Provided is an image processing device including: an image processing unit that generates image data for output from a captured image of an inside of a body cavity of a patient photographed by an endoscope. The image processing unit generates the image data in a manner that, when a lens barrel of the endoscope is moved in an optical axis direction of an objective lens during photographing, a display range in the captured image that is a range expressed in a display image displayed on a display device does not change, during the movement and after the movement, from a display range before the movement.

In an endoscopic surgical operation, a member of a medical staff such as an operator (a doctor) inserts a lens barrel of an endoscope into a body cavity of a patient to project a captured image obtained from the endoscope onto a display device, and manipulates a treatment device to perform various kinds of treatment such as excision of a lesion viewing this display. Thus, the image should be provided to the medical staff more stably in order to help them execute the surgical operation more safely and more smoothly.
As a technology for stably providing an image, for example, PTL 1 discloses a technology in which a position of the leading end of a treatment instrument in a body cavity of a patient is detected, movement of a specific part of the treatment instrument is tracked in a captured image photographed by an endoscope to cut out only an area near the specific part of the treatment instrument, and a display device displays the image. According to the technology, the image near the specific part of the treatment instrument is constantly displayed, with no necessity for an endoscopist to manipulate the endoscope with hands to track movements of the treatment instrument, and thus the image can be provided to the medical staff more stably.
In addition, there are cases in which mist is generated from a cauterized biological tissue when treatment is performed using an energy device during a surgical operation. When mist is generated while an observation target site including the treatment site is photographed, there are concerns of an endoscope equipped with an auto-focus (AF) function performing an erroneous operation of AF due to the mist which lowers its contrast, and of a vivid image of the treatment site not being obtained. On the other hand, PTL 2 discloses a technology of stopping a focusing operation of an endoscope equipped with an AF function when generation of mist is detected. According to this technology, even when mist is generated, an image obtained before the generation of mist whose focus is on a treatment site is displayed as it is with no erroneous operation of AF, and thus the image can be provided to medical staff more stably.

Image processing device, endoscopic surgery system, and image processing method


A system and method for generator startup cost modeling using a time counter are described herein. A method and system according to the invention may include assigning a binary value to one or more time segment variables each associated with an increment of the time counter wherein the sum of the one or more time segment variables is greater than or equal to a binary startup variable. The method and system may also assign a value to one or more startup cost variables associated with each of the one or more time segment variables. The system and method may then determine the startup cost of a shutdown time by summing the products of each time segment variable and associated startup cost variable. In another aspect the method and system may entail a sum of products of each binary time segment variable and time increment being less than or equal to a time-off variable.

A generator converts mechanical energy to electrical energy. An Alternating Current (AC) generator comprises two primary components: a rotor and a stator. The rotor is made up of electrically conductive coils that forms a rotor winding. The stator is also made up of coils that form a stator winding. Mechanical energy turns the rotor relative to the stator while a field current is passed through the rotor winding to induce a voltage on the stator winding. The induced power in the stator winding is supplied to loads that are powered by the generator. The electrical energy produced by the generator should be equal to the amount of electrical energy consumed by the loads.
Power plants often have multiple generators to supply power for various loads of a community. Examples of loads within the community may include lighting, heating, cooling, appliances, and other machinery. The community's demand for power often fluctuates throughout the day and based on the time of year. During a daily cycle the demand may peak during the evening hours and fall at night when most people are asleep. The yearly demand cycle for power may peak during summer months due to the increased use of air conditioning. The power plant needs to be able to increase and decrease the amount of energy supplied. The power plant may shut down one or more generators, thereby reducing the amount of electrical energy produced. During periods when the community has an increased demand, the power plant may restart generators that have been off-line to supply the additional energy demand of the community.
In addition to shutting down generators to meet the current load of the community, generators must also be shut down for routine maintenance and repair. For example, some generators may need to be shut down after periods of high use to prevent overheating and destruction of the various parts of the generator. The time and costs for shutting down and starting a generator may vary depending on the type of generator and the size of the generator. For example, a large generator powered by nuclear fuel may require considerably greater cost to shut down and start compared to a smaller diesel fuel, substation generator. In addition, some generators are designed to be very efficient at their optimal running speed, but have very slow ramp-up rates and require incremental warmth-dependent startup which adds to the startup costs. Other factors that can affect shutdown time and costs may include equipment availability, for example boilers, steam turbine generators, combustion turbine, chillers, powerhouse auxiliaries, and air compressors. Other factors that may affect startup and shutdown may include the current electricity prices, generator fuel costs, and costs for ancillary components such as air and chilled water. The amount of pollutants produced by the power plant during specific periods of time may also affect the decision to shut down and start specific generators.
The complexity and huge quantity of factors can make determining the startup cost of generators a complicated process. Accordingly, an efficient and effective system and method to model and optimize the startup costs associated with generators is needed. In view of the foregoing, it would be desirable to provide systems and methods that can determine, model and optimize the startup costs of a generator.


At a resource corresponding to one node of a data processing workflow, a persistent representation of a binary signal representing a condition associated with an event is generated. The signal indicates a validity period of the condition. At a second resource corresponding to another node of the workflow, a decision to initiate an action is generated based on analysis of a set of binary signals and an action scheduling rule, and the action is initiated.

The amount of data that has to be processed to manage the operations of many enterprises, such as large-scale e-retail enterprises, has grown tremendously in recent years, especially as the customer bases of the enterprises have expanded to include millions of users spread across numerous countries and time zones, and as the product catalogs of the enterprises have expanded to include millions of objects. For some enterprises, for example, hundreds of gigabytes of operational data such as changes to inventory, pricing, sales results, supply chain status, expected demands, marketing campaigns, and the like may be generated and analyzed every day.
Software applications generated to automate various aspects of business operations sometimes represent business processes as workflows of jobs, with dependencies defined between various jobs. A given type of business process or application may, for example, be represented as a graph whose nodes represent respective jobs or tasks, and whose edges represent logical or data dependencies among the jobs or tasks. For example, warehousing-related applications of a large-scale retailer may involve the scheduling and execution of hundreds or thousands of workflow instances each day, with individual ones of the workflow instances comprising dozens or hundreds of jobs corresponding to respective workflow definitions or graphs. The jobs, as well as input data sets generated by diverse sources in different formats, and output data sets which may have varying formats depending on their destinations, may sometimes be stored as objects within databases or other types of storage repositories.
Many of the costs associated with data processing have fallen substantially in recent years, and such cost reductions may allow larger amounts of data associated with complex business workflows to be stored and analyzed relatively cheaply, e.g., using cloud based computing and storage services. Nevertheless, in at least some large scale workflow management systems, generating efficient responses to job status queries may represent a non-trivial technical challenge, due at least in part on the complexity of inter-job dependencies. In addition, the complexity and time-dependent nature of the dependencies may sometimes result in hard-to-diagnose errors in implementing the workflows.
While embodiments are described herein by way of example for several embodiments and illustrative drawings, those skilled in the art will recognize that embodiments are not limited to the embodiments or drawings described. It should be understood, that the drawings and detailed description thereto are not intended to limit embodiments to the particular form disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope as defined by the appended claims. The headings used herein are for organizational purposes only and are not meant to be used to limit the scope of the description or the claims. As used throughout this application, the word "may" is used in a permissive sense (i.e., meaning having the potential to), rather than the mandatory sense (i.e., meaning must). Similarly, the words "include," "including," and "includes" mean including, but not limited to. When used in the claims, the term "or" is used as an inclusive or and not as an exclusive or. For example, the phrase "at least one of x, y, or z" means any one of x, y, and z, as well as any combination thereof.


The disclosure is directed to a method of radio resource scheduling in an unlicensed spectrum and related apparatuses using the same method. In one of the exemplary embodiments, the method would include not limited to transmitting a node control information which may include an occupancy pattern of a radio resource of the unlicensed spectrum before receiving an occupancy notification; transmitting an equipment control information which comprises the occupancy pattern of the radio resource of the unlicensed spectrum before receiving the occupancy notification; transmitting a packet data by using the radio resource of the unlicensed spectrum before receiving the occupancy notification; and receiving the occupancy notification which informs an availability of the radio resource of the unlicensed spectrum.

Conventionally, a wireless communication system operates in a proprietary radio frequency (RF) spectrum in which base stations and wireless terminals communicate through the proprietary RF spectrum licensed to a wireless operator. However, there have discussions of wireless communication systems expanding usages to unlicensed spectrum, such as the Industrial, Scientific and Medical RF spectrum (ISM band) or other free spectrum. The possibilities of Long Term Evolution (LTE) or LTE-advanced communication systems making incursions into the unlicensed spectrums have drawn attention for telecommunication equipment vendors and operators. This has been known as 'Licensed Assisted Access (LAA)'. Currently, there has been endeavors to for attain a single global solution framework for Licensed Assisted Access (LAA) to unlicensed spectrum. One reason for such interest is the potential overcrowding of licensed spectrums. In order to provide high throughput services to more users, incursions into unlicensed spectrums might alleviate overcrowding of for wireless communication systems. However, such efforts would require solutions for numerous difficulties.
The unlicensed spectrum has been considered by cellular operators more and more as a complementary radio resource to augment their services. According to 3GPP TR 36.889 and RP-141664, LAA could be considered a secondary component (CC) carrier integrated into LTE. However, high priority should be on the completion of the DL only scenario.
Unlike LTE for which an operator would possess a specific set of operation channels, an unlicensed spectrum would need to be shared and could be shared by almost any access technologies for wireless communications. One who initiates a communication on an unlicensed spectrum may need to undergo a contention phase in order to use the frequency of unlicensed spectrum. The winner of the contention would possess the right to communicate on the frequency for a limited period at a time as defined by regional regulations such as 4 ms for each occupancy in Japan and 10 ms for each occupancy in parts of Europe. Hence, the availability of unlicensed spectrum is uncertain when one intends to communicate on the spectrum. The coverage of LAA nodes operating on unlicensed spectrum may range from 50 m to 100 m for the 5 GHz spectrum.

Method of radio resource scheduling in unlicensed spectrum and related apparatuses using the same

Industrial Technology Research Institute


The Cellular Automata Music Generator (CAMG) is a software platform, application and engine that generates and modifies musical compositions in real-time using a system of networked modules that utilize the 1-dimensional cellular automata (CA) mathematical model. The music compositions are non-looping (i.e. the same few bars of music do not repeat over and over), can be any length, can have low memory and processing requirements compared to looping WAV or MP3 files, and follow psychoacoustic principles. The music generated is ever evolving and can be globally altered based on one-parameter change. The music engine can be utilized in computer games or to generate unique ringtones or any musical composition for cell phones or other mobile devices based on ten-digit inputs, such as telephone numbers. The ringtones or musical pieces can be generated automatically based on the telephone number of the in-coming telephone call, or manually by the user, who inputs a selected numerical sequence. It can also be used as an audio caller identification system.

Music composition and generation has been largely an artistic endeavor involving composers, musicians, recording engineers and the like to create melodies for pleasure or commercial use. Computer-generated music has been pursued in recent years for two reasons: academic curiosity and commercial demand for inexpensive, textural music for a variety of media applications including film, video, web sites, games and wireless applications. It is the latter reason that has economic implications, for a number of companies and consumers are looking for textural or ambient music that is inexpensive, easy to produce, as rights-free as possible and that follows essential psychoacoustic principles in composition. Computer music generation systems typically use MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) to control the electronic musical instruments.
Computer-generated music in real time has used a variety of systems or methodologies in an attempt to achieve these goals. Current systems, such as Sseyo's Koan system or the method as described in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20010025561 to Milburn use stochastic methods or metrics. Using the stochastic method, music is generated using random numbers to determine a variety of musical parameters within user specified constraints. The Koan system is an embodiment of this approach. The issues with the stochastic method are that the music may not be complex enough to adhere to the psychoacoustic principles that make the music sound as if it was composed and played by humans. In addition, this system can be difficult to use for those not conversant in music.
Milburn's approach to automatic music generation relies on pre-specified musical phrases, which are then analyzed using a metrics technique which allows the composer to morph between two different phrases. This technique requires a higher level of specification than the Cellular Automata Music Generator (CAMG) system described herein, in that the musical phrases must be pre-composed.
Another system used in music generation is the mathematical model cellular automata (CA). CA methodology lends itself to music generation because of the nature of this mathematical model. The CA theory stems from the notion that simple systems can generate complex behavior or patterns. This makes it ideal for music generation that requires complex output using simple and lightweight systems. In addition, CA systems are easy to modify on a global basis. Under a CA model, one parameter change can result in global dynamic behavior that is either predictable, complex, periodic or random. The system is also deterministic; therefore given the same parameters, the same musical piece will be generated and evolve in the same way each time, giving the user an element of necessary control.
There has also been work in music generation using CA, but it has been either using 2-dimensional models or applying simple 1-dimensional CA to a specific musical content, such as rhythm, to create simply a general beat or a series of notes. The issues with 2-dimensional models is that the systems are complex to use and have memory and processing requirements that are too high for average personal computer, wireless device or console systems. A number of authors have published related techniques to CAMG on the Internet (for example, Reiners, Millen, and Miranda). Reiner's system, named Automatous Monk, relies upon elementary 1D CA to generate musical parameters, however his currently published work is far more primitive in its application. For example, 1D CA are only used to generate pitch values for the composition, resulting in a far less complex final output.
Miranda's CAMUS is a generative music system in that it is based upon CA technology, but relies on complex 2D CA implementations. Milburn's approach to generative music employs a technique which creates a metric between two pre-composed musical phrases and allows the user to morph between them.
Sseyo's Koan uses purely random or stochastic techniques with constraints provided by the composer in areas such as which scale to use, and the range of note choices. Koan has a steep learning curve and requires the user to have musical knowledge. Koan is concentrated on the mobile and web site market.
Leach (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20030183065) employs a strictly rule based networking approach that does not use any CA based techniques
Georges (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20030131715) employs a rule-based approach that does rely on stochastic variables. This approach is more closely related to Koan.


The invention relates to memory overload management for Java virtual machines (JVMs) in Web application sever systems. Disclosed is a method and system of memory overload management for a Web application sever system, wherein the Web application sever system comprises multiple JVMs, the method comprising: determining one or more replica shards for which replacement shall be performed; determining one or more target JVMs for storing a corresponding replica shard set including at least one replica shard from the one or more replica shards; and for each target JVM, performing the following: judging whether the free memory of the target JVM is adequate for storing the corresponding replica shard set; if the judging result is negative, performing the following: causing the target JVM to suspend the creation of session until the free memory of the target JVM becomes adequate for storing the corresponding replica shard set.

The invention relates to performance management of Java virtual machines and, in particular, to memory overload management of Java virtual machines in Web application sever systems.
In a Web application sever system consisted of Java virtual machines (JVMs), JVMs are used as servers that have the function of the server machine. The server function of a JVM is implemented with instances of the web application server that are deployed on the JVM. Features of the so-called grid that consists of multiple JVMs include scalability and fault tolerance.
JVM's server functions include processing of sessions initiated by the client. The client-initiated sessions are routed, through a proxy, to one or more JVMs in the web application server system. The Web application server instance handles the sessions by executing the Java servlet deployed on the JVM. Specifically, the JVM receives a request from the client, handles the request and returns a response to the client. Examples of the client's request are HTTP(Hypertext Transport Protocol) request, SIP(Session Initiation Protocol) request, etc.
Session data are stored in a web application server system. Generally, session data are divided into different data blocks (also referred to as "shard"). A shard that is active is called "primary shard", and the replica of a primary shard is called "replica shard". For availability purpose, the primary shard and its corresponding replica shard must not be stored in the same JVM or the JVMs that share the same physical machine.
When a JVM of the web application server system stops operation due to a failure, for example, the primary shard and the replica shard stored on the JVM will become unusable. In order to maintain the continuity of the client session in connection with the primary shard on the failed JVM, the primary shard corresponded replica shard stored on other JVM will become primary shard. At this time, shard replacement shall be carried out. In other words, on the one hand, the replication (aka, replica shard) of the newly generated primary shard shall be stored to a JVM that is different from the JVM on which the primary shard resides. On the other hand, the replica shard formerly stored on the failed JVM shall be moved to other JVM. And shard replacement may also be carried out when there is a new JVM being added to the web application server system. To conduct shard replacement, it is needed to use memory space on another JVM. If the use of the memory exceeds the maximal space that the JVM may provide, memory overload will occur in the JVM which seriously influence the performance of the JVM.

Managing memory overload of java virtual machines in web application server systems

International Business Machines Corporation


To provide an output MOS transistor from breaking due to dump surge and counter electromotive, a semiconductor integrated circuit according to an embodiment of the invention includes an output MOS transistor controlling current flowing through a load, a dynamic clamp circuit clamping an overvoltage applied to the output MOS transistor, a delay circuit generating a reference signal by adjusting a level of a gate voltage of the output MOS transistor, and a clamp controlling circuit making the dynamic clamp circuit operate based on the reference signal when a counter electromotive force is applied to the output MOS transistor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor integrated circuit, in particular, a semiconductor integrated circuit having a protective circuit for protecting an output transistor against overvoltage.
2. Description of Related Art
For automobiles and home electrical products, a power IC (integrated circuit, also called "power semiconductor") having a switching element for controlling a voltage or current has been used. In response thereto, various techniques for protecting this switching element from overvoltage have been proposed (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-151989, for example). To give an example of the overvoltage, there are a counter electromotive force applied from the inductive load side and a dump surge applied from the power supply side.
FIG. 10 is a circuit diagram showing the configuration of a conventional power IC 91. The conventional power IC 91 includes an output MOS transistor M0 that is a metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET, hereinafter also referred to as "MOS" or "MOS transistor") as a switching element for controlling current. In the illustrated example, the output MOS transistor M0 is connected with the power supply ahead of a load (inductive load 3), and so functions as a high-side switch. The inductive load 3 is, for example, an actuator, which is an equivalent circuit composed of an inductance component and a resistance component.
In this embodiment, the terms "off", "on", "turn-off", and "turn-on" mean, if used singly, "off", "on", "turn-off", and "turn-on" of the output MOS transistor, respectively. The transition of the MOS transistor from an on state to a completely off state is called "turn-off", and the transition of the MOS transistor from an off state to a completely on state is called "turn-on".
The output MOS transistor M0 has a drain supplied with power through a terminal Vbb (power supply terminal), has a gate whose voltage is boosted by a charge pump circuit 12 through a resistor R3, and has a source connected with the inductive load 3 through an terminal OUT (output terminal). A gate discharge MOS transistor N1 for discharging the gate of the output MOS transistor M0 has a drain connected with a node between the charge pump circuit 12 and the resistor R3, has a gate receiving a control signal S2, and has a source connected with the terminal OUT.
The charge pump circuit 12 is turned on/off in response to a control signal S1 supplied from a microprocessor or the like, and the gate discharge MOS transistor N1 is turned on/off in response to the control signal S2 supplied from the microprocessor or the like.
Further, the conventional power IC 91 includes a dynamic clamp circuit 31 for protecting the output MOS transistor M0 from breakdown due to the counter electromotive force, which is provided between the drain and gate of the output MOS transistor M0. The dynamic clamp circuit 31 includes a high-voltage diode D6 and a backflow preventive diode D7.
The counter electromotive force Vinv at the turn-off results from the emission of energy ((½)·L·IOUT·IOUT) accumulated in the inductance component of the inductive load 3. During the turn-off, according as a gate-source voltage Vgs of the output MOS transistor drops, an output voltage VOUT decreases to generate the counter electromotive force Vinv. At this time, if the output voltage VOUT falls down to the breakdown voltage of the high-voltage diode D6, the counter electromotive force Vinv is clamped to prevent the voltage application to the output MOS transistor M0 from going beyond the withstand voltage thereof.
On the other hand, in the conventional power IC 91, if a battery as the power supply is connected with an alternator, and a battery terminal connected with the battery falls off during the power generation of the alternator, positive overvoltage called "dump surge" (about 60 V) is applied to the terminal Vbb.
When the dump surge is applied under the off-state of the output MOS transistor M0, and clamping function of the dynamic clamp circuit 31 is activated, the output MOS transistor M0 is broken due to overheat of its own. Thus, it is necessary to set the breakdown voltage of the high-voltage diode D6 to a value not less than 60 V of the dump surge. Further, the withstand voltage of the output MOS transistor M0 should be set to a value not less than the breakdown voltage of the high-voltage diode D6. In order to keep the same on-resistance of the output MOS transistor M0, a chip area has to be enlarged in proportion to the withstand voltage of the output MOS transistor M0. A power IC having the dynamic clamp circuit 31 needs a larger chip area than a power IC without the dynamic clamp circuit 31. As a result, A power IC having the dynamic clamp circuit 31 is more expensive.
In view of such problems, the applicants of the present invention propose a semiconductor integrated circuit where a clamp controlling circuit for controlling a clamp circuit operation is provided to minimize a chip area in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2005-223399 (corresponding U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/035,060).
FIG. 11 is a circuit diagram showing the configuration of a conventional power IC 92 as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2005-223399. This conventional power IC includes a clamp controlling circuit 32 in addition to the configuration of FIG. 10. The clamp controlling circuit 32 includes a MOS transistor N2, a clamp switch MOS transistor P5, and a resistor R4.
The MOS transistor N2 has a drain connected with a terminal Vbb through the resistor R4, has a gate connected with a gate of an output MOS transistor M0, and has a source connected with a terminal OUT. The clamp switch MOS transistor P5 has a source connected with the terminal Vbb, has a gate connected with a node between the resistor R4 and the drain of the MOS transistor N2, and has a drain connected with the dynamic clamp circuit 31.
FIG. 12 is a waveform diagram of each signal when the output MOS transistor M0 is switched from on to off and then from off to on, in the conventional power IC 92.
To switch the output MOS transistor M0 from on to off, the control signal S1 is set LOW (low level) to stop the application of boosted voltage from the charge pump circuit 12. Further, the control signal S2 is set HIGH (high level) to turn on the gate discharge MOS transistor N1 and let gate charges of the output MOS transistor M0 flow into the terminal OUT through the resistor R3 and the gate discharge MOS transistor N1. As a result, the gate-source voltage Vgs decreases to turn off the output MOS transistor M0. Accordingly, the output current IOUT stops flowing and the output voltage VOUT comes to zero.
During a turn-off period of the output MOS transistor M0, the MOS transistor N2 is turned on due to the potential of the gate-source voltage Vgs. A voltage VR across the resistor R4 increases to turn on the clamp switch MOS transistor P5 and let the dynamic clamp circuit 31 operate. Then, the counter electromotive force Vinv that is generated with the inductive load 3 at this time is clamped with the dynamic clamp circuit 31. In this way, the conventional power IC 92 activates the dynamic clamp circuit 31 during the turn-off period.
According to the power IC 92, the withstand voltage of the output MOS transistor M0 can be therefore set without considering the breakdown voltage of the high-voltage diode D6, making it possible to reduce the withstand voltage of the output MOS transistor M0 and minimize the chip area.
However, the conventional power IC 92 of FIG. 11 has a problem that if the chip area is minimized as above, when the dump surge occurs under the off-state of the output MOS transistor M0, the output MOS transistor M0 would break.
This problem is caused due to the fact that when the dump surge occurs to abruptly increase the drain-source voltage of the output MOS transistor M0, a drain-gate or drain-source parasitic capacitance of the output MOS transistor M0 generates the voltage between the gate and source of the output MOS transistor M0.
FIG. 13 shows an equivalent circuit under the off state of the output MOS transistor in the conventional power IC 92 of FIG. 11, from which the clamp controlling circuit 32 is removed. Denoted by RN1 is an on resistance of the gate discharge MOS transistor N1. Denoted by Cdg and Cgd are a drain-gate capacitance (parasitic capacitance) and a gate-source capacitance (parasitic capacitance) of the output MOS transistor MO.
For ease of explanation, an equivalent circuit where an impedance of the inductive load 3 is set to 0 is shown in FIG. 14. Referring to the equivalent circuit of FIG. 14, a transient response (step response) of the gate-source voltage Vgs upon the occurrence of the dump surge is represented by following expressions.
                              Cdg                                                              ⅆ                V                                                          ⅆ                g                                                    ⅆ              t                                      =                              Cgs                                                      ⅆ                Vgs                                            ⅆ                t                                              +                      Vgs            R                                              (                  Expression                                                              1                )                                Vbb        =                              Vdg            +            Vgs                    =                      {                                                                                V                      0                                                                                (                                              t                        <                        0                                            )                                                                                V                      1                                                                                (                                              t                        >                        0                                            )                                                                                (                  Expression                                                              2                )                                          Cdg          ×          s          ×                      Vdg                                      (              s              )                                      =                              Cgs            ×            s            ×                          Vgs                                            (                s                )                                              +                                    1              R                                                  Vgs                                            (                s                )                                                                        (                  Expression                                                              3                )                                                      Vdg                                      (              s              )                                +                      Vgs                                      (              s              )                                      =                              V            1                    -                      V            0                                              (                  Expression                                                              4                )                                          Vgs                                (            s            )                          =                              (                                          V                1                            -                              V                0                                      )                                          Cdg                          Cdg              +              Cgs                                ×                      1                          s              +                              1                                                      (                                          Cdg                      +                      Cgs                                        )                                                      R                                                                                (                  Expression                                                              5                )                                          Vgs                                (            t            )                          =                              (                                          V                1                            -                              V                0                                      )                                          Cdg                          Cdg              +              Cgs                                ×                      exp                                      (                                                -                                      1                                                                  (                                                  Cdg                          +                          Cgs                                                )                                                                  R                                                                                t                            )                                                          (                  Expression                                                              6                )
That is, an amount of current flowing through the parasitic capacitance Cdg is the sum of current flowing through the resistor R3 and current flowing through the parasitic capacitance Cgs, so Expression 1 is established. In Expression 1, Vdg represents a drain-gate voltage of the output MOS transistor MO, and R represents the sum of resistance of the resistor R3 and the on resistance RN1 of the gate discharge MOS transistor N1. Expression 2 represents the dump surge based on a unit step input. In Expression 2, Vbb represents a voltage at the terminal Vbb, V0 represents a general voltage, V1 represents a dump surge voltage, and t represents the time. The Laplace transform of Expressions 1 and 2 gives Expressions 3 and 4, respectively.
Further, omitting the drain-gate voltage Vdg (s) from Expressions 3 and 4 gives Expression 5. The inverse Laplace transform of Expression 5 gives Expression 6, which represents the transient response of the gate-source voltage Vgs.
As apparent from Expression 6, just after the occurrence of the dump surge (t=0), Vgs=(V1−V0)·Cdg/(Cdg+Cgs). If the gate-source voltage Vgs reaches or exceeds a threshold Vt2 of the MOS transistor N2 in the clamp controlling circuit 32, the MOS transistor N2 is turned on, and the clamp controlling circuit 32 makes the dynamic clamp circuit 31 operate.
For example, provided that Cdg=Cgs/10, V1=60V, and V0=12V, Vgs=4.4 V. The threshold of the output MOS transistor MO is defined as Vt0. Unless Vt2<Vt0, the clamping is impossible during the turn-off period, so Vt2 should be lower than Vt0. In general, Vt0 is about 1 to 3 V. Therefore, just after the dump surge, the gate-source voltage Vgs reaches or exceeds the threshold Vt2 of the MOS transistor N2 in the clamp controlling circuit 32. Therefore, in the conventional power IC 92, the dynamic clamp circuit 31 operates like the conventional power IC 91 of FIG. 10 if activated upon the dump surge.
FIG. 15 is a timing chart showing that the dump surge takes place in the conventional power IC 92 and the dynamic clamp circuit 31 operate. The potential at the terminal Vbb is, for example, 12V of the power supply voltage but would reach about 60V upon the dump surge and remain at the voltage level for 0.2 to 0.4 seconds. At this time, the gate-source voltage Vgs also increases, and if the voltage reaches or exceeds the threshold Vt2, the dynamic clamp circuit 31 starts operating. In addition, if the voltage at the terminal Vbb exceeds the breakdown voltage of the high-voltage diode D6, the clamping function is exerted to temporarily turn on the output MOS transistor M0. As a result, the output current IOUT starts flowing. Accordingly, in the conventional power IC 92, if the withstand voltage of the output MOS transistor M0 is set without considering the breakdown voltage of the high-voltage diode D6, the output MOS transistor MO breaks.


System, method, computer program product embodiments and combinations and sub-combinations thereof for controlling lifetimes of server add-ins are described herein. Embodiments of the invention enable a service module, located at a first server, to externally control lifetime of one or more process add-ins located at a second server. An embodiment includes instantiating the service module at the first server and instantiating, using the service module, a controller add-in at the second server. The service module can instantiate the controller add-in to control the lifetime of (i.e. instantiate or terminate) process add-ins at the second server. In an embodiment, such lifetime control can be performed without shutting down the second server or other operations running on the second server.

1. Field
Embodiments of the present invention relate to server add-ins and particularly to controlling lifetime of such add-ins.
2. Background Art
Add-ins enable servers and applications to perform tasks that the severs and the applications may not be originally configured to perform.
In network environments, add-ins resident on a hosting server can communicate with other servers. Conventionally, if the other servers need to be shut down for upgrades and other tasks, the server hosting the add-ins needs to be shut down to prevent the add-ins from communicating with the other servers. Because the hosting server is shut down, any other applications that are executing on the hosting server are affected. This may negatively impact the entire network.
Accordingly, systems, methods and computer program products are needed that enable efficient management and control of server add-ins.


Multi-well collapsible basket arrays and methods for their use with high throughput culture and histology analysis of spheroids and organoids. Such a collapsible basket array includes a collapsible cellular array structure having multiple cells and connectors that interconnect adjacent pairs of the cells to cause the collapsible cellular array structure to collapse from an expanded configuration to a collapsed configuration in which the connectors are partially wrapped around perimeters or circumferences of the cells, whereby the collapsible cellular array structure is expandable to acquire an expanded configuration capable of individually aligning the cells thereof with wells of a well plate. The collapsible basket array further includes inserts individually mountable to the cells of the collapsible cellular array structure, with each insert including a permeable basket with pores sized to retain spheroids or organoids within the basket.

Incorporating 3D cell cultures with high throughput screening (HTS) processes is still in its infancy, but shows promise in directly identifying clinically relevant compounds and enabling effective translational research. Unfortunately, not all 3D cell culture models are compatible with HTS in a routine and cost-effective manner. For example, cultured spheroids or organoids in rigid wells need to be manually transferred by single-channel pipetting to separate containers (for example, cassettes) for subsequent histology analysis. This process tends to disrupt the culture's original features. Therefore, there is a need to directly act on the original culture array for various analysis for diagnosis, drug discovery, etc.

Collapsible basket arrays, collapsible cellular arrays therefor, and methods of use


An ATCA locking lever mounting structure installed in a motherboard blade formed of a motherboard and a face panel and inserted into a machine case of a server system is disclosed to included a grounding plate fixedly provided at the motherboard near a through hole on the face panel, and a locking lever pivoted to a pivot device at the motherboard and turnable about the pivot device between the locking position where the locking lever locks the motherboard blade to the machine case of the server system and connects the grounding plate to the machine case to have the motherboard be grounded, and the unlocking position where the motherboard blade is unlocked from the machine case.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to blade servers and more specifically, to an ATCA locking mounting structure for enabling a motherboard blade to be locked to a machine case of a server system and electrically connected to the server system quickly without any tools.
2. Description of the Related Art
Currently, many enterprises install relatively cheaper mini servers to satisfy network traffic requirements. In order to improve further economic effect, blade servers are developed. A blade server is essentially a housing for a number of individual minimally-packaged computer motherboard "blades", each including one or more processors, computer memory, computer storage, and computer network connections, but sharing the common power supply and air-cooling resources of the chassis. The idea is that by placing many blades in a single chassis, and then 19-inch rack-mounting them, systems can be more compact and powerful, but less expensive than traditional systems based on mainframes, or server farms of individual computers (see Blade server from Wikipedia).
The most attractive advantage of a blade server is its high reliability and extendibility. Every blade server has the backup function. The hot plugging of the server machine case that supports blade servers and system component parts provides high applicability. When one individual blade server failed, another blade server can take the place without interrupting the service of the system. When wishing to increase the processing power of the system, it needs only to insert more blade servers and to arrange these resources at the place where the demand is heavy.
Because blade servers provide the function of hot plugging function, plug and unplugging actions will be frequently seen in blade servers. The machine case of a blade server has an accommodation chamber and parallel rails arranged at different elevations in the accommodation chamber so that motherboard blades can be inserted into the accommodation chamber along the rails. After insertion of motherboard blades into the accommodation chamber of the machine case, the screws at each motherboard blade are respectively threaded into associating screw holes at the two opposite side panels of the machine case to fix each motherboard blade to the machine case. A motherboard blade generally has a locking lever provided at one side of the board. As shown in FIG. 7, the locking lever A is pivotally connected to one side of the face panel B1 of the motherboard blade B with a screw bolt A2. After insertion of the motherboard blade B in the machine case C of the server system, the locking lever A is biased to force a retaining portion A1 of the locking lever A into engage a part C1 of the machine case C and to touch a sensor switch B2, giving a signal indicative of positive positioning of the motherboard blade B. This locking lever mounting design has drawbacks as follows:                1. The connection area between the locking lever A and the screw bolt A2 wears quickly with use, resulting in vibration of the locking lever A and locking instability.        2. When the connection area between the locking lever A and the screw bolt A2 starts to wear, the locking lever A may be unable to trigger the sensor switch B2 accurately, resulting in operation abnormality of the motherboard blade B.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide an ATCA locking lever mounting structure that eliminates the aforesaid problem.


The invention relates to a method of venting a synthetically commutated hydraulic pump (2). The connecting fluid conduits (8, 16), connecting said synthetically commutated hydraulic pump (2) with a fluid reservoir (7) is vented at least on start-up of the synthetically commutated hydraulic pump (2), using a fluid intake device (14, 17, 20) that connects to a fixed displacement pump (3).

Hydraulic systems are used in a large number of various technological fields. They are both used for stationary devices, as well as for mobile applications (including ships, land vehicles and aircraft).
Due to the broad range of different applications, a correspondingly large number of different designs for hydraulic pumps, hydraulic motors and hydraulic fluid working machines (which can be used both as a motor and as a pump selectively) has been suggested in the meantime. All of these various hydraulic pumps/hydraulic motors/hydraulic fluid working machines have intrinsic advantages and disadvantages, so that depending on the detailed requirements of the application in question certain designs can show their intrinsic advantages (and are therefore selected), while other designs are disfavoured or even ruled out due to their intrinsic disadvantages.
There is a desire to avoid the intrinsic disadvantages that come along with a certain pump/motor design, so that the respective design can be universally applied, and the respective device the motor/pump is used in can be improved.
A unique design for fluid pumps/fluid motors/fluid working machines is the so-called synthetically commutated fluid working machine design, also known as Digital Displacement Pump® or DDP®. In case of a synthetically commutated hydraulic pump, the usually chosen passive inlet valve is replaced by an actuated valve, typically by an electrically actuated valve. During the intake cycle, when fluid is sucked into a pumping chamber of cyclically varying volume, the actuated valve is usually passively opened due to the pressure difference that develops between the fluid inlet channel and the interior of the pumping chamber. Consequently, fluid is sucked into the pumping chamber. Once the piston of the pumping chamber has reached its bottom dead centre the pressure difference across the fluid inlet valve will reverse. Contrary to standard pump designs, the fluid inlet valve will remain in its open position unless an (electric) signal to close the inlet valve will be applied by a controller. If the inlet valve remains open the fluid that is contained in the pumping chamber will be pushed back into the inlet conduit. Once the inlet valve closes, however, pressure will build up in the pumping chamber and the fluid will be ejected through a (usually passive) outlet valve to a high-pressure conduit. This way, the fluid output behaviour of the pump can be arbitrarily varied between all possible pumping fractions on a cycle-by-cycle basis. Furthermore, the synthetically commutated hydraulic pump design is very energy efficient since the pump consumes little energy only if the fluid is simply pushed back into the fluid inlet channel (and not against the high-pressure in the high-pressure conduit).
If the fluid outlet valves are replaced by active valves as well, a motor or a combined motor/pump design can be achieved as well by appropriately actuating the various inlet and outlet valves.
A particular problem with synthetically commutated hydraulic fluid working machine design lies in the initial start-up behaviour of synthetically commutated pumps specifically when they are used in open loop hydraulic circuits. The problem occurs if the pumping chamber and/or the fluid inlet channel is not (yet) filled with the "correct hydraulic fluid". Normally, the "correct hydraulic fluid" will be a liquid. On start-up ambient air can be present in the inlet conduit and/or the pumping chamber. Most likely start-up problems can occur when open loop hydraulic circuits are employed, especially if the fluid level of the fluid reservoir is below the fluid inlet channel of the synthetically commutated fluid working machine. In this situation, the synthetically commutated fluid working machine is usually not able to start pumping of hydraulic fluid on its own.
This poses a real problem in current designs using synthetically commutated fluid working machines. The solution that was so far employed in the state-of-the-art was to manually fill the crankcase using an oil inlet conduit of the fluid working machine by opening a gap and leading the oil flow through it by gravity, removing as much air as possible. This solution is of course impossible to implement when the hydraulic fluid reservoir is located below the fluid inlet channel of the synthetically commutated fluid pump itself, as previously mentioned.
This, however, is the case in most mobile applications, where traditionally the fluid storage tank is arranged in a way to be lower than the fluid working machine, since it is desired that any hydraulic fluid (including, but not limited to leakage oil) can be returned very simple to the fluid storage tank under the influence of gravity. In the described situation, the synthetically commutated fluid working machine might never be able to start or will start only with difficulty, and possibly with several cumbersome manual operational steps.
The situation of a start-up with a significant amount of air in the fluid inlet channel/the pumping chamber of the synthetically commutated fluid working machine cannot only occur after initial manufacture of the device, but also after a somewhat prolonged shutdown of the device due to small gaps through which air can enter into the respective fluid conduits. A weekend can easily be sufficient so that the discussed problems on start-up might occur.
It is therefore desired to come up with suggestions so that the afore described problems can be dealt with, in particular in a less cumbersome way.

Method and device for venting the suction side of a synthetically commutated hydraulic pump


The present invention relates to method, apparatus and storage medium for enhancing document image, and method, apparatus and storage medium for character recognition. For enhancing the document image especially half-tone block image and improving the recognition ratio thereof, the block image is segmented into line images, which are subject to noise reduction. Then, based on the connected component densities, the noise-reduced line images are sorted into three types including normal line image, broken-stroke line image and hollow-stroke line image. Based on their types and other properties, the noise-reduced line images are enhanced, generating enhanced line images, which as a whole constitutes an enhanced block image.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method, an apparatus and a storage medium for enhancing document image, and a method, an apparatus and a storage medium for character recognition using the same.
2. Related Art
OCR is a well-known technique in recognizing either hand-written characters or scanned characters.
As shown in FIG. 1, to implement character recognition of a document image 102, a step of block segmentation 104 is carried out to separate the smallest region containing all the characters from the whole binary document image 102. In other words, the step of block segmentation 104 is to remove the margin of the document image 102. The resultant block image, which generally is a rectangle region, is further processed by a step of line segmentation 108, so that each character line in form of line image is extracted. Then each line image is subjected to a step of character segmentation 112 and character images corresponding to each character to be recognized are extracted. The last step is a step of single-character recognizing 116 based on each character image, and the recognition result 118 is output to, for example, a text processing application or the like.
When recognizing scanned document image, if the image quality is high, the recognition result of current OCR products is satisfying. However, if the quality of the document image is not so perfect or even is very bad, then the recognition ratio will sharply decrease.
For example, conventional OCR engine could not recognize color or gray-scale image very well. This is because OCR is based on binary image recognition. For purpose of scanning, storing and recognizing color or gray scale image original in the format of binary image, half-tone image technique has been developed. In a half-tone image, one "pixel" is comprised of a small binary image so that different colors or grays could be simulated. The so-called "pixel" actually includes an array of binary pixels and corresponds to a small area having a certain color or gray level in the original. For that reason, compared to normal binary document image, or compared to the original, the quality of a half-tone document image is much lower.
That is to say, conventional OCR engine could not recognize color or gray-scale image very well because it could not recognize half-tone image very well. The specific reasons are as follow.
When the original has a background having a certain color or gray level, then in the half-tone document image to be recognized, there are many background noises caused by said color or gray level, as shown in FIG. 2.
As to the characters, if they are not black in the original, then in the strokes of the character in the half-tone document image, the corresponding pixels will not be all in black, but some white pixels will appear. Then the strokes will look like broken (as shown in FIG. 3), hollowed (as shown in FIG. 4) or having zigzag contours (as shown in FIG. 5) under different conditions.
Obviously, the broken strokes, hollowed strokes and zigzag strokes will strongly distort the extracted features of character images. Conventional OCR algorithm cannot distinguish the different defects as described above of half-tone document images and cannot make the corresponding restoration, consequently the recognition ratio is very low.
The noise will also greatly affect the block segmentation, line segmentation, character segmentation and single-character recognizing. If noise reduction is carried out, then the phenomena of broken strokes, hollowed strokes and zigzag strokes will be much severer. Under such conditions, conventional OCR algorithm even cannot make right line segmentation. This is because conventional OCR algorithm is directed to normal document image, which has much less noises, so the noise reduction carried in conventional OCR algorithm is very soft. Even for normal document image, if strong noise reduction is carried out, the strokes will be affected and the recognition ratio will decrease.
In addition, there are other applications, such as copying apparatus, needing enhancing document images such as obtained from non-white-and-black originals.

Method, apparatus and storage medium for enhancing document image, method, apparatus and storage medium for character recognition


Polysiloxane hydrolyzates are neutralized by treating polysiloxane hydrolyzates containing residual acidic constituents with carbon, and then the carbon is removed from the treated neutralized polysiloxane hydrolyzate. Some examples of polysiloxane hydrolyzates that can be treated are hydride functional polysiloxane hydrolyzates and polydiethylsiloxane hydrolyzates. The carbon neutralizing agent especially preferred is carbon derived from bituminous coal. The carbon is removed from the treated neutralized polysiloxane hydrolyzate by passing it through solid liquid separation devices such as plate and frame filter presses, polishing filters, and post filters for removing fines.

This invention is directed generally to polysiloxane hydrolyzates, and is an improvement over existing methods of neutralizing and/or purifying polysiloxane hydrolyzates. In particular, hydride functional linear, branched and/or cyclic polysiloxane (≡Si—H) hydrolyzates, and linear, branched and/or cyclic polydialkylsiloxane hydrolyzates such as polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) hydrolyzates, are more efficiently neutralized and purified according to the invention.
The hydrolysis of chlorosilanes is known in the art, and reference may be had to U.S. Pat. No. 4,382,145 (May 3, 1983), and pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/958,768, filed on Oct. 5, 2004, entitled "Hydrolysis of Chlorosilanes", that represent the state of the art. The '145 patent and the pending application are directed to general processes for producing polysiloxane hydrolyzates from chlorosilanes. U.S. Pat. No. 5,075,479 (Dec. 24, 1991) describes a hydrolysis process for producing PDMS hydrolyzates, whereas U.S. Pat. No. 5,493,040 (Feb. 20, 1996) relates to a hydrolysis process for producing hydride functional polysiloxane hydrolyzates.
Typically, hydrolyzates containing cyclic and linear hydride functional polysiloxanes are obtained by hydrolyzing CH3SiHCl2 and (CH3)3SiCl. The hydrolyzate is neutralized with sodium bicarbonate to remove trace levels of chlorine based species, particularly chloride ions in the form of hydrochloric acid (HCl) and then used in the preparation of higher molecular weight hydride functional polysiloxane polymers. Hydrolyzates containing cyclic and linear PDMS are obtained by hydrolyzing (CH3)2SiCl2 with or without either (CH3)3SiCl or an endblocking oligomer such as (CH3)3SiO[(CH3)2SiO]0-10. The hydrolyzate is typically neutralized with sodium bicarbonate to remove trace chlorine based species such as HCl and then used in the preparation of higher molecular weight polydimethylsiloxane polymers. U.S. Pat. No. 5,276,173 (Jan. 4, 1994) describes the removal of ionic chloride from hydroxyl-terminated siloxane compounds by contacting the siloxane with a molecular sieve material.
Quite unexpectedly, it has been discovered that the use of carbon instead of sodium carbonate or sodium bicarbonate for neutralizing and purifying polysiloxane hydrolyzates is beneficial in that it produces a reduction in the cycle time normally needed for neutralization and purification of these hydrolyzates. In the case of PDMS hydrolyzates, it was also found to reduce the viscosity drift of the resulting PDMS polymers. This was particularly surprising as carbon manufacturers were of the opinion that carbon should not be appropriate for this purpose.

Method for preparation of alkoxysilanes having reduced halide


A wireless communication device and associated method more flexibly changes a destination of an acknowledgement request. The wireless communication device includes a wireless communication interface to communicate wirelessly with another wireless communication device, and a controller to control the wireless communication interface to transmit, to the other wireless communication device, a first message that requests change in a destination of an acknowledgement request frame relating to multicast transmission by the other wireless communication device.

A wireless local area network (LAN) system faces in some cases propagation loss, shadowing, fading, collision between frames, or the like, and so a phenomenon may occur in which a receiver fails to receive a frame transmitted from a transmitter. In order to address such a phenomenon, the wireless LAN system may employ retransmission control using an acknowledgment (ACK) and a negative-acknowledgment (NACK) in some cases. In the retransmission control techniques using a response from the receiving side, the receiving side may return an acknowledgment response including information indicating success or failure of data reception in response to an acknowledgement request from the data transmitting side. An example of the techniques includes the retransmission control using a Block ACK Request (BAR) frame and a Block ACK (BA) frame, which allows acknowledgements for reception related to one or more transmission frames to be executed together.
Here, IEEE802.11aa, which is one of the standards for wireless LAN, defines the technique for performing the retransmission control using the BAR and the BA is performed between a parent device (Access Point: AP) and a slave device (Station: STA). Specifically, the technique is defined in which the AP transmits by unicast the BAR to a plurality of STAs belonging to a multicast group and receives the BA from the STA, thereby performing the retransmission control relating to multicast transmission. This technique makes it possible, in the case where the number of STAs belonging to a multicast group is small, to achieve a highly reliable wireless communication environment by allowing the AP to transmit the BAR to all the STAs and to receive the BA from all the STAs, in one example. However, in the case where the number of STAs belonging to a multicast group is large, the overhead of transmitting and receiving the BAR and the BA may deteriorate the throughput.
In view of the above circumstances, Patent Literature 1 below discloses a technique of grouping STAs of a multicast group and performing transmission and reception of the BAR and the BA to and from only a representative terminal set for each group.

Wireless communication device, method of wireless communication, and program


A mask blank having a structure in which, on a transparent substrate, a phase shift film, a light shielding film, and a hard mask film are laminated in the stated order from the transparent substrate side. The phase shift film is formed of a material containing silicon, the hard mask film is formed of a material containing at least one element selected from silicon and tantalum, and the light shielding film is formed of a material containing chromium. The mask blank has a structure in which the following three layers: a lower layer, an intermediate layer, and an upper layer are laminated, the upper layer having a highest content of chromium in the light shielding film, the intermediate layer having a lowest content of chromium in the light shielding film, and containing at least one metallic element selected from indium, tin, and molybdenum.

As a mask blank for a halftone-type phase shift mask, there is known a mask blank having the structure in which a semitransparent phase shift film made of a metal silicide-based material, a chromium film (light shielding film) made of a chromium-based compound, and an etching mask film (hard mask film) made of an inorganic-based material are laminated from a substrate side. When a phase shift mask is to be produced using such mask blank, first, an etching mask film is patterned by dry etching using a fluorine-based gas and using as a mask a resist pattern which is formed on a front surface of the mask blank. Then, a light shielding film is patterned by dry etching using a mixture gas of chlorine and oxygen and using the etching mask film as a mask, and further, a phase shift film is patterned by dry etching using a fluorine-based gas and using the pattern of the light shielding film as a mask (see WO-A-2004/090635 (Patent Document 1)).
Meanwhile, in order to increase an etching rate with optical characteristics of the light shielding film of the chromium-based compound kept unchanged, proposal has been made about the structure in which the light shielding film is made of a chromium-based material containing tin. In this case, when an upper layer of the light shielding film is a layer containing no tin or having a low content ratio of tin, and a lower layer thereof is a layer having a high content ratio of tin, only an etching rate of the lower layer (on the substrate side) may be improved over an etching rate of the upper layer (on a front surface side), and hence over-etching time may be set short. On the other hand, when the content ratio of tin on the substrate side is set low, an end point of etching may be detected more easily by monitoring chromium during the dry etching (see JP-A-2013-238776 (Patent Document 2)).

Mask blank, method of manufacturing phase shift mask, phase shift mask, and method of manufacturing semiconductor device


A system and method for improving a surgeon's vision by overlaying augmented reality information onto a video image of the surgical site. A high definition video camera sends a video image in real time. Prior to the surgery, a pre-operative image is created from MRI, x-ray, ultrasound, or other method of diagnosis using imaging technology. The pre-operative image is stored within the computer. The computer processes the pre-operative image to decipher organs, anatomical geometries, vessels, tissue planes, orientation, and other structures. As the surgeon performs the surgery, the AR controller augments the real time video image with the processed pre-operative image and displays the augmented image on an interface to provide further guidance to the surgeon during the surgical procedure.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a display system and method for assisting a surgeon during surgery and, more particularly, to an augmented reality display system that incorporates pre-operative images into a real time video signal to assist a surgeon during surgery.
2. Background of Related Art
Minimally invasive surgical procedures typically employ small incisions in body cavities for access of various surgical instruments, including forceps, laparoscopes, scalpels, scissors, and the like. It is often the case that several surgical hands, such as several laparoscopic instrument and camera holders, are necessary to hold these instruments for the operating surgeon during the particular surgical procedure. With the introduction of robotic-assisted minimally invasive surgery (MIS) in recent years, hospitals worldwide have made significant investments in acquiring this latest technology for their respective facilities.
Thus, it is known to use robotic-assisted MIS when carrying out surgical operations. When surgery of this kind is performed, access to a subcutaneous surgical site is provided via a number (typically 3 to 5) of small (typically 5-12 mm) incisions, through which a surgical arm is manually passed. The surgical arms are then coupled to the surgical robotic instrument, which is capable of manipulating the surgical arms for performing the surgical operations, such as suturing or thermally cutting through tissue and cauterizing blood vessels. The surgical arms thus extend through the incisions during the surgery, one of which incisions is used for supplying a gas, in particular carbon dioxide, for inflating the subcutaneous area and thus create free space at that location for manipulating the surgical instruments.
Therefore, open surgeries often require a surgeon to make sizable incisions to a patient's body in order to have adequate visual and physical access to the site requiring treatment. The application of laparoscopy for performing procedures is commonplace. Laparoscopic surgeries are performed using small incisions in the abdominal wall and inserting a small endoscope into the abdominal cavity and transmitting the images captured by the endoscope onto a visual display. The surgeon may thus see the abdominal cavity without making a sizable incision in the patient's body, reducing invasiveness and providing patients with the benefits of reduced trauma, shortened recovery times, and improved cosmetic results. In addition to the endoscope, laparoscopic surgeries are performed using long, rigid tools inserted through incisions in the abdominal wall.
However, conventional techniques and tools for performing laparoscopic procedures may limit the dexterity and vision of the surgeon. Given the size of the incisions, the maneuverability of the tools is limited and additional incisions may be required if an auxiliary view of the surgical site is needed. Thus, robotic instruments may be used to perform laparoscopic procedures.
One example of a robotic assisted MIS system is the da Vinci® System that includes an ergonomically designed surgeon's console, a patient cart with four interactive robotic arms, a high performance vision system, and instruments. The da Vinci® console allows the surgeon to sit while viewing a highly magnified 3D image of the patient's interior sent from the high performance vision system. The surgeon uses master controls on the console that work like forceps to perform the surgery. The da Vinci® system responds to the surgeon's hand, wrist, and finger movements into precise movements of the instruments within the patient's interior.
However, conventional techniques and tools for performing laparoscopic procedures may limit the vision of the surgeon.

Apparatus and method for using augmented reality vision system in surgical procedures


A system for measuring the pseudo range from a first GPS sensor to a designated navigational satellite, for use in a satellite positioning system (SPS) is comprised of first and second GPS sensors for receiving and recording first and second portions of the signal transmitted by the designated navigational satellite, the recordings referred to as the first and second datagrams. The first and second datagrams are transmitted to a datagram processing facility wherein the pseudo range from the first GPS sensor to the designated navigational satellite is extracted. The datagram processing facility for extracting the pseudo range is further comprised of a pseudo range engine for extracting a pseudo range from a datagram received by the first GPS sensor. The location of which is to be determined, the extraction accomplished with the aid of a perfect reference; and a perfect reference engine for generating a perfect reference from a datagram originating with a second GPS sensor designated for the express purpose of perfect reference generation.

This invention relates to the determination of location coordinates of devices embodying GPS sensors.
The NAVSTAR Global Positioning System (GPS) developed by the United States Department of Defense uses a constellation of between 24 and 32 Medium Earth Orbit satellites that transmit precise microwave signals, which allows devices embodying GPS sensors to determine their current location. The initial application was predominantly for military purposes, namely weapons targeting and troop deployment. The first widespread consumer based application was navigational assistance. These early applications shared similar operating conditions in that the GPS navigational devices (also called GPS receivers) were (1) used outdoors, and (2) co-located with the end-user. Because of the requirement for mobility, GPS receivers were typically battery-operated devices, with power consumption a critical design consideration.
Today, a new wave of applications is emerging, requiring a wider operating environment, including indoor operation. The major sectors include, government and safety—(emergency location and E-911 services), enterprise and industrial (asset tracking and monitoring), and consumer (location based services). Because current GPS processing techniques are unable to provide the receive sensitivity required for reliable indoor operation, these applications have developed slowly. The major factors impacting indoor and "urban canyon" operation of GPS receivers are (1) path losses due to obstructions between the GPS satellites and the GPS receiver, (2) multi-path fading of the incoming GPS signal, and (3) the requirement to obtain pseudo ranges for a minimum of four GPS satellites in order to determine the three dimensional coordinates of the GPS receiver.
The signals from all the GPS satellites are broadcast using the same carrier frequency, 1.57 GHz in the case of the NAVSTAR system. However, each satellite has a unique identifier, or pseudorandom noise (PRN) code having 1023 chips, thereby enabling a GPS receiver to distinguish the GPS signal from one GPS satellite from the GPS signal from another GPS satellite. In addition, each satellite transmits information allowing the GPS receiver to determine the exact location of the satellite at a given time. The GPS receiver determines the distance (pseudo range) from each GPS satellite by determining the time delay of the received signal. The pseudo range information includes a local time offset to each GPS satellite from the time-of-arrival of the PRN code, the Zcount and ephemeris parameters in the GPS signal that it receives from that GPS satellite. The determination of three-dimensional location coordinates can be accomplished with as few as three satellite pseudo ranges, provided they are measured using a time reference. Since this is impractical with current GPS navigational platforms, the computation of location coordinates is generally accomplished using four pseudo ranges. This is illustrated in FIG. 1, where pseudo range information 15, 16, 17, 19 is used to determine the location coordinates of GPS receiver 10. Once the pseudo ranges for at least four GPS satellites have been determined, it is a straightforward process to determine the location coordinates of the GPS receiver.
FIG. 2 describes the data structure of the signal that is broadcast by each GPS satellite, where the signal contains 50 Hz data overlay signal—20 millisecond data bits modulating a one millisecond PRN code interval of 1023 bits or chips. The PRN code is known as a spreading code because it spreads the frequency spectrum of the GPS signal. This spread spectrum signal is known as a direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS) signal.
Indoors, or in urban canyons, the satellite signals reach the receiver by multiple paths. The result is a signal that is the composite of multiple instances of the transmitted signal, each reduced in power and differentially delayed. All things being equal, the sensitivity of a receiver is effectively reduced in such a multi-path environment. In strong signal communications applications, adaptive equalization techniques have been employed to combat the effects of multi-path—to prevent, for example the destructive combination of multiple instances of the transmitted signal, delayed relative to each other. To date, no such technology has been developed for applications in which the signal is buried in noise, such as satellite positioning. So, whereas a GPS receiver out in the clear is likely to see a single instance of a given satellite transmission, indoors the receiver is likely to see multiple variously-attenuated instances, delayed relative to each other, as shown in FIG. 3. The impact of this can be confounding to the prior art GPS receivers described in the paragraphs which follow.
FIG. 4 illustrates a block diagram of a prior art GPS receiver. The GPS signal from GPS satellite constellation 36 is received by the R/F front end 31 of GPS receiver 30. R/F front end 31 down converts the 1.57 GHz R/F signal, resulting in an intermediate frequency (I/F) signal. The streaming I/F signal is examined by correlator 32, which employs a search algorithm to confirm the presence or absence, within the composite GPS signal, of a component signal from one of the GPS satellites. In a typical search algorithm, the local frequency 33 is scanned across a range of frequencies; for each frequency, a series of correlations involving the incoming GPS signal and all possible code phases of a local replica 34 of the designated satellite's PRN code are used to "acquire" (i.e., determine the presence or absence of) the designated satellite. In order to ensure that the correct code phase is not missed due to local clock off-set, it is conventional to increment the local replica code phase in one-half chip or even smaller steps. The granularity of these steps is limited by the amount of over sampling that is performed on the incoming I/F signal. A high correlation peak value indicates that the designated satellite is present. If no correlations peaks are high enough, the local frequency 33 is set to a second trial frequency and the correlations are repeated. Once pseudo range information has been obtained for at least four GPS satellites along with the corresponding satellite timing information, the coordinate generator 35 determines the three-dimensional location coordinates of the GPS receiver 30. There are a number of drawbacks to this approach, including a long time to first fix (TTFF) and reduced receive sensitivity in certain situations (e.g., those involving severe path loss or multi-path).
The TTFF for GPS receiver 30 generally includes (1) the time to acquire a GPS satellite by tuning the local frequency 33 and the code phase of the local PRN code replica 34 in the GPS receiver to match the carrier frequency and the PRN code phase of the designated satellite, (2) the time to receive data bits in the GPS signal to determine a GPS clock time, (3) the time to receive ephemeris parameters in the GPS data bits, and (4) the time to process the code phase timing, GPS clock time and ephemeris for determining a position.
In order to overcome the TTFF disadvantages of GPS receiver 30, a prior art GPS receiver 50, with GPS assistance system 59 has been introduced (see FIG. 5). The role of GPS assistance system 59 is to track, the satellites "acquirable" in the vicinity of GPS assistance system 59. Accordingly, the GPS signal from GPS satellite constellation 56 is received by the R/F front end 51 of GPS receiver 50. R/F front end 51 down converts the 1.57 GHz R/F signal, resulting in an intermediate frequency (I/F) signal. The streaming I/F signal is examined by correlator 52, which is used to acquire satellites. To expedite the acquisition process, frequency information derived by GPS assistance system 59 in the course of tracking acquirable satellites, is transmitted to GPS receiver 50. This information is used to set the local frequency used by the search algorithm of correlator 52, enabling the search algorithm to operate more efficiently and more effectively. As a result the TTFF is significantly reduced, and receive sensitivity is improved slightly at the margin. Once pseudo range information has been determined for a minimum of four GPS satellites, the location coordinates are determined by coordinate generator 55. In addition to frequency information, ephemeris parameters may be transmitted to GPS receiver 50 from GPS assistance system 59. This information, however, does not affect the receive sensitivity of GPS receiver 50.
To enable operation in indoor or urban canyon environments, GPS receivers must cope successfully with (1) path loss between the GPS satellites and the GPS receiver, (2) multi-path fading of the incoming GPS signal, and (3) the requirement to obtain the pseudo range information for at least four GPS satellites in order to determine the location coordinates of the GPS receiver. The ability of GPS receivers 30 and 50 to reliably obtain a GPS fix in indoor and urban canyon environments has been shown to be severely limited. The explanations relate in large measure to the signal processing techniques employed in current receivers. Consider first the fact that correlator 32 uses an iterative-search algorithm to acquire a particular GPS satellite from a streaming composite I/F signal. Furthermore, complicating the satellite acquisition process is the fact that the I/F signal carries a 50 Hz data overlay signal with bit boundaries occurring after 20 consecutive PRN code intervals. Consequently, the amount of data that the correlator is capable of examining in order to acquire a particular satellite is typically much less than 20 msec. The 50 Hz data overlay signal thus precludes processing gains that could otherwise be achieved by examining more of this highly repetitive data.
To surmount the barrier imposed by the 50 Hz data overlay and enable the correlator to examine substantially larger amounts of data is impractical within the envelope of a battery-powered handheld device. A third prior art GPS receiver, exemplified by Geotate's implementation of GPS receiver 30, as it were, on the Personal Computer, is unencumbered by these limitations, as it performs the iterative correlations in software, off-line. While it represents an interesting repartitioning of the basic GPS receiver, the rearchitecting essential to improve the sensitivity of the basic GPS receiver has not been addressed.
Since none of the prior art techniques are capable of providing reliable indoor and urban canyon operation, there is a need in the art for a method of improving the receive sensitivity of GPS-enabled devices, consistent with the requirements of the emerging E-911, asset management, and location-based consumer applications.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Signal processing techniques for improving the sensitivity of GPS receivers


An adjustable inductive power transmission platform includes inductive power outlets embedded into adjustable modules having multiple configurations. The inductive power outlets are configured to couple with inductive power receivers to provide power to electrical loads wired thereto. The multiple configurations of the adjustable modules allow the position of the inductive power outlets to be adjusted to match the locations of inductive receivers to suit changing requirements.

Inductive power coupling allows energy to be transferred from a power supply to an electric load without connecting wires. A power supply is wired to a primary coil and an oscillating electric potential is applied across the primary coil which induces an oscillating magnetic field. The oscillating magnetic field may induce an oscillating electrical current in a secondary coil, placed close to the primary coil. In this way, electrical energy may be transmitted from the primary coil to the secondary coil by electromagnetic induction without the two coils being conductively connected. When electrical energy is transferred from a primary coil to a secondary coil the pair are said to be inductively coupled. An electric load wired across such a secondary coil may draw energy from the power source when the secondary coil is inductively coupled to the primary coil.
The efficiency of energy transfer via an inductive coupling is greatly improved when the primary coil is well aligned with the secondary coil and the gap between the coils is minimal. Thus in transformers or other fixed inductive couplings the two coils are often wound about each other. This is not practical, however in systems where the coupling is of a temporary nature, and the secondary coil is required to be easily separated from the primary coil.
Alignment systems for inductive couplings for mobile devices include for example, the system described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,210,940 to Baily et al., which describes an inductive coupling for transferring electrical energy to or from a transducer and measuring circuit. Baily's system consists of a male connector having a single layer solenoid wound onto a ferromagnetic rod and a female connector having a second, single layer solenoid. By inserting the male connector into the female connector, the two solenoids are brought into alignment, enabling inductive energy transfer between them. This coupling provides a sealed signal connection without the disadvantages of having exposed contact surfaces.
Baily's system allows an electrical device wired to a male connector to be moved independently from a power source wired to a female connector, yet the pair may be coupled very precisely by plugging the two together. However the plugging itself may unduly restrict the freedom of movement of the electrical device which cannot move beyond the length of the connecting lead. Moreover, trailing leads are unsightly and may become snagged or tangled.
Other electrical power transmission systems have been proposed that allow a power receiving electrical device to be placed anywhere upon an extended base unit covering a larger area, thereby providing freedom of movement without requiring the trailing wires inherent in Baily. One such example is described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,164,255 to Hui. In Hui's system a planar inductive battery charging system is designed to enable electronic devices to be recharged. The system includes a planar charging module having a charging surface on which a device to be recharged is placed. Within the charging module, and parallel to the charging surface, is at least one, and preferably an array of primary windings that couple energy inductively to a secondary winding within the device to be recharged. Hui's system also provides secondary modules that allow the system to be used with conventional electronic devices not supplied with secondary windings.
Such systems typically provide a relatively low power inductive coupling which may be adequate for charging batteries. It will be appreciated however, that extended base units such as Hui's charging surface which transmit energy approximately uniformly over the whole area of the unit, are not suitable for use with high energy systems.
There is a need for a flexible inductive power transmission surface which allows relatively high power to be cordlessly provided to electrical devices positioned by a user anywhere over an extended region. The present disclosure addresses this need.

Adjustable inductive power transmission platform


A continuous hinge includes first and second leaves, an upper pivot, and a lower pivot. The first leaf is configured to secure to a first panel and the second leaf is configured to secure to a second panel. The first and second leaves each have an uppermost end adjacent a top end of the respective panel and a lowermost end adjacent a bottom end of the respective panel. The upper pivot is formed between the first and second leaves adjacent the uppermost ends thereof. The lower pivot is formed between the first and second leaves adjacent the lowermost ends thereof. The first and second leaves are configured to pivot relative to one another between a closed position in which the first and second panels are aligned on edges with one another and an open position in which the first and second panels are out of alignment with one another.

Folding door assemblies can provide for large openings between building spaces when open and can prevent liquid intrusion, prevent thermal conduction, and/or provide acoustic isolation when closed. Typically, folding door assemblies include door panels that are connected to each other by multiple, surface-mounted hinges located on edges of each door panel. The end panels may utilize pivot hinges at the top and bottom of their outermost edges and the panels can be supported by roller hardware or bogies attached near the top ends such that the panels hang from and are guided by an overhead rail or track. The panels can be guided at the bottom by roller hardware that rides in a sill or on a floor track. The roller hardware is typically installed in grooves, channels, or mortises that are machined in the top and bottom ends of the panels.
To lock the panels in a closed position, locking hardware can be mounted to the panel edge or face and be driven into the sill. The locking hardware may be flush on the panel or may be installed within an end of a panel requiring machining of the end of the panel.
In the closed position, the gaps or spaces between adjacent panels are sealed by weather seals attached to each panel. To attach the weather seals, each panel is machined to include mounting slots along the edges to receive the weather seals.

Continuous locking hinge assemblies and folding door assemblies including the same


At start-up of a computer apparatus, a CPU executes a first initialization procedure included in a RAS module to initialize resources to be used by the RAS module. After execution of the first initialization procedure, the CPU executes an initialization procedure included in an OS to initialize resources to be used by the OS. After execution of the initialization procedure, the CPU executes a second initialization procedure included in the RAS module to copy an interrupt determining part included in the OS to the RAS module, and to set the interrupt detection unit such that upon detecting an interrupt the interrupt detection unit calls an interrupt determining part copied to the RAS module, instead of the interrupt determining part in the OS.

In conventional art, in a computer apparatus in which each OS (there may be one OS or a plurality of OSs) and a hypervisor (the computer apparatus may be configured without a hypervisor) are operating as independent modules, a RAS function for handling a CPU exception is realized by a method such as adding a process for handling a CPU exception to each OS or the hypervisor.
For example, Patent Literature 1 discloses a configuration in which a VM monitor (corresponding to a hypervisor in the present Specification) is provided with means to extract failure information of a process being executed in a virtual computer which experienced a main system failure (corresponding to a CPU exception in the present Specification) from a failure information storage area.
For example, Patent Literature 2 discloses a technique for resolving an exception in a virtual computer on which a hypervisor is employed to operate a plurality of OSs.
Specifically, Patent Literature 2 discloses the technique for resolving an exception by copying to the hypervisor a memory image of the portion of a process being executed by an OS when the exception occurred and emulating a privileged instruction included in the process being executed by the OS when the exception occurred.

Computer apparatus and control method of computer apparatus


A lock for a sliding door includes front and rear housing members that clamp front and rear faces of a door panel adjacent an opening that is formed through the door panel. Aligned cavities in the front and rear housing members cooperate with the opening to provide a compartment that mounts a latch bolt member for forward and rearward movement. The latch bolt member has a rearwardly extending formation that projects through a hole formed in the rear housing member for selectively engaging structure located behind the door to releasably latch the door in its closed position. An operating mechanism connects with the latch bolt member and includes components that extend forwardly and rearwardly through aligned openings formed through the front and rear housing members to enable the latch bolt member to be moved forwardly and rearwardly between unlatched and latched positions, and to releasably retain the latch bolt member its unlatched and latched positions. The operating mechanism preferably includes a forwardly facing lock cylinder housed in a forwardly facing push button, and a rearwardly facing foldable handle. A sleeve formation protectively surrounds portions of the push button. Weatherproofing seals are provided between selected relatively movable components.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to latches and locks for use on sliding or rolling doors of vehicles, industrial cabinets, electrical equipment enclosures and the like wherein there is a need for a closure to be releasably retained in its closed position by the action of a latch bolt that is projectable rearwardly with respect to the closure to engage structure that is situated behind the closure. In preferred practice, the present invention relates to an improved, tamper and weather resistant, sliding door lock of the general type that constitutes the subject matter of the referenced Parent Utility Case, having a rearwardly projectable latch bolt that can be operated through independent use of 1) a key controlled push button that is accessible from the front of the door, and 2) an operating handle that is accessible from behind the door.
2. Prior Art
While the prior art is replete with latch and lock proposals for closures of the type that slide, roll or otherwise are arranged to move in directions that extend from side to side across openings that are controlled by their respective closures, there remains a need for a simple and relatively inexpensive, yet secure type of weather resistant latch and lock unit that has housing portions which can be clamped into engagement with front and rear surfaces of a panel portion of a closure, in surrounding relationship to an opening that is formed through the closure panel, and that provides an operating mechanism for moving a rearwardly projectable latch bolt to engage structure that is situated behind the closure to releasably secure the closure in its closed position.
3. The Referenced Parent and Companion Cases
The invention of the referenced Parent Utility Case provides novel and improved latch and lock units for closures of the sliding or rolling type. The referenced Parent Exterior Design Case addresses appearance features that preferably are incorporated in exterior portions of a latch or lock that embodies the preferred practice of the invention of the referenced Parent Utility Case. The referenced Parent Interior Design Case addresses appearance features that preferably are incorporated in interior portions of a latch or lock that embodies the preferred practice of the invention of the referenced Parent Utility Case. The referenced Companion Design Case addresses appearance features that preferably are incorporated in exterior portions of an improved latch or lock that embodies the preferred practice of the invention of the present case.