An enterprise business planning system includes a database having a relational data area and a transactional data area, and a server to store within the transactional data area contribution data received from a set of enterprise contributors. The server publishes the contribution data from the transactional data area to the relational data area. The transactional data area may include a set of contribution slots and a set of aggregations slots hierarchically related in accordance with an enterprise model. The relational area includes a set of related tables defined in accordance with the model. The transactional data area supports real-time interaction with the enterprise contributors, while the relational data area allows detailed statistical analysis and report generation.

The invention relates to enterprise computing environments, and more particularly, to computing environments for enterprise business planning.
More than ever before, enterprises are charged with establishing accurate forecasts for enterprise operations. Failing to meet established expectations can have significant negative impact on the enterprise in the areas of cash flow, stock price, liquidity, and investor faith, among other areas. Examples of enterprise planning activities for which accuracy is critical include revenue forecasting, inventory management, resource planning, and the like. Enterprise business planning, however, is a difficult and expensive task that often produces inaccurate results.
Conventionally, businesses have taken either a xe2x80x9ctop-downxe2x80x9d or a xe2x80x9cbottom-upxe2x80x9d approach to enterprise planning. In xe2x80x9ctop-downxe2x80x9d planning, businesses identify fundamental business targets, such as average product price, cost per employee, and the like, and push the targets down through the hierarchical structure of the corporation. In contrast, xe2x80x9cbottom-upxe2x80x9d planning involves the aggregation of low-level forecasts from the lowest cost centers of an organization. For budget planning, for example, management personnel may be required to periodically forecast expenses, and allocate the expenses to a number of categories, such as advertisement, travel, and salaries. However, the bottom-up forecasts rarely, if ever, reconcile with top-down business targets.
This information has typically been collected using paper or, more recently, electronic forms, such as an electronic template created with a spreadsheet software program. This often leaves the financial department of the enterprise with the difficult task of consolidating uncoordinated plans that have been compiled using inconsistent assumptions and varying business logic.
More recently, large computer systems have been used to collect the data via an enterprise network. The computer systems typically consolidate data collected from the various enterprise users using time-consuming, offline batch processing during xe2x80x9coffxe2x80x9d hours. This offline consolidation can lead to significant time delays between the collection of the data from a user, and the consolidation of the collected data with other data collected from the enterprise. As a result, such systems often present users an inaccurate view of the actual, aggregated data for the enterprise activity being forecasted. This may lead the users to provide incorrect data, or erroneously modify their input. Furthermore, the users may be unsure as to which numbers are the xe2x80x9crightxe2x80x9d numbers for the enterprise, and may generally doubt the integrity of the results. This slow process of data collection and offline consolidation can be particularly problematic for a heavily deadline-oriented activity like enterprise planning.
The invention is directed to enterprise planning techniques that improve the accuracy and predictability of budget planning within large organizations by enabling organizations to reconcile corporate financial models and organizational targets with detailed forecasts in real-time. In particular, the techniques make use of an enterprise planning database system having a transactional data area for real-time interaction with enterprise users, and a relational data area for detailed statistical analysis and report generation.
According to the techniques, an enterprise planning system enables and automates the reconciliation of top-down targets with detailed bottom-up forecasts for an enterprise. Generally, the enterprise planning system provides three stages of enterprise planning: (1) a modeling stage, (2) a contribution stage, and (3) a reconciliation stage. During the modeling stage, high-level enterprise managers or executives, referred to as analysts, define organizational targets, and build planning models for the enterprise. Next, during the contribution phase, a set of defined contributors interacts with the enterprise planning system and provides detailed forecasts in the form of contribution data. During the reconciliation phase, the enterprise planning system automates the reconciliation of the forecast data with the organizational targets.
During this process, the enterprise planning system operates in accordance with the defined model to provide a hierarchical planning process having multiple reconciliation levels. At each level, the enterprise planning system presents the contribution data to enterprise reviewers, as defined by the hierarchical model, and requires that the reviewer reconcile the target data with the forecast data. Each reviewer may, for example, reject or accept the contribution data in view of corporate targets provided by the analysts.
As the contributors provide the contribution data, the enterprise planning system automatically aggregates the contribution data across the enterprise in real-time, and presents the aggregated data to reviewers for acceptance or rejection. This process continues until the contribution data is ultimately approved by the reviewers associated with the highest level of the organizational hierarchy, thereby ensuring that the contribution data from the contributors reconciles with corporate targets.
In one embodiment, a system comprises a database having a relational data area and a transactional data area, and a server to store within the transactional data area contribution data received from a set of enterprise contributors, and to publish the contribution data from the transactional data area to the relational data area. The transactional data area may include a set of contribution slots and aggregations slots hierarchically related in accordance with an enterprise model. The relational area may comprise a set of related tables defined in accordance with the model.
In another embodiment, a method comprises receiving contribution data from a contributor of an enterprise in accordance with a multi-level enterprise model, and storing the contribution data for the contributor within a transactional area of a database. The method further comprises publishing the contribution data from the transactional area to a relational area of the database, and generating a report from the contribution data of the relational area of the database.
The invention may offer one or more advantages. For example, the techniques described herein may improve the accuracy and predictability of enterprise planning by enabling organizations to reconcile corporate models and organizational targets with detailed forecasts in real-time. The techniques may provide a platform that delivers collaborative, real-time planning capabilities, without requiring offline consolidation and aggregation of forecasts. Because the enterprise planning system can aggregate contribution data in real-time, all users can be presented with an accurate, up-to-date view of the numbers. The system provides rapid response regardless of the number of enterprise users involved in the planning, thus providing precise planning information.
Further, the architecture described herein can readily scale to thousands of users, and may be designed around best planning practices. In this manner, the system may used to centrally manage all planning information across operating units and systems within the enterprise, thus creating a xe2x80x9cplanning hub.xe2x80x9d Consequently, users can work from a single pool of planning data, and can be assured of the integrity of the data.
In addition, the techniques promote high user-participation across the enterprise, allowing planning cycles to be reduced, e.g., from months to weeks, and best practices, like rolling forecasting, to be quickly enabled.
The details of one or more embodiments of the invention are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features, objects, and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the description and drawings, and from the claims.

Real-time aggregation of data within an enterprise planning environment


A method and apparatus for controlling a movement of a virtual object in AR, and a terminal are provided. The method includes: a virtual moving area is generated within a current image capture range of a control device; a virtual object is generated in the virtual moving area; and a position of a virtual identifier in the virtual moving area is adjusted according to a real movement of the control device, and the virtual object is guided to virtually move according to the position of the virtual identifier. The present disclosure solves a technical problem in the related art that a joystick-based racing control mode provided in an AR scene is complex and game experience is poor.

Currently, there are fewer racing applications or games to be developed on AR technology. In the related art, a real-life racing demonstration developed by Toyota 86 is provided. An interactive method of the real-life racing demonstration is to generate a track and a racing car in a scene based on an AR camera, and to control the racing car by using a traditional left-right direction joystick. Specifically, a left and right turning of the racing car can be controlled by, using the left joystick, and a forward and backward movement of the racing car can be controlled by using the right joystick.
However, a problem of this method is that it is difficult to fully utilize advantages of AR technology simply by relying on a traditional joystick control mode.
An effective solution has not been provided yet currently for the above-mentioned problem.

Method and apparatus for controlling movement of virtual object in augmented reality, and terminal


Methods and apparatuses to place a prosthesis within a receiving structure are provided. A delivery apparatus includes an elongated support member including a support member distal end. A stop cap is disposed at the support member distal end and includes a stop cap transverse dimension larger than an inner diameter of a receiving lumen of the receiving structure. An elongated prosthesis-positioning member extends along the support member and stop cap so a distal surface of the prosthesis-positioning member is disposed at a position longitudinally coincident with a portion of the stop cap. A sheath comprises a sheath lumen receiving the prosthesis-positioning member so the sheath translates longitudinally relative to the prosthesis-positioning member. The delivery apparatus has a loaded configuration in which the prosthesis is received in the sheath lumen with a proximal end of the prosthesis abutting the prosthesis-positioning member distal surface.

Embodiments disclosed herein generally relate to medical devices. More particularly, embodiments disclosed herein relate to medical implant delivery apparatuses and methods, for example, apparatuses and methods to facilitate placement of prostheses within branch vessels.
Accurate and precise placement of a medical implant relative to one or more anatomical structures or other medical implants may improve the clinical results of a medical procedure. For example, a clinician may address a defect in a vessel by placing one or more prostheses (e.g., stents, stent-grafts, or grafts) within the vessel, e.g., to reinforce the vessel, keep the vessel open to fluid flow, connect the vessel to another prosthesis, etc. Accurate and precise placement of the prosthesis may ensure that fluid can flow in the desired manner or that the prosthesis is securely connected with the vessel or with another prosthesis. Certain characteristics of surgical procedures may however make it difficult for the clinician to accurately and precisely place a medical implant. For example, although in some surgical procedures fluoroscopy may allow the clinician to visualize the location of a medical device relative to the structure into which it is being placed, in other surgical procedures, e.g., cardiothoracic surgery, fluoroscopy may not be available to provide such guidance.
A frozen elephant trunk technique is an exemplary cardiothoracic surgery procedure in which the unavailability of fluoroscopy may make it difficult for the clinician to properly place a medical implant. A frozen elephant trunk technique may be used to treat a patient with an extensive aneurysm or dissection of the ascending aorta and descending aorta. Other surgical procedures may present similar or different characteristics that make it difficult for a clinician to accurately and precisely place medical implants in a desired manner.
Although many different variations of medical implant placement components and procedural steps have been introduced into the art, there exists a need for designs that allow clinicians to place medical implants in an improved manner.

Apparatuses to facilitate prosthesis placement


A cathode active material, a cathode including the cathode active material, a lithium battery including the cathode, and a method of preparing the cathode active material, the cathode active material including a lithium-containing metal oxide and an organic material coated on the lithium-containing metal oxide, the organic material including an acrylate or methacrylate organic material including an alkyleneglycol unit.

1. Field
Embodiments relate to a cathode active material, a cathode including the cathode active material, a lithium battery including the cathode, and a method of preparing the cathode active material.
2. Description of the Related Art
In order to satisfy miniaturization and high-performance requirements for various devices, miniaturization and weight-reduction of lithium batteries may play an important role. In addition, in order to utilize lithium batteries in, e.g., electric vehicles or the like, stability to withstand high-temperatures and high-voltage and high efficiency and cycle characteristics of lithium batteries may be important. Various cathode active materials have been analyzed in order to realize a lithium battery for satisfying these uses.
LiCoO2 is a cathode active material that is commercially available. LiCoO2 is relatively expensive and has an actual electric capacitance of 140 to 150 mAh/g, corresponding to about 50% of a theoretical capacitance.

Cathode active material, cathode including the cathode active material, lithium battery including the cathode, and method of preparing the cathode active material


A data transmission method for a universal serial bus (USB) host controller is provided. First, input data is received. A cyclic redundancy check (CRC) result of the input data is calculated, and, simultaneously, the input data is transmitted to a system memory of a host. Then, it is determined whether the input data is the last input data of a data packet. When it is determined that the input data is the last input data of the data packet, the CRC result of the last input data of the data packet is calculated. Thus, the CRC result of the data packet is accumulated. The accumulated CRC result is combined with the last input data, and transmitted the combination to the system memory of the host.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a data transmission method and a universal serial bus (USB) host controller using the data transmission method, and more particularly to a method of performing data transmission between a USB device and a host, wherein a USB host controller performs the method.
2. Description of the Related Art
For the current universal serial bus (USB) 3.0 protocol specification, a host exchanges data with USB device through a host controller. In order to support a dual-bus USB 3.0 structure, the host controller is required to include Super-Speed USB 3.0 elements and USB 2.0 elements, so the exchanging of control, states, and data on each bus between the host and the USB device can be managed simultaneously. The host controller includes several downstream ports for Super-Speed USB 3.0 and USB 2.0. Through these downstream ports, the host can examine connection and removal states of the USB devices, manage flow control between the host and the USB devices, manage data flow between the host and the USB devices, collect state and activity statistics, and supply power to the USB devices. Due to the Super-Speed USB 3.0 elements, USB 3.0 can provide a higher transmission speed which is nearly equal to decuple of the transmission speed of USB 2.0 and higher power saving efficiency. Thus, USB 3.0 can be widely applied in peripheral devices of computers and consumer electronic products.
In support of the USB 3.0 protocol, Intel issues Extensible Host Controller Interface (xHCI) protocol which mainly describes registers and data structures between system software and hardware for providing a standard communication manner between a USB 3.0 host controller and USB 3.0 peripheral driving programs. According to xHCI protocol and USB 3.0 protocol, a USB host controller can start or stop data transmission, for example, when buffer space configured for data transmission is run out of, the USB host controller stops the data transmission and notifies a USB device of the situation, then the USB device is switched to perform another data transmission or waits to perform the same data transmission after the USB host controller allocates buffer space.
In an upstream cycle/input transmission process, after a buffer in a current USB host controller receives enough input data from a USB device, the conventional USB host controller can calculate a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) result by using all input data and then combine the calculated CRC result with the all input data used for the CRC result calculation to form a data packet. Thus, when the buffer in the USB host controller receives the input data from the USB device, a bus of the USB host controller configured for transmitting data to a host is idle, resulting in lower usage rate of the bus and lower entire speed of data transmission. Moreover, the data stored in the buffer can not be transmitted to a system memory of the host immediately. Thus, when an upstream cycle/input transmission fails or is malfunctioned, if the USB device continuously transmits input data to the buffer in the USB host controller, buffer overrun of the USB host controller is easily induced.

Data transmission methods and universal serial bus host controllers utilizing the same


A reversible LED lamp has a fixed support including first and second plate bodies. One side of the first body is connected to the second; the other is connected to a first limiting member. A rotating support includes a third plate body and rotating support member. One side of the third body is connected to a first rotating portion; the other side is connected to the rotating support member, below the second and third bodies. A side of the rotating support member close to the second body is flush therewith. The plate bodies and rotating support member form a power supply installation space. A light-emitting assembly is in a light source installation space in the rotating support member. When a power supply in the power supply installation space is repaired/replaced, the rotating support is unfolded. The rotating support is rotatable in the fixed support, which has an avoidance groove.

Linear lamps are used for local illumination. Existing linear lamps are each integrated, and the linear lamps each have a fixed size and a length that cannot be lengthened or shortened according to lighting requirements, and are inconvenient to use. A support of an existing lamp body is fixed to a cover plate by a screw. During replacement or repair, the screw needs to be removed before the inside of the lamp body can be open. This is inconvenient to operate. In addition, when the existing lamp body is installed, the support needs to be installed on an installation surface first, and then the support is installed well and then the cover plate is installed with the support. Therefore, if a module in the support needs to be replaced, the lamp body needs to be disassembled first, and then the cover plate is disassembled for replacement, and thus the operation is complicated.
The Chinese patent No. 201520023895.0 published on May 13, 2015 discloses a side beam assembly for an LED lighting device and an LED lighting device, including a side beam, a side beam cover plate, and a support, where the side beam cover plate is rotatably connected to the side beam, the support is rotatably connected to the side beam and the side beam cover plate, and the side beam cover plate can be buckled on the side beam or an end of the side beam cover plate can be away from the side beam by rotating the side beam cover plate; and a module can be installed or replaced by overturning the side beam cover plate.
A connecting shaft of the side beam assembly is longitudinally limited in a limiting groove. A limiting structure with a width smaller than that of the connecting shaft is arranged at an upper end of the limiting groove. Because a size of the limiting structure is smaller than that of the connecting shaft, the connecting shaft cannot be separated from the limiting groove in a longitudinal direction, thereby implementing longitudinal limiting to the connecting shaft. To implement rotation of the connecting shaft, a plate body is arranged between the side beam cover plate and the connecting shaft. When the connecting shaft is arranged in the limiting groove, the plate body is arranged in the limiting structure. When the side beam cover plate is opened or closed, the side beam cover plate swings with the support. However, no avoidance structure for the plate body to move is provided in the limiting structure. Rotation of the lower end of the side beam cover plate needs to be supported by the support, so that a swing amplitude of the plate body is small. An unfolding amplitude of the side beam cover plate is small. In this way, a construction area formed by the side beam cover plate and the support is small, and construction is not facilitated during assembly replacement and repair. In addition, the side beam cover plate only repairs an LED module placed in the side beam cover plate. If a light-emitting component and a power supply component in the LED module are arranged in different areas, a plurality of side beam cover plates need to be additionally added to implement repair in different areas, and the structure is complicated.


A single device that receives communications, resources, data, and/or other information intended for a user having multiple contact addresses is provided. The single device can receive various information intended for multiple telephone numbers, email aliases, screen names, aliases, other means of contact, or combinations thereof. The device can selectively forward the information to the user based on a current user role, user preferences, contact information, or based on other criteria. If information is to be forwarded to the user at substantially the same time as receipt, automatic means of notifying the user of the role for which the communication is intended are provided.

Wireless mobile technology has become widespread and is utilized for both personal as well as business uses. Mobile devices such as telephones, pagers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), data terminals, and the like, are designed to be carried by those who travel from place to place in the daily course of business, for personal reasons, or for both business and personal reasons.
The appeal of mobile devices is due in large part to the convenience of having such devices available regardless of where the user may be located (e.g., at home, at work, traveling, out of town, and so on). In such a manner, users can easily stay "connected". These computing devices can be accessed at almost any time and place and can contain a tremendous amount of information relating to people, organizations, general interests, and other items. Electronic storage mechanisms have enabled accumulation of massive amounts of data. For instance, data that previously required volumes of books for recordation can now be stored electronically without the expense of printing paper and with a fraction of the physical space needed for storage of paper.
There can be a proliferation of incoming communications (e.g., email, text messages, phone calls, and so forth) and a single individual can receive hundreds of communications in a single day. With this enormous amount of incoming information, it can be difficult to determine which communications are important and should be handled in a reasonable amount of time compared with those that are not as important and can be disregarded for a while. Additionally, the individual receiving the incoming communications has tasks and other duties to perform and might not have much time available for reviewing each incoming communication.
There is a growing trend for users to manage different devices for different functions, roles, or personas. A first device might be utilized for work applications (e.g., a work persona) and a second, separate device might be utilized for personal applications (e.g., a personal persona). For example, a worker might have a mobile business phone and a mobile personal phone. If the worker is conducting an activity relating to their employer, the mobile business phone is utilized. If, however, personal activities are occurring, the mobile personal phone is utilized. Thus, users that need to (or desire to) separate work and personal personas must carry duplicate devices, which can be cumbersome as well as costly. Additionally, the users can have duplicate addresses, phone numbers, and so forth, which can make supervising various types of information for different roles not only complex but also time-consuming.


By providing a cover of heat-resistant fabric over a pressure tank of a gas generator for an airbag, the objective can be attained that the outer exposed surface of the covered gas generator is not heated up to an excessive degree. Moreover, due to this feature, the proportion of solid and liquid, hot particles in the gaseous streams discharged from the gas generator can be additionally reduced.

This invention relates to a gas generator for producing gas to inflate an airbag of a vehicle with at least one pressure tank filled with gas-releasing materials, the wall of this pressure tank exhibiting gas discharge openings.
Such a gas generator has been described, by way of example, in DE No. 3,742,656-A1 and corresponding U.S. Pat. application Ser. No. 07/197,272, filed May 23, 1988. This generator consists of a central member to which are radially attached at least two tubular pressure tanks. The pressure tanks are extensively filled with a propellant which, after ignition, produces large amounts of gas within a short period of time exiting through discharge openings in the jacket surface of each pressure tank, and thereby inflating an airbag. Filters are arranged in front of the discharge openings in the wall of the pressure tank; these filters are to retain hot (solid and liquid) particles formed during the reaction. On account of the reaction in the pressure tank, the wall of the pressure tank is likewise heated up whereby a collapsing airbag can be superficially melted and thereby can be damaged. Also, the danger cannot be excluded that the vehicle occupant receives injuries from the hot surface of the gas generator.

Gas generator for an airbag with a protective cover


Precision compacts are produced from powdered material in a mold having at least one top plug and at least one bottom plug between which plugs the powdered material is compressed. The course of the pressing force of at least one of the plugs is detected as a function of the path of its travel during compression, and compared with a predetermined path-dependent tolerance range of the pressing force. Upon exceeding such tolerance range, the final pressing position of the plug in question is changed in such a manner that the height of the compact in such final pressing position is reduced by an amount corresponding to the increased springing back of the compact upon its removal from the mold that results from the greater final pressing force. In the absence of exceeding such tolerance range, the final pressing position of the plug in question is changed in such a manner that the weight of the compact in such final pression position is increased by an amount corresponding to the decreased springing back of the compact upon its removal from the mold that results from the lesser final pressing force.

The present invention relates to a method for producing dimensionally correct compacts of powdered material on a press in a mold having at least one top plug and at least one bottom plug between which plugs said powdered material is compressed. The present invention also relates to an apparatus for carrying out the foregoing method.
From Federal Republic of Germany 2,951,716 C2, a method is known for pressing moldings having at least one step of metal powder, by which moldings of constant height and density can be produced. For this purpose, the variation of the pressing force of the force plugs is measured as a function of the distance traveled, and is stored and compared with predetermined distance-dependent desired values. The precision in height of the compacts is in this connection assured by mechanical stops and by the stroke of the top force plug which can be set to a fixed value. The constant density is made possible within given limits of precision in the manner that the filling volume of the mold is reduced in the next operating cycle when the mentioned comparison of the pressing force has shown that the desired value has been exceeded. The reverse process is employed if the desired value has not been reached.
In this way, reaction changes in the properties of the metal powder used or other changes (for instance occurrence of given mechanical oscillations) which, in the final analysis, affect the bulk density of the powder and thus the compression properties of the powder introduced into the mold, can be reacted to. To be sure, in this case, the correction can act only in connection with the next compact since no change in the filling volume of the mold is possible any longer in the case of the compact on which the differences from the desired value were noted. The known method, however, results in definite improvements over the prior art which was known up to that time with respect to the simultaneous maintaining of density and precision of shape of the compacts. In the event of particularly high demands on the precision of the compacts, however, this method is not always sufficient and it may lead to considerable rejects due to the unavoidable dead time of the method of regulation used.

Method for manufacturing dimensionally correct compacts


The technology disclosed herein concerns a family of alkoxybenzophenones for use as photoinitiators for crosslinking polyolefins.

With the rising importance of polyolefins in various fields of our lives, curing of polyolefins has become of greater importance. However, curing has thus far been achieved by ionizing radiation of high energy (electron beam or gamma-irradiation) which enabled cleavage of C—H bonds in the polyolefin molecule, yielding free radicals, and subsequent crosslinking into larger macro-molecules and finely, three dimensional network. While curing of polyolefins by irradiation of a lower energy, such as UV light, is also possible, available photoinitiators that are typically used for photo-curing of acrylic monomers and oligomers cannot be used for photo-crosslinking of polyolefins due to substantial incompatibility with the polyolefins.
The successful photocuring of a polyethylene melt was realized in [1].
US Patent application US 2017/0114193 [2] Norrish-II photoinitiators of the benzophenone derivatives were used for photo-crosslinking of pipes made of polyethylene.


It is disclosed a packaging material for a pharmaceutical product. The packaging material comprises a colored element which at about 38° C. discolors partially, revealing a marking. The element is formed by a first portion forming the marking printed with conventional ink, and a second portion printed with thermochromic ink. The thermochromic ink is colored below about 38° C. and becomes colorless when this temperature is reached or exceeded. The two portions are arranged so that the first portion is invisible below about 38° C., but becomes visible when this temperature is reached or exceeded.

The existence of pharmaceutical products capable of reducing the fever is known. Said pharmaceutical products are also known under the name of antipyretics. Typical antipyretic drugs are paracetamol, acetylsalicylic acid, niflumic acid, nimesulide, ketoprofen, flurbiprofen and some derivatives thereof.
The existence of substances able to change colour at a predetermined temperature is also known. Said substances are referred to as being "thermochromic". Generally, said substances form part of the category of liquid crystals.
During the last few decades numerous inks based on thermochromic substances have been investigated. These inks are called "thermochromic inks" and are used for silk-screen printing, flexographic printing, wet offset printing, lithographic printing and the like.
Some of these inks are coloured and change colour at a predetermined temperature. Other thermochromic inks are colourless and become coloured at a predetermined temperature. There are also other inks which are coloured and become colourless at a predetermined temperature.
US 2006/0241355 discloses a healthcare base including an area to receive a bottle that carries a health-related substance for the user to take. The bottle can be provided with a thermometer obtained with a thermochromic paint. The temperature sensor includes a series of dots arranged in an array with two axes. One axis is in one degree interval, and the other is in 0.2 degree interval. To use the thermometer, the user can hold the bottle against his/her forehead for a duration of time. Then, the user pulls the bottle away from the forehead to read the temperature.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Packaging material for a pharmaceutical product having a coloured element which at a predetermined temperature discolours partially, revealing a marking, and method for producing this material

Aziende Chimiche Riunite Angelini Francesco A.C.R.A.F. S.p.A.


Provided is a display apparatus that may estimate a degree of visual fatigue corresponding to an input 3-dimensional (3D) image, using a visual fatigue model to estimate the degree of visual fatigue of a user. The display apparatus may reduce the degree of visual fatigue of the user by rescaling a depth level of the input 3D image based on the degree of visual fatigue.

1. Field
One or more example embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a general-purpose display apparatus for providing a 3-dimensional (3D) image, and more particularly, to a 3D display apparatus and a method for providing different images, each having a disparity between the left eye and the right eye of a human using a stereoscopic image or a multi-view image.
2. Description of the Related Art
A 3-dimensional (3D) image display apparatus refers to an image display apparatus that may provide different images reflecting a disparity between the left eye and right eye of a human in order to provide a 3D effect.
A 3D image display apparatus may include a stereoscopic type providing a left eye viewpoint image and a right eye viewpoint image, and a multi-view image providing an image from various viewpoints.
When configuring a 3D display, visual fatigue due to a convergence-accommodation (C-A) difference may occur.
In the past, in order to resolve the visual fatigue, schemes of collectively down scaling a depth level of an input 3D image without estimating a degree of visual fatigue, regenerating a 3D image based on several simple assumptions, and the like have been disclosed.
However, when following the aforementioned suggestions, dynamically regenerating an input 3D image by adaptively estimating visual fatigue, which may result in considerable 3D image distortion compared with the improvement in the visual fatigue, may be difficult.


A connection method and a connection structure, using solder bumps, for component-side pad electrodes and substrate-side pad electrodes, and inspecting methods for the connection state thereof which are adaptable to high density mounting, and which allow the miniaturization of the product formed by mounting a surface-mount component onto a substrate. Substrate-side pad electrodes are arranged inside a component-corresponding region A; the length of the substrate-side pad electrodes is set to be larger than that of the corresponding component-side pad electrode; an IC chip (surface-mount component) is placed on the substrate so that each of the solder bumps is opposed to a predetermined substrate-side pad electrode; and the solder bumps are melted by heating, thereby connecting each of the component-side pad electrodes and one of the substrate-side pad electrodes through the solder.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connection method, a connection structure, and inspecting methods for the connection state when pad electrodes (component-side pad electrodes) formed on a component and pad electrodes (substrate-side pad electrodes) formed on a substrate are each connected by solder bumps.
2. Description of the Related Art
As an example of connection structure for connecting each of the component-side pad electrodes formed on a component and one of the substrate-side pad electrodes formed on a substrate by means of a solder bump, a connection structure as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication 9-82760 (see U.S. Pat. No. 5,914,536, an English language patent family member) is known.
As shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B herein, this connection structure is one wherein the semiconductor chip (surface-mount component) 111, in which a plurality of terminal electrodes (component-side pad electrodes) 112 is provided on the bottom surface thereof, is mounted onto a wiring substrate 113, and wherein each of the wiring patterns (substrate-side pad electrodes) 114 provided on the wiring substrate 113 and one of the component-side pad electrodes 112 are electrically connected by a bump (solder bump) 115. In this connection structure, each of bumps 115 is formed of solder 115a, and a metallic core 115b using Cu or the like. The portion (the outer peripheral portion) formed at the outside of the outer edge of the region corresponding to the plan view of the semiconductor chip 111, out of the solder 115a, makes contact with a solder resist 117 formed on the wiring patterns (substrate-side pad electrodes) 114.
In this connection structure, the reflow method is used for mounting a semiconductor chip onto the circuit board 113 of the semiconductor chip 111. Specifically, the connection is performed using the following method.
(1) First, a metallic core 115b is formed on each of the terminal electrodes 112 of the semiconductor chip 111, and a bump 115 is formed by covering the metallic core 115b by solder 115a.
(2) Then, the semiconductor chip 111 is positioned and mounted on the wiring patterns (substrate-side pad electrodes) 114 on the wiring substrate 113, and after the solder 115a of each of the bumps 115 has been melted, the solder 115a is cooled down to solidify it.
In this manner, each of the terminal electrodes 112 and one of the wiring patterns (substrate-side pad electrodes) 114 is connected by a bump 115, and thus the semiconductor chip 111 is mounted onto the wiring substrate 113. Herein, the melted solder 115a flows and spreads over the wiring patterns (substrate-side pad electrodes) 114, which has a good solder wettability, and is stopped by the solder resist 117. Hence, by setting the amount of the solder 115a of the solder bump 115 and the area of the portion which is not covered with the solder resist 117 of the wiring patterns (substrate-side pad electrodes) 114 to an appropriate value, the contact area between the bumps 115 and the wiring patterns (substrate-side pad electrodes) 114 can be made constant, thereby ensuring a stable connection state.
In the above-described conventional connection structure, however, the substrate-side pad electrodes 114 are formed so as to be extended to the outside of the outer edge of the region corresponding to the plan view of the semiconductor chip 111. This makes it difficult to apply this connection structure to the case where surface-mount components such as semiconductor chips are mounted at a high density. In addition, this raises a problem in that the miniaturization of the product which is obtained by mounting semiconductor chips and the like is restricted.
The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems. The object of the present invention to provide a connection method and a connection structure, using solder bumps, for component-side pad electrodes and substrate-side pad electrodes, and inspecting methods for the connection state thereof which are adaptable to high density mounting, and which allow the miniaturization of a product formed by mounting a surface-mount component onto a substrate.
In order to achieve the above-described object, the present invention provides a method for connecting each of component-side pad electrodes and one of substrate-side pad electrodes, when a surface-mount component wherein component-side pad electrodes are formed on the surface thereof opposed to a substrate, and wherein solder bumps are formed on the component-side pad electrodes, is mounted onto a substrate, wherein substrate-side pad electrodes are formed on the surface thereof. This method is characterized by comprising arranging the substrate-side pad electrodes inside the region corresponding to the plan view of the surface-mount component (hereinafter, referred to as the xe2x80x9ccomponent-corresponding regionxe2x80x9d); setting the size of each of the substrate-side pad electrodes, in the direction substantially perpendicular to the outer edge of the component-corresponding region (hereinafter, referred to as the xe2x80x9clength of substrate-side pad electrodesxe2x80x9d), larger than that of the corresponding component-side pad electrode, in the direction substantially perpendicular to the outer edge of the surface-mount component (hereinafter, referred to as the xe2x80x9clength of component-side pad electrodexe2x80x9d); and placing the surface-mount component on the substrate so that each of the solder bumps are opposed to a predetermined substrate-side pad electrode, and melting the solder bumps by heating, thereby connecting each of the component-side pad electrodes and one of the substrate-side pad electrodes through the solder.
In the connection method for the pad electrodes in accordance with the present invention, the substrate-side pad electrodes are arranged inside the component-corresponding region; the length of each of the substrate-side pad electrodes is set to be larger than that of the corresponding component-side pad electrode; and the surface-mount component is placed on the substrate so that each of the solder bumps are opposed to a predetermined substrate-side pad electrode, and heated to melt the solder bumping. Therefore, the solder which flows and spreads over each of the substrate-side pad electrodes, allows each of the component-side pad electrodes and one of the substrate-side pad electrodes to be connected with reliability.
Also, since each of the substrate-side pad electrodes is formed inside the component-corresponding region, a high-density mounting can be achieved without risk of generating short-circuiting, as well as the miniaturization of the products can be met. Furthermore, the interconnection between the substrate-side pad electrodes and the substrate side can be achieved by connecting to the wiring formed inside the substrate or on the back surface thereof through, for example, via holes or through holes. Thereby, a configuration wherein the substrate-side pad electrodes or wiring are not formed outside the component-corresponding area, can be obtained.
Moreover, since the length of each of the substrate-side pad electrodes is set to be larger than that of each of the component-side pad electrodes, it is possible to make a pass/fail discrimination, with ease and reliability, of the connection state of the pad electrodes by detecting the shapes of the solder (solder bumps) after they have been melted and have connected the pad electrodes, for example, in a nondestructive inspection by X-ray imaging. Specifically, if the solder bumps still have unchanged shapes, it will be recognized that the solder bumps have not yet been melted and flowed, while if the solder bumps have shapes other than the original shapes thereof, it will be recognized that the solder bumps have been melted and flowed, and consequently that each of the component-side pad electrodes and one of the substrate-side pad electrodes are connected by the solder with reliability.
In the present invention, as a substrate, a low-temperature sintered multilayer substrate, a resin substrate, an alumina package, or the like may be used.
When the low-temperature sintered multilayer substrate is used as a substrate, electrodes each formed by plating a thick-film copper electrode with nickel and gold may be used as substrate-side pad electrodes. When the resin substrate is used as a substrate, electrodes each formed by plating a copper foil with nickel and gold may be used as substrate-side pad electrodes. Also, when the alumina package is used as a substrate, electrodes each formed by plating a tungsten electrode with nickel and gold may be used as substrate-side pad electrodes.
However, other types of substrates and/or other types of substrate-side pad electrodes may be employed instead.
In the above-described connection method for the pad electrodes, preferably, the width of each of the component-side pad electrodes and that of the solder bump on each of the component-side pad electrodes are set to be larger than that of each of substrate-side pad electrodes.
By setting the width of each of the component-side pad electrodes larger than that of each of the substrate-side pad electrodes, and by setting the width of the solder bump on each of the component-side pad electrodes larger than that of the substrate-side pad electrode, it becomes possible to increase the flowing-in amount of solder in the longitudinal direction of each of the substrate-side pad electrodes, and thereby to improve the accuracy of a pass/fail discrimination of the connection state between each of the component-side pad electrodes and one of the substrate-side pad electrodes.
An inspecting method for the connection state of the pad electrodes in accordance with the present invention, is a method for inspecting the connection state of the pad electrodes connected by the above-described connection method. This inspecting method is characterized in that the shapes of the solder after each of the solder bumps has been melted and flowed on one of the substrate-side pad electrodes, are detected by a nondestructive inspection, and that thereby a pass/fail discrimination of the connection state between each of the component-side pad electrodes and one of the substrate-side pad electrodes is made.
By detecting the shapes of the solder after each of the solder bumps has been melted and flowed on one of the substrate-side pad electrodes, by a nondestructive inspection, in the above-described connection method for the pad electrodes in accordance with the present invention, it becomes possible to make a pass/fail discrimination, with ease and reliability, of the connection state between each of the component-side pad electrodes and one of the substrate-side pad electrodes by means of solder bumps. This allows the reliability of mounting of surface-mount components to be improved.
Another inspecting method for the connection state of the pad electrodes in accordance with the present invention, is a method for inspecting the connection state of the pad electrodes connected by the above-described connection method. This inspecting method is characterized by comprising the step of obtaining an X-ray transmission image by radiating X rays from the back surface side of the substrate; and the step of detecting the shape of solder after each the solder bumps has been melted and flowed on one of the substrate-side pad electrodes, from the obtained X-ray transmission image, and thereby making a pass/fail discrimination of the connection state between each the component-side pad electrodes and one of the substrate-side pad electrodes.
By obtaining an X-ray transmission image by radiating X-rays from the back surface side of the substrate, and by detecting, from the obtain X-ray transmission image, the shapes of the solder after each of the solder bumps has been melted and flowed, a pass/fail discrimination of the connection state between each of the component-side pad electrodes and one of the substrate-side pad electrodes by means of solder bumps, can be made with ease and reliability. This enables the reliability of mounting of surface-mount components to be improved.
The connection structure between the pad electrodes in accordance with the present invention is a connection structure between each of component-side pad electrodes formed on the surface of a surface-mount component opposed to the substrate and one of substrate-side pad electrodes formed on the surface of the substrate. This connection structure between the pad electrodes is characterized in that the substrate-side pad electrodes are arranged inside a component-corresponding region, and that the length of each of the substrate-side pad electrodes is set to be larger than that of the corresponding component-side pad electrode; and that each of the component-side pad electrodes is connected to the corresponding substrate-side pad electrode by the melted solder bump flowed therein.
In the above-described connection structure between the pad electrodes, since the substrate-side pad electrodes are formed inside the component-corresponding region, short-circuiting among electrodes of surface-mount components does not occur even when surface-mount components are mounted at a high density. Also, since the length of each of the substrate-side pad electrodes is set to be larger than that of the corresponding component-side pad electrode, it is possible to make a pass/fail discrimination of the connection state between the pad electrodes by detecting the shapes of solder after the solder bumps have been melted and flowed, for example, in a nondestructive inspection by X-ray imaging.
In the connection structure between the pad electrodes in accordance with the present invention, preferably, the width of each of the component-side pad electrodes is set to be larger than that of each of substrate-side pad electrodes.
By setting the width of each of the component-side pad electrodes larger than that of each of the substrate-side pad electrodes, it becomes possible to make the width of the solder bump of each of the of the component-side pad electrodes larger than that of the substrate-side pad electrode, when forming a solder bump on each of the component-side pad electrodes. This allows the flowing-in amount of solder in the longitudinal direction of each of the substrate-side pad electrode to be increased, and thereby enables the accuracy of a pass/fail discrimination of the connection state between each of the component-side pad electrodes and one of the substrate-side pad electrodes to be improved. Herein, the above-described connection structure between the pad electrodes can be obtained by the above-described connection method for the pad electrodes in accordance with the present invention.
The above and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will be clear from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the invention in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Connection method and connection structure of pad electrodes, and inspecting methods for connection state thereof


The embodiments disclosed herein include new, more efficient ways to collect product reviews from the Internet, aggregate reviews for the same product, and provide an aggregated review to end users in a searchable format. One aspect of the invention is a graphical user interface on a computer that includes a plurality of portions of reviews for a product and a search input area for entering search terms to search for reviews of the product that contain the search terms.

Many Internet users research a product (e.g., a Canon digital camera) or a service (e.g., a hotel room in Hawaii) before obtaining it. Currently, the approach that many users follow is to use Internet search engines. Users issue a search query that contains the product or service name plus terms like "review" and sift through the myriad of results that are returned by the search engine. While some of these results do contain reviews about the product, many results do not. Moreover, it is very difficult to get a holistic view of all the reviews. In short, this process is fairly cumbersome, time consuming, and inefficient.
Alternatively, users may go to Web sites that provide reviews and ratings for products, such as www.amazon.com, www.epinions.com, and www.circuitcity.com. A few sites, such as www.rottentomatoes.com, movies.yahoo.com, and www.consumersearch.com, aggregate reviews for the same product from several sites. However, some of these sites aggregate reviews manually, which is very inefficient and limits the number of reviews that can be gathered for each product. Moreover, all of these sites are very limited in the tools they provide users to navigate through the reviews.
Thus, it would be highly desirable to provide tools that enable users to more efficiently conduct research on the products and services they are interested in obtaining (e.g., by purchase, lease, rental, or other similar transaction).

Method and system for aggregating reviews and searching within reviews for a product


An optical assembly is disclosed. The optical assembly includes two or more photo devices to transmit and receive optical signals and a pair of parallel gratings to combine optical signals received from the two or more photo devices prior to transmitting the optical signals to an optical fiber and to separate combined optical signals received from the optical fiber into two or more optical signals to be received at the two or more photo devices.

More frequently, optical input/output (I/O) is being used in computer systems to transmit data between system components. Optical I/O is able to attain higher system bandwidth with lower electromagnetic interference than conventional I/O methods. In order to implement optical I/O, radiant energy is coupled to a fiber optic waveguide from an optoelectronic integrated circuit (IC).
Typically, a fiber optic communication link includes a fiber optic transmitting device such as a laser, a fiber optic cable span, and a light receiving element such as a detector. Further, there is an increasing objective in current optical I/O systems to transmit and receive multiple wavelengths via a single optic fiber, thus enabling multiple I/O data streams to be simultaneously transmitted/received.

Mechanism to spectrally combine and divide optical I/O


A human body is three-dimensionally reproduced to create a computer-rendered model. The model is dynamically manipulable to adjust or customize the dimensions of the model to specified measurements. Computer renderings of garments are stored in the computer. The model may be “clothed” with one or more garments, the representation of a garment being accurately adjusted to reflect its fit on a model of the model's particular dimensions. The computer will accurately represent the specific dimensions of the items of clothing in relation to the customized dimensions of the virtual mannequin. The virtual mannequin may be rotated and may be animated to thereby model the clothing and observe the interaction of the clothing with the environment. Once satisfied to the accuracy/appropriateness of the clothing, the computer can output appropriate dimensional, color, and related coordinates.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the filed of virtual reality, and more particularly, to the accurate rendering of a three-dimensional model of a person wearing clothing and illustrating the fit and movement of the clothing.
2. Background of the Technology
Purchasers and potential purchasers of clothing items are able to conveniently preview clothing items displayed in a catalog, in retail stores, and in on-line catalogs. One of the frustrations of purchasers, however, is that clothing items when purchased and actually worn do not meet the expectations developed by the catalog or in the dressing room.
Models in catalogs tend to be taller and thinner than most purchasers, thus developing high expectations for the garment appearance. A garment worn by a person not having model-type proportions might look quite different and might not be flattering. Moreover, a garment that is photographed or tried on under studio or dressing room lights may have quite a different coloring and reflectivity in other settings, such as day light, candle light, office lighting, and so forth. A person's coloring also affects whether a particular garment is appropriate.
Furthermore, the manner of photographing a garment, typically in a front pose, does not demonstrate back and side fit, and the flow of the garment in various activities. Fitting rooms attempt to solve the problem of front, back and side views by using multiple mirrors. Even so, observing the back view of one's self in a fitting room can be awkward. Fitting rooms obviously do not permit much testing of a garment in an active activity situation, or observance of a garment from a distance. It is desirable, nevertheless, for a potential purchaser to observe the reaction of the garment to activities such as walking, running, sitting, and so on.
Clothing purchased for a different person, such as a gift, cannot be tried on before purchase. There is not practical way to preliminarily ascertain whether a particular garment will be flattering when worn and when in action.

Method and system for a computer-rendered three-dimensional mannequin


This disclosure provides an ultrasonic bone analyzing device, which includes a transmission module for transmitting an ultrasonic signal into the inside of a living body from an outer skin of the living body, a reception module for receiving an echo signal that is a reflection wave of the transmitted ultrasonic signal from the inside of the living body, and an analyzing module for generating analysis data indicative of a state of a cartilage using an amplitude value of an echo signal from the inside of the cartilage obtained from between a cartilage surface and a subchondral bone among the received echo signals.

Conventionally, in order to intuitively and quantitatively evaluate a state of a cartilage in an articular cavity, various types of system that apply an ultrasonic wave to the cartilage and generate analysis data based on a reflection echo.
For example, JP2002-345821(A) discloses an ultrasonic analyzing system, in which an endoscope provided with an ultrasonic transceiving body at a tip end thereof is inserted in an arthrosis, and an echo of a pulse signal which is transmitted from the ultrasonic transceiving body is acquired. Then, a wavelet transformation of the echo signal is carried out to display a cartilage thickness result which is calculated based on a cartilage surface echo level, a cartilage surface echo pulse width, and an assumed sound speed.
However, the above conventional method disclosed in JP2002-345821(A) requires a surgical operation, such as inserting the endoscope (i.e., the ultrasonic transceiving body) into a patient's body. For this reason, the patient tends to feel burdensome to have a doctor examine the cartilage state when the patient feels his/her knee being in a bad condition, which typically is an initial state of cartilage degeneration or osteoarthritis, for example.

Ultrasonic bone analysis with harmonic and amplitude of the frequencies from cartilage to determine the relative ratio of integral amplitude values


A keypad includes a plurality of keys, and a processor that is coupled to control use of the keypad, including to enable use of the keypad in each of a letter entry mode or an alternative entry mode. The plurality of keys include a subset of keys, each key in the subset being (i) enlarged as compared to other keys of the keypad that are not part of the subset, (ii) assigned m letter values for when the keypad is operated in the letter entry mode, and (iii) assigned n numeric values, where 1≦n<m, for when the keypad is operated in the alternative entry mode.

Many computing devices include small-form factor keypads and keyboards. Conventional small-form factor keypads or keyboards often work well for text entry, but typically require additional effort for numeric entry. For example, in order to enter numeric mode, the user typically has to either shift before hitting each key with an alternative numeric value, or shift lock before initiating the alternative numeric sequence. In many cases, the number keys on a standard keyboard are typically clustered (such as in a 12-key format), where each number key is shared with one letter. The active character depends on the software mode of the device. However, the buttons are still small and not centered in the device. Also, the visual clutter of the rest of the keys make it difficult to do simple number entry.

Keyboard with integrated and numeric keypad

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


In a Wireless Location System, reception and demodulation of signals is often performed at many sites. A collision may occur, e.g., in a TDMA, AMPS, GSM, GPRS, EDGE, CDMA, CDMA 2000, or WCDMA system, when a signal of interest (a transmission from a mobile transmitter to be located) and an interfering signal are received at the same time and at the same site. In the event such a collision occurs, the interfering signal may have been demodulated by a receiver system, or SCS, at another site, and the demodulated data be known by the TLP. This interferer can be reconstructed and subtracted from the raw data representing the combined signal of interest and interferer at the site where the collision occurred. This technique can provide significant (e.g., approximately 10-15 dB) interference rejection, with little degradation to the signal of interest.

The present invention relates generally to methods and apparatus for locating wireless transmitters, such as those used in analog or digital cellular systems, personal communications systems (PCS), enhanced specialized mobile radios (ESMRs), and other types of wireless communications systems. This field is now generally known as wireless location, and has application for Wireless E9-1-1, fleet management, RF optimization, and other valuable applications.
Early work relating to the present invention has been described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,327,144, Jul. 5, 1994, xe2x80x9cCellular Telephone Location System,xe2x80x9d which discloses a system for locating cellular telephones using novel time difference of arrival (TDOA) techniques. Further enhancements of the system disclosed in the ""144 patent are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,608,410, Mar. 4, 1997, xe2x80x9cSystem for Locating a Source of Bursty Transmissions.xe2x80x9d Both patents are owned by the assignee of the current invention. The present inventors have continued to develop significant enhancements to the original inventive concepts and have developed techniques to further improve the accuracy of Wireless Location Systems while significantly reducing the cost of these systems.
Over the past few years, the cellular industry has increased the number of air interface protocols available for use by wireless telephones, increased the number of frequency bands in which wireless or mobile telephones may operate, and expanded the number of terms that refer or relate to mobile telephones to include xe2x80x9cpersonal communications servicesxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cwirelessxe2x80x9d, and others. The air interface protocols now include AMPS, N-AMPS, TDMA, CDMA, GSM, TACS, ESMR, and others. The changes in terminology and increases in the number of air interfaces do not change the basic principles and inventions discovered and enhanced by the inventors. However, in keeping with the current terminology of the industry, the inventors now call the system described herein a Wireless Location System.
The inventors have conducted extensive experiments with the Wireless Location System technology disclosed herein to demonstrate both the viability and value of the technology. For example, several experiments were conducted during several months of 1995 and 1996 in the cities of Philadelphia and Baltimore to verify the system""s ability to mitigate multipath in large urban environments. Then, in 1996 the inventors constructed a system in Houston that was used to test the technology""s effectiveness in that area and its ability to interface directly with E9-1-1 systems. Then, in 1997, the system was tested in a 350 square mile area in New Jersey and was used to locate real 9-1-1 calls from real people in trouble. Since that time, the system test has been expanded to include 125 cell sites covering an area of over 2,000 square miles. During all of these tests, techniques discussed and disclosed herein were tested for effectiveness and further developed, and the system has been demonstrated to overcome the limitations of other approaches that have been proposed for locating wireless telephones. Indeed, as of December, 1998, no other Wireless Location System has been installed anywhere else in the world that is capable of locating live 9-1-1 callers. The innovation of the Wireless Location System disclosed herein has been acknowledged in the wireless industry by the extensive amount of media coverage given to the system""s capabilities, as well as by awards. For example, the prestigious Wireless Appy Award was granted to the system by the Cellular Telephone Industry Association in October, 1997, and the Christopher Columbus Fellowship Foundation and Discover Magazine found the Wireless Location System to be one of the top 4 innovations of 1998 out of 4,000 nominations submitted.
The value and importance of the Wireless Location System has been acknowledged by the wireless communications industry. In June 1996, the Federal Communications Commission issued requirements for the wireless communications industry to deploy location systems for use in locating wireless 9-1-1 callers, with a deadline of October 2001. The location of wireless E9-1-1 callers will save response time, save lives, and save enormous costs because of reduced use of emergency responses resources. In addition, numerous surveys and studies have concluded that various wireless applications, such as location sensitive billing, fleet management, and others, will have great commercial values in the coming years.
Background on Wireless Communications Systems
There are many different types of air interface protocols used for wireless communications systems. These protocols are used in different frequency bands, both in the U.S. and internationally. The frequency band does not impact the Wireless Location System""s effectiveness at locating wireless telephones.
All air interface protocols use two types of xe2x80x9cchannelsxe2x80x9d. The first type includes control channels that are used for conveying information about the wireless telephone or transmitter, for initiating or terminating calls, or for transferring bursty data. For example, some types of short messaging services transfer data over the control channel. In different air interfaces, control channels are known by different terminology, but the use of the control channels in each air interface is similar. Control channels generally have identifying information about the wireless telephone or transmitter contained in the transmission.
The second type includes voice channels that are typically used for conveying voice communications over the air interface. These channels are only used after a call has been set up using the control channels. Voice channels will typically use dedicated resources within the wireless communications system whereas control channels will use shared resources. This distinction can make the use of control channels for wireless location purposes more cost effective than the use of voice channels, although there are some applications for which regular location on the voice channel is desired. Voice channels generally do not have identifying information about the wireless telephone or transmitter in the transmission. Some of the differences in the air interface protocols are discussed below:
AMPSxe2x80x94This is the original air interface protocol used for cellular communications in the U.S. In the AMPS system, separate dedicated channels are assigned for use by control channels (RCC). According to the TIA/EIA Standard IS-553A, every control channel block must begin at cellular channel 333 or 334, but the block may be of variable length. In the U.S., by convention, the AMPS control channel block is 21 channels wide, but the use of a 26-channel block is also known. A reverse voice channel (RVC) may occupy any channel that is not assigned to a control channel. The control channel modulation is FSK (frequency shift keying), while the voice channels are modulated using FM (frequency modulation).
N-AMPSxe2x80x94This air interface is an expansion of the AMPS air interface protocol, and is defined in EIA/TIA standard IS-88. The control channels are substantially the same as for AMPS, however, the voice channels are different. The voice channels occupy less than 10 KHz of bandwidth, versus the 30 KHz used for AMPS, and the modulation is FM.
TDMAxe2x80x94This interface is also known D-AMPS, and is defined in ELA/TIA standard IS-136. This air interface is characterized by the use of both frequency and time separation. Control channels are known as Digital Control Channels (DCCH) and are transmitted in bursts in timeslots assigned for use by DCCH. Unlike AMPS, DCCH may be assigned anywhere in the frequency band, although there are generally some frequency assignments that are more attractive than others based upon the use of probability blocks. Voice channels are known as Digital Traffic Channels (DTC). DCCH and DTC may occupy the same frequency assignments, but not the same timeslot assignment in a given frequency assignment. DCCH and DTC use the same modulation scheme, known as xcfx80/4 DQPSK (differential quadrature phase shift keying). In the cellular band, a carrier may use both the AMPS and TDMA protocols, as long as the frequency assignments for each protocol are kept separated.
CDMAxe2x80x94This air interface is defined by EIA/TIA standard IS-95A. This air interface is characterized by the use of both frequency and code separation. However, because adjacent cell sites may use the same frequency sets, CDMA is also characterized by very careful power control. This careful power control leads to a situation known to those skilled in the art as the near-far problem, which makes wireless location difficult for most approaches to function properly. Control channels are known as Access Channels, and voice channels are known as Traffic Channels. Access and Traffic Channels may share the same frequency band, but are separated by code. Access and Traffic Channels use the same modulation scheme, known as OQPSK.
GSMxe2x80x94This air interface is defined by the international standard Global System for Mobile Communications. Like TDMA, GSM is characterized by the use of both frequency and time separation. The channel bandwidth is 200 KHz, which is wider than the 30 KHz used for TDMA. Control channels are known as Standalone Dedicated Control Channels (SDCCH), and are transmitted in bursts in timeslots assigned for use by SDCCH. SDCCH may be assigned anywhere in the frequency band. Voice channels are known as Traffic Channels (TCH). SDCCH and TCH may occupy the same frequency assignments, but not the same timeslot assignment in a given frequency assignment. SDCCH and TCH use the same modulation scheme, known as GMSK.
Within this specification the reference to any one of the air interfaces shall automatically refer to all of the air interfaces, unless specified otherwise. Additionally, a reference to control channels or voice channels shall refer to all types of control or voice channels, whatever the preferred terminology for a particular air interface. Finally, there are many more types of air interfaces used throughout the world, and there is no intent to exclude any air interface from the inventive concepts described within this specification. Indeed, those skilled in the art will recognize other interfaces used elsewhere are derivatives of or similar in class to those described above.
The preferred embodiments of the inventions disclosed herein have many advantages over other techniques for locating wireless telephones. For example, some of these other techniques involve adding GPS functionality to telephones, which requires that significant changes be made to the telephones. The preferred embodiments disclosed herein do not require any changes to wireless telephones, and so they can be used in connection with the current installed base of over 65 million wireless telephones in the U.S. and 250 million wireless telephones worldwide.
In a Wireless Location System, reception and demodulation of signals is often performed at many sites. A collision may occur, e.g., in a TDMA, AMPS, GSM, IS-95 CDMA, CDMA 2000, or UMTS WCDMA system, when a signal of interest (a transmission from a mobile transmitter to be located) and an interfering signal are received at the same time and at the same site. In the event such a collision occurs, the interfering signal may have been demodulated by a receiver system, or SCS, at another site, and the demodulated data would be known. This interferer can be reconstructed from the demodulated data and subtracted from the raw data representing the combined signal of interest and interferer at the site where the collision occurred. This technique can provide significant (e.g., approximately 10-15 dB) interference rejection, with little degradation to the signal of interest, and could significantly improve location accuracy.
According to one illustrative embodiment of the present invention, a method for canceling interference comprises the following steps: First, the Wireless Location System receives a transmission at a given site (SCS), and then it assigns a probability that a collision occurred. One exemplary technique for the probability of collision involves determining whether the variance of the received signal""s SNR exceeds a predetermined threshold. Alternatively, the probability determination could be based on whether the SNR has increased or decreased in a single step, and by an amount greater than a predetermined threshold. Yet another technique involves basing the probability of collision on whether the average power of the signal received at a remote SCS is greater than the average power that would be predicted by a propagation model. (A good way to determine that a collision has occurred is to notice that a received signal has a high power level yet a lower correlation coefficient when correlated with the reference signal or reconstructed reference signal. Another method is through the use of information from the cellular system about which channels are currently in use at each cell site. If the channel used by the mobile station being located is known to be used at one of the cell sites with cooperating antennas, it is likely that there will be interference on this channel, at receive antennas near this cell site). The WLS then decides whether to undergo a process for removing interference. This decision is based on the previously determined collision probability. According to the presently preferred implementation, to cancel the interference from the transmission received at a given SCS, the interfering signal may be reconstructed and then processed in accordance with a predetermined propagation model. Such processing may include time and/or frequency shifting, complex weighting, etc. Finally, the interferer may be subtracted from the received signal as described above.
Other details of the invention are described below.

System and method for interference cancellation in a location calculation, for use in a wireless location system


Embodiments of the present invention relate to a patient monitoring alarm escalation system and method. Specifically, embodiments of the present invention include an alarm detection device configured to measure physiological data received via a patient monitor, the alarm detection device configured to initiate an alarm in response to predefined measurements of the physiological data, and an alarm device configured to emit a first signal with a first property and a second signal with a second property, the first signal being emitted when the alarm is initiated, the second signal being emitted if an alarm acknowledgement mechanism is not activated prior to a designated event.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to alarm systems for patient physiological data monitoring instruments. In particular, the present invention relates to an alarm escalation system including mechanisms for indicating a level of criticality of alarms corresponding to physiological measurements and equipment status indicators of patient monitoring devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the present invention, which are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present invention. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.
Patient monitors include medical devices that facilitate observation of patient physiological data. For example, a typical patient monitor detects and displays a patient's vital signs continually. This improves patient care by facilitating continuous supervision of a patient without continuous attendance by a human observer (e.g., a nurse or physician). Typically, patient monitors include alarm systems that provide audible and/or visual indications of certain predefined conditions. For example, some patient monitors include alarms that are triggered based on physiological conditions (e.g., high and low patient heart rate thresholds, arterial oxyhemoglobin saturation) or status indicators for the monitor itself (e.g., power loss). These alarms further facilitate supervision of patients and improve patient care by providing caregivers with warnings concerning certain monitored conditions. Generally, such alarms remain in an alarm state until acknowledged by a user. For example, an audible alarm for a patient's abnormal systolic condition may continue to sound until a user presses an acknowledge button that silences the alarm and indicates that the alarm has been recognized. Such audible alarms for patient monitors generally incorporate unchanging alarm tones or auditory effects. It is now recognized that such unchanging alarms tend to cause patient monitor users/operators (e.g., nurses, physicians, and caregivers) to become desensitized to ongoing and unacknowledged audible alarms.

Patient monitoring alarm escalation system and method


A method for segmenting an input volume in accordance with at least one selected characteristic comprises the steps of casting a plurality of rays along a plurality of views of the input volume, identifying regions corresponding to the selected characteristic within each ray, and processing the identified regions to generate an output volume indicating regions having the selected characteristic.

The present invention relates to image processing and more particularly segmenting and classifying a region or data type of interest based on selected characteristics.
Identification of contiguous regions of the same material is known as segmentation. The automatic classification or segmentation of medical images into anatomical regions, for example bone, kidney or lung, is a difficult problem that is currently stalling the development of many clinical applications. While several techniques have been proposed over the years, very few techniques have achieved the high degree of automation and quality required by routine medical practice. Instead, most clinical applications rely on a large amount of user interaction. Thus, the process of segmentation is time-consuming, error prone, and subjective.
The human skeletal system is mainly comprised of two types of bone cortical bone and trabecular bone. Cortical bone is quite dense and typically located at the perimeter of a bone region. Trabecular bone is spongy and is typically located in interior bone regions. As a result, bone regions have several distinct characteristics that are nearly universal in the patient CT scan population. CT densities rapidly rise at bone boundaries (cortical) and then drop modestly within a few millimeters, thereby creating a xe2x80x9cringxe2x80x9d effect in scan data. The structure of interior bone (trabecular) has a distinct spongy pattern that is characterized by constant change and relatively high frequency. The CT bone values range from 1200 to greater than 2000 Hounsfeld units for cortical bone, and trabecular ranging from 1000 to 1300 Hounsfeld units.
Although bone, and in particular cortical bone, presents itself as a high density signal which is higher than most any other region of the human body, segmentation of bone is not effectively performed with simple thresholding, a known technique of segmenting based on minimum or maximum CT numbers. Often, a foreign object or substance, such as a contrast agent, is introduced into a patient that exhibit CT densities that are indistinguishable from bone. This is most difficult in the case of a contrast enhanced CT scan where a liquid agent is injected into the blood stream resulting in vascular regions with CT numbers equal to or higher than bone.
The specific problem of identifying and removing bone from contrast enhanced computed tomography (CT) data illustrates many segmentation issues. CT values in contrast enhanced regions cannot be easily distinguished from other high density structures such as bone. Medical segmentation research has not revealed an automatic bone segmentation technique capable of robust identification of bone, despite the relative ease in which a human operator can perform the task. What is needed is a segmentation technique for classifying bone and other anatomical regions with high density characteristics in CT scan data, and to further distinguish bone from other regions.
A method for segmenting an input volume in accordance with at least one selected characteristic comprises the steps of casting a plurality of rays along a plurality of views of the input volume, identifying regions corresponding to the selected characteristic within each ray, and processing the identified regions to generate an output volume indicating regions having the selected characteristic.


A system for directing light in an interactive display system so as to perform multiple functions. In addition to projecting images on the interactive display system, the system is used to distribute infrared (IR) light onto the display surface, and/or to receive and focus received IR light reflected from a physical object on the display surface. A light separating system separates a multi-waveband light from a source into a predominantly visible light and a predominantly non-visible light, the latter being redirected around visible light modulators and recombined with the modulated visible light for projection onto the display surface by a lensing system. In addition, or in the alternative, the light separating system separates predominantly non-visible light reflected from an object adjacent to the surface, from light produced by the source, directing only the non-visible light received to the light sensor used to image the display surface.

As computers become more ubiquitous throughout our environment, the desire to make computers and their interfaces even more user friendly continues to promote development in this area. For example, the MIT Media Lab, as reported by Brygg Ullmer and Hiroshi Ishii in "The metaDESK: Models and Prototypes for Tangible User Interfaces," Proceedings of UIST10/1997:14-17," has developed another form of "keyboardless" human-machine interface. The metaDESK includes a generally planar graphical surface that not only displays computing system text and graphic output, but also receives user input by responding to an object placed against the graphical surface. The combined object responsive and display capability of the graphical surface of the metaDESK is facilitated using infrared (IR) lamps, an IR camera, a video camera, a video projector, and mirrors disposed beneath the surface of the metaDESK. The mirrors reflect the graphical image projected by the projector onto the underside of the graphical display surface to provide images that are visible to a user from above the graphical display surface. The IR camera can detect IR reflections from the undersurface of an object placed on the graphical surface.
By detecting a specially formed object or IR-reflected light from an object disposed on a graphical display surface, the metaDESK can respond to the contemporaneous placement and movement of the object on the display surface to carryout a predefined function, such as displaying and moving a map of the MIT campus.
Others have been developing similar keyboardless interfaces. For example, papers published by Jun Rekimoto of the Sony Computer Science Laboratory, Inc., and associates describe a "HoloWall" and a "HoloTable" that display images on a surface and use IR light to detect objects positioned adjacent to the surface.
The interactive display systems described above, as well as other interactive display systems, generally employ separate optical systems for each of three different purposes. A first optical system is used to project images and data onto the display surface. A second optical system is used to evenly distribute IR light over the display surface to illuminate physical objects disposed adjacent to the display surface. A third optical system is used to receive and focus IR light reflected or generated by physical objects disposed adjacent to the display surface to detect user inputs.
Understandably, using multiple optical systems to carry out these functions adds bulk and cost to an interactive display system. In addition, using multiple, separate optical systems typically requires steps to be taken to correct for any misalignment of the respective images between the different optical systems. For example, if the image projected by the first optical system onto the display surface with which the user will interact is not aligned with the third optical system that is imaging the IR light produced by the user's inputs, the resulting projected and imaged input will be offset from each other. It will thus be necessary to correct for the offset to avoid errors in interpreting the user input relative to the projected image to which the user's input is directed. Conventional interactive systems of this type do not provide an efficient approach to avoid this problem.

Using same optics to image, illuminate, and project


The majority of currently available, submersible swimming pool cleaners operate in a random manner, i.e. follow no set path of travel along the bottom of a swimming pool. The result is that a lengthy period of time and large power consumption are required to clean an entire swimming pool. This problem is solved by a swimming pool cleaner of the submersible type including a casing which tapers from one end to the other thereof, a pair of wheels at the wide end of the casing, a single wheel at the narrow end of the casing, a drive system for driving each of the wheels, a cable for connecting the cleaner to a fixed point on one side of the pool, a cable tensioning device in the casing for changing the length and tension on the cable whereby the cleaner is caused to follow a predetermined path of travel over the entire inside area of the swimming pool.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a swimming pool cleaner, and in particular to a pool cleaner of the submersible type.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
Submersible swimming pool cleaners are by no means new. Generally, such cleaners operate in a random manner, i.e. follow no set path of travel along the bottom of a swimming pool. A pool cleaner of this type is disclosed, for example by U.S. Pat. No. 4,558,479, which issued to P. Breskovics et al on Dec. 17, 1985. A problem with random movement cleaners is the lengthy period of time required to clean an entire swimming pool, and consequently the large power consumption involved in such an operation.
A solution to the problem of random movement cleaners is provided by cleaners following a predetermined path of travel. An example of a pool cleaner of this type is disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 2,988,762, issued to H. H. Babcock on Jun. 20, 1961. The Babcock device relies on mechanical sensors for determining when turning and the reversing of the direction of travel should be effected. In other words, there is no positive control of the path of travel of the cleaner, and accordingly there is a distinct possibility that the path of travel will be erratic, and that areas of the pool bottom will be missed.
It is readily apparent that a need exists for a swimming pool cleaner, which is capable of quickly cleaning an entire pool bottom in an efficient manner. The object of the present invention is to meet such need by providing a relatively simple swimming pool cleaner, which follows a predetermined path of travel, and which will ensure the cleaning of the entire area traversed by the cleaner.


A distributed amplifier for wide-band, high power application is disclosed. The amplifier consists of an analysis module, a gain module and a synthesis module. In the analysis and synthesis modules, inductors such as transmission lines are connected to gain elements of the gain modules with a newly disclosed xe2x80x9cpixe2x80x9d configuration, by which the number of inductors, or transmission lines, is reduced. This invention may be applied to wide-band and high-speed communications.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to distributed amplifiers and, in particular, distributed amplifiers suited for wide-band and high-power applications.
2. Description of Prior Art
Distributed amplifiers are widely used in part to overcome the gain-bandwidth limitation due to inherent capacitance of the active devices associated with the resistive loads. Inductors and transmission lines are commonly employed to resonate with the device capacitance. The combinations of inductors and capacitors are approximately equivalent to delay elements (e.g., transmission lines) and thereby increase the operational bandwidth. FIG. 1A shows a conventional distributed amplifier 10 comprised of an analysis module 20, a gain module 30 and a synthesis module 40. The gain elements of the gain module 30 are identical and uniformly distributed in conjunction with the inductors. An equivalent-circuit model of an elementary section 50 of the distributed amplifier 10 is shown in FIG. 18. The elementary section 50 is composed of two series inductors 51 and 52, and a shunt capacitance 53 in the format of a T-configuration. The inductors 51 and 52 are the inductors in the analysis 20 or synthesis module 40, while the capacitor 53 represents the device capacitance at the input or the output of the gain element. As the operation frequencies are lower than the resonance frequency of the components 51, 52, and 53, the elementary section 50 is approximately equal to a piece of transmission line 60 as shown in FIG. 1C. Virtually, a transmission line is a delay element with infinite bandwidth. Therefore, by combining device""s capacitance 53 with the inductors 51 and 52 into a transmission line 60, amplifiers with these types of analysis module and synthesis module can be operated over very wide frequency range. However, for the integrated circuit, the size of the inductor is comparably larger than the one for an active gain element. Moreover, the inductors in the analysis and synthesis modules are of two values, L and L/2, where L/2 is the inductance value on one arm of the T-configuration. This increases the complexity of the resulting design and implementation of the conventional analysis and synthesis modules. A simple architecture for the analysis and synthesis modules of the distributed amplifier is desirable and provided by the present invention.
The present invention is embodied as a circuit for a distributed amplifier where the analysis and synthesis lines are implemented in formats of a new xcfx80-configuration. In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the connection of the inductors and the capacitive devices is in a format of a xcfx80-configuration, that is, two shunt device capacitances with a series inductor. The number of inductors is less by two than the number associated within a conventional distributed amplifier, in which the connection is in a format of a T-configuration. Moreover, according to the present invention, all the inductances of the synthesis, or analysis, lines are of the same value as opposed to the two different values in a conventional distributed amplifier. This sameness of value of the inductances is also present in the analysis lines of the present invention.
A distributed amplifier, according to the present invention, features compactness of integration and less complexity in designing the analysis and synthesis modules.

Distributed amplifier with pi-configuration analysis and synthesis lines


A method and apparatus for extracting heat from a combustible material are disclosed which include the formation of a solid material strip of the combustible material, the formation of a series of spaced holes in the material strip, and the combustion of the material strip. The method and apparatus are particularly useful when a mixture of coal, clay, and lime is used as the combustible material, and the products of the combustion then include a structurally intact, solid residual strip composed substantially only of dehydrated clay and calcium sulfate, and a fluegas substantially free of carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides, and micro fly-ash. Because of the stable and uniform combustion characteristic, it is also suitable for the co-combustion and reduction of most toxic and solid wastes into safe, recyclable residues.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to methods and apparatuses for extracting heat from combustible materials, and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for combusting a solid material strip at a controlled temperature.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Historically, solid fuel was burnt mainly by the flatbed combustion process. In the past two decades, solid fuel was replaced by liquid fuel, because liquid was less labor intensive and was cleaner in operation. The liquid fuel was burnt by spraying the liquid fuel through a high-speed nozzle to atomize the fuel. In recent years, as liquid fuel became more costly, many power plants were modified for both liquid and powdered solid fuel combustion using the spraying technique originally designed for the liquid fuel. For home heating, liquid fuel is still in wide use, mainly due to the handling and pollution problems of solid fuel.
The fundamental problem with both liquid and powdered solid fuel combustion is that both types of combustion are unstable runaway forms of combustion which generally take place within 10 milliseconds, since it is nearly impossible to control the reaction rates inherent in these types of combustions. The resultant high temperatures of combustion promote excessive production of carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and sulfur oxides, and the production of corrosive and coating micro flyash. These byproducts of combustion are the cause of many environmental and operational problems, i.e. the pollution of the atmosphere and the coating of heat exchangers resulting in reduced heat exchange efficiency, whose avoidance greatly increases the cost of combusting liquid and powdered solid fuels.
Also, the processes used in the prior art combustion methods often result in combustion temperatures of over 2000.degree. C. At such a high temperature the combustion product is mainly CO instead of CO.sub.2. Consequently, a large power plant requires a mammoth combustion chamber to provide sufficient resident time for the CO gas to complete a secondary combustion into CO.sub.2 at a lower temperature of about 1000.degree. C., thus increasing the cost of operating the power plant. It is clear that a form of combustion is needed which avoids these problems.

Method and apparatus for extracting heat from a combustible material