An on-vehicle information processing unit includes a central processing unit; a first device connected to the central processing unit; a device-dependent driver for driving only the first device; an operating-system-standard (OS-standard) driver enabling an application to drive devices different from the first device; a device-dependent application using the first device through the device-dependent driver; and an OS-dependent application for using the first device through the OS-standard driver. The central processing unit can include a switch for enabling the OS-dependent application only when using an Internet function, and for operating the device-dependent application in a normal mode.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an on-vehicle information processing unit that meets the requirement of high-speed processing such as map drawing.
2. Description of Related Art
FIG. 16 is a block diagram showing a hierarchical configuration of a conventional navigation system. In FIG. 16, the reference numeral 101 designates navigation hardware including a DVD-ROM drive, a display monitor, a GPS receiver, a vehicle speed pulse counter, a gyroscope and the like. The reference numeral 102 designates a navigation OS (operating system) including basic functions such as memory management of programs, process management and thread management in conjunction with a function of controlling navigation hardware 101. The reference numeral 103 designates a graphic-chip-only device driver for directly controlling a graphic chip of the navigation hardware 101; 104 designates a navigation application; and 105 designates an Internet browser for carrying out program communications with the navigation application 104 via an external interface (I/F) 104a.
Next, the operation of the conventional navigation system will be described.
Starting its operation, the navigation application 104 commands the graphic chip 101a to execute a display operation through the graphic-chip-only device driver 103, thereby carrying out high-speed drawing. In the display state, the navigation application 104 starts the Internet browser 105 through the external I/F 104a to display an Internet browser screen on the graphic chip 101a.
With the foregoing configuration, the conventional on-vehicle information processing unit executes a program using the dedicated driver (graphic-chip-only device driver 103) to achieve the best performance of the device (graphic chip 101a) without using drivers installed in the operating system (OS). Accordingly, a general-purpose application, which is designed to operate using the drivers prepared in the OS, cannot work without change. To enable its operation, it is necessary for the general-purpose application like an Internet browser to use a device driver specifically designed for the application in accordance with the rule proper to the device driver. Thus, the dedicated device driver suitable for the general-purpose application must be developed. This presents a problem of requiring a large number of man-hours to develop it, making it difficult to utilize the available resources of the general-purpose application.
For example, when a system is configured such that it operates the navigation application (device-dependent application) on the Windows CE by using a dedicated device driver, a problem arises that the system cannot make use of general-purpose applications like an Internet browser, so-called Windows applications, which utilize GDI (graphics device interface) compatible device drivers that employ a common interface, and hence adapt to different drawing devices.
The present invention is implemented to solve the foregoing problem. It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an on-vehicle information processing unit extending its applications and implementing high-speed processing at the same time.
According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided an on-vehicle information processing unit comprising: a central processing unit; a device connected to the central processing unit; a device-dependent driver for driving only the device; an operating-system-standard (OS-standard) driver enabling an application to drive different devices; a device-dependent application for using the device through the device-dependent driver; and an operating-system-dependent (OS-dependent) application for using the device through the OS-standard driver.
Here, the central processing unit may comprise switching means for enabling the OS-dependent application only when using an Internet function, and for operating the device-dependent application in a normal mode.
The device-dependent driver may further comprise driver switching means for switching between the device-dependent driver and the OS-standard driver.
The device-dependent application may control the driver switching means by carrying out inter-program communication with the OS-dependent application.
The on-vehicle information processing unit may further comprise a device driver switching module for enabling the device-dependent driver in response to a request of the device-dependent application, and for enabling the OS-dependent driver in response to a request of the OS-dependent application.
The device driver switching module may enable one of the device-dependent driver and OS-dependent driver in response to an operation of a manual switch.
The central processing unit may further comprise a program managing module for controlling execution of the device-dependent application and the OS-dependent application, and the device driver switching module switches the device drivers in response to a request of the program managing module.
The device may be a display device having multi-display layers, and display an image associated with the device-dependent application on an upper layer, and an image associated with the OS-dependent application on a lower layer.
The device may simultaneously display images associated with both the device-dependent application and the OS-dependent application by limiting at least one of display areas of the upper display layer and the lower display layer.
The OS-dependent application may operate on a virtual machine.


A color separation prism assembly. The color separation prism assembly includes a polarizing beam splitter and a plurality of prism blocks. The polarizing beam splitter is coated with a polarizing beam splitter coating on a diagonal plane thereof. A first filter and a second filter, each corresponding to a specific color band, are respectively formed on two adjacent bounding surfaces of the polarizing beam splitter. A first prism block and a second prism block are connected to the polarizing beam splitter through the first filter and the second filter, respectively. The second prism block is a rectangular prism with a third filter formed on a base surface thereof. A third prism block is connected to the rectangular prism through the third filter. An angle formed by an inclined side of the rectangular prism and the base surface of the third filter is no more than 30°.

The invention relates to a prism assembly, and in particular to a color separation prism assembly for a projector.
FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an optical system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,621,486, with a Philips prism assembly 100 separating incident light into colors, such as red (R), blue (B), and green (G). As shown in FIG. 1, the Philips prism assembly 100 comprises three prisms 102, 104, and 106, and two color separating surfaces 108 and 110 with dichroic coatings. Air gap 114 is formed between the prisms 102 and 104. When incident light I enters the prism assembly 100, the color separating surface 110 reflects red light IR and allows blue light IB and green light IG to penetrate through. The reflected red light IR is further reflected by an inner surface of the prism 102 to enter the liquid crystal light valve (LCLV) 112R. After incident light I with filtered red light IR passes through the air gap 114, it impinges upon the color separating surface 108, filtering the reflected blue light IB and permitting penetration of the green light IG. Thus, the green light IG directly penetrates the color separating surface 108 and enters the LCLV 112G. After the blue light IB is reflected by the color separating surface 108, total reflection occurs at the interface between the air gap 114 and the prism 104 such that the blue light IB is reflected and enters the LCLV 112B.
The disclosed method reduces volume of the prism assembly, and the light beam can impinge upon the color separating surface at a smaller incident angle; however, before separating the blue light IB and the green light IG, the light must penetrate through the air gap 114 in an inclined direction. The light paths at different angles will reduce image accuracy. Furthermore, the back focal length is longer.
FIG. 2 is a schematic view of a cross dichroic prism of a color projector 200 separating incident light into red, blue, and green colors, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,153,752. As shown in FIG. 2, an S polarized component and a P polarized component of the incident light I of the color projector 200 are reflected by polarized beam splitters 202a and 202b, respectively, and enter the cross dichroic prism 204. The cross dichroic prism 204 is constructed by a plurality of cross dichroic mirrors 204a, 204b, 204c, and 204d, as shown by diagonal lines of a quadrangular cross section. The dichroic mirrors 204a and 204d have characteristics to filter and reflect only the blue light component. The dichroic mirrors 204b and 204c have characteristics to filter and reflect only the red light component such that the red light (RS), green light (GS), and blue light (BS) are directed to corresponding liquid crystal light valves 208R, 208G, and 208B, respectively. The liquid crystal light valves can modulate and reflect individual color light components, such that the color light components are reflected and combined to enter the projection lens system 206.
Although the color projector 200 shortens the back focal length to avoid the disadvantages of the previously mentioned prism assembly 100, the designed light beam impinges on the color separating surfaces at an extremely large incident angle of 45°. If the incident angle at the color separating surfaces is too large, the polarizing light spectrum through the dichroic mirrors is sensitively shifted with variation of incident angle, reducing color purity after color separation. The overall color light separation efficiency of the prism assembly is reduced, accordingly. Furthermore, during manufacture of the cross dichroic prism 204, it is difficult to manufacture the dichroic mirrors in alternative arrangements.


A laser beam printer including a front face. The front face defines an opening for allowing attaching/detaching a paper feed cassette, an opening for allowing attaching/detaching a process unit, and an opening allowing manual paper feed. Accordingly, the laser beam printer has excellent operability since it allows the user to perform any operation from its side. At the same time, valuable space at the lateral and upper sides of the laser beam printer is available for effective use.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus mountable in a limited amount of space and, more particularly, to a laser beam printer mountable in a limited amount of space.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Examined Patent Publications Nos. 6-97354 and 7-40168 disclose laser beam printers to which a process unit, accommodating a photosensitive drum, and a consumable article, such as toner, is detachably attached.
In a printer disclosed in the Japanese Patent Publication 6-97354, space must be provided above the printer to facilitate replacement of the process unit. Thus, the space above the printer cannot be freed for effective use.
In a printer disclosed in the Japanese Patent Publication 7-40168, an attaching/detaching direction of a paper feed cassette is perpendicular to a mounting direction of a process unit. Specifically, the paper feed cassette is pulled out to the front from the printer, while the process unit is pulled out to the right therefrom. Accordingly, space for attaching/detaching the paper feed cassette, as well as space for replacing the process unit, are required at the front and on the right side of the printer, respectively. As a result, a footprint of the printer, i.e., the required size of the surface on which the printer is disposed, is increased.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide an image forming apparatus that has a small footprint, and thereby enables space around the printer to be freed for effective use.
To attain this object, in an image forming apparatus according to the invention, a paper feed cassette accommodating unit, an image forming unit, and a paper discharge unit are arranged vertically within a housing. Accordingly, the footprint of the image forming apparatus can be reduced.
Further, an opening for attaching/detaching a process unit and another opening for attaching/detaching a paper feed cassette are formed on the front face of the housing. Thus, it is unnecessary to open the upper surface of the housing. Since both the opening for attaching/detaching the process unit and the opening for attaching/detaching the paper feed cassette are provided on the front face of the housing, the same space that is used for attaching/detaching the paper feed cassette can be used for attaching/detaching the process unit. Accordingly, it is unnecessary to take the trouble to open the periphery of the image forming apparatus prior to attaching/detaching the process unit. As a result, the operations of attaching/detaching are facilitated, and the footprint of the image forming apparatus can be reduced.
It is preferable that the process unit is designed to be detachably attached to the housing in a direction perpendicular to an axial direction of a photosensitive drum that is accommodated in the process unit.
In this case, the attaching/detaching direction of the process unit and a paper discharge direction can be easily made to be the same. Further, the attaching/detaching direction of the paper feed cassette can be easily made to be the same (directed to the front). Accordingly, it is unnecessary to open sides of the apparatus other than the front side. As a result, the footprint can be reduced and space around the image forming apparatus can be freed for effective use.
A laser scanner may be disposed above the process unit within the housing.
In this case, the laser scanner will not interfere with the process unit when the process unit is attached/detached from the front side of the housing. Thus, it is unnecessary to move the laser scanner prior to attaching/detaching the process unit. Since the laser scanner can be moved upward without opening the upper portion of the housing, space above the housing can be freed for effective use.
Further, it is preferable that the upper surface of the housing is made to be planar. In this case, another device can be placed on the upper surface of the housing, and space for paper discharged by a paper discharge unit can be provided below the device. Thus, space above the housing can be effectively used.
The paper discharge unit may be accommodated within the housing, and an opening for removing paper discharged by the paper discharge unit may be provided in the housing. In this case, paper discharged by the paper discharge unit can be removed through the opening, while space above the housing is available for effective use.
Further, when a leading edge of paper discharged by the paper discharge unit is arranged to project outwardly from the front of the housing, discharged paper can be readily removed.
Further, the upper surface of the housing is made to be detachable. The upper portion of the paper discharge unit can then be opened when needed.
Still further, an operation panel accepting a user""s operations and an insertion slot for allowing manual paper insertion may be provided on the front face of the housing.


An image forming device includes a main body, developer cartridges, a drawer, and an ejecting mechanism. The drawer is movable relative to the main body. The developer cartridges are juxtaposed in a predetermined direction and detachably attached to the drawer. Each developer cartridge includes a developing roller whose rotational axis extends in an axial direction orthogonal to the predetermined direction. The ejecting mechanism moves at least one developer cartridge from an attached position in a moving direction relative to the drawer. The moving direction intersects the predetermined direction and is orthogonal to the axial direction. The ejecting mechanism includes an operating part and an actuating part. The actuating part moves the at least one developer cartridge from the attached position in the moving direction in response to the operating part receiving an operating force.

For example, Japanese unexamined patent application publication No. 2010-26299 describes an image-forming device having a drawer that can be pulled out from the body of the device, and a plurality of developer cartridges that are detachably mounted in the drawer. Each developer cartridge is provided with a grip part by which a user can hold the developer cartridge. The grip part can be displaced between a stored position in which the grip part is retracted into the drawer, and a grippable position in which the grip part sticks out enough for the user to grasp.

Image forming device including mechanism for moving developer cartridge


A method of making a tubular casing for an underwater device, wherein a metal ring made of aluminum is subjected to an anodizing process that produces an insulating layer of aluminum oxide that covers it externally. The ring is coupled with a mold that defines a cylindrical surface on which the following are deposited: first layers of carbon fiber to produce a first cylindrically-shaped tubular element in carbon fiber provided with an end portion that engages a first groove of the ring; a layer of syntactic material configured to transfer radial forces; and second layers of carbon fiber to produce a second cylindrically-shaped tubular element in carbon fiber that covers the syntactic layer and is provided with an end portion that engages a first groove of the ring.

The casings for underwater devices, in particular torpedoes, must be possess a variety of characteristics, including: resistance to high pressures, water-tightness and being light.
In the military field, if the casing forms part of a torpedo, the required characteristics are even more stringent. For example, torpedoes are required to resist very high pressures in order to follow modern submarines that can reach increasingly deep operating depths. Torpedoes must be light in order to improve their performance in terms of speed, operating range and systems that can be installed on board.
The use of composite materials, especially carbon fibre, has been proposed for making these casings, as such materials have high mechanical resistance combined with low density. These materials can therefore advantageously replace those that are currently and which are mainly constituted by aluminum alloys.
The coupling between different portions of the casing is carried out using annular metal portions (typically in aluminum or aluminum alloys) that are connected to the portion made of carbon fibre. The connection between the aluminum and carbon fibre parts is quite critical and has limited many practical applications of carbon fibre in making torpedo casings.
According to the known art, the annular portions are provided with a complete conical wall on which an end portion of the carbon fibre casing engages; this stratagem allows creating a large adhesion surface between the conical surface in carbon fibre and the conical surface in aluminum.
Chinese patents CN203528747U and CN103482014 illustrate precisely the use of conical coupling surfaces.
This solution responds very well in many load situations, but is found to be very weak regarding axial loads generated by the pressure acting on the torpedo. Due to the axial loads, the conical surfaces tend to interpenetrate, generating circumferential mechanical loads that can damage the casing. The direct coupling of the carbon fibre on aluminum can also result in corrosion of the aluminum due to a series of chemical reactions between the different materials that, among other things, are both electrical conductors.

Method of making a tubular casing for an underwater device, in particular a torpedo


A hydraulic pump is driven by a rotating shaft, driven in turn by a renewable energy source. A hydraulic motor drives a load and a high pressure manifold communicates between the pump, motor and an elastically deformable fluid retaining body. The pressure in the high pressure manifold is measured and the net rate of displacement of working fluid by the hydraulic pump is selected responsive thereto to regulate the torque applied to the rotating shaft. The net rate of displacement of working fluid by the hydraulic motor is selected to smooth the energy flow to the load. The net rate of displacement of working fluid by the hydraulic motor is selected to regulate the pressure in the high pressure manifold to remain within an acceptable pressure range.

Renewable energy devices such as wind turbine generators (WTGs) and tidal stream generators are increasingly important sources of power for AC electricity networks. Such devices traditionally employ a transmission in the form of a gearbox to change the slow input speed of an energy extraction mechanism such as the rotor of a wind or tidal turbine into a fast output speed to drive a generator. Such gearboxes are challenging to design and build as they are prone to failure and expensive to maintain and replace or repair.
A further challenge in designing renewable energy devices is extracting the optimum amount of energy by the energy extraction mechanism in all conditions. The most effective devices achieve this by holding the blades at a fixed pitch angle, and varying the rotational speed of the blades proportionally to the wind or water speed over the majority of the operating range, so as to maintain a more or less constant 'tip speed ratio'. Gearboxes at the scale required for cost effective renewable energy devices are invariably fixed ratio, so complex and failure-prone electronic power conversion is required to provide electricity to an AC electricity network.
It has therefore been proposed to build transmissions for renewable energy devices using fluid working machines, it being possible to make such hydrostatic transmissions variable ratio even at large scales. Such a hydrostatic transmission is also lighter and more robust than a gearbox, and lighter than a direct generator drive, which would otherwise perform the same function, and thereby reduces the overall cost of producing electricity. U.S. Pat. No. 4,503,673 (Schacle) disclosed a plurality of variable displacement motors driven by a plurality of pumps, the motor displacement being varied in aggregate to control the hydraulic pressure according to a pressure vs. rotor speed function. WO 2007 053036A1 (Chapple) also disclosed a variable displacement motor driven by a fixed displacement pump, but with the motor displacement controlled according to the measured wind speed.
However, the input power to renewable energy devices is unpredictable from second to second, due to gusts and turbulence. This creates undesirable variations in the power output to the electricity network. For this reason it has been proposed to use a fluid store connected between the pump and motor, and to control the pump and/or motor to achieve the second-by-second storage and retrieval of excess energy in the fluid store.
It is known to provide a WTG comprising an electronically-commutated pump (i.e. one in which individual working chambers could be deactivated to vary the displacement of fluid by the pump each revolution, and thus the torque applied to the rotor). The rotor torque can be controlled to maintain a desired ratio of rotor speed to measured wind speed, while the turbine (functionally equivalent to the motor) or motor respectively can be controlled to maintain constant pressure in the fluid store (typically a pressure vessel or a flywheel or a vacuum store). U.S. Pat. No. 4,496,847 disclosed in addition constricting valves for, when necessary, isolating the pump from the turbine, thereby raising pressure to control the device against rotor overspeed. U.S. Pat. No. 4,280,061 (Lawson-Tancred) disclosed another WTG whereby the pump displacement was controlled according to the square of rotor speed and the motor was controlled to maintain constant pressure, in which the fluid store was a weighted hydraulic ram. U.S. Pat. No. 4,274,010 (Lawson-Tancred) disclosed in addition the ability to turn the generators/motors on and off intermittently according to power availability.
It is also known to provide a WTG with an electronically-commutated pump and a hydraulic accumulator as the energy store. While accumulators are a cheap and reliable energy store, their fluid pressure must vary very widely in operation. It is therefore not possible to apply the control strategies of other prior art (which control the pressure to set the torque on the rotor, or control the motors to maintain a predetermined pressure) to a WTG comprising accumulator energy storage, while maintaining the optimum tip speed ratio in order to extract the optimum amount of energy in all conditions.
An additional problem of hydrostatic WTGs of the prior art is that the efficiency of fluid working machines changes with operating pressure, and therefore energy may be unnecessarily lost when the control method dictates working at other than close to the optimum operating pressure.
The present invention aims to address one or more of the above problems and to provide a control method for a renewable energy device comprising a hydrostatic transmission and a cheap and reliable energy storage device, which is able to extract energy efficiently in all conditions, while providing a less variable energy output than would naturally occur.

Method and apparatus for extracting energy from a fluctuating energy flow from a renewable energy source


A Doppler sensitivity measuring unit measures the Doppler sensitivity of Doppler spectrum data obtained by ultrasonic wave transmission/reception with respect to a predetermined region of an object to be examined. A spectrum shape model generating unit generates a spectrum shape model on the basis of a window function used when the above Doppler spectrum data is generated. A threshold setting unit sets a threshold range in which trace waveform data displaces by a predetermined amount in the frequency axis direction on the basis of the spectrum shape model and the Doppler sensitivity, and sets a predetermined number of thresholds at almost equal intervals in the threshold range. A trace data generating unit selects a threshold for the acquisition of desired trace waveform data by generating trace waveform data while sequentially updating the plurality of set thresholds.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ultrasonic Doppler measuring apparatus which measures the flow velocity information of a blood flow and the movement information of tissue in a living body by using the Doppler effect of ultrasonic waves, and a control method therefor.
2. Description of the Related Art
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus is designed to apply ultrasonic pulses generated by ultrasonic transducers incorporated in an ultrasonic probe into an object to be examined, receive reflected ultrasonic waves generated by the difference in acoustic impedance between object tissues through the ultrasonic transducers, and display the resultant image on a monitor. This diagnostic method allows easy observation of a real-time two-dimensional image by simple operation of only bringing the ultrasonic probe into contact with the body surface, and hence is widely used for functional diagnosis or morphological diagnosis of various organs of a living body. Ultrasonic diagnostic methods of obtaining living body information by using reflected waves from tissue or blood cells in a living body have rapidly progressed along with two great technical developments of an ultrasonic pulse reflection method and ultrasonic Doppler method. B mode images and color Doppler images obtained by these techniques have become indispensable to recent ultrasonic image diagnosis.
A Doppler spectrum method is available as a method of obtaining blood flow information in an arbitrary observation region of an object quantitatively with high accuracy. In this Doppler spectrum method, ultrasonic wave transmission/reception is performed with respect to the same region of an object at predetermined intervals a plurality of number of times, and Doppler signals are detected by performing quadrature phase detection for reflected ultrasonic waves from moving reflectors such as blood cells by using a reference signal having a frequency almost equal to the resonance frequency of the ultrasonic transducers used for the reception of the ultrasonic waves. A Doppler signal in the desired region is extracted from these Doppler signals by using a range gate. Doppler spectrum data is generated by FFT-analyzing the extracted Doppler signal.
Doppler spectrum data are continuously generated with respect to the Doppler signal obtained from the desired region of the object according to such a sequence. The plurality of obtained Doppler spectrum data are sequentially arrayed to generate Doppler spectrum image data. Note that the range gate is set under B mode image observation to accurately set the range gate at the desired observation region in the object, and the position of the range gate is monitored with a B mode image.
The Doppler spectrum data obtained by this ultrasonic Doppler measuring apparatus is generally displayed with the ordinate representing a frequency (f), the abscissa representing time (t), and the power (intensity) of each frequency component being represented by a luminance (gray level). Various kinds of diagnosis parameters are measured on the basis of this Doppler spectrum data. As a typical method for this operation, there is available a method of detecting a maximum blood flow velocity Vp corresponding to a maximum frequency component fp in the frequency axis direction and measuring a diagnosis parameter on the basis of trace waveform data representing a temporal change in the maximum blood flow velocity Vp.
The trace waveform data of the maximum blood flow velocity Vp is generated by performing a method of measuring the maximum blood flow velocity Vp from the maximum value of Doppler spectrum components which are not buried in a noise spectrum. Conventionally, manual tracing operation has been basically performed with respect to frozen (freeze-displayed) Doppler spectrum data.
In contrast to this, recently, as disclosed in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,528,321, a method of automatically tracing the maximum blood flow velocity Vp on the basis of a predetermined threshold set for Doppler spectrum data obtained in real time has been developed. In addition, there has been proposed a method of automatically setting the above threshold on the basis of the average signal level and average noise level of Doppler spectrum data. Furthermore, as disclosed in Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 7-303641, there has also been proposed a method of setting a plurality of thresholds and selecting suitable trace waveform data as the trace waveform data of the maximum blood flow velocity Vp from a plurality of trace waveform data generated on the basis of the thresholds.
According to the method disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,528,321 described above, in some case, however, the maximum blood flow velocity Vp cannot be detected as it is influenced by noise with temporal variations in average signal level and average noise level. For this reason, a doctor or examination technician (to be referred to as an operator hereinafter) needs always to execute a sequence of sequentially updating the above threshold and setting a threshold for the acquisition of desired trace waveform data by observing sequentially generated trace waveform data.
When trace waveform data are to be generated while a threshold for Doppler spectrum data is updated at predetermined intervals, the displacement amount of trace waveform data with respect to the amount of change in threshold depends on the average signal level and average noise level of Doppler spectrum data. If, for example, the difference between an average signal level and an average noise level (to be referred to as a Doppler sensitivity) is large as in the case with Doppler spectrum data obtained from a blood flow in the common carotid artery, a slight change in threshold has no great influence on trace waveform data. If, however, the Doppler sensitivity is poor as in the case with the Doppler spectrum data of the middle cerebral artery or vertebral artery, trace waveform data noticeably displaces in the frequency axis direction with the same amount of change in threshold. It is known that a Doppler sensitivity depends on the sex and constitutional predisposition (e.g., the degree of obesity) of an object as well as a measurement region. The same phenomenon as that described above occurs in trace waveform data obtained with respect to such an object.
FIG. 1A shows trace waveform data obtained when three thresholds are set at predetermined intervals with respect to Doppler spectrum data obtained from the common carotid artery with a good Doppler sensitivity. Referring to FIG. 1A, the ordinate represents the blood flow velocity (frequency); and the abscissa, the time. FIG. 1B shows trace waveform data obtained when three thresholds are set at the same intervals as those in FIG. 1A with respect to Doppler spectrum data obtained from the middle cerebral artery with a poor Doppler sensitivity. Referring to FIG. 1B, the ordinate and abscissa represent the same as those in FIG. 1A.
Therefore, in order to efficiently select a threshold for the generation of desired trace waveform data from a plurality of thresholds set in advance, it is preferable to compare and observe trace waveform data obtained while updating a threshold at relatively short intervals with respect to Doppler spectrum data exhibiting a poor Doppler sensitivity and updating a threshold at relatively long intervals with respect to Doppler spectrum data exhibiting a good Doppler sensitivity. However, there is no description about a method of setting threshold intervals accompanying differences in Doppler sensitivity in the method disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,528,321 or Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 7-303641 described above.

Ultrasonic doppler measuring apparatus and control method therefor


An indicator indicates whether Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (MBMS) Service Area Identifier (SAI) frequency information broadcast from a wireless communication network to a wireless communication device is being updated dynamically. Based on the indicator, the wireless communication device may apply different procedures for acquiring an MBMS service.

Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (MBMS) is a Point-to-Multipoint (PTM) interface specification designed to provide efficient delivery of broadcast and multicast services within 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) cellular networks. Examples of MBMS interface specifications include those described in Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) and Long Term Evolution (LTE) communication specifications. For broadcast transmission across multiple cells, the specifications define transmission over single-frequency network configurations. Intended applications include mobile TV, news, radio broadcasting, file delivery, emergency alerts, and others. When services are broadcasted by MBMS, all cells inside an MBSFN (Multimedia Broadcast multicast service Single Frequency Network) area transmit the same MBMS service. Services that can be provided using PTM can be referred to as PTM compatible services. As discussed herein, MBMS services and MBMS content are PTM compatible services that are provided via MBMS.
Users access these services and obtain the MBMS content through wireless communication devices such as cellular phones, tablets, laptops, and other devices with wireless transceivers that communicate with the base stations within the communication system. The base stations, sometimes referred to as eNodeBs or eNBs, provide wireless services to the wireless communication devices, sometimes referred to as user equipment (UE) or UE devices, within cells.
A user can access at least some multimedia services through a UE using either a Point-to-Point (PTP) connection or a Point-to-Multipoint (PTM) transmission. PTP services are provided using Unicast techniques and PTP transmissions are performed using MBMS communication in 3GPP systems. Accordingly, a PTM compatible service can be provided using either Unicast service or MBMS. In order to avoid inefficient use of resources, current specifications and proposals include provisions for tracking and evaluating the number of UEs that have been characterized by the network, at least for resource management purposes, as UEs that will receive the PTM compatible service. The network monitors the number of UEs accessing an MBMS service, congestion levels and other communication parameters, and makes appropriate adjustments to the network to maintain efficient use of communication resources. For example, resources are more efficiently allocated by only providing a specific PTM compatible service with MBMS when the number of wireless communication devices in connected mode (connected mode UEs) receiving the specific PTM compatible service using PTM is sufficiently high. When there are many users that are using, or will likely use, a particular PTM compatible service in the MBSFN area, then the network allocates resources to deliver the program by MBMS via PTM. In other words, if there are many users that are interested in getting a particular PTM compatible service and, therefore, are operating a wireless communication device that is receiving, or is likely to receive, the PTM compatible service in the MBSFN area, then the network allocates resources to deliver the specific PTM compatible service using PTM techniques. On the contrary, if there are a small number of users that are interested in and will use the particular PTM compatible service, it is more efficient to deliver the PTM compatible service using PTP techniques such as those used with a Unicast connection. When services are broadcasted by PTM using MBMS, all cells inside the MBSFN (Multimedia Broadcast multicast service Single Frequency Network) area are required to broadcast the same information so the amount of wasted resource could be very large when very few wireless communication devices (UEs) are obtaining the service. In accordance with current specifications, therefore, a program or service is discontinued from PTM transmission when the size of the audience using wireless communication devices in connected mode decreases below a threshold. For activation of a service by PTM, the network evaluates the number of wireless communication devices which are PTM capable but which are receiving a given PTM compatible service via PTP such as through a Unicast service as well as devices that have been identified as devices that will receive the PTM compatible service. The network characterizes devices that are receiving the service or that are likely to receive the service as devices that will receive the service for purposes of resource management and determines the number of PTM capable wireless communication devices (UEs) that are characterized as devices that will receive the service. When that number of PTM capable wireless communication devices (UEs) exceeds a threshold, the service is provided using PTM.
In order for the network to receive reception status feedback from the wireless communication devices (UEs), the current 3GPP specifications specify Counting Procedures. A Counting Procedure is initiated by the network. A Multi-cell/multicast Coordination Entity (MCE) in the network sends a request to each eNodeB providing the specific PTM compatible service in the MBSFN area to send a Counting Request to the wireless communication devices (UEs). The Counting Request contains a list of specific PTM compatible service identifiers requiring wireless communication device (UE) feedback. The connected mode wireless communication devices (UEs) which are receiving, or interested in receiving, the identified content respond with a Counting Response message including the specific PTM compatible service identifiers that are of interest.
The current communication specifications, therefore, provide for a Counting Procedure that allows for the network to determine a number of wireless communication devices (UEs) in the connected mode that are interested in specific MBMS content. Proposals have been offered for counting wireless communication devices (UEs) in idle mode that are receiving, or will likely receive, a specific PTM compatible service.
The network also monitors the number of wireless communication devices (UEs) that are accessing a particular frequency and performs load balancing procedures to avoid congestion. For example, when a threshold percentage of total capacity is reached, the network applies procedures for reducing the number of wireless communication devices on the particular frequency.
Current 3GPP specifications specify a mechanism for providing MBMS frequency information to the wireless communication devices, where the MBMS frequency information allows a wireless communication device to determine the frequencies at which particular MBMS services are available. More specifically, the most 3GPP Revision 11 specification provides that base stations (eNBs) transmit MBMS Service Area Identification (SAI) frequency information using the System Information Block 15 (SIB15). The MBMS SAI frequency information provides information regarding the relationship between SAIs and frequencies. For example, the SAI frequency information includes the correlation between MBMS SAIs and frequency channels for all MBMS frequency channels for the serving base station (eNB) as well as for neighboring base stations (eNBs). The wireless communication also obtains a User Service Description (USD) which provides information related to the relationship between SAIs and MBMS services. For example the USD contains at least Temporary Mobile Group Identities (TMGIs) and MBMS Service Area Identities (SAIs) as well as an association between the TMGIs and the MBMS SAIs. The wireless communication device downloads the USD and may receive the USD from a base station in some circumstances. The MBMS frequency information which provides the relationship between MBMS services and frequencies can be determined based on the USD and the SAI frequency information.
Network changes result from the counting procedures, load balancing, and other network management may result in changes to the MBMS frequencies and services such that the frequencies carrying a particular MBMS service are changed. Accordingly, in some cases the network adjustments may result in changes in the frequency information related to MBMS services.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS) frequency prioritization


A variable capacitance circuit includes: a prescribed node, to which an alternate current signal with a reference potential as a center voltage is applied; a first capacitor connected to the prescribed node; a second capacitor connected between the first capacitor and the reference potential; a third capacitor and a transistor for controlling capacitance, provide between a first node between the second capacitor and the first capacitor, and the reference potential; and a bias circuit which applies a first bias voltage to a second node between the third capacitor and the transistor.

A variable capacitance circuit has a plurality of circuits each having capacitor and switch, and, by controlling the number of the switches to be ON, variably controls the capacitance value. Such a variable capacitance circuit is used, when there is a need for variably setting a capacitance value of a certain node according to various conditions.
For example, at an output terminal of a power amplifier used for a mobile phone or the like, an impedance-matching circuit is equipped. An impedance-matching circuit has an inductor and a capacitor. For enabling a fine adjustment of impedance of an impedance-matching circuit, possible options are to enable a variable control of the inductance value of the inductor, or to enable a variable control of the capacitance value of the capacitor. In general, a variable capacitance circuit for variably controlling the capacitance value is used. A variable capacitance circuit is also used when there is a need for variably setting the capacitance value for various situations other than a power amplifier.
Such a variable capacitance circuit has circuits in parallel, each of which has capacitor and MOS transistor between an output terminal of a power amplifier and the ground, and, by turning the MOS transistors ON, increases the capacitance of the output terminal.
Descriptions relating to a variable capacitance circuit are in Japanese patent laid-open publications No. 2008-166877 and No. 2000-150779.
However, in the power amplifier in the above examples, high-power signals are delivered to the output terminals. For example, when impedance of an output of a mobile phone is temporarily mismatched, there will be a case that the output power momentarily exceeds 30 dBm. This power means, if converted into a voltage amplitude of an AC (alternate current) signal with 50Ω matching, an amplitude of plus/minus 10V with 0V as the center voltage.
Hence, there is a concern for the variable capacitance circuit connected to the output terminal of the power amplifier such that an exceptionally high-power voltage applied to the capacitor element and thus the capacitor is broken. Therefore, a circuit configuration with considering withstanding voltage of the capacitor element is desired.
The above AC signal occurring at the output terminal with a large amplitude with 0V as the center voltage has a voltage exceeding the power-supply voltage, and has, on the other hand, a large minus voltage. Hence, PN junction of a drain of MOS transistor within the variable capacitance circuit becomes conductive, which causes distortion of the waveform of the output signal.


Apparatus for cleaning foreign particles from the surface of sheets of material, such as printed circuit boards during fabrication processing. Two pairs of sheet cleaning rollers are located along the sheet path, and the sheet is passed through the nips between the pairs of rollers. The rollers have a surface tack sufficient to transfer the foreign particles from the surfaces of the sheet to the cleaning roller surfaces. Upper and lower roller cleaning rolls having surfaces of even greater surface tack are arranged in tangential contact with respective ones of the sheet cleaning rollers. The surfaces of the roller cleaning rolls have even greater surface tack, sufficient to transfer the foreign particles from the sheet cleaning rollers to the cleaning roll surfaces. An adjustable preload force is applied to each roller cleaning roll to urge each roll against the sheet cleaning roller surfaces. The adjustable preload force also controls the nip pressure between the cleaning rollers and the sheet surface improving the cleaning ability of the system. The apparatus further includes a system for preventing delamination of layers of the sheet. Endless belts are reeved about pulleys and about grooves formed in the sheet cleaning rollers, and provide a belt region remaining in contact with the sheet even after the region of the sheet has passed through the nip of the cleaning rollers. This prevents the outer layer of the sheet from lifting away from the body of the sheet.

The present invention relates to an apparatus for cleaning dust and other surface particulate contaminants from material in sheet form.
There are many applications employing material in sheet form in various processes. For example, in the fabrication of printed circuit boards, the boards are in sheet form, and typically must be cleaned prior to processing steps for defining circuit traces. A trend in the printed circuit board industry is toward increasing use of fine line printed wiring boards. Any small dirt particle can cause a defect, e.g., a short or open circuit. Thus, typically, layers of copper are formed on the outer surfaces of the circuit board, and the fine line circuit traces are defined by photolithographic processes. An intermediate step is the deposit of layers of photoresist material onto the copper layers. Outer thin layers of polyester, e.g., 0.001 inches in thickness are often laid over the photoresist to provide protection during intermediate processing. The photoresist layers may be exposed through the protective layers and a mask which defines the wiring pattern. Subsequent processing includes developing the photoresist. The outer surfaces of the polyester film are typically cleaned to remove dust and other foreign particles, which could otherwise interfere with such steps as the exposure of the photoresist. However, care must be taken to keep from removing the thin polyester films during the cleaning.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,009,047 describes an exemplary device for cleaning sheets, wherein a cleaning roller having a tacky surface is used to pickup dirts particles from a sheet. The device includes a sheet cleaning roller having a higher surface tack than the cleaning roller, to remove the dirt particles from the cleaning roller. The device is relatively complex and expensive to manufacture, and would tend to remove protective thin films as used to protect printed circuit boards during fabrication.


An apparatus for preserving and conducting chemical tests on corneal tissues. The apparatus consists of a chamber having a medial portion with a port therethrough. Operatively attached to the port is a system for retaining the cornea in position. Placed over the port and in direct contact with the cornea is a cover member of non-abrasive, biologically compatible material. A nutrient supply conduit delivers liquid nutrients to the cover member from an external source. The nutrients are imparted to the cornea through direct contact between the cornea and the cover member. Residual nutrients are collected in a reservoir secured to the chamber beneath the port. The reservoir is drained using a waste conduit. Also, the chamber is filled with nutrients so that the inner surface of the cornea is sustained. As a result, the corneal tissues are maintained in a living state.

The present invention generally relates to the storage, preservation, and testing of living eye tissues, and more particularly to a system for maintaining eye tissues in a living state over extended periods of time for testing purposes.
The development of new cosmetics, drugs, and other chemical products requires that these materials be extensively tested before public introduction. Specifically, the materials must be tested to determine if they produce any adverse reactions during contact with human tissues. This is especially important with respect to eye tissues (e.g. the transparent portion of the eye known as the cornea). Cosmetics and other chemical products which potentially come in contact with eye tissues during normal use must be thoroughly tested to ensure a sufficient degree of safety.
Current testing procedures involving cosmetics, chemicals, and eye tissues require the use of live animal subjects. These in vivo procedures are the subject of considerable controversy since they often involve direct physical damage to the eye tissues in a live, unanesthetized animal. A difficult conflict therefore exists between the need to conduct vital precautionary research, and the prevention of cruelty to animals. The present invention eliminates this conflict, and involves an apparatus which enables living eye tissues to be preserved in vitro and tested without the use of live animal subjects. Specifically, the apparatus comprises an in vitro system which allows the preservation and simultaneous testing of eye tissues from swine, sheep, rabbit, or bovine specimens obtained from meat processing plants and the like. In addition, the apparatus may also be used to preserve and test human eye tissues which become available during surgical procedures, or which have been rejected for human transplantation. By preserving and testing eye tissues from non-living subjects, the need for live animal testing is substantially eliminated. The present invention therefore represents an advance in the art of tissue preservation/testing and offers numerous benefits, as described in detail below.

Apparatus for preserving and testing living eye tissues


The invention is directed to a peptide, comprising the amino acid sequence substantially as denoted by SEQ ID NO:1 and biologically functional homologues and derivatives thereof.

The present invention relates to various peptides homologous to regions of heat shock protein (HSP), to DNA sequences encoding such peptides, to DNA constructs comprising the DNA sequences, and to antibodies directed against peptides of the invention. The invention also relates to active vaccines comprising a peptide, a DNA sequence or a DNA construct of the invention, and to a passive immunization composition comprising an antibody of the invention.
Throughout this application, various publications are referred to by Arabic numerals in parentheses. These publications are incorporated herein in their entireties and constitute part of the description.
Adjuvant Arthritis (AA) is an experimental model of autoimmune arthritis which can be induced in susceptible strains of rats such as inbred Lewis or Wistar strains upon vaccination with heat-killed Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MT) in complete Freund""s Adjuvant (CFA) [1-3]. The disease cannot be induced in resistant strains of rats (e.g., Brown-Norway; Fisher [5, 6]), and Lewis rats develop resistance to re-induction of the disease after recovery from arthritis.
The inventors have previously shown that resistance to AA can be transferred to a susceptible strain of rats by intravenous infusion of immunoglobulins from the resistant strains, and that resistance is associated with the presence of antibodies against the 65 kD MT heat shock protein (HSP 65) [4].
Heat shock proteins are a family of highly conserved proteins. There is xcx9c50% amino acid identity between the mycobacterial HSP 65 and the mammalian HSP 60 [21]. The role of the 65 kD heat shock protein (HSP 65) of MT in the pathogenesis of autoimmune arthritis, both in experimental animals [7, 8], as well as in humans [9-11], has been investigated intensively in the past several years. For example, Barker et al. [32] describes the suppression of arthritogenic immune responses in mice given HSP 65 and pristane. The antigen used to elicit the response was full-length HSP 65, and no attempt was made to investigate the effect of specific sub-domains or peptides deriving from this protein.
AA can be passively transferred by a T-cell clone reactive to residues 180-188 of the MT HSP 65, and in patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis (RA), an association between T-cell responses to HSP 65 and early stages of joint inflammation has been found [7, 12-14]. Paradoxically, pre-immunization with the mycobacterial HSP 65 leads to resistance to induction of the disease by MT, and this protective effect is believed to be mediated by T-cells specific for HSP 65 [7, 15-16]. Likewise, although arthritic rats develop vigorous T-cell responses to self-HSP and to peptide 180-188 of the MT HSP, neither of these is arthritogenic when injected to arthritis-susceptible rats [15, 17]. These and other results suggest that HSP may contain epitopes that are disease-related and other epitopes that confer resistance [5, 19, 20]. Both the pathogenic immune response and the protective effect were attributed to anti-HSP T-cells. The following Examples illustrate the fine epitope specificity of the anti-HSP antibodies of arthritis-susceptible and resistant rats.
In addition, the inventors have found that naive Lewis rats lack antibodies to certain epitopes of the mycobacterial HSP 65 which are found naturally in young BN and old naive Lewis rats, and that are acquired by young Lewis rats after recovery from the disease. Analysis of the primary and tertiary structure of the whole MT HSP 65 molecule indicated that these xe2x80x9cprotectivexe2x80x9d epitopes are potential B-cell epitopes with non-conserved amino acid sequences which are found on the outer surface of the molecule.
Pre-immunization of Lewis rats with one of the xe2x80x9cprotectivexe2x80x9d epitopes prior to induction of the disease induced antibodies against the whole molecule as well as resistance to disease induction. This peptide corresponds also to the self-HSP 60 epitope to which antibodies were found in the arthritis-resistant rats, but not in the arthritis-susceptible naive Lewis rats.
The present invention relates to a peptide comprising the amino acid sequence. substantially as denoted by SEQ ID NO:1 and biologically functional homologues and derivatives thereof.
More particularly, the invention relates to a peptide having the amino acid sequence substantially as denoted by SEQ ID NO:2 and biologically functional homologues and derivatives thereof and to a peptide having the amino acid sequence substantially as denoted by SEQ ID NO:3 and biologically functional homologues and derivatives thereof.
In addition, the invention relates to a peptide comprising the amino acid sequence substantially as denoted by SEQ ID NO:4 and biologically functional homologues and derivatives thereof.
The peptides of the invention can be synthetic peptides and chemically modified peptides.
The peptides of the invention are capable of conferring immunity against autoimmune and/or inflammatory disorders.
In a further aspect, the invention relates to a nucleic acid sequence encoding a peptide of the invention and to DNA constructs comprising the same.
In yet a further aspect, the invention relates to vaccines comprising as an active ingredient an effective vaccinating amount of at least one peptide of the invention, or a nucleic acid according to the invention. The vaccines of the invention are particularly useful in conferring immunity against autoimmune or inflammatory disorders.
Still further, the invention relates to antibodies directed against the peptides of the invention and to compositions comprising them. The compositions of the invention are particularly useful for passive vaccination against autoimmune or inflammatory disorders.
The details of one or more embodiments of the invention are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features, objects, and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the description and drawings, and from the claims.

Hadasit Medical Research Services and Development Ltd.


A radio receiver includes a channel estimator processing circuit including: a feature extractor configured to extract one or more features from a received signal, the features including a channel correlation estimated based on a reference signal in a current slot, the estimated channel correlation indicating a rate of change of a wireless channel over time; and a Doppler spread estimator configured to estimate a Doppler spread of the wireless channel by supplying the features to one or more Doppler shift predictors trained on training data across a training signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) range and across a training Doppler shift range, each Doppler shift predictor being trained on a portion of the training data corresponding to a different portion of the training data.

In the field of wireless communications, radio transceivers monitor the properties of the communication channels in order to adapt to changing signal propagation conditions of the electromagnetic environment. These properties are generally referred to as channel state information (CSI) and may include effects such as scattering, fading, power decay, and Doppler spread. A channel estimation (CE) block of a radio transceiver may be used to estimate the CSI of various channels of a received radio signal in an operating frequency range of the radio transceiver.
In the field of wireless communications, a radio receiver may receive a Doppler shifted version of a transmitted signal when the radio transmitter and the radio receiver are moving relative to one another. For example, in the case of a cellular land mobile radio system, a base station (e.g., cellular tower) is generally fixed, while one or more mobile stations (e.g., smartphones) that are communicating with the base station may be stationary or moving. Generally, the frequency of the received signal will be shifted up (increased) when the mobile station is moving toward the base station, and the frequency of the received signal will be shifted down (decreased) when the mobile station is moving away from the base station. For example, the magnitude of the observed Doppler shift fd will generally be larger when the mobile station is in a fast-moving car than when the mobile station is resting on a desk top in an office. The broadening of the frequency spectrum of the transmitted signal due to the rate of change in the Doppler shift is referred to as Doppler spread Ds.
Doppler spread is generally used for time interpolation in the channel estimation block of a radio, as well as for some software control, as part of the system for the radio to adapt transmissions to current channel conditions in order to achieve reliable communications.

Doppler spread estimation based on supervised learning


A polymeric adhesive tape including a first polymeric adhesive layer which is a heat activated film and a second polymeric adhesive layer which is a heat activated film is disclosed. The tape is designed for use in the fabrication of articles wherein the polymeric adhesive tape secures a first member to a support surface. A method for bonding adjacent sheets to a substrate is also disclosed. In accordance with the disclosed method, a substrate is prepared for application of a first sheet and a second sheet, a polymeric adhesive tape is positioned on the substrate at a position along which the seam between the first sheet and the second sheet will be located, the first sheet and the second sheet are laid on the substrate such that the seam between the first sheet and the second sheet lies along the polymeric adhesive tape, and the adhesive tape is heated along the seam to bond the substrate, adhesive tape, first laminate and second laminate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an adhesive tape and products made therefrom. More particularly, the present invention relates to a three-layer moisture barrier adhesive tape useful in a wide variety of applications.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Decorative laminates prepared by heat and pressure consolidation have been produced commercially for a number of years, and have found widespread acceptance in the building and furniture industry as counter and table tops, bathroom and kitchen work surfaces, wall paneling, partitions and doors. Such decorative laminates can be described as containing a number of laminae consolidated to form a unitary structure carrying a surface decoration which can range from something as simple as a solid color to something as complex as an embossed simulated wood grain finish.
In many instances, decorative laminates are bonded to a reinforcing substrate, such as plywood, hardboard, fiber board, particle board or the like. Adhesives such as contact adhesives, urea-formaldehyde, white glues (polyvinyl acetate emulsions), hot melts, phenolic or resorcinol-formaldehyde epoxy, coal tar, animal glues, and the like are commonly used to secure decorative laminates to a reinforcing substrate. The adhesives vary in their cost and reliability.
While the adhesives previously used within the industry have proven to be somewhat reliable, the prior adhesives feature many limitations. For example, the size of some decorative laminate countertops often necessitates the placement of two adjacent pieces of decorative laminate upon the substrate. As such, a seam must be included on the countertop.
As those skilled in the art will readily appreciate, a seam in a countertop represents the weak point of the entire countertop. Specifically, seams are susceptible to water penetration, resulting in swelling of the substrate and subsequent delamination of the laminate. In addition, water penetration weakens the adhesive adjacent to the seam, allowing the decorative laminate to deflect upwardly in an unsightly manner.
Decorative laminates are manufactured within a certain thickness tolerance. The tolerance results in thickness variations making it very difficult to align the decorative surfaces at a seam. As a result, adjacent laminates along a seam are generally not perfectly coplanar. Any difference in thickness along a seam creates an undesirable ridge and prevents a countertop, for example, from creating the appearance of a continuous, integral surface.
Laminate seams are subject to spreading and contracting over time due to environmental conditions. Specifically, exposure to varying heat and/or moisture conditions may cause a substrate and/or laminate to expand or contract. Since the seam represents a weak point in the countertop, expansion or contraction of the substrate and/or laminate results in movement of the seam in an undesirable manner.
The problems associated with the expansion and contraction of decorative laminate products manifests itself at the corner of laminated articles where the layers of the decorative laminate overlap each other along the edge seam. Delamination or movement caused by environmental conditions causes the laminate to loosen and become subject to damage or breakage. The edge of the decorative laminate at the corner may expand and protrude beyond the corner. The exposed edge is subject to being caught by anything that rubs up against it and, thereby, being easily broken or damaged. Examples of this are broken laminates on the corners of restaurant table edges, cabinet door or drawer corners, desk corners etc.
Additionally, adhesives commonly employed are very messy and present many problems in both the large scale production of decorative laminate products and the small scale production of decorative laminate products. Specifically, adhesives used in the large scale production of decorative laminate products present a continual problem with the machinery used during the production process. A battle must be continually fought to keep the adhesive from transferring onto, and contaminating, equipment.
Traditional adhesives also present problems when decorative laminate products are produced on a smaller scale. For example, where a decorative countertop is assembled within a consumer's home, the craftsman must be continually aware of potential damage that can be caused by spilled adhesive.
The common use of adhesive also presents problems where a layer of adhesive is used between a substrate and a thin piece of decorative laminate. Specifically, imperfections or flaws in the surface finish of the substrate can telegraph through the decorative laminate, adversely affecting the manufactured finish of the decorative laminate.
Telegraphing is also a problem where decorative laminates are wrapped about a piece of molding substrate, or other tooled substrate, to create laminated molding. Since the molding substrate is commonly machined with rotary knife blades, unevenness is created in the resulting molding substrate surface. This unevenness telegraphs through the decorative laminate after it is bonded to the substrate. Special backers have been positioned between the substrate and the decorative laminate to minimize the telegraphing. The need for such backers increases manufacturing costs due to the additional time and materials needed.
Based upon the foregoing, a need exists for an improved bonding technique, as well as products manufactured in accordance with the improved bonding technique. The present invention provides an improved adhesive tape which may be readily employed to overcome the shortcoming of prior art techniques and to solve the problems discussed above.

Adhesive tape and products made therefrom


Disclosed herein are methods of detecting ascorbic acid in a urine sample from a subject, including contacting at least a portion of the urine sample with a test strip including a reagent pad and detecting whether ascorbic acid is present in the urine sample by measuring an intensity of color on the reagent pad, wherein a reduction in the intensity of color on the reagent pad indicates the presence of ascorbic acid.

Reagent test strips are widely used in the field of clinical chemistry to detect the presence or absence of one or more constituents or one or more properties of interest in a patient sample, such as a urine sample. The test strip usually has one or more test areas ("reagent pads") that are capable of undergoing a color change in response to contact with the patient sample. The presence and/or concentration of the constituents or properties of interest in the patient sample can be determined by an analysis of the color changes that occurs on the reagent pad. Usually this analysis involves a color comparison between the reagent pad and a color standard or scale. In this way, reagent test strips assist physicians in diagnosing the existence of diseases and other health problems.
Ascorbic acid is often present in urine as a result of the use of vitamin C supplements or the intake of some citrus fruit. Ascorbic acid, however, can interfere with urinalysis assays by creating false negatives on certain reagent pads. For example, the urine sample may be positive for glucose, but the presence of ascorbic acid in the sample reduces the reagent signal on the glucose reagent pad resulting in a negative glucose reading (i.e. false negative) or a reduced glucose reading.
To prevent false negatives caused by the presence of ascorbic acid in urine samples, the reagent chemistry on the reagent pads (the glucose pad, for example) can be altered in such a way to add resistance to the effects of ascorbic acid. Alternatively, reagent pads specific for ascorbic acid can be added to the test strip, or an additional test strip having a reagent pad specific for ascorbic acid can be used. The addition of an ascorbic acid reagent pad to the test strip is not always possible, however, as there is often limited space available on the test strip. Additional test strips may not be desirable due to limited space in the analysis machine.

Detection of ascorbic acid in a urine sample


Method of measuring the weight of bulk liquid material within a container of a tractor-trailer combination in which air bag pressure of a pneumatic suspension system is sensed and correlated with the weight of the bulk liquid material within the container. In accordance with the method, the tractor engine is turned off and supplemental pressurized air is introduced into a pneumatic circuit feeding compressed air to the air bags and while not applying the brakes of the trailer.

Bulk liquid material is transported by tractor-trailer combinations in which the bulk liquid material is loaded into a container of the trailer. For example, the container can be a tank built into the trailer that is filled with a liquid bulk liquid material. Special precautions must be taken when loading liquid bulk liquid materials that are hazardous materials and substances such as flammable liquids, corrosives, or a cryogenic substance such as liquid oxygen, liquid nitrogen or other liquefied gases.
In trailers that have an air ride suspension, the tank or other container of the trailer is supported by a pneumatic air suspension system having air bags to support the container on the axles of the trailer. The air bags are supplied with compressed air that is generated by a compressor powered by an internal combustion engine of the tractor, typically a diesel engine. The pneumatic suspension system has a pneumatic circuit which supplies the air from the compressor to the air bags. Among other known features of such a pneumatic circuit are self-leveling valves that are provided for each set of the air bags to ensure that the container is maintained at a level attitude and at a predetermined ride-height. In this regard, in a trailer having two axles, there would be four air bags, two over each axle and on either side of the trailer chassis.
It is safety critical that the weight of bulk hazardous materials being loaded into the trailer does not exceed a predetermined weight that would overload the trailer. Scales, while being the most accurate way to load bulk liquid materials into trailers, are expensive devices to acquire and maintain and in any case, are not always available during loading operations. Thus, loading trailers to a desired weight, on a consistent basis, when a scale is not available is an on-going challenge. When product is inconsistently loaded into the trailer, distribution inefficiencies can arise that will equate to a revenue loss, product waste and related costs attached to under or over-loading trailers during the filling process.
It has long been known that the weight of a trailer can be equated to the pressure within air bags of a pneumatic suspension system. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,832,141, pressure is measured within an air bag of a pneumatic suspension system via a transducer that is connected to a read-out device located in the vehicle to display the weight of the load. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 6,025,563 discloses an apparatus that utilizes pressure within an air bag to determine the load weight of the trailer in which a calibration signal represented of predetermined load weight limit levels stored within a digital memory and utilized for comparison basis to compare the calibration signal pressure signals preferable to air bag pressure. Indicators are then used to indicate when the load weight is either below or above predetermined load weight limit levels.
The problem with such methods is that they depend upon the tractor engine operating to power the compressor to supply compressed air to the pneumatic suspension system. This of course presents a safety hazard when substances such as gasoline or liquid oxygen are to be carried. However, if the ignition is turned off and the compressor therefore shuts down, as the container of the trailer is loaded with the bulk liquid material, the air stored within a reservoir of the pneumatic system will deplete, resulting in a delay in the air bag lifting process and inaccurate readings and a potentially shifting of the bulk liquid material within the container to prevent maintenance of the container in a level attitude when loading or even afterwards, when the tractor engine is restarted.
In order to overcome these problems, the present invention provides a process for measuring the weight of the container during its filling with the bulk liquid material that allows the tractor engine to be shut down.

Method of measuring the weight of bulk liquid material within a trailer


Disclosed herein is a washing machine including an overflow defined through a portion of one side of an upper part of a tub and formed in the shape of a cutout and guide ribs protruding from the outer circumference of the tub to guide wash water drained through the overflow. The overflow is formed by cutting one side of the upper part of the tub, so that the washing machine has a simple overflow structure.

1. Field
The embodiment relates to a washing machine having an overflow structure to forcibly drain wash water from a tub.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a washing machine includes a cabinet forming an external appearance of the washing machine, a tub installed in the cabinet to receive wash water, a spin basket rotatably installed in the tub, the spin basket having a pulsator mounted therein, and a drive unit to rotate the pulsator and the spin basket.
The washing machine washes laundry placed in the spin basket by the friction between the laundry and wash water motion formed by rotating the pulsator and the spin basket at high velocity using the drive unit, by the emulsification of detergent, and by impact applied to the laundry from the pulsator.
Meanwhile, an overflow is connected to the washing machine to forcibly drain wash water, when the wash water in the tub reaches a predetermined water level, to prevent various electronic components from being damaged by the wash water overflowing from the tub. The overflow is connected to a hole formed at one side of the upper part of the tub.
Since the overflow is connected to the hole of the tub, the hole of the tub is bonded to prevent the leakage of water through the hole.
Also, the overflow extends downward along the outer wall of the tub. The overflow may be fixed by a wire such that the overflow is prevented from shaking due to vibration generated during washing.
That is, the overflow is provided to drain wash water from the tub when the wash water reaches a predetermined water level, the overflow is fixed to prevent the shaking of the overflow, and the connection between the hole of the tub and the overflow is bonded to prevent the leakage of water through the connection.

Tub with overflow and washing machine having the same


An apparatus for guiding a rotary tool along a work piece corner edge formed by the intersection of two orthogonal planar surfaces, has a corner guide formed by two orthogonal planar components and defining a longitudinal axis from back to front. An adjustable tool holder assembly is affixed to the corner guide, includes a tool holder, and is configured to independently adjust a tool holder longitudinal position along the corner guide, a radial position of the tool holder relative to the corner guide, and an angular orientation of the tool holder rotating in a transverse plane orthogonal to the longitudinal axis.

Handheld routers with an attached tool bit may be used to mill profiles at a corner edge of a work piece. However, a user must have access to several bits to mill different profiles since each tool bit is adapted to mill only one specific profile (e.g., a chamfer, trimmed edge, rabbet, or rounded corner). Moreover, a router typically has a base plate that surrounds the shaft that holds the tool bit. As the user moves the router along the edge of the work piece, the annular base plate may contact another part of the work piece and thereby prevent the tool bit from being able to mill the entire edge.
Hand-held powered rotary tools such as marketed under the tradename Dremel™ (Robert Bosch Tool Corporation (RBTC), Mt. Prospect, Ill., USA) can also be used to mill profiles at a corner edge of a work piece by attachment of an appropriate tool bit, and an accessory so that the resulting system resembles a conventional router with an annular base plate. However, the resulting system has the deficiencies that are associated with the conventional router.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a guide that can enable use of a hand-held rotary power tool to mill a variety of profiles at the corner edge of a work piece.


A system and method includes detecting motion in a space; capturing images of a scene in a direction of the motion within the space by peripheral image capturing devices and detecting a body of a person within the images of the scene; extracting an image of the body from the images of the scene; identifying a head of the body based on the extracted at least one image of the body and extracting an image of a head from the extracted the one image of the body; transmitting the one image of the body to a body tracking module; transmitting the extracted image of the head to a face detection module; in parallel, tracking the body within the space and performing by a facial recognition module facial recognition of the extracted image of the head of the body; and determining an identity of a user associated with the body.

Many advances are being made in assistive automation technologies. Many of these advances involve artificially intelligent interactive devices which enable a user to communicate with the interactive devices to provide instructions for automating several home processes and/or otherwise, for placing general inquiries and the like. While these existing home automation systems and automated virtual assistant systems typically include an interface allowing a user to audibly and/or physically interact with the system, these existing systems lack robust imaging components that allow for an efficient and accurate identification and tracking of a user within a space and additionally, localization of the user in the space.
Thus, there is a need in the assistive automation device field to create new and useful systems and methods for visually interfacing with a user by implementing novel computer vision techniques. The embodiments of the present application provide such new and useful systems and methods.

Systems and methods for user detection, identification, and localization within a defined space


By rotating a second camera (4) by a hinge (5) by 180 degrees so as to obtain an opening state, the second camera 4 faces a surface side. As a result, a first camera (3) and the second camera (4) are aligned horizontally, and use the same direction as a photographing range. When the second camera (4) is rotated, a system controller determines that a state is in a stereoscopic vision photographing mode. When a camera shutter is operated by a user, both the first camera (3) and the second camera (4) are allowed to perform a photographing process, and obtained two image data are stored in a memory after being attached to information indicating that the image is for the right eye and the image is for the left eye, and etc. Then, the two image data are transmitted by an e-mail function to a terminal of a communicating partner.

Conventionally, as a method of realizing a stereoscopic image display without requiring special glasses, a parallax barrier system, a lenticular lens system, and so forth, are known. In such the systems, an image for a right eye and the image for a left eye which have a binocular parallax are alternately displayed on a display screen in a vertically striped shape, for example, and the displayed images, by being separated by a parallax barrier, lenticular lens, and others, are guided to each of the right eye and left eye of an observer. As a result, a stereoscopic vision is performed.
Incidentally, in recent years, due to the improvement in a communication technology and an apparatus-miniaturization technology, it has become possible to photograph an image by a mobile telephone, and transmit the photographed image to a desired terminal of a communicating partner using an e-mail function (See JP-A-2002-191067).
However, an appropriate system for obtaining, utilizing, transmitting, displaying, and so forth, a plurality of image data for the stereoscopic vision is not realized.

Multiple-image transmission method and mobile apparatus having multiple-image simultaneous photographing function


A data communications network may be browsed using one or more tokens by receiving an input keyword string from a user, determining whether there is a match between the input keyword string and a database of keyword strings, determining a category of the keyword string, rendering to the user at least one service identifier associated with the category, receiving a user-selected service identifier in response to the rendering, substituting at least one variable in a resource locator template associated with the service with a string based at least in part on the keyword string entered by the user and launching the resource locator. According to one aspect, a special rendering of a hyperlink corresponding to the resource locator is used to indicate private data will be disclosed upon launching the resource locator.

The ability to quickly access information about various services is important to the typical user of a wireless user device such as a mobile phone or a personal data assistant (PDA). Such a user typically accesses information by entering the name of the item for which information is desired. For example, a user desiring to find a movie review for a film entitled "Dances with Wolves" would enter the keyword string "Dances with Wolves". The wireless user device must then obtain this information and render it to the user. Some of the information may reside locally on the user device, while other information must be obtained from an external source.
In one solution, the wireless user device periodically communicates with one or more service providers to obtain updates for all information available to the wireless user device. This enables the user to store the entire body of information locally. Unfortunately, this solution requires a relatively large database on a user device. Such a local database typically becomes outdated quickly and is difficult to maintain.
Another solution includes requiring the user search a World Wide Web ("Web") portal for the desired information. Unfortunately, this solution requires the user enter a relatively large amount of text. Furthermore, Web portals typically have a relatively large amount of latency and portal menus typically change frequently, confusing the user.
Additionally, obtaining useful information from an external source such as a service provider often requires disclosing private data. For example, a user desiring weather information for the user's current location must first disclose the location. For various reasons, the user may not want this information disclosed.
Accordingly, a need exists in the prior art for a solution that supports local searching on a device, such that a service is accessible by name. A further need exists for such a solution that minimizes the amount of text that a user must enter. Yet another need exists for a solution that maintains data on the device as long as possible. A further need exists for such a solution that allows private data to be incorporated into a search on a query-by-query basis, simply and efficiently, but with the user's knowledge and consent. Yet another need exists for such a solution that allows a relatively large amount of content to be stored on a wireless user device.

Token-based web browsing with visual feedback of disclosure


An illuminatable windshield assembly, preferably for use on a motorcycle, but adaptable for use on all types of vehicles. The illuminatable windshield assembly includes a windshield comprised of a translucent panel having an outer peripheral surface wherein the panel has an opening formed therein defining an edge in the panel, a plurality of light emitting diodes mounted within the opening and arranged to emit light into the edge for illuminating at least a portion of the windshield, a source of electrical power for the light emitting diodes, and an electrical circuit connecting the light emitting diodes to the source of electrical power. Preferably, the source of electrical power is a battery for a motorcycle, and the windshield has an ornamental design etched therein which is illuminated by the light emitting diodes.

The present invention relates to windshields, and more particularly to an illuminatable windshield assembly, especially adaptable for use on a motorcycle.
Motorcycle enthusiasts are known for accessorizing their motorcycles. For example, many motorcycle owners will "chrome out" their motorcycles by replacing original equipment with chromed parts, or by adding chromed components such as saddlebags, seats, exhaust systems and the like. Others use unique paint designs, leather accessories and/or decals to customize their motorcycles.
It is therefore desirable to provide new and unique components for motorcycles which will enable motorcycle owners to customize their motorcycles.


A start-up operation of devices using smart cards, and more precisely to the initialization procedure of smart cards is used in mobile stations during the start-up of the mobile station. The invention is based on the realization that information of the REPLACE-type of messages can be dealt with more quickly if the information of the type of the message already occurring once in the TP-PID byte of the record is added to the first byte of the record, the STATUS byte, whereby messages of the REPLACE type can be sought by the SEEK command of the SIM card. When this procedure is used in the start-up, there is no need to read all the records of the file containing the SMS messages on the SIM card in order to find the REPLACE-type of messages.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the start-up operation of devices using smart cards, or more precisely, to the initialization operations of smart cards used in mobile stations during the start-up procedure of the mobile station.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The GSM mobile station system uses text messages (Short Message Service, SMS). Using the numerical keypad of the mobile station, for example, the user of the mobile station can write a short text message and send it to another mobile station user. The mobile station receives text messages independently without the user's control, and so it is possible to receive messages even when the user is not near the mobile station, when the user for some other reason cannot pay attention to the mobile station or during a call. The general structure of the GSM system and the text message functions have been described in Michel Mouly, Marie-Bernadette Pautet, "The GSM System for Mobile Communications", ISBN 2-9507190-0-7, Palaiseau 1992.
If the mobile station is switched off, the incoming message does not disappear but stays in a Short Message Service Centre, SMSC, to wait for the starting of the mobile station. The Home Location Register, HLR, of the mobile station gets the information that there are messages waiting for contact by the mobile station in the Short Message Service Centre. When the mobile station is switched on, it contacts the network via the nearest base station and performs the initialization operations mentioned in the recommendation GSM 11.11, among other things. When the mobile station informs the network of its starting up, the Home Location Register sends a notice of this to the Short Message Service Centres, which have messages waiting. When the Short Message Service Centres have received the notice, they send the text messages to the mobile station.
The mobile station saves the incoming messages and messages written by the user to a SIM card in the mobile station, on which SIM card they remain even when the mobile station is switched off. The messages are saved in a certain file intended for text messages, one message in one record of the file. The first byte of the record is a so-called STATUS byte, which contains, among other things, information about whether the record is empty, whether it has a received or transmitted message, and if the message has been received from the network, whether the user has read the message or not. The meaning and contents of the information and files to be saved on the SIM card are described in the GSM recommendation GSM 11.11 and the corresponding standard proposal of ETSI, ETS 300 608 (August 1996) and the recommendation GSM 03.40.
There is one special type of SMS messages, the REPLACE type, which is treated by the mobile station differently from other SMS messages. Ordinary, received SMS messages are saved in a suitable, empty record on the SIM card, but messages of the REPLACE type are saved in the place of another REPLACE-type of message, if another message of the same REPLACE type and sent by the same user has been saved on the SIM card. Operations like this make it possible to use automatic status notices, for example when the user of the mobile station needs real-time information of the status of a production process. Then the production control system can send at desired intervals a text message which gives the values of certain important parameters. Thus the user can check the status of the process by reading the newest message in his mobile station. By using messages of the REPLACE type in an application like this, the memory of the SIM card is prevented from being filled up by frequently occurring messages, of which only the latest is necessary.
When a mobile station receives a text message, it checks the type of the message. An SMS message includes a group of parameters, of which the TP-PID byte (TP-Protocol-Identifier) is described here. The TP-PID byte identifies whether the message in question is of the REPLACE type, and if it is, what the more precise REPLACE type is. The various REPLACE types of messages have been described in the recommendation GSM 03.40, which describes all the different meanings and coding methods of the TPPID byte. In this document, the concept REPLACE-type message means a message which is of one of the REPLACE types mentioned in the GSM recommendations. If the message is not of the REPLACE type, it is saved in the usual manner in a suitable, empty record. If the message is of the REPLACE type, the mobile station must check if any of the earlier saved messages has the same identifying information, which includes the ID of the sender and the REPLACE type. If a message like this is found, the mobile station saves the newly arrived message in the place of the old message, and otherwise the mobile station saves the message arrived as normally on the SIM card and saves the information of the message arrived in its own memory for possible later reception of a REPLACE message of the same type.
When in operation, the mobile station typically retains in its memory some of the identification data of REPLACE-type messages as required by the recommendations. When the use of the mobile phone is started and power is switched on, the mobile station must determine whether there are REPLACE-type messages on the SIM card and read the identification data of such messages in its memory. In the prior art technique, this requires reading all the records of the SMS message file in order to find out the contents of the TPPID byte of each record. However, reading all the records takes a lot of time. The slowness of this stage can cause problems when a SMSC has messages waiting. As was described above, the HLR informs all SMSCs which have messages waiting when the mobile station is started, whereupon these SMSCs send these messages to the mobile station. If the mobile station is still reading the messages saved on the SIM card when these messages arrive, an error may occur, resulting in a loss of messages.

System for saving and reading text messages


A converter includes a first bridge arm, a second bridge arm, two switch units and a voltage clamp circuit. The first bridge arm includes a first switch unit and a second switch unit that are electrically coupled in series at an output terminal. The second bridge arm includes two voltage sources that are electrically coupled in series at a neutral point terminal. The two switch units are electrically coupled in series at a common connection terminal, and are arranged between the neutral point terminal and the output terminal. The voltage clamp circuit is electrically coupled to the output terminal, the common connection terminal, the neutral point terminal, and one of a positive input terminal or a negative input terminal, and the circuit is shared by the two switch units to clamp voltages across the two switch units.

Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a converter. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a voltage clamp circuit in a converter.
Description of Related Art
Conventionally, a converter having multi-level output is widely applied in related fields such as solar inverter, uninterruptible power supply (UPS), power conditioning system (PCS), etc.
The converter usually includes devices such as switches, in which the switch on a current commutation path is switched on and off alternately to perform a current commutation operation.
However, parasitic inductance usually exists in the current path, and thus, in a transient period of the aforementioned switch being switched on and off alternately, the existence of the parasitic inductance results in that the aforementioned switch sustains a higher voltage, and even when the aforementioned switch is switched off, voltage spikes are generated to affect the aforementioned switch. For example, when an input voltage of the converter is 380 Volts, the voltage spikes may reach up to 600 Volts and is much higher than a rated voltage sustainable for the switch, in the transient period of the aforementioned switch being switched off. As a result, damages to the switch are caused such that the converter cannot operate normally.

Converter and voltage clamp circuit therein