A method for producing an at least two-part structure, such as a semifinished product for a superconducting wire is provided. A first structure and a second structure are separately produced, and the first structure and the second structure are then inserted one into the other. The first structure and the second structure are respectively produced in layers by selective laser melting or selective electron beam melting of a powder. The method produces two-part structures for semifinished products of superconducting wires.

Superconducting wires, such as NbTi superconducting wires, for example, are used to conduct high electric currents with virtually no dissipation loss, particularly in superconducting magnetic coils for generating strong magnetic fields. In this case, NbTi has the advantage of favorable ductility, which facilitates processing of the material; for example, favorable plastic deformation is possible.
Superconducting materials such as NbTi are superconducting only below a critical temperature (also referred to as the transition temperature) and must therefore be cooled during operation, for example, with liquid helium. In many applications, filaments of superconducting material are provided that are arranged in a normally conductive matrix, often composed of copper. The matrix material should show favorable thermal conductivity so as to ensure cooling of the superconducting filaments, as well as favorable electrical conductivity (at the transition temperature), so that in the event of a local loss of superconductivity (quench), a substitute current path is available in order to protect the superconducting wire from burnout.
For introduction of superconducting filaments into a matrix, a method is known for introducing one or a plurality of rod-shaped elements composed of NbTi (or containing NbTi) into a block of a matrix material (for example, copper) in which deep holes have been bored, for example, DE 202012102334 U1. The filled matrix block, which can also be referred to as a semifinished product, is finally drawn into a wire, ordinarily after further construction and one or a plurality of intermediate bundling steps.
Deep hole boring becomes increasingly difficult for narrower and deeper bore holes, so that repeated bundling and drawing is generally required in order to arrange superconducting filaments in the desired number and with the desired diameter in a superconducting wire. This results in considerable expense during production.
Another special factor in the production of NbTi-containing elements is the requirement of rapid cooling in production of the NbTi-containing elements in order to prevent the formation of an undesirable α phase. Quenching makes it possible to freeze a more favorable ductile β phase, but this makes the NbTi-containing elements expensive.
In order to produce metallic components based on CAD data, another method has become known for producing a component in layers by local melting of a metal powder with a laser beam or electron beam ("selective laser melting" or "selective electron beam melting"), for example, the web page http://netzkonstrukteur.de/fertigungstechnik/3d-druck/selectives-laserschmelzen/, or the web page http://netzkonstrukteur.de/fertigungstechnik/3d-druck/selectives-elektronenstrahlschmelzen/. This production method requires no negative molds and allows undercuts.

Method for producing an at least two-part structure, in particular a semifinished product for a superconducting wire


A semiconductor optical apparatus of the invention has a quantum well super-lattice structure essentially of only direct transition semiconductor or comprising a direct transition semiconductor and an indirect transiton semiconductor. In the semiconductor optical apparatus of the invention, by using an absorption saturation phenomenon of excitions in the direct transition semiconductor constructing the quantum well super-lattice structure, a non-volatile information recording apparatus which can record, reproduce, and erase information at a high speed even at the room temperature or even by irradiating a light of a low intensity is realized.

The present invention relates to an optical apparatus using an absorption saturation phenomenon of an exciton and, more particularly, to a semiconductor optical apparatus.
Various kinds of apparatus using the absorption saturation phenomenon of an exciton can be considered. In recent years, attention has been paid to the fact that excellent performance is provided by using such an apparatus as an optical recording apparatus. By realizing the absorption saturation phenomenon of an exciton by using a semiconductor super-lattice structure, a rewritable non-volatile information recording apparatus having a high speed and a high density can be realized at room temperatures.
As a method of increasing recording density by using the absorption saturation phenomenon, an optical data recording system using wavelength dimensions has been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,101,976. According to this conventional system, a bulk material which causes the saturation of a uniform absorption line and shows a heterogeneous absorption line extent is included. Porphyrin, deuterium substituted porphyrin, phthalocyanine tetrazine, and tetraphenyl porphyrin can be mentioned as optical recording materials. Data bits are recorded by using the selective absorption saturation by a narrow band high power laser beam. That is, the above recording uses a phenomenon called an photochemical hole burning (PHB) and relates to a method of causing a narrow width absorption in a special wavelength portion in a wide heterogeneous absorption line. This absorption saturation phenomenon is accomplished in a manner such that ground state molecules of the same kind put under slightly different environments are converted into exciting state molecules in a phase and energy manner by irradiating a laser beam of a special wavelength, thereby finally causing a bleaching of the ground state molecules. Therefore, in principle, the above phenomenon is operable only at super low temperatures of about 20.degree. K. or less and can be caused only by irradiating a laser beam of a high intensity. Therefore, when recording bit information, it has been known that since a high power laser beam of about, e.g., 10 W/.mu.m.sup.2 is irradiated for a period of time of at least 1 msec or longer and the recorded information is rewritten by heating, it takes a time of 5 to 10 minutes to completely erase the recorded information.
As mentioned above, in optical information recording using PHB, the phenomenon at super low temperatures of 20.degree. K. or less, preferably absolute zero, is essentially used; a high laser power is required to write information; and the information is erased or written by heating; so that there is a problem such that the apparatus enlarges in size and becomes complicated.
On the other hand, a recording density of an existing non-volatile memory is relatively so small to be 1.times.10.sup.6 to 4.times.10.sup.6 bits/cm.sup.2. Even in the present large scale computers as well, as super large computers which will be able to be used in the future for AI (artificial intelligence) or the like, a memory having a satisfactory memory capacity does not exist. It is demanded to realize a high performance non-volatile memory.
It is an object of the present invention to solve the problems of the foregoing conventional techniques and to provide an optical recording apparatus to realize super high density non-volatile information recording which can perform high speed recording, reproduction, and erasure even at temperatures near room temperature and even by the light irradiation of a low intensity.


The present invention relates to a device for receiving/transmitting electromagnetic waves with omnidirectional radiation of the type comprising: a first set (100a, 100b, 100c, 100d) of means for receiving/transmitting waves with longitudinal radiation of the printed antenna type, the said means being arranged in order to receive a wide azimuthal sector and at least a second means (104) for receiving/transmitting waves with transverse radiation of the printed antenna type, the second means having radiation complementary to the radiation of the first means, and means (103) capable of connecting in emission the said first and second wave receiving/transmitting means. The invention is especially applicable to domestic networks.

The present invention relates to a device for receiving/transmitting electromagnetic waves with omnidirectional radiation of the antenna-type which can be used most particularly in the field of wireless transmissions.
In the case of domestic networks using wireless transmissions, the antenna design must comply with particular requirements which especially result from the topology of the environment. Thus in this type of application, as shown in FIG. 1, communicating devices which may be located at any point in the same room, in different rooms or even on different floors or levels must be considered. For example, FIG. 1 shows a house with four rooms, three 1, 1xe2x80x2, 1xe2x80x3 of which have communicating equipment. Room 1 has a decoder 2 connected to a television set 3, the decoder being connected to an antenna 4 communicating with a satellite 5. Moreover, the decoder 2/television set 3 assembly is fitted with an antenna 6 belonging to a wireless network capable of communicating via an antenna 9 with a computer 7 and a CD ROM reader 8 placed in another room 1xe2x80x2. These assemblies must also be able to communicate with another television set 10 positioned in a room 1xe2x80x3 on a lower floor. Under these conditions, and so as to ensure complete coverage of the communication space for the purpose of connecting all the terminals of the network, it would appear necessary to design antennas having omnidirectional radiation.
At present, the antennas most commonly used to meet the requirements for omnidirectional radiation consist of dipole antennas or antennas of the patch type.
A dipole antenna referenced 20 enables azimuthal omnidirectional coverage to be obtained, as shown in FIG. 2, however it has a hole in the axis defined by the radiating element. Consequently, although the dipole antenna is able to communicate with the telephone 21 and the television set 22 located on the same floor, connection with the computer 23 located on an upper floor is not guaranteed.
With regard to the printed antennas of the patch type, as shown in FIG. 3, they comprise schematically a substrate 30 on which a printed patch 31 is produced. As a result, the patch antenna has hemispherical radiation 32, which limits the coverage to the upper half-space of the earth plane 30.
To overcome the coverage problem, several antenna topologies have been proposed. However, they all lead to three-dimensional configurations in which the printed antennas are produced on supports of any shape. Now, these solutions are still bulky and their manufacture tricky for mass production.
The aim of the present invention is therefore to overcome the above drawbacks by proposing a new antenna topology guaranteeing, on the one hand, overall coverage of space and, on the other hand, limited bulk. This new topology is based on a type of printed antennas such as the Vivaldi antennas, proposed in French Patent Application No. 98-13855 filed in the name of the applicant. The antenna proposed in the aforementioned patent application consists of a coplanar circular arrangement, about a central point, of Vivaldi-type printed radiating elements, making it possible to present several directional beams sequentially over time, the set of beams giving complete 360xc2x0 coverage of space. Improvements have been made to this type of antennas, in particular, in French Patent Application No. 00-15715 filed in the name of the applicant. In that application, an embodiment allowing an operating mode which is no longer sequential but simultaneous was proposed, that is to say that the set of beams operate at the same time, so as to generate omnidirectional radiation in contrast with the directional radiation of the embodiment described in the previous application. However, the pattern of the structure thus excited has areas of zero field in an angular sector surrounding the directions orthogonal to the plane of the substrate, this sector being called a blind zone. These blind zones are defined by the aperture in the H plane of the radiation pattern of an elementary xe2x80x9cVivaldixe2x80x9d antenna.
The aim of the present invention is therefore to propose an improvement to the structure described above, which makes it possible to eliminate the areas of zero field described above.
Consequently, the subject of the present invention is a device for receiving/transmitting electromagnetic waves with omnidirectional radiation of the antenna type comprising a first set of means for receiving/transmitting waves with longitudinal radiation of the printed antenna type, the said means being arranged in order to receive a wide azimuthal sector, characterized in that it further comprises at least a second means for receiving/transmitting waves with transverse radiation of the printed antenna type, the second means having radiation complementary to the radiation of the first means, and means capable of connecting in emission the said first and second wave receiving/transmitting means.
According to a preferred embodiment, the means capable of connecting in emission the first set of means for receiving/transmitting waves with longitudinal radiation and the second means for receiving/transmitting waves with transverse radiation consist of a common feed line produced by printed technology. This common feed line is formed by a microstrip line or a coplanar line crossing all the slots of the printed slot antennas constituting the first receiving/transmitting set and the second receiving/transmitting means of the slot type, the length of the line between two slots of the first set being equal at the central operating frequency of the system to kxcexm, the length of the line between the last slot of the first set and the slot of the second receiving/transmitting means being equal at the central operating frequency of the system to kxcexm/2 and the length of the line between one end of the line and the slot of the second receiving/transmitting means being equal to kxe2x80x2xcexm/4 where xcexm=xcex0/xcex5reff where xcex0 is the wavelength in vacuo, xcex5reff is the equivalent permittivity of the line, and k and kxe2x80x2 are integers. When the second transmitting/receiving means of the slot type consists of a patch, the feed line is directly connected to the patch without additional length.
Furthermore, each means for receiving/transmitting waves with longitudinal radiation of the printed antenna type consists of a printed slot antenna of the Vivaldi antenna or Yagi antenna type, the antennas hereinabove being arranged at regular intervals around a single point and coplanar so as to be able to radiate over a 360xc2x0 angle sector.
Similarly, the second means for receiving/transmitting waves with transverse radiation of the printed type consists of a slot which is symmetrical with respect to a point or an antenna of the patch type where only a connection to the upper or lower floor is necessary. This slot or this patch is circular or square. Thus, according to one characteristic of the invention, the first set of means for receiving/transmitting waves with longitudinal radiation and the second means for receiving/transmitting waves with transverse radiation are produced on the same substrate so as to be symmetric about the same point.

Device for receiving/transmitting electromagnetic waves with omnidirectional radiation


A tough, wear resistant body is provided. The body includes hard carbide particles embedded in and bonded with a first casted steel matrix material. The body may be embedded in and bonded with a second steel matrix to form a wear resistant composite. The second steel matrix has a melting point at least 200 degrees F. greater than the melting point of the first steel matrix, thereby facilitating a metallurgical bond between the surface of the wear resistant body and the second steel matrix. The composite structure is particularly suitable for earthmoving and other severe mechanical applications.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to wear-resistant castings and their manufacture and, more particularly, to articles having particles of sintered or cast hard carbides disposed in a casted steel alloy matrix, and to composite structures formed therefrom.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Parts for use in severe environments must combine wear resistance with toughness. Applications for such parts include earth or road engaging wear shoes, excavator teeth, and crusher teeth.
Suitable wear-resistant materials have been made of cemented carbide alloys consisting of a finely dispersed hard carbide phase cemented together by cobalt or nickel or both. The materials are produced by compacting finely milled powders together followed by liquid phase sintering to achieve consolidation. Typically the cemented carbide alloys possess microstructures characterized by hard carbide grains generally in the range of 1-15 microns. However, such materials may be subject to chipping or cracking when utilized by themselves. For those applications, it is desirable to have the wear properties of carbide combined with the toughness of steel.
The use of a cast iron or steel matrix as a binding material has proven difficult because the finely divided state and high specific surface of the dispersed hard carbide phases and the formation of comparatively brittle binder alloys of tungsten and iron with carbon. This reduces the free binder volume fraction of the body, thereby embrittling the sintered body. Unlike cobalt and nickel, the iron component of cast iron or steel will form a stable carbide (Fe3C) and has a greater tendency to form brittle binary carbides than either the cobalt or nickel binder materials. In addition, carbon transfer from the hard carbide phase or phases to the iron component is promoted by the presence of the liquid or plastic state of the iron or steel binder during liquid phase sintering when carried out at temperatures near to or above the melting point of the binder. However, useful wear resistant bodies have been made by casting a steel or cast iron melt into a bed of comparatively coarse hard carbide particulate.
One such technique is. set forth by the molten steel casting method of Charles S. Baum (U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,024,902 and 4,146,080). Unlike the prior art methods which had attempted to avoid the dissolution of the metallic carbide components into the matrixing alloy, Baum taught the placement of tungsten carbide particles of substantially larger size than those desired in the finished article in a mold in which the wear resistant body is to be formed.
According to Baum, a steel alloy is separately heated and casted into the mold which is at a temperature below the temperature at which the metallic carbide dissolves. The size and placement of the particles are balanced with the temperature of the molten steel, the initial temperature of the mold, and the volume and surface area of the mold to insure that the heat of the molten steel causes a dissolving action at the surface of the particles and at least some of the particles still exist in reduced size when the molten steel freezes. The fusion of the carbon, tungsten and cobalt through the alloy also produces an alloy having superior strength, including greater strength than the original casted alloy. In addition, the degree of solubility may be controlled by the inclusion of some smaller sintered particles that totally dissolve as the molten metal solidifies.
Another such wear resistant body is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,119,459 issued to Ekemar. Ekemar found that cemented carbide could be bonded in a matrix of graphitic cast iron having a carbon equivalent in the range of from 2.5 to 6.0 weight percent (wt. %). Ekemar also found that a suitable adjustment of the particle size of the hard carbide gave the possibility to reach the desired relationship between completely transforming or partially transforming the hard carbide particles.
It would be expected that the wear resistant bodies formed by the molten steel casting method may have superior physical properties over similar molten-cast iron bodies. For example, martensitic ductile cast iron can result in tensile strengths of up to 120 ksi, which is considered high for ductile iron. However, medium carbon steels may have tensile strengths of up to 220 ksi. Thus, a matrix of low alloy steel will have approximately twice the strength of a comparable cast iron product. Furthermore, the hardness of heat treated, low alloy steel casting would be between 40 and 50 R.sub.c versus 38 R.sub.c for ductile iron.
However, wear-resistant bodies produced by either the molten-steel or the molten-cast iron casting methods are often not suitable when used solely as a stand-alone product because their high cost and brittleness. Instead, the wear-resistant body may be more cost effective when used to increase the wear-performance of a larger steel casting in which it is incorporated.
It has been relatively easy to incorporate Wear resistant bodies produced by the molten-cast iron method into larger steel castings. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,584,020, issued to Waldenstrom, discloses a technique for incorporating a wear resistant molten-cast iron and carbide insert in a larger steel casting. The technique consists of applying between the casted steel alloy and the wear resistant insert a layer or zone of another metallic material with a higher toughness than the cast alloy. Generally the metallic material also has a higher melting point than the cast alloy and preferably at least 200 to 400 degrees C. (360 degrees F. to 720 degrees F.) above the melting point of the cast alloy. The metallic material is formed from a low carbon steel having a carbon content of 0.2% at the most. The thickness of the sheet of low carbon steel is at least 0.5 mm and preferably 1 to 8 mm.
Unfortunately, problems have arisen when attempting to incorporate molten-steel wear resistant bodies in larger castings. Several approaches have been tried to overcome these problems. E. L. Furman et al ("Reinforcing Steel Castings With Wear-Resisting Cast Iron," Liteinoe Proizvodstvo, No 7, p 27 (1986)) found that wear resistant bodies could be successfully incorporated into larger steel castings when the steel was poured at between 1450 to 1480 degrees C. (2642 to 2696 degrees F.). However, when the steel pouring temperature was raised above 1500 degrees C. (2732 degrees F.). it caused hot tearing and shrinkage blow holing inside the wear resistant inserts. Furman found that more effective reinforcement could be achieved by coating the inserts with a low melting brazing alloy, such as pure copper, prior to pouring the mold. Upon pouring, the copper brazing alloy melts and wets the surfaces of the inserts and the poured steel. A suitable fluxing agent was incorporated to prevent oxidation or the inserts during pouring.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,608,318, issued to Makrides et al discloses a tough, wear resistant composite. Carbide particles and a stainless steel metallic matrix are first formed into a wear-resistant insert by powder metallurgical methods including blending the powders, isostatically compacting the blend, and consolidating to form the insert. A second metallic matrix of molten metal is then bonded to the wear-resistant insert to complete the composite. The second metallic matrix formed by the molten metal may be a ferrous or non-ferrous alloy and is preferably steel.
Another powder metallurgical approach to this problem is disclosed in Australian Patent No. AU-B1-31362/77. According to the background discussion in U.S. Pat. No. 4,608,318, the Australian reference teaches milling a heat treatable low alloy steel powder together with a tungsten carbide or tungsten molybdenum solid solution carbide powder and then pressing and sintering to form the wear-resistant insert. Low alloy steel is then cast about the sintered wear-resistant insert to form the finished composite.
Certain disadvantages become apparent with the prior art. First, the technique as taught by Furman requires the additional step of coating the individual inserts. This method not only increases the cost of the final composite body but also creates an additional interface which may result in a later failure. Second, the powder metallurgical methods taught by Makrides and also Australian patent No. AU-B1-31362/77 are significantly more costly due to the necessary steps of preparing milled powders, blending, and isostatically pressing to form the insert.
It has thus become desirable to develop a wear-resistant "cast carbide/steel composite" insert having the strength and hardness advantages achieved by using a molten steel casting alloy and, at the same time, eliminating the prior art problems of hot tearing and shrinkage when the wear resistant body is incorporated into a larger steel casting.


The invention relates, in the field of subband decomposition, to the design of filter banks adapted to the input signal statistics. In most cases, two channel filter banks are iteratively applied over several levels of decomposition, the signals in the resulting subbands representing decimated and filtered versions of the input signal. According to the invention, it is proposed a perfect reconstruction critically decimated polyphase filter bank with a ladder structure, which adapts to the nonstationarities in the input signal. In the simplest embodiment, four steps are provided in the implementation of the filtering method: a splitting step (21), provided for subdividing the input signal c0(n) into two disjoint subsets c0(2n) and c0(2n+1) of samples (odd and even ones), a predicting step (22), provided for predicting on the basis of the even subset the odd one (d1(n)=c0(2n+1)xe2x88x92P1[c0(2n)], an updating step (23), provided for generating on the basis of said predicted odd subset the even one (c1(n)=c0(2n)+U1[d1(n)], and an iterative cross-optimization step associating said updating step (23) of the current decomposition level and the predicting step (32) of the following one. More generally, several successive similar scales may be provided, a minimization of the variance of the obtained coefficients being used as an optimization criterion at each scale.

The present invention relates to a device for filtering an input sequence of digital signals, comprising:
(1) a first filtering stage, itself including:
(A) a first splitting circuit, provided for subdividing the input sequence into two disjoint sets of samples, comprising respectively the odd samples c0(2n+1) and the even samples c0(2n) of said sequence
(B) a first predicting circuit, provided for generating xe2x80x9cdetailxe2x80x9d coefficients d1(n)=c0(2n+1)xe2x88x92P1[ . . . , c0(2nxe2x88x922), c0(2n), c0(2n+2), . . . ], where P1 is a first linear filter and ( . . . , c0(2nxe2x88x922), c0(2n), c0(2n+2), . . . ) is the vector containing only the even samples of the input signal;
(C) a first updating circuit, provided for generating xe2x80x9capproximationxe2x80x9d coefficients c1(n)=c0(2n)+U1 [. . . , d1(nxe2x88x921), d1(n), d1(n+1), . . . ], where U1 is a second linear filter and ( . . . , d1(nxe2x88x921), d1(n), d1(n+1), . . . ) is the vector containing the xe2x80x9cdetailxe2x80x9d coefficients;
(2) at least a second filtering stage, itself including:
(D) a second splitting circuit, provided for subdividing the previously generated xe2x80x9capproximationxe2x80x9d vector into two disjoint sets of samples, similarly called c1(2n+1) and c1(2n);
(E) a second predicting circuit, provided for generating a second level of xe2x80x9cdetailxe2x80x9d coefficients d2(n)=c1(2n+1)xe2x88x92P2[ . . . , c1(2nxe2x88x922), c1(2n), c1(2n+2), . . . ], where P2 is a third linear filter and ( . . . , c1(2nxe2x88x922), c1(2n), c1(2n+2), . . . ) is the vector of xe2x80x9cdetailxe2x80x9d coefficients of even order resulting from the second splitting operation;
(F) a second updating circuit, provided for generating a second set of xe2x80x9capproximationxe2x80x9d coefficients c2(n)=c1(2n)+U2[ . . . , d2(nxe2x88x921), d2(n), d2(n+1), . . . ], where U2 is a fourth linear filter and ( . . . , d2(nxe2x88x921), d2(n), d2(n+1), . . . ) is the following vector of xe2x80x9cdetailxe2x80x9d coefficients.
This invention may be used in a wide range of signal processing applications, such as image and speech compression.
Sub-band decomposition techniques are extensively used for data coding, for instance in signal processing applications like image and speech compression. Applied for example to image compression, they allow to perform a representation of the image information as a collection of sub-images appearing at different resolutions. A popular technique for carrying out such a decomposition is the well-known wavelet transform, that allows an original input signal to be described by a set of sub-band signals. Each sub-band represents in fact the original signal at a given resolution level and in a particular frequency range.
This decomposition into uncorrelated sub-bands is implemented by means of a set of monodimensional filter banks applied first to the lines of the current image and then to the columns of the resulting filtered image. An example of such an implementation is described in xe2x80x9cDisplacements in wavelet decomposition of imagesxe2x80x9d, by S. S. Goh, Signal Processing, vol. 44, no 1, June 1995, pp.27-38. Practically two filtersxe2x80x94a low-pass one and a high-pass onexe2x80x94are used to separate low and high frequencies of the image. This operation is first carried out on the lines and followed by a sub-sampling operation, by a factor of 2. It is then carried out on the columns of the sub-sampled image, and the resulting image is also down-sampled by 2. Four images, four times smaller than the original one, are thus obtained: a low-frequency sub-image (or xe2x80x9csmoothed imagexe2x80x9d), which includes the major part of the initial content of the concerned image and therefore represents an approximation of said original image, and three high-frequency sub-images, which contain only horizontal, vertical and diagonal details of said original image. This decomposition process continues until it is clear that there is no more useful information to be derived from the last smoothed image.
In the technical report xe2x80x9cBuilding your own wavelets at homexe2x80x9d, by W. Sweldens and P. Schrxc3x6der, Industrial Mathematics Initiative, Department of Mathematics, University of Seattle, Carolina, 1995, a new way to implement a very simple example of wavelet transform is described, the so-called Haar wavelet. Consider two numbers A and B as two successive samples of a sequence (A and B have therefore some correlation), a simple linear transform allows to replace them by their average S and their difference D:
S=(A+B)/2xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(1)
D=Bxe2x88x92Axe2x80x83xe2x80x83(2)
(if A and B are highly correlated, the expected absolute value of their difference is small and can be represented with few bits). When using such a linear transform, no information is lost, since A and B can always be reconstructed:
xe2x80x83A=Sxe2x88x92D/2xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(3)
B=S+D/2xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(4)
The above-given consideration is the key for understanding the Haar wavelet transform. Consider now a signal S[n] of 2n sample values s[n, l]:
S[n]=s[n, l] 0xe2x89xa6l less than 2nxe2x88x921xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(5)
and apply the average and difference transform to each pair A=s[2l] and B=s[2l+1]. There are 2nxe2x88x921 such pairs (l=0, 1, 2, 3 . . . , 2nxe2x88x921). The results are the following:
s[nxe2x88x921, l]=(s[n, 2l]+s[n, 2l+1])/2xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(6)
d[nxe2x88x921, l]=s[n, 2l+1]xe2x88x92s[n, 2l]xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(7)
The input signal s[n], which has 2n samples, is split into two signals : s[nxe2x88x921], with 2nxe2x88x921 averages s[nxe2x88x921, l], and d[nxe2x88x921], with 2nxe2x88x921 differences d[nxe2x88x921, l], these averages and differences always allowing to recover the original signal S[n]. The averages can be seen as an approximation or a coarser representation of the original signal S[n], and the differences as the detail information needed to go from that coarser representation back to this original signal. If said original signal has some coherence (e.g. if the samples are values of a smoothly varying function), then the coarse representation closely resembles this original signal, the details being very small.
When applying iteratively the same transform to the coarser signal (by taking the average and difference), a coarser signal s[nxe2x88x922] and another difference signal d[nxe2x88x922], splitting s[nxe2x88x921], are obtained. When repeating this operation n times, a Haar transform is implemented (that can be thought of as applying a Nxc3x97N matrix (N=2n) to the signal S[n]).
A new way of looking at the Haar transform, also called the xe2x80x9cladderxe2x80x9d of lifting scheme, can then be presented, the novelty lying in the way the difference and the average of two numbers A and B can be computed. If one wants to compute the whole transform in-placexe2x80x94i.e. without using auxiliary memory locations, by overwriting the locations that hold A and B with the values of respectively S and D-, it cannot be done with the previous formulas (1) and (2): when using them and storing S and D in the same location as A and B respectively, it would lead to a wrong result.
Another implementation in two steps is preferred:
first the difference D=Bxe2x88x92A is computed and stored in the location for B (which is therefore lost, thus preventing from computing directly S=A+B);
B being lost, the average is then found by using A and the newly computed difference D, according to the formula S=A+D/2 which gives the same result, and this result is stored in the location for A.
The advantage of such a splitting into two steps is that it is possible to overwrite B with D and A with S without requiring any auxiliary storage. This particular scheme can be described in more detail. Consider a signal S[j ] with 2j samples, which has to be transformed into a coarser (or xe2x80x9capproximationxe2x80x9d) signal S[jxe2x88x921] and a xe2x80x9cdetailxe2x80x9d signal D[jxe2x88x921]. A typical case of a wavelet transform built through the above scheme (see the technical report previously cited) consists of three steps, each of which is described in more detail, in relation with FIG. 1:
a splitting step SPL: the signal S[j] is divided, in a splitting stage 11, into two disjoint subsets of samples, one group consisting of the even indexed samples s[2l] and the other one consisting of the odd indexed samples s[2l+1] (this splitting into even and odd samples is called the Lazy wavelet transform). The following operator can therefore be built:
(even [jxe2x88x921], odd [jxe2x88x921])=split[s[j]]xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(8)
a predicting step PRED: if the signal S[j ] has a local correlation structure, these even and odd subsets are highly correlated, which allows to predict, in a predicting stage 12, one of the two sets with a reasonable accuracy if the other one is given (in the present case, the even set is always used to predict the odd one: an odd sample s[j, 2l+1] uses its left neighbouring even sample s[j, 2l] as its predictor, for determining the difference d[jxe2x88x921, l]=s[j, 2l+1]xe2x88x92s[j, 2l] between the odd sample and its prediction). More gene other subband transforms can be implemented using a prediction of the odd samples based only on the previous even ones. Denoting by P the prediction operator, the detail signal is then obtained as the difference between the actual odd sample, at the output of the splitting stage 11, and its prediction, at the output of the predicting stage 12, and can be written:
d[jxe2x88x921]=odd[jxe2x88x921]xe2x88x92P[even[jxe2x88x921]]xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(9)
where xe2x80x9cevenxe2x80x9d represents all even samples previous to jxe2x88x921.
an updating step UPD: one of the key properties of the coarser signals is that they have the same average value as the original signal, i.e. the quantity                     S        =                              2                          -              j                                                                    ∑                              l                =                0                                            2                                  j                  -                  1                                                                                xe2x80x83                                                  s                                            [                                  j                  ,                  l                                ]                                                                        (        10        )
is independent of j, which has for result that the last coefficient s[0,0] is the DC component or overall average of the signal. The updating step, carried out in an updating stage 13, ensures this by letting:
xe2x80x83s[jxe2x88x921, l]=s[j, 2l]+d[jxe2x88x921, l]/2xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(11)
Substituting this definition, it can easily be verified that:                                           ∑                          l              =              0                                      2                              j                -                1                                                                    xe2x80x83                                          s                                      [                                                j                  -                  1                                ,                l                            ]                                      =                                            ∑                              l                =                0                                            2                                  j                  -                  1                                                                                xe2x80x83                                                  (                                                s                                                        [                                          j                      ,                                              2                                                l                                                              ]                                                  +                                                      d                                                              [                                                                        j                          -                          1                                                ,                        l                                            ]                                                                                /                                                      2                                            )                                =                                    1                                            /                                          2                                                              ∑                                      l                    =                    0                                                        2                                          j                      -                      1                                                                                xe2x80x83                                                                  (                                                            s                                                                    [                                                  j                          ,                                                      2                                                        l                                                                          ]                                                              +                                          s                                                                    [                                                  j                          ,                                                                                2                                                            l                                                        +                            1                                                                          ]                                                                              )                                                      =                          1                                            /                                          2                                                              ∑                                      l                    =                    0                                                        2                    j                                                                                xe2x80x83                                                                  s                                                        [                                          j                      ,                      l                                        ]                                                                                (        12        )
which allows to define an operator U of the form:
s[jxe2x88x921]=even[jxe2x88x921]+U[d[jxe2x88x921]]xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(13)
In the case of the Haar transform, U[d[jxe2x88x921]] is simply (d[jxe2x88x921])/2. More complicated updating operators exist for other subband transforms.
The subtractor and the adder are designated by the references 14 and 15. All these computations are made in-place: the even locations can be overwritten with the averages and the odd ones with the details. A C-like implementation of these computations may be given by:
(odd[jxe2x88x921], even[jxe2x88x921]):=Split (s[j])
odd[jxe2x88x921]xe2x88x92=P(even[jxe2x88x921])
even[jxe2x88x921]+=U(odd[jxe2x88x921]
It has then been shown that any linear wavelet transform can be implemented with such kind of scheme, where the scale transition is achieved by applying a second predict/update stage to s and d signals, thus constituting a filter bank. An important characteristic of the filter bank which is employed should be the maximization of the energy compaction of the input, which drastically influences the final coding gain. In this context, efforts have been made on the design of filter banks that are optimally adapted to the input signal statistics.
These filter banks are generally non-varying decompositions, which act in the same way whatever the input image. It then appeared as possible to design adaptive filters, changing with the varying characteristics of the input, but, till now, only the first step of these schemes was adapted to changing input, such as described for instance in xe2x80x9cLinear/nonlinear adaptive polyphase subband decomposition structures for image compressionxe2x80x9d, by xc3x6.N. Gerek and A. E. Cetin, Proceedings of the 1998 IEEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing, vol.III, May 12-15, 1998, Seattle, Wash. (USA), pp. 1345-1348.
It is therefore an object of the invention to propose, with respect to such an implementation, an optimized adaptive filtering device, allowing a complete adaptation to varying characteristics of the input.
To this end, the invention relates to a device such as defined in the introductive paragraph of the description and which is moreover characterized in that the first updating circuit U1 and the second predicting circuit P2 are associated within an iterative cross-optimization operation carried out by using the second filter U1 for optimizing the third filter P2 and then said third filter P2 for optimizing said second filter U1.
The advantage of this structure, adapted to the non-stationarities in the input signal, is that it preserves the perfect reconstruction property, without respect of the filters employed in each concerned pair of filtering stages. This is a major advantage in image coding schemes, because lossless coding is achieved.
Preferably, the iterative optimization operation aims at minimizing the variance of the detail coefficients at the output of each decomposition level. The efficiency of the encoding operation of each detail sub-band is indeed increased if its variance has been minimized. At the last level, the optimization aims at minimizing the variance of the approximation coefficients.


A method for delivering plant seed material to a target placement surface is described. The method comprises utilizing a core material and combining plant seed material with the core material to create a vector. A plurality of vectors are delivered to a target placement surface but a barrier layer of vectors is not created.

Those skilled in the art know vegetation can be introduced to non-saturated areas, saturated areas and inundated areas in generally two ways. Namely, vegetation can be introduced by plug planting and/or seeding. Plug planting is generally defined as the planting of seedlings, cuttings or other established plant materials in a particular area. Seeding is generally defined as broadcasting, drilling, and hydroseeding.
These known methods suffer several disadvantages. First, plug planting and seeding are both expensive in terms of labor and materials. Both methods can become prohibitively expensive particularly for large-scale operations which may be, by way of example, one acre or more. Secondly, particularly with regard to plug planting, the known methods are prohibitively expensive where it is desired to introduce more than a single plant species to an area. Thirdly, particularly with regard to seeding, the known methods do not economically permit the accurate placement of a predetermined quality and/or quantity of plant seed material in a particular area. Seeding is also disadvantageously subject to wind, water and/or other dispersive forces which undesirably move plant seed material from desired locations. Lastly, the known methods, particularly seeding, are disadvantageous since the seeds, buoyant by nature, typically float on top of a water surface when located thereon and do not sink so the seeds can root into a bottom surface.
The prior art also consists of U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,897,946, 6,386,796 and 6,558,081 which describe methods for creating a non-permeable barrier layer over contamination. The patents teach that plant seeds may be included with particles. A plurality of particles, each having a core and fine-grained material located about the core, are non-precisely distributed over the contamination in such a quantity that the particles are heaped upon one another. In one embodiment, the particles form a permanent underwater layer which forms a barrier over the contamination.
In light of at least the disadvantages of the known prior art methods of introducing vegetation to various areas, it would be desirable for a distribution method to be cost effective in terms of both labor and materials particularly for a large area. It would also be desirable to have a method for providing vegetation to a particular area where the method permitted the simultaneous introduction of one or more plant species in a cost effective manner. It would also be advantageous to have a method that permitted the accurate placement of a predetermined quantity of plant seed material over the target area and which maintained the plant seed material where it was placed. It would also be advantageous to have a method of distributing plant seed material to inundated areas where the plant seed material did not float on the top of the water, but instead sank to the bottom of the water. Additionally, it would be desirable for a method of providing vegetation via the distribution of plant seed material to a particular area to not create a barrier as taught in the above-mentioned patents. Such a method may be desirably achieved by causing a portion of the vector carrying the plant seed material to disassociate from the vector.

Method of delivering plant seed material


Light-emitting optoelectronic modules operable to generate an emission characterized by reduced speckle can include a coherent light source, a diffuser, and a Fresnel element. The coherent light source is operable to generate a coherent emission, characterized by a coherence length, incident on the diffuser. The diffuser is characterized by a divergence angle. The divergence angle is the angle between a first path-length from the diffuser to a Fresnel element and a second path-length from the diffuser to the Fresnel element, wherein their difference defines a path difference. In some instances, the path difference is substantially larger than the coherence length.

Light-emitting optoelectronic modules operable to generate coherent light are sometimes used to illuminate an object or multiple objects with rough surfaces. Rough surfaces can be characterized by 10 to 100 μm surface features (e.g., grooves) in some instances. Coherent light incident on rough surfaces can generate speckle. Speckle is undesirable for some applications.
In some instances, the distance between a light-emitting optoelectronic module and the rough surface can change; consequently, over time, the speckle can appear as noise. For example, a light-emitting optoelectronic module operable to generate coherent light can be used to illuminate a scene, including one or more objects, in order to capture an image of the scene. The resulting image, captured under typical conditions, would exhibit temporal noise.
In some instances, noise due to speckle can be averaged over time (e.g., to an overall grey tone). In some instances, a diffuser is positioned in front of a coherent light source, and can be rotated while the image is being collected. Consequently, the noise originating from speckle can be averaged out over time in the collected image. In some instances, frequency modulation or other components can be used to average out speckle.
However, these approaches require an elongated exposure time to collect an image and can consume resources, such as power resources. An approach is needed that would permit immediate exposure, and reduced consumption of resources.


In some embodiments, a dispenser for attachment to a liquid container may include one or more of the following features: (a) a tubular valve body of a generally hollow form having a liquid outlet port on one end of the valve body capable of coupling to the liquid container, the valve body further including an air vent opening and a liquid vent opening located on an opposite side of the valve body, (b) an integral lid with the valve body slidingly disposed on the opposite side of the valve body and coupled to be moved between a liquid blocking and a liquid dispensing position, and (c) a liquid seal coupled to the integral lid capable of positioning within a liquid vent opening and an air seal coupled to the integral lid capable of positioning within an air vent opening.

A variety of push-button actuated dispensing valves for dispensing liquids from a relatively large capacity container are known in the art. Where the dispensing valve or tap is used with a flexible wall container, it is not necessary for the container to be vented in any way because no pressure differential is created upon the emptying of the container through the tap.
However, with a rigid container, a system must be provided for equalizing the pressure differential created as contents of the rigid wall container are extracted. Such a vent may be remote from the dispensing valve and may merely comprise a capped opening in an upper wall of the container which, when uncapped, permits ingress of air into the container volume as the liquid contents of the container are being dispensed. Also known in the prior art are self-venting valves eliminating the need for a separate, remote vent opening in the container. Those with knowledge of the dispensing art will recognize with the discussion below how embodiments of the present invention not only differ, but how embodiments of the present invention provide for a much more functional liquid dispenser.
It would be desirable to have a low cost, easy to assemble, reliably operating, mess-free dispensing valve for a rigid container, which will work well with both viscous and low viscosity liquids. It is also desirable to have a dispensing valve which provides an automatic shut off function to prevent inadvertent dispensing. It is desirable to provide a liquid dispenser which does not require a separate input for air on the container, which requires more manufacturing costs.


The optical functional element contains aggregates of developed silver grains obtained by developing silver halide grains arranged so as to constitute a periodical structure. The element includes a substrate and a medium layer. The aggregates of the developed silver grains are arranged in the medium layer so as to constitute said periodical structure. The element is produced by first selectively exposing a photo-curing resin layer formed on said substrate in which the silver halide grains are dispersed so as to selectively photo-cure the photo-curing resin layer, then overall exposing the photo-curing resin layer to expose the silver halide grains in the photo-curing resin layer, and thereafter developing the photo-curing resin layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical functional element of a structure, generally called a photonic crystal (hereinafter, referred to simply as xe2x80x9cphotonic crystalxe2x80x9d), in which plural media with different refractive indices are periodically arranged.
The present invention also relates to a method of producing the optical functional element (photonic crystal).
2. Related Background Art
Photonic crystals have artificial one- or multi-dimensional periodical structures (one-, two-, and three-dimensional) having similarities to solid crystals. More specifically, they have plural media with different refractive indices which are periodically arranged.
Conventional methods for fabricating photonic crystals of this type having plural media with different refractive indices which are periodically arranged include various methods, for example, dry etching, wet etching, fusion-lamination, sputtering, manipulation, self organization, application of lithography, etc.
However, the various conventional methods described above generally involve complicated processes and take a relatively long period of time. In addition, no simple method for fabricating two- or three-dimensional photonic crystals in particular has been known. The various methods described above are based on production technologies for semiconductors so that there is the problem in that it is difficult to use them to fabricate photonic crystals of a large area. Furthermore, another problem is that there are limitations on patterns that can be fabricated by such methods.
Basic properties and examples of operation of photonic crystals as well as conventional fabrication methods for photonic crystals are as described in JP 2001-272566 A entitled xe2x80x9cMethod for Manufacturing Photonic Crystalxe2x80x9d and detailed description will be omitted here.
The present invention has been made under the above-mentioned circumstances, and a first object of the present invention is to solve the problems with the conventional technologies and to provide an optical functional element which is a photonic crystal of a structure having plural media with different refractive indices periodically arranged therein.
A second object of the present invention is to provide a method of producing the optical functional element.
Other objects of the present invention will be apparent from the following description.
In order to attain the above-mentioned first object, a first aspect of the present invention provides an optical functional element comprising an aggregate of developed silver grains obtained by developing silver halide grains arranged so as to constitute a periodical structure. That is to say, the optical functional element of the present invention is a photonic crystal has such a feature that an aggregate of silver grains obtained by developing silver halide grains are arranged so as to constitute a periodical structure.
Here, the photonic crystal of the present invention has the following feature. That is, a photo-curing resin layer formed on a substrate in which silver halide grains are dispersed is first selectively exposed to radiation and then overall exposed to light to develop the silver halide grains dispersed in the photo-curing layer thereby forming an aggregate of developed silver arranged so as to construct the above-mentioned periodical structure.
In the photonic crystal of the present invention, the photo-curing resin layer in which silver halide grains are dispersed consists of a single layer or of plural layers. Where it consists of plural layers, it is preferred that an intermediate layer containing no silver halide grain be provided between any adjacent two of such layers.
Further, the photonic crystal of the present invention includes developing a material having a structure composed of a substrate, a binder layer on the substrate containing dispersed silver halide grains therein, and a photo-curing resin layer on at least one side of the binder layer by selectively exposing the photo-curing resin layer to radiation and then subjecting it to overall exposure to light to form an aggregate of developed silver which are arranged to construct the above-mentioned periodical structure.
The present invention can also provide an effective method for producing the above-mentioned photonic crystals. That is, the present invention can provide a method for producing a photonic crystal, comprising exposing and then selectively developing silver halide grains dispersed in a photo-curing resin layer formed on a substrate to form an aggregate of silver grains which are periodically arranged in the photo-curing resin layer.
Here, the above-mentioned photo-curing resin layer is preferably one to which infiltrating power (infiltrability) of a developer which develops the silver halide grains varies depending on the degree of photo-curing. Alternatively, the photo-curing resin layer is preferably one to which infiltrability of the developer varies by selective irradiation of the photo-curing resin layer with radiation.
Another effective method as a production method for photonic crystals is a method including developing a material having a structure composed of a substrate, a binder layer on the substrate containing dispersed silver halide grains therein, and a photo-curing resin layer on at least one side of the binder layer by selectively exposing the photo-curing resin layer to radiation and then subjecting it to overall exposure to light to form the aggregate of developed silver which are periodically arranged.
Still another effective method as a production method for photonic crystals is a method which comprises returning the photonic crystal formed as described above to the step of coating a photo-curing resin layer and again producing a single layer or plural layers of photonic crystal lattice on the previously fabricated single layer or plural layers of photonic crystal lattice on the photonic crystal. On this occasion, use of different lattice masks for the initial single layer or plural layers of photonic crystal lattice and for the single or plural layers of photonic crystal lattice formed so as to overlap the former enables fabrication of photonic crystals composed of multi-layer lattices with different angles.
In short, the method for producing a photonic crystal according to the present invention is just needed to form a periodical structure, by a difference in refractive index, between a region where developed silver exists and another region where no developed silver exists. No limitation is posed on its layer structure and lattice pattern, thus giving much freedom in choice.

Optical functional element and method of producing the same


A signal dispersion cancellation structure receives incoming signal samples at an incoming rate, stores these samples in a first memory and then writes these samples at a submultiple of the incoming rate into a plurality of second memories. Each second memory is associated with a finite impulse response (FIR) filter and the second memory samples are coupled to the associated FIR filter at the incoming rate. Advantageously, apparatus is also provided which enables any sample in a second memory to be provided to the associated FIR filter and outputted therefrom at a time related to the position of any signal dispersion.

Signal dispersion, such as echoes, ghosts, multipath and intersymbol interference, is an ever-present reality in communications systems. The severity of this problem varies with the system application and, at times, can render a system completely inoperative. For example, signal ghosts or echoes at levels which are merely objectional to the viewer of a conventional television signal can render a high-definition television (HDTV) signal unintelligible. Accordingly, cancellation or compensation for such dispersion cannot be ignored.
Ghosts in a television channel can be categorized as being either precursor or postcursor. A precursor ghost is one that precedes its associated transmitted signal while a postcursor ghost is one that succeeds its associated transmitted signal. FIG. 1 shows a typical ghost canceller structure 100 which includes a feedforward finite impulse response (FIR) filter 101 and an infinite impulse response (IIR) filter 102 in cascade. FIR filter 102 includes a feedback FIR filter 103 and combiner 104, the latter subtracting the output of feedback FIR filter 103 from the output of feedforward FIR filter 101. The feedforward FIR filter equalizes the main signal and any precursor ghosts while the IIR filter, also known as the feedback section, compensates for the one of more postcursor ghosts. The dispersion of the signal defines the required length or span of the feedback FIR filter and is the most difficult part of the ghost canceller structure to implement. While the exact position of any ghosts relative to an associated signal can vary from one application to the next, ghosts in a television channel are generally widely separated from one another and extend over a large time span. For example, the time interval between the furthest precursor and postcursor ghosts associated with the same transmitted signal can be 40 .mu.g seconds.
One prior art technique for implementing the feedback FIR filter in IIR filter 102, referred to as the full-span approach, is shown in FIG. 2. This approach involves implementing the feedback FIR filter using a data memory 201 and tap-weight coefficient store 202. In typical ghost cancellation applications, data memory 201 must have the capacity to store several hundred signal samples, and tap-weight coefficient store 202 must provide one tap-weight coefficient for each stored signal sample. At the incoming signal sample rate, each of the stored signal samples in data memory 201 must be multiplied by its associated tap-weight coefficient in data store 202 via multiplier 203 and the sum of these products coupled to combiner 104. While the full-span structure provides satisfactory ghost cancellation, it is very costly to implement since the incoming signal sample rate is high, e.g., 14.3 MHz, and many high-speed multiplications must be performed at this rate. In addition, the structure is inefficient since most of the tap-weight coefficients have a value of zero due to the wide time separation between ghosts.
FIG. 3 shows another prior art approach, referred to as the segmented-sparse technique, to implement the feedback FIR filter in IIR filter 102. This technique involves the use of variable delay random access memory segments 301-1 through 301-N which are inserted between a plurality of HR filters 302-1 through 302-N. The outputs of such filters are combined by summer 303. While this approach reduces the hardware required compared to the full-span approach, its rigid architectural structure still requires circuit overdesign to meet the required performance goals. For example, if the delay between adjacent ghosts is greater than the maximum delay provided by one memory segment, two or more such memory segments must be concatenated and use of the FIR filter disposed between such segments is lost. Alternatively, when the ghosts are closely-spaced, more than one FIR filter is required between adjacent memory segments and use of a number of memory segments will be lost. As a result, depending on the locations of the ghosts, there is often an underutilization of either FIR filters or memory segments with the segmented-sparse technique.
Accordingly, it would be extremely desirable if a more flexible ghost cancellation structure could be provided which fulfilled both the necessary performance and cost objectives.

Technique utilizing signal storing devices for cancelling signal dispersion


The invention refers to a patch arrangement for electric elimination of muscle spasms. The invention is based upon the object to employ electrotherapy through stable galvanization without external voltage source to attain high efficiency and to make it overall more practical. In accordance with the invention, the object is attained by arranging a plane electrode of different metals at both sides of the affected area. A further metal electrode is applied onto both of these skin contact electrodes at the other side or body-distant side thereof wherein the metals of these electrodes may correspond to those of both skin electrodes, however, with opposing polarity according to the electrochemical series. Both obtained compact bimetallic electrodes are insulated at their border against electrolytic shorting and attached to the body by means of the electrocardiographic electrode patch which is available in the medical trade. Moreover, by suitably selecting the metals, two additional galvanic elements are obtained upon the skin in series with the galvanic element composed of two different metals and already known in the literature.

The invention refers to a patch arrangement of electrically connected electrodes of different metals for application upon the human body for electric influence of electrically acting structures of the organism.
When experiencing muscle spasms and irritations of the nerve root especially in the area of the spine, electrotherapy is increasingly the preferred treatment. The aversion of employing a respective drug therapy increases.
Application of a direct current through the tissue being treated (stable galvanization) is of particular significance. In practice, large stationary devices are used which are also dimensioned for other types of current (so-called stimulating current devices). Smaller portable and battery-operated devices (so called TENS-devices) are commercially available for ambulant or medium-term continuous application. While a longer-term application with stationary devices is not feasible, the still required size of portable devices renders their use still inconvenient.
Treatment of muscle spasms of all types with a comparably small permanent current in the .mu.A-range has proven to be very effective. Various arrangements were thus described which utilize the potential difference between two differently noble metals which are in contact with the skin perspiration electrolytes for producing a current flow through the body tissue being treated. The arrangement according to GB-PS 3276 (1904) requires, however, very large skin electrodes for accomplishing a sufficient current flow. According to CH-PS 171866, the galvanic voltage is generated through different metal electrodes as well as skin perspiration electrolytes and/or different fabric layers soaked with electrolyte. In this context the use of adhesive coatings were also proposed, resulting in solutions which essentially constitute short-term utilizable, disposable articles with expensive metal electrodes.
GB-PS No. 288 of 1904 describes an alternate arrangement of superimposed disks of noble metal and base metal, with reference to galvanic intermediate layers between zinc and copper; however, there is no explanation with regard to the configuration of a closed circuit. Poor efficiency or impractical application are reasons that hitherto proposed technical solutions did not succeed.

Patch arrangement for galvanic treatment


When one looks at a face, one cannot help but ‘read’ it: in the blink of an eye, people form reliable impressions of both transient psychological states (e.g., happiness) and stable character traits (e.g., trustworthiness). Such impressions are irresistible, formed with high levels of consensus, and important for social decisions. Disclosed herein is a large-scale data-driven methodology that allows for the easy manipulation of social trait information in hyper-realistic face images. For example, a given face image could be made to look more or less trustworthy by moving a simple slider. Further, this method can not only generate faces, but can ‘read’ faces as well, providing confidence estimates of different social traits for any arbitrary image. The disclosed approach is both fast and accurate, and represents a paradigm shift in facial photo manipulation.

State of the art in photorealistic face generation uses generative adversarial networks (GANs) that allow a fictional, realistic face to be generated. However, to date, there is no ability to generate, or modify, an image in a realistic manner such that a specific degree of a given social trait is encoded in the created image.
An example of a social trait is how trustworthy a person appears to an observer. Research has found that such impressions are formed rapidly (i.e., within 100 milliseconds of exposure to the person's face) and inform people's behavior in social settings (e.g., deciding who to trust). Although such social trait perception is subjective, in the sense that it exists entirely in observers' minds, as opposed to more objective facial attributes like nose width, it is also highly consistent across people—most people agree on who looks trustworthy, for example.

Data-driven, photorealistic social face-trait encoding, prediction, and manipulation using deep neural networks

THE TRUSTEES OF THE STEVENS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY


A method capable of avoiding interruption due to incoming call is adapted to a mobile communication device. A subscriber identity module (SIM) card is installed on the mobile communication device. The method includes steps of setting a non-interruption period; retrieving an incoming call time of an incoming call signal when receiving the incoming call signal; determining whether the incoming call time is within the non-interruption period; stopping to supply power to the SIM card if the incoming call time is within the non-interruption period; and normally supplying power to the SIM card if the incoming call time is not within the non-interruption period.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a mobile communication device and, more particularly, to a method, which is adapted to a mobile communication device, capable of avoiding interruption due to incoming call.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As technology advances and develops, mobile communication device has been considered a necessity by a lot of people. Although a user can use a mobile communication device to communicate with someone conveniently, there are still some inconveniences in using the mobile communication device. For example, the user may be often interrupted by a sudden incoming call or short message when he or she is sleeping, dating, meeting, vacationing, driving or busy for something. At those conditions, it may be inconvenient for the user to answer the incoming call or reply the short message promptly so that it may embarrass the user or cause a misunderstanding. Furthermore, it is dangerous for the user to drive and answer the incoming call or reply the short message at the same time. In general, the user can only switch the mobile communication device to a silent mode or a vibration mode so as to avoid the aforesaid interruption. However, the user may miss important incoming call or short message if he or she forgets to switch the mobile communication device from the silent mode or the vibration mode to a ring mode.

Method and mobile communication device capable of avoiding interruption due to incoming call


An L.E.D. lamp assembly (20) includes an electrically insulative coating (24) disposed on a thermally conductive substrate (22). A plurality of light emitting diodes (26) are secured to the coating (24) and a circuit (40) is adhesively secured to the coating (24) in predetermined spaced lengths (42) along the coating (24) to establish discrete and electrically conductive spaced lengths (42) with the light emitting diodes (26) disposed between the spaced lengths (42). LED electrical leads (32) are secured to the spaced lengths (42) of the circuit (40) to electrically interconnect the light emitting diodes (26). The circuit (40) includes a foil tape (46) having an electrically conductive tape portion (48) and a coupling portion (50) disposed on the tape portion (48) for securing the foil tape (46) to the insulated substrate (22). Heat generated by the light emitting diodes (26) is transferred through the insulative coating (24) to the electrically and thermally conductive substrate (22) for dissipating the heat.

1. Field of the Invention
The subject invention relates to light emitting diodes mounted in an array on a circuit and, more particularly, to physically large light emitting diode arrays.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Light emitting diodes (LEDs) have been available since the early 1960's in various forms, and are now widely applied in a variety of signs and message boards. The relatively high efficacy of LEDs (in lumens per Watt) is the primary reason for their popularity. Tremendous power savings are possible when LED lamps are used to replace traditional incandescent lamps of similar luminous output. With the increasing popularity and technology of LEDs, physically large LED arrays are becoming more common as LED performance improves and allows the devices to be used for large outdoor display and advertising panels. Such signs are commonly fabricated with large numbers of high power LEDs (0.5 Watt and higher) which require adequate heat sinking for reasonable life. These LED signs are commonly assembled with wired modules or more preferentially with integral 'plug and play' substrates which have all the LEDs interconnected and heat sinked onto a metal plate. U.S. Pat. No. 5,857,767 to Hochstein describes this technology, and it has been widely applied commercially for lighting channel letters, shelter lighting, and high performance beacons and searchlights for the military. As noted in the '767 patent, the conductors that interconnect the LEDs disposed on the insulated metal substrate, are typically screen printed with a conductive ink that is subsequently cured to form the circuit traces. LEDs are then adhesively secured to these printed conductors to complete the circuit.
While this process is very cost effective in larger volumes, the necessity of preparing printing screens is burdensome for small runs, particularly in larger sizes, which can approach several square meters. The circuit artwork is typically computer generated, but actual size, process negatives (or positives} must be created and then 'burned in' on a suitably photosensitized screen. That screen must then be developed, washed out and placed in a precision screen printing machine. Conductive, usually silver, based inks are then used to create the circuit (impression) on the insulated metal substrate. When only a few of these substrates are printed, the waste of silver ink is significant, and the process looses its attractiveness because of cost and complexity. It is impractical to use conventional printed circuit techniques for large LED panels because of the cost. Further, photoetched printed circuits employ environmentally unfriendly processes that become unmanageable with very large substrates.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

LED light engine with applied foil construction


Techniques for determining a discontinuous reception configuration are disclosed. A user equipment may receive a discontinuous reception configuration from a network entity. The user equipment may select one or more discontinuous reception parameters to modify based at least in part on the received indication of a particular data burst class to be transmitted. The user equipment may receive a data burst and a selection command from the network entity. The user equipment selects one or more discontinuous reception parameters to modify based at least in part on the received indication of whether to apply the one or more adaptive parameters after the transmission of a current data burst is complete.

Fourth generation (4G) wireless mobile telecommunications technology, also known as Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology, was designed to provide high capacity mobile multimedia with high data rates particularly for human interaction. Next generation or fifth generation (5G) technology is intended to be used not only for human interaction, but also for machine type communications in so-called Internet of Things (IoT) networks.
Data streams, such as extended reality (XR) data streams, may be provided over such communication networks. The corresponding data traffic of such data streams may be associated with quasi-periodic and multimodal bursty patterns. Such traffic periodicity may be due to, for example, a three-dimensional video generation process that creates a sequence of frames at a given sampling rate. Compression of the generated frames may be achieved through a mix of intra-frame and inter-frame coding. Intra-frame coding may use lossy coding techniques that require only the information carried in the compressed frame for decoding. In contrast, inter-frame coding applies differential techniques across multiple frames to encode and transmits only the differences across consecutive frames.
Frames generated using intra-frame coding are termed I-frames while frames generated using inter-frame coding are termed P-frames or B-frames, depending on the differential technique used. Inter-frame coding allows for higher compression at the cost of creating dependencies across frames. To limit the long dependencies and increase reliability against transmission losses, frames are organized into a Group of Pictures (GoP). A GoP may comprise a sequence of consecutive frames, typically starting with an I frame and followed by a certain number of P frames or B frames. Such GoP organization creates a bursty traffic pattern with a large burst due to the I frames followed by smaller bursts carrying P-frames and/or B-frames.

Method and apparatus for adaptive discontinous reception configuration


An image forming system for forming an image on a sheet includes a first receiving section and a second receiving section. A first transporting section transports the sheet-to the first receiving section. A second transporting section transports the sheet to the second receiving section. A selecting section selects either the first receiving section or the second receiving section. A detector detects that the second receiving section is in an abnormal condition while the selecting section selects the second receiving section. The selection of the selecting section is changed from the second receiving section to the first receiving section corresponding to the detection of the detector. The second transporting section is driven until all the sheets in the second transporting section are transported to the second receiving section.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an image forming system having an image forming device, such as an electrophotographic printer, for forming an image on a recording medium, and a stacking device connected to the image forming device for receiving the printed recording medium on which the image is formed.
2. Description of Prior Art
Generally, an image forming system has an image forming device, a paper feeding device and a paper stacking device. The image forming device receives a sheet of paper and forms an image thereon. After the image is formed, the printed sheet is transported to the paper stacking device.
Recently, in the stacking device art there has been recognized a need to rapidly stack a plurality of sheets, because the image forming device forms the image on the sheet at a high speed. For example, to this end, Japanese Patent disclosure (Kokai) No. 63-171770. Ono et al., discloses a stacking device having a mechanism which receives a plurality of printed sheets. In the stacking device, there are a sheet tray and an elevator mechanism. The elevator mechanism moves the sheet tray vertically in response to the height of the stacked sheets.
The stacking device, further, has a second tray positioned over the sheet tray. When it is impossible to stack the next printed sheet on the sheet tray, such as in a paper full condition, a cover open condition, and the like, the sheet is transported to the second tray.
Moreover, the types of systems are increasing in which a stacking device as an optional device is connected to the image forming device. In the case in which the stacking device is an optional device, it is necessary that an exit tray be arranged in the image forming device because some user will often buy the image forming device only.
However, there is a problem in this system. That is, when the exit tray is arranged in the image forming device, the transporting path from the image forming device to the stacking device is longer than that of such a device in which the sheet tray is arranged in the stacking device. Further, in the case there is an another optional device between the image forming device and the stacking device, the transporting path is longer than that of this system. Consequently, if the sheet is being transported in the transporting path when the stacking operation becomes impossible, sheet jamming will occur in the transporting path.

Image forming apparatus providing a sheet tray in the image forming section when the stacking device is filled


Various embodiments include a memory device and methods of forming the same. The memory device can include an electrode coupled to one or more memory elements, to store information. The electrode may comprise a number of metals, where a first one of the metals has a Gibbs free energy for oxide formation lower than the Gibbs free energy of oxidation of a second one of the metals.

Computers and other electronic products, for example, digital televisions, digital cameras, and cellular phones, often have one or more memory devices to store information. Some memory devices may have memory cells that are capable of storing multiple bits of information in each memory cell. In some cases, however, producing these types of memory devices may pose challenges.

Multilevel mixed valence oxide (MVO) memory


A subatomic particle detection apparatus includes a scintillator to scintillate if struck by subatomic particles, and to scintillate if subjected to mechanical stresses, the scintillator to emit an electrical discharge if scintillating due to the mechanical stresses. A detector is optically coupled to the scintillator to detect scintillations by the scintillator. Furthermore, an antenna is associated with the scintillator and/or the detector to detect the electrical discharge. In addition, circuitry is coupled to the detector and the antenna to determine whether the scintillator scintillated due to the mechanical stresses, based upon the antenna detecting the electrical discharge.

Particle generators, such as neutron generators and gamma ray generators, are often used together with particle detectors, such as neutron detectors and gamma ray detectors, to log a subsurface formation. For example, by sending particles into a formation, detecting the resulting particles that either bounce back or are generated as a result of the sent particles striking atoms in the formation, and analyzing those detections, useful information about the formation can be discerned and the formation can thus be logged.
A typical particle detector includes a scintillation detector package that is optically coupled to a photomultiplier tube (PMT). The scintillation detector package includes a scintillator crystal that scintillates when struck by particles to which it is attuned (i.e. neutrons, gamma rays). As particles strike the scintillator crystal and cause it to emit light pulses, the PMT detects the light pulses and converts them from the optical domain to the electrical domain. Processing circuitry may then be used to analyze the converted light pulses.
A detector used in a downhole application to log a formation may be exposed to both thermal and mechanical stresses. Unfortunately, mechanical stresses can cause a scintillator crystal to scintillate via triboluminescence, an optical phenomenon in which light is generated when a material is pulled apart, ripped, scratched, crushed, or rubbed, through the breaking of chemical bonds in the material. It thus follows that if the scintillator crystal were to emit a light due to mechanical stress, the PMT might detect and convert that "false" light pulse.
This is an undesirable situation, as the accuracy and resolution of the resulting log could be degraded by the false light pulses. Current approaches at reducing the degradation to a log due to false light pulses revolve around trying to better isolate the scintillation crystal from mechanical stress and shock. While these approaches may indeed be successful in reducing the number of false light pulses emitted by the scintillation crystal, eliminating a majority of false light pulses may be extremely difficult. In addition, these approaches may increase the cost or reduce the size of a detector by an undesirable amount.
As such, new ways of reducing the degradation to a log due to false light pulses emitted by a scintillator crystal is desired.

Subatomic particle detector capable of ignoring shock induced counts


Systems and techniques are described for large field of view digital imaging. A device's first image sensor captures a first image based on first light redirected from a first path onto a redirected first path by a first light redirection element, and the device's second image sensor captures a second image based on second light redirected from a second path onto a redirected second path by a second light redirection element. A virtual extension of the first path beyond the first light redirection element can intersect with a virtual extension of the second path intersect beyond the second light redirection element. The device can modify the first image and second image using perspective distortion correction, and can generate a combined image by combining the first image and the second image. The combined image can have a larger field of view than the first image and/or the second image.

Many devices include one or more cameras. For example, a smartphone or tablet includes a front facing camera to capture selfie images and a rear facing camera to capture an image of a scene (such as a landscape or other scenes of interest to a device user). A user may wish to capture an image of a scene that does not fit within a field of view of a camera. Some devices include multiple cameras with different fields of view based on a curvature of a camera lens directing light to the image sensor. The user may thus use the camera with the desired field of view of the scene based on the camera lens curvature to capture an image.

Multiple camera system for wide angle imaging


In one embodiment, if a UE is performing minimizing drive test (MDT) measurements and a radio link failure (RLF) occurs, the UE may add MDT measurement information to an RLF message to the network. In effect, the UE “piggy-backs” MDT information in the RLF report, and in so doing, provides greater flexibility to UEs reporting MDT information and more robust reporting. In another embodiment, the UE detects that no allowed reporting channel to report MDT measurement information exists, stores the MDT information, and after detecting that allowed reporting channel exists, initiates establishment of a radio link with the radio communications network during which the UE informs the network using an availability indicator that the UE has stored unreported MDT measurement information to be reported to the radio communications network.

FIG. 1 shows a radio or wireless communications system 1 where wireless terminals 2 (also known as mobile stations and/or user equipment units (UEs)) communicate via a radio access network (RAN) to one or more core networks (shown as a cloud 3). In a cellular communications system, the radio access network (RAN) covers a geographical area which is divided into cell areas, with each cell area being served by a base station, e.g., a radio base station (RBS), which in some networks may also be called a "NodeB" (UMTS) or "eNodeB" (LTE). A cell is a geographical area where radio coverage is provided by the radio base station equipment at a base station site. Each cell is identified by an identity within the local radio area, which is broadcast in the cell. The base stations communicate over the air interface operating on radio frequencies with the user equipment units (UE) within range of the base stations.
In some versions of a radio access network, several base stations are typically connected (e.g., by landlines or microwave) to a controller node (such as a radio network controller (RNC) or a base station controller (BSC)) which supervises and coordinates various activities of the plural base stations connected thereto. The radio network controllers are typically connected to one or more core networks.
The Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is a third generation mobile communication system, which evolved from the second generation (2G) Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM). UTRAN is essentially a radio access network using wideband code division multiple access for user equipment units (UEs). In a forum known as the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), telecommunications suppliers propose and agree upon standards for third generation networks and UTRAN specifically, and investigate enhanced data rate and radio capacity. Specifications for the Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) are ongoing within the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). The Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) comprises the Long Term Evolution (LTE) and System Architecture Evolution (SAE). Long Term Evolution (LTE) is a variant of a 3GPP radio access technology where the radio base station nodes are connected directly to a core network rather than to radio network controller (RNC) nodes. In general, in LTE the functions of a radio network controller is (RNC) node are distributed between the radio base stations nodes (eNodeB's in LTE). As such, the radio access network (RAN) of an LTE system has an essentially "flat" architecture comprising radio base station nodes without reporting to radio network controller (RNC) nodes.
In radio access networks like UTRAN and E-UTRAN, it may be desirable to minimize human-based "drive testing" that operators need to perform to troubleshoot and optimize their networks. One alternative for minimizing drive test (MDT) is for UEs to perform measurements and report them to the radio network which may then be forwarded if desired or needed. Example UE reporting methods for these measurements include Logged Reporting and Immediate Reporting. For LTE, a UE can either be in a radio resource control (RRC)-Connected mode (the UE is involved in an active communication) or an RRC-Idle mode (the UE is not involved in an active communication but is "camped" on a cell). In certain LTE networks, Immediate Reporting may be used in RRC-Connected mode and Logged Reporting may be used in RRC-Idle mode. For immediate reporting, the MDT measurements by UEs in RRC-Connected mode are reported to the network (e.g., eNB/RNC) at the time of reporting. For logged reporting, the MDT measurements by UEs in RRC-Idle mode are stored in a measurement log and reported to the network at later points in time when configured conditions are satisfied. Measurement logs may include multiple events and measurements taken over time.
Although immediate reporting is used for connected mode, there are situations that cannot be handled by immediate reporting including when the UE cannot communicate with the RAN, e.g., the UE's radio link fails. In this situation, the UE typically discards the MDT measurements. But from an operator's perspective, it would still be desirable to receive the MDT measurements at a later time if possible because that MDT measurement information may still be valuable for managing the network.

UE-based MDT measuring and reporting in a cellular radio access network


A mobile terminal comprises a first touch screen and a controller. The controller provides the first touch screen with an information region that includes at least one information item and first and second control regions for controlling a display of the information region. The controller also controls a viewing perspective of the information region in response to a first touch input for the first control region, and controls at least one of the number or type of the at least one information item in response to a second touch input for the second control region. The controller may also control the information region to have a two-dimensional or three-dimensional viewing perspective in response to the first touch input.

1. Field
One or more embodiments described herein relate to controlling the operation and display of information on mobile terminals or other electronic devices.
2. Background
Some mobile terminals provide multimedia content such as text, still pictures, motion pictures, and/or broadcasting information. However, this content is provided in simple thumbnail or list modes through an interface such as a graphical user interface. Use of these modes has proven to be inefficient, especially when various multimedia content is managed or when a user searches for or selects a specific multimedia content.

Mobile terminal and method of displaying information in mobile terminal


The embodiments provide systems and methods which allow users to schedule routine online presence information to let outside world see the users appear to be “online” or “offline” at a particular day and time. An exemplary system of scheduling and displaying an online presence of a user of an instant messaging (IM) application is provided. The system includes an online presence scheduler for entering the time zone of the user and for scheduling an online schedule for the user to appear online. The online schedule includes a start time, an end time, and a routine of the user. The system also includes a presence management server (PMS). PMS determines the online presence of the user based on a login time of the user to the IM application, the online schedule for the user, and an identification of the user. The PMS prepares an online presence information to reflect the determined online presence of the user for display. The time zone and online schedule of the user entered into the online presence scheduler and the identification of the user are stored in the PMS.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the displaying of online presence of a user of an instant messenger (IM) or an instant messaging (IM) system. Specifically, the displayed online presence can be scheduled in advanced by the user.
2. Description of the Related Art
Instant messaging (IM) allows users to exchange information, such as text messages, files, voice, and videos, in real-time. The information exchanges occur between two or more people, who log into a particular IM service or IM services that interface with one another. Allowing for instantaneous communication between a number of parties at the same time, instant messaging can thus transmit information quickly and efficiently, as well as receive an immediate acknowledgement or reply. Therefore IM is an effective communication and collaboration tool. With the benefit of being able to see the other party using webcams, and even talking directly for free over the internet, this form of digital communication has been widely accepted by individuals of all ages.
As described above, instant messaging (IM) offers real-time communication and allows easy collaboration. IM might be considered more akin to genuine conversation than email's "letter" format. In contrast to e-mail, the parties know whether the peer is available. On the other hand, people are not forced to reply immediately to incoming messages. For this reason, some people consider communication via instant messaging to be less intrusive than communication via phone.
Most IM services offer presence (or status) information features, which indicate whether a user is currently online and available to exchange information or is offline and unavailable. These IM systems allow a user to manually set an "online presence (or status)" or "away message" so peers are notified when the user is available, busy, or away from the computer, after the user logs into IM systems. The above mentioned IM systems set a user to be "offline" (or unavailable) when the user logs off systems. Some IM systems also allow an user to appear "offline" while the user actually logs into the IM systems. However, manually setting an "online presence" or "away message" is undesirable, since it requires extra effort of a user to remember to take such an action.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need for systems and methods for setting and displaying programmable online presence information.

Scheduled online presence on instant messenger