The invention concerns a purified recombinant glycoprotein having the following properties: a) an adherence capacity to CD4; b) an affinity with a anti-gp120 antibody capable of neutralizing in vitro HIV cell infection; c) an affinity with an anti-gp41 antibody; d) a timeric form free from inter-chain disulphide bonds. The invention also concerns a vaccine comprising said purified glycoprotein and an adjuvant. The invention further concerns a method for obtaining said glycoprotein, which consists in expressing, by means of genetic recombining techniques, a glycoprotein corresponding to the properties a), b) and c) mentioned above; purifying it, and subjecting it to steps involving at least a reducing agent, an ionic detergent and/or a neutral detergent in conditions leading to a glycoprotein having said properties.

The present invention relates to a method for obtaining recombinant proteins, the origin of which is the membrane of the HIV virus responsible for the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), allowing the restoration of their native trimeric form, and to the use of these proteins for the purpose of vaccination or of diagnosis.
The HIV envelope glycoprotein is encoded by the xe2x80x9cenvxe2x80x9d gene, and the translation of the corresponding mRNA gives a glycosylated protein, gp160, in the form of a precursor with a molecular mass of 160 kDa. gp160 is cleaved inside the cell to give, at the cytoplasmic membrane during budding of the virus in the process of formation, on the one hand gp120, which is found on the outside of the cell and of the virus, and on the other hand gp41, which is the transmembrane portion of the glycoprotein and which corresponds to the carboxy-terminal end of the precursor. Once the viral particle has been released, gp41, the only transmembrane protein, will have its carboxy-terminal end turned toward the inside of the virus and its amino-terminal end projecting on the outside, maintaining itself associated noncovalently with gp120. It is attached noncovalently to gp41 via its amino-terminal end, while the rest of the protein is involved in the recognition of the CD4 receptor and of the CCR5 or CXCR4 coreceptors (specific for auxiliary T4 lymphocytes, macrophages; Trkola et al., J. Virol., 72, 1876-85, 1998; Schols et al., J. Virol., 72, 4032-4037, 1998; Rubbert et al., J. Immunology, 160, 3933-3941, 1998) The binding of gp120 to CD4 makes it possible to expose the membrane of the target cell to the amino-terminal hydrophobic portion of gp41, thereby inducing the mechanism of fusion of the viral and cell membranes, this fusion being the cause of the penetration of the virion into the target cell during infection (Wong-Staal et al., In Molecular Genetic Medecine, 2, Friedman ed., 189-219, 1992; Berger et al., Nature, 391: 240, 1998).
This process of recognition of the viral receptor, followed by the fusion of the membranes due to the interaction of the amino-terminal end of the fusion protein with the target cell membrane, is not a mechanism unique to HIV. It is made possible due to the presence, in oligomeric form, of the transmembrane glycoproteins of the virus. Bridging using chemical agents has made it possible to demonstrate trimers within the glycoproteins of the MuLV (Pinter et al., J. Virol., 30, 157-165, 1979), and MuMTV (Racevskis et al., J. Virol., 35, 937-948, 1980) envelope. It has also been shown that the RSV envelope protein forms oligomers which are found in infected cells and viral particles (Einfeld et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 85, 8688-8692, 1988). The influenza virus also expresses, at its surface, a haemagglutinin in trimeric form. In the latter case, the multimeric form is required for the intracellular transport of the protein (Copeland et al., J. Cell. Biol., 103, 1179-1191, 1986). The [lacuna] influenza also expresses, at its surface, a neuraminidase in the form of a tetramer (Varghese et al., Nature, 303, 35-40, 1983).
Although there is no doubt about the oligomeric nature of the various proteins encoded by the env gene, the monomer number has, itself, remained a controversial subject for a long time. The gp160 glycoprotein has, in fact, for a long time been described as being able to assemble into dimers or tetramers (Pinter et al., J. Virol., 63, 2674-2679, 1989; WO 94/00557 of the CNRS; Schawaller et al., Virology, 172, 367-369, 1989; Earl et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., 87, 648-652, 1990; Earl et al., J. Virology, 68, 3015-3026, 1994). Other more recent reports have, however, demonstrated that gp160 might, in fact, associate naturally, via its gp41 portion, in the form of trimers (Min Lu et al., Nature Structural Biology, 2, 1075-1082, 1995; Weisshorn et al., EMBO J., 15, 1507-1514, 1996; Weisshorn et al., Nature, 387, 426-430, 1997), the dimeric or tetrameric forms resulting, in fact, from aberrant interchain disulphide bridges or from transient oligomeric forms (see below).
For vaccinal purposes, the HIV envelope glycoprotein can be produced and purified, either by culturing the HIV virus on cell lines and purifying the glycoprotein from the culture medium (WO 94/00557 of the CNRS), or by expressing a recombinant of this protein using a vector other than HIV and purifying it from the culture medium (WO 91/13906, Chiron).
The purification of gp160 from cells infected with HIV makes it possible to obtain only tetramers, which is probably a transient oligomeric form, i.e. a form which does not correspond to that taken by its gp41 portion at the surface of the virus (WO 94/00557 of the CNRS).
The expression of a gp160 recombinant using a vector other than HIV, although having the advantage of escaping the dangers linked to the HIV infectious agent, does not make it possible also to have the xe2x80x9cnativexe2x80x9d oligomeric structure of gp160. Specifically, VanCott et al. have shown that the recombinant gp160 expressed by vaccinia, although having the power to adhere to CD4, comprises structural differences (J. Imm. Meth., 183, p. 114, col. 1, li. 19-22, 1995). Randall et al. have also shown that the recombinant gp160 expressed by vaccinia comprises aberrant interchain disulphide bridges (Virology, 179, 827-833, 1990).
Recently, Parren et al. have demonstrated a correlation between the production of antibodies which can neutralize, in vitro, HIV infection of cells and the oligomeric nature of gp120 (J. of Virology, 72, 3512-3519, 1998). For this, Parren et al. used a gp120 expressed by HIV in infected cells, probably in order to get round the problems linked to the structural differences between a native gp120, expressed at the surface of HIV, and those produced by expression vectors such as vaccinia.
Moreover, it is known that antibodies specific for the oligomeric structure of gp160 can be generated (Earl et al., above), and participate, in fact, in a neutralizing effect against HIV infection of cells, in vitro.
The present invention is directed towards providing a method for obtaining recombinant env gene expression products, which allows the restoration of their trimeric form, this form possibly being used in the context of a vaccination or in carrying out a diagnosis of HIV infection. In fact, the clinical trials carried out on recombinant gp160 molecules pose the problem of the spectrum of inhibition, which remains limited to only a few viral strains (Pialoux et al., Aids Res. Hum. Retr., 11, 373-381, 1995; Salmon-Cxc3xa9ron et al., Aids Res. Hum. Retr., 12, 1479-1486, 1995).
To date, although the trimeric form of a gp160 has been identified several times in a mixture of other polymeric forms, no-one has purified, nor suggested purifying, the trimeric form of gp160. The present [lacuna] is aimed at overcoming this need.
For this purpose, the invention relates to any purified recombinant glycoprotein which satisfies the following properties:
a) a capacity for adhesion to CD4;
b) an affinity with an anti-gp120 antibody capable of neutralizing HIV infection of cells, in vitro;
c) an affinity with an anti-gp41 antibody;
d) a trimeric form lacking interchain disulphide bridges.
A second subject of the present invention relates to a vaccine comprising the purified glycoprotein according to the invention, and an adjuvant.
A third subject of the present invention relates to the use of the glycoprotein according to the invention in the implementation of any method for diagnosing, in vitro, infections caused by HIV.
A final subject of the present invention relates to a method for obtaining a glycoprotein according to the invention, in which, by means of genetic recombination techniques, a glycoprotein satisfying the properties a), b) and c) according to the invention is expressed, purified and subjected to steps involving at least one reducing agent, one ionic detergent and/or one neutral detergent, under conditions such that a glycoprotein satisfying the conditions according to the invention is obtained.

Trimer of HIV env gene expression product


A video encoding system for encoding consecutive images, the encoding of a current image being done with respect to a previous and/or subsequent image, the encoding system including a reception module to receive the current image to be encoded and to receive a non-estimated real motion vector of a moved area of the current image; a divider to divide the current image into macroblocks; a module to estimate motion vectors depending on the macroblocks of the current image and on the previous and/or subsequent image; a motion compensation module to receive motion vectors and to provide a predicted area; a module to allocate the non-estimated real motion vector to the macroblocks belonging to the moved area; a module to transmit the non-estimated real motion vector directly to the motion compensation module without any estimation of the motion vectors by the estimation module for macroblocks belonging to the moved area.

In such architecture, the server encodes, that is, compresses, what it broadcasts before sending it to the client terminal. If the server had to display on an own screen the images it broadcasts, their compression would not be necessary. To perform compressing, the server carries out a capture of its own display, codes it and sends it through the network to the client terminal. Each image to be displayed is stored in a buffer, known as framebuffer, of the server and is generally coded in an RGB format ("Red Green Blue") which constitutes the most direct manner to encode the images, the three plans corresponding to the three elementary colors red, green and blue. Then, the image is generally transformed in a YUV format (or luminance-chrominance). The first plan, called luminance plan (Y) represents the luminous intensity of the pixels. The two following plans correspond to the chrominance (U, V) and carry the color information. There mainly exist two YUV formats:                format 4:2:0 (also known as YUV12) for which both chrominance plans each contain one a sample per four pixels,        format 4:4:4 for which the three plans have the same size (i.e. there is a chrominance sample per pixel).
The encoding carried out by the server is a space-time type encoding such as a H264 encoding. The H264 standard is a video coding standard jointly developed by the VCEG ("Video Coding Experts Group") and the MPEG ("Moving Pictures Experts Group"). This standard makes it possible to encode video streams with a speed lower than twice less that obtained by the MPEG2 standard for the same quality. A space-time encoding encodes integrally only a portion of the images to be transmitted in order to reconstitute a video. The H264 standard includes the types of image known and defined in the MPEG2 standard, namely:                I images (Intra), the coding of which does not depend on any other image,        P images (Predictive), the coding of which depends on previously received images,        B images (Bi-predictive), which depend on previously and/or subsequently received images.
However, the implementation of such an encoding solution raises a number of difficulties when it comes to the real time transfer of the server display on the client terminal.
Thus, such a coding mode is very much consuming in terms of time and of computation means. To save band-width, the data must be compressed as much as possible. This important compression imposes a great complexity in terms of encoding. Thus, the server must not only carry out image compression but also carry out several computations to determine the addresses and the data to be encoded. This energy overconsumption makes the implementation of other applications running on the same server delicate.


A system and method for adaptively verifying data in resource constrain systems. The adaptive data verification mechanism employs the proper mode of verification adaptively to balance cost/performance requirements plus security requirements. The algorithm uses a belief level for the validity of a received message, and assigns the belief level to a scale between a bona fide message at one end of the scale and a malicious message at an opposite end of the scale. Depending where on the scale the belief level falls determines which validation mode will be used to authenticate the message. In an alternate embodiment, the belief level relative to a scale and the amount of data waiting to be processed in a buffer are both used to determine which mode will be used to validate the message.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a system and method providing an adaptive verification algorithm for resource constrained systems and, more particularly, to a system and method providing an adaptive verification algorithm for resource constrained systems that employ modes of verification based on a belief of message validity so as to balance cost/performance requirements with security requirements of the system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Authentication, the process of establishing something or someone as genuine or bona fide, is an integral part of any security system. In the context of information security, it is the data and its users that require authentication. Data authentication, or verification, mechanisms have been studied extensively in the past few decades, and as a result, a multitude of mechanisms now exist.
Cryptography forms the backbone of the majority of the authentication mechanisms. Perhaps the most well known cryptographic technique is asymmetric key cryptography. Each principal using this mechanism has a pair of keys, namely a private key and a public key. The private key is known only to the principal, whereas the public key can be shared with other entities in the system. To ensure message integrity, the sender of a message signs the message with his private key, and adds his signature to the message. Upon receiving the message, the recipient can verify the signature of the message using the sender's public key.
The public key infrastructure (PKI) system is based on asymmetric key cryptography. In a PKI system, the bona fide users of the system are issued certificates, i.e., documents confirming their public key, by a certifying authority. When communicating information, users sign their message content with their private key and attach this signature to the message along with their certificate. The receiver can establish the legitimacy of the sender by verifying the certificate and authenticity or integrity of the message content by verifying its signature.
In some cases, data can also be authenticated using context specific knowledge or consistency checks, for example, a real time kinetic (RTK) computation of raw GPS data can be used to authenticate location information and vehicle trajectory information, can be authenticated using physics-based models.
Authentication mechanisms come at a cost. Cryptographic operations are, in general, computationally intensive. Even some consistency checks may be computationally as demanding as cryptographic operations, if not more. In areas where information security is paramount, these are usually secondary concerns. This has been the case with the traditional application domain, such as banking and financial transactions. Newer application domains, such as industrial automation, wireless vehicular and sensor networks, on the other hand, are driven by performance and cost constraints. Thus, a cryptographic mechanism that can establish legitimacy of data in the face of attacks can render the whole exercise of deploying a sensor network futile since miniature sensors have limited computational power, and typically need to process and communicate data at a certain data rate to be of any utility. Similar constraints hold in vehicular network as well. This is not to say that security, or authentication in particular, is of secondary importance, but that it cannot be an after-thought for such systems.
There have been two approaches to address this problem. The first approach uses "lightweight" mechanisms to reduce computational and communication overheads. The second approach uses trust-based authentication, which explicitly establishes trust among two parties before their interaction begins. Regardless of the efficiency of a mechanism, the first approach fails to exploit the fact that verification mechanisms can be suited to a particular scenario, where if the sender is known to be bona fide or malicious there is no need for verification. Data can be accepted directly in the former case while discarded in the latter. Moreover, lightweight mechanisms may not provide all desirable security attributes. Trust-based mechanisms, on the other hand, may open up vulnerability if too much reliance is placed on the initial exchange disregarding the possibility of spoofing. These mechanisms are also usually difficult to implement in scenarios where communicating parties change with time, such as in a vehicular network, due to mobility, and/or where communication is not necessarily one-to-one, such as broadcasting in wireless person and vehicular networks.

Adaptive data verification for resource-constrained systems


The invention relates to an imaging element comprising a pragmatic imaging sheet comprising paper having a resin coat on each side, adhesively adhered to a carrier sheet with a pressure-sensitive adhesive, comprising at least one core layer of polyester and a rough lower surface layer.

The invention relates to adhesive imaging materials. In a preferred form it relates to the use of silver halide pressure sensitive reflective media for the printing images that can be post processed laminated to display substrates.
Prior art photographic albums typically require the consumer to manually insert conventional prints into a classic sleeve, or use adhesive to bond conventional prints to blank album pages. This is a time consuming, difficult operation that provides less than satisfactory results. Consumers often procrastinate and do not place prints in albums when they receive them from the photofinisher, risking loosing time and event references. When adhesives are used to maintain the prints in the album, alignment becomes critical. Additionally, many adhesives can damage a print and often fail after time, thus, allowing the prints to fall out of the album. Also, in addition to purchasing separate binder album pages, adhesive and other items may need to be purchased.
Professional photographic labs currently provide high quality images to the advertising and display industry for product advertising, point of purchase displays and trade show graphics. Presently, the lab print images using silver halide or ink jet imaging technology onto standard high quality paper and post printing laminate the images to substrates that provide structure to the image for display. The lamination of the image to the substrate typically occurs with a double sided pressure sensitive tape. It would be desirable if the use of the lamination tape could be eliminated to improve the efficiency of the work flow in the professional labs.
It is well known in the pressure sensitive adhesive industry to provide a pressure sensitive adhesive removability feature by carefully controlling the pressure sensitive adhesive coat weight within a certain range. While controlling the coat weight of the pressure sensitive adhesive does provide removability of the pressure sensitive adhesive for a period of time, the activation time for pressure adhesive with controlled coat weight varies considerably because of coat weight variation in the manufacturing operation. Repositioning pressure sensitive adhesive with controlled coat weight applied to image media would result in unpredictable repositioning time and ultimate bond strength for consumers and therefore would not be suitable for scrapbook and album applications were a predictable repositioning time and ultimate strength are required.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,045,965, a photographic member with a peelable and repositioning adhesive member is discussed. While the adhesive discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,045,965 does reposition to a variety of surfaces, the adhesive formulations disclosed do not form permanent bonds between the photographic member and cellulose paper album pages. Therefore, the photographic member is not optimized for scrapbooks and albums were a permanent bond is valued. Further, the imaging member described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,045,965 disclose a thin, durable polymer sheet for repositioning an image. While the thin durable sheet does have high value for most consumer applications, lamination of the print to surfaces that are rough typically requires a base that is thick and strong to reduce the amount of image side embossing by rough lamination surfaces such as painted walls, cellulose paper board, fabric and flooring surfaces.
Typically pressure sensitive labels are supplied with a liner web material that allows the pressure sensitive label to be transported though the printing process and converting process while protecting the adhesive. Prior art liner materials typically comprise a coated paper or a thin polymer liner onto which a release coating is subsequently provided. Liner materials typically utilized in the pressure sensitive label are not suitable for a photographic images. Problems such as photographic reactivity with the light sensitive layers, lack of stiffness of the liner, and edge penetration of processing chemistry into the paper used as a liner prevent typical polymer and paper liners from being utilized for photographic pressure sensitive labels.
There is a need for pressure sensitive imaging media that utilizes a liner material that can be efficiently conveyed through the image creation process while maintaining the quality of the image.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved photograph and album system.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a base material that reduces the amount of image side embossing in lamination applications.
It is still yet another object of the present invention to provide a liner material that allows for efficient transport through printing and processing of images.
These and other objects of the invention are accomplished by an imaging element comprising an imaging layer, a pragmatic imaging sheet comprising paper having a resin coat on each side, adhesively adhered to a carrier sheet with a pressure-sensitive adhesive, wherein said carrier sheet comprises at least one core layer of polyester and a rough lower surface layer.
The invention provides improved image quality for imaging adhesive media materials. The invention also significantly reduces the amount of image side embossing caused by pressure sensitive lamination to rough surfaces.

Adhesive imaging member with composite carrier sheet


The invention relates to the use of compounds of formula

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the preparation of certain benzoyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridines which are useful as neurotrophic and neuroprotective agents. The present invention also relates to certain pharmaceutical compositions containing them.
2. Description of the Art
EP-0 458 696 describes the use of a 1-(2-naphthylethyl)-4-(3-trifluoromethylphenyl)-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine for the preparation of medicines designed for the treatment of cerebral and neuronal disorders.
WO 91/08200 describes derivatives of tetrahydropyridine with protective activity towards damage caused by hypoxic/ischemic states.
WO 93/11107 describes certain ketones used as intermediates in the preparation of the corresponding alcohols.
All of the references described herein are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

Preparation of benzoylalkyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridines and use thereof

Abstract: for the preparation of medicines designed for the treatment of neuronal and cerebral disorders.

Abstract: The invention also relates to the compounds of formula:

Abstract: a process for their preparation and the pharmaceutical compositions containing them.


A Document Image Segmentation method is disclosed for matching a plurality of templates with a received image wherein the received image being bitmap data including at least a plurality of gray-scale pixel tiles that define the received image, the matching method having the steps of first receiving said image data so as to extract pixel tile information of said received image wherein said pixel tile information being of a predetermined matrix size; then matching loosely said pixel tile information with at least one of a plurality of templates so as to generate pixel-wise looseness interval values there between; and finally outputting an identifier associated with the matching template such that said identifier indicates a classification. The classification is preferably based on at least one of continuous tone pictorials, text, half tones, high/low frequency range; and line art graphic. Also, preferably the classification contains information about the image source.

This invention relates to systems and methods for processing images using filters. More specifically, this invention relates to systems and methods for designing and implementing image processing filters using templates wherein the filters operate on gray-scale images and the templates identify gray-scale image features for the purposes of modification or for extracting some image statistic, and for the purposes of optimization for the human visual system, or compatibility with other system modules, such as, compression algorithms, recognition algorithms and those occurring in printing and display devices.
A wide variety of digital document processing tasks are performed using template-based filters. Illustratively, digital document processing tasks include resolution conversion, enhancement, restoration, appearance tuning and de-screening of images. These tasks are commonly performed on monochrome and color images, as well as binary and continuous tone images. Although, due to the binary nature of conventional templates, implementing many digital document-processing tasks on continuous tone images has been problematic prior to the present invention. A continuous tone image may also be referred to as a gray-scale image.
In conventional systems and methods, a typical filter includes template operators to perform filtering of the images, where, a filter may be characterized as an operator or device that transforms one image into another image or transforms an image to a collection of information, such as image statistics. The filter is formed of a number of imaging template operators, often simply referred to as templates. These templates may be, for example, stored in a look-up table and implemented using a look-up table formalism. Or other equivalent formalisms, such as Boolean logic may be employed. The number of templates in a filter may vary between a small number of templates to thousands of templates. Due to its versatility in design, a look-up table is typically used to implement a template-based filter.
A raster is a one-dimensional array of image data, reflecting a single line of data across a single dimension, i.e., the length or the width, of the image. Further, each location, or xe2x80x9cpicture element,xe2x80x9d in an image may be called a xe2x80x9cpixel.xe2x80x9d In an array defining an image in which each item of data provides a value, each value indicating the properties of a location may be called a pixel value. Each pixel value is a bit in a binary form of an image, a gray-scale value in a gray-scale form of an image, or a set of color-spaced coordinates in a color coordinate form of an image. The binary form, gray-scale form, and color coordinate form are each arranged typically in a two-dimensional array, which defines an image. An N-dimensional array is typically used for an N-dimensional images, where for example, N=3 for 3-dimensional topographic images.
Using the typical binary image processing setting as an example, the filter, using the templates, transforms certain observed pixel patterns in a binary image, for example, into a corresponding enhanced binary pixel pattern. Specifically, the filter observes an arrangement of pixels using a suitable window or mask. A window is an imaging algorithmic device that observes a plurality of pixels at the same time, where the plurality of pixels is located about a target pixel. The values and locations of the observed pixels are inputted into the template matching operations. After observing the arrangement of pixels, about a target pixel, the filter then attempts to match the observed pixel pattern with one or more of the templates in the look-up table. If the look-up table contains a match to the observed pixel pattern, the look-up table generates an appropriate output. The output may be an enhanced pixel pattern for the target pixel that corresponds to the observed pixel pattern. The output could also be information in other forms; for example, the output could be a code denoting the match condition, or a data to be used for a statistical characterization of image regions.
A wide variety of types and sizes of observation windows or masks are known. The particular window used in a particular application depends on the image to be analyzed and the particular process to be performed on the image. Illustratively, a 3xc3x973 window may be used to process an image. The 3xc3x973 window, at various locations in the image, observes a 3xc3x973 block, i.e., a 9-pixel block, of binary-valued pixels, for example. One pixel in the window is the target pixel, which is typically the center pixel, while the other pixels in the window are the neighboring pixels. The target pixel and the neighboring pixels form a neighborhood. The window is typically scanned across an image advancing from target pixel to target pixel.
After the neighborhood is observed in the window, the neighborhood is then processed in some manner. For example, the observed neighborhood may be transformed into a vector. The vector is expressed in the form of (x1, x2 . . . xN) where Ni is the number of pixels in the neighborhood and is used to represent the properties of the target pixel, including the neighborhood of the target pixel. Each element of the vector represents one of the pixels observed in the window. The vector is then used in the look-up table to generate a desired output, for example.
A look-up table may be created in a wide variety of ways. Typically, an input value is input into the look-up table and, in response, the look-up table outputs an output value. Further, the look-up table is typically created using a training image or a set of training images. xe2x80x9cRestoration and Enhancement of Digital Documents,xe2x80x9d by R. Loce and E. Dougherty, teaches a variety of methods for designing templates based on sets of training images. The training images will occur in pairs, where one member is the xe2x80x9ctypically input image,xe2x80x9d or the xe2x80x9ctypically observed image,xe2x80x9d i.e., the xe2x80x9cobserved image,xe2x80x9d and the other image is the xe2x80x9cideal desired processed version of the image,xe2x80x9d i.e., the xe2x80x9cideal image.xe2x80x9d The training image pairs may be input into a computer program that acquires and analyzes pattern statistics between the two images, i.e., using computer-aided filter design techniques.
Conventional computer-aided filter design may be accomplished through using training-sets of document bitmaps, for example.
Illustratively, for designing a filter that enhances from a binary state to a gray-scale state, for a given pattern that occurs in the binary image about a target pixel, a training analysis system examines a target pixel at that corresponding location in the gray-scale image. The center of the window may be placed at the target pixel, for example. Based on the set of gray-scale pixels in the gray-scale image that are associated with corresponding target pixels in the binary image and gray-scale image, and associated with a similar neighborhood pixel pattern, a xe2x80x9cbest gray-scale pixel valuexe2x80x9d is determined for processing a target pixel that possess that pattern of neighborhood pixels. In other words, a template is created for the target pixels in the binary image possessing similar neighborhood pixel patterns. This analysis is performed for all binary patterns that are significant.
In this process of template selection, significance may be due to attributes such as the pixel pattern""s frequency of occurrence, the pattern""s effect on the generated image, or both. Accordingly, if a template, i.e., a pattern of pixels in the binary image, is considered significant with respect to template inclusion in the design process, that template will appear in the template-matching filter. Upon operating on an input image, if that pattern is observed, the observed target pixel value will be assigned or associated with a certain value, i.e., a corresponding gray-scale value. Both the observed neighborhood and the corresponding gray-scale value may be stored in the look-up table. Accordingly, the look-up table accepts input values and outputs a desired corresponding output value, i.e., maps input values to an ideal corresponding output value.
However, it should be apparent that this input/output process may be performed in various other ways without using a look-up table. One alternative approach that is equivalent to using a look-up table representation is a Boolean logic representation. In the Boolean logic representation, pixel values are used as variables in the logic architecture, such as a logical sum of products. The goal of template filter design using Boolean logic representation is to derive optimized Boolean operators, preferably statistically optimized Boolean operators.
As illustrated in FIG. 1 there is shown the basic process for template matching based on an observed image. Initially an observed image will occur (10) from which an ideal image is warranted (15). In order to generate an image as close as possible to the ideal image, a generated image (25) is created by utilizing a template matching operation (20). With the above understanding of the image processing setting we see that it is greatly desired to produce a generated image as similar as possible to the ideal image.
The conventional template matching operation is a binary matching process whereby a binary template or filter is to applied to a binary image.
For example, as illustrated in FIG. 2A a binary image (50) is initially sent to a data buffering circuit (55). After which, a binary pattern matching operation (60) is performed. Binary templates are typically defined as possessing ones, zeros, and xe2x80x9cdon""t cares.xe2x80x9d With reference to FIG. 2B there is shown a typical binary matching template structure. For example, the binary templates in this example are defined with ones and X""s for use in the binary matching step, where xe2x80x9cXxe2x80x9d denotes xe2x80x9cdon""t carexe2x80x9d. After combining the buffered image data and the templates in the binary pattern matching operation (60), an enhanced data buffering step (65) to create the enhanced image (70) is exercised.
Illustrated in FIGS. 4A, 4B, and 4C is the set of images associated with an image restoration application using a filter defined by templates representing particular Boolean functions applied to a received image. FIG. 3A shows a representation of a 3xc3x973 window and the positions of pixels (x1, . . . ,x9). The filter defined by this window and the templates of FIG. 2B possesses the Boolean function representation shown in FIG. 3B as follows:
y=f(x1, x2, . . . , x9)=x5+x4x6+x1x9+x2x8+x3x7xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(1)
When employed as a translation-invariant filter, the singleton template x5 behaves as an identity operator: whatever pixels are valued one and zero in the input image are valued one and zero in the output image, respectively. OR""ed onto that identity image is the result of each 2-pixel logical product. The templates corresponding to those products possess structures that straddle the origin pixel. In this configuration a template can xe2x80x9cfitxe2x80x9d, or yield a 1, when positioned about a hole or break in a character stroke. Equation 1 is an example of an image processing operator that can be employed to repair breaks in character strokes within an image. FIG. 4 is an example of applying Equation 1 as a filter operating on an image, where FIG. 4A shows an ideal image, 4B shows an input image, and 4C shows the image resulting from applying Equation 1 as a filter to the image of FIG. 4B., The filter defined by Equation 1 produced a character (120) more likely to be recognized in character recognition operation. The restoration is not perfect. A more complicated (more and different products) filter could achieve better restoration. As shown in FIG. 4A and FIG. 4C there are still differences between the ideal image 100 and the generated image 120 resulting from the use of the filtering process defined by Equation 1.
As illustrated in FIG. 5A a system of the prior art is shown where an input image 150 is processed by a process 165 that includes binary-template-based filters 160 and combinatorial logic 170; from which an output image 175 is generated and subsequently sent to a digital printer, high resolution printer or high resolution display 180.
A Document Image Segmentation method is disclosed for matching a plurality of templates with a received image wherein the received image being bitmap data including at least a plurality of gray-scale pixel tiles that define the received image, the matching method having the steps of first receiving said image data so as to extract pixel tile information of said received image wherein said pixel tile information being of a predetermined matrix size; then matching loosely said pixel tile information with at least one of a plurality of templates so as to generate pixel-wise looseness interval values there between; and finally outputting an identifier associated with the matching template such that said identifier indicates a classification. The classification is preferably based on at least one of continuous tone pictorials, text, half tones, high/low frequency range; and line art graphic. Also, preferably the classification contains information about the image source.

Document image segmentation using loose gray scale template matching


A circuit with a magnetically variable transformer having primary and secondary windings wound on a magnetic core wherein the transformer core with associated windings is placed in close proximity to an independently wound control coil. The transformer core is placed within the bore of the control coil and an optional focusing armature concentrates the magnetic field at the poles. Application of a control current forms poles at the control coil extremities and causes a change in permeability of the transformer core thereby altering the power output of the transformer inversely to the magnitude of the control current. The control current from the output of the secondary coil of a current transformer in series with the load and conditioned by a feedback conditioning circuit modulates the level of the control current. The magnetically variable transformer controls a D.C. to A.C. inverter circuit, which is useful in supplying power to a fluorescent lamp and other A.C. receptive loads. Additionally, a microprocessor optionally modulates the feedback from the secondary of the current transformer while receiving inputs from manual and automatic environmental controls.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to the field of Inverter Circuits used to convert direct current, D.C., to alternating current, A.C. In general, such apparatus have been designed to receive a D.C. input, which in turn is converted to an A.C. source suitable for driving an A.C. receptive load. The disclosed apparatus controls the inverter circuit by altering the magnetic characteristics of the transformer, which supplies the base current to the inverter transistors or equivalently, the voltage to the source of MOSFET power transistors. The alteration of the magnetic characteristics of the transformer is facilitated by a voltage derived from a current transformer in series with the A.C. receptive load.
2. Prior Art
A common power inverter application is to provide compatible A.C. power to operate fluorescent lamps, Cold Cathode Fluorescent lamps, and electro-luminescent panels, halogen lamps, H.I.D. lamps, Metal Halide lamps, and switching power supplies. Fluorescent lamps are commonly used to provide illumination, particularly in industrial environments where their economy of power utilization is highly desirable. Because of their greater efficiency in converting electricity to light, the cost of utilization is significantly reduced when compared to incandescent lighting.
Cold Cathode Fluorescent lamps (CCFLs) are used to backlight Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs) in computer applications and Electro-luminescent (EL) panels are used to backlight LCDs, key switches, and other devices in many applications. Their popularity is due to high efficiency and small size. These devices require a high voltage ac current to drive them. Power inverter circuits commonly supply this power.
A common limitation of these devices has been that they have required sophisticated circuitry to vary the brightness of the above-mentioned lamps. Most modern fluorescent lamp ballasts utilize a D.C. to A.C. inverter circuit to strike and supply operating power to the lamps. Many inverter circuits commonly supply a non-variable voltage to the load. As control circuitry is added to accomplish regulation or dimming of the light source, the complexity and cost has historically increased dramatically while the reliability and manufacturing consistency have decreased. Additionally the control circuitry often interacts in an undesirable manner with various aspects of the circuitry thereby requiring further complexity to compensate for these effects.
Likewise, switching power supplies and high frequency supplies for driving halogen lamps commonly suffer from the same limitations.
The present invention addresses the above limitations in several ways. The first is that the apparatus described herein is isolated and independent from the drive circuitry. It requires very few components and does not require complex feedback loops to control the inverter output level. Secondly, when used to drive a fluorescent lamp load, a series resonant circuit comprised of an inductor and resonant capacitor is often used to boost the voltage level to that required to strike and operate the lamp. By adding Current Transformer in series with the lamp, a secondary coil is used to generate a feedback voltage, this voltage can be used to supply the control current on a delayed basis and thereby provide full start up power to the fluorescent lamp load independent of the setting of any dimming or level controls. Alternatively, in conjunction with a simple RC timer, the modified inverter circuit is also able to strike the lamps at a very low dimming level. Additionally the feedback voltage can be supplied to a variety of feedback circuits to condition the signal or feed it through a microprocessor to tailor the input to supply the desired effect. Various input devices can be used to control the output level.

Magnetically controlled transformer apparatus for controlling power delivered to a load with current transformer feedback


A method of detecting the closure and/or opening of a navigable element forming part of a network of navigable elements within a geographic area. A passability parameter is associated with each segment of an electronic map representing the navigable network and indicates a likelihood of closure of the element represented by the segment. The value of the passability parameter decays over time. When a device is detected on the element represented by the segment, the passability parameter is increased, and when a closure report is received relating to the segment, the parameter is decreased. In one set of embodiments, when the passability parameter decreases below a first threshold value, the element represented by the segment is determined to be potentially closed. In another set of embodiments, when the passability parameter increases above a second threshold value, the closed element represented by the segment is determined to be opened.

Obtaining information about closures of navigable elements, e.g. roads of a road network, is important in a navigation system. The presence of a road closure has a significant impact upon routing through the road network. A road closure may be likened to a traffic jam associated with an "infinite delay", such that an alternative routing must be determined to avoid the affected road element(s). Knowledge of the existence of a road closure is of importance to road users even if they are not following a pre-calculated route. For example, if a user is following a familiar route, it is still useful for them to be aware if a road closure is present affecting the route so that they may determine an alternative route, with or without the assistance of a navigation system.
Road closure information may be provided to a user, e.g. together with other travel and traffic information, during navigation along a route via an in-vehicle navigation device, such as a portable device (PND) or integrated device, or may be provided as an input to an Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) device. Road closure information may also be used for route planning, e.g. by a navigation or ADAS device, before commencing a journey, or to recalculate a fastest route during a journey if conditions change during traversal along the route.
A road closure is typically a dynamic event, temporarily affecting a road, and it is therefore desirable to be able to obtain information relating to road closures in the context of a "live" system, i.e. indicative of the relatively current condition of the road network.
Conventional systems for obtaining information about road closures typically rely upon data obtained from third parties. For example, such data may be included in "Traffic Message Channel" (TMC) messages that may be broadcast over an FM network, or other similar third party messages. Such information may be based upon data obtained from sources such as police reports, or road agencies/administrators. However, there are some drawbacks in relying upon third party data relating to road closures, since such data is not always accurate, and may not be up to date.
The Applicant has realised that there remains scope for improvement in methods and systems for obtaining information relating to the closure and/or opening of a navigable element, e.g. for provision to users and/or navigation or ADAS devices.

Methods and systems for detecting a closure and/or opening of a navigable element


An anchor assembly for hanging an object on a wall includes a first anchor component and a second anchor component. The second anchor component is pivotably associated with the first anchor component for movement between an anchoring orientation and a non-anchoring orientation to enable staged installation of the anchor assembly into a wall. At least one wall penetrating retainer extends from each of the first and second anchor components. When the second anchor component is in the anchoring orientation a curved configuration of the wall penetrating extent of the retainer of the second anchor component opposes a curved configuration of the wall penetrating extent of the retainer of the first anchor component to form a jaw-type arrangement.

Numerous products exist for installing a hook or hanging device onto a wall, such as for hanging a picture frame, a mirror, or the like. Conventional nails and screws are not always convenient solutions and may not provide sufficient support strength in the wall, particularly in the case of drywall, or other friable wallboards, which are relatively weak.
Anchors incorporating curved saber tooth shaped retainers are known from U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,974,166 and 8,414,239. However, such anchors are still difficult for the typical homeowner to install and use properly because a hammer is generally needed to complete the anchor installation. These anchors also generally have a large wall penetration that tends to crumble and weaken the surrounding wall media adjacent the penetration and leave a large hole that is not easily repaired. It is also impractical to reposition these types of anchors after initial insertion in locations proximate the original hole for the purpose of making minor position adjustments. Moreover traditional anchors with simple hooks are not suited to mount a wide variety of objects in a secure manner.
It would be desirable to provide an anchor device and related installation method that facilitates ease of installation, but at the same time results in an anchor with a high support strength and less damage to the wallboard, leaving relatively small holes upon anchor removal and therefore also permitting minor position adjustments if needed. To provide these advantages in connection with an anchor that installs without reference to stud or other supporting structure location and/or without concern for wires or pipes behind the wall, would also be beneficial. In addition, providing an anchor assembly that provides a mounting system with enhanced resistance to loading perpendicular to the wall surface in order to secure numerous types of secondary components such as a shelf, towelbar, coat rack or similar devices, all of which generate cantilever loading on the anchor, would be desirable.

Wall anchor assemblies and related wall mount systems


An objective lens is substantially telecentric toward the image side, and provided with an ultraviolet cut coating on its rearmost surface. An imaging plane of a CCD is arranged near a position where an image of an object is formed through the objective lens. An ultraviolet and infrared cut filter is interposed between the objective lens and the CCD. The cut coating and the cut filter have a total transmittance of 0.1% or lower for ultraviolet light.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a video endoscope system which obtains image data of a body cavity by picking up images of the inside of the body cavity formed from auto-fluorescence caused by its living tissues for a diagnosis thereof. The present disclosure relates to subject matter contained in Japanese Patent Application No. 2000-351157 (filed on Nov. 17, 2000), which is expressly incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
2. Description of the Related Art
A video endoscope system which picks up image formed from auto-fluorescence caused by living tissue as an object of examination irradiated with excitation light such as ultraviolet light to output image data representative of the captured images has been utilized. It is known that diseased living tissue causes auto-fluorescence at a lower intensity than that of normal tissue. Therefore, by observing the images formed from the auto-fluorescence, an operator can diagnose a region where intensity of the fluorescence is low as a diseased part.
This type of a video endoscope system includes a light source unit for emitting excitation light, an illumination optical system for guiding the emitted excitation light to an object of examination, an objective lens for forming an image of the object, and a CCD for converting the image of the object into video signals. When irradiated with the excitation light guided through the illumination optical system, the object generates auto-fluorescence. Thereupon, the objective lens receives the fluorescence, as well as the excitation light reflected by the surface of the object. An optical filter to cut down the ultraviolet wavelength components is interposed between the objective lens and the CCD. The fluorescence transmitted through the objective lens passes through the filter, while the excitation light which transmitted through the objective lens is cut down by the optical filter. The fluorescence passed through the optical filter forms an image near the imaging plane of the CCD. Meanwhile, despite filtering by the optical filter, a small amount of the excitation light transmits through the optical filter to enter the CCD. By such a reason, the image data output from the video endoscope system contains not only a component of the image formed from the auto-fluorescence caused by the object but also a component of the image formed from the excitation light. Accordingly, when the video signals are transmitted to the monitor, the image formed from the excitation light are superposed on the image formed from the auto-fluorescence. In other words, the excitation light interferes with the image formed from the auto-fluorescence, so that the operator is unable to precisely understand the condition of the auto-fluorescence of the object.
In order to eliminate the adverse effects due to the excitation light from the fluorescence image, the excitation light which enters the CCD must further be reduced. For that purpose, the transmittance of the optical filter which is composed of a large number of films deposited on a substrate with respect to the excitation light could be further lowered, if the number of the deposited films is increased. However, an increase in the number of deposited films will lead to an increase in the stress resulting in the optical filter being more likely to crack. This will cause a decrease in the yields of the optical filter in its fabrication process. Thus, increasing the number of deposited films of the optical filter is not a practical idea.
An object of the present invention is to provide a video endoscope which can eliminate the influence caused by excitation light not only with an optical filter, and a video endoscope system equipped with such an endoscope.
To achieve the object, a video endoscope according to the present invention includes: an objective lens system having a lens surface provided with a coating for transmitting visible light while reducing excitation light for exciting a living tissue to cause auto-fluorescence; an image pickup device for converting an image of an object formed through the objective lens system into video signal; and an optical filter interposed between the objective lens system and the image pickup device for transmitting visible light while reducing the excitation light. Further, a video endoscope system according to the present invention includes the above described video endoscope, an excitation light irradiating unit which irradiates excitation light to the object, and a processor which generates and outputes fluorescence video data corresponding to the image of the object formed from the auto-fluorescence caused by the object, based on the video signal obtained by the image pickup device of the video endoscope.
When the object is irradiated with the excitation light, both the auto-fluorescence emitted from the living tissue of the object and the excitation light reflected by the surface of the object enter the objective lens. However, according to the present invention, the excitation light is cut down by the coating provided to the objective lens system. The cut down excitation light is further cut down by the optical filter, which allows only the auto-fluorescence to reach the image pickup device. This image pickup device converts the image formed solely from the auto-fluorescence of the object into video signals. For the purpose described above, the coating and the filter should preferably have total transmittance of 0.1% or lower for the excitation light.
The objective lens system may be substantially telecentric toward the image side, so that the filter and the image pickup device receive light which are substantially parallel to the optical axis of the objective lens system. The coating of the objective lens system should preferably be provided on a rearmost surface of the objective lens system. In this way, the coating and the filter receive light rays which are substantially parallel to the optical axis of the objective lens system. In other words, the incident angle of the light onto the coating and the filter can be reduced. Thus, the coating and the filter can perform as intended and intercept the excitation light.
In addition to the function of substantially shutting off the excitation light while transmitting visible light, the coating and the filter as a whole may also have a characteristic to cut off infrared light with a predetermined wavelength used for laser treatment. Thereby, even during laser treatment using an infrared light, the infrared light reflected by the object are intercepted by the coating and the filter after entering the objective lens. Consequently, no infrared light reach the image pickup device. Thus the image pickup device is free from the adverse effects caused by infrared light. Either one or both of the filter and the coating may has/have the characteristic to block infrared light.

Video endoscope and system incorporating the same


In critically continuous boost converters used to achieve high power factor and low input current harmonic distortion, a power FET is driven by a pulse generator whose on time is essentially constant over a single line cycle. Off time is terminated when current in the inductor falls to zero and the voltage on the side of the inductor not connected to the input voltage is less that the input voltage. A delay causes turn on to occur at the minimum of the voltage ring to minimize turn on switching losses. At voltages when the input voltage is less than one half of the output voltage part of the on time, turn on occurs with negative current flowing through the FET power switch and the inductor. Part of the turn on time is used to charge the inductor current back to zero before energy can begin to flow back into the output of the converter. A correction circuit is provided which extends the on time as a function of the input and output voltage to avoid dead time around the zero voltage crossover of the sinusoidal input voltage which when rectified provides the input voltage to the converter.

The present invention relates to boost converters and more particularly to continuous variable frequency boost converters.
Many conventional off line power supplies have input stages that contain a bridge rectifier followed by a large bulk capacitor. Such power supplies only draw current from the peak of the input line voltage waveform, when the input voltage is above the bulk voltage of the capacitor. The power factor of power supplies with bulk capacitors is low, reducing the amount of power that can be drawn from a source of a given volt ampere (VA) rating. The utility voltage waveforms are distorted by the excessive current drawn at the peak of the sinusoidal wave.
Power factor corrected power supplies place a circuit having a series inductor before the bulk capacitor. Usually this is a switching power supply circuit, often of the boost type. When a constant frequency, continuous conduction mode boost converter is used, input current is sensed with a resistor, and duty cycle is adjusted to force the input current waveform to match the shape of the input voltage wave. The amplitude of the current is adjusted at a very slow rate to keep the voltage on the bulk capacitor approximately constant. Efficiency of this type of circuit is reduced by the power dissipated in the sense resistor, switching losses in the power switch, and reverse recovery current of the diode.
Switching the power switch of the boost converter when the inductor current is at a minimum, minimizes switching losses in the transistor, transition losses, reverse recovery losses through the diode between boost inductor and output capacitor, and common-mode noise. The current through the output diode of the boost converter or the voltage across the output diode is typically monitored to determine when inductor current is at a minimum. Sensing the current in the diode or the voltage across the diode introduces errors due to inductor ringing due to interaction of the inductance with circuit capacitances making accurate detection of zero current in the inductor difficult. Inaccurate detection of zero current results in transistor switching with increased diode recovery losses and transistor switching losses.
To reduce losses, the boost converter can be operated in a critically continuous mode which occurs at the boundary between the continuous and discontinuous mode.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a critically continuous boost converter with accurate determination of zero current in the boost inductor without measuring inductor current.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a critically continuous boost converter which achieves near unity power factor.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a critically continuous boost converter with reduced rectifying diode recovery loss and reduced switch capacitance loss.
It is a further object of the present invention to reduce crossover distortion in the current waveforms drawn by variable frequency, critically continuous high power factor switching power supplies.

International Business Machines Corporation


A device-specific and application-specific computing device, a playback device and a method for controlling the playback device using the computing device is disclosed. In accordance with the present invention, a user may control the playback device using a control information generated according to a device configuration information of the computing device in his/her possession.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device-specific and application-specific computing device, a playback device and a method for controlling the playback device using the computing device, and more particularly to a device-specific and application-specific computing device, a playback device and a method for controlling the playback device using the computing device wherein the playback device is controlled using a control information thereof generated according to a device configuration information of the computing device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Playback devices such as a DVD player and a Blu-ray disk player may be controlled via a RF (Radio Frequency) remote controller or an IR (InfraRed) remote controller.
Generally, a separate remote controller is required for each playback device. Moreover, a user must learn how to use each remote controller. Therefore, it is difficult for the user to learn how to use the remote controllers as the number of the remote controller increases.
In order to overcome the disadvantage, a universal remote controller capable of controlling multiple playback devices was proposed. The user can control one of the multiple playback devices by selecting a code from multiple codes for multiple remote controller.
However, the number of codes that can be stored in the universal remote controller is limited, and the universal remote controller is highly priced. Moreover, the universal remote controller is not capable of supporting latest playback devices.

Device-specific and application-specific computing device, playback device and method for controlling playback device using computing device


Methods and apparatus are provided for automatically generating instruction sequences for verifying the operation of a processor, such as a central processing unit, a processor core, a graphics accelerator, or a digital signal processor. The instruction sequences can also be used to verify the operation of tools associated with implementing a processor. Test parameters are used to combine test fragments to generate test instructions. Check instructions are also provided to immediately identify faults encountered during operation.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to generating instructions. In one example, the present invention relates to methods and apparatus for automatically generating test instructions to verify the operation of a processor.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The increasing complexity and variety of processors has led to the increased difficulty in thoroughly verifying and evaluating the performance of these disparate devices. Processors such as central processing units (CPUs), processor cores, graphics accelerators, and digital signal processors (DSPs) support diverse instruction sets and have elements for implementing the instruction sets. In some instances, certain processors also support customized instruction sets. A variety of tools such as instruction set simulators and hardware simulators also use the instruction sets and customized instruction sets.
However, the mechanisms for testing processors and processor associated tools are limited. In typical examples, limited sets of instruction sequences are provided to a processor or a processor associated tool. The limited sets of instruction sequences may not be sufficiently diverse to comprehensively test a processor or a processor associated tool.
Consequently, it is therefore desirable to provide improved methods and apparatus for comprehensively testing processors and associated tools. More specifically, it is desirable to provide improved techniques and mechanisms for automatically generating selected test sequences that allow directed as well as comprehensive testing of processors and associated tools.

Methods and apparatus for generating test instruction sequences


A roller bearing assembly includes at least one outer ring (16, 18) with an outer track (24, 26), which is surrounded on its outer side by an outer part (36), and at least one inner ring (20, 22) with an inner track (28, 30), which surrounds the inner part (52). The inner part (52) and the outer part (36) project axially beyond the inner ring (20, 22) and the outer ring (16, 18), so that an explosion prevention gap (62) is formed between the inner part (52) and the outer part (36). The explosion prevention gap (62) is at least substantially linear and cylindrical.

Roller bearing assembles are known that include an explosion prevention gap between a rotating shaft and a housing, e.g., for electric motors. The explosion prevention provided by the explosion prevention gap enables the operation of such an electric motor in an environment, in which explosive gases could develop. The explosion prevention gap prevents such gases from igniting due to arcing or sparking near the rotating shaft.
In order to prevent the transmission of sparks through an explosion prevention gap that is large, on the one hand, and in order to prevent spark generation in the area of the explosion prevention gap caused by the walls of the explosion prevention gap rubbing together on the other hand, the structural components forming the explosion prevention gap must be manufactured with especially small tolerances. Furthermore, it has been shown that, when the width of the explosion prevention gap is corrected after the manufacture of the electric motor, deformations can occur during the transport or assembly of the electric motor, which deformations can lead to a rubbing and/or a grinding of the walls of the explosion prevention gap.
Further, it is known to form an explosion prevention gap in a winding shape in the form of a lamellar seal. In such a design, not only the tolerances in the radial direction, but also the tolerances in the axial direction, must be precisely controlled for the correct dimensioning of explosion prevention gaps.


An input device includes an operation surface, a first detection means, a second detection means, an operation signal generating means, and a transmission means. The operation signal generating means generates an operation signal used to perform a first operation on a screen where a detection result of the first detection means has been reflected, if the duration of the detection, which is performed at the same contact position by the first detection means, is shorter than a predetermined time. The operation signal generating means generates an operation signal used to perform a second operation on the screen where a detection result of the second detection means has been reflected, as long as the detection is continued at the same contact position, if the duration of the detection, which is performed at the same contact position by the first detection means, reaches the predetermined time.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an input device, and more particularly, to an input device that is suitable for performing a desired operation on a screen displayed by a display device.
2. Related Art
In the past, various screens, such as a map screen and a music search screen, corresponding to the use of the apparatuses have been displayed on display devices provided in apparatuses, such as a personal computer, a digital audio player, and a mobile phone.
Further, in the past, various apparatuses have been provided with various input devices, such as a keyboard, a mouse, a remote control, and a space pointing device, as means for performing desired operations on screens displayed by the display devices.
Furthermore, an input device, which includes both a task switch and a pointing device referred to as a touch pad and can selectively perform a screen operation using the touch pad and a screen operation using the task switch by one operation surface provided in a device body, has been proposed in, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-351606.
Meanwhile, although not mainly performing a screen operation, an input device that sends an optical signal wave corresponding to a detection result of a motion sensor such as an inclination sensor or acceleration sensor has been proposed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-111171.
When screen operations were performed in the past, for example, a plurality of screen operations, such as a screen operation for changing a position designated on a screen by a cursor or a pointer, a decision operation for deciding a position designated on a screen, a screen operation (which might be the same as the decision operation) for switching a screen to the next screen, and a screen operation for returning a screen to a previous screen might be selectively performed according to user's will.
Further, when the plurality of screen operations was selectively performed in the past, a user might feel troublesome in selecting a screen operation depending on the contents of the operations.
For example, as for the contents are formed so that a plurality of screens such as the above-mentioned map screen and music search screen has hierarchies (depth), a screen operation in the same hierarchy and a screen operation for switching the display to another screen were performed.
Here, as for the map screen, in general, a map screen for displaying the simplest (small scale) large area is used as the uppermost hierarchy, and a map screen for displaying the most detailed (large scale) small area is used as the lowermost hierarchy. Further, as for the music search screen, for example, a screen used to select the genre of music is used as the uppermost hierarchy, and a screen used to select repertoire to album is used as the lowermost hierarchy.
As a screen operation in the same hierarchy of a plurality of screens having hierarchical structure, there has been, for example, a scroll operation of the map screen or an operation for designating a position on a screen where a desired genre can be selected. Further, as a screen operation for switching the display to the another screen, there has been, for example, an operation for changing the scale of the map screen, or an operation for selecting desired music on the screen used to select the genre of music and proceeding to the next screen (for example, an artist selection screen).
Furthermore, when these screen operations were selectively performed, for example, when a screen operation for switching the display from the currently displayed screen to a subordinate screen is selected and when a screen operation for switching the display from the currently displayed screen to a superordinate screen is selected, different buttons (switches) need to be operated, so that a troublesome operation is forcibly performed for a user.
Accordingly, in the past, there is a problem in that a screen operation might not be easily and smoothly selected when a plurality of screen operations is selectively performed.
These and other drawbacks exist.


A device (1) for cutting meat, provided with at least one knife (12) and means (2,3) for carrying, in a transport direction (T), meat (22) along the knife (12), such that the meat is cut into at least two parts, while in the transport direction (T) directly behind the at least one knife (12), a separating plate (15) is arranged, the arrangement being such that during use, a first part of the cut meat is guided to a first side (16) of the separating plate and a second part of the cut meat is guided along the opposite second side of the separating plate and the parts of the meat are processed separately from each other.

The invention relates to a device for cutting meat. In particular, the invention relates to a device for cutting meat such that different parts of the meat can be processed separately.
From practice, cutting devices are known for cutting slices of meat, wherein a rotating knife is used, arranged substantially vertically. Meat is forced along this knife by hand, so that relatively thin slices can be cut, which fall at the side of a supporting plate remote from the knife. By repeatedly moving the meat along the knife, a stack of slices is obtained. This device requires much time and labor for obtaining the desired division.
Further, cutting devices are known wherein a knife is provided, extending approximately horizontally, and meat is guided along the knife with the aid of transport means, and is cut into parts. Behind the knife, the upper part of the meat, which is cut loose, falls back onto the underlying part and is taken therefrom by hand for further processing. Such devices are, for instance, used for cutting fillets, cutlets and the like and have as an important drawback that taking away the cut-away parts requires a lot of manual labor and is, therefore, expensive. Moreover, this can easily lead to mistakes. A further drawback of these known devices is that, as the cut-loose meat falls back onto the underlying part, it cannot be taken way in a simple manner. This is in particular not the case with types of meat such as chicken or other poultry, where cut-up cells cause adhesion, for instance through the release of proteins.
FR 2 623 470 discloses a machine and method for cutting strips of meat, using a horizontal knife and a separating plate directly behind said knife for guiding a top part of the cut meat along an upper path different from the rest of said meat which falls down freely. Said upper path is defined by a belt. The meat is forced past the said knife by a toothed wheel and a guide element extending above said wheel. On the upper path the cut part lies free on said belt.
The object of the invention is a cutting device for meat, wherein the drawbacks mentioned of the known devices are avoided while maintaining their advantages.


The present disclosure provides various aspects related to techniques for generating trigger frames, at an AP, that reduce the overhead associated with triggering an uplink transmission from the STA. In some examples, the STA may also calculate its transmit power by decoding a spatial reuse subfield of the trigger frame from the AP and identifying downlink pathloss measurements of the trigger frame. Accordingly, the STA may identify acceptable interference level of the AP and calculate a transmit power in order to minimize interference at the AP. In some aspects, the STA may transmit its uplink packets to a different AP on one or more punctured channels at the calculated transmit power of the STA.

The deployment of wireless local area networks (WLANs) in the home, the office, and various public facilities is commonplace today. Such networks typically employ a wireless access point (AP) that connects a number of wireless stations (STAs) in a specific locality (e.g., home, office, public facility, etc.) to another network, such as the Internet or the like. A set of STAs can communicate with each other through a common AP in what is referred to as a basic service set (BSS). However, some WLAN network deployments may be dense (e.g., have a large number of STAs deployed within the coverage area of multiple APs), which may result in issues related to channel or medium usage. In other examples, the wireless network may be configured as an "ad-hoc" communication system in which terminals asynchronously communication directly with each other without use of any specific AP.
With multiple STAs and APs operating in a limited area, traffic collisions and interferences may occur among STAs and/or APs attempting to access the wireless medium. The traffic collisions and interferences may cause packets to be dropped where the transmitting device may be required to retransmit the same packet multiple times before successful transmission. However, because wireless STAs are usually small handheld devices operating on a limited power source (e.g., small battery), the STAs may need to balance consideration of power consumption against repeated transmission attempts. Various techniques and systems have been developed to minimize traffic collisions and power consumption of the STAs.
One such technique includes operating the STA, for example, in a power save operating mode. The power save operating mode allows the STAs to enter a sleep mode and wake-up periodically to listen to an AP's beacon. The AP may buffer packets for a particular STA if the target STA is in a sleep mode, and notifies the STA of the availability of pending packets in the beacon frame. When the STA wakes up, the STA may decode the beacon to determine if there are pending packets for the STA, and if so, transmit a trigger frame to the AP to initiate downlink transmission from the AP to deliver the buffered packets to the STA.
Alternatively, an AP, motivated by limiting traffic collisions, may similarly apply trigger frames to schedule uplink traffic from a plurality of STAs. However, conventional trigger frame techniques suffer from a number of drawbacks, including high overhead that includes redundant information for each STA separately. Further, the present techniques require the device receiving the trigger frame (e.g., STA) to decode the entire trigger frame regardless of whether or not the frame was directed to the decoding the STA. Such implementation may be highly inefficient and power intensive.

Trigger frame in wireless local area network


A computer-implemented method for management of voicemail messages, performed at a portable electronic device with a touch screen display, includes: displaying a list of voicemail messages; detecting selection by a user of a respective voicemail message in the list; responding to the user selection of the respective voicemail message by initiating playback of the user-selected voicemail message; displaying a progress bar for the user-selected voicemail message, wherein the progress bar indicates the portion of the user-selected voicemail message that has been played; detecting movement of a finger of the user from a first position on the progress bar to a second position on the progress bar; and responding to the detection of the finger movement by restarting playback of the user-selected voicemail message at a position within the user-selected voicemail message corresponding substantially to the second position on the progress bar.

As portable electronic devices become more compact, and the number of functions performed by a given device increases, it has become a significant challenge to design a user interface that allows users to easily interact with a multifunction device. This challenge is particularly significant for handheld portable devices, which have much smaller screens than desktop or laptop computers. This situation is unfortunate because the user interface is the gateway through which users receive not only content but also responses to user actions or behaviors, including user attempts to access a device's features, tools, and functions. Some portable communication devices (e.g., mobile telephones, sometimes called mobile phones, cell phones, cellular telephones, and the like) have resorted to adding more pushbuttons, increasing the density of push buttons, overloading the functions of pushbuttons, or using complex menu systems to allow a user to access, store and manipulate data. These conventional user interfaces often result in complicated key sequences and menu hierarchies that must be memorized by the user.
Many conventional user interfaces, such as those that include physical pushbuttons, are also inflexible. This is unfortunate because it may prevent a user interface from being configured and/or adapted by either an application running on the portable device or by users. When coupled with the time consuming requirement to memorize multiple key sequences and menu hierarchies, and the difficulty in activating a desired pushbutton, such inflexibility is frustrating to most users.
Many portable electronic devices, such as cellular phones, have access to voicemail. But navigating through the user interface of the device to retrieve, listen to, delete, and otherwise manage voicemail is cumbersome and inefficient.
Accordingly, there is a need for portable multifunction devices with more transparent, intuitive, and efficient user interfaces for managing voicemail messages that are easy to use, configure, and/or adapt.

Voicemail manager for portable multifunction device


Image search techniques are described. In one or more implementations, images in a search result are ordered based at least in part on similarity of the images, one to another. The search result having the ordered images is provided in response to a search request.

Users may interact with a search engine to obtain search results for a wide variety of content. However, traditional techniques that were utilized to provide search results may become limited when confronted with different types of content. For example, traditional search results included links to websites with brief textual descriptions. These search results were typically provided in response to keywords in a search request. However, the functionality of these traditional techniques may be limited in relation to other types of content, such as images.

Method for searching and ranking images clustered based upon similar content


A grain handling conveyor includes an axle tilt device that is coupled to a frame supporting a grain handling conveyor and to an axle thereof. The axle tilt device is capable of raising or lowering one end of the axle with respect to the frame and to permit the tilting the frame and causing movement of the discharge end of the conveyor for accurate conveying of bulk material into a silo.

The present disclosure relates to grain handling conveyors, and particularly to control devices used to control the location of the discharge end of the conveyor to permit alignment of the discharge end with the top opening in the grain storage bin. Aligning the discharge end of the conveyor with the opening in the top of a grain storage bin is a challenging and time consuming process, especially if the grain handling conveyor and storage bin are high and the target inlet is small. The is a need to provide an adjustment mechanism that would allow an operator to easily align the discharge end of the grain handling conveyor relative to a top opening of the grain silo.

Adjustment device for grain handling conveyor


An intake reservoir for an engine having an intake passage leading to a cylinder, and a check valve in the intake passage to allow fluid flow toward the cylinder and obstruct fluid back-flow in the reverse direction. An intake valve is seated in the intake passage between the check valve and cylinder. A bypass port is located on the intake passage so that the bypass port communicates with a trapped volume defined by the portion of the intake passage between the check valve and intake valve. The intake reservoir comprises a reservoir cavity having a single cavity port, and a port passage connected between the cavity port and the bypass port enabling fluid flow between the trapped volume and the reservoir cavity. The intake reservoir further comprises a control valve connected to the port passage enabling active adjustment of the flow area of the port passage throughout a range of engine operating conditions to regulate fluid flow between the trapped volume and reservoir cavity.

A check valve can be located in the intake passage leading to a cylinder of an engine to obstruct fluid back-flow out of the cylinder into the intake passage. One application of such a check valve is in conjunction with a valve control system which causes the intake valve for the cylinder to open during the exhausting of exhaust gas from the cylinder (i.e., during an exhaust portion of the engine cycle). This can result in exhaust gas flowing from the cylinder back into the intake passage and reentering the cylinder with the subsequent incoming charge of air. The check valve obstructs fluid back-flow further into the intake passage.
A port can be located on the intake passage between the intake valve and check valve, and a chamber having a fixed opening connected to the bypass port to allow communication between the chamber and intake passage. The effective volume of the intake passage between the check valve and intake valve is thereby increased by an amount approximately equal to the volume of the chamber. The fixed opening of the chamber can limit the control of the fluid flow between the intake passage and chamber thereby limiting the potential improvements in engine performance produced by the chamber since the optimum amount of flow between the intake passage and chamber can vary depending on the operating conditions of the engine.

Intake reservoir for an engine having a check valve


It is an object of the present invention to provide a new method for production of zinc oxide particles which can control the particle diameter and particle shape of obtained zinc oxide particles by selecting suitable conditions, and can prepare zinc oxide applicable to various applications. A method for production of zinc oxide particles, comprising a step of aging a zinc oxide raw material in an aqueous zinc salt solution.

Zinc oxide particles have been known as a sunscreen ultraviolet blocking agent in cosmetic product applications. However, the applications of the zinc oxide fine particles, which have been used conventionally, are limited from various points of view. Therefore, a new production method which is able to control a particle diameter and particle shape for enhancing the homogeneity thereof has been desired. The following described about various conventional zinc oxides and methods for production of the zinc oxide.
The zinc oxide particles in Patent Document 1 are formed by aggregation of zinc oxide fine particles in a hexagonal plate shape, and therefore proper slippage cannot be achieved. Further, since the particle shape is not sufficiently controlled, physical properties tend to vary, so that it is difficult to obtain a cosmetic with stable quality.
Patent Document 2 describes flaky plate-shaped zinc oxide particles, and uses thereof in cosmetics and industrial applications. However, many of the flaky plate-shaped zinc oxide particles described in Patent Document 2 have a large particle diameter, and the particle shape is not controlled to be fine and uniform. In the production method, a basic zinc salt is generated, and therefore a thermal decomposition step such as that of calcinating is required to obtain zinc oxide.
Patent Document 3 describes hexagonal plate-shaped zinc oxide particles. However, the zinc oxide particles in Patent Document 3 significantly vary in particle diameter and shape, and are aggregated, so that problems such as those described above cannot be sufficiently rectified.
Patent Document 4 describes hexagonal prism- and hexagonal barrel-shaped zinc oxide particles which can be used as a cosmetic. However, in the described production method, hexagonal prism-shaped zinc oxide particles having a particle diameter of less than 0.5 μm cannot be obtained.
From such a point of view, zinc oxide particles which have a primary particle diameter of 0.1 μm or more and can exhibit higher transparency and higher ultraviolet blocking performance as compared to conventional zinc oxide particles are desired. However, such zinc oxide particles have not been developed.
Patent Document 5 discloses a production method in which a mixed liquid of a zinc compound, acetic acid and glycol is held at a temperature of 50 to 200° C. for 0.5 to 5 hours to generate zinc oxide fine particles having an average particle diameter of 200 nm or less. However, this production method is a method of obtaining a precipitate by heating a solution in which zinc oxide is fully dissolved, and zinc oxide particles obtained by this method are not preferable because particles having an aspect ratio of less than 2.5 cannot be obtained. Further, the production method is not suitable from an industrial point of view because expensive glycol is used.
In applications of heat releasing materials in electronic/electrical fields, aluminum oxide, aluminum nitride, boron nitride, zinc oxide and the like are often used as a heat releasing filler. It is generally known that two or more kinds of spherical particles having different particle diameters are filled, and a filler is filled in a resin or the like at a high rate for achieving high heat releasing performance. Meanwhile, it is considered to make use of anisotropy of thermal conduction by compounding particles of different shapes, such as plate-shaped particles and needle-shaped particles, for more effectively enhancing heat conductivity. However, the zinc oxide particles in Patent Document 1 are aggregates, and therefore influences of heat resistance between particles in plate-shaped particles are significant, so that anisotropy of thermal conduction specific to plate-shaped particles cannot be exhibited.
Usually, in production of zinc oxide particles, mostly a calcinating step is essential. In calcinating, however, equipment capable of performing a treatment at a high temperature is required, and there is the problem that the particle diameter and the particle shape which have been adjusted/controlled in the stage of a zinc oxide precursor are changed by calcinating, and so on. Therefore, it is very preferable to obtain zinc oxide particles without performing calcinating.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method for production of zinc oxide particles


A liquid crystal lens panel includes a first substrate, a second substrate, and a liquid crystal layer. The first substrate includes a first base substrate, a lens common electrode disposed on the first base substrate, and a first alignment layer disposed on the lens common electrode, the first alignment layer including a first alignment direction. The second substrate includes a second base substrate opposite to the first base substrate, a plurality of lens electrodes that extend in a lens axis and is parallel with each other, and a second alignment layer disposed on the plurality of lens electrodes, the second alignment layer including a second alignment direction substantially perpendicular to the first alignment direction. The liquid crystal layer is disposed between the first and second alignment layers.

1. Field
Exemplary embodiments relate to display technology, and more particularly, to lens panels, stereoscopic display panel assemblies, and display devices including the same.
2. Discussion
As demand for three-dimensional ("3D") stereoscopic images increases in consumer markets like the game market, the movie market, and so on, display devices configured to display 3D stereoscopic images have been developed. For instance, conventional 3D display devices are configured to present two-dimensional ("2D") images different from each other to respective eyes of an observer, such that the 3D stereoscopic image can be autonomically perceived by the observer. For example, the observer may view a pair of 2D images through respective left and right eyes, and then the 2D images may be mixed in the observer's brain to be recognized as a 3D stereoscopic image.
Typically, 3D stereoscopic display devices are classified into a glasses type display device and a no-glasses type display device. The glasses type display device utilizes polarized light to respectively radiate 2D images to respective left and right eyes of viewers, whereas the no-glasses type display device utilizes a lenticular lens to separate and, thereby, direct the presentation of left-eye images and right-eye images to corresponding eyes of an observer. In other words, display devices of the glasses type include an active polarizing panel in which a left-eye image and a right-eye image are displayed, such that the display panel changes the polarization of light associated with each image so that the observer, via polarized light glasses, is able to perceive the left-eye image via their left-eye and the right-eye image via their right-eye. Display devices of the no-glasses type include a lenticular lens in which a left-eye image and a right-eye image displayed on sub pixels of a display panel are diffracted into a plurality of views, so that an observer, without the need of any active mechanism, can view the left-eye image via their left-eye and the right-eye image via their right-eye.
It is recognized that display technology has evolved to enable a liquid crystal ("LC") lens panel, including an upper electrode, a lower electrode, and LC disposed between the upper and lower electrodes, to be used as a lenticular lens. It is further recognized that some observers prefer glasses-type 3D display devices, whereas other observers prefer no-glasses type 3D display devices. Accordingly, situations may arise when such observers reside in the same household, are part of the same organization, work at the same location, and/or the like.
Therefore, there is a need for an approach that provides reliable, cost effective techniques to provide display technology configured to enable a glasses type 3D display mode and a no-glasses type display mode.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and, therefore, it may contain information that does not form any part of the prior art nor what the prior art may suggest to a person of ordinary skill in the art.

Liquid crystal lens panel, three dimensional panel assembly, and display apparatus having the same