end of the fibre to selectively provide the ON orientation (optic fibre radiation in the viewing direction) and OFF orientation (radiation interrupted in the viewing direction).


A method for detecting a peak in data of a chromatogram or a spectrum, includes: detecting multiple tentative peaks in the data on the basis of a predetermined criterion; determining an actual measurement value of a predetermined feature value indicating a size of a tentative peak from each of the detected multiple tentative peaks, the feature value; determining a smoothed curve on the basis of respective horizontal axis values and actual measurement values of the multiple tentative peaks; determining a reference value of the feature value with respect to each of the multiple tentative peaks from the smoothed curve; and detecting, of the multiple tentative peaks, a tentative peak whose actual measurement value is within a predetermined range from the corresponding reference value as a true peak. Only tentative peaks whose actual measurement value is within a predetermined range from the corresponding reference value as a true peak.

A chromatograph is one of devices that analyze components contained in a sample. In the chromatograph, a sample is introduced into a column with the flow of a mobile phase, and components in the sample are temporally separated in the column, and after that, a detector detects the components, and a chromatogram is created. Then, each of the components is identified on the basis of a peak position on the chromatogram, and the concentration of the component is determined on the basis of the height or the area of a peak (for example, Patent Literature 1).
In a chromatogram, peaks derived from a sample stand on a baseline which exists regardless of the presence or absence of the peaks, and, in general, a noise derived from electric power and the like used in the chromatograph device is also added on the peaks. To obtain accurate information of the sample from the chromatogram, it is necessary to remove the baseline and eliminate the noise when detecting the peaks. As for eliminating noise, various methods, such as one using the Fourier transform, are known. In the following, an example of a method of removing a baseline from a chromatogram is described with reference to FIGS. 8(a) to 8(c).
First, an operation to eliminate a noise from a chromatogram is performed (in a case where the noise is negligible, this operation may be omitted). Next, a peak top 91 in the chromatogram with the noise eliminated is detected (FIG. 8(a)). The peak top 91 is, for example, a position where a height of the chromatogram is equal to or more than a predetermined value and the value of the first derivative is 0. Alternatively, the operator may visually determine the peak top 91 and identify this position 91 using an input device such as a mouse. Then, a peak start point 92 is detected at a shorter retention time than the peak top 91, and a peak end point 93 is detected at a longer retention time than the peak top 91 (FIG. 8(a)). The start point 92 is, for example, a position where the second derivative is positive and the first derivative is equal to or more than a positive predetermined value, or, alternatively, a position where the operator visually determines and identifies through the input device. Likewise, the end point 93 is a position where the second derivative is positive and the first derivative is equal to or less than a negative predetermined value (the absolute value is equal to or more than the predetermined value), or a position where the operator visually determines and identifies through the input device.
Based on the peak start and end points 92 and 93 found in this way, the baseline is determined, for example, as follows. First, the portion of the chromatogram corresponding to the period of retention time when no peak exists, such as between peaks and both ends of the chromatogram, is determined as a partial baseline 941 (FIG. 8(b)). In a peak portion, a part where the start point 92 and the end point 93 are connected with a straight line is determined as a partial baseline 942 (FIG. 8(b)). The total of the partial baselines 941 and 942 obtained in this way is the baseline 94 of the entire chromatogram. By subtracting this baseline 94 from the chromatogram, peaks of the chromatogram corresponding to components of a sample are determined (FIG. 8(c)). Then, for each peak thus determined, feature values such as a position, a width, and a height are found.

Peak detection method and data processing device


A liquid crystal display (LCD) realizes a high brightness by using cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) in a color filter and a polarizer, and improves viewing angles by using a hologram diffuser. The LCD includes a back light unit to produce and supply light, and a collimating sheet to collimate the light supplied by the back light unit. A CLC polarizer transmits left-circularly polarized light from the collimating sheet, and reflects other light. A lower substrate is disposed above the CLC polarizer, and an upper substrate is disposed above the lower substrate and includes a holographic diffuser which diffuses light without altering a polarization of the light. A liquid crystal layer is disposed between the lower substrate and the upper substrate, and a color filter layer which transmits only predetermined wavelengths of light is also disposed between the lower substrate and the upper substrate. An upper linear polarizer is located above the upper substrate. Accordingly, the LCD provides enhanced viewing angles via the holographic diffuser. Also, the LCD realizes high brightness via the CLC diffuser and a CLC color filter layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display (hereinafter abbreviated LCD) which realizes a high brightness and improves viewing angles.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Lately, LCDs have been widely used as planarized plate displays. As techniques for fabricating thin film transistors using amorphous silicon are developed, the image quality of these LCDs is greatly improved. Thus, LCDs are widely used in notebook computers, personal computer monitors, and the like.
FIG. 1 shows a cross-sectional view of an LCD according to a related art. Referring to FIG. 1, the LCD includes a back light unit al for generating and uniformly supplying light, and a lower polarizing plate 110 for transforming a polarization characteristic of the supplied light from the back light unit al to a given direction. The LCD also includes a lower substrate 120 on which thin film transistors (not shown) are formed to control the transmissive rate of the light polarized by the lower polarizing plate 110. A liquid crystal layer 130 changes a polarization direction of the light whose transmissive rate has been controlled by the lower substrate 120. An upper substrate 140, on which a color filter layer 142 is disposed, causes the polarized light to have a specific color wavelength matching a corresponding color filter. An upper polarizing plate 150 changes the polarization characteristic of the light having passed through the upper substrate 140.
The back light unit a1 is constructed with a light source 102 for generating light, and a light-guiding plate 104 for guiding the light generated from the light source 102 to a liquid crystal panel uniformly. A reflection plate 100 under the light-guiding panel 104 reflects incident light from the bottom or side of the light-guiding plate 104 toward the liquid crystal panel.
In the above-constructed related art LCD, the light generated from the light source 102 passes through the light-guiding plate 104, and is uniformly polarized after passing through the lower polarizing plate 110.
A polarizing direction of the light having been polarized through the lower polarizing plate 110 is changed at the thin film transistor (not shown) on the lower substrate 120 and the liquid crystal layer 130. Namely, the polarization direction of the polarized light is selectively revolved according to a state of the transistor when passing through the liquid crystal layer 130. Then, the changed light passes through the color filter layer 142 of the upper substrate 140, which only transmits wavelengths of the specific colors corresponding to the respective color filters.
An image is realized when the light having a specific color transmitted by the color filter layer 142 proceeds to the upper polarizing plate 150. The upper polarizing plate 150 only transmits the light whose polarized direction has been revolved by the liquid crystal. In this case, the polarizing characteristic of the upper polarizing plate 150 is perpendicular to that of the lower polarizing plate 110.
Thus, the basic principle of the LCD is that the polarized direction of the light is revolved after the polarized light from the lower polarizing plate 110 passes through the liquid crystal layer 130. The length that the light travels in the liquid crystal is important. When the liquid crystal is placed between the upper and lower polarizing plates 150 and 110, the thickness of the liquid crystal changes the polarized direction of the light according to the following formula.(Δn)Z=λ/4   (I)wherein Δn is a difference of a refractive index between a perpendicular direction and a parallel direction of the proceeding direction of the light in double refraction, Z is a thickness of the liquid crystal, and λ is a wavelength of the light.
In this case, once the proceeding direction of the light is perpendicular to the liquid crystal layer, the proceeding length of the light becomes z to show the same result of the formula (I). Thus, the cut-off of the light by the vertical polarizing plate becomes very effective.
However, when the light proceeds at a slant (i.e., an acute angle to perpendicular), the proceeding (or path) length of the light becomes longer. Thus, the upper polarizing plate is unable to cut off the light precisely due to the change of the polarized direction of the light. Hence, the optimal way to achieve cut-off of polarized light is to improve the straightness (with respect to perpendicular) of the light passing though the liquid crystal.
Unfortunately, the LCD according to the related art limits the viewing angles of the LCD once the straightness of the light is elevated.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Liquid crystal display having high brightness and enhanced viewing angle


A wear-resistant aluminum alloy improved in wear resistance (or viscosity), including: 0.1 to 0.39 wt % of Mg, 3.0 to 6.0 wt % of Si, 0.01 to 0.5 wt % of Cu, 0.01 to 0.5 wt % of Fe, 0.01 to 0.5 wt % of Mn, 0.01 to 0.5 wt % of Cr, and the remainder being Al and unavoidable impurities; and an extruded product using the aluminum alloy.

The present invention relates to a wear-resistant aluminum alloy excellent in caulking properties and an extruded product using the same.
More particularly, the present invention relates to an aluminum alloy suitably used for automotive brake parts for which wear resistance to sliding parts and viscosity during plastic deformation such as caulking are required, and to an extruded product obtained by extruding the aluminum alloy.
As an alloy generally used to secure wear resistance, an alloy in which hard Si particles are distributed in aluminum by adding a large amount of Si, such as a 4032 alloy specified in Japanese Industrial Standards (JIS) H4140, has been proposed. Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 9-176769 discloses an alloy in which extrudability and machinability are improved while maintaining wear resistance by adding Si, Mg, and Mn.
However, in the technical field of automotive brake parts and the like, in which wear resistance in lubricating oil such as brake fluid is necessary, compressive strength is required in addition to wear resistance. Moreover, viscosity of the material is necessary during caulking for assembling the parts.
A technology of depositing Si dispersion particles in the aluminum alloy by adding a large amount of Si, as described above, in order to improve wear resistance is known in the art.
However, viscosity of the metal material is decreased by dispersing Si particles in the alloy due to its notch effect.
Moreover, extrusion formability is decreased.
Therefore, not only extrusion productivity, but also viscosity is decreased in the aluminum alloy obtained by merely increasing the amount of Si added. Therefore, it is difficult to apply such an aluminum alloy to parts obtained by machining an extruded product of such an aluminum alloy and assembled with sliding parts such as a piston or valve, since such parts are relatively subjected to sliding wear and required to have compressive performance against lubricating oil sealed therein.

Wear-resistant aluminum alloy excellent in caulking property and extruded product made thereof


A terminal is disclosed that includes a processor that performs channel measurement based on a first Channel State Information-Reference Signal (CSI-RS) and performs channel measurement based on a second CSI-RS; and a transmission section that transmits a first Channel State Information (CSI) feedback based on the first CSI-RS and a second CSI feedback based on the second CSI-RS. Additionally, when the first CSI-RS is an un-precoded CSI-RS, the first CSI feedback only includes a part of information of CSI feedback based on the un-precoded CSI-RS that is a precoding matrix indicator (PMI) or are the PMI and a rank indicator (RI). In another aspect, a CSI feedback method for a terminal is also disclosed.

In successor systems of the LTE system (also referred to as, for example, "LTE-Advanced" or "LTE-Advanced Pro"), it is becoming increasingly important that a user terminal measure spatial characteristics of channels and feed back measurement results to a radio base station in the form of channel state information (CSI). In successor systems of LTE (for example, Rel. 10), a proposal has been made to use channel state information reference signals (CSI-RSs) as reference signal for measuring channel state information (CSI). To be more specific, a base station transmits CSI-RSs for use for a mobile station, to the mobile station, in specific time/frequency resources, in a predetermined cycle. By this means, the mobile station can measure CSI based on the CSI-RSs, and return the measurement results.
Meanwhile, full-dimension multi-input multi-output (FD-MIMO) and massive multi-input multi-output (massive MIMO) antennas are wireless communication technologies that have been proposed in LTE (Long Term Evolution) Release 13, studied in 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project). Compared to conventional MIMO systems, in FD-MIMO and massive MIMO systems, a base station can communicate data using more antennas, so that the throughput of the system improves when the data for mobile stations increases. However, as the number of antennas increases, the overhead of control signaling required by CSI-RSs also increases. Therefore, the current CSI-RS transmission method cannot be applied to the FD-MIMO system and the massive MIMO system.

Reference signal transmission method, channel state information feedback method, base station and mobile station


A set or assembly for producing at least one temporary crown or bridge material has a carrier for accommodating a crown and bridge material and a crown and bridge material in an amount that is at least sufficient for the production of a tooth crown. The crown and bridge material is a light-curing and, in particular, flowable single-component material, and the carrier that can be adapted to the tooth situation is transparent or translucent. In another aspect, a method for producing a temporary tooth crown or bridge and a temporary tooth crown or bridge produced by the method are also provided.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a set for producing at least one temporary tooth crown or bridge, having a carrier for accommodating a crown and bridge material in an amount that is at least sufficient for the production of a tooth crown.
2. The Prior Art
In dental medicine, such temporaries are used to protect the soft tissue of the tooth (pulpa) from thermal, chemical, and bacterial influences, after the tooth has been prepared, i.e. ground down for the production of crowns or bridges. Furthermore, these temporaries serve a variety of functions. They maintain chewing function, fix the occlusal and/or sagittal jaw relationships in place, and they prevent the adjacent mucous membrane from growing onto the tooth stump. In the front tooth sector, in particular, such temporaries also fulfill esthetic and phonetic functions.
For the production of a temporary crown or bridge, an impression of the existing tooth situation is generally taken before preparation. After preparation of the tooth or teeth, the situation impression is then filled with an autopolymerizable temporary crown and bridge material, in the places of the prepared teeth. The filled impression is then repositioned on the prepared tooth stumps, and the temporary crown and bridge material is cured in the mouth, until an elastic phase has been reached. During this elastic phase, the material is removed and worked on, if necessary, before it is cured, either within the mouth, or outside of the mouth, with additional heating, for example. Such a material is described in EP 1 173 137 B1, for example.
During final curing outside of the mouth, the temporary crown or bridge shrinks, whereby the lumen formed in the temporary crown or bridge by means of the prepared tooth stump also shrinks. As a result, it is frequently necessary to enlarge the lumen of the temporary crown or bridge before attaching it to the prepared tooth stump. For example, the lumen of the temporary crown or bridge may be enlarged by grinding it down. Furthermore, it takes a comparatively long time until such autopolymerizing temporary crowns or bridges have reached their final technical properties, so that they can be subjected to full chewing stress. As a result, not only is the treatment time increased, but also the patient cannot put full stress on the temporary crown or bridge for at least several hours afterwards.
In EP 0 897 710 B1, a light-induced cationically curing composition is proposed, which can be used for plastics for temporaries or for prosthetic teeth. This composition contains camphor quinone and aromatic amines as initiators, for example. Furthermore, a light-curing plastic for temporary crowns and bridges is known under the designation "GC REVOTEK LC" from the company GC GERMANY GmbH. This material has a putty-like (putty) consistency. In producing a temporary crown or bridge, the material is first manually pre-shaped outside the mouth, then applied to the prepared tooth stump, and there roughly shaped by having the patient bite down on the material. After a first curing step using a light-curing lamp, the roughly shaped temporary crown or bridge is removed from the patient's mouth and cured further by applying more light extraorally. Subsequently, the shape is corrected with a polisher.
Although this method is particularly labor-intensive for the dentist, the temporary crowns or bridges obtained in this manner provide only an insufficient reproduction of the original tooth situation. Such temporary crowns or bridges therefore feel uncomfortable in the mouth. Furthermore, the production of a temporary crown or bridge with a putty-like material is disadvantageous, since its flow properties are insufficient, so that the material does not optimally adapt to the tooth contours. When these known materials are used in an impression, there is the risk that the impression will be plastically or elastically deformed due to straining, so that again, only an insufficient reproduction of the original tooth situation is possible.
Furthermore, there are two-component systems and dual-curing two-component systems that cure purely chemically, such as LUXATEMP® SOLAR, a temporary dental material from the company DMG, or PROVIPONT®, a temporary dental material from the company Vivadent Ivoclar, which can be additionally cured by supplying light, after chemical curing. These two-component systems must be precisely metered and mixed well with one another before use, because otherwise, curing is negatively influenced. Therefore such two-component systems are often perceived as being disadvantageous.
Fundamentally, it is difficult for a dentist, when using the known materials for temporary crowns or bridges, to remove them from the mouth after the first adaptation on the prepared tooth stump, at the right moment so that they can be worked. In the case of chemical curing initiated by mixing a base component with a catalyst component, this curing process proceeds continuously. In this connection, the temporary crown or bridge must remain in the patient's mouth until it can be removed in one piece, without tearing or undergoing any other plastic deformations. At the same time, excess amounts of the material, which have run into undercuts, for example (e.g. interstices between the teeth), must still be elastically deformable. Otherwise, the temporary can be removed only with difficulty after it has cured completely. In autopolymerizing systems, the right point in time for first removal of the temporary and subsequent finishing cannot be clearly determined.
For the production of a quickly curing impression, a transparent impression tray is proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,867,682, which is filled with an impression material that can be polymerized by means of light. This light-polymerizing impression material has the elasticity required for impression materials after final curing, in order to guarantee easy removal from the mouth. In contrast, significantly greater values for modulus of elasticity and bending strength are required for a temporary crown and bridge material. The known light-polymerizing impression material is consequently completely unsuitable for use as a crown and bridge material (compare ISO 4823 for impression materials and ISO 10477 for crown and bridge materials). Furthermore, in EP 0 522 341, a transparent material is described that has great hardness and low elastic deformation, for the production of a bite registration. This material is completely unsuitable as an impression material, because of its great hardness.

Set for producing a temporary tooth crown or bridge


A set of magnetic blocks by which connection is made between blocks through a force attracting multiple ferrous protrusions on one face to multiple recessed magnets on another face. The multiple points of magnetic connection provide alignment and rigidity to the assembled structure.

1. Field of Invention
This invention generally relates to a toy construction set, and specifically to a set of building blocks that connect by magnetic force to each other in both horizontal and vertical directions. The construction set provides the user with a means to build three dimensional structural designs and promotes creativity, education and entertainment.
2. Related Inventions
Previously, other types of construction blocks have been designed to connect magnetically, but none have the advantages in design as stated in the present invention.
There are previous block designs where the connecting faces are smooth and flat, and the connection is made by a single magnet located behind the surface of the face of each block, such as indicated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,601,921.
The first disadvantage of this design is the difficulty involved in achieving a precise alignment of the matching block surfaces. The smooth surface faces are without a guiding means to aid in alignment of the blocks. A guiding means might involve protrusions on the face of one block to match up to recesses on the joining face of another block. Without precise alignment in this block design, the structure constructed lacks stability and visual symmetry.
The second disadvantage of this design is the direct magnet to magnet type of connection. To make this connection, the north polarized side of a magnet connects to the south polarized side of another magnet. Blocks of this design type would require some faces to be north polarized and some to be south polarized. The magnetic polarity of the block face may not be readily apparent to the user by simply looking at each block. Therefore, the user would have to spend time hunting for block faces with opposing polarities, thereby wasting playtime and increasing frustration.
The third disadvantage of a block design where the magnets are located behind the block surface is the impediment provided by the intervening material that separates the two magnet surfaces. The intervening material reduces the attractive force between the two magnets such that the bond between blocks is weaker than if there would be direct contact of the magnets.
The fourth disadvantage of a magnet to magnet connection on smooth faces is the likelihood of unintentional rotation of the blocks along the plane of connection. The connection of a single magnet on one block face to a single magnet on another block face allows the two faces to rotate relative to each other. Similar to the lack of a guiding means, the rotation results in imprecise alignment of the blocks, and the structure becomes less rigid and unstable.
Some construction blocks have been designed with a means to allow the magnets to rotate within the blocks, so that polarity is not an issue: U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,746,638 and 6,749,480; U.S. applications No. 2005/0164595 and No. 2006/0111010. However, these inventions employ various design features which add unnecessary complication and expense to the toy's fabrication. These designs also lack a guiding means to achieve precision in block alignment, and allow for rotation of the blocks along the plane of connection.
There are block designs were the magnets are located only in two parallel opposing faces, whereby the user is restricted to joining blocks magnetically in only one plane, either horizontally or vertically. This design limits the versatility and types of structure that can be assembled with the blocks.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,024,626 is a design for magnetic blocks that uses four points of magnetic connection on each of two parallel opposing faces, and employs a center protrusion with matching recess for positioning and aligning the blocks. The four magnet surfaces are located behind the block face. The design uses magnet to magnet connections which burden the user with searching for opposing polarity of the block faces. The hidden magnet design introduces intervening material that obstructs and reduces the magnetic force available to connect the blocks. In addition, with only two opposing block faces available for connection, the block design restricts the user to either horizontal or vertical connection, and therefore limits the assembly and creative scope of the structure.
There exists a magnetic construction set that uses blocks with a positioning means and larger, more powerful magnets to make magnetic connections to assemble specific structures. While this type of design allows for non-rotation of the blocks and more stable structures, the high level of magnetic force exhibited presents a safety issue when used in the design of children's toys. The high level of force involved presents a means for a child's fingers or skin to become pinched between the blocks during assembly. In this design, the magnets are not adequately attached to their supporting structure. Therefore, larger, more powerful magnets can detach from their recesses, presenting a serious health concern if ingested. Typically, the blocks in such a set also have magnets on only two opposing faces, which present a polarity issue, and restrict construction to only horizontal or vertical directions. In addition, these construction sets are typically designed for assembly of specific structures; therefore, the blocks are not versatile enough to allow for creative reuse in assembly of a variety of structures.


A quantized coefficient coding apparatus used in a media coding system includes a determination module, a coding mode arbitration module and a coding module. The determination module determines whether a set of quantized coefficients are defined in a predetermined variable length coding (VLC) table to generate a determination result. When the determination result of the determination module is negative, the coding mode arbitration module determines a best coding mode corresponding to the set of quantized coefficients from a plurality of predetermined coding modes. The coding mode encodes the set of quantized coefficients according to the best coding mode.

In a conventional Motion Picture Experts Group-4 (MPEG-4) media coding system, a set of quantized discrete cosine transform (DCT) coefficients comprises three DCT coefficients "run", "level" and "last", represented in format of (run, level, last), and is encoded with a variable length coding (VLC) approach. Generally, the VLC approach adopts a VLC table to encode a set of the quantized DCT coefficients (run, level, last).
In practice, the VLC table has two types—an intra-coded table and an inter-coded table. The intra-coded table is adopted to encode two macro-blocks in a same frame when two adjacent frames in a video stream have no approximate macro-blocks. The inter-frame coding table is adopted to encode two macro-blocks of adjacent frames when two adjacent frames in the video stream have at least one approximate macro-block.
Reference is made to FIG. 1, which is a schematic diagram of relative relationship of application scopes between the VLC table and three other VLC modes. As shown in FIG. 1, since the number of sets of quantized DCT coefficients defined in the VLC table is limited, except the set of the quantized DCT coefficients (run, level, last) defined in the predetermined VLC table, other sets of quantized DCT coefficients are respectively adopted in three types of escape coding modes Type 1, Type 2 and Type 3. Type 3, a fixed-length escape coding mode, has a widest application scope that covers all sets of quantized DCT coefficients. Type 1, an escape coding mode for coefficient "level", and Type 2, an escape coding mode for coefficient "run", are respectively applicable to a portion of the sets of quantized DCT coefficients. Please note that the application scope of Type 1 and that of Type 2 are partly overlapped. As can be seen from a scope A in FIG. 1, the sets of quantized DCT coefficients within the scope A are adopted for encoding in both Type 1 and Type 2.
Reference is made to FIG. 2, which is a flowchart of a conventional media coding system performing encoding of a set of quantized coefficients. In Step S10, the process determines whether the set of quantized coefficients is defined in a predetermined VLC table. When a determination result of Step S10 is positive, the process proceeds to Step S11, in which the set of quantized coefficients is directly encoded according to the predetermined VLC table. When the determination result of Step S10 is negative, which means the predetermined VLC table does not comprise coding information of the set of the quantized coefficients, the set of quantized coefficients cannot be encoded with the predetermined VLC table.
The process proceeds to Step S12, for determining whether the first VLC mode Type 1 is applicable to the set of quantized coefficients. When a determination result of Step S12 is positive, the process proceeds to Step S13, in which the set of quantized coefficients is encoded according to the first VLC mode. When the determination result of Step S12 is negative, the process proceeds to Step S14, for determining whether the second VLC mode (Type 2) is applicable to the set of quantized coefficients. When a determination result of Step S14 is positive, the process proceeds to Step S15, in which the set of quantized coefficients is encoded according to the second VLC mode. Since the third VLC mode Type 3 is applicable to all sets of quantized coefficients, if the determination result of Step S14 is negative, the process proceeds to Step S16 in which the set of quantized coefficients is encoded according to the third VLC mode Type 3.
It is noted that the execution sequence of Step S12, for determining whether the first VLC mode is applicable to the set of quantized coefficients, and Step S14, for determining whether the second VLC mode is applicable to the set of quantized coefficients, can be exchanged. That is, the determination sequence of Type 1 and Type 2 is not limited; however, the exchange of sequence may lead to different determination results.
However, for sets of quantized coefficients adopted in both of the VLC modes Type 1 and Type 2 (i.e., the sets of quantized coefficients covered by the scope A in FIG. 1), a non-best coding mode may be selected from the VLC modes Type 1 and Type 2 when the above approach is adopted; i.e., a coding length obtained from encoding the set of quantized coefficients according to the non-best coding mode is not the shortest coding length, thereby the best coding efficiency cannot be achieved.
For example, supposing that the set of quantized DCT coefficients (run, level, last) is (2, 8, 0), which is adopted in both of the VLC modes Type 1 and Type 2 and defined in the intra-coded table. According to the prior art, Type 1 is selected to encode the set of quantized DCT coefficients to obtain a coding result of "0000011, 0, 000011110s" having a coding length of 18 bits. However, in practice, when Type 2 is adopted to encode the set of quantized DCT coefficients, the coding result is "0000011, 10, 010011s", having a coding length of only 16 bits.
As can be seen from the above, when a coding mode is selected according to the prior art to encode a set of quantized DCT coefficients, the obtained coding result may not have the shortest coding length, thereby the best coding efficiency cannot be achieved. In addition, when the best coding mode is selected by the above rules, it not only cannot ensure the best coding mode, but also extremely complicates software and hardware of the conventional media coding system and thereby results in increase of practical production cost.
Therefore, one main object of the present invention is to provide a media coding system, a quantized coefficient coding apparatus and a quantized coefficient coding method to solve the above problem.

Quantized coefficient coding apparatus and quantized coefficient coding method


An apparatus has a processor and a memory connected to a bus. The memory stores instructions executed by the processor to receive an electronic document from a network. Image processing segments are formed. The image processing segments are processed to generate classification data including text strings. Image processing segments are also processed to identify signing items such as signature lines, date and text fields, checkboxes, and radio-buttons. Each signing item is categorized as an electronic-sign item or a wet-sign item. A first electronic document is produced with pages from the electronic document that have electronic-sign items and a second electronic document is produced with pages from the electronic document that have wet-sign items. The first electronic document is augmented with metadata characterizing locations of and any conditional logic associated with the electronic-sign items. A signer identification code is also included for each item to indicate which signer the item applies to in the case of multiple signers. The first electronic document is sent to the network for delivery to a machine supporting an electronic signing service. The second electronic document is sent to the network for delivery to a client machine.

Traditionally, business and legal documents have been paper based. There is a growing demand for the utilization of electronic documents, which can be easily communicated over computer networks. An electronic document may have various signing items, such as signature lines, date and text fields, checkboxes, and radio-buttons. Some of these items need to be wet-signed (e.g., using a pen with ink), while others can be electronically signed or e-signed using a computer automated service, such as DocuSign®, HelloSign® or Adobe Sign®. There is a need to automate the recognition of the different types of signing items and to create electronic document packages with metadata of the signing items.

Apparatus and method for processing an electronic document to derive a first electronic document with electronic-sign items and a second electronic document with wet-sign items


A direction indication lamp control device includes: a pulse signal generation unit that generates a pulse signal; a current control element having one end to which power supply voltage is supplied, a control terminal to which the pulse signal is supplied, and the other end which outputs a drive current, the other end of the current control element being connected to one end of an external direction indication switch, and the other end of the direction indication switch being connected to a direction indication lamp; and a leak detection unit that causes the pulse signal generation unit to decrease the amplitude of the pulse signal in a case where the drive current corresponding to a pulse wave of the pulse signal is equal to or less than a leak detection current value during a leak detection period.

For example, a direction indication device as illustrated in FIG. 8 is known as a direction indication device for a motorcycle. The direction indication device includes a diode D101, a capacitor C101, a direction indication switch SW, a left-side direction indication lamp 102L, a right-side direction indication lamp 102R, an internal power source 103, an oscillator 104a, a buffer 104b, an N-type MOS transistor NM101, a comparator COMP101 for wire disconnection detection, and a current detection resistor R101. The left-side direction indication lamp 102L has a left-front-side bulb 102LF and a left-rear-side bulb 102LR which are connected to each other in parallel. The right-side direction indication lamp 102R has a right-front-side bulb 102RF and a right-rear-side bulb 102RR which are connected to each other in parallel. The diode D101 and the capacitor C101 function as a bootstrap circuit.
Operation of the direction indication device will be described. For example, when the direction indication switch SW is ON to the side of an L terminal, a terminal on the negative side of the capacitor C101 is grounded via the bulbs 102LF and 102 LR. Thus, current from a battery B flows through the capacitor C101 via the diode D101, and thus the capacitor C101 is charged. Accordingly, the internal power source 103, the oscillator 104a, a buffer 104b and the comparator COMP101, to which an internal power supply voltage Vcc is supplied from a terminal on the positive side of the capacitor C101, and to which a reference voltage VS is supplied from the terminal on the negative side, are activated. The internal power source 103 generates a voltage V101 or the like supplied to the comparator COMP101.
The activated oscillator 104a generates an oscillation pulse signal. The buffer 104b outputs the pulse signal by buffering the oscillation pulse signal. The N-type MOS transistor NM101 causes a drive current, a magnitude of the drive current corresponding to the amplitude of a pulse signal supplied to a gate, to flow from a drain to which the power supply voltage VDD is supplied, to a source. The drive current flows through the bulbs 102LF and 102LR of the direction indication lamp 102L via the current detection resistance R101 and the direction indication switch SW. Accordingly, the direction indication lamp 102L blinks at a period of the oscillation pulse signal.
In the direction indication device, in a case where any one of the front-side and rear-side bulbs 102 LF and 102 RF is wire-disconnected, the drive current is reduced. Consequently, the comparator COMP101 detecting an increase in the power supply voltage VDD resulting from a decrease in the drive current controls the oscillator 104a and thus causes a period of the oscillation pulse signal to be changed. Accordingly, since a blinking period of the direction indication lamp 102L is changed, the wire disconnection of the bulb may be reported to a user or the like.
Furthermore, the direction indication switch SW is a mechanical switch. Thus, when a cheap component with low waterproof performance is used as the direction indication switch SW, the leak current may flow via water even though the direction indication switch SW is OFF. Then, the direction indication device starts to work due to the leak current. However, because the leak current is smaller than the current necessary to light the bulbs 102LF, 102LR, 102RF, and 102RR, the blinking of the direction indication lamps 102L and 102R is not visually recognized, and this is not a problem in practice.
The direction indication device as disclosed in JP 1-90831 A is also known as a device similar to the direction indication device described above.
Incidentally, it is desired that an LED element is used as the direction indication lamps 102L and 102R of the direction indication device, instead of a bulb.
However, because the LED element is remarkably great in luminance efficiency compared with the bulb, there is a concern of the LED element emitting light to a degree of visually recognizable brightness due to the leak current from the direction indication switch SW. That is, regardless of the direction indication switch SW being OFF, there is a concern of the direction indication lamps 102L and 102R blinking.

Direction indication lamp control device, direction indication device, and method of controlling direction indication device

Shindengen Electric Manufacturing Co., Ltd


A powertrain has a multi speed power transmission including a planetary gear arrangement with three simple planetary gear sets and six selectively engageable, fluid operated, friction torque transmitting mechanisms. A one-way torque transmitting mechanism is disposed in parallel drive relation with one of the friction torque transmitting mechanisms. The selective engagement of the friction torque transmitting mechanisms will establish seven forward drive ratios, a neutral condition and a reverse drive ratio. All of the forward ratio interchanges are single transition shifts and all of the single ratio skip shifts are single transition shifts. The seven forward drive ratios include four underdrive ratios, a direct drive ratio, and two overdrive ratios. The planetary gear arrangement can be controlled to establish six forward drive ratios with either one overdrive ratio and four underdrive ratios or two overdrive ratios and three underdrive ratios. A five speed arrangement having four forward underdrive ratios, a forward direct ratio a neutral condition and a reverse drive ratio while permitting the elimination of one of the friction torque transmitting mechanisms.

Many of the current automobile manufacturers are using five speed automatic transmissions that incorporate three planetary gear sets. There has also been a number of recently issued patents issued that describe five speed automatic transmissions having three planetary gear sets; and some describing five speed automatic transmissions having two planetary gear sets that include a continuous drive connection and a selective drive connection between the planetary gear sets. Most of the two planetary gear set transmissions incorporate a simple planetary gear set and a compound planetary gear set. The transmissions having three simple planetary gear sets have at least one continuous drive connection uniting a member of each planetary gear set; or a clutch mechanism that will unite the three gear sets. These multi speed power transmissions include at least one selectively engageable torque transmitting mechanism for each of the forward speeds. In other words, a five speed transmission has five selectively engageable torque transmitting mechanisms. Generally, the torque transmitting mechanisms include three clutches and two brakes
A transmission described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,070,927, issued to Polak on Jan. 31, 1978, has three simple planetary gear sets controlled by five torque transmitting mechanisms to produce six forward speed ratios and a reverse ratio. This transmission produces three underdrive ratios, a direct drive ratio and two overdrive ratios in the forward direction. To provide a seventh speed, Polak incorporates an additional planetary gear set.


Technologies for migrating data between edge accelerators hosted on different edge locations include a device hosted on a present edge location. The device includes one or more processors to: receive a workload from a requesting device, determine one or more accelerator devices hosted on the present edge location to perform the workload, and transmit the workload to the one or more accelerator devices to process the workload. The one or more processor is further to determine whether to perform data migration from the one or more accelerator devices to one or more different edge accelerator devices hosted on a different edge location, and send, in response to a determination to perform the data migration, a request to the one or more accelerator devices on the present edge location for transformed workload data to be processed by the one or more different edge accelerator devices.

Typically a compute device may execute an application using resources that are local to the compute device, such as a general purpose processor and/or one or more accelerator devices (e.g., devices capable of executing a set of operations faster than the general purpose processor). In some scenarios, a compute device may encounter a section of an application that should be performed within a certain set of parameters (e.g., the section is particularly sensitive to latency, such as a section that is to make decisions based on real time computer vision data, and should be performed within a particular time period) but is unable to satisfy those parameters due to limitations of the compute device. For example, the compute device might not be equipped with a fast enough general purpose processor or an appropriate accelerator device, or the compute device may not have enough energy stored in its battery to execute the section within the specified time period (e.g., utilizing the accelerator device would deplete the remaining energy in the battery).

Technologies for data migration between edge accelerators hosted on different edge locations


An electronic device such as a smart phone, in combination with an application program residing at least partially therein and run at least partially thereby effectively enables selective retroactive recording to capture already-passed audible events when an audible trigger is recognized. When used in conjunction with an internet-based social media network or an interested contact list, audible events that meet certain pre-determined criteria may be automatically shared.

There is an ever-increasing popularity of social media web sites/applications and the sharing of situational happenings there-through. There is an ever-increasing need to enhance and simplify such sharing. There is an ever-increasing desire to keep and memorialize daily happenings and to enhance and simplify such keeping and memorializing. There is an ongoing need to improve the capturing, storing, and sharing of day-to-day conversations, quotations, and audible events. And there is a need to enable the retroactive capturing, storing, and sharing of day-to-day conversations, quotes, wisdom, jokes, and other audible events. Attending to such needs and desires are objects of the present invention. Other needs and objects will become apparent upon a reading of the following disclosure.


A wireless communication system includes a plurality of wireless communication apparatuses that transmit a wireless frame to a terminal, and a control apparatus, and the wireless communication apparatus transmits information representing the number of retransmissions of the wireless frame to the control apparatus, and the control apparatus acquires the information representing the number of retransmissions of the wireless frame, selects the wireless communication apparatus in accordance with the number of retransmissions, and causes the selected wireless communication apparatus to start transmitting the wireless frame.

A wireless communication system may include a transmitter that performs redundant communication for transmitting a duplicated packet using a wireless frame of a plurality of frequency bands and a receiver that acquires a wireless frame having been successfully received first as a packet. Such a wireless communication system can achieve high reliability with respect to a wireless frame arrival probability (packet arrival probability) within a required delay time even in an environment where a wireless frame loss probability is high (see Non Patent Literature 1)

Wireless communication system, control method, control apparatus, and control program

NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION


A printer for printing on a light sensitive media (100) includes a light source (10) and optics. Cross array components and array direction components reduce divergence of the beam from the light. The illumination optics flood illuminates a grating modulator with reduced light beams. Modulator sites on the grating modulator array, are individual addressed which imparts a phase change to the reduced light beams. An imaging lens (70) directs light from the grating modulator array onto the light sensitive media (100). The imaging lens (70) includes a first lens element which converts the light into diffracted and undiffracted light; a spatial filter (80) which discriminates between the diffracted and the undiffracted light; and a second lens element which reconstructs an image of the modulator sites.

This invention relates generally to a method for spatially and temporally modulating a light beam and more specifically to imaging a modulated light onto a photosensitive media.
Photographic images are traditionally printed on photographic paper using conventional, film based optical printers. The photographic industry, however, is converting to digital imaging. One step in the digital printing process to use images obtained from digital cameras, or scanned film exposed in traditional photographic cameras, to create digital image files that are then printed onto photographic paper.
The growth of the digital printing industry has led to multiple approaches to digital printing. One of the early methods used for digital printing was cathode ray tube (CRT) based printers such as the Centronics CRT recorder. This technology has several limitations related to the phosphor and the electron beam. The resolution of this technology is inadequate when printing a large format image, such as 8 inch by 10 inch photographic print. CRT printers also tend to be expensive, which is a severe shortcoming in a cost sensitive market. An additional limitation is that CRT printers do not provide sufficient red exposure to the media when operating at frame rates above 10,000 prints per hour.
Another commonly used approach to digital printing is the laser based engine shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,728,965. Such systems are generally polygon flying spot systems which use red, green, and blue lasers. Unfortunately, as with CRT printers, the laser based systems tend to be expensive, since the cost of blue and green lasers remains quite high. Additionally, the currently available lasers are not compact. Another problem with laser based printing systems is that the photographic paper used for traditional photography is not suitable for a color laser printer due to reciprocity failure. High intensity reciprocity failure is a phenomena by which photographic paper is less sensitive when exposed to high light intensity for a short period. For example, flying spot laser printers expose each of the pixels for a fraction of a microsecond, whereas optical printing systems expose the paper for the duration of the whole frame time, which can be on the order of seconds. Thus, a special paper is required for laser printers.
A more contemporary approach uses a single spatial light modulator such as a Texas Instruments digital micromirror device (DMD) as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,061,049. Spatial light modulators provide significant advantages in cost as well as allowing longer exposure times, and have been proposed for a variety of different printing systems from line printing systems such as the printer depicted in U.S. Pat. No. 5,521,748, to area printing systems such as the system described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,652,661.
One approach to printing using the Texas Instruments DMD, shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,461,411, offers advantages such as longer exposure times using light emitting diodes (LED) as a source. See U.S. Pat. No. 5,504,514. However, this technology is not widely available. As a result, DMDs are expensive and not easily scaleable to higher resolution. Also, the currently available resolution is not sufficient for all printing needs.
Another low cost solution uses LCD modulators. Several photographic printers using commonly available LCD technology are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,652,661, 5,701,185, and 5,745,156. Most of these designs involve the use of a transmissive LCD modulator such as is depicted in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,652,661 and 5,701,185. While such methods offer several advantages in ease of optical design for printing, there are several drawbacks to the use of conventional transmissive LCD technology. Transmissive LCD modulators generally have reduced aperture ratios and the use of transmissive field-effect-transistors (TFT) on glass technology does not promote the pixel to pixel uniformity desired in many printing applications. Furthermore, in order to provide large numbers of pixels, many high resolution transmissive LCDs possess footprints of several inches. Such a large footprint can be unwieldy when combined with a print lens. As a result, most LCD printers using transmissive technology are constrained to either low resolution or small print sizes.
An alternate approach is to utilize reflective LCD modulators as is widely accepted in the display market. Most of the activity in reflective LCD modulators has been related to projection display. The projectors are optimized to provide maximum luminous flux to the screen with secondary emphasis placed on contrast and resolution. To achieve the goals of projection display, most optical designs use high intensity lamp light sources. Additionally, many projector designs use three reflective LCD modulators, one for each of the primary colors, such as the design shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,743,610. Using three reflective LCD modulators is both expensive and cumbersome.
The recent advent of high resolution reflective LCDs with high contrast, greater than 100:1, presents possibilities for printing that were previously unavailable. See U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,325,137 and 5,805,274. Specifically, a printer may be based on a reflective LCD modulator illuminated sequentially by red, green, and blue light emitting diodes as is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,215,547. This technology too is resolution limited. Also, because the response time of the device is in milliseconds, scanning is not easily used where speed is required.
While the reflective LCD modulator has enabled low cost digital printing on photosensitive media, the demands of high resolution printing have not been fully addressed. For many applications, such as imaging for medical applications, resolution is critical. Micro-mechanical modulators and electro-optic modulators offer the ability to place many pixels in close proximity. Such devices are easily amenable to high resolution printing. Often linear devices such as the grating light valve U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,311,360 and 5,459,610, can be incorporated into printing systems. The line modulator in conjunction with a drum or scanning device can allow for very fast print times.
Modulator printing systems can incorporate a variety of methods to achieve gray scale. Texas Instruments employs a time delayed integration system that works well with line arrays as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,721,622, and 5,461,410. While this method can provide adequate gray levels at a reasonable speed, line printing time delayed integration (TDI) methods can result in registration problems and soft images. Alternate methods have been proposed particularly around transmissive LCDs such as the design presented in U.S. Pat. No. 5,754,305.
It is desirable to increase the resolution of a photographic image, using available technology, reduce reciprocity failure, while preserving adequate gray scale and keeping cost low. Line modulators such as the grating light valve, often have extremely fast response times. The result is fully achievable gray scale either through differential voltage application or through pulse width modulation. In general, line modulators that operate in schlieren mode offer advantage in resolution and speed in photographic printing systems.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a high pixel density color image at the media plane in an AgX printing system. It is also an object of this invention to provide means by which to utilize a linear high site density spatial light modulator to create digital images for imaging onto photographic media.
Briefly, according to one aspect of the present invention a printer for printing on a light sensitive media comprises a light source which produces a light beam. Illumination optics comprises cross array components and array direction components for reducing divergence of the beam from the light. The illumination optics flood illuminates a grating modulator with reduced light beams. An address means connects to the grating modulator array for individually addressing modulator sites on the grating modulator array for imparting a phase change to the reduced light beams. An imaging lens directs light from the grating modulator array onto the light sensitive media. The imaging lens comprises a first lens element which converts the light into diffracted and undiffracted light; a spatial filter which discriminates between the diffracted and the undiffracted light; and a second lens element which reconstructs an image of the modulator sites.
In another embodiment the laser sources are imaged color sequentially through unifornizing, and anamorphic optics to create essentially line illumination at a plane of a spatial light modulator. The spatial light modulator is comprised of a plurality of modulator sites in a line. Individual modulator sites diffract, and reflect the incoming light into multiple spatial orders. Light is then imaged through a print lens assembly and a spatial filter onto a media plane. The spatial filter serves to isolate one or more diffracted orders onto the media plane. When the modulator is activated in one state, light is passed through the optical system and is imaged onto the media plane. In the opposite state, light is blocked by the spatial filter and is not imaged onto the image plane. The media is exposed in a color sequential manner with linear color image. The media is placed on a rotating drum such that the drum speed is set in accordance with the illumination requirements of the chosen media.
In yet another embodiment of the invention laser sources are sequentially rotated into position through the use of a rotating wheel or are scanned through the use of a galvo onto the surface of the modulator.
In a further embodiment linear arrangements of light emitting diodes are sequentially scanned onto the spatial light modulator.
In another embodiment a broadband light source followed by color filters sequentially illuminates the linear spatial light modulator.
In yet another embodiment three lines of illumination are spatially separated and used with three distinct spatial light modulators.
In an alternate embodiment three distinct spatial filters are employed.
The invention and its objects and advantages will become more apparent in the detailed description of the preferred embodiment presented below.

Color printer comprising a linear grating spatial light modulator


In a semiconductor sensor having double diaphragm structure, in which pressure to be measured is applied to diaphragm portions having distortion gages via a liquid filled in spaces partitioned by sealed diaphragms, as circuit elements of a signal processing circuit for processing an output of a distortion gage bridge are integrated in and on a semiconductor chip having diaphragm portions, the number of component parts used is reduced, and a compact size, a low cost, and high reliability are attained. This arrangement can be applied to any of the pressure sensors for detecting absolute pressure, relative pressure, and differential pressure.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a double diaphragm-type semiconductor pressure sensor adopting a double diaphragm structure to ensure that a fluid whose pressure is to be measured does not come into direct contact with a semiconductor diaphragm on Which a distortion gauge is formed.
2. Description of the Conventional Art
In cases where a semiconductor pressure sensor is used for measurement of pressure of a liquid, such as water pressure and oil pressure, or a mixture thereof, a double diaphragm structure in which a metallic sealed diaphragm is attached to a pressure introducing portion is generally used to avoid the deterioration of the characteristic through the adherence of sediments of the liquid on a semiconductor diaphragm on which a distortion gage is formed. An example of a semiconductor pressure sensor to which this double diaphragm structure is applied is shown in FIG. 2A. In a silicon chip 1, a diaphragm is formed in a central portion thereof by means of etching, and four distortion gages are formed on the diaphragm in a dispersed manner and constitute a bridge circuit. This silicon chip is secured to a container 3 via a pedestal 2 formed of silicon or glass for alleviating a thermal stress. As shown in FIG. 2B, a space 100 surrounded by the pedestal 2 and a recessed portion located in a surface of the diaphragm of the silicon chip 1 is sealed into a vacuum. An upper opening of the container 3 is closed by a sealed diaphragm 4 which is made of stainless steel and whose periphery is airtightly coupled with the container 3, and an insulating oil 5 such as silicone oil is sealed in the interior of a space including the silicon chip 1 and the pedestal 2. A cover 6 airtightly coupled with the periphery of the container 3 is opposed to a top of the sealed diaphragm 4, and a space surrounded by the cover 6 and the sealed diaphragm 4 communicates with the outside via a hole 7 in the cover 6. Input/output voltages to and from the distortion gage bridge are led to outside the container 3 via wires 8 and leads 9 and are connected to the wires of a circuit board 40. An operational amplifier chip 41, a thick-film resistor 42, and the like are mounted on the circuit board 40, thereby constituting a signal processing circuit for amplifying a gage bridge output signal and effecting the compensation of the temperature and adjustment of the characteristic. An output from this circuit is led out to the outside through a lead 10. A major portion of the container 3 and the circuit board 40 are covered with a molded resin 43 for protection.
Pressure to be measured passes through the hole 7 of the cover 6 and is imparted to the sealed diaphragm 4, and is further transmitted to the diaphragm on the silicon chip 1 via the insulating oil 5: Then, as shown in an equivalent circuit in FIG. 3, the bridge constituted by resistors R.sub.G1, R.sub.G2, R.sub.G3, and R.sub.G4 of the distortion gages produces a difference between a vacuum and a space in the recessed portion of the chip 1, i.e., an output corresponding to an absolute pressure. This output is converted to a sensor signal having a predetermined characteristic and is outputted from a V.sub.out terminal. Accordingly, it is necessary to lead out four terminals, namely, a terminal 91 for applying a supply voltage V.sub.cc through the container 3, a ground terminal 92 for connecting the chip to Gnd, and two terminals 93 and 94 connected to the signal processing circuit 44.
FIG. 4 is another example of the conventional art, and portions which are common to those of FIG. 2 are denoted by the same reference numerals. In this case, the pressure to be measured is applied to an etched-side surface of the diaphragm. The silicon chip 1 is secured on the pedestal 2 where a hole 11 for introducing the pressure to a central portion is located. In addition, the pedestal 2 is secured on a substrate 12 coupled with the container 3. A hole 13 for introducing the pressure to an extension of the hole 11 in the pedestal 2 is provided in this substrate 12 as well. The insulating oil 5 is sealed in a space surrounded by the silicon chip 1, the substrate 12, the cylindrical container 3, and the sealed diaphragm 4 whose periphery is airtightly coupled with the container 3. The pressure to be measured is introduced through the hole 7 formed in the cover 6, and is transmitted to the etched surface of the diaphragm of the silicon chip 1 via the insulating oil 5. An unetched surface of the silicon chip 1 is covered with a cover 14, and is open to the atmosphere through a hole 15 formed in the cover 14. As a result, this sensor operates as a relative pressure sensor. In the same as the example of the conventional art shown in FIG. 2, the circuit substrate 40 for outputting a predetermined sensor signal by performing signal processing as well as the molded resin 43 for protection are attached to the outside of the container 3.
To disseminate the above-described double diaphragm-type semiconductor pressure sensors, it is necessary to make the sensors compact in size and effect a cost reduction. For the compact size and reduced cost, a reduction of the number of components parts used is effective.

Semiconductor pressure sensor having double diaphragm structure


A carbon brush composed of a brush body and a lead wire is used for supplying electric current to a rotor of a rotary electric machine. The lead wire is made by twisting many thin wire elements each having a diameter smaller than 0.05 mm. A cross-section of the lead wire is made larger than 3 mm2 to give the lead wire a sufficient current capacity. Strength of the lead wire against vibration is improved by using a large number of thin wire elements without sacrificing flexibility. Preferably, a margin length between both ends of the lead wire is provided to allow the lead wire to smoothly follow movements of the brush body slidably contacting a commutator. An amount of a flexure of the lead wire due to the margin length is predetermined so that a stress applied to the wire element does not exceed its permissible fatigue limit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a carbon brush that is used in a rotary electric machine such as a starter for cranking an internal combustion engine.
2. Description of Related Art
A starter including a DC motor is used in an automotive vehicle for cranking an internal combustion engine. A high vibration is imposed on the starter because the starter is directly mounted on the engine. Especially, the starter is subjected to a very high vibration when it is mounted on an engine rotating at a high speed. Therefore, the starter has to be designed to endure a high vibration. Carbon brushes used in the DC motor are also subjected to a high vibration.
A lead wire of the carbon brush is made of twisted copper wires to give a flexibility to the lead wire so that the lead wire is able to follow changes in a length of the carbon brush due to abrasion wear. The lead wire has a margin length between both ends thereof in order to give a certain amount of flexure. When vibration is applied to the lead wire, the lead wire vibrates by the amount of the flexure. There is a possibility that the lead wire is broken due to fatigue caused by such vibration. In particular, the lead wire used in the starter has a limited length for giving flexibility because of a space limitation. Since the starter is exposed to a high vibration, the lead wire vibrates up to an amount of the flexure created by the margin length. This vibration may result in cutting-off of the lead wire.
To cope with this problem, JP-B2-62-32698 proposes an improved lead wire having a high toughness. To improve the toughness of the lead wire, soft copper wire elements and stainless steel wire elements (or piano wire elements) are twisted together to form the lead wire. However, there is an inverse relation between toughness and flexibility. That is, flexibility of the lead wire has to be sacrificed by improving the toughness. If the flexibility of the lead wire decreases, a force pressing the carbon brush against a commutator decreases, resulting in a poor contact between the carbon brush and the commutator.

Carbon brush with lead wire for use in rotary electric machine


An image rotating device is described which includes a storage unit for storing image information and a tilt indicating unit for imputting information necessary to corect the tilt of the image information stored in the storage unit. Further, an image processing unit devides the image information, stored in the storage unit, into a plurality of areas according to the information supplied by the tilt indicating unit. It then affects a parallel movement of each area to accomplish the correction of the tilt of the image information.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image rotating device for use in a n electronic filing machine or a facsimile machine for correcting a tilt of an image read out by an image reading device, such as a charge-coupled device.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It often occurs that an image read out by the image reading device such as a charge-coupled device, used in the electronic filing machine or the facsimile machine, tilts. In order to correct this tilt of the image, it has long been practiced to rotate each dot according the angle of tilt of the imgae.
However, it has been discovered that the prior art technique, to rotate each dot according to the angle of tilt of the image, requires a relatively long processing time.


This invention relates to catalyst systems comprising a catalyst compound having a bridged group 4 metal metallocene (where the bridge preferably contains an (Me2Si)2 group, an activator, and a support material. In some embodiments, the present disclosure provides for polyolefins and a process for producing a polyolefin composition comprising contacting at least one olefin with a catalyst system.

Olefin polymerization catalysts are of great use in industry. Hence there is interest in finding new catalyst systems that increase the commercial usefulness of the catalyst and allow the production of polymers having improved properties.
Catalysts for olefin polymerization are often based on transition metal compounds, e.g., metallocenes, as catalyst precursors, which are activated either with alumoxane or an activator containing a non-coordinating anion.
WO 2002/002576 discloses metallocene compositions and their use in the preparation of catalyst systems for olefin polymerization, particularly propylene polymerization. The bridged bis (2-R3-4-phenyl-indenyl) metallocenes described therein include those having at least one phenyl ring substituted at the 3′ and 5′ positions by butyl groups which may be the same or different, e.g., tert-butyl.
U.S. Publication No. 2014/0057777; U.S. Publication No. 2014/0107301; WO 2013/151863; and EP 0849273 B1 disclose (Me2Si)2(Indenyl)2ZrCl2.
WO 2017/011073 discloses substituted (Me2Si)2(Indenyl)2ZrCl2 compounds, such as tetramethylenedisilylene bis(4-(3′,5′-di-tert-butylphenyl)-indenyl) zirconium dichloride.
U.S. Publication No. 2003/0088038 discloses Me2Si—O—SiMe2(indenyl)2ZrCl2.
JOURNAL OF ORGANOMETALLIC CHEMISTRY, Vol. 585, 1999, pp. 18-25, discloses Si2Me4-bridged zirconocene dichlorides, such as meso-(Me2Si)2(Indenyl)2ZrCl2 and meso-Si2Me4(3-SiMe3-C9H5)2ZrCl2.
U.S. Publication No. 2012/0088890 A1 discloses metallocene compositions and their use in catalyst systems for olefin polymerization. The bridged metallocenes described therein include ((Me2Si)2(Indenyl)(Cp)ZrCl2.
MACROMOLECULAR SYMPOSIA, Vol. 89, 1995, pp. 237-247, discloses bridged zirconocenes: rac-(Me2Si)2(Indenyl)2ZrCl2, rac-(Me2Si)2(2-Me-4-Ph-Indenyl)2ZrCl2, rac-(Me2Si)2(2-Me-4,5-Benzo-Indenyl)2ZrCl2.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,988,410 discloses substituted bis indenyl metallocene catalyst compounds comprising —Si—Si— bridges and their use in catalyst systems for olefin polymerization.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,040,643 disclose various (Me2Si)2 bridged catalyst compounds, such as (Me2Si)2(Cp)(3-(3-phenylpropyl)-Indenyl)ZrCl2; (Me2Si)2(Cp)(3-Allyl-Indenyl)ZrCl2; (Me2Si)2(Me4Cp)(3-Allyl-Indenyl)ZrCl2; and (Me2Si)2(Cp)(3,8-di-tBu-Fluorenyl)ZrCl2.
EP 849 273 A1 discloses (Me2Si)2 bridged catalyst compounds containing a seven membered ring fused with a cyclopentadienyl group.
KR 2015065084 discloses bis (substituted-fluorenyl)(Me2Si—CH2) bridged catalyst compounds
U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,842,764 and 8,865,848 discloses bridged metallocenes, such as (Me2Si)2(Indenyl)2ZrCl2. The bridged metallocenes described therein have C6 and C7 of each indenyl ligand joined to form a saturated cyclic 5-membered ring.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,728,086 discloses bridged metallocene compositions having two indenyl ligands, such as (Me2Si)2(Indenyl)2ZrCl2.
JP 2015/172037 discloses bridged metallocene compositions such as (Me2Si)2(Indenyl)(Cp)ZrCl2. The bridged metallocene compositions described therein consist of a hydrogen atom at C8 of the indenyl ligand.
Other references of interest include: WO 2009027075: JP 2011-137146A; WO 98/403331; and U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,609,793; 8,058,461; 7,405,261; 7,157,531; 6,936,675; 6,903,229; 6,894,179; 6,888,017; 6,825,372; 6,784,305; 6,414,095; 6,399,723; 6,380,334; 6,380,331; 6,380,330; 6,380,124; 6,380,123; 6,380,121; 6,380,120; 6,376,627; 6,376,413; 6,376,412; 6,376,411; 6,376,410; 6,376,409; 6,376,408; and 6,376,407.
There is a need for new and improved catalyst systems for the polymerization of olefins in order to achieve specific polymer properties, such as high molecular weights, to increase conversion, improve comonomer incorporation, and/or to alter comonomer distribution without deteriorating the resulting polymer's properties.

(Di)silicon bridged metallocenes that produce polyethylene with broad molecular weight distribution and high molecular weight


A replaceable bicycle derailleur hanger comprises a plate-like dropout member and a plate-like hanger member. A coupling portion of the hanger member is bifurcated to form legs defining a slot, and a dropout portion of a dropout member is received in the slot with a close fit. One or more removable fasteners join the two members at their overlapping juncture.

The vast majority of bicycles currently marketed for recreational bicycling by older children and adults have a multi-speed drive that includes a freewheel associated with the rear wheel and a derailleur to shift the drive chain among the sprocket wheels of the freewheel. The derailleur is attached to a hanger that is part of a plate that also includes the rear wheel axle dropout. The dropout/hanger plate is usually welded or brazed to the chainstay tube or to both the chainstay and seat stay tubes of the bicycle frame and, thus, is a permanent part of the frame.
The hanger portion of the dropout/hanger plate projects downwardly below the dropout, and the derailleur extends generally downwardly even farther. The derailleur, therefore, is quite exposed to impacts from objects on the ground, especially rocks or roadway curbs. Occasionally, the hanger portion of the dropout/hanger plate is broken off, commonly at the bolt hole where the derailleur is attached to it and which inherently presents the minimum cross-sectional area of the hanger portion and is therefore a zone of weakness, by an impact on the derailleur of an object along the path of the bicycle. The incidence of broken dropout/ hanger plates is particularly high in the case of mountain bikes, which are frequently ridden off-the-road. It is not possible, as a practical matter, to repair satisfactorily a broken dropout/hanger plate, because brazing the broken-off part to the vestigial part does not provide adequate strength. While welding is possible, the expense of preparing the pieces, making the weld, grinding it to accept the derailleur and repainting the area for appearance and protection will usually exceed the cost of a new frame. In the case of bicycles with aluminum frames, an attempt to weld the broken piece to the vestigial piece will almost certainly cause permanent thermal distortion of the chain stay and seat stay tubes of the frame adjacent the welding site and ruin the frame. Thus, a broken derailleur hanger almost always produces a bicycle frame destined for the scrap pile.