Fading frequency decision device and method are provided. An inner product value of pilot symbols which are time multiplexed in a control channel which is parallel multiplexed with a data channel, an inner product value of pilot symbols in a channel in which data symbols and pilot symbols are time multiplexed, or an inner product value of pilot symbols of a pilot channel which is parallel multiplexed with a data channel is calculated. A fading frequency is decided based on the calculated inner product value.

1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a channel estimation device and method, a demodulation device and method, and a fading frequency decision device and method. More specifically, the present invention relates to a channel estimation device, a demodulation device, or the like that is applicable to a mobile communication method for transmitting sounds and data in a fast fading environment. In addition, the present invention relates to a demodulation device and method in conformity with the CDMA method which carries out multidimensional connections by diffusing data to signals over a broad band using a diffusion code operating at a rate higher than a data rate.
2. The Relevant Technology
In a mobile communication environment, the amplitude or phase varies due to Rayleigh fading associated with movement of the relative locations of a mobile station and a ground station. According to the phase modulation method for transmitting information using a carrier phase, differential coding is generally used to load information on relative phases of a preceding and a following symbols, and a receiver carries out delayed detection to identify and determine the information data. This delayed detection, however, differentially codes the transmitted data as described above, whereby one-bit error within a wireless section corresponds to a two-bit error in the information data. Thus, at the same signal power to interference/noise power ratio (SNIR), the two-phase phase modulation method (BPSK modulation) has a higher reception error rate than synchronous detection by 3 dB.
In addition, absolute synchronous detection that identifies and determines an absolute phase of a received signal for each symbol has an efficient reception characteristic, but it is difficult to determine the absolute phase in a Rayleigh fading environment.
To solve this problem, a method has been proposed which inserts pilot symbols between data symbols so as to use these pilot symbols to estimate a channel for the data symbols. One of the methods for inserting pilot symbols, for example, time-multiplexes data symbols and pilot symbols into one channel (time multiplexing method; FIG. 16). Documents 1 to 3, which will be cited below, propose channel estimation methods using this time multiplexing method.
The document 1 (Electronic Information Communication Society Journal Vol. J72-B-11, No. 1, pp. 7 to 15, January 1989, SANPEI "Land Mobile Communication 16QAM Fading Distortion Compensation") proposes a method for solving the above problem by estimating and compensating for fading distortion using pilot symbols inserted between data symbols (information symbols) at a fixed cycle and the phases of which are known. This method inserts the pilot symbols into a communication channel at the rate of one pilot symbol per several data symbols to estimate a transmission path based on received phases of the pilot symbols. Signals received during each pass of each transmitter are measured at pilot symbols before and after a desired data symbol section for amplitude and phase, and the measured values are interpolated to estimate and compensate for transmission path variations within the data symbol section.
Document 2 (Electronic Information Communication Society Technical Report RCS97-74, ANDO at el. "RAKE Reception Using the Multislot Weighted Averaging Channel Estimation Method with Pilot Symbols in DS-CDMA") proposes a method for carrying out more accurate channel estimation using more pilot symbols. A channel for data symbols is estimated using pilot symbols inserted between data symbols at a fixed cycle. Specifically, pilot symbols (estimated complex fading envelope) in a plurality of slots before and after a slot for which a channel is estimated are averaged (in-phase addition), and the average value is subjected to weighted averaging using a weighting factor to obtain a channel estimated value. The channel estimation accuracy is thereby improved to prevent thermal noise or multipass interference and interference from other stations.
Document 3 (Electronic Information Communication Society Technical Report RCS98-20, ABETA at el. "Characteristics of the DC-CDMA Adaptive Plural Symbol Weighted Averaging Pilot Channel Transmission Path Estimation Method") proposes a method of adaptively controlling a weighting factor to reduce the effects of thermal noise while improving the capability of following fading variations. According to this method, channel estimation involves weighted averaging, and this weighting factor is sequentially varied using an adaptive signal to determine an optimal weighting factor.
The pilot symbol insertion methods include not only the time multiplexing method but also a parallel time multiplexing method (FIG. 1) and a parallel method (FIG. 22) that time-multiplex pilot symbols into a control channel parallel-multiplexed for a data channel.
For the parallel time multiplexing method, it is desirable to execute accurate channel estimation by subjecting the pilot symbols to weighted averaging to calculate a channel estimated value for the data symbols in the data channel.
In addition, according to the methods in Documents 1 to 3, channel variations within each slot are assumed to be small, and the same pilot symbol is used for all the data symbols within one slot to obtain the same channel estimated value. Consequently, the characteristics are disadvantageously degraded during fast fading.
Further, the method in the Document 2 provides a fixed weighting factor, and when the weighting factor for slots temporally remote from a desired slot is increased to reduce the effects of thermal noise, the capability of following fading variations is disadvantageously degraded, thereby causing the channel estimation accuracy to be degraded. Another problem of the method in the Document 3 is that despite the solution of the problem of the Document 2, the use of the adaptive signal process may make the configuration of a demodulation device complicated.
In the mobile communication environment, the amplitude or phase varies due to Rayleigh fading associated with movement of the relative locations of a mobile station and a ground station. The synchronous detection process using pilot signals is known as a method for compensating for the variations of the amplitude or phase to effectively synthesize multiple passes.
According to this method, a transmitter transmits a known pilot signal, while a receiver demodulates and temporally averages this pilot signal to estimate a channel. Then, the estimated channel vector is used to correct a phase of a data signal, which is then subjected to RAKE synthesis, thereby achieving demodulation using power of the received signal.
Since the channel estimation accuracy directly affects data quality, averaging must be carried out using appropriate temporal sections and an appropriate weight sequence. One sequence that improves the channel estimation accuracy is conventionally used as the weight sequence.
When the receiver estimates a channel, the channel estimation accuracy can be improved to enable high-quality communication, by using an appropriate weight sequence to average pilot signals. The appropriate weight sequence, however, depends on propagation conditions, principally, the movement speed, as described above.
That is, at a lower movement speed, channel variations occur at a lower speed, so that a weight sequence that increases the averaging time is effective, whereas at a higher movement speed, fast channel variations must be followed, so that a weight sequence that reduces the averaging time to some degree is effective.
However, the known channel estimation method using only the one weight sequence fails to enable averaging suitable for every movement speed, resulting in degradation of communication quality, an increase in transmission power required, a decrease in communication capacity achieved.
In addition, methods for varying the weight sequence depending on the movement speed include a method of detecting the movement speed to vary the weight sequence depending on the detected speed. A problem of this method, however, is that if the speed detection accuracy or the detection following capability is degraded, improvement of communication quality, a reduction in transmission power required, and an increase in capacity cannot be realized.


A new and distinct cultivar of Salvia plant named ‘Pink Friesland’, characterized by its upright and relatively compact plant habit; freely basal branching, dense and bushy plant form; freely flowering habit; pink-colored flowers; and tolerance to low temperatures.

The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Salvia, botanically known as Salvia nemorosa and hereinafter referred to by the name 'Pink Friesland'.
The new Salvia is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Suameer, The Netherlands. The objective of the breeding program is to create new compact and freely branching Salvia cultivars with numerous attractive flowers and good garden performance.
The new Salvia originated from a cross-pollination made by the Inventor in 2002 of a proprietary selection of Salvia nemorosa identified as code number 98-43-01, not patented, as the female, or seed, parent with a proprietary selection of Salvia nemorosa identified as code number 01-14-06, not patented, as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Salvia was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a single flowering plant with the progeny of the stated cross-pollination grown in a controlled environment in Suameer, The Netherlands in 2003.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by vegetative cuttings in Suameer, The Netherlands, since 2004, has shown that the unique features of this new Salvia are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.


A master plate for manufacturing a stamper for injecting molding of an optical memory device has a substrate having a plurality of guiding grooves on a surface thereof with a predetermined interval. The respective edge portions of the guiding grooves are inclined with respect to the surface of the substrate at an angle not more than 30.degree.. According to a manufacturing method of the master plate, the post-baking process is carried out at a baking temperature of not less than 150.degree. C. and an etching gas containing O.sub.2 gas of 4 (SCCM) to 10 (SCCM) is used. Thus, even when the copying is carried out with respect to the substrate of the optical memory device according to the injection molding process wherein the stamper, which is manufactured based on the above-mentioned master plate, is used, the mold release of the stamper can be carried out without being caught by the substrate. Thus, it is possible to keep the respective shapes of the guiding grooves of the s tamper, thereby enabling of manufacturing the substrate of the optical memory device with high repeatability.

An optical memory device has been focussed on since it is a memory device having high density and large capacity. The reason why the optical memory device has the high density and large capacity is that a bit, which is a recording unit for information, is restricted only to a light beam diameter and thus the light beam can be set to have a shape of about 1 micron.
However, this gives many restrictions to the optical memory device. More specifically, the light beam should be positioned on the optical memory device in a high accuracy in order to record information on a predetermined recording area and in order to reproduce recorded information from a predetermined recording area. In general, optical memory device, which is exclusively used for reproducing of information, can be arranged such that address information is in advance contained in a recorded bit. Therefore, it is possible to position the light beam with the reproducing of recorded information. But, it is impossible to carry out recording of information on a write once-type memory or a rewritable memory so as to contain the address information therein during the recording of information.
Accordingly, in the write once-type memory or rewritable memory, it is employed that some guiding signal and guiding address are in advance contained in a memory substrate of the write once-type memory or rewritable memory. For example, the following is a general procedure: the memory substrate of the write once-type memory or rewritable memory are provided with grooves of physical protrusions and recessions; and recording and reproducing of information are carried out along the grooves. The grooves of the physical protrusions and recessions are discrete in a circumference direction of the respective memories, thereby presenting pit information indicative of each groove's address.
When the substrate of the optical memory device is made of the polycarbonate, the injection molding process, wherein a stamper having a pattern such as guiding grooves is used, is widely employed. The following deals with a conventional method for manufacturing the stamper with reference to FIG. 3.
First, a master plate 11 having a pattern such as guiding grooves is prepared (see FIG. 3(a)). The master plate 11 is coated with an electrode member 14 such as Ni, the electrode member 14 being a thin film having a thickness the range between 20 nm and 100 nm (see FIG. 3(b)). A Ni electrocasted thin film 15, having a thickness of the range between 200 .mu.m and 400 .mu.m is formed on the electrode member 14 (see FIG. 3(c)) by the electrocasting. Then, the Ni electrocasted thin film 15 is removed from the master plate 11. Thereafter, the other side of the Ni electrocasted thin film 15 is polished (see FIG. 3(d)), thereby finishing the manufacturing of the s tamper. mentioned above, the pattern such as the guiding grooves of the master plate 11 is exactly copied to the stamper so as to reversely form a pattern such as the guiding grooves on the stamper. A good master plate 11 should be manufactured in order to obtain a good stamper.
The following two methods for manufacturing the master plate 11 have been widely known: (1) a method for forming a protrusion and recession pattern 52 on a glass substrate 51 by the use of the photo resist (see FIG. 4(a)); and (2) a method for directly forming grooves of a protrusion and recession pattern on a glass substrate 51 according to the following steps, i.e., (a) making a mask by forming a pattern by the photo resist on the glass substrate 51, (b) carrying out the dry etching to the glass substrate 51 and thereafter (c) removing the photo resist (see FIG. 4 (b)).
When the master plate manufactured according to the method of FIG. 4(a) is observed by the STM (Scanning Tunnel Microscope), it is confirmed that there exist a plurality of minute physical protrusions and recessions on the surface of the protrusion and recession pattern 52 of the photo resist. In contrast, when the master plate manufactured according to the method of FIG. 4 (b) is observed by the STM, it is confirmed that smooth pattern such as the guiding grooves is formed by removing the photo resist on which there exist the residual minute physical protrusions and recessions after the dry etching. Accordingly, the master plate made by the etching is more preferable than that by the photo resist in order to decrease the noise.
The following conventional methods (1) to (3) are well known as the method for directly forming the guiding grooves and the like on the glass substrate. The following deals with the conventional methods (1) to (3) with reference to FIGS. 5 through 7.
According to the conventional method (1), guiding groove patterns 22 are formed on a glass substrate 21 by the photo resist (see FIG. 5(a)). After the photo resist, the dry etching is carried out by the use of a gas such as CF.sub.4, CHF.sub.3 (see FIG. 5(b)). After the dry etching, the residual photo resist is removed (see FIG. 5(c)), thereby directly forming physical protrusions and recessions on the glass substrate 21.
According to the conventional method (2), guiding groove patterns 32 are formed on a glass substrate 31 by the photo resist (see FIG. 6(a)). The guiding groove patterns 32 are baked at the temperature of more than the softening point of the photo resist (see FIG. 6(b)). Thereafter, the dry etching is carried out by the use of a gas such as CF.sub.4, CHF.sub.3 (see FIG. 6(c)). After the dry etching, the residual photo resist is removed (see FIG. 6(d)), thereby directly forming physical protrusions and recessions on the glass substrate 31.
According to the conventional method (3), guiding groove patterns 42 are formed on a glass substrate 41 by the photoresist (see FIG. 7(a)). The dry etching is carried out with respect to the guiding groove patterns 42 by the use of a gas such as CF.sub.4, CHF.sub.3 with O.sub.2 gas (see FIG. 7(b)). After the dry etching, the residual photo resist is removed (see FIG. 7(c)), thereby directly forming physical protrusions and recessions on the glass substrate 41.
In order to copy the shape of the guiding grooves of the stamper to the polycarbonate substrate according to the injection molding process, it is required that the mold release of the polycarbonate substrate from the stamper is carried out while each shape of the guiding grooves of the stamper is kept unchanged, the polycarbonate substrate being formed by carrying out the injection molding with respect to the stamper.
However, according to the conventional method (1), each edge portion of the guiding grooves rises upward substantially perpendicularly. Therefore, the polycarbonate substrate is likely to be caught by the edge portion of the guiding groove when the mold release of the polycarbonate substrate from the stamper out, is carried thereby making it impossible for the polycarbonate substrate to keep the shape of the guiding groove unchanged.
The object of the conventional methods (2) and (3) is to improve the reliability, endurability and other functions of the optical disk memory substrate by keeping the respective continuity of a recording medium, a protecting layer, and other materials which are formed on the guiding grooves. Therefore, it can be achieved by the conventional methods (2) and (3) that each edge portion of the s tamper inclines so as to keep the continuity of the formed thin film. However, the conventional methods (2) and (3) do not ensure that each edge portion of the stamper greatly inclines so as to avoid being caught by the polycarbonate substrate during the mold release of the polycarbonate substrate from the stamper.
Bore specifically, as shown in FIG. 8, it is assumed that the injection molding is carried out by the use of the stamper which is obtained by the etched master plate according to the conventional methods (1) to (3), the stamper being composed of the electrode member 14 and the Ni electrocasted thin film 15. When the mold release of a polycarbonate substrate 16 from the stamper is carried out in a direction of the arrow of FIG. 8, each edge portion of the guiding grooves is caught by the polycarbonate substrate 16. Accordingly, the guiding groove pattern on the polycarbonate substrate 16 is deformed (see the reference numerals 16a and 16b of FIG. 8), thereby arising problem, i.e., the deformed grooves are not appropriate for leading a light beam which is converged onto the substrate.

Method of manufacturing a master plate where its guide groove has an inclined angle


A vehicle steering control device is provided that suppresses changes in the steering force accompanying the shock transmitted from the road surface during the steering wheel return operation. The vehicle steering device is a steer-by-wire steering device where a steering wheel receiving the steering input which is transmitted electronically to the steering unit which turns steered road wheels of the vehicle. The steering reaction force correction (Gf×F) corresponding to road surface reaction force F is applied to the steering wheel. The device includes a turn/return sensor that senses turn/return of the steering wheel, and during return of steering wheel, road surface reaction force feedback gain Gf is made smaller than the initial turning.

The present invention relates to the field of steering control for vehicles and in particular to electronic steering control systems.
In a conventional steer-by-wire system as described in Japanese Kokai Patent Application No. Hei 10[1998]-217988, the steering reaction force correction proportional to the detected road surface reaction force is computed and added to the steering reaction force, so that the condition of the road surface is transmitted to the driver.
However, in the vehicle steering device of the prior art, for example, when the vehicle turns an L-shaped corner so that a quick steering wheel response is required, or a shock from the road surface is transmitted due to a bumpy road surface as the steering wheel is turned back, a transient steering force occurs abruptly, the steering wheel may hinder the turning back of the steering wheel, which is undesirable.
In the vehicle steering device described in Japanese Kokai Patent Application No. Hei 10[1998]-217988, and particularly in the steering force computation unit, on the basis of the detection result of the steering force sensor, a steering force (T) applied to the steering column (steering shaft) is computed. At the same time, a control value (aT) (where a is the coefficient corresponding to the steering force gear ratio) for rotating the steering shaft in the direction of applied steering force (T) is also computed.
The road surface reaction force from the steering reaction force sensor is transmitted to the steering reaction force, for example, when the vehicle turns an L-shaped corner, so that quick return steering is required. If the tire dips due to the rough road surface (holes, etc.), due to the signal from the steering reaction force sensor, quick maneuvering of the steering wheel may be hindered, which is undesirable (see FIG. 7). If the embodiment of the present invention is not applied, this occurs because the steering reaction force is added to track the kickback from the road surface, the steering force rises abruptly, and it becomes difficult for the driver to respond quickly.


The present invention provides an electric connector including a male and a female connectors used for being mounted in ends of trunk portions of an artificial tree. The male connector includes a plug tube, and a first electrical connector assembly. The female connector includes a receptacle tube, a second electrical connector assembly and an elastic conductive metal sheet attached to an outside surface of the receptacle tube and having an arch part inserted in the receptacle tube through a fixing hole. A first end of the plug tube includes an external flange. When the first end of the plug tube is inserted in the receptacle tube with the flange being clamped tightly between the receptacle tube and the second support, the first electrical connector assembly is electrically coupled to the second electrical connector assembly, and the trunk portions can also be electrically connected and be grounded.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electric connectors, and specifically relates to an electric connector used on an artificial tree, an artificial Christmas tree for example.
2. Description of Related Art
Artificial trees are commonly used in holiday decoration, or commercial square decoration, and roadside decoration. Typically, an artificial tree is illuminated by light strings and decorated with decorations, such as figurines of airplanes, bicycles, space rockets, etc.
To easy the interconnection of the artificial tree, an artificial tree generally includes two or three sections of hollow trunks, many branches extending out from each section of trunks, electric wires extending within the hollow trunks, and many light strings distributed about the exterior of the tree and electrically connected with the electric wires.
Electric connectors are utilized to avoid wiring troubles induced by long wires. The electric wires are inserted into the trunks from the bottom of the tree and through the trunks to the outside of the trunks. Then the electric wires are connected to the next wires by one or one more electric connectors. Each electric connector has a male connector and a female connector, the male connector is fixed within one of the sections of trunks, and the female connector is fixed within another one of the sections of trunks. When adjacent sections of trunks are connected together, the corresponding electric connector(s) is(are) electrically connected. Thus it is easy and convenient to link the electric wires from the bottom to the top of the artificial tree by the electric connectors.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 9,362,657 to Yang filed Feb. 13, 2015 and entitled "Quick Mount Connector Assembly of Artificial Christmas Tree" discloses a male connector and a female connector detachably connected to the male connector. The quick mount connector assembly of Yang can easily and conveniently link the electric wires from the bottom to the top of the artificial tree. However, a structure of the connector assembly is complicated and hard to manufacture and assembly, and clamping pins are needed to passing through through holes 13A, 13B secure the connector assembly to the trunks of the artificial trees.
Therefore, there is a need to provide an improved electric connector used on an artificial tree.

Two connector assemblies coupled to each other and an elastic conductive metal sheet connected to a receptacle tube containing one of the assemblies


A Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) biosensor system comprising: a SPR sensor surface, an illumination unit arranged to direct a wedge shaped beam of light at a line shaped detection area on the SPR sensor surface transverse to the direction of propagation of light, and a detection unit with detection optics for directing light reflected from the SPR sensor surface onto a two-dimensional optical detector unit such that the angle of reflection is imaged along one dimension and the width of the detection area along the other, wherein the illumination unit is arranged to selectively direct the wedge shaped beam of light at two or more spaced apart line shaped detection areas on the SPR sensor surface transverse to the direction of propagation of light.

Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) biosensor systems that can monitor interactions between molecules, such as biomolecules, in real time are maintaining increasing interest. A representative such biosensor system is the BIACORE® instrumentation sold by GE Healthcare which uses surface plasmon resonance (SPR) for detecting interactions between molecules in a sample and molecular structures immobilized on a sensing surface. As sample is passed over the sensor surface, the progress of binding directly reflects the rate at which the interaction occurs. Injection of sample is followed by a buffer flow during which the detector response reflects the rate of dissociation of the complex on the surface. A typical output from the BIACORE® system is a graph or curve describing the progress of the molecular interaction with time, including an association phase part and a dissociation phase part. This binding curve, which is usually displayed on a computer screen, is often referred to as a "sensorgram".
As was published by Kretschmann, E., Optics Communications, 26, (1978) 41-44, the problem of slow speed of operation relative to changes in reflectance and the insufficient precision in the resonance angle determination related with SPR procedures based on moveable mechanics, is solved by the use of a fan-shaped beam (equivalent to several beams simultaneously incident upon the sensor surface over a range of angles) and of collection of the reflected beams (over a range of angles) by an array of angularly spaced detectors.
Furthermore, the transparent block described in EP-A1-0 305 109 may take the form of a hemicylinder creating a wedge-shaped beam, giving a line of a small illuminated area on the sensing surface. The hemicylindrical lens has the advantage that it can be used to perform several tests simultaneously on a single sample. To this end, the sensing surface takes the form of a series of sensitive areas (1D array of sensor spots), each comprising a different antibody, with each separate area being monitored by its own detector in a detector array. The cylindrical focusing principle used to produce an identical angular range of light beams along a focused line for SPR of separate surface areas has been published by Benner, R. E. et al. Optics Communications 30 (1979) 145-149, and Swalen, J D et al. Am J. Phys. 48 (1980) 669-672.

Surface plasmon resonance biosensor system


A semiconductor light-emitting device including a light-emitting layer forming portion, a semiconductor substrate of a first conductivity type, a first electrode which is disposed on a surface of the semiconductor substrate of the first conductivity type, a semiconductor substrate of a second conductivity type, and a second electrode which is disposed a surface of the semiconductor substrate of the second conductivity type, at least one of the semiconductor substrate of the first conductivity type and the semiconductor substrate of the second conductivity type having an interstice located near an outer side surface on a side close to the light-emitting layer forming portion and around a joined surface on a principal surface of the light-emitting layer forming portion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor light-emitting device.
2. Related Background Art
Recent years have seen various proposals of semiconductor light-emitting devices made from InGaAlP-based materials, which emit light in a visible region and are widely used in displays and the like. Conventional semiconductor light-emitting devices are provided with, for example, an InGaAlP-based double heterojunction structure obtained by causing an n-type clad layer, an active layer and a p-type clad layer to grow epitaxially on an n-type GaAs substrate subsequently, an n-side electrode is formed on the bottom surface of the n-type GaAs substrate and a p-side electrode is provided in a contact layer on the p-type clad layer.
By selecting the band gaps and lattice constants of the active layer and the n-type/p-type clad layers which form this double heterojunction structure optimally according to design values, it is possible to confine carriers and to cause light to be emitted with a desired wavelength in a visible-ray region in increased efficiency.
For example, when the composition of the active layer which undergoes epitaxial growth is expressed by In0.5 (Ga(1-x)Alx)0.5 P and the composition of the n-type/p-type clad layer is expressed by In0.5(Ga(1-y) Aly)0.5 P, light emission from the red color band to the green color band can be obtained by appropriately selecting the amount of X or Y.
A GaAs substrate, which is the commonest in terms of the ease with which substrate procurement, lattice matching, etc. are performed, is used in InGaAlP-based double heterojunction semiconductor light-emitting devices. However, because the band gap wavelength of GaAs is 0.87 μm, the absorption coefficient of what is called visible light of not more than 0.87 μm becomes large and hence for a visible light semiconductor light-emitting device, about half the emitted light is absorbed in a GaAs substrate and luminance decreases.
In order to prevent the absorption of emitted visible light by a GaAs substrate, it is necessary only that a material transparent to visible light be used in the substrate. GaP is available as a general transparent semiconductor material. However, because a GaP substrate cannot ensure lattice matching with an InGaAlP-based material, it is difficult to cause good epitaxial crystals to grow. For this reason, there has been proposed a semiconductor light-emitting device which is fabricated by bonding together an InGaAlP-based epitaxial layer which has grown on a GaAs substrate and the GaP substrate directly in the form of wafers and removing the GaAs substrate thereafter.
With this semiconductor light-emitting device, the use of the bonded transparent GaP substrate enables the absorption of the emitted visible light to be suppressed and, therefore, a decrease in luminance can be prevented compared to a case where a GaAs substrate is used. Furthermore, there have been proposed semiconductor light-emitting devices having a substantially spherical shape as a general which are constituted by a substantially semispherical transparent p-type GaP bonded substrate, a substantially semispherical n-type GaP bonded substrate, and a light-emitting diode layer (corresponding to a light-emitting layer forming portion, which will be described later) formed from an epitaxial layer sandwiched between the two in order to increase luminance, i.e., the light extraction efficiency (refer to, for example, the Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-190619 (page 4, FIG. 1)).
In this disclosed semiconductor light-emitting device, because the ratio at which the emitted visible light is absorbed by a substrate is very low and because of the spherical outer shape, it is expected that the ratio at which the visible light which is emitted in the middle part near the center of the sphere can be taken out to the outside of the semiconductor light-emitting device also increases. However, because in the case of the light which is emitted in the light-emitting layer present near the spherical surface off the center, the ratio at which an angle at which the light becomes incident on the spherical surface deviates greatly from 90 degrees increases, the light which can be taken out to the outside of the semiconductor light-emitting device decreases. Specifically, although the ratio at which an inputted current is used for light emission in the middle part of the sphere is high from where the visible light can be taken out to the outside with good efficiency due to the spherical outer shape, the current also flows into the light-emitting layer present near the spherical surface from which the light cannot be taken out to the outside with good efficiency even with the spherical outer shape, thereby posing the problem that luminance is not insufficient for the inputted current. In other words, the problem was that the quantity of light which is capable of being taken out is small for an inputted current.

Semiconductor light-emitting device with faceted surfaces and interstice


When a write operation is to be performed for writing digital audio data (track), stored on a hard disk, to a CDR disk in an audio-digital-signal recording apparatus, control is performed, prior to execution of the write operation, such that the digital audio data stored on the hard disk can not be accessed by any other operation than the write operation, to thereby cause the other operation to regard the digital audio data as already erased from the storage section. After completion of the writing or copying of the digital audio data to the disk-shaped storage medium, the digital audio data are actually erased from the hard disk. Thus, even when power failure or shutdown occurs immediately after the copying of the digital audio data and before initiation of the audio data erasure from the hard disk, any operation, other than the write operation, can be prevented from accessing the digital audio data, so that the copyright on the digital audio data can be protected. As a result, the digital-audio-signal recording apparatus can prevent chain-like digital copying and thus can be properly used as consumer equipment.

The present invention relates to digital-audio-signal recording apparatus capable of creating an audio CD.
There are known digital-audio-signal recording apparatus which copy audio data of a CD to a hard disk and then write the thus-copied audio data from the hard disk to a CD-R disk to create a fresh CD containing the audio data. Some of these apparatus are in actual commercial use today as dedicated equipment, and functions similar to those of such apparatus can also be implemented using a combination of a personal computer and software.
However, it has not been easy for ordinary audiophiles to use personal computers for such purposes because the personal computers require troublesome manipulations. The commercial-use dedicated equipment, on the other hand, are relatively easy to manipulate, but could not be properly used as consumer equipment because they undesirably enable digital copying of audio data in a chain-like or concatenated fashion.
In the case where the above-mentioned digital-audio-signal recording apparatus is used as consumer equipment, and when audio data (file or track) copied on a hard disk have been written (i.e., re-copied) to a CDR disk, the apparatus operates to protect the copyright of the audio data by erasing the audio data on the hard disk so as to constitute just a transfer of the audio data, rather than a chain-like re-copy (in this case, second-generation copy) of the audio data. However, because the conventional digital-audio-signal recording apparatus can erase the audio data on the hard disk only after completion of the audio data copying from the hard disk to the CDR disk, there would be encountered a problem that appropriate protection of the copyright is not attained because the same actual data are left in both the CDR disk and the hard disk due to occurrence of an unexpected accident, such as power failure or shutdown, or intentional operation by a human at the instant when the data transfer to the CDR disk is completed.
In order to provide a solution to the problem, there has been proposed a more sophisticated digital-audio-signal recording apparatus, which is equipped with a mechanical lock mechanism to keep preventing the CDR disk from being removed from the disk drive till completion of erasure of the audio data from the hard disk. However, such an extra lock mechanism makes the digital-audio-signal recording apparatus more complicated in structure and more expensive and also readily become a cause of failure.


A method of telephone dialling comprises: accessing a remote database computer from a terminal computer; interrogating a database thereon to retrieve a required telephone number; causing the storage on the terminal computer of identification data associated with a dial out number, in persistent form; calculating, from the data and the retrieved telephone number, the telephone number to be dialled; and causing the dialling of the calculated number.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method and system for performing dialling of a telephone number supplied from a data store.
2. Description of Related Art
It is known to provide a computer with a store of telephone numbers (for example, each associated with a different individual), and a telephone dialler program. For example, the store may consist of an address book held for a telephony application.
Such systems are typically provided on a single stand-alone computer. However, increasingly, large corporations are employing networks of computers. Such networks are interconnected by a connection protocol defining the xe2x80x9cInternetxe2x80x9d. Following the growth of the Internet, and the availability of information in hypertext format using hypertext transfer protocol (http), many computer users have access both to a corporate network and the Internet. For simplicity, accordingly, many corporate networks are using Internet protocols including http, even within their own networks whether or not these are connected externally. Such internal networks using Internet protocols are generally referred to as xe2x80x9cIntranetsxe2x80x9d.
Whereas corporate networks are well protected against external intrusions (and the corresponding risk of access to or misuse of confidential data, or even damage or destruction to the data and programs of the network) it is harder to apply such protection across the Internet because of the differing interests of different users. Accordingly, standard Internet communications using, for example, http compliant web browsers, make it difficult for a server computer to access data held on a client computer (for example, one running a web browser program) and to cause the download and on line execution of a program on the client computer.
However, typically, a large organisation will wish to hold central databases (for reasons of data consistency, amongst others) on a server computer, and to provide access to these databases by remote users through server programs on their terminal computers.
An aim of the present invention is to enable a user of a terminal computer, in a network of this kind, to access the telephone number of a party he wishes to contact, and to have the telephone number automatically dialled to set up a connection to that party, using Internet-type communications protocols (e.g. the http service), over the Internet or an Intranet operating similarly thereto, whilst having regard for the security difficulties raised thereby.
Computer-telephony integration (CTI) is discussed in the following references (incorporated herein by reference):
1. Catchpole, Andrew; Crook, Gary; and Chesterman, Doug. Introduction to Computer Telephony Integration, Br. Telecommun. Eng.; Jul. 14, 1995, p. 98.
2. Catchpole, Andy. Computer Telephony Integrationxe2x80x94The Meridian Norstar. Br. Telecommun. Eng., Oct. 14, 1995, p. 209.
3. Johnson, Philip; Catchpole, Andy; and Booton, Laurie. Computer Telephony Integration. The Meridian 1 PBX. Br. Telecommun. Eng., Jul. 15, 1996, p. 150.
4. Hillson, Graham; Hardcastle, Chris; and Allington, Marc. Callscapexe2x80x94Computer Telephony Integration for the Small Business. Br. Telecommun. Eng., Jan. 15, 1997. P. 293.
Additionally, a number of applications programming interfaces for assisting and designing CTI systems are available; for example, the Java Telephony API (JTAPI) discussed at Sun Microsystems Java Web site java. sun.com/products/jtapi/.
Accordingly, in the present invention, there is provided a dialling system in which dialling information is stored in permanent form on the client terminal (e.g. as a xe2x80x9ccookiexe2x80x9d data file on the hard disk thereof and combined with called party dial number information retrieved from a remote database on the server computer to form the dial number. Thus, simple and secure Internet access processes may be used to retrieve the number to be dialled, combine it with the dial out prefix and perform dialling.
In one embodiment, dialling is performed by the terminal computer. In this case, preferably, resident dialling programs on the terminal computer are accessed by a program (e.g. a xe2x80x9cpluginxe2x80x9d co-operating with a conventional web browser) which is already resident on the terminal computer rather than being downloaded during the search and dial operation. Thus, terminal computers are protected against access to their input/output devices (e.g. communications ports) from unauthorised external sources.
Preferably, the resident program in this embodiment is controlled by a downloaded program (e.g. a script or an applet) which supplies to it the number to be dialled. Thus, some of the functionality necessary at the terminal computer is maintained in the machine-independent form (e.g. using a Java or JavaScript interpreter resident thereon) rather than requiring compilation into native code depending on the processor of the client terminal.
In an alternative embodiment (which is preferably combined with the first), third party CTI is employed and dialling is instructed by the server computer.

Method and system for performing dialling of a telephone number supplied from a data store

British Telecommunications public limited company


A moisture meter (1) has a capacitive sensing circuit (11-16) feeding into a digital control circuit having a microcontroller (17). Input buttons (20, 22, 23) allow a user to select a material being surveyed. They also allow the user to instruct the meter (1) to hold a particular reading. This allows it to be more conveniently read. The output of the digital control circuit is fed via an ADC (18) to a moving coil meter (4). This provides an easy-to-read display in which trends as the meter (1) is moved across a surface are easy to track.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a moisture meter.
2. Prior Art Discussion
Our prior published British Patent Application No. GB2347220A describes a moisture meter which has a digital control circuit driving an LED output display. This meter has many advantageous features such as storage of readings and upload to a host computer, and choice of a range of different materials having different response characteristics.
In using a moisture meter for surveying a building it is desirable to hold the meter or probe against a wall or other surface and to move it across the surface. In this way the surveyor can see the trend in moisture readings as the meter moves from a dry to a wet part of a wall or other surface, and can survey the extent of the dampness and the size of the problem.
Use of a meter of the above type presents problems for surveyors as it is difficult to track trends on the display as the meter is moved. Very often the surveyor sees tumbling digits on the display, and not a clearly visible trend.
Another disadvantage of currently available moisture meters is that for some applications user interaction is complex.
A disadvantage of some analogue moisture meters is that in some applications the measuring locations are difficult to access and the operator may have to hold the meter out of sight while taking a measurement. The scale reading may change if the meter is then moved to a position where the scale can be read.
The invention is therefore directed towards providing a moisture meter to address these problems.
According to the invention, there is provided a moisture meter comprising:
a moisture sensor;
a digital control circuit comprising means for processing output signals from said sensor and for generating and storing moisture measurements; and
an output interface comprising a digital to analogue converter (DAC) connected to the digital control circuit, and an analogue display device comprising means for providing an analogue moisture display in response to outputs of the digital to analogue converter.
In one embodiment, the analogue display device comprises a moving coil meter.
In another embodiment, the moisture meter comprises means for linearising moisture readings.
In a further embodiment, the linearising means comprises a logarithmic amplifier in the sensor.
In one embodiment, the logarithmic amplifier is connected between a sensor amplifier and an analogue to digital converter (ADC) of the digital control circuit.
In another embodiment, the digital control circuit comprises an input interface comprising means for allowing user selection of a desired material.
In a further embodiment, the input interface comprises a user button for selecting a material.
In one embodiment, the digital control circuit comprises means for generating an interrupt upon user selection of a material.
In another embodiment, the digital control circuit comprises means for storing a flag indicating the selected material when the moisture meter is powered down, and for activating with the same material at power-up.
In a further embodiment, the digital control circuit comprises means for locking to a current reading in response to user selection of a hold function at the input interface.
In one embodiment, the digital control circuit comprises means for generating an interrupt upon user selection of the hold function.
In another embodiment, the digital control circuit comprises means for operating in timed loops of monitoring sensor signals, processing the signals, and outputting a moisture reading.
In a further embodiment, the digital control circuit comprises means for powering-down to a sleep mode after expiry of a timeout period for a single reading.
In one embodiment, the digital control circuit comprises means for activating a timer when a timed processing loop generates the same reading as that for the previous processing loop, whereby the timeout period is calculated from the time at which a reading has not changed.


A paddle for a narrow canoe or kayak-type boat has a crossbar the end portions of which extend downwardly to create an inverted U-shape, with the blades being at the lower ends of U. Handgrips, preferably including either forearm rests or wrist rests for the tops of the forearms or wrists as well as handgrips, enable the user to operate the paddle in a broad sweeping motion, with both blades being inserted into the water and pulled back simultaneously, eliminating the yaw effect of either double-ended kayak paddles or single-bladed canoe paddles.

The subject matter of this application was filed under the Disclosure Document Program of the Patent Office on Aug. 19, 1992, and received Disclosure Document Number 315,761.
Canoes and kayak-type boats provide the most efficient means for one or two people to propel themselves through the water without the use of a motor. The narrow hull not only reduces water resistance, but enables the operator to conveniently access the water on both sides of the boat. This is more important in a kayak, in which the beam of the boat must be narrow enough that the paddler can paddle on both sides of the boat without moving from his seated position.
Kayaks and canoes are much more agile than rowboats. Paddling provides an obvious maneuverability and agility advantage over rowing as a means of propelling a small boat, even if they are the same hull shape.
The big disadvantage of paddling over rowing is the inevitable yaw effect produced every time the paddle is stroked. Since the paddle only strokes one side of the boat at a time, it tends to yaw in the opposite direction.
Two-passenger canoes reduce this effect somewhat by the use of simultaneous paddling on opposite sides of the boat by the two canoers. Nonetheless, since the paddlers are spaced apart, the yaw effect still exists, and coordination of the two canoers is difficult unless they are experienced working as a team.
The extent of the problem with kayaks depends on the type of kayak. Typically, a kayak is a single-passenger vessel, so that the dual paddling possible in canoes cannot be done. However there are some sea kayaks which are dual passenger. Paddlers in a sea kayak, unlike canoe paddlers, must paddle in a synchronized fashion because they are seated so close together. Thus, the problem is not simplified, although sea kayaks have a keel and usually a rudder which helps them maintain course.
More traditional kayaks and river-running kayaks have no keel at all, and have almost no directional preference. It is very difficult even for an experienced paddler to paddle a very short, state-of-the-art river runner in a straight line. These boats are designed specifically to make quick turns when going downstream to avoid rocks. When paddling these boats on a lake or other open stretch of water, many of them will refuse to go straight, and cause the paddler to spend 20 or 30% of his paddling energy keeping the boat straight rather than moving it forward.
There is a need, therefore, for a new type of kayak-type boat paddle and a technique for using it which preservers the maneuverability characteristics of paddle craft but eliminates or reduces the drawback of propelling the boat from one side or the other during any one paddle stroke.


This cycle changeable engine includes first intake valves for a four-cycle operation which are disposed in intake ports formed in a cylinder head, exhaust valves disposed in exhaust ports, second intake valves for a two-cycle operation, disposed in intake ports formed at the lower part of a cylinder, and an electromagnetic valve driving device for opening and closing each of the valves by electromagnetic force. The engine includes also a controller which actuates either the first or second intake valves for opening and closing with the others being kept closed in response to a detection signal from detection means for detecting the number of revolutions or load of the engine, and changes the operational condition of the engine to the two-cycle or four-cycle operation. In this manner the engine is operated in the two-cycle operation at a low speed revolution of the engine to improve an output torque and is operated in the four-cycle operation at a high speed revolution of the engine to reduce fuel consumption, to improve mean effective pressure and volume efficiency and to reduce noise.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a cycle changeable engine capable of changing an engine operation to two-cycle operation or four-cycle operation by making opening/closing control of intake/exhaust valves by electromagnetic force.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventionally, a valve mechanism which constitutes electrically intake/exhaust valves and acutates them electrically as a valve mechanism of an internal combustion engine is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 183805/1983. The valve mechanism of this internal combustion engine includes a detector for detecting the operational condition of the internal combustion engine and actuates the intake and exhaust valves on the basis of the detection signal of the detector. The detector for detecting the operational conditions of the internal combustion engine is accomplished by detecting a rotation state of a crank shaft or by detecting an accelerator opening. The operation of the intake and exhaust valves by the electrical motion means is accomplished by regulating the opening degree of the valve portions in response to the operational conditions of the internal combustion engine such as the intake state of a fuel and an exhaust state of an exploded and burnt matter.
In the operations of gasoline engines and Diesel engines in general, the cycle of the four operations, i.e., an intake stroke, a compression stroke, a combustion stroke and an exhaust stroke, is repeated. Among them, it is only the combustion stroke where power is generated and torque is applied to a crank shaft. In the other three strokes, rotation is effected by the force of inertia. Two kinds of systems, that is, a four-cycle engine and a two-cycle engine, exist as the operation principle of each of these strokes.
The four-cycle engine is the one that requires four strokes of the piston or in other words, two revolutions of the crank shaft in order to effect the four operations described above for each stroke of the piston and to complete one cycle. Accordingly, in the four-cycle engine, one stroke or a sufficient time, is given for the exhaust stroke and the intake stroke so that volume efficiency is high, mean effective pressure is high and efficiency is particularly high in a high speed range. Moreover, since one combustion stroke is carried out per two revolutions of the crank shaft, thermal load to each portion can be reduced. However, a valve mechanism is complicated mechanically and since the number of times of explosion is small, the operation becomes unsmooth if the number of cylinders is small and sufficient torque cannot be secured easily in a low speed range.
In contrast, in the two-cycle engine, the intake stroke and the exhaust stroke are effected at part of the combustion stroke and the compression stroke and one cycle is completed in the two strokes of the piston or in other words, one revolution of the crank shaft. Accordingly, since the number of combustion strokes or the number of times of explosion is twice in the two-cycle engine in comparison with the four-cycle engine, the output becomes about 1.5 times that of the four-cycle engine with the same exhaust quantity. However, since explosion occurs in each cycle in the two-cycle engine, there exists the problem of thermal durability of each component of the engine. Since the time necessary for scavenging in the two-cycle engine is a half of the four-cycle engine, the effective stroke is short and the loss of fresh air is great due to scavenging. It is therefore difficult to improve the mean effective pressure and engine efficiency. Moreover, blow-by is great in the two-cycle and a time area is small so that a fuel consumption quantity is greater than in the four-cycle particularly in the high speed range. Since the exhaust valves are opened earlier than in the four-cycle, an internal pressure becomes high and exhaust noise becomes great.
Demands for engines which are more compact in scale and have higher output will increase in future. As to engine performance, high torque is required in a low speed range but a great torque is not much required in a high speed range. Therefore, an engine which can be used most conveniently can be provided if the engine is constituted so that the torque in the low speed range becomes about twice the torque in the medium speed range. However, an engine having a high torque cannot be produced so easily. If a highly supercharged engine is constituted in order to produce the high torque engine, an excessive load will be applied to the engine main body and a connecting rod, a piston, and the like, will be broken by the force of the mechanical load.
The thermal load to the engine increases with the increase in the number of revolutions of engine. In an engine having a rated number of revolutions of 6,000 rpm, for example, the thermal load becomes six times the thermal load at the time of 1,000 rpm.


The present invention discloses a transmission mode switching device and a 2D/3D switchable display apparatus. The transmission mode switching device comprises a first substrate on which a first transparent electrode is configured, a second substrate on which a second transparent electrode is configured, and a transmission mode switching layer located between the first and second substrates and formed by materials with isotropic optical properties. The transmission mode switching layer is switched between a first transmission mode in which the direction of light propagation is not altered and a second transmission mode in which the direction of light propagation is altered in response to switching of the electric field applied between the first and second transparent electrodes. The transmission mode switching device of the present invention is suitable for multiple modes, with low power consumption.

With continuous development of display technologies, people desire more and more for more realistic images. Recently, there have been three-dimensional (3D) display (also referred to as stereoscopic display) realized by using various techniques, which brings viewers more realistic stereoscopic effect compared to 2D display, and therefore is favorable and preferred.
The reason why the objects are three-dimensional from the view of people is that people have two eyes with a certain distance therebetween, and a 3D image is merged by the brain from two slightly different images of objects generated on the retina of two eyes. Stereoscopic display technology utilizes the rationale of stereoscopic imaging for human eyes, i.e., there are two slightly different images of objects viewed from different viewing angles by human eyes, and the two slightly different images are then merged by the brain to a stereoscopic vision. Currently, a common stereoscopic display method is the method adopting polarizers, which utilizes different polarization angles of light, to allow the lights in different polarization states to pass through the two polarizers respectively, and to project the two images with slight differences into left and right eyes, respectively, so as to bring three-dimensional stereoscopic perception to human. However, such stereoscopic display method is required for viewers to wear matching stereoscopic polarizing glasses to view 3D image, which often results in discomfort to viewers, especially to viewers already wearing a pair of glasses which are more difficult. Therefore, there are methods to view stereoscopic images without wearing stereoscopic glasses, i.e., methods for stereoscopic display with naked eyes, to satisfy the requirements of viewers.
FIGS. 1a and 1b disclose a partially sectional view of a conventional 2D/3D switchable display apparatus. As shown in FIGS. 1a and 1b, the 2D/3D switchable display apparatus includes a liquid crystal display panel 2 and a liquid crystal lens 3 provided at one side of the liquid crystal display panel 2 adjacent to the viewer. The liquid crystal display panel 2 has first pixels 21 (pixels filled by black in FIGS. 1a and 1b) and second pixels 22 (pixels unfilled in FIGS. 1a and 1b). The liquid crystal lens 3 includes a first substrate 31 adjacent to the viewer, a second substrate 32 far from the viewer, and a medium layer 33 interposed between the first substrate 31 and the second substrate 32. A first transparent electrode 311 is provided on one side of the first substrate 31 adjacent to the second substrate 32, and a second transparent electrode 321 is provided on one side of the second substrate 32 adjacent to the first substrate 31, the first transparent electrode 311 and the second transparent electrode 321 generally both being formed by indium tin oxide (ITO). There are a plurality of elongated arch-shaped spaces 34 at one side of the medium layer 33 adjacent to the second substrate 32, and liquid crystal 36 having anisotropic optical properties is filled in the arch-shaped space 34, and the refractive index n1 of the medium layer 33 and the refractive index ne of major axis of the liquid crystal 36 as well as the refractive index no of minor axis satisfy the following:n1=no<ne.
The arch-shaped space 34 has a curved surface adjacent to the first substrate 31 and a flat surface adjacent to the second substrate 32, and the curved and flat surfaces on the arch-shaped space 34 are both provided with an alignment layer 35, and, the alignment direction of the alignment layers 35 is the same as the direction of transmission axis of a corresponding light emitting polarizer in the liquid crystal display panel 2, as shown in FIG. 1a, the alignment directions of the alignment layers 35 on respective surface inside the arch-shaped space 34 are perpendicular to the paper surface. The 2D/3D switchable display apparatus can realize the switching between 2D display and 3D display by altering the voltage between the first transparent electrode 311 and the second transparent electrode 321 located in the liquid crystal lens 3.
As shown in FIG. 1a, when there is no voltage applied between the first transparent electrode 311 and the second transparent electrode 321, the major axis of liquid crystal 36 inside the arch-shaped space 34 is aligned along the direction parallel to the alignment direction, i.e., aligned perpendicularly to the paper surface as shown in FIG. 1a, at this time, the refractive index of liquid crystal 36 is ne, and because ne<n1, the liquid crystal lens 3 is in a refracting mode, and converges the light incident from the second substrate 32, and in this case, the light emitted from the first pixels 21 and the second pixels 22 in the liquid crystal display panel 2 selectively enters the right and left eyes of the viewer, respectively, along the different propagation paths. Images entering the right and left eyes of the viewer are also two images with optical parallax since the images that the first pixels 21 and the second pixels 22 display are two images with optical parallax, and are merged by the brain to form a stereoscopic vision, therefore presenting a 3D display mode.
As shown in FIG. 1b, when there is a certain voltage applied between the first transparent electrode 311 and the second transparent electrode 321, an electric field is formed between the first transparent electrode 311 and the second transparent electrode 321, the major axis of liquid crystal 36 inside the arch-shaped space 34 is aligned along the direction of the electric field, i.e., aligned perpendicularly to the first substrate 31 and second substrate 32 as shown in FIG. 1b, at this time, the refractive index of liquid crystal 36 is no, and because noo=n1, the liquid crystal lens 3 is in a non-refracting mode, and the light incident from the second substrate 32 will not be refracted through liquid crystal 36 and the medium layer 33, but remains its original direction of propagation, and in this case, the light emitted from the first pixels 21 and the second pixels 22 in the liquid crystal display panel 2 simultaneously enters the right and left eyes of the viewer after passing through the liquid crystal lens 3, and the same image displayed on the liquid crystal display panel 2 will be received by the right and left eyes, therefore presenting a 2D display mode.
However, The above liquid crystal lens 3 based display apparatus for the switching of 2D display and 3D display is based on the polarized light, and as a result, such display apparatus now is only suitable for liquid crystal display employing the polarizer, but not for display device using non-polarized light mode such as cathode ray tube display (CRT), plasma display panel (PDP) or organic light emitting diode display (OLED), etc. Moreover, because the liquid crystal 36 is anisotropic, which has a refractive index ne of the major axis varied depending on the direction of incident light, and the medium layer 33 is isotropic material, the liquid crystal lens 3 is largely direction-dependent. In addition, as the liquid crystal 36 is affected by anchoring force as a result of requirement for alignment layer 35, the liquid crystal lens 3 requires a larger driving voltage, resulting in higher power consumption of the liquid crystal lens 3.

Transmission mode switching device and 2D/3D switchable display apparatus

Infovision Optoelectronics (Kunshan) Co., Ltd.


A method and apparatus for imprinting high quality images on non-planar surfaces, including the surfaces of various types of three-dimensional articles, such as baseball bats, formed from a number of different types of materials. In the preferred method of the invention, the non-planar surfaces of the three-dimensional articles are printed using a uniquely modified ink jet image transfer technique. The apparatus of the invention includes an ink jet printer coupled with a novel article positioning apparatus which functions to support a plurality of circumferentially spaced-apart articles, to move a selected one of the circumferentially spaced articles into proximity with the ink jet printer and to controllably rotate the selected one of the circumferentially spaced articles.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to methods and apparatus for imprinting images on the surfaces of three-dimensional objects. More particularly, the invention concerns a novel, improved method and apparatus for non-contact, high-quality, distortion-free printing of images on non-planar surfaces of three-dimensional objects using ink jet printing technology.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
Various types of image transfer techniques have been suggested in the past for imprinting images on a number of different material surfaces including cloth, wood, metal and ceramics. A very common technique, which has been widely used, is silk screening. However, such a technique is generally limited to printing on smooth, flat surfaces. Further, such technique produces a relatively low quality print when compared to that produced by lithography, gravure, letterpress sublimation and laser printing.
When the image is to be transferred to a metal surface, prior art sublimation techniques are frequently used. For example, Blake, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,484,342 issued Dec. 16, 1969 and Fromson, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,201,821 issued May 6, 1980 both suggest decorating unsealed and coated anodized aluminum using sublimation techniques. However, sublimation processes also have substantial drawbacks, particularly when the surface of the object, which is to be printed, is non-planar.
When printing on non-planar surfaces is required, several techniques have been suggested. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,741,288 issued to Stirbis, et al., discloses an apparatus for decorating a cylindrical can. The Stirbis, et al., apparatus makes use of a multiple station ink supply and a transfer apparatus for transferring ink from an ink fountain to a rotatable inking blanket wheel through a plate cylinder. The apparatus includes an ink image registration adjustment apparatus and an axial and circumferential tightness control apparatus operatively associated with each plate cylinder and each ink supply and transfer apparatus. In addition to techniques involving the use of rotatable inking wheels such as described in Stirbis, et al., other techniques, which have been suggested for imprinting images on non-planar surfaces, include electrophotographic imaging and magnetic imaging. As a general rule, these techniques have met with limited commercial success.
U.S. Letters Pat. No. 5,831,641 issued to Carlson discloses a method and apparatus for imprinting images on non-planar surfaces, including the surfaces of various types of three-dimensional articles, such as baseball bats. The apparatus includes a modified ink jet plotter coupled with an article-positioning apparatus which functions to automatically maintain the surface of the article to be printed within a plane substantially parallel to and slightly spaced-apart from the place within which the ink jet nozzles of the ink jet plotter reside.
Another prior art technique, which is frequently used to decorate surfaces, such as anodized aluminum surfaces, involves the use of transfer films. These films typically overlay the metal surface and, undesirably, are subject to film deterioration and unattractive abrasion. A very popular prior art printing technique, which has found wide acceptance in recent years, is ink jet printing. Within perhaps the last five years this technology has become the dominant technology for printing color images and graphics in the office and home markets. Ink jet printing basically involves a process whereby ink particles are projected in a continuous stream toward the surface to be imprinted using appropriate computer control to create text and graphics on the printing substrate. A number of different types of ink jet printers/plotters are readily commercially available from sources such as Calcomp, Packard Bell, NEC Technologies and Mutoh America, Inc.
By way of brief explanation of the prior art, traditional ink jet printing processes or methods applied to either planar or non-planar objects, typically utilize left to right jetting initially and on the return, jetting right to left. Upon completion of a dual, one line horizontal print, the object is indexed or advanced approximately 1/64 inch, so that the next line can be bi-directionally jetted. This method of printing takes considerable time when high quality multi-colored photo realistic images, text and graphics are required. The only practical way of increasing speed in this type of bi-directional printing is to add a multiplicity of ink jet-heads in parallel and stack them vertically, thus increasing cost and increasing the amount of maintenance required to achieve a consistent quality print over time.
As will be better understood from the discussion which follows, the method and apparatus of the present invention overcomes most of the problems encountered in prior art attempts to print detailed images on non-planar surfaces by employing a highly novel ink jet image transfer technique.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


To help maintain secure and convenient connectivity for users when IP addresses change, devices connected between sites by using multiple virtual private network security associations update one another when the security association IP addresses change. The device whose WAN interface IP address changed transmits an address change notification message to the other device over a WAN interface whose IP address did not change. The message indicates which IP address(es) changed and new value(s) to use. The devices can then continue the same secure virtual private network session (from a user point of view above the security association level) by using the new value(s) for the changed IP address(es). Use of the new value for the changed IP address is transparent to (unseen by) VPN applications that are running in the LANs. IPSec sessions and load balancing may be provided.

In computing, a virtual private network (VPN) may be used to provide remote offices or individual users with secure access to an organization's network resources. A VPN uses a public telecommunication infrastructure such as the Internet to carry data, but uses encryption, authentication, and/or other security mechanisms to help maintain privacy of the data.

VPN secure sessions with dynamic IP addresses


An LED driver comprising a power converter for powering an LED unit and a control unit for controlling the power converter is provided. The power converter comprising an input terminal for receiving a rectified AC supply voltage, and an output terminal for supplying a current to the LED unit, and the control unit comprising an input for receiving a supply signal representative of the supply voltage and an output for providing a control signal to the power converter. The control unit is further arranged to: determine the control signal for controlling the power converter based on the supply signal, and control the power converter to supply the current to the LED unit based on the control signal, the current being amplitude modulated in synchronism or in phase with the rectified AC supply voltage.

In general, LED based lighting applications (also referred to as LED units, comprising one or more light emitting diodes (LEDs)) are powered by an LED driver (e.g. comprising a switched mode power supply such as a Buck or Boost converter) which is supplied from a DC voltage source. In such an arrangement, dimming of the light (in response to a user interface action) is typically realised by adjusting the duty cycle of the LED or LEDs of the application. As such, conventional LED drivers are not suited for being powered by a voltage source which differs from a DC voltage source, such as e.g. provided by an electronic transformer or a standard TRIAC dimmer. When an LED driver is supplied from a varying voltage source, the instantaneous voltage available as input to the LED driver may be momentarily insufficient to power the LED or LEDs of the lighting application. This could result in flicker of the lighting application which could result into a range of effects in an observer, from awkwardness via irritation to nausea.
When such a varying voltage source such as an electronic transformer or a TRIAC dimmer is used to power a normal halogen light, the power received will be averaged out and will not result in flicker, although even with halogen lights, the low output levels are cumbersome and flicker can be seen in many cases.
In case a lighting application is powered from an electronic transformer, it is further required to, in order for the electronic transformer to provide an output voltage for supplying the LED unit, maintain a current as provided by the transformer above a certain level. As such, when the supply current (i.e. the current supplied to the LED driver) is insufficient, the electronic transformer will cease to provide an output voltage. Subsequently, the electronic transformer will, after a certain amount of time, attempt to resume its proper operation. Meanwhile however, the light output of the LED unit could be interrupted, whereas a continuous light output would be desired. In order to ensure proper operation of the electronic transformer, it has been proposed in literature to provide a load in parallel to the LED driver in order to ensure that a minimum supply current is being supplied by the electronic transformer. Maintaining such a current may result in an Important dissipation, adversely affecting the efficiency of the lighting application.
Ensuring that a sufficiently high supply current is provided by an electronic transformer powering one or more LED drivers, is rendered even more difficult because of the high power to light conversion of LED based lighting applications, compared to conventional halogen lights. As will be understood, when a 20 W halogen light bulb is replaced by a 5 W LED unit, the power to be supplied by the electronic transformer can be reduced significantly and may result in a supply current insufficient for proper operation of the electronic transformer.
In view of the above, it is an object of the present invention to facilitate the powering of LED based lighting applications by an electronic transformer (optionally preceded by a TRIAC based dimmer), thereby facilitating conventional applications such as halogen lights to retrofit with LED based lighting application.

LED driver for powering an LED unit from an electronic transformer


An energy management system controls the temperature of a fuel cell system while a vehicle is not running. The energy management system includes a fuel cell stack, a blower that provides air to the fuel cell stack, a water supply, and a hydrogen supply. A hydrogen supply valve is connected between the hydrogen supply and the fuel cell stack. A heater is connected to an output of the fuel cell stack. A controller controls the hydrogen supply valve and the blower to power the heater to warm the fuel cell stack and the water supply. The controller starts the blower and opens the hydrogen supply valve if heating is necessary and if a tank level signal exceeds a first tank level value. The controller activates a purge, drains water from the water supply, and inhibits vehicle startup if the tank level signal does not exceed a first tank level value.

The present invention relates to fuel cells, and more particularly to fuel cell energy management systems for cold environments.
Fuel cell systems are increasingly being used as a power source in a wide variety of applications. Fuel cell systems have also been proposed for use in vehicles as a replacement for internal combustion engines (ICE). A solid-polymer-electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell includes a membrane that is sandwiched between an anode and a cathode. To produce electricity through an electrochemical reaction, hydrogen (H2) is supplied to the anode and oxygen (O2) is supplied to the cathode.
In a first half-cell reaction, dissociation of the hydrogen H2 at the anode generates hydrogen protons H+ and electrons exe2x88x92. The membrane is proton conductive and dielectric. As a result, the protons are transported through the membrane while the electrons flow through an electrical load that is connected across the membrane. In a second half-cell reaction, oxygen O2 at the cathode reacts with protons H+, and electrons exe2x88x92 are taken up to form water H2O.
The operation of ICE in cold weather has received intensive attention during the development of ICEs. Because fuel cells have become viable for widespread commercial use, cold weather performance characteristics of fuel cells have become more important. Vehicle manufacturers must address customer requirements and expectations to ensure that fuel cells are accepted. Some of these requirements include an affordable purchase price and operating costs, reliable and safe operation, traffic compatible performance such as acceleration and braking, range, payload, and ambient temperature tolerance.
The ambient temperature tolerance specification for vehicles typically includes temperatures between xe2x88x9240xc2x0 C. to 52xc2x0 C. Exemplary cold weather specifications for ICEs typically require that an engine must start within 30 seconds of cranking time with front and rear window defrosters operating. These specifications also require stable operation in low ambient temperatures such as xe2x88x9240xc2x0 C. following a soak for eight hours at the low ambient temperature. Shortly after starting, the vehicle should be capable of driving away at varying rates of acceleration including wide-open throttle. Fuel cell vehicles will probably be required to meet similar cold weather specifications to meet consumer expectations.
Consumers expect automobiles to be operable in sub-freezing weather. Liquid and vapor water within the fuel cell system is a major concern for cold weather operation of the fuel cell. The cooling system typically employs de-ionized water. The fuel cell stack humidification systems and water generation at the cathode during operation generally ensures that water in a liquid or vapor state will exist in almost all parts of the fuel cell stack during dwell times. At one atmosphere and temperatures below 0xc2x0 C., water freezes and may block the flow passages of the fuel cell stack. These blockages may expand and damage the fuel cell stack and/or render the cooling and humidification systems inoperable.
There are many approaches to prevent freezing within a fuel cell system during operation and/or as part of the start-up process. Passive freeze prevention involves several different approaches. One approach minimizes freezing by minimizing the use of water coolant. The water coolant can be replaced with a low freezing temperature heat transfer liquid that is not electrically conducting. Several major fuel cell suppliers are working in this area. Another option to limit the pure water coolant is to operate with separate stack and radiator coolant loops using a liquid-to-liquid heat exchanger. This approach, however, adds cost, weight and volume.
Another approach involves removing the water from the fuel cell system to prevent damage due to freezing while the fuel cell is not operating. The majority of the liquid water within the fuel cell stack can be removed at system shut-down using a gravity self-drain. Residual water within the stack can be removed by blowing dry, de-humidified air through the fuel cell stack just prior to system shut down. In these systems, water must be added before the fuel cell can be operated.
In other approaches, thermal insulation is placed around the entire fuel cell stack and the water reservoir to slow heat loss during operation and dwell times. The insulation is often integrated with the fuel cell stack casing. This approach increases stack volume and weight. Since fuel cell stack weight affects vehicle performance, installed power requirements, and cost, vehicle suppliers have an incentive to use other approaches that do not increase stack weight. Lowering fuel cell stack weight lowers thermal mass, decreases warm-up times but also decreases cool-down times.
Still other approaches involve operating the fuel cell to produce waste heat that is used to heat the fuel cell stack as part of the startup process. Advantages of this system include a relatively simple design that typically requires no system changes. Disadvantages of this system include the requirement for long warm-up times at sub-freezing temperatures because the fuel cell stack power is relatively low. This system also does not thaw ice in the anode and cathode flow channels directly. This system also does not address damage that may occur due to freezing when the fuel cell in the vehicle is not operating.
Other systems employ hot air from a compressor to melt ice in the anode and cathode flow channels and to warm the MEA during operation and/or as part of the start-up process. The hot air is typically greater than 90xc2x0 C. and is available relatively quickly. Hot air warms all portions of the cathode. Disadvantages include the fact that not much heating power is derived from air (however, the thermal mass of the membrane electrode assembly is very low).
Other systems use hydrogen/air burners to warm stack coolant which, in turn, warms the fuel cell stack. Advantages of this heating system includes the generation of a large amount of high-quality heat. Waste heat can be used to warm the passenger compartment. Disadvantages include the decrease in fuel economy and the requirement for the hydrogen/air burners that add weight, volume and cost to the fuel cell system.
Most of the preceding systems relate to the warming of the fuel cell stack at start-up or during vehicle operation but do not prevent damage that may be caused when the fuel cell stack remains in a dwell or off-mode at low ambient temperatures. Systems addressing the dwell-mode problem often include external plug-in resistive heaters. While consumers have accepted plug-in heaters for temperatures below xe2x88x9220xc2x0 C., plug-in heater requirements for xe2x88x9220xc2x0 C. to 0xc2x0 C. are probably commercially unacceptable. Other solutions include a heated garage that is also probably commercially unacceptable.
An energy management system according to the invention controls the temperature of a fuel cell of a vehicle while the vehicle is not running. The energy management system includes a fuel cell stack, a blower that provides air to the fuel cell stack, a water supply, and a hydrogen supply. A hydrogen supply valve is connected between the hydrogen supply and the fuel cell stack. A heater is connected to an output of the fuel cell stack. A controller controls the hydrogen supply valve and the blower to power the heater to warm the fuel cell stack and the water supply while the vehicle is not running.
In other features of the invention, the heater is a resistive heater. A pressure sensor generates a hydrogen pressure signal for the hydrogen supply and is connected to the controller. A stack temperature sensor is connected to the controller and generates a stack temperature signal. The controller determines whether heating is necessary based on the stack temperature if the hydrogen pressure signal exceeds a first pressure value. The controller starts the blower and opens the hydrogen supply valve if heating is necessary until the stack temperature signal exceeds a first stack temperature value.
In yet other features of the invention, an ambient temperature sensor generates an ambient temperature signal. A water tank sensor generates a water temperature signal. The controller uses the stack temperature signal, the ambient temperature signal and the water temperature signal to access a lookup table to determine whether heating is necessary when the pressure signal does not exceed a first pressure value.
In other features, a hydrogen tank level sensor generates a tank level signal. The controller starts the blower and opens the hydrogen supply valve if heating is necessary and if the tank level signal exceeds a first tank level value. The controller continues heating until the stack temperature signal exceeds a first stack temperature valve. The controller activates a purge, drains water from the water supply, and inhibits vehicle startup if the tank level signal does not exceed a first tank level value.
Further areas of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description provided hereinafter. It should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating the preferred embodiment of the invention, are intended for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention.

Fuel cell energy management system for cold environments


A bench mounted puller support to hold and adjust a puller that is utilized to straighten bent auto bodies that are supported and held on an adjustable bench with said support mounted thereto. The bench mounted puller support is comprised of two longitudinal bars with each bar having receiving members on the inner side to receive and connect to the side of the bench, and inserting members on the outer side to insert and connect to a flange assembly that is secured to a tubular support member that supports the puller. The flange assembly has multiple apertures around the perimeter to allow the tubular support member to rotate 360 degrees around the end attached to the flange assembly. The tubular support member has multiple apertures spaced apart longitudinally to allow the puller to adjust to any desired position along the entire length of the tubular support member.

This invention relates to the field of anchoring and support assemblies to hold a damaged vehicle body in position for straightening and to support a pulling mechanism while applying force to straighten a bent portion of the vehicle body.
Prior art devices of this kind include a bench or other support to hold the vehicle with the pulling mechanism spaced apart from such bench and vehicle and secured to the floor by chains extending from the pulling support mechanism to anchor posts embedded in the floor.
The present invention comprises a support frame for the pulling mechanism which connects to the bench on which the vehicle itself is supported. The support frame for the pulling mechanism has a pair of spaced apart longitudinally extending members with lateral connecting members extending inwardly for connection to the vehicle support bench which supports auto bodies for straightening. A plurality of puller connecting members extend outwardly on the opposite side of each of the longitudinally extending members to receive a puller stand used to support the puller that straightens the auto body.
The invention includes a pivot mounting mechanism to enable rotating the puller support stand to a plurality of radial positions when the puller support stand is received on one of the puller connecting members. This allows the puller to be angularly positioned relative to a variety of damaged areas of an auto body to enable the puller to straighten the bent portion, since the puller support stand can be rotated from the vertical to the horizontal and to extend at any desired angle in between.


Examples of comparing real-time movements to a pattern profile are disclosed. In one example implementation according to aspects of the present disclosure, a method may include receiving, by a computing system, a data stream indicative of real-time movements of a mobile device. The method may further include comparing, by the computing system, the data stream indicative of real-time movements of the mobile device to a pattern profile for the mobile device to determine whether an abnormality occurs in the movement of the mobile device based on a pattern profile, wherein the pattern profile is indicative of historical usage patterns of the movements of the mobile device. The method may also include triggering, by the computing system, an authentication event when an abnormality is determined to occur.

Mobile devices such as cellular telephones, smart phones, and tablets have become part of everyday life for millions of people. Users rely on their mobile devices to place calls, keep schedules, send e-mails and messages, capture images, and perform a variety of other tasks. These devices may contain sensitive, secure, and/or confidential information, such as financial information, private photographs and messages, and other data. Moreover, these mobile devices may soon replace credit cards, keys, and identification cards altogether, causing them to store even more sensitive and private information.

Comparing real-time movements to pattern profile background


Described herein is flooring formed of an eco-friendly material, where the flooring has excellent heat resistance, durability, abrasion resistance and dimensional stability, and is formed of a non-PVC material and thus is recyclable via an extrusion processing at the time of disposal after use. Specifically, eco-friendly flooring is described in which a coating layer, an overlayer having ionomers, a printing layer, at least one middle layer, and at least one underlayer are laminated in order, where the overlayer of the flooring has ionomers, at least one of the middle layer and the underlayer has a thermoplastic polyolefin-based resin, a styrene-based resin, oil, and a filler, the thermoplastic polyolefin-based resin is contained in an amount of 50 to 150 parts by weight with respect to 100 parts by weight of the styrene-based resin, and the styrene-based resin may contain 25 to 45% styrene.

Due to recent improvements in standards of living, flooring including timber, i.e., a patterned wood or flooring including a synthetic resin layer made of a polyvinyl chloride (PVC) resin with high workability is widely used in a floor surface of a building. The PVC resin is a material widely used in various fields due to high workability thereof.
However, since the PVC resin contains a chlorine (Cl) component, a large amount of chlorine gas and smoke are generated in case of fire, which is fatal to a human body. In addition, environmental hormones are generated in actual use after the installation the flooring is completed, and harmful substances such as dioxin are generated when the flooring is incinerated. Furthermore, a volatile organic compound (VOC) and formaldehyde (HCHO), which are toxic agents that cause a sick house syndrome, are generated by di-isodecyl phthalate (DOP) added to the flooring so as to process the PVC resin, which is harmful to the human body. Physical properties such as weather resistance and flexural rigidity due to inherent physical properties of the PVC resin are degraded, resulting in problems in use of a product.
Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop environmentally-friendly polyolefin-based flooring, which is harmless to the human body unlike the flooring of the related art using a thermoplastic polyolefin-based resin, does not generate harmful substances such as environmental hormones and dioxins caused by the flooring of the related art made of the PVC resin, does not use DOP to prevent a sick house syndrome phenomenon, promote human health, and be environmentally-friendly, and in which weather resistance, flexibility, and flexural rigidity of a complete product are increased, printability is increased to increase the beauty of the floor, and workability is increased, and a method of manufacturing the same.
In addition, dimensional stability should be considered when novel flooring is designed. Dimensional stability may be degraded due to the expansion or contraction caused by environmental factors such as external temperature and humidity. A gap is generated at a connection portion between the floorings due to the contraction and a surface of the flooring frequently rises like a wave due to the expansion frequently, which makes it difficult for the flooring to be continuously and stably used. Furthermore, in the case of typical flooring in which sheets or films are laminated in multiple layers, the films or sheets between layers may have different thermal expansion coefficients, which may cause a serious problem in that a shape of the flooring is distorted.
As a solution to the above problems, Korean Patent No. 10-1302335 proposes flooring including a surface layer sheet made of a biomass biodegradable resin such as a polylactic acid as a non-PVC material, an interlayer sheet including a printing layer, a fiber-reinforced resin layer sheet made of a thermosetting acrylic resin and a glass fiber, a biodegradable foamed elastic layer sheet, a biodegradable underlayer sheet, and the like, which are laminated. However, since abrasion resistance is very low and the fiber-reinforced resin layer sheet made of different materials is inserted to reinforce dimensional stability, the flooring is incapable of being recycled through extruding when being discarded.
In addition, Korean Patent No. 10-1395714 proposes lamination flooring including an aqueous UV coating layer, an upper layer, a dimensional reinforcing layer, a foam layer, and an underlayer. Environmental friendly elements using a polyolefin resin as a non-PVC material are added to the upper layer, the foam layer, and the underlayer, but the polyolefin resin used in the upper layer has very low abrasion resistance and dimensional stability as compared with the conventional PVC. Furthermore, the lamination flooring was manufactured by impregnating thermosetting resins such as a urethane resin, an acrylic resin, and a melamine resin into a glass fiber (woven or nonwoven fabric typically made of a glass fiber) impregnated with a thermosetting urethane resin, which is a different material, by using a roll coater, and then heating and curing the glass fiber at a certain temperature (see Korean Patent No. 10-1302335, Example 1, and Korean Utility Model Registration No. 20-0470687). Different thermosetting materials are used in a UV coating layer, the flooring is incapable of being recycled through extruding when being discarded.
As described above, research and development have been continued on environmentally-friendly flooring made of a non-PVC material, but in order to secure dimensional stability, a dimensional reinforced layer sheet made of different materials has been introduced. In order to improve abrasion resistance, a UV curable coating layer made of different materials has been introduced, and as a result, due to a uni-material, true environmentally-friendly flooring, which is recyclable through extruding when being discarded, has not appeared yet. Therefore, there is an urgent need for the appearance of a creative method capable of solving the above-mentioned problems at one time by providing high abrasion resistance, durability, and dimensional stability using a non-PVC material.

Eco-friendly flooring and method for manufacturing same