A system for applying nail polish to a nail, the system including a container having a wall and within the wall of the container is a plurality of compartments, each compartment configured for retaining a spray-on container for nail polish. The container may include a lid with a handle. The container may include a rotating member for rotating each compartment to an opening which is located either in the wall of the container or in the lid. The handle of the lid is engaged to the rotating member and when the handle is rotated, the rotating member rotates accordingly. This system may be used in combination with a nail clip for protecting the skin and cuticle of a finger or toe while exposing the nail.

It is ever increasingly popular for individuals to enhance their beauty through a variety of cosmetic techniques, for example, enhancing the beauty of hands and feet by applying nail polish to the nails of the hands and feet.
The most common method of application is to use an applicator brush to apply the polish to the nails. This method is quite time consuming, and imperfections can result from brush marks, or from objects sticking to the brush, causing difficulty in obtaining a smooth application.
Furthermore, some individuals may lack the coordination required from both hands, particularly the left hand if one is right handed, in order to get a full and precise application to the nail without applying it to the skin around the nail as well.
For these reasons, in recent years it has become more popular to use spray-on acrylic nail enamel. U.S. Pat. No. 5,427,121 discloses a method of applying color to the surface of nails of the hands and feet in the form of a base coat, a spray-on acrylic paint and a top sealing coat. Once the top sealing coat is dry, the user washes their hands with soap and water so as to remove any overspray of acrylic paint which came into contact with the surrounding skin or cuticle.
There remains a need in the art for an improved method of applying polish to the nails of the hands and feet which is not time consuming, does not require ambidexterity, and which allows for accurate and precise application a smooth coat without getting polish on the skin surrounding the nail or on the cuticle.
The art referred to and/or described above is not intended to constitute an admission that any patent, publication or other information referred to herein is "prior art" with respect to this invention. In addition, this section should not be construed to mean that a search has been made or that no other pertinent information as defined in 37 C.F.R. §1.56(a) exists.
All US patents and applications and all other published documents mentioned anywhere in this application are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
Without limiting the scope of the invention a brief summary of some of the claimed embodiments of the invention is set forth below. Additional details of the summarized embodiments of the invention and/or additional embodiments of the invention may be found in the Detailed Description of the Invention below.
A brief abstract of the technical disclosure in the specification is provided as well only for the purposes of complying with 37 C.F.R. 1.72. The abstract is not intended to be used for interpreting the scope of the claims.


A wavelength selective switch device is disclosed that includes an elongated signal communication path extending from a first end of the device to a second end of the device. The signal communication path extends through a plurality of regions of varying indices of refraction, and the plurality of regions includes adjustable regions that are each coupled to an adjustable voltage source for changing a voltage potential across each of the adjustable regions such that the index of refraction of said adjustable regions may be changed by changing the voltage potential across each adjustable region.

The invention relates to wavelength selective switches, and relates in particular to wavelength selective switches that may be used in a multiplexing switching system.
Wavelength selective switches include a variety of structures such as fiber grating couplers that permit all but a specified wavelength of light to pass through the coupler. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,737,007 discloses a wavelength selective contra-directional coupler for use in wavelength division multiplexing that includes a Bragg diffraction grating having a fixed period. U.S. Pat. No. 6,549,707 discloses a grating type optical filter that provides an apodized response by varying the distance between grating elements.
Superimposed multiple Bragg gratings are disclosed in A. Othonos, X. Lee and R. M. Measures, "Superimposed Multiple Bragg Gratings", Electronics Letters, Vol. 30, No. 23, pp. 1972-1974, (1994) in which more than one grating is inscribed at the same location on an optical fiber to provide a comb filter by varying the period of different grating elements. Serial inscription of a second grating, however, typically results in a reduction of reflectance of an first grating as disclosed in W. C. Swann, M. A. Hubbard and S. L. Gilbert, "Hybrid Multiple Wavelength Reference Using Fiber Grating and Molecular Absorption", Proc. Bragg Gratings, Photosensitivity and Poling in Glass Wavelength, OSA Technical Digest (Optical Society of America), pp. 63-65 (1999). It has also been disclosed that performance may be degraded with an increase in the number of superimposed gratings in H. Ishii, H. Tanobe, F. Kano, Y. Tohmori, Y. Kondo, and Y. Yoshikuni, "Quasicontinuous Wavelength Tuning in Super-Structure-Gratings (SSG) DBR Lasers", IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics, Vol. 32, No. 3, pp. 433-441 (1996).
Multi-wavelength diffraction and apodization are disclosed using binary superimposed gratings in I. A. Avrutsky, M. Fay and J. H. Xu "Multiwavelength Diffraction and Apodizatrion Using Binary Superimposed Gratings", IEEE Photonics Tech. Letters, Vol. 10, No. 6, pp. 839-841, (1998) in which the grating is segmented into sections of grouped segments permitting step-like apodization while maintaining a binary index and base segment size.
A sampled grating is disclosed in V. Jayaraman, Z. Chuang, and K. Coldren, "Theory, Design, and Performance of Extended Tuning Range Semiconductor Lasers With Sampled Gratings", IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics, Vol. 29, No. 6, pp. 1824-1834 (1993) in which grating elements are removed in a periodic fashion.
There is a need however, for a more efficient and economical wavelength selective switch that may be used in a multiplexing switching system, and that may be modified during use.

System and method for wavelength selective switching employing single-element gratings


The invention relates to a food-cooking or -heating appliance, and a method for cooking or heating food using the appliance. The appliance includes a tank (2) for a combustion liquid, a container (3) for food, and a support (1) for holding the tank (2) and the container (3) in position. The tank (2) includes a base (6) and a sidewall (7) inwardly inclined towards the top.

The invention relates to the field of cooking food. It relates particularly to a cooking appliance that uses alcohol.
Such an appliance is the subject of patent no FR 2 897 521 that describes a food-cooking or heating appliance of the type comprising a support that keeps a tank for combustion liquid in position whereby said support is used to hold a container at a predetermined height in relation to the tank.
Nevertheless, it is difficult to control the cooking with the device as described in this document and the flame does not heat the container in such a way as to obtain a homogenous cooking of food.

Appliance and method for cooking food using alcohol


A ceramic electronic component with metal terminals comprising a chip component formed with terminal electrodes at both ends, and a pair of metal terminals comprising a flat plate portion having a flat plate portion facing face provided so that it faces an end face of said chip component and connected to said terminal electrodes via a joining portion , and a mounting portion connected to one end portion of said flat plate portion and extending approximately perpendicular to said flat plate portion, wherein said mounting portion has a mounting portion bottom face forming an angle of approximately 270 degrees with respect to said flat plate portion, and a mounting portion upper face forming an angle of approximately 90 degrees with respect to said flat plate portion, and a solder adhering prevention area having lower wettability than said mounting portion bottom face is formed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a ceramic electronic component comprising a chip component and metal terminals attached thereto.
2. Background Art
As the ceramic electronic component such as the ceramic capacitor or so, besides the usual chip component which is surface mounted directly to the board or so independently, the chip component having metal terminals is also proposed. The ceramic electronic components having the metal terminals relieves the deformation stress to the chip component from the board, and the effect of protecting the chip component from the impact or so is also reported, thus it is used in the field which is demanded to have the durability and the reliability (refer to Patent article 1).
Also, the ceramic electronic component using the metal terminals is attached to the mounting board using the solder or so. The amount of the solder used when attaching the mounting board to the ceramic electronic component is regulated and controlled in many cases from the point of securely fixing the ceramic electronic component to the mounting board and securing the electrical conductivity, thus in some cases the excessive solder adheres to near the mounting portion.

Ceramic electronic component with metal terminals


An image forming device and a web server providing a workflow status of a job and a method of providing the workflow status of the job in the image forming device and the web server are provided. A communicator receives a first workform including a plurality of job conditions necessary to performing the job from a web server connected to the image forming device through a communication network. An image former generates image data of a document to perform the job. A parser parses the first workform. A controller controls the image former to generate a job command including the plurality of job from the parsed first workform and perform the job based on the generated job command, and generates a guidance picture guiding a workflow status of the job whenever the job conditions are processed. A display displays the guidance picture. Thus, a workflow status of a currently performed job can be displayed in real-time so that a user can easily check the workflow status of the currently performed job.

1. Field of the Invention
The present general inventive concept relates to an image forming device (for example, a printer, a scanner, a fax) and a web server that provide a workflow status of a job, and a method of providing the workflow status of the job in the image forming device and the web server. More particularly, the general inventive concept relates to an image forming device and a web server to display the workflow status of a currently performed job in real-time under each job condition, so that the user can conveniently check the workflow of the currently performed job, and a method of providing the workflow status of the job to the image forming device and the web server.
2. Description of the Related Art
Drivers for image forming devices are installed in host devices, such as personal computers or personal digital assistants (PDAs), so as to use the image forming devices connected to the host devices. The drivers are programs that interface between the image forming devices and the host devices and provide user interface pictures through which users set additional functions and driving methods of the image forming devices, and various functions based on information transmitted from the image forming devices.
For example, if a user puts a paper sheet on a scanner and then requests the scanner to perform scanning, the scanner scans the paper sheet to obtain an image, compresses the scanned image, and transmits the compressed image to the driver of the host device. The scanner also transmits information indicating its performance of the processes of compressing the scanned image and transmitting the compressed image to the driver, and the driver shows the processes on a graph based on the transmitted information. The user recognizes processes of compressing and transmitting the current document by the graph on the host device.
However, a conventional image forming device provides only information on a process of compressing or transmitting a scanned image to the host device, but not additional detailed information regarding the scanned image. Thus, a user frequently will not accurately know the processing status of a currently scanned image.
Also, if the conventional image forming device does not include a display such as a liquid crystal display (LCD), the conventional image forming device does not display a process of processing data by itself. As a result, the user can only check the process through a host device.

Image forming device and web server providing workflow status of job, and method to provide workflow status of job in image forming device and web server


Systems, methods, and storage media for payment collection are disclosed. An example method comprises: obtaining, at a code scanner, payment account information comprised in a payment code of a purchasing user by scanning the payment code; sending, at the code scanner, the payment account information to a processor; determining, at the processor, a payment amount due, to construct a payment request comprising the payment amount due, the payment account information, and the device identifier; sending, at the processor, the payment request to a communication module; and sending, at the communication module, the payment request to the target server for the target server to, according to the payment request, deduct the payment amount due from a payment account of the purchasing user corresponding to the payment account information, and add the payment amount due to the payment receiving account corresponding to the device identifier.

With the development of the mobile payment technology, solutions for implementing fast payment based on bar codes (such as one-dimensional code, two-dimensional code, etc.) are gradually becoming popular.
At present, there are code scanning devices (such as code scanning gun and code scanning box) in the market that are dedicated to merchant payment collection. A merchant may scan a payment code (that is, a bar code corresponding to a payment account of a purchasing user) provided by a purchasing user using the code scanning device to collect the payment. FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a merchant collecting a payment using a code scanning box.
As shown in FIG. 1, an existing code scanning box needs to be connected to a settlement device (such as a cash register) of the merchant for use, and the merchant often registers a payment receiving account on a server of an intermediate service provider (referred to as an intermediate server), and the intermediate server manages the payment receiving account. When the merchant needs to collect payment, on the one hand, the merchant inputs a payment amount to be collected into the payment collection device, and on the other hand, the purchasing user is required to show, to the code scanning box, a payment code (for example, a two-dimensional code) corresponding to a payment account of the purchasing user. The payment account of the purchasing user is registered on a server (referred to as a payment server) of a payment service provider, and the payment server manages the payment account.
Next, the settlement device of the merchant scans the two-dimensional code shown by the purchasing user through the code scanning box to obtain payment account information of the purchasing user, and then sends, to the intermediate server, the payment account information, the payment amount to be collected, and the payment receiving account information of the payment receiving account of the merchant, and the intermediate server and the payment server are connected. In particular, the intermediate server sends, to the payment server, the payment account information and the payment amount to be collected; and the payment server deducts, from the payment account of the purchasing user, the payment amount to be collected, and pays, to the intermediate server, the payment amount to be collected. Afterwards, the intermediate server adds, to the payment receiving account (that is, the payment receiving account of the merchant) corresponding to the payment receiving account information, the payment amount to be collected. As such, the payment amount due to the merchant is collected.
Based on existing technologies, a payment collection device is needed to improve payment collection efficiency of the merchant.

Payment collection device and method and apparatus


A power transmission device, in particular for use in vehicles, having one input and at least one output, comprising a hydrodynamic component and a lockup clutch. The lockup clutch includes at least one friction surface arrangement which is coupled at least indirectly in a rotationally fixed manner with the input of the power transmission device, or is coupled in a rotationally fixed manner with the pump wheel, and can be brought into an operative connection with a second frictional surface arrangement which is connected to the output in a rotationally fixed manner. An actuating mechanism is assigned to the lockup clutch. The actuating mechanism forms one structural unit with a friction surface carrying element of the first friction surface arrangement, and is coupled in an axially movable and rotationally fixed manner with the input of the power transmission device, or with the connection between the input and the pump wheel.

Power transmission units for transmission components are known in a plurality of versions from the existing art. These normally include an input and an output, between which a hydrodynamic component for hydrodynamic power transmission is situated, comprising at least a pump wheel and a turbine wheel, which together form a working chamber which is filled with or may be filled with process fluid; in the case of versions such as torque converters there are also a guide wheel and a device in the form of a lockup clutch to bypass the hydrodynamic power branch. The lockup clutch also comprises at least a first friction surface arrangement having at least one element carrying a friction surface, and a second friction surface arrangement having at least one element carrying a friction surface, which may be brought into operative connection with each other by means of an actuating mechanism. The function of the lockup clutch here is to create a coupling between the input or the connection between the input and the pump wheel and the turbine wheel. In the simplest case, the actuating mechanism comprises an axially movable piston which presses the individual friction surface arrangements against each other. The power transmission device is designed as a two-channel or three-channel system, depending on the operating principle of the lockup clutch. At the same time, the flow through the hydrodynamic component may be centrifugal or centripetal, it also being possible for the directions of flow to change depending on the mode of operation. In the case of hydrodynamic torque converters, the process fluid remains in the converter even during bypassing. A coolant circuit forms an external converter circuit through the connections on the converter and the intermediate space between actuating mechanism and housing. The guidance takes place via channels integrated into the clutch arrangement, in particular between the friction elements that can be brought into operative connection with each other, radially outwardly to the outer circumference, viewed from the axis of rotation, and after that radially inwardly on the hydrodynamic component, or vice versa. In the latter cases, the lockup clutch is operated by the pressure in the hydrodynamic component; that is, the pressure present outside of the hydrodynamic rotational speed/torque converter or the hydrodynamic clutch is used to operate the piston element. Such designs are described for example in published patent DE 199 20 542 A1. The latter reveals a power transmission device having a fluid clutch or a hydrodynamic rotational speed/torque converter and an integrated damping system. In this design the actuating mechanism is either supported so that it is movable in the axial direction on the connection between pump wheel and input of the power transmission device and guided so that it is sealed against the connection between input of the power transmission unit and pump wheel. Between the inner wall of the connecting housing, between the input of the power transmission unit and the pump wheel, a pressure chamber functioning as an actuating chamber is formed, which serves to apply pressure to the piston of the actuating mechanism independent of the pressure in the hydrodynamic component. To that end, along with the connections to the converter or hydrodynamic component, normally in the pump neck or support shaft for the guide wheel and a connection to create and maintain an external circuit, in particular for cooling purposes, an additional connection is provided, through which the pressure chamber between actuating mechanism and housing may be charged with pressure medium. The system is therefore referred to as a three-channel system. The linking of the actuating element and the design of the lockup clutch turn out to be very complex here however, in particular due to the large number of existing components. The lockup clutch is designed as a lamellar clutch, and because of the separate pressure chamber the clutch elements which are connected at least indirectly to the pump wheel are designed as outer lamellae, while the second clutch elements connected to the output of the power transmission device, in particular in this case to the device for damping vibrations, are designed as inner lamellae. The actuating mechanism works here in the axial direction against the lamellae, for which reason an additional stop is also provided here in the axial direction to brace the actuating mechanism in the axial direction during actuation, which is connected in a rotationally fixed connection to the connection between the input of the power transmission device and the pump wheel. The lockup clutch itself can only be designed as a multiple-plate clutch, in particular a lamellar clutch, due to the arrangement of the actuating mechanism and the linkage to the other elements, and therefore likewise becomes very large in the axial direction. Furthermore, when the actuating pressure is fed in through the transmission input shaft it is necessary to seal this pressure chamber against the other pressure chambers of the converter.
One version of a power transmission device with a hydrodynamic torque converter in two-channel construction is anticipated from DE 199 09 349 A1. In this version, a lock-up clutch is assigned to the hydrodynamic rotational speed/torque converter. The piston element here is guided so that it is axially movable at the output of the power transmission unit. In addition, the piston element has a friction surface. The design of the total system is therefore characterized by a small number of components. However, this system is not suitable for applying pressure separately to the piston, in particular the actuating mechanism, since here the pressurizable piston surface bounds the pressure chamber to the hydrodynamic rotational speed/torque converter, and thus an actuation always takes place depending on the magnitude of the pressure prevailing in the hydrodynamic component.
Another version of a three-channel system for a power transmission device is anticipated from published patent DE 193 50 935 A1. Here the piston is likewise supported and guided at the connection between the input of the power transmission device and the pump wheel. The actuating mechanism is thus completely supported on the input side of the power transmission device, and is guided in the axial direction on the latter. In addition, the hydrodynamic component has a so-called pump wheel shell which is coupled to the latter in a rotationally fixed manner, which is coupled to the input of the power transmission device, forming an axial intermediate space. Integrated into this intermediate space in the axial direction are the lockup clutch and a device for damping vibrations. At the same time, the output of the LOCKUP clutch is coupled with the output of the power transmission device through the device for damping vibrations. The axial arrangement of the lockup clutch and the device for damping vibrations produces a plurality of individual pressure chambers and channels. Here too, the complete system is characterized by a significant number of components, which results not only in an enlargement of the necessary construction space in the axial direction but also in substantial additional costs.

LuK Lamellen und Kupplungsbau Beteiligungs KG


A lifting mechanism elevates a slide-out room above the floor of a vehicle as the room is moved between an extended and retracted position. The lifting assembly in one embodiment includes a pair of rollers which support the room and which move vertically to elevate the slide-out room. In other embodiments of the invention, the rollers are attached to rotatable levers, which rotate upon retraction of the slide-out room to elevate the slide-out room floor. Accordingly, the room is moved between the extended and retracted positions with minimal damaging contact with the finished floor surface of the vehicle.

This invention relates generally to slide-out rooms for use with vehicles, and more particularly, to a slide-out room which travels between an extended and retracted position without sliding on the finished floor surface of the interior of the vehicle.
The width of recreational vehicles and manufactured housing units is limited by highway regulations. However, occupants of those structures commonly desire a greater amount of interior living space. Accordingly, it is common to provide recreational vehicles with at least one slide-out room which can be retracted into the main living area when the vehicle is being driven, and extended from the main living quarters to provide additional living space when the vehicle is parked. Such slide-out rooms may then be retracted during travel, thereby allowing the vehicle to be in compliance with maximum allowable width regulations on public roadways.
Slide-out rooms are typically extended and retracted through an opening in one of the side walls of the structure defining the main living area. The slide-out room includes a back wall, which is optimally in registry with the opening, when the slide-out room is in the fully retracted position within the main living quarters. It is desirable for the back wall of the room to register with the opening in the side wall of the vehicle so as to ensure that the opening is completely closed, and decals and other ornamental features of the vehicle side wall are aligned with similar features on the back wall of the slide-out room.
Conventional slide-out rooms are retracted into and extended out of the vehicle by a drive mechanism attached adjacent to a lower edge of the room. The room itself slides between the extended and retracted positions on top of, and in direct contact with, the finished surface of the floor of the vehicle. Over time, wear marks or other damage to the finished floor surface may occur. Vehicles having slide-out rooms are generally expensive and considered luxury items by purchasers. Accordingly, any unsightly signs of damage or wear to the vehicle are highly undesirable.
The objects of the invention have been accomplished by providing a mobile living quarters comprising a frame, a structure supported by the frame defining a main room including side walls, a ceiling and a floor, with one of the sidewalls defining an opening therethrough. A slide-out room is mounted for movement through the opening between a retracted position retracted into the main room and an extended position extended from the main room to provide an auxiliary living area. The slide-out room includes a back wall, sidewalls, a ceiling and a floor, and a lifting mechanism for lifting the slide-out room floor off of the main room floor during the retraction and extension of the slide-out room.
In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the lifting mechanism is comprised of rails extending longitudinally along a lower portion of the slide-out room floor. The lifting mechanism further comprises an engagement member positioned adjacent the opening for cooperation with the longitudinally extending rails. The engagement members are vertically adjustable to adjust the vertical lift of the slide-out room floor off of the main room floor and are defined by rollers. A lower edge of the opening includes an inclined ramp, upon which a leading edge of the slide-out room rests when in the fully extended position. The ramp includes an aperture therethrough, and the rollers project upwardly through the aperture.
In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the mobile living quarters further comprises at least one engagement member positioned adjacent the opening for cooperation with the longitudinally extending rails. The engagement member is defined as a wear bar extending transversely across a lower edge of the opening. The lifting mechanism is mounted to a bottom of the slide-out room floor. A lower edge of the opening includes an inclined ramp, upon which a leading edge of the slide-out room rests when in the fully retracted position. The ramp includes an aperture therethrough, and at least a portion of the lifter mechanism projects upwardly through the aperture. The lifting mechanism is comprised of a roller movable through the aperture, and cooperable with the leading edge of the slide-out room floor to raise the floor. The roller is movable under the influence of fluid pressure, and a fluid actuated cylinder moves the rollers.
Preferably, the roller is cooperable with the slide-out room floor, whereby when the slide-out room floor contacts the roller, the rotation of the roller, moves the roller vertically. The roller is interconnected to a linkage which causes the vertical movement. The roller includes at least one gear mounted thereto, whereby the at least one gear meshes with a mating pinion gear, and the mating pinion gear is attached to a jack screw, and the roller rotation causes the jack screw to also rotate lifting the roller from a base to which it mounts. The roller is mounted on a threaded shaft, and the lifting mechanism further comprises at least one threaded collar cooperable with the threaded shaft, and the threaded collar moves laterally upon rotation of the roller, and the linkage includes a pivot arm movable by the threaded collar, whereby the pivot arm raises the roller. The threaded shaft extends from opposite ends of the roller and has threaded portions with opposite hand threads. The roller is mounted to a carrier member, which is movable relative to a base member, and the pivot arm pivots relative to the base member, the pivot arm being operatively attached to the carrier member to raise the carrier member and roller.
Preferably, the roller is mounted to a rotatable lever, and the lever is rotated in response to the inward movement of the room, to a position increasing the vertical component of the roller, whereby the slide-out room floor is raised by the roller. The roller is rotated in response to engagement of the slide-out room floor with the roller. The lifting mechanism further comprises a contoured ramp positioned intermediate the roller, when the slide-out room is in the fully extended position, and the roller is caused to roll up the contoured ramp upon retraction of the slide-out room. The lever is movable to an over center position, whereby the slide-out room floor is maintained at a vertical spacing above the main room floor. The lever is preferably rotated in response to engagement by an actuator attached to the slide-out room.
In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the lifting mechanism is further profiled to lower the slide-out room, when in the fully extended position, such that the main room floor and slide-out room floor are substantially flush. A lower edge of the opening includes an inclined ramp, to guide a leading edge of the slide-out room upon retraction. A roller mechanism is held in position adjacent the ramp, and has first and second vertical positions, when the roller mechanism is raised to the second vertical position, the slide-out floor rolls on the roller mechanism at a vertical height above the main room floor, and when the slide-out room moves to the fully extended position, and the roller mechanism is lowered to the first position, the slide-out room floor moves to the substantially flush position.
In another embodiment of the invention, a lifting mechanism for a mobile living quarters comprises a frame, a structure supported by the frame defining a main room including side walls, a ceiling and a floor, where one of the sidewalls defines an opening for slidably receiving a slide-out room mounted for movement through the opening between a retracted position retracted into the main room and an extended position extended from the main room to provide an auxiliary living area. The lifting mechanism comprises a lever mechanism, pivotable relative to the main room, and a roller mechanism, having a first position and a second position, where the second position has a vertical component higher than the first position, the lever mechanism being responsive to the movement of the slide-out room, causing the roller mechanism to move to the second position, whereby the slide-out room may retract with the slide-out room floor rolling against the roller mechanism.
In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the ramp includes an aperture therethrough, and at least a portion of the lifter mechanism projects upwardly through the aperture. The roller is mounted to the lever mechanism, and the lever mechanism is pivoted in response to the inward movement of the room, to move the roller mechanism to the second position, whereby the slide-out room floor is raised by the roller. The lever mechanism is pivoted in response to engagement of the slide-out room floor with the roller mechanism. The lifting mechanism further comprises a contoured ramp positioned intermediate the roller mechanism and the opening, when the slide-out room is in the fully extended position, and the roller is caused to roll up the contoured ramp upon retraction of the slide-out room. The lever is movable to an over center position, whereby the slide-out room floor is maintained at the second position above the main room floor. The lever mechanism is comprised of a pair of levers and the roller mechanism is mounted between the pair of levers by way of an axle. The lever mechanism is spring loaded to position the roller mechanism in the first position. The lever mechanism includes end plates having receiving areas for receiving the axle when in the over center position.
Preferably, the lever is rotated in response to engagement by an actuator attached to the slide-out room. The lever mechanism is pivot mounted relative to the main room, and has a lever arm extending outwardly, with a free end pad for contacting an actuating surface of the slide-out room, and the lever is spring loaded upwardly, at a position intermediate the pivot position and the free end pad, whereby when the slide-out room is retracted initially, the weight of the slide-out room is transferred off of the free end pad, and the lever is spring loaded upwardly moving the roller mechanism and the slide-out room vertically upwardly. The roller mechanism is attached to the lever mechanism, and rolls independently of the lever mechanism.


A bone screw assembly includes a screw body, including anchor portion and rod-receiving portion, and a rod seat movably mounted in the screw body to allow for controlled angulation between a spinal connection element disposed in the rod seat and the screw body. The rod seat is pivotable in one or more selected directions about one or more axes relative to the screw body. The rod seat may include a first lower rod seat element disposed in a recess of the screw body having a cylindrical bottom surface to facilitate pivoting in a first direction. A second lower rod seat element is stacked on the first lower rod seat element and has a conical bottom surface abutting a top surface of the first lower rod seat element to facilitate pivoting in a second direction.

Spinal fixation systems may be used in surgery to align, adjust and/or fix portions of the spinal column, i.e., vertebrae, in a desired spatial relationship relative to each other. Many spinal fixation systems employ a spinal rod for supporting the spine and for properly positioning components of the spine for various treatment purposes. Vertebral anchors, comprising pins, bolts, screws, and hooks, engage the vertebrae and connect the supporting rod to different vertebrae. The size, length and shape of the cylindrical rod depend on the size, number and position of the vertebrae to be held in a desired spatial relationship relative to each other by the apparatus.
Spinal fixation elements can be anchored to specific portions of the vertebra. Since each vertebra varies in shape and size, a variety of anchoring devices have been developed to facilitate engagement of a particular portion of the bone. Pedicle screw assemblies, for example, have a shape and size that is configured to engage pedicle bone. Such screws typically include a threaded shank that is adapted to be threaded into a vertebra, and a head portion having a spinal fixation element-receiving portion, which, in spinal rod applications, is usually in the form of a U-shaped slot formed in the head portion for receiving the rod. A set-screw, plug, cap or similar type of closure mechanism is used to lock the rod into the rod-receiving portion of the pedicle screw. In use, the shank portion of each screw is then threaded into a vertebra, and once properly positioned, a spinal fixation rod is seated through the rod-receiving portion of each screw. The rod is locked into place by tightening a cap or similar type of closure mechanism to securely interconnect each screw and the fixation rod. Other anchoring devices also include hooks and other types of bone screws.
Monoaxial screws are a type of screw in which the longitudinal axis of the threaded shank is fixed relative to the head portion, or rod slot. The longitudinal axis of the threaded shank may be aligned with the longitudinal axis of the head portion, and/or the threaded shank extends at a fixed angle relative to the head. In fixed pedicle screws, which are used in the pedicle region of the vertebra, the threaded shank is rigidly connected to or integrally formed with the head such that the orientation of the threaded shank is fixed with respect to the head.
Polyaxial pedicle screws have been designed to allow angulation of one portion of the screw relative to another portion of the screw and the spinal fixation element coupled to one portion of the screw. For example, polyaxial pedicle screws allow for a shaft portion to pivot relative to a rod-receiving portion in all directions about a 360° arc around the rod-receiving portion. Polyaxial screws may be useful for positioning bone anchors on adjacent vertebrae, when the close proximity of adjacent vertebrae can result in interference between the bone anchors. Polyaxial screws allow for pivoting of the screws in any direction out of alignment with each other to avoid such interference.
An example of such a polyaxial pedicle screw assembly is described in detail in U.S. Patent Application Publication Number US 2004/0186473 entitled "Spinal Fixation Devices of Improved Strength and Rigidity", U.S. Patent Application Publication Number US 2004/0181224 entitled "Anchoring Element for Use in Spine or Bone Surgery, Methods for Use and Production Thereof" and U.S. Patent Application Publication Number US 2003/0100896, entitled "Element With a Shank and a Holding Element Connected to It for Connecting to a Rod", the contents of which are herein incorporated by reference.
Polyaxial and multi-axial screws, which allow the screw shank to pivot in all directions about the head portion, can be difficult to control and often result in movement of the screw shank in planes in which movement is not desirable. For example, during vertebral body rotation maneuvers, which require application of force to the screw head, it is not desirable for the screw shank to move relative to the screw head.
In addition, prior art bone screw systems are not optimized for non-fusion systems, which may employ flexible rods. Without the support of fused bones, non-fusion systems must withstand the applied load for a longer time, even for the lifetime of a patient.
An additional complication of non-fusion stabilization systems is a loosening between the screw and bone. Monoaxial and polyaxial screws of the prior art tend to have a relatively large distance between the center of the rod and the vertebral body surface, resulting in a relatively large moment applied to the screw body by the rod when the screw is implanted, leading to loosening and/or breakage.


A protective case for accommodating at least one electronic device is provided. The case comprises internal features including an articulating support member to allow the selective orientation and positioning of the electrical device in one of at least three user-selected positions and also allows for the nesting of the electronic device in either the closed or open position.

Portable electronic devices such as tablet computers and e-readers have become increasingly popular. An inherent convenience of these devices is that they are highly portable. With increased portability and enhanced electronics, however, comes the need to protect the device from the surrounding environment, impact, and abrasion. Accordingly, as the popularity of the devices continues to increase, so does the need and desire to protect or surround the device with a cost effective storage case. There is a need not only for protecting and transporting electronic devices, but also to use the case for the dual purpose of retaining the electronic device in a preferred orientation for viewing purposes.

Protective case for an electronic device


A replacement rod device for replacing a broken towel rack rod includes a main rod, a spacer rod, and pair of sleeves. The main rod includes a durable rod of a diameter enabling insertion into the existing rod receiving indentations of the existing brackets. The spacer rod includes an identical diameter and material to the main rod and the sleeves include a hollow cylindrical portion. In use, a user places the rods end-to-end with one in each existing indentation and slides the end sleeves to engage each bracket while providing support between the rod portions.

Towel rod racks are commonly seen in bathroom environments to hold towels, washcloths, hand towels, and the like. A wide variety of these towel racks utilize fixed end anchors to hold the towel rod in place. Quite often these end anchor brackets are of a decorative nature and may be even formed as part of the wall system especially when used with ceramic tiles. Unfortunately, such towel rods are prone to breakage over time. Repair of such towel rods usually means the removal of at least one end bracket in order to fit a new towel rod in place. Thus, a simple break often becomes a complicated repair, requiring knowledge, tools, and skills to perform tile work, grouting, and the like. The same is true if one wishes to redecorate or make changes to the look of a bathroom. In order to change the shape or style of the towel rod, the entire fixture must be removed and the remounted to the wall surface.
Attempts have been made to address these problems. Examples of such attempts can be seen by reference in U.S. Pat. No. 3,738,498 issued to Handley, which discloses a replaceable towel rod and U.S. Pat. No. 6,371,423 issued to Miller, which discloses a tubular rod and post assembly. While these attempts may achieve their purported objective each suffers from one or more disadvantage or deficiency related to design or utilization regarding the problems described.


A harmonic current filtering transformer includes a three-phase input winding and at least two wye-connected three-phase output windings. The output windings are phase shifted relative to each other by an amount which causes harmonic currents generated by a non-linear load to magnetically cancel in the transformer core.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electrical power systems in general, and in particular to a device which eliminates unwanted harmonics in a variety of electrical power system applications. The present invention also relates to a polyphase voltage transformer which magnetically cancels harmonic currents caused by nonlinear loads.
2. Description of Related Art
Harmonic currents present in a power distribution network can present significant problems, including power losses, overheating, resonances and overvoltages, operational instability, and radio frequency disturbances. Any electronic circuit which presents a non-linear load to the power source will inherently generate harmonic currents. In many applications, for example at data processing and telecommunication sites, power distribution feeders may carry up to 80% harmonic currents. Power thyristors, rectifiers, and "switch mode" power supplies commonly used in data processing and telecommunications equipment are inherently non-linear and are a major cause of power supply degradation due to generation of harmonics.
A variety of systems have been proposed for on-site harmonic current reduction, including proposals involving use of multiple transformers or multi-phase transformers with delta coupled secondary windings. An example of the former, involving use of two single phase transformers having primary and secondary windings coupled in quadrature, together with "filtering" transformers between each of the taps, the filter transformers having a low impedance to desirable "phase equal" currents, is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,671,901. An example of the latter is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,779,189, which describes a system in which harmonics are essentially reduced by greatly increasing the number of phases at the output.
Another example of a prior attempt at on-site harmonic current reduction involves the inclusion of a dynamic stabilizer system that provides reactive power compensation by causing all three phases to be present in each combination of principal secondary windings and auxiliary secondary windings, the combination of phase rotation and positive leakage reactants in the system resulting in the selective cancellation of resonant currents produced in the dynamic stabilizer so that the harmonic currents are not present in the principal secondary windings, and therefore are not induced in the transformer core. Examples of this type of system are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,513,240 and 4,513,243.
Such solutions have proved to be impractical for many applications because they are either overly complex and therefore costly, excessively bulky, or inefficient. In the case of a transformer with delta connected secondary windings, for example, a 30.degree. phase shift can be used to delete some lower order harmonics, but this configuration can only be used to power very specific types of three phase loads. Since the delta connected secondary does not have a natural neutral, single phase loads and three-phase delta loads present problems. Most of the other known systems for reducing harmonics have similarly limited application.
In contrast, the present invention provides a harmonic suppression transformer in which all significant harmonic currents may be completely cancelled. This is accomplished using multiple wye-connected three-phase secondary outputs, and by phase shifting the outputs in such a way that the harmonics magnetically cancel each other in the transformer core and/or primary coils. As a result, a variety of load types may be accommodated.
While the technique of providing multiple three-phase wye connected outputs has previously been proposed, the technique has heretofore not been applied in a way which would suppress harmonics. Instead, the technique has been used for providing multiple outputs phase shifted in respect to each other by 180.degree., as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,470,598. The 180.degree. phase shift arrangement does not have the effect of cancelling harmonics.
Because it has previously been thought necessary to provide delta connected secondary windings for harmonic suppression purposes, with or without the addition of additional tuning or filtering means such as the filtering transformers disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,671,901, cited above, or to provide stabilizers in connection with the connected secondaries as in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,671,901, also cited above, those skilled in the art have heretofore been unable to take advantage of the simplicity and compatibility advantages of a wye connection in applications requiring harmonic current suppression without complex stabilizer and/or auxiliary winding systems.


The invention relates to a projection display device comprising an illumination system having a light source and an optical guiding means for providing an illumination beam, an image display system comprising a display panel for modulating the illumination beam with image information and projecting the image on a screen, and color filter means provided on a wheel, rotatably mounted at its hub, for transmitting colored portions of the illumination beam for illuminating the display panel. In order to simplify the manufacture of the projection display device, the color filter wheel is provided with one or more cholesteric layers for reflecting a portion of the illumination beam not having a predetermined color and having a circular polarization corresponding to a first direction.

The invention relates to a projection display device comprising an illumination system having a light source and an optical guiding means for providing an illumination beam, color filter means comprising a color filter wheel for scanning the display panel with different colored portions of the illumination beam, and an image display system having an image display panel for modulating the colored portions of the illumination beam with image information and projecting an image on a screen.
The invention also relates to a color filter wheel for use in such a projection display device.
Projection display devices can be used in both rear and front image projection systems. In a rear projection system, the projection display device projects an image representing television or datagraphic information on the rear side of a diffusing transparent screen, which front side is directed to a viewing audience. In a front projection system, the projection display device projects an image representing television or datagraphic information on the front side of a reflecting screen, which front side is directed to a viewing audience.
Such a projection display device is known from U.S. Pat. No. 6,005,722. The known projection system comprises an illumination system and an image display system having an image display panel for modulating an illumination beam to be supplied by the illumination system with image information. The illumination system comprises a light source and an integrator system for forming an illumination beam. A color wheel is present between the light source and the integrator system. The color wheel includes red, green and blue filters. The color filters occupy angular segments of the color wheel. The color wheel filters the white light from the illumination system to produce a colored illumination beam that changes colors from red to green, from green to blue and from blue to red and so on in a rate proportional to the angular speed of the wheel. The display panel modulates the colored illumination beam in accordance with corresponding image information of the color of the illumination beam incident on the display panel. In order to improve the light efficiency, a reflective polarizer may be present between the color filter wheel and the display system. The reflective polarizer transmits a portion of the illumination beam having a polarization in a first direction and reflects a portion of the illumination beam having a second polarization in a second direction, perpendicular to the first direction. Furthermore, light recycling means may be present in the projection display device to reuse the reflected light from the reflective polarizer. A dichroic filter can also be used in the color filter wheel for reflecting a portion of the illumination beam having an undesired color.
The known projection display device has the drawback that the known color wheel with dichroic filters is difficult to manufacture.
It is an object of the invention to provide a projection display device and a color filter wheel which can be easily manufactured. This object can be achieved by the projection display device in accordance with the invention, and is characterized in that the color filter wheel comprises a cholesteric layer for reflecting a portion of the illumination beam not having a predetermined color and having a circular polarization corresponding to a first direction. The application of dichroic type color filters comprising cholesteric layers simplifies the manufacture of color wheels with, for example, spiral-shaped color filter portions. The invention is based on the recognition that the spectral properties of a cholesteric filter are dependent on the illumination conditions at different locations on the substrate during polymerization. By illuminating a liquid crystal on a transparent substrate with different light conditions in predetermined filter portions, and photopolymerisation of the different filter portions in a predetermined order and under predetermined light conditions, a dichroic filter pattern can be created. The direction of rotation of a helix of the cholesteric molecules forming the cholesteric layer and the pitch of the molecular helix of the cholesteric material determines a color or passband and a circular polarization direction of a transmitted portion of the illumination beam. Cholesteric color filters are known per se from the published international application WO 00/34808. In this application, a method of manufacturing a cholesteric mosaic color filter for direct-view liquid crystal displays is described. However, the filter portions in this mosaic color filter have dimensions of the order of several 100 micrometers.
A particularly advantageous embodiment of the projection device according to the invention is characterized in that the projection display device further comprises a wideband cholesteric layer positioned between the cholesteric layer and the display panel for reflecting of a portion of the incident illumination beam having a circular polarization corresponding to a second direction, opposite to the first direction. With this arrangement of color filter and polarizer, only the portion of the illumination beam having the predetermined color and predetermined circular polarization is transmitted to the display panel.
A further embodiment of the projection display device according to the invention is characterized in that the wideband cholesteric layer is provided on the color filter wheel. This arrangement allows simple manufacture of all cholesteric layers on a single substrate.
A further embodiment of the projection display device according to the invention is characterized in that the projection display device comprises a quarter-wave plate positioned between the color filter means and the display panel for converting the circularly polarized transmitted illumination beam into a linearly polarized illumination beam.
Cholesteric color filters transmit only a portion of the illumination beam having a circular polarization. Modulation of the illumination beam by a liquid crystal display may require an illumination beam having a linear polarization. Furthermore, the projection display device may be provided with a transmissive liquid crystal display panel or a reflective liquid crystal display panel.
Another embodiment of the projection display device according to the invention is characterized in that the color filter wheel is provided with a further cholesteric layer positioned between the cholesteric layer and the display panel on the color filter wheel, the rotation of the helix of the cholesteric molecules forming the further cholesteric layer, corresponding to a second direction opposite to the first direction for reflecting a portion of the incident illumination beam not having a predetermined color and having a second circular polarization corresponding to the second direction. This arrangement of cholesteric layers transmits only a portion of the illumination beam having a predetermined color.
A further embodiment of the display device according to the invention is characterized in that the image display panel comprises a digital micro-mirrored display panel.


There is provided an optically pumped magnetometer, in which a pump light having a first wavelength to spin-polarize a first alkali-metal atom group is made to enter a cell containing the first alkali-metal atom group and a second alkali-metal atom group interacting via spin exchange with the first alkali-metal atom group, a probe light having a second wavelength different from the first wavelength to measure spin polarization of the second alkali-metal atom group is made to enter the cell to form the same optical axis as the pump light, a wavelength discrimination unit is provided to discriminate between the pump light and the probe light that passed through the cell depending on a different in wavelength, and the rotation angle of a polarization plane of the probe light that passed through the cell is measured so that the degree of flexibility of the device layout can be increased.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sensing method for measuring an intensity of a magnetic field, specifically to an optically pumped magnetometer using atomic electron spin or nuclear spin.
Description of the Related Art
An optically pumped magnetometer measures a rotation, by a measured magnetic field, of a spin of an atom group polarized by a pump light, as a rotation of a polarization plane of a probe light.
As such an optically pumped magnetometer, the specification of U.S. Pat. No. 7,038,450 describes an optically pumped magnetometer having a cell containing alkali-metal gases, a pump light source, and a probe light source to have an ability to detect weak magnetic fields. In this specification of U.S. Pat. No. 7,038,450, a probe light is made to enter in a direction perpendicular to the optical path of a pump light. Further, in "Spin-exchange relaxation-free magnetometry using elliptically polarized light," Phys. Rev. A 80, 013416 (2009), V. Shah and M. V. Romalis describe an optically pumped magnetometer in which a single-axis elliptically polarized light is made to enter a cell to increase the degree of flexibility of the device layout.
Further, in the specification of U.S. Pat. No. 6,318,092, a technique for the purpose of polarizing 3He, though not for the purpose of use in a magnetometer, is reported, in which spin exchange interaction between Rb and K is used to transfer the rubidium (Rb) spin polarization to the potassium (K). In the technique, the Rb is optically pumped to polarize the K, and the 3He is finally polarized. Using this spin exchange interaction, also, the K can be polarized sufficiently like in that of optical pumping.
However, the above-mentioned conventional examples of optically pumped magnetometers have the following problems: In the specification of U.S. Pat. No. 7,038,450, since the pump light and the probe light are arranged orthogonally, a flexibility of the device layout is restricted. Particularly, since optical axes of the pump light and the probe light interfere with array-arranged cells, such an array-arrangement of multiple cells is difficult. Further, in the above technique described by Shah et al., the probe light is elliptically polarized to create a layout to have the same action as in a layout in which a circularly polarized pump light and a linearly polarized probe light are concentrically overlapped. However, in measuring the rotation angle of the polarization plane of the probe light, it is difficult to separate between a component acting as the pump light and a component acting as the probe light, and hence optical shot noise due to a component acting as the pump light cannot be separated from a signal, thereby causing a problem that a noise level increases.


A non-volatile memory cell is described, including a semiconductor substrate with a trench therein, a charge-trapping layer in the trench, a gate disposed in the trench and separated from the substrate by at least the charge-trapping layer, and S/D regions in the substrate beside the trench. The gate includes a p-doped semiconductor material, so that the memory cell is particularly suitable to erase through hole injection from the gate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a non-volatile memory. More particularly, the present invention relates to a non-volatile memory structure including a charge-trapping layer, and to an operating method and a fabricating method of the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, trapping-type non-volatile memory was discussed widely for allowing a simplified fabricating process and possibly having more than one data storage sites per cell. For example, Eitan et al. (IEEE EDL 2000, Vol. 21, No. 11, pages 543-545) described a localized trapping 2-bit non-volatile memory cell, which has a MOS-type structure with an n-doped gate and an ONO composite layer between the substrate and the gate, wherein the nitride layer serves as a charge-trapping layer. However, since the channel length of the memory cell is short, serious punch-through leakage and second-bit effect are caused.
Moreover, the article in IEEE NVSM 2003 (pages 42-43) discloses a U-shaped non-volatile memory cell that also has an n-doped gate and an ONO composite layer, wherein the channel length is increased by the trench so that the short channel issues are overcome. The article also teaches to erase the memory cell through band-to-band hot hole tunneling (BTBHHT) from the substrate to the nitride trapping layer. However, BTBHHT from the substrate might cause tunnel oxide damage and result charge loss.

Non-volatile memory including charge-trapping layer, and operation and fabrication of the same


In a method of making repositionable pressure sensitive adhesive of tacky elastomeric microspheres wherein the microspheres are polymerized and formed in an aqueous suspension which includes a surfactant, a certain amount of the surfactant is removed from the aqueous suspension after completion of polymerization of the microspheres so that a predetermined reduced amount of surfactant remains, with the result that migration of the surfactant from the adhesive is at least substantially reduced.

There has been considerable development over the last twenty years in the design and manufacture of repositionable adhesives, specifically in methods of making inherently tacky, elastomeric, solvent insoluble, solvent dispersible polymeric microspheres. These microspheres, either solid or hollow, are typically combined with appropriate binders and thickening agents to form adhesives which are coated by various methods on backing materials such as papers, films and foils.
Inherently tacky acrylic microspheres utilized in these adhesive compositions are produced by suspension polymerization methods which have become quite common. In all of these techniques surfactants are used to stabilize the microspheres in the suspension polymerization process. Following the polymerization process, additional wetting agents or surfactants are often added to increase the wetting ability of the microsphere composition on support surfaces. For example, Tsujimoto Patent WO97/14510 describes a transfer coatable water based microsphere adhesive composition for sheet-to-sheet coating processes. It teaches that a surfactant, in addition to surfactant within the polymeric microsphere composition itself and its binders and thickening agents, is added during the manufacture of the adhesive composition to enhance wetting on a silicon surface. This is a well known practice.
However, the addition of wetting agents or surfactants to microsphere compositions in adhesive manufacture is not without disadvantages. The wetting agent or surfactant may migrate from the finished product if present in excessive amounts. In transfer coating processes, the tack and peel of the adhesive microsphere compositions can be diminished by wetting agents or surfactants in too great an amount. Also, typical wetting agents such as fluorosurfactants and specialty diols are quite expensive.
It is the purpose of the present invention to improve upon methods of making repositionable pressure sensitive adhesives in a manner such that surfactants are not added to the microsphere compositions as in the Tsujimoto reference and those surfactants present in the microsphere composition or its binders or thickening agents are significantly reduced. By achieving these objects, migration of wetting agent from the finished products is greatly lessened if not eliminated, the inherent tack and peel of the adhesive microsphere compositions are increased and use of expensive added wetting agents such as fluorosurfactants and specialty diols is avoided.


A method, at a terminal having at least one associated graphical user interface(s)(GUI)(s), comprising: receiving input data, at one or more I/O device(s) associated with and communicatively connected to the terminal, selecting one or more file object(s) displayed on the at least one associated graphical user interface(s); retrieving, from a database stored on a computer-readable medium, parameters associated with one or more criteria for performing a sequence of one or more commands; accessing properties of file(s) associated with the one or more file objects; comparing the properties of the file(s) with the parameters associated with one or more criteria to determine which criteria are met; retrieving, from a database stored on a computer-readable medium, sequences of one or more commands to be performed under specified conditions; and calculating and initiating the appropriate sequence of commands. A terminal, system, and computer readable medium are also disclosed.

Myriad industries and technical research endeavors demand human-to-data interactions, wherein human users manipulate and intelligently process various file types across a myriad of functionalities.
Graphical user interfaces (GUIs) can be connected to various input/output (I/O) devices such as a mouse or touch panel via a computer terminal. A file containing various types of computer data such as text, images, and sound as well as applications for performing computer-implemented operations are often represented visually on a GUI. Motions received at an associated I/O device can be represented visually on the GUI as well, and motions received at an I/O device can also be translated into various commands executed by a computer terminal.
Motions received at an I/O device and represented visually on a GUI associated with the computer terminal are sometimes referred to as "drag and drop" when a button click during a cursor-to-file overlap, plus a motion of the mouse, and then release of the button at a GUI target indicia, are translated into selection of the file and instantiation of a command with respect to the file.
The following additional references became known from one or more searches conducted in connection with a disclosure of the embodiments described herein. This patent document makes no assertion as to whether or not any particular reference constitutes "prior art" under the patent laws of the various jurisdictions for which patent protection is being sought. Copies are being provided in respective Patent Offices as part of an "Information Disclosure Statement" or equivalent in each jurisdiction:
U.S. Pat. No. 6,976,224 (Nii)
U.S. Pat. No. 9,104,300 (Brownholtz).
U.S. Pat. No. 9,886,188 (Saito).
U.S. Pat. No. 9,026,931 (Hackett).
US20070185832 (Kriebel)
U.S. Pat. No. 7,283,257 (Bright).
US20100275144 (Dejoras)
US20130275901 (Saas)
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 10,222,970 (Hartman) discloses a separate graphical indicator also known as a "drop socket" which denotes a singular graphical action to be performed on a selected object. The user initiates the drag and drop action by motion directed at the graphical region of the drop socket, and the specific action performed depends on which drop socket is selected. "Drop sockets" are an advantage or alternative to standard right click functionality in Microsoft® operating systems by allowing a user to drag and drop to initiate an action as opposed to displaying a list of actions when right clicking on a mouse. None of these references nevertheless allow a user to effectively handle various file types and action sequences.
It would be desirable therefore to provide a method that provides improved function at a graphical user interface.

Method for multifunctional graphical user interface file indicia movement, and system, terminal and computer readable media for the same


A center server in a network photo-print service system receives print order information related to a print, order and information related to conditions for a delivery site for prints, outputted in response to the order, from the customer (a customer-side terminal) through the network, extracts a delivery shop candidate group suitable for the conditions for a delivery site for prints from the shops capable of delivering the prints, requests the customer to select a shop from the delivery shop candidate group as a delivery shop, that is, a delivery site for the prints, and transmits the print order information to a print output device placed in the delivery shop thus determined in accordance with the selection by the customer. Moreover, the transmission end of the print order information is altered depending on whether the printing process in the print order information is, for example, (1) a printing process having a size not more than a predetermined size (first printing process) or (2) a printing process having a size greater than the predetermined size (second printing process).

This application is based on application Nos. 2000-058874 and 2000-064706 filed in Japan, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a network photo-print service system which takes orders for photo-prints from customers through a network and carries out print output services in accordance with the orders.
2. Description of the Background Art
A network photo-print service system, which takes orders for photo-prints from customers through a network and carries out print output services in accordance with the orders, has been proposed.
Such a network photo-print service system has advantages in that it is possible to take orders through a network and that customers need not go to a store to place orders.
However, with respect to receiving processes of prints that are outputted in accordance with the orders, those processes fail to sufficiently meet the various demands from the customers and tend to be inefficient.
Moreover, with respect to the contents of printing processes in the photo-prints, various kinds of processes, such as a normal-size process, a process having a size larger than the normal-size or a process accompanying a special digital image processing, has been carried out.
However, since a general purpose print output device capable of executing all kinds of printing processes is expensive, it would raise a problem of costs, etc., to distribute such general purpose devices to many shops as the print output devices for executing the above-mentioned printing processes.
Moreover, with respect to the contents of orders, for example, an actual situation is that orders for normal-size prints account for a considerable rate, while orders for the other-size prints are very few; therefore, it has been demanded to construct an efficient system that meets such an actual situation.
In accordance with the first aspect of the present invention, a center server, which is used in a network photo-print service system that takes an order for photo-prints from a customer through the network and provides a print output service in response to the order, is provided with a receiver for receiving print order information related to a print order and information related to conditions for a delivery site for prints, outputted in response to the order from the customer through the network; a memory for storing information of a plurality of shops capable of delivering the prints; a selector for extracting a delivery-shop candidate group suitable for the conditions for a delivery site for prints from the plurality of shops capable of delivering the prints based upon the information stored in the memory; a transmitter for transmitting information related to the delivery-shop candidate group extracted by the selector to the customer; and a controller which, in response to selection by the customer, determines a suitable delivery shop from the delivery-shop candidate group and transmits the print order information to a print output device placed in the delivery shop thus determined.
With this arrangement, the customer can readily receive ordered prints at a delivery shop that the customer has determined in accordance with his or her needs; thus, it is possible to provide a convenient service.
In accordance with a second aspect of the present invention, the center server has an arrangement in which the print order information has image data that is a subject for the print output process, data related to the contents of the print output process and customer identification data for identifying the customer. Here, the center server also has an arrangement in which the print order information has image specifying data for specifying image data stored in a predetermined server as a subject image for the print output process, data related to the contents of the print output process and customer identification data for identifying the customer.
Since the above-mentioned print order information includes customer identification data, it is possible to improve reliability in the transaction.
In accordance with a third aspect of the present invention, the center server has an arrangement in which the print order information includes at least data related to the contents of the printing process, the center server further includes a judging section for judging whether the printing process relates to a first printing process that is outputted by a first print output device or a second printing process that is outputted by a second print output device; and the controller, in the case when the judgment by the judging section shows that the printing process is the first printing process, transmits the print order information to the first print output device, and in the case when the judgment by the judging section shows that the printing process is the second printing process, transmits the print order information to the second print output device.
With this arrangement, when it is judged that the contents of a printing process relate to the first printing process, the print order information is sent to the first print output device, and when it is judged that the contents of a printing process relate to the second printing process, the print order information is sent to the second print output device; therefore, after having been properly delivered to the first print output device and the second print output device depending on the contents of printing processes, the corresponding printing processes are carried out. Consequently, it is possible to construct a system which can efficiently deal with a printing process in accordance with its contents
In accordance with the fourth aspect of the present invention, the center server has an arrangement in which the first print output device is placed in a delivery shop that the customer is allowed to specify as the print delivery site, and the controller transmits the print order information to the first print output device placed in the delivery shop specified by the customer as the print delivery site.
With this arrangement when it is judged that the contents of a printing process relate to the first printing process, the print order information is sent to the first print output device that is placed at a delivery shop that has been specified by the customer as a print receiving place; therefore, the customer can readily receive the resulting print outputted by the first print output device at the delivery shop specified by the customer, making the system more convenient.
In accordance with the fifth aspect of the present invention, the center server has an arrangement in which the second print output device is placed in a non-delivery store that the customer is not allowed to specify as the print delivery site, and the controller transmits the print order information to the second print output device placed in the non-delivery shop.
With this arrangement, when it is judged that the contents of a print process relate to the second print process, the print order information and information relate to the delivery shop are sent to the second print output device placed in a non-delivery shop; thereafter, the resulting print outputted from the second print output device therein is transferred to the delivery shop, thereby allowing the customer to receive the corresponding print at the delivery shop.
The first objective of the present invention is to provide a network photo-print service system capable of achieving convenient services so as to meet the customers"" demands, and related techniques for such a system.
Moreover, the second objective of the present invention is to provide an efficient network photo-print service system which can be constructed at low costs and related techniques for such a system.

Network photo-print service system, center server and information processing method


A pump includes a first housing part defining a first portion of a bore extending within the first housing part and shaped to receive a rotor; and a second housing part defining a second portion of the bore extending within the second housing part and shaped to receive the rotor. The first housing part has a first face abutable against an opposing second face of the second housing part to position the first portion of the bore with the second portion of the bore to receive the rotor. The first portion of the bore has a first circular cross-section portion centered along the first face and the second portion of the bore having a second circular cross-section portion centered, within the second housing part, at a distance from the second face.

Compressors and vacuum pumps are known. Vacuum pumps are typically employed as a component of a vacuum system to evacuate devices. Also, these pumps are used to evacuate fabrication equipment used in, for example, the production of semi-conductors. Rather than performing compression from a vacuum to atmosphere in a single stage using a single pump, it is known to provide multi-stage vacuum pumps where each stage performs a portion of the complete compression range required to transition from a vacuum to atmospheric pressure. Similar arrangements exist for compressors.
Although such compressors and vacuum pumps provide advantages, they also have their own shortcomings. Accordingly, it is desired to provide an improved arrangement for multi-stage pumps.
The discussion above is merely provided for general background information and is not intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter. The claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solve any or all disadvantages noted in the background.


A first electric motor generates torque in the case where a vehicle speed becomes lower than a specified threshold in a travel state where a second electric motor is exclusively used as a drive source among an engine, the first electric motor, and the second electric motor and during a speed reducing travel.

A vehicle power transmission apparatus that includes a first electric motor, a second electric motor, a transmission member that is coupled to drive wheels and the second electric motor in a manner capable of transmitting power, a differential mechanism for distributing output of an engine to the first electric motor and the transmission member in a power transmission path between the engine and the drive wheels has been known. A technique for filling a backlash in such a vehicle power transmission apparatus in order to suppress generation of abnormal sound and the like has been suggested. For example, a control device for a vehicle that is described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2013-169852 (JP 2013-169852 A) is one example thereof. In this technique, backlash filling torque for filling the backlash between two each of various gears on the power transmission path is output from the first electric motor at a startup in no load states of the first electric motor and the second electric motor. In this way, the generation of the abnormal sound at the startup of the vehicle can be suppressed.


An apparatus and method to adjust item recommendations are disclosed herein. A first image attribute of a query image is compared to a second image attribute of each of a plurality of inventory images of a plurality of inventory items to identify the inventory items similar to the query image. Item recommendations comprising the identified inventory items in a first listing order are provided for display at a remote device. A second listing order of the identified inventory items is determined based on a user preference for a particular one of the identified inventory items. At least the second listing order is provided to the remote device for re-display of the item recommendations in accordance with the second listing order.

Images can be used to convey information more efficiently or in a way not possible with text, particularly from the viewpoint of a user viewing the images or to facilitate electronic commerce (c-commerce). However, in order to use images based on the wealth of information contained therein, image processing is performed to extract, identify, or otherwise recognize attributes of the images. Once extracted, the image data can be used in a variety of applications. Depending on the particular application(s), certain types of image processing may be implemented over others. In some instances, the present image processing algorithms may be insufficient.
The headings provided herein are for convenience only and do not necessarily affect the scope or meaning of the terms used.

Item recommendations based on image feature data


An adaptive headlight system for a vehicle uses an adaptive headlight controller which controls one or more headlights so as to illuminate a scene visible to a vehicle driver. The controller causes the headlights to generate a frame-region within the scene which outlines an object detected by an object-detection system carried by the vehicle. The frame-region is illuminated at a reduced level relative to the areas of the scene inside and outside the frame-region, thereby creating a dark/light contrast, visible to the driver, between the frame-region and the scene. If the object-detecting system indicates that the object is a living being, the frame-region is located to cover a head of the living being so as to avoid visually dazzling the being.

The term "adaptive headlight system" is commonly applied to a system for a motor vehicle in which one or more lamps are controlled to generate and direct (or "steer") projected light to selectively illuminate a portion or portions of a scene (visible to a vehicle driver) with varying levels of illumination. Such a selective and varying illumination of portions of the scene viewed by the driver is commonly referred to as "adaptive light distribution."
DE 10 2012 002 333 A1 teaches a vehicle headlight system in which a light distribution contains at least one light beam which generates a limited illuminated area, similar to a spot-beam, in a predefined region in front of the vehicle. The light distribution can be composed of a plurality of different light beams to form a total light distribution. The light beams can be generated either by pivotable/steerable lighting modules or, such as if the light source is an LED array, by selectively switching the LED light sources on and off, wherein flashing effects can also be generated. A camera with image evaluation of the camera image such that a lane boundary and the position and profile thereof with respect to the vehicle are detected and are transmitted to a light control unit for the light distribution is located in the vehicle, said light control unit setting the light distribution in such a way that a lane boundary which is crossed by the vehicle is illuminated with higher illumination intensity than other regions of the field of vision.
DE 10 2010 046 517 A1 teaches a vehicle headlight system in which a lighting unit generates a specific light distribution which is sensed by an imaging sensing unit, wherein a horizontal and/or vertical light/dark boundary of the light distribution is determined by evaluating an image of the scene in front of the vehicle and is compared with reference values. In the case of deviations the lighting unit is adjusted automatically in order to avoid dazzling objects and other road users and to illuminate obstacles selectively by means of a hazard light. The type of the object is also determined, for example as vehicles, pedestrians, cyclists, animals, etc. Such a vehicle headlight system is also referred to as an automatic lighting assistant, which automatically adjusts the main beam on the basis of the moving and non-moving objects sensed in front of the vehicle. Sensed objects can be extracted from the light distribution, in particular with a "partial full-beam with defined interval". Alternatively, individual objects can also be illuminated more strongly with what is referred to as a hazard light, the intention being to avoid dazzling, without any more detailed description as to how this could happen.
For the human eye it is a difficult task to detect objects such as, for example, pedestrians when driving at night, because the contrast sensitivity of the eye at night is lower than in daylight, and additionally because such objects frequently stand out from their surroundings only with small differences of brightness. Known automatic lighting assistants which direct a spot-beam onto the object in addition to the main beam, solve this problem by attracting the driver's attention to a critical object. However, visually detecting and precisely identifying the illuminated object may still be difficult for the driver owing to the low contrast sensitivity of the human eye and, in certain conditions, the lack of contrast at night. Furthermore, the illumination intensities of spot-beams are subject to legal limits owing to the risk of dazzling others (an on-coming driver or pedestrian, for example). Spot-beams, and, in particular, flashing effects can be misinterpreted by illuminated persons, which may increase the risk of an accident. There is also the risk of an accident if a dazzled animal stops when crossing the roadway.

Vehicle headlight system with adaptive light distribution


Described is a provisioning system for receiving configuration changes to and queries of settings on a mobile device. One implementation includes a router component and a configuration manager component. The router component is responsible for receiving messages delivered to the mobile device and parsing the messages into requests for information. The messages may be delivered in document format, such as in the eXtensible Markup Language (XML) format. The requests may take the form of a request to respond with existing configuration settings, or to set certain configuration settings on the mobile device. The router component is also responsible for authenticating and decrypting the messages. Once properly authenticated and decrypted, the router component passes the message to the configuration manager component. The configuration manager component is responsible for determining what configuration settings are affected by the message and for processing the requests within the message. For example, the configuration manager component may process a request to query a configuration setting by retrieving the requested information from a hardware register or a software registry. The configuration manager component may implement one or more configuration service providers to perform the actual request processing. The configuration manager component may additionally compose a response document to return in the event that a response has been requested in the message. In one implementation, the response may be created by modifying the original message received and returning that message to the router component.

The use of mobile electronics is growing by leaps and bounds. Mobile devices, such as cellular phones and personal digital assistants (PDAs), are transforming from relatively-simple single-function devices into complex devices with both telephone and PDA capabilities. With these improvements comes a greater need for configurability and maintenance. With each type of application or functionality installed on a mobile device comes additional configuration settings. In the past, configuration settings for the mobile device were set one time, such as during a "bootstrap provisioning" transaction, and either not changed or changed by manually activating a keypad or other input system on the mobile device, which of course requires physical access to the mobile device.
As these devices become more and more complex, there is a greater chance that configuration settings stored on the mobile device will need to be changed. For instance, a service provider may have a need to change the phone number to which the mobile device responds, or to modify a setting related to an e-mail application on the device. However, until now, modifying settings on a mobile device (or "provisioning") has been a burdensome and difficult task. A typical maintenance scenario might be that a mobile device user calls a tech support contact (maybe the mobile operator or maybe a corporate helpdesk) and complains about a problem. The current remedy is for the support technician to walk the user through a long complicated series of steps to determine the current configuration of the mobile device, and then walks the user through a number of steps to fix the configuration. This is obviously a very tedious process, labor intensive, and prone to human error.
Additionally, in an effort to control the total cost of ownership (TCO) of running complicated devices, the mobile device may be configured so that the end user does not have permission to view or modify the settings which are involved in their problem. In order to control TCO and prevent the user from corrupting the settings, end user access to the settings can be controlled. In that case, the support technician requires this functionality and access to the mobile device in order to correctly diagnose the problem. Until now, a solution to these problems has eluded those skilled in the art.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

System and method for continuously provisioning a mobile device