A quick disconnect is provided to permit two cable ends to be rapidly connected and disconnected without the use of tools. The quick disconnect includes rear and front couplings which may be mounted to respective cable ends. Quick connection of the cable ends is effected by connecting the rear and front couplings to one another by a hinge latch. The hinge latch is retained in the closed position by a compression sleeve which surrounds the hinge latch. The front end of the compression sleeve includes a ring groove that retains a ring spring. The ring spring engages complementary retention grooves in the hinge latch to bias the hinge latch in the closed position, thus securing the front coupling to the rear coupling.

Presently, many applications exist in which the ability to quickly connect and disconnect two cable ends is desirable. For example, in many systems, such as aircraft, marine and automobile engine controls, the ability to quickly and reliably connect and disconnect to cable ends is desirable in order to service, inspect or replace the cable inner core.
However, existing quick connects that incorporate a compression sleeve often require that the tolerances of the inside diameter of the compression sleeve be precisely controlled. Such precision can lead to an increased manufacturing cost. In addition, as the quick disconnect is repeatedly used, the precise dimensions may change and no longer be within the desired tolerances, due to wear of the components with use. Accordingly, it would be in advance in the state-of-the-art to provide a quick disconnect that is less susceptible to changes in performance with repeated use due to component wear. In addition, it would be in advance to provide a quick disconnect having a design that provides positive feedback to an operator, such as tactile feedback provided by a "click", when the quick disconnect is assembled into its final, closed state.


A method of calibrating a registration of an augmented reality device 2 comprised in a surgical navigation system 100 is provided. The method comprises obtaining a first transformation 38 between a coordinate system 40 of the augmented reality device 2 and a reference coordinate system 42 of the surgical navigation system 100, a second transformation 44 between a coordinate system of a reference object 24 and the reference coordinate system 42 and obtaining geometrical properties of the reference object 24. The method further comprises determining a visual representation 34 of the reference object 24 to be displayed by the augmented reality device 2 and obtaining at least one first viewing direction 56 of a user using the augmented reality device 2, the at least one first viewing direction 56 being associated with the reference coordinate system 42. The method comprises determining a calibrated first transformation, which is a transformation between the coordinate system 40 of the augmented reality device 2 and the reference coordinate system 42.

In the field of surgical navigation, augmented reality devices are beginning to be used in order to display relevant information to a user such as a surgeon. For example, a treatment is planned before surgery using two- or three-dimensional patient image data. Immediately before or during surgery, relevant data of the planned treatment such as an intended resection volume of body tissue or an intended placement of a screw into a bone can be shown to the surgeon via the augmented reality device.
Most commonly, head-mounted augmented reality devices are used to enable a free movement of the hands of the user. Such a head-mounted augmented reality device for surgical navigation is disclosed in US 2018/0185100 A1.
Some known augmented reality devices comprise an internal localization system which enables determining a position and orientation of the augmented reality device in a coordinate system of the augmented reality device. The accuracy of the internal localization system of the augmented reality devices is often insufficient for the surgical requirements at hand.
Usually, high accuracy localization systems are used in surgical navigation in order to determine the position and orientation of surgical instruments and body parts of a patient. To this end, tracking devices can be attached to surgical instruments and body parts to be tracked. The localization system may then detect the optical tracking devices and determine the position and orientation thereof. Such high accuracy localization systems enable a more precise determination of the position and orientation of a tracked object compared with the internal localization system of an augmented reality device.
In order to improve the accuracy of the internal localization system of an augmented reality device, it makes sense to combine the augmented reality device with a surgical navigation system which uses a high accuracy localization system to achieve gold standard accuracies. To combine the position determined by the augmented reality device in its coordinate system with positions determined by the localization system in a coordinate system of the surgical navigation system, a mechanism is required that joins both to a common frame of reference. One way to achieve this is to provide the augmented reality device with a tracking device which can be tracked by the high accuracy localization system comprised in the surgical navigation system.
A low quality tracking of the augmented reality device will result in incorrect transformation of coordinates of the localization system of the surgical navigation system into the coordinate system of the augmented reality device. This in turn will lead to visualizations in the augmented reality device that are not accurately overlaid for example on relevant anatomical parts of the patient.
Since the surgeon might want to rely on the accuracy of the augmented reality overlay to perform surgical tasks, several problems need to be solved. Firstly, it has to be considered how the surgeon can verify that the overlaid visualization is accurate. Secondly, it has to be considered how the surgeon can correct the overlaid visualization in case a deviation is detected.

Technique for calibrating a registration of an augmented reality device


A mode control circuit is disclosed which generates a mode control signal in response to an illegal state detected as a combination of inputs and outputs. An illegal state is forced by the application of a fixed voltage to an output pin. The mode control signal is used to switch input-output signals of a megacell internal to an application specific integrated circuit to the output pins of the package so that testing of the megacell is facilitated.

This invention relates generally to a circuit for generating a mode control signal, and more specifically to an integrated circuit package containing several megacells where the mode control signal is used to connect I/O signals and other signals of a megacell to the pins of the integrated circuit package.
Very large scale integration (VLSI) has high component (e.g., transistors, logic gates, etc.) densities in a single integrated circuit package. Typically, each package houses a complex device such as a central processing unit (CPU), interface adapter, memory, etc., which are modules used to build, for example, a dedicated computer system. Each package contains a die which is a semiconductor substrate upon which has been fabricated the transistors and other components of the device. Common methods of fabricating the die include chemical vapor deposition, ion implantation, and molecular beam epitaxy. Each of these methods uses some form of design definition of the interconnections and placement of components which make up the device.
These design definitions can exist physically, as in the case of a mask used in a photolithographic process, or the design definition may merely exist in a computerized database. All such design definitions will be referred to in this specification as megacells.
Over the years, manufacturers have cataloged a large library of megacells used to build devices which have been marketed. Recently, new technology has emerged which makes it possible to combine the dies generated by each mask onto a single large substrate, thereby providing that several previously discretely packaged dies can be combined into one integrated circuit package. In such a device comprising 2 or more dies on a single substrate, each die is then referred to as a megacell.
One form of this technology produces what are called application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), where a manufacturer will produce for a customer a single integrated circuit package designed to meet the customer's specific application. For example, a CPU, an interrupt controller and a peripheral interface adapter can be combined into one ASIC, thus achieving in one integrated circuit package what previously required three packages mounted on a circuit board including interconnecting metallized conductors and various support circuitry.
In an ASIC, the megacells are connected to each other as needed by conductors fabricated onto the single substrate. Additionally, "glue" logic is provided on the substrate to perform functions which were previously formed by small-scale or medium-scale discretely packaged integrated circuits. Thus, this technology provides a great savings in size, and other benefits such as lower power consumption.
However, a problem with ASIC technology is that it is difficult to independently test or exercise each of the megacells once the package has been assembled. It is desirable to be able to test each megacell independently since logically each megacell performs a well-defined function. Usually, testing software already exists for these megacells as each megacell has been previously manufactured and marketed as a discrete device. However, this testing software assumes that all of the input and output (I/O) signals to and from the megacell are available at package pins, this being the case when the megacell was discretely packaged. In an ASIC, though, many of a given megacell's I/O signals will not be available at the integrated circuit package pins because the megacell's I/O signals have been directly interconnected with other megacells on the substrate so in normal operation it is no longer necessary to provide those signals externally to the ASIC package.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a means whereby an individual megacell's I/O signals will be made available at the pins of the ASIC so they may be accessed externally for testing purposes. This may mean that all of a megacell's I/O signals, or merely a subset of a megacell's I/O signals, need to be present at the ASIC's pins.
As many signals as are needed for complete testing of the megacell must be provided at pins. However, such pins are usually in short supply in a given integrated circuit package. In today's designs, many of the pins on a given integrated circuit package are already performing more than one function, and there are no spare pins. Also, this individual megacell testing will typically only be done at the time of manufacture, and it is undesirable to provide I/O signals at package pins which are not needed by the end user.
As used in this specification, "I/O signals," or merely, "signals," means any electrical connection to a device or megacell including power connections.
It is a primary object of the present invention to provide a means of switching megacell I/O signals to output pins on an integrated circuit package in order to individually test a megacell, wherein this means has no impact on the end use of the package.

Circuit for generating a mode control signal


A method and system for coronary artery detection in 3D cardiac volumes is disclosed. The heart chambers are segmented in the cardiac volume, and an initial estimation of a coronary artery is generated based on the segmented heart chambers. The initial estimation of the coronary artery is then refined based on local information in the cardiac volume in order to detect the coronary artery in the cardiac volume. The detected coronary artery can be extended using 3D dynamic programming.

The present invention relates to medical imaging of the heart, and more particularly, to automatic detection of coronary arteries in medical images of the heart.
According to the statistics from the United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention, cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a leading cause of death in the United States. As reported by the American Heart Association, coronary artery disease (CAD) causes a largest percentage among various types of CVDs. CAD is often caused by the narrowing of the coronary artery or atherosclerosis. This can lead to coronary artery stenosis and can cause heart attacks, angina pectoris, or both.
Various techniques exist to produce images of the heart, including computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), fluoroscopic imaging, etc. These techniques can be utilized to produce large amounts of 2D image and 3D volume data that can be used for analyzing the heart. Segmentation of coronary arteries in such heart images is an important step for detection of plaques, aneurysms, stenoses, and other abnormalities of coronary arteries that can result in dysfunction or disease of the heart. However, coronary artery segmentation or detection can be a difficult problem due to large variation in shape, low contrast, calcification, stenosis, occlusion, bifurcation, and the existence of other vessel-like structures, such as veins.
Typical conventional techniques for segmenting coronary arteries utilize a tracking based method that tracks the coronary arteries starting from a point on the aorta. Such conventional techniques typically require a human input as a seed, and are semi-automatic approaches that may not be fast enough for clinical application. Furthermore, such conventional techniques are sensitive to artifacts, and a mistake caused by an artifact can lead to tracking of an entirely wrong path.

Method and system for automatic coronary artery detection


An in-vehicle information processing device according to an embodiment of the present technology includes a control unit. The control unit detects presence or absence of an abnormality of a first monitor that displays a first image captured by a first camera among a plurality of cameras that capture an image of a predetermined region including a rear side of a vehicle, and switches, when detecting the abnormality of the first monitor, from a first mode in which the first image is displayed on the first monitor to a second mode in which the first image is displayed on a second monitor different from the first monitor.

Conventionally, as means for ensuring the visibility of the rear side of a vehicle when a driver operates a vehicle such as an automobile, a room mirror or a side mirror is installed in the vehicle.
In recent years, as means substituting for such a room mirror or a side mirror, it has been expected that a CMS (Camera Monitor System) for displaying an image of the rear side of a vehicle captured by a camera on a monitor becomes pervasive (for example, Patent Literature 1).

In-vehicle information processing device, in-vehicle information processing system, and information processing  method


A positive resist composition contains: (A) a polymer compound having a structure where a hydrogen atom of a phenolic hydroxyl group is replaced by an acid labile group represented by the following formula (I):

In the microfabrication using a resist composition, with an increase in the integration degree of an integrated circuit, formation of an ultrafine pattern is required. To meet this requirement, the exposure wavelength tends to become shorter, such as from g-line to i-line or further to excimer laser light, and, for example, development of a lithography technique using an electron beam is proceeding at present. As the formed pattern becomes finer, thin film formation of the resist film is also proceeding so as to prevent a problem of pattern collapse. With respect to the resin used in a resist composition for forming a conventional resist film as thick as having a film thickness of 0.2 to 1.0 μm, a resin having an acetal structure where a hydrogen atom of a phenolic hydroxyl group is replaced, for example, by an acid labile group containing a specific ring structure is described in JP-A-2000-239538 (the term "JP-A" as used herein means an "unexamined published Japanese patent application"), JP-A-2006-146242 and International Publication No. 05/023880.
In order to form an ultrafine pattern, thin film formation of the resist is necessary, but this incurs deterioration of the dry etching resistance. Also, in electron beam lithography, the effect of electron scattering (forward scattering) in the resist film is recently reduced by increasing the accelerating voltage of the electron beam (EB). However, in this case, the electron energy trapping ratio of the resist film decreases, giving rise to reduction in the sensitivity, and the effect of scattering (back scattering) of electrons reflected in the resist substrate increases. Above all, in the case of forming an isolated pattern having a large exposure area, the effect of back scattering is large, and the resolution of the isolate pattern is impaired.
Particularly, in the case of patterning on a photomask blank used for semiconductor exposure, a light-shielding film containing a heavy atom is present below the resist, and the effect of back scattering attributable to the heavy atom is more serious. Therefore, in the case of forming an isolated pattern on a photomask blank, among others, resolution is highly likely to be decreased.
As one of the methods to solve these problems, use of a resin having a polycyclic aromatic skeleton such as naphthalene is being studied (see, for example, JP-A-2008-95009 and JP-A-2009-86354), but the problem about the resolution of an isolated pattern is unsolved. In JP-A-2005-99558, as one of the methods to enhance the resolution of an isolated pattern, a resin containing a group for adjusting the solubility is used, but the resolution of an isolated pattern has not yet reached a satisfactory level.
Also, the microfabrication using a resist composition is not only used directly to produce an integrated circuit but also applied, in recent year, to the fabrication or the like of a so-called imprint mold structure (see, for example, JP-A-2008-162101 and Yoshihiko Hirai (compiler), Nanoimprint no Kiso to Gijutsu Kaihatsu•Oyo Tenkai—Nanoimprint no Kiban Gijutsu to Saishin no Gijutsu Tenkai (Basics and Developments of Technology and Application of Nanoimprint—Fundamental Technology of Nanoimprint and Deployment of Leading-Edge Technology), Frontier Shuppan (issued June, 2006)). Therefore, it becomes an important task to satisfy high sensitivity, high resolution property (for example, high resolution, excellent pattern profile and small line edge roughness (LER)) and good dry etching resistance all at the same time, and this needs to be solved.

Positive resist composition, and resist film, resist-coated mask blank, resist pattern forming method and photomask each using the composition

Abstract: wherein R represents a monovalent organic group; A represents a group having a polycyclic hydrocarbon ring structure or a group having a polycyclic heterocyclic structure; and * represents a bonding position to an oxygen atom of the phenolic hydroxyl group.


Provided is a voltage regulator including an overcurrent protection circuit, which does not need a test circuit. The voltage regulator has a configuration in which a reference voltage circuit includes an element that determines a reference voltage and an overcurrent protection circuit includes an element that determines a maximum output current, the element of the reference voltage circuit and the element of the overcurrent protection circuit having the same characteristics. Accordingly, there is a correlation between an output voltage before trimming and the maximum output current for overcurrent protection. Thus, a maximum output current before trimming can be estimated without performing evaluation by a test circuit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a voltage regulator including an overcurrent protection circuit.
2. Description of the Related Art
Description is made of a conventional voltage regulator. FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating the conventional voltage regulator.
The conventional voltage regulator includes a ground terminal 100, a power supply terminal 101, an output terminal 102, a reference voltage circuit 103, a differential amplifier circuit 104, an output transistor 105, a voltage dividing circuit 106, and an overcurrent protection circuit 107.
Description is made of an operation of the conventional voltage regulator.
When an output voltage Vout of the output terminal 102 is higher than a predetermined voltage, that is, when a divided voltage Vfb of the voltage dividing circuit 106 is higher than a reference voltage Vref, an output signal of the differential amplifier circuit 104 becomes higher. A gate voltage of the output transistor 105 increases, and hence the output transistor 105 is gradually turned OFF and the output voltage Vout decreases. On the other hand, when the output voltage Vout is lower than the predetermined voltage, the output voltage Vout increases in the same manner as described above. In other words, the output voltage Vout of the voltage regulator is maintained to a constant predetermined voltage.
When the output voltage Vout of the voltage regulator decreases due to an increase in load, an output current Iout increases to be a maximum output current Im. Then, in accordance with the maximum output current Im, a larger current flows through a sense transistor 121 which is current-mirror-connected to the output transistor 105. At this time, a voltage generated across a resistor 154 increases to gradually turn ON an NMOS transistor 123, and a voltage generated across a resistor 153 increases. Then, a PMOS transistor 124 is gradually turned ON, and a gate-source voltage of the output transistor 105 decreases to gradually turn OFF the output transistor 105. Accordingly, the output current Iout does not exceed the maximum output current Im but is fixed to the maximum output current Im, and hence the output voltage Vout decreases. In this case, due to the voltage generated across the resistor 154, the gate-source voltage of the output transistor 105 decreases to gradually turn OFF the output transistor 105, and the output current Iout is fixed to the maximum output current Im. Therefore, the maximum output current Im is determined by a resistance of the resistor 154 and a threshold of the transistor 123 (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2005-293067).
In order to set an accurate maximum output current Im, it is necessary to adjust the resistance of the resistor 154 and the threshold of the transistor 123 accurately. For the adjustment, trimming is performed after evaluation of characteristics of the resistor 154 and the transistor 123. The evaluation is performed on alternative elements having the same characteristics as those of the resistor 154 and the transistor 123.
FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a conventional voltage regulator including a test circuit. The conventional voltage regulator including the test circuit further includes a voltage detector 111, a first switch 191, a second switch 192, and an alternative element 112 under evaluation.
When an output of the voltage dividing circuit 106 is input to the voltage detector 111, the first switch 191 is controlled by an output of the voltage detector 111. When the first switch 191 is short-circuited, a current flows through the alternative element 112 under evaluation from the output terminal 102. When the second switch 192, which is controlled by the output of the voltage detector 111, is short-circuited, a PMOS transistor 129 is gradually turned OFF, and no current flows through an internal circuit element 113 from the output terminal 102. Accordingly, with the use of the configuration of FIG. 10, the electrical characteristics of the alternative element 112 under evaluation can be evaluated accurately (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2008-140113).
In the conventional technology, however, in order to perform overcurrent protection trimming to set the maximum output current Im of the voltage regulator accurately, it is necessary to prepare a special test circuit for evaluating the element that determines the maximum output current Im. The test circuit becomes unnecessary when the voltage regulator functions as a product. Accordingly, the presence of the test circuit leads to a larger chip area of a voltage regulator IC. As the chip area increases, the number of chips per wafer is reduced, which is disadvantageous in terms of cost. In addition, the presence of a test step of evaluating the electrical characteristics of the alternative element under evaluation leads to a higher manufacturing cost of the IC, which is disadvantageous in terms of cost.


A system and method for enhancing the experience of a user using a communication program over the Internet or other network. The system and method according to one embodiment utilizes a user's status indicator in a communication program to share content such as music or videos among users. One system and method according to the present invention allows a user to display an indicator and to set an actionable status message which indicates to other users the media content that the first user is experiencing. In another embodiment, a user is given the ability to access content that other users are listening to or viewing at that time. The system and method in an alternate embodiment broadcast metadata about the user's content to other users and the other users are able to utilize that metadata to receive and experience the same or similar content that the first user is experiencing.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a system and method for messaging.
2. Description of Related Art
The expansion of the Internet and the worldwide web ("web") has provided computer users with an enhanced ability to communicate with one another, such as by e-mail, chat and instant messaging, to name a few methods. Instant messaging has become a popular form of communication in recent years. In an instant messaging system, two users are able to communicate with each other in real time or near real time by passing messages as well as other information, such as files, over the Internet. In an instant messaging system, the messages are generated and displayed using an instant messaging client software program that resides on each user's computer. In some instant messaging systems, other information about the user, such as a profile or his or her status (e.g., whether the user is online, offline, busy) can be shared with other users of the instant messaging system.
Although instant messaging has become popular, it still does not utilize the global reaches of the Internet to the fullest extent possible. Although useful in exchanging text messages and files, current instant messenger platforms do not have the capability of sharing other practical information among users. While a user is utilizing their instant messaging program, they can also be doing numerous other things both at their computers and over the Internet. Current instant messaging programs do not allow users to easily share this experience with other instant messaging users.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

System and method facilitating a shared content experience using enhanced messaging including a displayable status indicator


In the prior art, it has been difficult to perform proper sentence recognition by using speech recognition or text sentence recognition. The present invention provides a sentence recognition apparatus comprising: a data base for storing a plurality of predetermined standard content word pairs each formed from a plurality of predetermined content words; a speech recognition means of recognizing an input sentence made up of a plurality of words; a content word selection means of selecting content words from among the plurality of words forming the recognized sentence; a judging means of judging whether a content word pair arbitrarily formed from the selected content words matches any one of the standard content word pairs stored in the data base; and an erroneously recognized content word determining means 105 of determining, based on the result of the judgement, an erroneously recognized content word for which the recognition failed from among the selected content words.

The present invention relates to a sentence recognition apparatus that uses, for example, speech recognition or text sentence recognition, a sentence recognition method, a program, and a medium.
The prior art will be described by taking a speech recognition means as an example.
In a speech recognition means, if an error occurs due to incomplete recognition, and the result is output without correcting the error, that will present a serious problem in practical implementation.
To solve this problem, the prior art proposes a method in which if the recognition score of the first candidate in the recognition result is not greater by more than a predetermined value than the recognition score of the second or later candidate, it is then determined that the confidence of the recognition result is low. The sentence produced as the recognition result is rejected or a re-entry is requested.
This example will be described in further detail with reference to an example that uses a one-pass, n-best search which is a typical search means employed, for example, in a continuous speech recognition means.
The acoustic feature of each phoneme is extracted in advance by using a training speech DB, and the probability of connection between words each represented by a string of phonemes is also computed in advance by using a text DB. When performing recognition, the acoustic feature of input speech per unit time is analyzed, and the amount of the feature, in the form of a time series, is compared with the amount of the pre-learned acoustic feature of each phoneme, to compute an acoustic score which represents the probability that the input voice at each instant in time is a phoneme.
Acoustic scores are summed in time series in accordance with the string of phonemes in each word carried in a word dictionary, and the sum is the acoustic score at each instant in time. If a search space for all the phoneme strings cannot be secured, the process proceeds while leaving only N best results ranked in order of decreasing score.
If the input voice contains a plurality of words, the words are connected by referring to the pre-learned word connection probability and, when connected, the word connection probability (called the language score) is added to the acoustic score.
When the recognition scores of the N best candidates are thus computed, if the difference between the first candidate and the second candidate is not larger than a predetermined value, it is determined that the confidence of the result of the first candidate is low, and the result is rejected (for example, Jitsuhiro et al., xe2x80x9cRejection by Confidence Measure Based on Likelihood Difference Between Competing Phonemesxe2x80x9d, Technical Report of IEICE, SP 97-76, pp. 1-7 (1997)).
However, the above recognition score indicates the similarity between the input voice and the pre-learned acoustic model or language model, and the reality is that the value varies greatly, depending on the speaker or on how the voice is uttered, even if correct recognition is done. It is therefore extremely difficult to determine the score ratio threshold for rejection, and this has often resulted in the rejection of a correct recognition result or the output of an incorrect recognition result by erroneously judging it to be a correct recognition result.
As a result, it has been difficult to perform proper sentence recognition by using speech recognition or text sentence recognition.
In view of the above-described problem of the prior art, it is an object of the present invention to provide a sentence recognition apparatus, a sentence recognition method, a program, and a medium, that can perform proper sentence recognition by using speech recognition or text sentence recognition.
One aspect of the present invention is a sentence recognition apparatus comprising:
a data base for storing a plurality of predetermined standard specific word pairs each formed from a plurality of predetermined specific words;
sentence recognition means of recognizing an input sentence made up of a plurality of words;
specific word selection means of selecting said specific words from among the plurality of words forming said recognized sentence;
judging means of judging whether a specific word pair arbitrarily formed from said selected specific words matches any one of the standard specific word pairs stored in said data base; and
erroneously recognized specific word determining means of determining, based on the result of said judgement, an erroneously recognized specific word for which said recognition failed from among said selected specific words.
Another aspect of the present invention is a sentence recognition apparatus, wherein said erroneously recognized specific word determining means determines a specific word as being said erroneously recognized specific word if said specific word is found in more than a predetermined number of arbitrarily formed specific word pairs that have been judged as not matching any of the standard specific word pairs stored in said data base.
Still another aspect of the present invention is a sentence recognition apparatus, further comprising re-entry requesting means of requesting, in the event of occurrence of said erroneously recognized specific word, (1) a re-entry of the specific word corresponding to said erroneously recognized specific word or (2) a re-entry of said input sentence.
Yet still another aspect of the present invention is a sentence recognition apparatus, further comprising notifying means of notifying a user of the occurrence of said erroneously recognized specific word when said erroneously recognized specific word does occur.
Still yet another aspect of the present invention is a sentence recognition apparatus comprising:
a data base for storing a plurality of predetermined standard specific word pairs each formed from a plurality of predetermined specific words;
sentence recognition means of recognizing an input sentence made up of a plurality of words;
specific word selection means of selecting said specific words from among the plurality of words forming said recognized sentence;
judging means of judging whether a specific word pair arbitrarily formed from said selected specific words matches any one of the standard specific word pairs stored in said data base; and
sentence erroneous recognition determining means of determining, based on the result of said judgement, whether said input sentence has been erroneously recognized or not.
A further aspect of the present invention is a sentence recognition apparatus, further comprising sentence re-entry requesting means of requesting a re-entry of said input sentence in the event of occurrence of said erroneous recognition.
A still further aspect of the present invention is a sentence recognition apparatus, further comprising notifying means of notifying a user of the occurrence of said erroneous recognition when said erroneous recognition does occur.
A yet further aspect of the present invention is a sentence recognition apparatus comprising:
a first data base for storing correspondences between a plurality of predetermined specific words and a plurality of specific word classes to which said specific words belong;
a second data base for storing a plurality of predetermined standard specific word class pairs each formed from two of said predetermined specific word classes;
sentence recognition means of recognizing an input sentence made up of a plurality of words;
specific word selection means of selecting said specific words from among the plurality of words forming said recognized sentence;
specific word class determining means of determining, by utilizing the correspondences stored in said first data base, the specific word classes to which said selected specific words respectively belong;
judging means of judging whether a specific word class pair arbitrarily formed from said determined specific word classes matches any one of the standard specific word class pairs stored in said second data base; and
erroneously recognized specific word determining means of determining, based on the result of said judgement, an erroneously recognized specific word for which said recognition failed from among said selected specific words.
A still yet further aspect of the present invention is a sentence recognition apparatus, wherein said erroneously recognized specific word determining means determines a specific word as being said erroneously recognized specific word if the specific word class to which said specific word belongs is found in more than a predetermined number of arbitrarily formed specific word class pairs that have been judged as not matching any of the standard specific word class pairs stored in said second data base.
An additional aspect of the present invention is a sentence recognition apparatus, further comprising re-entry requesting means of requesting, in the event of occurrence of said erroneously recognized specific word, (1) a re-entry of the specific word corresponding to said erroneously recognized specific word or (2) a re-entry of said input sentence.
A still additional aspect of the present invention is a sentence recognition apparatus, further comprising notifying means of notifying a user of the occurrence of said erroneously recognized specific word when said erroneously recognized specific word does occur.
A yet additional aspect of the present invention is a sentence recognition apparatus comprising:
a first data base for storing correspondences between a plurality of predetermined specific words and a plurality of specific word classes to which said specific words belong;
a second data base for storing a plurality of predetermined standard specific word class pairs each formed from two of said predetermined specific word classes;
sentence recognition means of recognizing an input sentence made up of a plurality of words;
specific word selection means of selecting said specific words from among the plurality of words forming said recognized sentence;
specific word class determining means of determining, by utilizing the correspondences stored in said first data base, the specific word classes to which said selected specific words respectively belong;
judging means of judging whether a specific word class pair arbitrarily formed from said determined specific word classes matches any one of the standard specific word class pairs stored in said second data base; and
sentence erroneous recognition determining means of determining, based on the result of said judgement, whether said input sentence has been erroneously recognized or not.
A still yet additional aspect of the present invention is a sentence recognition apparatus, further comprising sentence re-entry requesting means of requesting a re-entry of said input sentence in the event of occurrence of said erroneous recognition.
A supplementary aspect of the present invention is a sentence recognition apparatus, further comprising notifying means of notifying a user of the occurrence of said erroneous recognition when said erroneous recognition does occur.
A still supplementary aspect of the present invention is a sentence recognition method comprising:
a storing step of storing in a data base a plurality of predetermined standard specific word pairs each formed from a plurality of predetermined specific words;
a sentence recognition step of recognizing an input sentence made up of a plurality of words;
a specific word selection step of selecting said specific words from among the plurality of words forming said recognized sentence;
a judging step of judging whether a specific word pair arbitrarily formed from said selected specific words matches any one of the standard specific word pairs stored in said data base; and
an erroneously recognized specific word determining step of determining, based on the result of said judgement, an erroneously recognized specific word for which said recognition failed from among said selected specific words.
A yet supplementary aspect of the present invention is a sentence recognition method comprising:
a storing step of storing in a data base a plurality of predetermined standard specific word pairs each formed from a plurality of predetermined specific words;
a sentence recognition step of recognizing an input sentence made up of a plurality of words;
a specific word selection step of selecting said specific words from among the plurality of words forming said recognized sentence;
a judging step of judging whether a specific word pair arbitrarily formed from said selected specific words matches any one of the standard specific word pairs stored in said data base; and
a sentence erroneous recognition determining step of determining, based on the result of said judgement, whether said input sentence has been erroneously recognized or not.
A still yet supplementary aspect of the present invention is a sentence recognition method comprising:
a first storing step of storing, in a first data base, correspondences between a plurality of predetermined specific words and a plurality of specific word classes to which said specific words belong;
a second storing step of storing in a second data base a plurality of predetermined standard specific word class pairs each formed from two of said predetermined specific word classes;
a sentence recognition step of recognizing an input sentence made up of a plurality of words;
a specific word selection step of selecting said specific words from among the plurality of words forming said recognized sentence;
a specific word class determining step of determining, by utilizing the correspondences stored in said first data base, the specific word classes to which said selected specific words respectively belong;
a judging step of judging whether a specific word class pair arbitrarily formed from said determined specific word classes matches any one of the standard specific word class pairs stored in said second data base; and
an erroneously recognized specific word determining step of determining, based on the result of said judgement, an erroneously recognized specific word for which said recognition failed from among said selected specific words.
Another aspect of the present invention is a sentence recognition method comprising:
a first storing step of storing, in a first data base, correspondences between a plurality of predetermined specific words and a plurality of specific word classes to which said specific words belong;
a second storing step of storing in a second data base a plurality of predetermined standard specific word class pairs each formed from two of said predetermined specific word classes;
a sentence recognition step of recognizing an input sentence made up of a plurality of words;
a specific word selection step of selecting said specific words from among the plurality of words forming said recognized sentence;
a specific word class determining step of determining, by utilizing the correspondences stored in said first data base, the specific word classes to which said selected specific words respectively belong;
a judging step of judging whether a specific word class pair arbitrarily formed from said determined specific word classes matches any one of the standard specific word class pairs stored in said second data base; and
a sentence erroneous recognition determining step of determining, based on the result of said judgement, whether said input sentence has been erroneously recognized or not.
Still another aspect of the present invention is a program for causing a computer to carry out all or part of the steps in the sentence recognition method, said steps comprising: the storing step of storing in a data base a plurality of predetermined standard specific word pairs each formed from a plurality of predetermined specific words; the sentence recognition step of recognizing an input sentence made up of a plurality of words; the specific word selection step of selecting said specific words from among the plurality of words forming said recognized sentence; the judging step of judging whether a specific word pair arbitrarily formed from said selected specific words matches any one of the standard specific word pairs stored in said data base; and the erroneously recognized specific word determining step of determining, based on the result of said judgement, an erroneously recognized specific word for which said recognition failed from among said selected specific words.
Yet still another aspect of the present invention is a program for causing a computer to carry out all or part of the steps in the sentence recognition method, said steps comprising: the storing step of storing in a data base a plurality of predetermined standard specific word pairs each formed from a plurality of predetermined specific words; the sentence recognition step of recognizing an input sentence made up of a plurality of words; the specific word selection step of selecting said specific words from among the plurality of words forming said recognized sentence; the judging step of judging whether a specific word pair arbitrarily formed from said selected specific words matches any one of the standard specific word pairs stored in said data base; and the sentence erroneous recognition determining step of determining, based on the result of said judgement, whether said input sentence has been erroneously recognized or not.
Still yet another aspect of the present invention is a program for causing a computer to carry out all or part of the steps in the sentence recognition method, said steps comprising: the first storing step of storing, in a first data base, correspondences between a plurality of predetermined specific words and a plurality of specific word classes to which said specific words belong; the second storing step of storing in a second data base a plurality of predetermined standard specific word class pairs each formed from two of said predetermined specific word classes; the sentence recognition step of recognizing an input sentence made up of a plurality of words; the specific word selection step of selecting said specific words from among the plurality of words forming said recognized sentence; the specific word class determining step of determining, by utilizing the correspondences stored in said first data base, the specific word classes to which said selected specific words respectively belong; the judging step of judging whether a specific word class pair arbitrarily formed from said determined specific word classes matches any one of the standard specific word class pairs stored in said second data base; and the erroneously recognized specific word determining step of determining, based on the result of said judgement, an erroneously recognized specific word for which said recognition failed from among said selected specific words.
A further aspect of the present invention is a program for causing a computer to carry out all or part of the steps in the sentence recognition method, said steps comprising: the first storing step of storing, in a first data base, correspondences between a plurality of predetermined specific words and a plurality of specific word classes to which said specific words belong; the second storing step of storing in a second data base a plurality of predetermined standard specific word class pairs each formed from two of said predetermined specific word classes; the sentence recognition step of recognizing an input sentence made up of a plurality of words; the specific word selection step of selecting said specific words from among the plurality of words forming said recognized sentence; the specific word class determining step of determining, by utilizing the correspondences stored in said first data base, the specific word classes to which said selected specific words respectively belong; the judging step of judging whether a specific word class pair arbitrarily formed from said determined specific word classes matches any one of the standard specific word class pairs stored in said second data base; and the sentence erroneous recognition determining step of determining, based on the result of said judgement, whether said input sentence has been erroneously recognized or not.
A still further aspect of the present invention is a medium holding thereon the program, wherein said medium is computer processable.
A yet further aspect of the present invention is a medium holding thereon the program, wherein said medium is computer processable.
A still yet further aspect of the present invention is a medium holding thereon the program, wherein said medium is computer processable.
An additional aspect of the present invention is a medium holding thereon the program, wherein said medium is computer processable.
It will be noted that (1) in a speech recognition means that deduces an erroneously recognized word from the relations between the specific words contained in the recognized sentence and produces an output by reflecting the result of the deduction in the recognized sentence, a result rejecting means or a re-entry requesting means that requests the user for a re-entry when all or many of the words used for the deduction of erroneously recognized words are deduced as being erroneously recognized words, and (2) a result rejecting means or a re-entry requesting means that requests the user for a re-entry when none or few of the words contained in the recognized sentence match pre-learned specific word or word class pairs having dependency or co-occurrence relations between them, are also included in the present invention.
Such a rejecting means comprises, for example, a continuous speech recognition means of recognizing speech comprising a plurality of words, an important word extracting means of extracting specific words from the result of the recognition, a confidence computing means of assessing the confidence of the recognition result by examining the dependency or co-occurrence relations between the extracted words, a rejection determining means of rejecting the result when the result lacks confidence, and an output sentence generating means of generating a re-entry requesting sentence when the result is rejected.
In this rejecting means, specific words are extracted from the recognized sentence, the extracted words are searched through for word pairs having dependency or co-occurrence relations between them, and when none or few of such word pairs are found, the recognition result is rejected, thereby enabling an erroneous result to be rejected consistently even if the speaker or the way the voice is uttered changes.
The result rejecting means or re-entry requesting means that uses word classes determined by using relations between words contained in a commonly used thesaurus dictionary and a training sentence set is also included in the present invention.
Such a rejecting means comprises, for example, a word class determining means of classifying important words, a word class relationship table in which the relationships between word classes are defined, a continuous speech recognition means of recognizing speech comprising a plurality of words, an important word extracting means of extracting specific words from the result of the recognition, a confidence computing means of assessing the confidence of the recognition result by examining the dependency or co-occurrence relations between the extracted words, a rejection determining means of rejecting the result when the result lacks confidence, and an output sentence generating means of generating a re-entry requesting sentence when the result is rejected.
In this rejecting means, words are optimally classified in advance, and the dependency or co-occurrence relations between the word classes are examined and stored in a table. When performing recognition, specific words are extracted from the recognized sentence, the extracted words are searched through for word pairs having dependency or co-occurrence relations between them by using the relationship table in which the dependency or co-occurrence relations are defined, and when none or few of such word pairs are found, the recognition result is rejected, thereby enabling an erroneous result to be rejected consistently even if the speaker or the way the voice is uttered changes. Furthermore, the rejection or the re-entry requesting operation can be performed even when a word not contained in a sentence set used to learn the relationships between words is entered for recognition.

Sentence recognition apparatus, sentence recognition method, program, and medium

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A power outlet seal for a vehicle includes an iris seal and an actuator knob configured to translate the iris seal between an opened configuration and a closed configuration. The iris seal is defined by a plurality of blades disposed concentrically on a base ring. The actuator knob includes an actuator ring for biasing the plurality of blades to the opened configuration. One or more resilient members are disposed to bias the plurality of blades to the closed configuration. Power outlet seal assemblies including the power outlet seal, and console or trim pieces including the power outlet seal assemblies, are disclosed.

Modern motor vehicle consoles, dash panels, etc. typically include a variety of power outlets. Most conventionally, such power outlets are configured as 12V outlets, although it is also known to provide other types of outlets and data ports including USB plugs, power outlets of differing voltages, and the like. Often, outlets such as powerpoint outlets are provided with hinged covers to prevent intrusion of dust and debris when the outlet is not in use. Due to the limited amount of space provided in consoles, dash panels, etc. of motor vehicles, often such hinged covers interfere with other devices or systems. This creates problems in packaging the many required and customer-requested features into the vehicle console or dash panel.
To solve this and other problems, the present disclosure relates to an iris-style closure for a power outlet which does not require a hinged covers and which further is substantially self-sealing when not in use.


A time-to-digital converter includes a self-calibrating, n-stage chain of a number n of gate delay elements connected in parallel and series between a clock signal line for supplying a clock signal and a stop signal line for supplying a stop signal; and a charge-pump and phase-detector unit for the feedback control of the gate delay elements, having a first input as a controlled-variable input, a second input as a reference-variable input, and an output as a correcting-variable output. The clock signal line is connected to the first input of the charge-pump and phase-detector unit, a push-pull line for supplying a push-pull signal is connected to the second input, and, for feedback, the gate delay elements are connected to the output of the charge-pump and phase-detector unit.

Time-to-digital converters, which are also referred to as TDC units, are used to measure times or time spans at a high resolution and accuracy and make them available as digital data. This is of high relevance to various applications, with a focus on time-of-flight measurements, for example, in lidar systems.
A problem with conventional time-to-digital converters is that in different applications, stopping events used for self-calibration occur comparatively rarely, which means that in the time between consecutive events, the calibration of a base TDC unit is not retained. This results in measuring errors.

Time-to-digital converter, lidar system and device


An improved phase angle regulator with about 70% of the total impedance in the series unit and 30% in the excitor unit. In order to balance the physical size of both units, the excitor unit includes an interleaved winding arrangement. On large phase angle regulators, the higher impedance in the series unit allows for the use of a three-leg core design, and the low impedance interleaved excitor unit can also be designed on a three-leg core. The higher impedance series unit reduces the zero sequence current in the unit by about 40% during a single line to ground fault. Also the interleaved winding arrangement in the excitor unit improves its short circuit withstand capability.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electrical transformers and, more particularly, to an electrical transformer having improved short circuit withstand capability through reduced zero sequence current.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional two core phase angle regulating transformer consist of an excitor unit and a series unit mounted on separate cores. The excitor unit establishes flux which is transferred to the series unit. The amount of flux transferred from the excitor unit to the series unit determines the phase shift in the series unit. Typically, a two core phase angle regulating transformer is designed for about 50% of total impedance in the excitor unit and 50% in the series unit, so as to balance the physical size of the two units. Both units are connected by cables running in a throat between the two units. The zero sequence reactance of this type of design is a constant. The delta connected secondary winding of the series unit prevents the flow of zero sequence current to the excitor unit. As a result of this, the zero sequence reactance of the phase angle regulator is approximately the zero sequence reactance of the series unit.
During a single line to ground fault, zero sequence current will not flow into the excitor unit and the series unit must be designed to take the full zero sequence current. Since the series unit is designed for 50% of the total phase angle regulator impedance, it should be designed for the short circuit current corresponding to this low impedance. In addition to this, the insulation characteristics of the delta connected secondary winding in the series unit will ordinarily require a 5-leg core design for the series unit, on large phase angle regulating transformers. In order to keep the physical size of the two units the same, the excitor unit will also be designed on a 5-leg core.
A five leg core, however, has three main legs with coils and two outer legs without coils. Accordingly, it has a higher sound level, higher losses, and it uses more material. The tank for housing the transformer must necessarily be longer, and an increased amount of oil is needed to insulate and cool the transformer. The cost of such a transformer is correspondingly higher than for a three leg transformer.

Two core phase angle regulating transformer


A sensor device for ascertaining at least one rotation characteristic of a rotating element is provided. The sensor device includes at least one trigger wheel which is able to be connected to the rotating element. The rotating element and the trigger wheel have an axis of rotation. The sensor device includes at least one coil array. The coil array encompasses at least one excitation coil and at least one receiver coil. The coil array is situated on at least one circuit carrier. The trigger wheel as a trigger wheel profile. The sensor device is designed to ascertain a change in an inductive coupling between the excitation coil and the receiver coil as a function of a position of the trigger wheel. The circuit carrier is situated coaxially with the axis of rotation of the trigger wheel. The circuit carrier surrounds the trigger wheel at least partially in a circular manner.

Conventional sensors often sense at least one rotation characteristic of rotating elements. Rotating characteristics generally describe characteristics that at least partially describe the rotation of the rotating element. For instance, this may involve angular velocities, rotary frequencies, angular accelerations, angles of rotation, angular position or other characteristics which may characterize a continuous or discontinuous, regular or irregular rotation or revolution of the rotating element. Examples of such sensors are described in Konrad Reif (Publ.): Sensoren im Kraftfahrzeug [Automotive Sensors], 2nd edition, 2012, pages 63-74 and 120-129.
For instance, a position of a camshaft of an internal combustion engine relative to a crankshaft can be ascertained with the aid of what is generally referred to as a phase sensor employing a Hall-effect sensor. Typically, a trigger wheel is mounted on the rotating axis. Teeth may be situated on the trigger wheel which are sampled by the Hall-effect sensor when the camshaft is rotating. In German Patent Application No. DE 10 2012 213 539 A1, for instance, a method is described for ascertaining a phase position of an adjustable camshaft of an internal combustion engine which includes a trigger wheel and a camshaft adjuster. The phase position of the camshaft is ascertained on the basis of phase flank interrupts triggered by the trigger wheel, and a model that is a function of at least one operating variable of the camshaft adjuster.
However, methods of this kind do not allow continuous position sensing. Absolute angle sensing in a measuring range of 360° is not possible. Also, the resolution is limited due to the small diameters of the used trigger wheels. These small diameters result in minimal gap sizes that must be taken into account. In addition, an absolute position determination is possible only in a dynamic case, when the trigger wheel is rotating. An instantaneous availability of the absolute positional value when switching on the voltage supply, i.e. a true power-on function, is therefore not provided. Especially in a startup of an engine of the internal combustion engine, a precise position is not known. Apart from that, such methods are highly sensitive with regard to magnetic interference fields.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,499,878 B2 describes an inductive linear and rotary position sensor. A device having an excitation coil and a receiver coil is described. The excitation coil is excited by an excitation source and generates a magnetic flux. The receiver coil generates a receive signal through an inductive coupling between the excitation coil and the receiver coil.
Despite the improvements brought about by such sensor devices, there is still room for improvement. Sensor devices of this type may have a complex structure, which particularly means that a simple installation and de-installation are not possible.

Sensor device for ascertaining at least one rotation characteristic of a rotating element


A radiation-curing liquid crystal having cholesteric regularity is applied to a glass substrate 11 provided with an alignment layer 12 to form a first cholesteric liquid crystal film 13 in the uncured state (FIG. 2(a)). Radiation 20 is then selectively applied, through a photomask 14, to the desired portions of the first cholesteric liquid crystal film 13 to partially cure it (FIG. 2(b)); thereafter, the first cholesteric liquid crystal film 13 is immersed in an organic solvent 22 to remove the uncured portions 13b thereof (FIG. 2(c)), thereby forming the first cholesteric liquid crystal film 13 in a desired pattern (FIG. 2(d)). Then, in the same manner as described above, a radiation-curing liquid crystal having cholesteric regularity is applied to the surface of the formed first cholesteric liquid crystal film 13 and the alignment layer 12 to form a second cholesteric liquid crystal film 13′ in the uncured state (FIG. 2(e)). To the second cholesteric liquid crystal film 13′, application of radiation 20 (FIG. 2(f)) and immersion in an organic solvent 22 (FIG. 2(g)) are carried out to remove the uncured portions 13b′ thereof (FIG. 2(e)), thereby producing an optical element 10 having the cholesteric liquid crystal films 13 and 13′ in desired patterns (FIG. 2(h)).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process for producing an optical element such as a circularly-polarized-light-separating element or a color filter, and particularly to a method of producing an optical element by patterning liquid crystal films.
2. Description of Related Art
There has conventionally been known a process for producing an optical element such as a circularly-polarized-light-separating element or a color filter by the use of liquid crystal films having cholesteric regularity (cholesteric films). In such a process for producing an optical element, it is necessary to form a pattern whose outline coincides with the external shape of the optical element, or to form red-, green- and blue-colored patterns. There is, therefore, a demand for a method of patterning cholesteric liquid crystal films with high precision and efficiency.
Conventionally known methods of forming red-, green- and blue-colored patterns are as follows: (1) a method utilizing temperature changes to control the colors of cholesteric liquid crystal films, in which when a cholesteric liquid crystal film has turned the desired color, ultraviolet light is applied, through a mask, to a part of the cholesteric liquid crystal film so as to cure it in a desired pattern (see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publications No. 258623/2000, No. 304613/1997 and No. 320480/1996); (2) a method in which liquid crystals of red, green and blue are embedded in grooves that have been provided in a predetermined pattern on a substrate (see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publications No. 337716/1999 and No. 282324/1998); and (3) a method in which cholesteric liquid crystal films of different colors, patterned as desired, are successively transferred to one substrate (see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publications No. 4824/2001 and No. 4822/2001).
The above-described method (1) utilizes temperature changes to control colors, so that this method has such problems that patterning precision is low and that the patterned cholesteric liquid crystal films of different colors show extremely poor optical properties at the boundaries between them. Moreover, although it is possible, by this method, to form red-, green- and blue-colored patterns on one cholesteric liquid crystal film, it is impossible to form the colored patterns by removing a part of a cholesteric liquid crystal film. The method (1) is thus disadvantageous in that a cholesteric liquid crystal film cannot be patterned into a shape whose outline coincides with the external shape of an optical element.
In the above-described method (2), liquid crystals are embedded in grooves that have been provided in a predetermined pattern on a substrate. Problems with this method are, therefore, such that colored patterns cannot be obtained with high positional precision and thickness precision and that many hours are required for production.
The above-described method (3) requires complicated production processes. Moreover, the patterned cholesteric liquid crystal films obtained by this method are poor in optical properties, heat resistance, chemical resistance, etc.
In addition to the aforementioned methods (1), (2) and (3), there has been proposed a method in which ultraviolet light is applied, through a mask, to cholesteric liquid crystal films of red, green and blue to form red-, green- and blue-colored patterns (see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 153789/1999). In this method, it is necessary to remove the uncured portion of the cholesteric liquid crystal films. Usually used for this purpose is a technique of physically separating the uncured portion of a cholesteric liquid crystal film. One problem with this technique is that high thickness precision cannot be attained at the boundaries between patterns of different colors. In addition, the surface of the substrate having the function of aligning liquid crystalline molecules tends to be damaged, so that when a liquid crystal is applied again to this surface, liquid crystalline molecules in this liquid crystal are not easily aligned.
In the connection with this method, known is a method of removing the uncured portion of the cholesteric liquid crystal film by the use of an organic solvent (see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 74924/1990). However, this method is merely meant for forming a single liquid crystal film on a substrate; and there is no consideration for how the organic solvent affects the aligning function of the substrate or the liquid crystal film.

Method of producing optical element by patterning liquid crystal films


Parallelepipedal packaging containers, suitable for return transport, for wound-up magnetic recording media, produced from a one-part or multi-part blank having a bottom and top as well as side parts, which are joined to one another by means of foldable joining tabs and containing a hub support extending from the top to the bottom. The bottom and the top each have a circular central clearance through which a one-part or multi-part hollow-cylindrical hub support is inserted, onto which the wound media are fitted in a stackable manner. For assembly of the package from the folded-up state, the hub support has a locking snap-in device on at least one end face.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a parallelepipedal packaging container for magnetic recording media wound up onto hubs provided with internal bores (known as pancakes), produced from a one-part or multi-part blank, having a bottom part, top part and side parts, which can be joined to one another by means of foldable joining tabs and the hubs being stacked one on top of the other on a hub support.
Large quantities of what are known as pancake packs are sold worldwide by the magnetic tape producers. In these packs, the magnetic tape is wound up onto hubs, for example flangeless hubs, either what are known as NAB hubs or stackable hubs according to U.S. Pat. No. 4,081,151 or others. At present, these pancakes are packed either individually or in multipacks and covered with a shrink film or held by various types of cardboard box.
The disadvantage of the individual pack is that a great deal of packaging material has to be used.
2. Description of the Related Art
A multipack comprising a one-part blank is known, for example, from DE-U-8 815 897. This pack has the disadvantage that, if the content comprises pancakes stacked one on top of the other, it is not packed in such a way as to prevent slipping or damage during transit. Other magnetic tape packs are disclosed by the publications U.S. Pat. No. 3,543,922, U.S. Pat. No. 4,708,246, EP 0 320 751, DE-U 8 900 709, DE-U 8 912 747 and DE-U 8 912 749. These packs consist either of relatively voluminous Styropor, which means that for transport they are bulky to no useful effect and has to be disposed of once the content has been unpacked, or the pack is held together by plastic pallets and sleeves, the sleeves being of a relatively complicated design and the side parts of the packed product in some cases being inadequately protected since they are covered only by a film shrink-fitted over the pack. Therefore, this pack has to be additionally placed into an outer case for transport.

Multipack for magnetic tapes wound onto hubs


The present invention provides a method and apparatus for text to speech conversion, and a method and apparatus for adjusting a corpus. The method for text to speech comprises: text analysis step for parsing the text to obtain descriptive prosody annotations of the text based on a TTS model generated from a first corpus; prosody parameter prediction step for predicting the prosody parameter of the text according to the result of text analysis step; speech synthesis step for synthesizing speech of said text based on said the prosody parameter of the text; wherein descriptive prosody annotations of the text include prosody structure for the text, the prosody structure of the text is adjusted according to a target speech speed for the synthesized speech. The present invention adjusts the prosody structure of the text according to the target speech speed. The synthesized speech will have improved quality.

The ideal of the TTS system and method is to convert the input text to the synthesized speech as natural as possible. The natural speech character hereinafter is refer to the speech character with natural voice as the voice of human being. The natural voice is usually archived by recording the real human being voice of read aloud text. TTS technology, especially TTS for natural speech, usually uses a speech corpus which comprises a huge amount of text with corresponding recorded speech, prosody label and other basic information label. In general, a TTS system and method includes three components: text analysis, prosody parameter prediction and speech synthesis. For a plain text to be converted to speech based on the corpus, text analysis is responsible for parsing the plain text to be rich text with descriptive prosody annotations such as prosody structure information including phrase boundaries and pauses, pronunciation, and accent annotation of the text. Prosody parameter prediction is responsible for predicting the phonetic representation of prosody, i.e. prosody parameters, such as values of pitch, duration and energy according to the result of text analysis. Speech synthesis is responsible for generating speech of the text based on the prosody parameters. Based on a nature speech corpus, the speech is intelligible voice as a physical result of the representation of semantics and prosody information implicitly in the plain text.
Statistics based approaches are an important tendency in current TTS technologies. In these kinds of approaches, text analysis and prosody parameter prediction models are trained with a large labeled corpus, and speech synthesis is always based on selection from multiply candidates for each synthesis segment to obtain required synthesized speech.
Nowadays, prosody structure of the text as an important component in test analysis is always regarded as the result of semantics and syntax analysis of the text. Prior art technologies on prosody structure prediction hardly realize and consider the influence from speed adjustment. However, comparison between two different speech speed corpuses shows that the relationship between speed and prosody structure is significant.
Moreover, when different speech speed is required for TTS, prior art will adjust the duration of the prosody parameter in the speech synthesis phase to meet the speech speed requirement. This measure will degrade the quality of the synthesized speech due to not having considered the relationship between the speech speed and the prosody structure.

Converting text-to-speech and adjusting corpus


A light emission apparatus comprises a light source that emits coherent light, a light modulation unit, a reflector, and a first light reception part. The reflector comprises a first reflection surface that is a part of a spherical surface and a second reflection surface that is different from the first reflection surface. Modulated light modulated by the light modulation unit is incident on the first reflection surface and its reflected light is emitted to an object. Unmodulated light that is not modulated by the light modulation unit and is reflected from the light modulation unit is incident on the second reflection surface and its reflected light is received by the first light reception part.

A light emission apparatus that generates desired modulated light using a spatial light modulator and emits the modulated light to an object, an apparatus that utilizes the reflected light from the object to detect information on the object, and other similar apparatuses are discussed/proposed (Patent Documents 1 and 2 and Non-Patent Documents 1 and 2). For example, the apparatus as described in Patent Document 1 relates to a three-dimensional-mapping two-dimensional-scanning time-of-flight-type lidar ranging apparatus and is configured to include a plurality of beam forming and steering photonic integrated circuit chips based on one-dimensional phased arrays. Each photonic integrated circuit chip is to form a laser beam and perform steering and includes at least one off-chip lens and at least one on-chip grating. On the other hand, the situational awareness sensor as described in Patent Document 2 comprises a laser configured to generate a collimated spot beam, a liquid crystal waveguide configured to guide the spot beam to the direction of a predetermined angle from the optical axis, a controller configured to issue command signals to the liquid crystal waveguide, a fixed mirror having a conical shape oriented along the optical axis, and a detector configured to sense a reflected component of the spot beam.

Light emission apparatus, object information detection apparatus, optical path adjustment method, object information detection method, and light modulation unit


A pressure generating system and method for generating a flow of fluid at a pressure above atmospheric pressure. The system includes a pressure generator and a valve that controls the pressure/flow of gas delivered to the patient. The system monitors energy provided to the valve, a characteristics associated with movement of the valve, a position of the valve, or any combination thereof. In addition, the controller controls an operating speed of the pressure generator such that the valve operates over a majority of the range of positions during use of the pressure support system.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to a system and method for providing a pressure support therapy to a patient, and, in particular, to a pressure support system and method of operating such a system that minimizes the operating speed of the pressure generating component of the system.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is well known to treat a breathing disorder, such as obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), with a pressure support device, such as a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) device. A CPAP device delivers a flow of fluid to the airway of the patient throughout the patient's breathing cycle in order to "splint" the airway, thereby preventing its collapse during sleep. The term "fluid" as used herein refers to any gas, including a gas mixture or a gas with particles, such as an aerosol medication, suspended therein. Most commonly, the fluid delivered to a patient by a pressure support system is pressured air. An example of such a CPAP device is the REMstar® and Solo® family of CPAP devices manufactured by Respironics, Inc. of Pittsburgh, Pa.
It is also known to provide a bi-level positive pressure therapy in which the pressure of fluid delivered to the patient's airway varies or is synchronized with the patient's breathing cycle to maximize the therapeutic effect and comfort to the patient. An example of a pressure support device that provides "bi-level" pressure support, in which a lower pressure is delivered to that patient during the patient's expiratory phase than during the inspiratory phase, is the BiPAP® family of devices manufactured and distributed by Respironics, Inc. of Pittsburgh, Pa. Such a bi-level mode of pressure support is taught, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,148,802 to Sanders et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,313,937 to Zdrojkowski et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,433,193 to Sanders et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,632,269 to Zdrojkowski et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,803,065 to Zdrojkowski et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,029,664 to Zdrojkowski et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,305,374 to Zdrojkowski et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 6,539,940 to Zdrojkowski et al., the contents of each of which are incorporated by reference into the present invention.
It is further known to provide an auto-titration positive pressure therapy in which the pressure provided to the patient changes based on the detected conditions of the patient, such as whether the patient is snoring or experiencing an apnea, hypstokes opnea, cheynes-respiration, or upper airway resistance. An exemplary auto-titration pressure support mode is taught, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,203,343; 5,458,137 and 6,085,747 all to Axe et al., the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. An example of a device that adjusts the pressure delivered to the patient based on whether or not the patient is snoring is the Virtuoso® CPAP family of devices manufactured and distributed by Respironics, Inc. An example of a pressure support device that actively tests the patient's airway to determine whether obstruction, complete or partial, could occur and adjusts the pressure output to avoid this result is the Tranquility® Auto CPAP device and REMStar Auto CPAP device, also manufactured and distributed by Respironics, Inc. This auto-titration pressure support mode is taught in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,645,053 and 6,286,508 6,550,478 all to Remmers et al., the content of which is also incorporated herein by reference.
Other pressure support systems that offer other modes of providing positive pressure to the patient are also known. For example, a proportional assist ventilation (PAV®) mode of pressure support provides a positive pressure therapy in which the pressure of gas delivered to the patient varies with the patient's breathing effort to increase the comfort to the patient. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,044,362 and 5,107,830 both to Younes, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference, teach a pressure support device capable of operating in a PAV mode. Proportional positive airway pressure (PPAP) devices deliver breathing gas to the patient based on the flow generated by the patient. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,535,738; 5,794,615; and 6,105,575 all to Estes et al., the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference, teach a pressure support device capable of operating in a PPAP mode. In the PAV and PPAP pressure support systems, the percent of assistance provided by the unit is at least one of the operating features of the pressure support device that is set after the device has been prescribed for use by a patient.
A typical conventional pressure support system 10 is shown in FIG. 1. Such a system includes a pressure generator 12 that receives a supply of gas from a gas source, such as ambient atmosphere, as indicated by arrow A, and creates a flow of breathing gas, as indicated by arrows B, having a pressure greater than the ambient atmospheric pressure. Pressure generator 12 typically includes a motor driving a blower, which is an impeller within a housing, for placing the gas from the gas source under pressure relative to ambient atmosphere. A valve 13 downstream of pressure generator 12 bleeds off excess pressure/flow from the patient circuit, as indicated by arrow C, by communicating a portion of the gas at the output of pressure generator 12 to ambient atmosphere. Other conventional exhaust valves divert all or some of the exhaust gas back to the inlet of the pressure generator.
A patient circuit 14, which is typically a flexible conduit, delivers the elevated pressure breathing gas to the airway of a patient 15. Typically, the patient circuit is a single limb conduit or lumen having one end coupled to the pressure generator and a patient interface device 16 coupled to the other end. Patient interface device 16 connects patient circuit 14 with the airway of patient 15 so that the elevated pressure gas flow is delivered to the patient's airway. Examples of patient interface devices include a nasal mask, nasal and oral mask, full face mask, nasal cannula, oral mouthpiece, tracheal tube, endotracheal tube, or hood. A single limb patient circuit shown in FIG. 1 includes an exhalation port 18, also referred to as an exhalation vent, exhaust port, or exhaust vent, to allow gas, such as expired gas from the patient, to exhaust to atmosphere, as indicated by arrow C. Generally, exhaust vent 18 is located in patient circuit 14 near patient interface device 16 or in the patient interface device itself.
More sophisticated pressure support devices include a flow sensor 20, pressure sensor 22, or both to monitor the flow and/or pressure of gas in patient circuit 14. The flow information can be used to determine the volume of gas passing through patient circuit 14. The information from flow sensor 20 and/or pressure sensor 22 is provided to a controller 24, which uses it for any conventional purpose, for example, to control the pressure or flow of gas provided to the patient, monitor the condition of the patient, monitor the usage of the pressure support device (patient compliance), or any combination thereof. An input/output device 26 communicates with controller 24 to provide data, commands, and other information between a user or other entity and the controller.
In a conventional CPAP system, the pressure output by the blower varies with the rate of flow in the patient circuit, assuming that the blower operates at a constant speed. For example, at a certain operating speed, the pressure in the patient circuit or patient interface decreases as the flow of gas in the patient circuit or at the patient interface increases. This occurs, for example, as the patient breathes into the patient circuit. For this reason, a conventional CPAP pressure support system typically uses valve 13 to regulate the pressure delivered to the patient by means of controller 24.
Devices that provide a bi-level positive pressure therapy, an auto-titrating pressure level, PAV, PPAP, or any other mode of pressure support where the pressure delivered to the patient's airway varies, also include a pressure/flow control system to vary the pressure delivered to the patient in accordance with the pressure support mode. A typical pressure/flow control system used in such devices includes the pressure/generator and valve combination shown in FIG. 1.
Pressure support systems that include the pressure/generator and valve combination typically operate the blower at a substantially constant speed that is sufficient to deliver a pressure in excess of the selected pressure to be delivered to the patient. That is, the pressure output by the blower, which is referred to as the "deadhead pressure", must be high enough above the selected pressure, or range of pressure, to deliver the prescribed pressure to the patient's airway. Moreover, because it is not known at what air density any given pressure support system will be operated, each system is typically preprogrammed during manufacture to operate at an output pressure that is sufficient to account for the lowest air density in which the unit will be operated, such as at a high elevation, a lower barometric pressure, high temperature, or a high humidity.
It can be appreciated that operating the pressure generator to compensate for the worst case scenario requires outputting much more pressure than needed from the pressure generator. Moreover, bleeding off excess pressure or flow from the patient circuit via the exhaust valve is relatively noisy, especially in light of the fact that pressure generator is operating at a high speed, which itself adds to the machine noise.


An apparatus is provided to control an angle of a light axis of light from headlights mounted on a vehicle. In the apparatus, images of a field of view in front of the vehicle are captured, and the captured images are used to detect taillights of a preceding vehicle. A illumination target position is set by using, as a positional reference, a position of the detected taillights in the captured images, and the angle of the light axis so that the light axis is directed to the illumination target position. The command is provided to an angle changing device, where the provided command depends on the angle calculated. The angle changing device changes the direction of the light axis of the light at an angle commanded by the command.

1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for controlling headlights mounted on a vehicle, and in particular, to the apparatus for controlling the angle of a light axis of light to be radiated from the headlights in consideration of preceding vehicles which run ahead of the vehicle equipped with the apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently there have been known techniques to control the light axes of the head lights of a vehicle. One such technique is for preventing a vehicle's driver from being dazzled by light radiated by a vehicle running behind. This technique is disclosed by International Patent Publication No. 2001/070538, for example, in which a distance from a preceding vehicle is detected and, on the basis of the detected distance, the direction (i.e., angle) of light axes of headlights is controlled. Practically, in the foregoing publication, as the distance is shorter, the light-axis direction of the head lights is lowered downward. That is, when the distance is longer, the light-axis direction of the head lights is raised upward.
However, the foregoing publication discloses only a conception, not a practical control way. Hence, relying on this disclosed technique is insufficient for controlling appropriately and smoothly the light-axis direction of the head light. For example, when the light-axis direction is controlled excessively upward, the driver in a preceding vehicle may be dazzled by the upwardly radiated light. In contrast, an excessively downward light-axis direction may cause a dark area between the area lit by the headlights of the vehicle and a preceding vehicle running in front of the vehicle.

Apparatus for controlling direction of light from on-vehicle headlights


An augmented reality system is disclosed. The system receives values of parameters of real-world elements of an augmented reality environment from various sensors and creates a three-dimensional textual matrix of sensor representation of a real environment world based on the parameters. The system determines a context of a specific virtual object with respect to the real-world environment based on the three-dimensional textual matrix. The system then models the specific virtual object based on the context to place the specific virtual object in the augmented reality environment.

Augmented reality systems provide an interactive experience of a real-world environment where objects that reside in the real-world are altered by computer-generated perceptual information. Faster computer processors of modern computing devices have made it feasible to combine computer-generated information with real-time video captured using a camera. In recent years, augmented reality has become more pervasive among a wide range of applications including its use in gaming, education, business, repair and maintenance, navigation, entertainment, medicine, and hospitality and tourism, among others.
However, existing systems are generally based on including virtual objects (e.g. text, graphics, symbols, images, and the likes) in an image of a real-world location. These existing systems that merge the virtual objects with the real-world, are restricted to live viewing of limited virtual elements that can have limited interaction with the real-world elements, interaction with the other virtual elements, and interplay. There is therefore a need in the art for systems and methods that can facilitate simultaneous viewing and interaction of virtual elements in real-world environments that interplay with each other in real-world context, which overcomes above-mentioned and other limitations of existing approaches.

System and method for interplay between elements of an augmented reality environment