A headrest, armrest, or other attachment to an image diagnosis bed apparatus having leaf springs formed as integral parts of its connecting portion, and a bed apparatus tabletop with a connecting hole for the insertion of the attachment connecting portion at one end and fixing holes for the leaf springs at its top. Also, an armrest shaped so as to be capable of being placed over a headrest connected to the tabletop.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a bed apparatus used in support of image diagnosis, such as X-ray CT.
2. Description of the Related Art
A bed apparatus used with an image diagnosis apparatus, such as X-ray CT, is generally composed of a tabletop 10 on which a patient (person to be examined) may lie, and a bed 20 that is a base for supporting the tabletop 10 and a device for driving it, as shown in FIG. 1. The tabletop 10 may be fitted with attachments, such as a headrest and an armrest (as shown by dotted lines in FIG. 1). The tabletop 10 is constructed to be horizontally and reciprocally movable along the axis of the body of the person to be examined (along the arrow Z shown in FIG. 1) by a driving device installed in the bed 20.
The tabletop 10 is also constructed so that it can be fitted at its end facing the photographing apparatus with attachments, such as a headrest for supporting the head of the person to be examined and an armrest for supporting his arms. The attachments, such as the headrest and armrest, are fitted in various places, depending on the photographing method that is employed. Arrangements employed in the related art for fitting such attachments are shown by way of example in FIGS. 2 to 4. At its end facing the photographing apparatus, the tabletop 10 has a connecting hole 10a through which the attachments, such as the headrest and armrest, may be connected. At its top, the tabletop 10 has metallic fixing pins 10b for fixing the attachments to the tabletop 10, flexible straps 10c for connecting the fixing pins 10b to the tabletop 10 and fixing holes 10d in which the fixing pins 10b can be inserted for fixing the attachments.
As shown in FIG. 2, the headrest is a supporting device of small thickness for supporting the head of the person to be examined so that it's photographing may be carried out satisfactorily. The headrest 30 can be connected with the tabletop 10 if its connecting portion 30a is inserted into the connecting hole 10a of the tabletop 10. The headrest 30 has fixing holes 30b in its connecting portion 30a, so that if the metallic fixing pins 10b connected to the top of the tabletop 10 by the straps 10c are inserted in its fixing holes 10d provided on the top of the tabletop 10 after the headrest is connected with the tabletop 10, the fixing pins 10b may pass through the fixing holes 30b to fix the headrest to the tabletop 10.
The armrest is used to support the upper arm portions of the person to be examined in the vicinity of his head so that his arms do not obstruct the photographing of the upper half of his body. FIG. 3 is a partly cutaway view of a conventional armrest. The armrest 40 can be connected with the tabletop 10 if its connecting portion 40a is inserted into the connecting hole 10a of the tabletop 10. The armrest 40 has fixing holes 40b in its connecting portion 40a, so that if the fixing pins 10b connected to the top of the tabletop 10 by the straps 10c are inserted in its fixing holes 10d provided on the top of the tabletop 10 after the connecting portion 40a is connected with the tabletop 10, the fixing pins 10b may pass through the fixing holes 40b to fix the armrest to the tabletop 10.
Conventional attachments, however, have a variety of problems as will now be explained. The series of operations associated with connecting and fixing an attachment, such as headrest 30 or armrest 40, to the tabletop 10 are troublesome, since they consist of two steps: (a) inserting the connecting portion of the attachment into the connecting hole 10a of the tabletop 10; and then (b) inserting the fixing pins 10b situated above the tabletop 10 into the fixing holes 10d in the top of the tabletop 10. The conventional armrest 40 is constructed so that its connection to the tabletop 10 is possible only after the removal of the headrest 30. The process of removal and fitting is troublesome. Moreover, the presence of two fixing pins 10b in the conventional system makes it difficult for one person to complete the removal process, since it is necessary to draw out the attachment while drawing up the two pins.
Another drawback of the conventional system relates to differences in the effective range of photographing between when the armrest 40 is used, and when the headrest 30 is used, as shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B. When the armrest 40 is used, the person P to be examined lies with the top of his head situated substantially at one end of the tabletop 10 as shown in FIG. 4A. But when the headrest 30 is used, the person P lies with his head protruding beyond that end of the tabletop 10 as shown in FIG. 4B. However, the conventional tabletop 10 is supported at only one end and must be supported by the bed 20 along at least one end portion having a length x, irrespective of the position of the person to be examined on the tabletop. Therefore, the effective range of photographing varies whether the headrest is used and thus requires the person to be examined to lie with his head shifted on the tabletop.
In FIGS. 4A and 4B, a CT apparatus is shown as an example of a conventional photographing apparatus. The CT contains an X-ray tube (X) and a detector (D) that dictate a photographing position I. The oblique lines employed for a portion of the tabletop 10 in FIG. 4A or 4B denote where the attachment, such as headrest 30 or armrest 40, is connected to the tabletop 10. That portion defines a low-count region, since its connecting parts (such as the fixing pins 10c) are metallic and tend to produce a low-count artifact. The fact that the metallic parts narrow the effective range of photographing as mentioned impedes and inconveniences photographing.
What is required, as discovered by the present inventors is an attachment, such as a headrest or an armrest that does not impedes photographing or requires patients to be repositioned as extremities are photographed.

Bed apparatus for image diagnosis and its attachments


A fixing device of an image forming apparatus of the present invention enables induction heating coils for a 100 V power source to set a ratio of inductance L to load resistance R of a heat roller to L/R <35×10−6 (H/Ω) and coil impedance Z (Ω) to Z<10 (Ω) and supplies a drive current at a high frequency of 40 to 70 kHz. By doing this, an eddy current generated in the heat roller is concentrated upon a metallic conductive layer by the skin effect and the heat generation efficiency of the heat roller is improved.

As a fixing device used in an image forming apparatus such as an electro-photographic copier or printer, there is a fixing device for inserting a sheet of paper through a nipping section formed between a pair of rollers composed of a heat roller and a pressure roller or between similar belts and heating, pressurizing, and fixing a toner image. As such a heating type fixing device, conventionally, there is an apparatus for heating a metallic conductive layer on the surface of a heat roller or a heat belt by the induction heating method. The induction heating method supplies predetermined power to an induction heating coil to generate a magnetic field, instantaneously heats the metallic conductive layer by an eddy current generated by the magnetic field, and can fix the heat roller or heat belt.
As such a fixing device of the induction heating method, for example, in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2002-237377, to prevent the frequency of the induction heating coil from reducing to an audio frequency of 20 kHz or less, an apparatus for retaining a fixed heating output without generating a noise is disclosed. However, this fixing device of the conventional induction heating method uses a low frequency not reaching the audio frequency to realize cut-down of cost of the apparatus.
On the other hand, in recent years, in a fixing device of the induction heating method, a fixing device for installing a thinned metallic conductive layer having a small heat capacity on the surface of a heat roller to realize fast heating of the metallic conductive layer and realizing more energy conservation has been developed. In such a thinned metallic conductive layer with a small heat capacity, when the induction heating coil is driven at a frequency of about 20 to 40 kHz by a conventionally used inverter circuit, the surface depth of an eddy current generated in the metallic conductive layer is large, so that the leakage rate of the magnetic flux is increased, and the efficient heating is disturbed.
Therefore, in a fixing device having an installed thinned metallic conductive layer, development of a fixing device of an image forming apparatus characterized in that when heating the metallic conductive layer, the magnetic flux of an eddy current generated in the metallic conductive layer by the induction heating coil leaks little, and heat generation of the metallic conductive layer is efficient, and speeded fixing and energy conservation can be realized, and the profitability and environmental maintenance are excellent is desired.

Fixing device of image forming apparatus


A control device for an electric vehicle stopping at a slope road which reduces a power consumption of the electric motor when the vehicle is stopping at the slope road with the generation of a drive torque. The device judges the stopping state of the vehicle at the slope road when a condition that a throttle opening degree is not zero, that the drive torque is not zero, and that a vehicle speed is zero continues for a predetermined time, applies a hydraulic pressure P relative to wheel cylinder, and decreases the drive torque outputting to the motor to be zero. The device judges a release of the stopping state at the slope road when a condition that a throttle opening degree becomes greater than a throttle opening degree under the vehicle stopping state at the slope road, recovers the drive torque, and gradually releases an application of the hydraulic pressure to the wheel cylinder.

The present invention relates to a control device for a vehicle stopping at a slope road having an electric motor as a power source. More particularly, the present invention pertains to a control device for a vehicle stopping at a slope road under a condition that a drive torque of an electric motor is generated.
Electric motors, which serve as power sources for electric vehicles, are supplied with the electric power from in-vehicle batteries. Because limited electric energy is charged in the battery installed in the vehicle, the mileage of the electric vehicle per charge of the battery installed in the vehicle is limited.
In order to deliver more mileage of the electric vehicle per charge of the battery installed in the vehicle, not only a hydraulic brake by a braking hydraulic pressure but also a regenerative braking force generated at driving wheels when recovering the electric power, which is generated in the electric motor by the rotation of the driving wheels, into the battery installed in the vehicle is maximally applied at braking the electric vehicle according to known devices. With the application of the regenerative braking force, because the electric power corresponding to the generated regenerative braking force is recovered into the battery installed in the vehicle, more mileage of the electric vehicle per charge of the battery installed in the vehicle is delivered.
Notwithstanding, in order to further increase mileage of the electric vehicle per charge of the battery installed in the vehicle, it is important to reduce the electric power consumption per se in the battery installed in the vehicle by the operation of the electric motor while utilizing the regenerative, braking force.
Under the condition that the vehicle is at stopping state on the slope road while balancing the drive torque and the down-sloping directional component of the gravity generated relative to the vehicle when the drive torque of the electric motor is generated by operating a throttle pedal, the electric power in the battery installed in the vehicle is consumed for generating the drive torque of the electric motor irrespective of the stopping state of the vehicle. This condition is expected to be caused particularly when the traffic congestion is caused on the slope road and when an operator is waiting at stoplights on the slope road. This is because the operator can control a stop and a start of the vehicle by adjusting the depression amount of the throttle pedal instead of operating the brake pedal when the vehicle is stopping at the slope road.
The electric power consumed under the foregoing condition does not contribute to the vehicle driving, and thus the electric power consumption under the foregoing condition is required to be reduced.
A need exists for a control device for an electric vehicle stopping at a slope road which enables to reduce the electric power consumption of an electric motor in case the electric vehicle is stopped on the slope road under a state that a drive torque of the electric motor is generated.
In light of the foregoing, the present invention provides a control device for an electric vehicle stopping at a slope road which includes an electric motor for driving a wheel, a drive torque control means for controlling a drive torque of the electric motor in accordance with a driving condition of the vehicle and outputting the drive torque to the electric motor, a hydraulic brake force adjusting means for adjusting a hydraulic brake force for applying a hydraulic pressure to a wheel cylinder of the wheel independent from a brake pedal operation, and a judging means for a stopping state at a slope road which judges whether the vehicle is under a stopping state at a slope road when the drive torque is equal to or greater than the predetermined value. When the judging means for the stopping state at the slope road judges that the vehicle is under the stopping state at the slope road, the hydraulic brake force adjusting means applies a predetermined hydraulic pressure to the wheel cylinder of the wheel and the drive torque control means decreases a drive torque outputted to the electric motor to be lower than a drive torque controlled in accordance with a driving condition of the vehicle.

Control device for electric vehicle stopping at slope road


A microelectro-mechanical system (MEMS) device includes a support structure formed of printed circuit board (PCB) materials; and a piezoelectric transducer formed at the support structure. Further, a MEMS assembly is described which shows such a MEMS device mounted at a component carrier. Furthermore, a method for manufacturing such a MEMS device is described.

Microelectro-mechanical systems (MEMS) are used for miniaturized apparatuses and assembly groups, which are realized within very small dimensions and which comprise components which cooperate with each other towards a specific functionality. Typically, a MEMS consists of one or more sensors or actuators and an electronic control circuit which are all realized on a common semiconductor substrate. The size of the entire MEMS is typically in the order of a few micrometers. MEMS may be used for any type of application which requires a mechanical interaction between (a) a mechanical component, e.g. a mechanical sensor or an actuator, and (b) an electronic circuit connected thereto.
Generally speaking, MEMS are electromechanical structures which are built up by standard semiconductor processes. Due to the large importance of MEMS in many applications MEMS-specific equipment and processes have been developed in order to optimize the cost and the performance of MEMS devices. For that reason, the main substrate for modem MEMS devices is Si, as it is a common and easy-to-process material. However, in the wide field of MEMS also other materials are known to be used such as SiC, diamond, or quartz. A good choice for a proper material may depend on temperature requirements or intrinsic material properties.

MEMS piezoelectric transducer formed at a PCB support structure

AT&S Austria Technologie & Systemtechnik Aktiengesellschaft


A method for adjusting a signal delivery bandwidth is provided. The method includes the following steps: A media gateway (MG) receives a command request carrying signal delivery bandwidth adjusting information, and the MG adjusts the signal delivery bandwidth according to the signal delivery bandwidth adjusting information. An MG and a media gateway controller (MGC) are also provided. By extending the media gateway control protocol (H.248 or MGCP), the delivery bandwidth adjusting information of a signal is transferred while the signal is transferred, the signal is adjusted according to the signal delivery bandwidth adjusting information, a signal and/or signal list corresponding to the signal delivery bandwidth adjusting information is transferred simultaneously, and the executing process of the signal remains uninterrupted.

Media gateway controller (MGC) and media gateway (MG) are two key components in a packet-based network with an architecture where services are separated from bearers. The MGC is mainly responsible for service control, while the MG is mainly responsible for media bearing. The gateway-separation architecture formed by the MGC and the MG realizes the separation of a service control plane and a media bearing plane, so that network resources can be better shared, device upgrading and service extension can be simplified, and the development and maintenance costs can be reduced.
The MG and the MGC communicate with each other by using a media gateway control protocol. The currently prevalent protocols include the H.248/Gateway Control Protocol (MeGaCo) and MGCP. The MGCP is developed and amended by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). The H.248/MeGaCo protocol is developed based on the MGCP. H.248/MeGaCo version 1 was set down by the IETF and the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) together in November, 2000 and was amended in June, 2003. H.248 version 2 was set down by the ITU in May, 2002 and was amended in March, 2004. H.248 version 3 was set down by the ITU in September, 2005.
Currently, a connection model defined by the H.248/MeGaCo protocol includes termination and context. A termination is a logic entity in the MG (the MG itself may also be represented as a termination called a Root termination), which is used for sending and receiving one or more media. Terminations are further divided into Physical terminations and Ephemeral terminations. Physical terminations represent some semi-permanent physical entities such as Time Division Multiplex (TDM) timeslots or analog lines. Ephemeral terminations represent some public resources that are applied for temporarily and released after being used, for example, streams based on the Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP). The characteristics of a termination are represented with Property, Signal, Event, Statistic, etc (which are referred to as parameter descriptors), and a package is introduced to combine various characteristic parameters of the termination. In addition, a context represents an association between terminations. One context may include a plurality of terminations, and a topology is used for describing interrelations between the terminations. A termination that is not associated with other terminations yet is contained in a special context called a Null context. The context is created when the first termination is added, and is released when the last termination is removed.
Based on the abstract connection model, an interaction between a service and a bearer is actually an operation on terminations and context, which is realized by the Request and Reply of the command between the MGC and the MG. The types of the command include Add, Modify, Subtract, Move, AuditValue, AuditCapabilities, Notify, ServiceChange, etc.
A signal is adopted by the MGC to instruct the MG to perform a resource operation, for example, playing tone. The signal is executed in termination or stream level, and when the signal is executed on a termination, it indicates that the signal is applicable to all streams on the termination. A series of operations that need to be performed sequentially may be represented in a form of a signal list, and intervals may exist among operations. The MGC includes a signal and/or signal list in a signal descriptor and delivers the signal descriptor to the MG. The signals and/or signal lists in the signal descriptors that are delivered at the same time are executed synchronously.
The control over signal delivery bandwidth is exercised according to certain settings in advance, for example, the speed for transferring a configured medium is 100 Kbps by default. Subsequently, the medium is transferred at this speed, but a possibility of adjusting a signal delivery bandwidth exists in actual applications, for example, it is expected that the medium in the above instance is transferred at a speed of 500 Kbps or 50 Kbps, so as to preview the medium at a higher or lower speed or at a high or low quality. At present, the MGCP cannot support the adjustment of a signal delivery bandwidth.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method for adjusting signal delivery bandwidth, media gateway and media gateway controller


Absorbent product having a liquid permeable surface and a liquid impermeable opposite surface, the absorbent product including an odor control material, the odor control material including a carrier material and a plurality of odor control particles adhered to the carrier material. The carrier material has a first surface located towards the liquid permeable surface of the absorbent product and a second opposite surface located towards the liquid impermeable surface of the absorbent product. The plurality of odor control particles are bonded to the second surface of the carrier material with a water soluble binder substance wherein the binder substance at least partly dissolves when in contact with an aqueous solution.

Odor prevention in connection with the use of absorbent products, such as incontinence products, is an important comfort factor for consumers. Bodily fluid, such as urine, is collected and stored in absorbent products and odors may easily arise. It is important for the wearer that these odors do not spread into the environment. The wearer needs to feel safe when using absorbent products both in respect of leakage and odor prevention or control.
In the field of absorbent products, several different solutions are used to prevent odors. For example, odors can be masked by the use of perfumes or deodorizing compounds. Odors may also be adsorbed or absorbed to particles having a large surface area, such as activated carbon, zeolite and starch-based particulate materials. Acidic and/or alkaline odors may be neutralized by the use of substances like baking soda and/or citric acid. For bacteria inhibition, substances having low pH or metal salts can be used. Accordingly, different odor control agents may be used to prevent odors in different manners.
Odor control agents in particle form, such as activated carbon, zeolite and starch-based materials, have been proved to have excellent odor-adsorbing characteristics due to the large surface area of the particles. However, there are some drawbacks related to the use of such odor control agents which may be in a powder form, for example, such powders are very difficult to handle in dry processes due to dusting problems. Powders may contaminate both process equipment and products.
In the prior art, there have been attempts to decrease dusting problems of powders as for example disclosed by EP0392528, in which particles of odor control agent is bond to a fibrous base web, such as non-woven or paper web. The porous base web is dipped in a saturated slurry containing the odor-absorbing particles and a binding agent, together with a surfactant. The excess slurry is then squeezed from the web and the web is dried.
Odor control agent in particle form may also be difficult to disperse in an even manner in the absorbent products. For example, humidity of the atmosphere may cause the particles to build lumps, and this may cause an uneven distribution in the production process and consequently in final products.
Since certain odor adsorbing particles such as for example activated carbon particles are hydrophobic it is also important that these particles do not impair the absorption properties in the product.
Thus, there is still a need to improve the handling of odor control agents in particle form during the production of absorbent products and also a need to secure that the odor adsorbing/absorbing properties as well as the liquid absorption properties are maintained or improved.

Absorbent product comprising an odor control material


A print blanket for use in electrostatic printing, comprising a body portion; and, an image transfer layer comprising a non-silicone fluoroelastomer.

In some electro-statographic printing techniques, the printing process begins with placing a uniform electrostatic charge on a photoreceptor and exposing the photoreceptor to a light and shadow image or to a scanning laser to dissipate the charge on the areas of the photoreceptor exposed to the light to form a latent electrostatic image. The resultant latent image is developed by subjecting the latent image to a liquid toner comprising a carrier liquid and colored toner particles. These toner particles are generally comprised of a pigmented polymer. Generally, the development is carried out, at least partially, in the presence of an electric field, such that the toner particles are attracted either to the charged or discharged areas, depending on the charge of the particles and the direction and magnitude of the field.
The developed image may then be transferred to a substrate such as paper or plastic film, often via an intermediate transfer member ("ITM") which is typically covered with a replaceable print blanket. The transferred image may then be permanently affixed to the substrate by the application of pressure, heat, solvent, overcoating treatment or other affixing processes. In general, in the commercial process used by HP-Indigo, the ITM is heated to a temperature that causes the toner particles and residual carrier liquid to form a film in the printed areas which film is transferred to the final substrate by heat and pressure. Fixing to the final substrate takes place as part of the transfer process.
The use of ITMs, and ITMs including transfer blankets, is well known. Multi-layered intermediate transfer print blankets for toner imaging are also known in the art. Generally, such blankets include a thin, multi-layered, silicone-based image transfer layer and a base (or body) portion which supports the image transfer layer and provides the print blanket with resilience during contact with an imaging surface and/or a final substrate. U.S. Pat. No. 5,745,829 to Gazit, et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 6,551,716 to Landa et al., the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference, describe print blankets for use with an ITM.
Other methods of manufacturing intermediate transfer members in the form of blankets and other types of blanket substrates are described, for example in U.S. Pat. No. 5,089,856 or U.S. Pat. No. 5,047,808, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.
In general, most ITM transfer surfaces are formed of a layer of silicone or a silicone rubber. For heated intermediate transfer members the surface should be abhesive to the hot toner material over repeated cycles of transfer to, heating on and transfer from the transfer surface. In general, silicone materials are superior to other materials in these properties and are used as transfer layers for ITMs for this purpose. Since various types of silicone materials are more or less abhesive to the hot toner (which is a hot melt adhesive) and have varying degrees of ruggedness, softness and other required mechanical properties, the choice of a material for transfer layers is a complex task.
A disadvantage of silicone layers, which is directly related to the liquid absorption, is a problem called "image memory". This problem is believed to be caused by uneven absorption of carrier liquid over the surface of the blanket. It is understood that the amount of carrier liquid that is absorbed at different portions of the surface depends on whether these portions have toner particles or not. If a next following color separation has a different distribution of toner, then the next image may, under some circumstances have varying values of gloss or even varying amounts of toner transfer depending on the amount of liquid absorbed from the previous layer.
Another disadvantage of silicone based image transfer layers pertains to their useful lifespan. Repetitive swelling and drying of the print blanket, and specifically the image transfer layer, often results in the degradation of the mechanical properties of the print blanket. Over time, this expansion and contraction of the print blanket, due to swelling, necessitates the replacement of the print blanket which can be time consuming and costly.
Nevertheless, despite the inherent problems associated with silicones as release layers, they are the release material of choice for liquid toner ITMs.
Fluorinated Teflon® and other similar materials have been used in offset printing blankets, see EP 0 629 514 which is incorporated herein by reference. However these materials are generally considered not suitable for liquid electro-statographic printing due in part to manufacturing considerations and the resultant properties of the Teflon® based blanket after manufacture. For example, in the thickness that fluorinated Teflon® can be reliably and continuously laid down during manufacture, the overall blanket is too hard for suitable use in liquid electro-statographic printing.

Print blankets for use in electro-statographic printing and methods of using same

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


Disclosed are an activation apparatus of a railway vehicle and a railway vehicle having activation apparatus. The activation apparatus being disposed in each carriage of the railway vehicle containing a plurality of marshallings, the activation apparatus comprising: a target power supply, connected with an activation busbar through a first branch, wherein the activation busbar runs through the railway vehicle containing the plurality of marshallings; and a circuit switch, configured to control a state of the first branch, wherein the state comprising one of the followings: a disconnection state and a connection state. The present disclosure solves the technical problem in the related art in which a current railway vehicle activation mode cannot allow all control carriages to activate and control a corresponding railway vehicle.

Current railway vehicle activation modes all refer to activation by cabs at both ends. These activation modes are no longer applied to coupling vehicles. That is, current railway vehicle activation modes all refer to activation by cabs at both ends, which cannot allow all control carriages to activate and control a corresponding railway vehicle.
An effective solution has not been proposed yet currently for the technical problem in the related art in which a current railway vehicle activation mode cannot allow all control carriages to activate and control a corresponding railway vehicle.

Activation apparatus of railway vehicle and railway vehicle having activation apparatus


An RF electrode-less plasma lighting device has a base member, which includes an outer region capable of being coupled to first AC potential and an inner region capable of being coupled to a second AC potential. In a preferred embodiment, the device has an RF module mechanically and integrally coupled to the base member. The RF module has an RF source, which has an output. The RF module has a first DC input and a second DC input. The first DC input of the RF module is coupled to a first DC potential and the second DC input of the RF module is coupled to a second DC potential. In a specific embodiment, the present device has an RF electrodeless plasma lighting assembly integrally coupled to the base member. The RF plasma lighting assembly has an RF input, which is coupled to the output of the RF source.

The present invention relates generally to lighting techniques. More particularly, the present invention provides a method and device using an electrodeless plasma lighting device having one of a plurality of base configurations. Merely by way of example, such configurations can include at least an Edison base or a mogul base, but can be others.
From the early days, human beings have used a variety of techniques for lighting. Early humans relied on fire to light caves during hours of darkness. Fire often consumed wood for fuel. Wood fuel was soon replaced by candles, which were derived from oils and fats. Candles were then replaced, at least in part by lamps. Certain lamps were fueled by oil or other sources of energy. Gas lamps were popular and still remain important for outdoor activities such as camping. In the late 1800, Thomas Edison, who is one of the greatest inventors of all time, conceived the incandescent lamp, which uses a tungsten filament within a bulb, coupled to a pair of electrodes. Many conventional buildings and homes still use the incandescent lamp, commonly called the Edison bulb. Although highly successful, the Edison bulb consumed much energy and was generally inefficient.
Fluorescent lighting replaced incandescent lamps for certain applications. Fluorescent lamps generally consist of a tube containing a gaseous material (typically Argon) and Mercury, which is coupled to a pair of electrodes. The electrodes are coupled to an electronic ballast, which helps ignite the discharge from the fluorescent lighting. Conventional building structures often use fluorescent lighting, rather than the incandescent counterpart. Fluorescent lighting is much more efficient than incandescent lighting, but often has a higher initial cost.
Shuji Nakamura pioneered the efficient blue light emitting diode, which is a solid state lamp. The blue light emitting diode forms a basis for the white solid state light, which is often a blue light emitting diode within a bulb coated with a yellow phosphor material. Blue light excites the phosphor material to emit white lighting. The blue light emitting diode has revolutionized the lighting industry to replace traditional lighting for homes, buildings, and other structures.
Another form of lighting is commonly called the electrodeless lamp, which can be used to discharge light for high intensity applications. Frederick Espiau was one of the pioneers that developed an improved electrodeless lamp. Such electrodeless lamp relied upon a solid ceramic resonator structure, which was coupled to a fill enclosed in a bulb. The bulb was coupled to the resonator structure via RF feeds, which transferred power to the fill to cause it to discharge high intensity lighting. Although somewhat successful, the electrodeless lamp still had many limitations, including the inability of the lamp to fit into standard light sockets such as the Edison socket or mogul socket.
From the above, it is seen that improved techniques for lighting are highly desired.

Integrated RF electrodeless plasma lamp device and methods


A polarization camera that can capture polarization images and a color image at the same time is used. Specifically, a clear sky polarization image, which provides information about the polarization of a part of the sky, is captured by a clear sky polarization image capturing section 100. And by reference to the information provided by a sun position determining section 1301 that determines the sun's position at the time of shooting, a camera direction estimating section 101 determines in what direction and in what area of the whole sky the clear sky polarization image is located as a polarization pattern. Finally, information about what direction or orientation on the globe the camera (image capture device) is now facing is output. In this manner, the direction of the camera and the relative position of the camera with respect to the sun can be known without providing a sensor separately and without capturing the whole sky or the sun.

As digital cameras have become increasingly popular nowadays, the importance of image processing to be performed on images shot with those digital cameras has been increasing year after year. There are various kinds of such image processing, examples of which include (i) compensation for backlight, which has been a major cause of a failure in making a good shot with a camera, (ii) increasing the resolution of a so-called "digitally zoomed" image, (iii) recognizing a human face or something like that and automatically focusing on it, and (iv) superposing a virtual image, generated by computer graphics, on a real image as known as "Augmented Reality".
Each of these kinds of image processing is carried out based on the "appearance" of an object of shooting. Light that emitted from a light-source, is then reflected from the surface of the object, and finally received by an imager and the "appearance" of the object comes out. That is why the light-source information is very important in image processing, which means that it is very effective to obtain light-source information and utilize it for shooting and image processing. For example, there is a technique often used to give a natural 3D appearance to an object, by putting the object under semi-backlight on purpose. However, it heavily depends on the specific situation whether or not that special type of shooting can be done successfully. Consequently, in most cases, it is the shooter's instinct or experience that makes the difference.
Once the light-source information is known, it is possible to let the camera give instruction to the shooter, for example an instruction about the shooting direction, so as to allow him or her to copycat such a technique referred above to achieve a good shot. On top of that, it is also possible to make an automatic exposure correction based on the light-source information. Patent Document No. 1 discloses a technique for detecting a light-source with a sensor arranged at the top of a camera and instructing the shooter a recommended shooting direction. According to the technique disclosed in Patent Document No. 1, a photoelectric conversion element with a fish-eye lens is used as such a sensor for detecting the light-source direction. Specifically, the light-source direction is determined by the location of the point which has the maximum intensity on the sensor, where the light that comes from the whole sky gets condensed. In that case, however, if the sunlight reflected on a window is seen at a high position, there will be another intense light-source other than the sun itself and the detection of the sun direction could fail.
Patent Document No. 2 proposes a technique to use the whole sky polarization state in order to obtain the information about the position of the sun more accurately. According to the technique disclosed in Patent Document No. 2, a light-source detection section is arranged at the top of a camera as in Patent Document No. 1 to capture whole sky polarization images using the sensor that can capture the whole sky with a polarization filter attached to it. A number of images are shot with continually rotating the polarizer, and the whole sky polarization property is obtained from those images, thereby the sun direction is determined. Sky polarization is also discussed in Non-Patent Document No. 1, which proposes observing polarization state of sunlight using a fish-eye lens camera that can shoot wide areas of sky as in Patent Documents No. 1 and 2 cited above. Also, although no specific technique is disclosed, Non-Patent Document No. 1 also says that the sun direction could be determined based on the polarization state.
Patent Document No. 3 discloses a patterned polarizer for capturing multiple polarization images with mutually different polarization principal axes.
Also Non-Patent Documents No. 2, 3 and 4 refer to sky polarization patterns.

Apparatus for detecting direction of image pickup device and moving body comprising same


A power supply circuit for a first and a second lamps and the transformer thereof is provided. The power supply circuit comprises a driving circuit and a transformer. The transformer includes a magnetic core, a primary coil set, a secondary coil, a first coil and a second coil. The driving circuit provides an alternative voltage. The primary coil set is wound on the magnetic core, along with the secondary coil, the first and the second coils, and receives the alternative voltage. The turns of the first coil and the second coil are substantially the same. The first lamp is coupled between the first coil and the secondary coil, and the second lamp is coupled between the second coil and the secondary coil.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates in general to power supply circuit for lamp and more particularly to the power supply circuit and its transformer for driving a plurality of lamps and balancing the currents of the lamps.
2. Description of the Related Art
The brightness of the LCD, i.e. LCD TV, has to increase while the screen size thereof is increasing. The backlight module of the LCD provides the higher brightness by increasing the number and size of the lamps, which are cold-cathode fluorescent lamps for example.
FIG. 1 is a diagram of conventional power supply circuit of a plurality of lamps. The power supply circuit 100 is used in a backlight module that provides the light source for LCD. The power supply circuit 100 includes a DC-AC converter 102, a transformer 104 for driving lamps L1 and L2. DC-AC converter provides an alternative voltage to the transformer 104, which in turn boosts up the alternative voltage for driving lamps L1 and L2. The transformer 104 includes a primary coil set 106 and a secondary coil 108.
The currents respectively flowing through the lamps L1 and L2 may not be the same due to the slightly different impedances, which are caused by the different wire impedances and the different lamp characteristics, and thus the brightness of the lamps L1 and L2 may not be the same, such that the image quality of the LCD and the longevity of the lamps would be affected. Therefore, the issue of unbalanced currents while driving multiple lamps is to be solved.

Power supply circuit and transformer thereof


A small and thin pressing direction sensor that can continually detect pressing directions in the angle range of 360 degrees is provided. This pressing direction sensor includes a ring-like resistive film pattern, a first electrode pattern, and a conductive member that electrically connects the resistive film pattern and the first electrode pattern when pressed. The voltage of the first electrode pattern represents the pressing direction. This pressing direction sensor may further include a second electrode pattern. A signal representing the pressing force can be obtained from the second electrode pattern when the pressed conductive member is brought into contact with the second electrode pattern.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device for inputting coordinate information into an electronic apparatus, and more particularly, to a pressing direction sensor that can detect pressing directions and pressing forces of a finger pointing on an operation unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
Devices for inputting coordinate information into electronic devices include pointing devices. Pointing devices have been widely used as coordinate input means in personal computers and game machines. In recent years, these pointing devices are sometimes seen on small-size apparatuses such as portable telephones and PDAs, and are therefore expected to become smaller, thinner, lighter, and less costly.
For portable telephones and PDAs, onscreen pointing systems used to be required to function only from side to side and up and down. However, as the amount of information to be handled on screen has increased, cursor operations that have been employed in personal computers are expected also in portable telephones and PDAs, so that pointing operations in any direction can be performed at a controllable speed.
Various types of coordinate input mechanisms have been developed as conventional pointing devices. Those coordinate input mechanisms include: a mechanism that employs a magnet to be inclined by finger pointing and a plurality of electromagnetic conversion devices; and a mechanism that employs an optical detection system. However, any of those types of mechanisms structurally requires a certain thickness, and of course has limitations on portable devices to which it can be mounted. There are flat input devices such as touch pads, but a flat input device requires a certain area because of the operation method of stroking the pad surface with a finger.
In general, pointing devices that employ resistive film patterns and conductive pressure-sensitive rubber can achieve decreases in size and thickness. Such pointing devices have been developed and disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication Nos. 6-139880, 7-320597, 11-203036, 2001-210191, and 2001-311671.

Pressing direction sensor and input device using the same


The present disclosure provides an method, an apparatus, a device and a storage medium for controlling an unmanned vehicle, where the method includes: receiving control messages transmitted by at least two automatic driving physical apparatuses, where the control messages include indication information; determining an optimal control message according to the indication information in each of the control messages; transmitting the optimal control message to a device for controlling an unmanned vehicle, so that the device for controlling an unmanned vehicle performs driving control on the unmanned vehicle according to the optimal control message. When a plurality of automatic driving physical apparatuses transmit control messages, at this time, the control messages are redundant, and a control message can be selected for execution, so that the unmanned vehicle can receive a control signal in time, which is beneficial to the safe driving of the unmanned vehicle.

With the development of intelligent technologies, unmanned vehicles began to develop and apply. Unmanned vehicles need to be controlled during the driving of the unmanned vehicles.
In the prior art, in order to improve the safety of the automatic driving, a plurality of automatic driving physical apparatuses are set for an unmanned vehicle, and then a chassis of the unmanned vehicle is controlled by the plurality of automatic driving physical apparatuses, so that the unmanned vehicle can timely receive a control command to drive.
In the prior art, when the plurality of automatic driving physical apparatuses simultaneously transmit control commands to the chassis of the unmanned vehicle, the unmanned vehicle is not able to know which control command to select for execution, thereby leading to the occurrence of problems in control of the unmanned vehicle, which is not conducive to the safe driving of the unmanned vehicle.

Method, apparatus, device and storage medium for controlling an unmanned vehicle

Apollo Intelligent Driving (Beijing) Technology Co., Ltd.


A adhered substance removing device of the present disclosure includes a suction removal unit configured to suck and remove a liquid medium with which a wiping sheet is impregnated and adhered substances which is separated from the wiping sheet by an oscillation unit and re-adhered to a surface of the wiping sheet. The suction removal unit includes a cylindrical suction nozzle having inlet holes in a surface along which the wiping sheet is guided. and a suction pump configured to suck air from the suction nozzle. The Suction pump is connected to the suction nozzle, and a lid is detachably attached to an opening of the suction nozzle.

The present disclosure relates to a device for removing adhered substances.
Conventionally, a technique has been known, in which a metal mask is used to print cream solder or adhesive for bonding components on a printed circuit board. A metal plate such as stainless plates, nickel plates, etc is used as the metal mask. There is a possibility that, after, e.g., the cream solder is printed on the printed circuit board, the cream solder spreads over a surface of the metal mask, which faces the printed circuit board, and therefore a desired printing quality cannot be obtained.
Thus, for the metal mask used for the foregoing printing, after the solder is printed on the printed circuit board, the solder spreading over the surface of the metal mask, which faces the printed circuit board is wiped off with a non-woven fabric once every the predetermined number of times or every elapse of a predetermined time period as described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 2007-301809. In addition, in the device of Japanese Patent Publication No. 2007-301809, after the solder is wiped off, only one side of the non-woven fabric is soiled with the solder. Thus, the non-woven fabric is turned upside down, and then is rewound into a roll. In such a manner, both sides of the non-woven fabric can be used for wiping off the solder. This realizes great cost reduction as compared to a case where only one side of the non-woven fabric is used for wiping off the solder.


A device for Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS). The device includes a plurality of nanostructures protruding from a surface of a substrate, a SERS active metal disposed on a portion of said plurality of nanostructures, and a low friction film disposed over the plurality of nanostructures and the SERS active metal. The low friction film is to prevent adhesion between the plurality of nanostructures.

Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) is a technique using Raman scattering for enhancing the detection of molecular species through the excitation of Plasmon modes and their coupling to molecular vibrational modes. In other words, Raman scattering is the inelastic scattering of photons that can provide vibrational fingerprints of molecules.
Nanostructures on a substrate where the detection of molecular species takes place affects the Raman scattering. In particular, when the nanostructures are adhered together, the Raman scattering can be negatively affected.
The drawings referred to in this description should be understood as not being drawn to scale except if specifically noted.

Preventing adhesion between nanostructures


A method of characterizing a glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) stem cell (GSC), comprising culturing the GSC to provide a culture, contacting a first set of aliquots of the culture with individual compounds selected from a panel of compounds, identifying two or more of the selected compounds that cause more than a threshold level of cell death in the first set of aliquots, and characterizing the GSC as suitable for treatment with one or more combinations comprising the two or more identified compounds. A panel of chemical compounds, the compounds selected by a method comprising surgically resecting the tumor, culturing a GSC derived from GBM tissue derived from a GBM tumor, contacting aliquots thereof with individual compounds selected from a panel of compounds, and identifying two or more of the selected compounds that cause more than a threshold level of cell death in the aliquots, thereby identifying the compounds.

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), the most common form of primary brain tumor in adults, remains a generally incurable and rapidly fatal disease. This is largely due to the ability of GBM to recur at an average of nine months following primary therapy and, following recurrence, afford an average survival time of only six months. It is evident that even after decades of intense clinical and basic research, a diagnosis of GBM remains, in the large majority of cases, a terminal diagnosis.

Methods and panels of compounds for characterization of glioblastoma multiforme tumors and cancer stem cells thereof


A method of processing data packets includes receiving a plurality of the data packets at a selected node. Pertinent information in the data packets is extracted. The pertinent information is pertinent to the selected node. A plurality of response data packets are generated based on the pertinent information. The extracting and generating steps are performed without use of a microprocessor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to network communication, and, more particularly, to a packet processing node for network communication.
2. Description of the Related Art
In many communication systems, any transmission from one node is sent to a plurality of connected nodes. In such broadcast systems, the information may only be relevant to a single receiver, but all nodes must process the transmission to determine its intent. Data on such networks are usually broken into pieces known as packets. A packet is formed of consecutive bytes that may be marked by leading and/or trailing delimiters. Protocols by which nodes communicate usually divide a packet into the protocol-relevant information (the header) and the data relevant to the receiving node (payload).
It is known for the protocols to be "layered" so that the payload area of a lower protocol contains a packet of the next higher layer protocol. Most communication environments require that addressing information be contained at fixed locations (in the first few bytes) of the lowest layer protocol header so that hardware can help discard unwanted packets by simple filtering.
There are many examples of commercially available network devices that perform such filtering. Practically all Ethernet media access controllers (MAC's), for instance, provide for filtering based on an exact match of the first six bytes of a packet header to a programmed value (the network address). This greatly reduces the load of the general-purpose central processing unit (CPU). However, many network frames that are addressed to the node either distinctly or by a shared address are still not relevant to a particular node. The receiving equipment may be required to look at an entire packet to determine its relevance. Additional cost is inherent in networked systems because memory is required to store the entire packet while the processing elements perform the analysis.
Most of the existing patents relating to packet filtering are a result of the very competitive commercial network switch and router market. Routers must sort received frames into subsets based on different byte fields within a packet. To achieve high throughput, specialized hardware can be used to perform this sorting. In all known cases, an assumption is made that a CPU is present and only assists the microprocessor in performing its task. A problem is that a microprocessor adds significant cost to the product.
What is needed in the art is a device for network communication that does not require a microprocessor.

Device for processing data packets without use of a microprocessor and a memory


An inkjet recording apparatus includes a drying chamber on a downstream side of a recording head along a conveyance path for a sheet-shaped recording medium originally wound to be like a roll; and a drying unit circulating gas. The drying unit includes a heat pump separating water droplets from gas containing moisture returned after moisture is moved from the sheet-shaped recording medium, heating the gas, supplying the gas as high temperature dried gas to the drying chamber, causing moisture to move from the sheet-shaped recording medium to the gas in the drying chamber and returning the gas to which the moisture has been moved and which becomes gas containing moisture to the drying unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an inkjet recording apparatus and a printing method. In particular, the present invention relates to an inkjet recording apparatus which may be an image forming apparatus such as a copier, a printer, a facsimile machine, a digital multifunction peripheral having these functions in a combined manner or a printing machine forming (printing) an image according to an inkjet method on a sheet-shaped recording medium such as paper or the like, cloth or the like, film or the like, or a synthetic resin material wound on a roll, and a printing method carried out in the inkjet recording apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an inkjet recording apparatus, ink droplets are discharged onto a sheet-shaped recording medium by an inkjet head, the ink droplets are caused to penetrate into the sheet-shaped recording medium or are caused to adhere to a surface of the sheet-shaped recording medium so that an image is formed or printed on the sheet-shaped recording medium. Since ink droplets are used, as an atmosphere of a printing area comes to have a high humidity environment, and not only the printing area of the sheet-shaped recording medium at which printing is carried out but also the sheet-shaped recording medium itself may become moist.
On the other hand, in an inkjet recording apparatus carrying out high-speed printing, in many cases, a continuous sheet of paper (sheet of paper), wound to be like a roll, is drawn out from the roll, printing is carried out thereon, and after that, the continuous sheet of paper is again wound to be like a roll. Therefore, it is necessary to dry the continuous sheet of paper before being wound. Otherwise, staining, blurring, ink running, or such may occur due to adhesion of the printed ink, or trouble may occur during winding the continuous sheet of paper.
Therefore, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2002-361850 (Patent Document 1) discloses providing a hot air machine that generates hot air; a drying body in which a continuous sheet of paper is dried; and a dehumidification machine that dehumidifies the hot air. Then, the hot air generated by the hot air machine is led to the drying body, the continuous sheet of paper is thus dried, the hot air led to the drying body is led to the dehumidification machine and is dehumidified, and the dehumidified hot air is again led to the drying body.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2010-83040 (Patent Document 2) discloses providing a drying part including a main drying section for drying cloth on which recording has been carried out by an inkjet recording part; auxiliary drying sections disposed to sandwich the main drying section; and a conveyance part for conveying the cloth. The auxiliary drying sections are set to have an atmosphere of a normal temperature and low humidity by using a dehumidification machine. In the main drying section, the air in the inside is circulated by an air flow generator and is fed to a surface of the cloth, and thus, the cloth is dried.
According to the related art of Patent Document 1, the continuous sheet of paper is dried by the hot air. According to the related art of Patent Document 2, the cloth is dried in the normal temperature. In each case, the air used in the drying process is dehumidified, and is again used for the drying process.
According to the related art of Patent Document 1, the hot air is fed to a housing, the continuous sheet of paper is caused to pass through the housing, and the continuous sheet of paper is dried. However, improving the drying efficiency by reducing the power consumption or such is not particularly considered there. Further, it may be difficult to apply this method to a high-speed inkjet recording apparatus. According to the related art of Patent Document 2, a space in the inside of the drying part is maintained to have a normal temperature (25 through 50° C.) and low humidity (0 through 20%), and the cloth is caused to pass through the space during a time period on the order of 1 through 5 minutes for drying the cloth. However, since the cloth is to be caused to pass through the space during the time period on the order of 1 through 5 minutes, it may be difficult to apply this method to a high-speed inkjet recording apparatus.
Thus, according to the related art of Patent Documents 1 and 2, if an inkjet head is used to carry out printing at a high speed, the speed of drying the printed sheet may not catch up with the printing speed, and thus, the upper limit of the printing speed may depend on the time period required for the drying process. Further, when the temperature is increased in order to improve the drying efficiency, the power consumption may be increased accordingly. Further, an areal deviation may occur in drying the sheet of paper, and thereby, the printing quality may be degraded.

Inkjet recording apparatus and printing method


The object of the invention is to automatically select an optimum printing device according to the characteristics of a page in units of pages to print the page, thereby reducing the load on the operator in print processing. For this purpose, it is determined in units of pages whether data to be printed contains color information. If color information is present, a color flag is set to ON. When the color flag is ON, print data prepared and developed in a page buffer is sent to a color printer. When the color flag is OFF, the print data prepared and developed in the page buffer is sent to a monochromatic printer.

The present invention relates to a printing device control apparatus and method and, more particularly, to an apparatus and method of controlling a plurality of printing devices.
Printing devices use various printing schemes including electrophotography (laser beam printer) and ejection of ink droplets of a printer (ink-jet printer).
Generally, a laser printer is suitable for monochromatic, i.e., black-and-white printing, and the print quality of black and white portions is high. In addition, the laser printer has a high speed. On the other hand, an ink-jet printer is suited to printing a color image, though its speed is lower than that of the laser beam printer.
When a document is to be prepared by a document processing apparatus (including a personal computer), often almost all pages are monochromatic, and only several pages require color printing.
In this case, as color page portions are present, the operator performs operations to output the entire document to a color ink-jet printer for printing, or to output only the color page portions of the document to the color ink-jet printer and thereafter print the remaining monochromatic pages with a laser beam printer dedicated to monochromatic printing.
In the former case, the operator needs to perform the operation only once because the printing operation is completed with only one printing instruction. However, with the color ink-jet printer, a long time is required to complete printing of all pages.
In the latter case, if the apparatus itself has only one printer interface, switching connection of the two printers is necessary, and the printing instruction must be given at least twice. Even if the apparatus has two printer interfaces, the printing instructions must still be given at least twice. This also applies to a case in which the printers are connected to a network, and the color ink-jet printer and monochromatic laser beam printer on the network (or one of the printers is a local printer) perform print processing.
The present invention has been made in consideration of the above problem, and has as its object to provide a print control apparatus and method of automatically selecting an optimum printing device according to the characteristics of a page to be printed in units of pages to print the page, thereby reducing the load on the operator in print processing.
To achieve the above object, according to the present invention, there is provided a print control apparatus for performing distributed printing using a plurality of printing devices having different printing characteristics, comprising:
determination means for receiving data to be printed from host processing and determining characteristics of the data in units of pages;
selection means for selecting one of the plurality of printing devices in accordance with a determination result from the determination means; and
sending means for sending data of one page determined by the determination means to the selected printing device.
According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, preferably, the apparatus further comprises first setting means for setting whether a replacement page is to be inserted, second setting means for setting a printing device for printing the replacement page, and second sending means for, when insertion of the replacement page is instructed by the first setting means, and the data of one page is to be sent to the sending means, sending data of the replacement page to the printing device set by the second setting means. With this arrangement, sorting of printouts which have been subjected to distributed printing in units of pages is facilitated.
The second sending means may send the data of one page which is sent to a printing device which is not set by the second setting means to the printing device set by the second setting means. With this arrangement, a printing device prints all pages while the other printing device prints only replacement pages. Although the output forms are different, pages to be replaced are obvious.
The second sending means may count the number of pages continuously sent to a printing device which is not set by the second setting means and send data corresponding to a count result to the printing device set by the second setting means. With this arrangement, the recording medium is not wasted.
The printing characteristic represents whether the printing device is capable of color printing, the determination means determines whether the data in units of pages contains information associated with color, and the selection means selects color printing when the information associated with color is present and monochromatic printing when no color information is present. With this arrangement, satisfactory printouts can be obtained for both monochromatic and color data at a high speed and low cost.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters designate the same or similar parts throughout the figures thereof.

Printing device control apparatus and method


An approach for building an ontology is provided. Based on a grammar, extracted complex triples are syntactically transformed to identify core terms. The syntactically transformed complex triples are semantically transformed into simplified triples referring to new terms that conceptualize the core adjectives, adverbs and verbs, and assigning the core terms to respective definitions and keys in a reference ontology, thereby retaining the semantics of the complex triples. Based on a meta-schema of the reference ontology, an enrichment transformation of the simplified triples is performed to create simplified and enriched triples by adding relations derived from a correspondence each term in the simplified triples has with the reference ontology and by adding representations of semantics of reference ontology definitions of the terms. The simplified and enriched triples are stored as an ontology representing knowledge in an application providing the free-form text from which the complex triples were extracted.

An ontology is a representation of knowledge by a set of concepts and relationships between the concepts, where the knowledge is included within software-based applications. When each application has its own ontology, semantic interoperability between the applications is not immediate because any request expressed in the context of one ontology must be translated before being processed in the context of the other ontology. To provide the aforementioned interoperability in known systems, the structure (i.e., concepts and relationships between the concepts) of the ontologies are mapped and requests and answers to the requests are translated using the ontology mapping. Mismatches between ontologies may be based on the ontologies using languages that differ in syntax, constructs or semantics of their primitive. To avoid language-level mismatches between ontologies, each ontology may use the same language, such as Resource Description Framework (RDF). RDF is based on statements in the form of subject-predicate-object expressions, which are called triples or triplets. Other mismatches can arise when the ontologies are created using different methods and techniques. In such cases, the same concept can have different names in different ontologies, the same name can be used for different concepts in different ontologies, the different conceptualization approaches can lead to different representations (e.g., classes vs. properties and classes vs. sub-classes).

Building an ontology by transforming complex triples

International Business Machines Corporation


A cosmetic compact (1) comprises a container (9) to hold liquid cosmetics, and a stopper (5) for to the compact (1). The stopper comprises a protrusion (7) that cooperates with a dispensing orifice (8) of the container. The stopper is connected by a hinge (6) to a lid (2) or base (3) of the compact, preferably to the lid. The stopper may thus serve as a latch for the lid of the compact. The hinged connection (6) may be a web integrally formed with the stopper and the adjacent part of the compact, or it may comprise a pin or protrusion.

Most cosmetic compacts contain cosmetic materials in solid, paste or powder form. Compacts for applying more mobile liquid cosmetics are known, but can be cumbersome to use. It can be particularly inconvenient when the liquid cosmetic is stored in a container having a separate removable stopper or cap. This requires the user to set aside or separately hold the stopper when using the compact. This can be messy and inconvenient, as well as risking loss of the stopper.
JP2004208973 describes a cosmetic compact for dispensing a liquid cosmetic product without the need to remove a separate stopper from the liquid cosmetic container, thus reducing the possibility of staining a user's hands. The cosmetic compact comprises a main body having an inner lid, an outer lid and a base connected by a hinge. The base of the compact comprises a recess to contain a cosmetic puff and a further recess as a reservoir for dispensed liquid cosmetics. The liquid cosmetic product is supplied from a tubular container equipped with a pump-type dispenser. The outer lid is coupled with the inner lid so as to enclose the tubular container. A pushbutton of the pump type dispenser is exposed in an opening in the outer lid. On pressing the pushbutton, the liquid cosmetic product is dispensed into the reservoir recess, for uptake on the puff.
JP2004208975 describes an otherwise similar cosmetic compact in which the liquid cosmetic product is automatically dispensed from the tubular container into the reservoir when the lid is opened. Variants include a compact with a pump type dispenser having a nozzle for dispensing the liquid product directly onto a hand held sponge. The nozzle has a separate cover. In another variant, a squeeze-to-empty product container hinges out of the base of the compact and has a dispensing passageway leading to an uptake reservoir which also serves as a recess for storing a removable sponge.
Despite the advantages offered by JP2004208973 and JP2004208975 by removing the need for a separate stopper, the compacts shown are complex, having many components. Even manufacturing a container with a separate removable stopper for holding the liquid cosmetic product requires additional process steps compared to compacts for solid cosmetics or pastes. This represents an additional cost. Even small savings in the cost of manufacturing an individual compact are significant in mass production.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,343,397, JP2002336039 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,536,447 all concern compacts in which a container for a liquid cosmetic product is closed by a stopper integrated into the structure of the compact. However the disclosed compacts still leave room for improvement in terms of ease of manufacture and use.
The present applicant has realised that hingedly connecting the stopper of the liquid cosmetic container with the compact eliminates the disadvantages of having to remove and separately retain the stopper and can simplify the manufacturing process by limiting the number of components needed. Such a compact can also include an applicator sponge, puff, brush, mirror and/or other tools and accessories of the usual kind.


A liquid cargo tanker (10) includes a liquid carrying hold (18,20,22) and a reservoir (24) disposed within the hold (18,20,22) for containing a liquid to be transported therein. The reservoir (24) includes a top wall (26) and a bottom wall (28), both walls having edge portions in fluid tight engagement defining a fluid tight seam (30). The top wall (26), bottom wall (28) and seam (30) are free from connection to the hold (18,20,22). The reservoir (24) has a full condition wherein the top wall (26) is raised by the liquid away from the bottom wall (28) as the seam (30) moves away from the hold (18,20,22) and an empty condition wherein the top wall (26) collapses on the bottom wall (28) as the seam (30) moves towards the hold (18,20,22).

Tanker ships, such as fuel tankers, are used to transport various liquids in the open sea. Damage to the ship's hull, such as by running aground, can cause damage to the hull. If the hull defines the fuel reservoir of the tanker, damage to the hull can result in fuel spillage and ultimately environmental disaster.
The U.S. Pat. No. 3,84,239 to McLaughlin et al, issued Oct. 29, 1974 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,230,061 to Roberts et al, issued Oct. 28, 1980 address the problem of spillage of liquids from sea going vessels. Both patents provide a cargo container including an inner bladder. The McLaughlin et al patent provides a resilient lining for a reservoir adapted to separate from the walls of at least one of the reservoirs upon a predetermined minimum external concussive pressure and deformation of the walls of the reservoir. The lining is adapted to stretch upon the pressure and deformation and force the liquid contained therein to flow through an ejecting piping system and towards an empty space. The patent provides several methods of releasably securing the lining about the entire wall of the reservoir.
The Roberts et al patent discloses a double tank shipping container including a flexible bladder forming an inner tank received within an outer tank and readily removable therefrom. The inner tank has a configuration roughly conforming to the contours of the outer tank and is fixedly secured to the neck portion of the closed outer tank.
Neither prior art patent discussed above provides a resilient container completely independent structurally of the supporting hull. Further, the prior art does not disclose a liner that can be retrofitted into existing liquid carrying tankers with minimal restructuring of the hulls.


A method (100) for assembling a portable device configured with an energy storage device, is disclosed. The method (100) can include: providing (105) a portable device with a controller configured to control the operations of the portable device; configuring (110) the portable device with a multi-mode switch including a temporary active mode configured for simplified testing, a temporarily inactive mode configured for minimizing power drain, and a permanent active mode for normal user operation; and controlling (115) the multi-mode switch from outside the portable device. The method (100) can help to prolong the useful shelf life of the device and can help to simplify testing and calibrating before shipping.

1. Field
The present disclosure is directed to a method for assembling a portable device configured with an energy storage device.
2. Introduction
Currently on most electronic products and accessories with embedded batteries, there is a parasitic load applied by the device circuitry. This is a very small current that the circuitry consumes while the product's on-off switch is in the "off" mode. To minimize the risk of an energy storage device such as a battery being "unchargeable" or causing a "dead" product, after a certain period of time (such as a few hundred days), the parasitic load needs to be removed.
The idea of using a "thin material to prevent a battery connection until the product is first used by a consumer" is not new. Typically this is done by placing part of a removable label between a battery and a spring terminal inside a product. This is often done in smoke detectors.
What is needed is a method to assemble a portable device with an energy storage device that provides a multi-mode switch that provides a temporarily closed position for testing and temporarily open for shipping, based on a position of a pull tab, and a permanently closed position when the pull tab is removed. In more detail, the pull tab needs to extend outside the product's housing, so that a user can pull the tab completely out to close the switch when the product is first used. What is needed is a via in the pull tab to allow a manufacturer or assembler to test completed or sealed units in the factory before shipping. Next. the manufacturer can adjust the pull tab forward to "open" the switch circuit prior to shipping to the customer. The open position prevents battery connection until the product is first used by the consumer.
What is needed is a method of assembling a portable device with energy storage device that allows for testing, calibrating and loading for example before shipment to a customer and minimizes the possibility of embedded-battery products reaching consumers in an "unchargeable" or "permanently dead" state, if left on a shelf or in a warehouse for a certain amount of time.
Thus, there is a need for a method for prolonging the useful shelf life of an energy storage device in a portable device.

Method for assembling a portable device configured with an energy storage device


Antitumoral compounds of Formula I, and pharmaceutically acceptable salts, derivatives, tautomers, prodrugs or stereoisomers thereof

In WO 95/27730, Perez Baz et al. disclosed the isolation and the two-dimensional structural elucidation of a new antitumoral agent, Thiocoraline A, from the marine organism Micromonospora sp.

In 1999, Erba et al. reported the activity of this compound as inhibitor of DNA alpha-polimerase at concentrations that inhibit cell cycle progression and clonogenicity (Erba, E.; Bergamaschi, D.; Ronzoni, S.; Faretta, M.; Taverna, S.; Bonfanti, M.; Catapano, C. V.; Faircloth, G.; Jimeno, J.; D'Incalci, M. British J. Cancer 1999, 80, 971-980).
In WO 02/49577, Boger and Lewis disclosed the total synthesis of Thiocoraline A and BE-22179. This total synthesis allowed the elucidation of relative and absolute stereochemistries of Thiocoraline A. They also reported the preparation of Thiocoraline A analogs wherein the 2-hydroxyquinolyl group was replaced with other quinolines or quinoxalines.

They also reported the binding of thiocoraline A, BE-2179 and its analogs to DNA by high-affinity bisintercalation with little or no perceptible sequence selectivity.
Recently, Gago et al. disclosed the X-ray structure of Thiocoraline A and its DNA binding properties (Negri, A.; Marco, E.; Garcia-Hernandez, V.; Domingo, A.; Llamas-Saiz, A. L.; Porto-Sandá, S.; Riguera, R.; Laine, W.; David-Cordonnier, M-H.; Bailly, C.; Garcia-Fernández, L. F.; Vaquero, J. J.; and Gago, F. J. Med. Chem. 2007, 50, 3322-3333).
Thiocoraline A shares several common motifs with a family of antitumoral peptide antibiotics, which includes Triostin A (Shoji, J., et al. J. Antibiot. 1961, 14, 335-339), BE-22179 (Okada, H., et al, J. Antibiot. 1994, 47, 129-135), and Echinomycin (Corbaz, R., et al. Helv. Chim. Acta 1957, 40, 199-204).

This group of 2-fold symmetric or pseudosymmetric bicyclic octapeptides shows a complex structure containing: a) a bicyclic structure formed by two peptide chains in an antiparallel mode; b) an ester or thioester linkage at the terminal part of the peptide chain; c) a disulfide or an analogue bridge in the middle of the peptide chains; d) an intercalation chromophore moiety at the N-terminal part; e) the presence of several N-methyl amino acids; and f) non natural amino acid of D configuration.
Boger and Lee reported in 2000 the synthesis and cytotoxic activity against leukemia cell line L1210 of Azatriostin A (Boger, D. L.; Lee, J. K. J. Org. Chem. 2000, 65(19), 5996-6000). Azatriostin A is a Triostin A analogue wherein the ester linkage at the terminal part of the peptide chain has been replaced with an amide linkage. Azatriostin A was two orders of magnitude less active than Triostin A against this cell line.
Other Thiocoraline A analogs disclosed in the prior art are Oxathiocoraline, which shown cytotoxic activity against three cell lines with GI50 values between 3.0E-7 M to 4.62E-7 M (Tulla-Puche, J.; Bayó-Puxan, N.; Moreno, J. A.; Francesch, A. M.; Cuevas, C.; Álvarez, M.; and Albericio, F. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2007, 129, 5322-5323), and Azathiocoraline, which shown cytotoxic activity against a panel of cell lines with GI50 values between 5.67E-6 M to 2.58E-7 M (Bayó-Puxan, N.; Fernández, A.; Tulla-Puche J.; Riego, E.; Cuevas, C.; Álvarez, M.; and Albericio, F. Chem. Eur. J. 2006, 12, 9001-9009; Bayó-Puxan, N. Ph. D. Thesis, University of Barcelona, 2006), and Azathiocoraline analogs wherein the intercalation chromophore moeity at the N-terminal part of Thiocoraline A and/or a cyclic amino acid was modified (Bayó-Puxan, N.; Fernández, A.; Tulla-Puche J.; Riego, E.;. Álvarez, M.; and Albericio, F. Int. J. of Peptide Research and Therapeutics. 2007, 13, 295-306).
 CompoundXZR1R2R3OxathiocoralineOCH—CH2—SMeOHOHAzathiocoralineNHCH—CH2—SMeOHOH[NMe-Leu4, NMe-Leu8]azathiocoralineNHCHi-PrOHOH Azathiocoraline + 3HQANHCH—CH2—SMeOH [2QXA, NMe-Ala4] AzathiocoralineNHNMeHH[2QNA, NMe-Ala4] AzathiocoralineNHCHMeHH
Compounds [NMe-Leu4, NMe-Leu8] Azathiocoraline, [2QXA, NMe-Ala4] Azathiocoraline, and [2QXA, NMe-Ala4] Azathiocoraline were also tested against this cell panel with GI50 values higher than 9.99 E-6 M (Bayó-Puxan, N. Ph. D. Thesis, University of Barcelona, 2006).
Cancer is a leading cause of death in animals and humans. Huge efforts have been and are still being undertaken in order to obtain an antitumor agents that are active and safe to be administered to patients suffering from a cancer. The problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide compounds that are useful in the treatment of cancer.

Abstract: useful as antitumour agents.


A press for making a cutting tool green body having at least one helical flute includes a die having an opening with a helical protrusion and a punch having at least one helical groove having a shape that matches a shape of the helical protrusion. An electrical punch drive system is arranged to simultaneously rotate the punch, relative to a longitudinal axis of the opening in the die, and axially advance the punch into and along a direction of the longitudinal axis of the opening in the die. A method for making a cutting tool green body having at least one helical flute is also disclosed.

The present invention relates generally to presses, pressing methods, and cutting tool green bodies made from pressing and, more particularly to presses for making cutting tool green bodies having helical flutes, and pressing methods for making cutting tool green bodies having helical flutes.
It is relatively common in the iron powder industry to manufacture helical gears via a pressing operation. U.S. Pat. No. 5,366,363, U.S. Pat. No. 6,004,120, U.S. Pat. No. 6,440,357, U.S. Pat. No. 6,156,265, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,694,127 are examples of presses for manufacturing helical gears. On the other hand, cemented carbide tools for holemaking or milling of the type that has a helical flute, which are typically of much smaller diameter than helical gears, are typically produced either by metal injection molding or non-near net shape production methods like machining or grinding. US 20060288820 A1 discloses a cutting tool green body made by extrusion.
The inventor has discovered that helical pressing can facilitate production of cemented carbide cutting tool green bodies for holemaking or milling of the type that have a helical flute by pressing of certain helical insert geometries. Such a pressing operation can improve production economy for such products when compared to other production methods like injection molding and extrusion.
A problem with helical pressing is that, of the tool members making up the press tool in the press, at least two must be able to rotate to be able to press helical blanks. Many current helical press manufacturers utilize a plurality of hydraulic cylinders and mechanical components to advance, withdraw, and rotate punches relative to a die, resulting in a substantial amount of relatively bulky mechanical and hydraulic equipment.
It is desirable to provide a more compact drive system and to provide a helical press suitable for manufacture of cutting tool green bodies having helical flutes. The inventor has recognized that multi-axial presses, pressing with several punches independently and having electrical drives rather than hydraulic cylinders, may be suitable for helical pressing of cutting tool green bodies, particularly where pressing forces are in a lower range than is typical of the forces used in manufacturing helical gears. These electrical drives, often based on electrical motors, lead screws like ball screws or roller screws, can provide positioning accuracy that is superior to hydraulic cylinders and often better than ±2 μm. This drive system then utilizes the available positioning accuracy in the electrical multi-axial press' electrical drives rather than having to secure for that within its own design.
According to an aspect of the present invention, a press is provided for making a cutting tool green body having at least one helical flute, wherein the press comprises a die having an opening with at least one helical protrusion, a top punch having at least one helical groove having a shape that matches a shape of the helical protrusion, a bottom punch having at least one helical groove having a shape that matches the shape of the helical protrusion, and a first electrical punch drive system arranged to simultaneously rotate, relative to a longitudinal axis of the opening in the die, and axially advance, into a top end and along a direction of the longitudinal axis of the opening in the die, the top punch, the press being further arranged with a second electrical punch drive system arranged to simultaneously rotate, relative to the longitudinal axis of the opening in the die, and axially advance, into a bottom end and along the direction of the longitudinal axis of the opening in the die, the bottom punch.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a method of making a cutting tool green body having at least one helical flute is provided and comprises supplying an opening in a die having at least one helical protrusion for forming the helical flute with a metal carbide powder, and compressing the powder by operating a first electrical punch drive system to simultaneously rotate, relative to a longitudinal axis of the opening in the die, and axially advance, into a top end of the opening and along a direction of the longitudinal axis of the opening in the die, a top punch having at least one helical groove having a shape that matches a shape of the helical protrusion, and operating a second electrical punch drive system to simultaneously rotate, relative to a longitudinal axis of the opening in the die, and axially advance, into a bottom end of opening and along a direction of the longitudinal axis of the opening in the die, a bottom punch having a helical groove having a shape that matches a shape of the helical protrusion.

Press for making a cutting tool green body having a helical flute, and method for making a cutting tool green body having a helical flute


Embodiments of the present invention relates to a track and trace (TT) device. The TT device includes a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag, a near field communication (NFC) tag coupled with the RFID tag, and protective materials to cover the TT device. The RFID tag includes an identifier that is unique among all RFID tags and is, therefore, only associated with a product in which the TT device is embedded in. The NFC tag is pre-encoded with location information of a registration server. To register the product, the registrant uses an NFC-enabled device to access the location information of the registration server and to display thereon a registration page generated by the registration server. The registration page is automatically populated with the unique identifier of the RFID tag. Once registration is completed, an account corresponding to the association of the registrant with the product is created and stored.

The present invention generally relates to anti-theft devices. More specifically, the present invention relates to a track and trace device, which includes a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag and a near field communication (NFC) tag, systems and methods thereof.
Anti-theft devices prevent or deter unauthorized appropriation of goods. New anti-theft devices are desired.

Track and trace device, systems and methods thereof


In a real-time digital radiographic apparatus, an image is picked up by means of a TV camera. In a fluoroscopic monitoring mode, an output of the TV camera is displayed on a display in real time. In a radiographic imaging mode, the output of the TV camera is A/D converted, subjected to a necessary image processing and held as image data for diagnosis. In the fluoroscopic monitoring mode, a beam scanning for an image pickup tube corresponding to an NTSC system is performed whereas in the radiographic imaging mode a high-density and low-speed beam scanning can be selected in which the number of scanning lines is increased and the frame rate is lowered. In order to suppressing the lowering of the maximum signal current derivable from the image pickup tube which may occur in such a high-resolution scanning, a target voltage of the image pickup tube in a high-resolution mode is changed to a value higher than a standard value of the target voltage, thereby acquiring an image which has a wide dynamic range and a high S/N ratio.

The present invention relates to an X-ray apparatus for medical use, and more particularly to a real-time digital radiographic apparatus (hereinafter referred to as real-time DR apparatus) in which a television (TV) camera device is used as an image input device to pick up an X-ray image in real time and the X-ray image is processed to make a diagnosis.
In many regions of the field of recent X-ray diagnosis apparatuses for medical use are utilized with a DR apparatus in which an X-ray image is subjected to a digital image processing after conversion thereof into an electrical signal and subsequent A/D conversion of the electrical signal and is then displayed on a CRT display or printed on a photographic film to make a diagnosis.
Especially, the combination of a TV camera device and an X-ray image intensifier (hereinafter referred to as X-ray II) used for reducing an X-ray dose rate per one image or frame and for acquiring a fluoroscopic image mainly utilized to determine a location to be imaged has been remarked for a long time as an image input device for a DR apparatus since the combination makes it possible to conveniently convert X-ray image information into an electrical signal in real time. In recent years, such a combination has been widely utilized at the scene of labor in medical care as an image input device for a digital fluorographic apparatus (DF apparatus) which is one kind of real-time DR apparatus and in which a subtraction operation between images picked up before and after the injection of a contrast agent into a blood vessel is performed to depict an angiography having an excellent contrast resolution, as has been disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 4,204,225.
In other words, a DR apparatus needs both the above-mentioned fluoroscopic image and a radiographic image which is an X-ray image of better image quality obtained with the X-ray dose rate per one frame enhanced to about 1000 times as high as that upon fluoroscopic monitoring and which a doctor observes to make a diagnosis.
U.S. application Ser. No. 220,978 filed on July 18, 1988 by applicants which are partially overlapped by the applicants of the present application, has proposed an X-ray TV device capable of selecting one of a plurality of imaging modes between which each of the spatial resolution or the number of scanning lines per one frame and the frame rate is different.
On the other hand, the present application has a relevancy to U.S. application Ser. No. 356,419 filed on May 25, 1989 by applicants a part of which are the same as the applicants of the present application and assigned to the assignee of the present application. This U.S. Application has proposed an X-ray TV device in which an image pickup tube is used within a range of target voltages which cause avalanche multiplification useful for improving the sensitivity of a TV camera and an X-ray TV device in which a target voltage upon fluoroscopic monitoring and a target voltage upon radiographic imaging differ from each other so that avalanche multiplification is produced only upon fluoroscopic monitoring and is not produced upon radiographic imaging.
Also, JP-A-60-180284 laid open on 1985 has proposed an X-ray TV camera device in which a target voltage of an image pickup tube is changed in accordance with an X-ray dose rate.

Multiple-mode scanning and beam current control x-ray TV apparatus