A method and system for encoding control data into the horizontal overscan area of a video signal. Because the control data is concatenated with the video signal on a line-by-line basis, the control data is temporarily synchronized with the underlying video signal. This permits the controlled devices, such as wireless mechanical characters, behave as characters in a scene defined by the programming information of the video signal. A protocol is defined for the encoded data that is addressable, forwardly compatible, error tolerant, and feasible to deploy in connection with a system that is primarily intended to be a children""s entertainment product. The bandwidth of the communication link defined by the encoded data is adjustable to meet the cost and performance needs of a wide variety of consumers. Sufficient bandwidth is available to control several devices and to provide additional advertising, subscription, or emergency warning services, such as e-mail, foreign language subtitling, intercom capability, telephone pages, weather warnings, configuration data for a set-top box, and so forth.

The present invention relates to wireless communication systems and, more particularly, relates to encoding data in the horizontal overscan portion of a video signal.
A variety of consumer products available today rely upon the use of wireless communication. Examples include cordless phones, garage door openers, remotely controlled appliances, and remotely controlled toys. A common motivation that drives manufacturers of these and similar products is minimizing the cost associated with providing the wireless communication capability. Thus, techniques for minimizing the cost of radio equipment for transmitting and receiving radio frequency signals while maintaining reliable communication are continuously explored.
Interactive toys, games, and learning products for the home could be particularly useful applications of wireless communication technology. Wireless systems eliminate the use of wire-line communication links and, therefore, are preferable for many household applications. For example, wireless toys, games, and learning products eliminate wires that small children might tangle or pull free, or that dogs might chew. Wireless products also avoid the need for universal plugs or adapters and allow a large number of wireless devices to be controlled by a single controller without requiring a large terminal port for plugging-in the controlled devices. Wireless communication links are therefore safer, more robust, more versatile, and in many cases less expensive than wire-line communication links.
There are a number of often competing objectives in designing wireless products, such as toys, games, and learning products, for use in a home environment. First, the entire system should be priced within an acceptable range for a children""s entertainment product. Furthermore, because each child may desire new controlled devices over time, the cost of each controlled device should be as low as possible. This means that the controlled devices should include inexpensive wireless communication equipment, such as conventional amplitude modulation (AM) radio equipment and digital data handling equipment.
Second, it is advantageous for several wireless devices to be controlled simultaneously by a single controller. In the context of a wireless toy environment, this allows several children to interact with their own toys at the same time. For example, one child may interact with a xe2x80x9cFREDxe2x80x9d toy, while another interacts with a xe2x80x9cWILMAxe2x80x9d toy, while yet another interacts with a xe2x80x9cDINOxe2x80x9d toy, etc. In addition, it is advantageous for a variety of different toys to be available so that children have a selection of toys to choose from and collect. Moreover, in a progressive learning system, it is advantageous to have a series of toys associated with different skills so that a child can progress through the skills learned by interacting with the different toys.
Third, it is advantageous for the controller and the controlled devices to be operable for engaging in bidirectional communications. This is particularly useful in an interactive learning environment in which a child interacts with a controlled device. For example, the controller may direct a controlled doll to say, xe2x80x9cPlease squeeze my left hand.xe2x80x9d The controlled doll may then transmit the child""s response back to the controller, which responds accordingly. For example, if the child squeezes the doll""s right hand, the controller directs the doll to say, xe2x80x9cNo that""s my right hand, please squeeze my left hand.xe2x80x9d
A fourth consideration is forward compatibility. This means that the original controller can be used to operate future versions of controlled devices. For example, an interactive toy product may initially be introduced with only one or two controlled devices (e.g., xe2x80x9cFREDxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cWILMAxe2x80x9d). But over the next several years, dozens of new controlled products may be released to upgrade the system (e.g., xe2x80x9cDINO,xe2x80x9d xe2x80x9cBAM-BAM,xe2x80x9d etc.). Forward compatibility allows the new controlled devices to be operated by the original controller.
In addition, control data must be provided to the controller, which in turn transmits the control data to the controlled devices through a local wireless communication link. Although the control data may be generated locally, for example by a computer located in close proximity to the controller, it is also desirable to transmit the control data from a remote location using a broadcast-level communication link, such as an air-wave or cable television signal. In particular, it would be advantageous to broadcast the control data along with a standard video signal for driving a display device, such as a television or monitor. In this manner, the controlled devices may be caused to operate in synchronism with the programming information defined by the video signal. For example, a controlled device may operate as a character in a video program displayed on the television or monitor.
In order to effectively broadcast the control data in connection with a video signal, several often competing objectives should be attained. First, as noted above, the control data should be temporarily synchronized with the video signal so that the actions of the controlled devices operate in synchronism with the programming information displayed on the television or monitor. Second, the control data should be easily concatenated with a standard video signal for transmission in a variety of broadcast media using standard equipment. Third, the control data should not interfere with the video signal or visibly disrupt the display of the video signal. Fourth, sufficient bandwidth should be provided in the upstream communication link (e.g., a broadcast-level communication link) to fully satisfy the bandwidth requirements of the downstream communication link (e.g., local wireless communication link). In addition, it would be advantageous for additional bandwidth to be available in the upstream communication link for transmitting additional information for other data sinks to provide advertising, subscription, or emergency warning services, such as e-mail, foreign language subtitling, telephone pages, weather warnings, configuration data for a set-top box, and so forth. It would also be advantageous for the bandwidth of the upstream communication link to be adjustable to meet the cost and performance needs of a wide variety of consumers.
As with the downstream wireless communication link, the protocol for the upstream communication link should be addressable so that several wireless controlled devices, as well as other data sinks, may be controlled simultaneously. The protocol should also be error tolerant and accommodate forward compatibility for future wireless controlled devices and other services that may be provided through the broadcast media. All of these attributes should be implemented at a-cost that is feasible to deploy in connection with a system that is primarily intended to be a children""s entertainment product.
There is, therefore, a need for a method and system for encoding control data for wireless controlled devices in connection with a video signal so that the actions of the controlled devices operate in synchronism with the programming information defined by the video signal. There is a further need for a method and system for encoding additional data in connection with the video signal for providing services, such as e-mail, intercom capability, foreign language subtitling, telephone pages, weather warnings, configuration data for a set-top box, and so forth. There is a further need for a protocol for encoding data in connection with a video signal that is be addressable, forwardly compatible, error tolerant, and feasible to deploy in connection with a system that is primarily intended to be a children""s entertainment product.
The present invention meets the needs described above by providing a method and system for encoding control data in the horizontal overscan portion of a video signal. Because the control data is concatenated with the video signal on a line-by-line basis, the control data is temporarily synchronized with the underlying video signal. This permits the controlled devices, such as wireless mechanical characters, to behave as characters in a scene defined by the programming information of the video signal. A protocol is defined for the encoded data that is addressable, forwardly compatible, error tolerant, and feasible to deploy in connection with a system that is primarily intended to be a children""s entertainment product. The bandwidth of the communication link defined by the encoded data is adjustable to meet the cost and performance needs of a wide variety of consumers. Sufficient bandwidth is available to control several devices and to provide additional advertising, subscription, or emergency warning services, such as e-mail, foreign language subtitling, intercom capability, telephone pages, weather warnings, configuration data for a set-top box, and so forth.
Generally described, the invention provides a method for encoding control data in a video signal that includes a series of frames that each include a number of lines. The encoded data is concatenated with the lines of the video signal to create an encoded video signal, which is configured to define content data in association with each frame. The content data is configured to define a first address associated with a first device, device-specific control data for the first device, a second address associated with a second device, and device-specific control data for the second device. In response to the first address, the device-specific control data for the first device is routed to the first device and the actions of the first device are controlled accordingly. Similarly, in response to the second address, the device-specific control data for the second device is routed to the second device and the actions the second device are controlled accordingly.
The video signal typically defines programming information including a scene displayed on a display device. The device-specific control data for the first device typically includes voice and motor control data that causes the first device to behave as a character in the scene displayed on the display device. The device-specific control data for the second device may be voice or motor control data that causes the second device to behave as a second character in the scene displayed on the display device, electronic mail for a transmission to a computer system, intercom information for transmission to an intercom system, telephone paging information for transmission to a paging system, or language translation information, advertising information, subscription information, or emergency warning information displayed on the display device. Many other specific applications will be apparent to those skilled in the art.
The addressing scheme for the device-specific control data implements a versatile and extensible packet-based data transmission format. For example, the first address may be a first start-packet short address word for a first controlled device, and the second address may be a second start-packet short address word for a second controlled device. In this case, the second start-packet short address word may be interpreted as an end-packet short address word for the first controlled device.
In addition, the first address may define a start-packet begin-long-address word. In this case, the content data also defines a first occurrence of a long address associated with the first device, and a start-packet end-long-address word associated with the first device, device-specific control data for the first device.
According to an aspect of the invention, the encoded data may include signal detection words and content words. Each signal detection word and each content word may include data bits and error correction bits that are used to correct errors in the data bits. Specifically, the error correction bits may define a correction sequence that allows a single-bit error in the data bits to be detected and corrected. Each signal detection word may include four data bits and three error correction bits, and each content word may include nine data bits and seven error correction bits.
According to another aspect of the invention, a signal detection word may be encoded into each frame of the video signal such that a consecutive series of the signal detection words defines a dynamic validation sequence. For this sequence, each signal detection word varies in at least two bits from the immediately preceding signal detection word. For example, the dynamic validation sequence transmitted in consecutive fields of a two-field interlaced frame of the video signal may include the binary representation of 8, 1, 10, 3, 12, 5, 14, 7.
According to yet another aspect of the invention, the encoded data is defined by line signals located in the horizontal overscan portion of a video signal. Specifically, each line signal may be a pre-visible pulse located between the color burst portion and the visible raster portion of a horizontal scan line of the video signal. Each pulse may define a single bit of the encoded data, in which case the encoded data of each field of a two-field interlaced frame of the video signal may define one 7-bit signal detection word and 13 16-bit content words. To increase the bandwidth of the encoded data transmission, each line signal may include both a pre-visible pulse and a post-visible pulse located after the visible raster portion and before the horizontal blanking interval. To further increase the bandwidth of the encoded data transmission, each pulse may be modulated to define several bits.
The invention also provides an encoded video signal, which is created according to the method described above, and a system for creating and using the encoded video signal. The system includes a video data encoder that is functionally connected to a video source that provides a video signal, such as an NTSC television signal. The video data encoder receives the video signal, which includes a series of frames that each include a number of lines. The video data encoder concatenates encoded data with the lines of the video signal to create the encoded video signal.
The video data encoder is functionally connected to data decoder that receives the encoded video signal from the video data encoder. The data decoder detects the presence of the signal detection data, extracts the content data from the encoded video signal, and assembles the content data into a serial data communication signal. The data decoder is functionally connected to a data error processor that receives the serial data communication signal from the data decoder. The data error processor parses the serial data communication signal into data bits and error corrections bits, analyzes the error correction bits to detect errors in the data bits, corrects detected errors in the data bits, and assembles the corrected data bits into an error corrected data stream.
The data error processor is functionally connected to a protocol handler that receives the error corrected data stream from the data error processor. The protocol handler detects a first start-packet short address word associated with a first device and, in response, begins the routing of subsequently received device-specific control data to the first device. The protocol handler also detects a second start-packet short address word associated with the second device and, in response, begins the routing of subsequently received device-specific control data to the second device. The protocol handler also interprets the second start-packet short address word as a first end-packet short address word associated with the first device and, in response, discontinues the routing of subsequently received device-specific control data to the first device.
The protocol handler also detects a start-packet start-long-address word, detects a long address associated with a third device, detects a start-packet end-long-address word, and begins the routing of subsequently received device-specific control data to the third device. To end the transmission to the third device, the protocol handler detects a further address word and, in response, discontinues the routing of subsequently received device-specific control data to the third device.
That the invention improves over the drawbacks of the prior art and accomplishes these advantages will become apparent from the following detailed description of the exemplary embodiments and the appended drawings and claims.

Method and system for encoding data in the horizontal overscan portion of a video signal


A system for performing a gas-liquid mass transfer includes a container bounding a compartment and having a top wall, a bottom wall, and an encircling sidewall extending therebetween. A first opening is formed on the container so as to communicate with the compartment. A liquid is disposed within the compartment and having a top surface disposed below the first opening. A gas is blown through the first opening so that the gas passes over at least a portion of the top surface of the liquid, the gas producing turbulence on the top surface of the liquid that is sufficient to produce a mass transfer between the gas and the liquid. A mixing element is disposed within the compartment.

1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to methods and systems for producing a gas-liquid mass transfer which, in one example, can be used for oxygenating biological cultures having a shallow depth within a reactor.
2. The Relevant Technology
The growth of biological cells within a bioreactor requires critical control over a number of different process parameters. For example, as cells grow, they absorb oxygen from the surrounding media and release CO2. The concentration of oxygen and CO2 within the media must be carefully monitored and regulated to ensure viability and optimal growth of the cells. Another factor that needs to be carefully monitored and controlled is the density of the cells within the culture. To make sure that all of the processing parameters are properly controlled, cells are typically grown in sequential stages of increasingly larger reactors. For example, cell cultures may initially start in a small flask. Once the cell density approaches a critical value, the culture is transferred to a larger bench top reactor where the culture is combined with additional media. In turn, once the cell density again reaches a critical value, the culture is again moved to a larger reactor with more media. This process continues until a desired volume of culture is achieved. Because each different sized reactor only processes the culture over a relatively narrow change in volume, conventional techniques can be used for controlling all of the process parameters.
Although the above method of production works, there are a number of disadvantages in having to transfer the cell culture to different containers during the growth process. For example, the process is time consuming, labor intensive, and requires that the producer obtain and maintain a relatively large number of different sized reactors. In addition, the process of transferring the culture temporarily halts the preferred processing conditions, can potentially damage the cells, and increases the risk of a breach in sterility. Attempts have been made to overcome some of the above problems by trying to process a large change in volume of culture within a single reactor. For example, in contrast to conventional reactors which may only see a change in the volume of culture by a factor of two, attempts have been made to increase the change in the volume of a culture within a reactor by a factor of five.
The concept is to start with a small volume of culture within a relatively large reactor container and then through batch or continuous feed mode continue to add media to the culture as the cells grow to a point where the container reaches a predefined maximum volume of culture. Depending upon how much culture is needed, the culture can still be transferred to a larger reactor. The goal is to reduce the number of different reactors/containers the culture needs to be transferred into before reaching the desired end volume.
There are, however, a number of complications in growing a culture within a single reactor over a large change in volume. For example, in each reactor there is a mechanism for oxygenating the culture, stripping out unwanted CO2, and continuously mixing the culture so that the culture remains substantially homogeneous. Mixing is commonly accomplished by an impeller disposed within the container. The impeller is sized, positioned and operated so as to achieve optimal mixing of the culture without damaging the cells. Oxygenation is typically accomplished by dispersing small diameter bubbles into the container holding the culture through a defined sparger located on the floor of the container. As the bubbles rise within the culture, the oxygen is absorbed into the culture. CO2 stripping is typically accomplished by dispersing large diameter bubbles into the container through a second sparger located on the floor of the container. As the large bubbles rise within the culture, a portion of the CO2 within the culture equilibrates into the air of the large bubbles and is carried out of the culture.
One of the complications of growing a culture within a single reactor over a large change in volume is that the parameters for oxygenating, stripping CO2 and mixing a culture, along with other operating parameters, change as the volume of culture increases. Traditional mechanisms, as discussed above, for oxygenating, stripping CO2 and mixing are designed to operate over a narrow range of fluid volumes and thus for a set configuration size do not effectively function at both small and large fluid volumes. The same is also true when other gases, such as nitrogen, are desired to be applied to the culture. Accordingly, what is needed in the art are methods and systems for oxygenating a culture and/or stripping CO2 from a culture and, more generically, creating a gas-liquid mass transfer with a culture that solves all or some of the above problems and can effectively operate in conditions where traditional sparger mechanisms have difficulty performing correctly.

Methods and apparatus for gas stream mass transfer with a liquid


Provided is a water jet massage apparatus. The water jet massage apparatus includes a nozzle and a lamp. The nozzle sprays a mixed water jet including air and water. The lamp is disposed in the nozzle. Here, the mixed water jet is sprayed between the lamp and the nozzle while surrounding the lamp. The lamp emits light in a spray direction of the mixed water jet. The nozzle includes a first nozzle part and a second nozzle part. The first nozzle part has a cylindrical shape and has a plurality of air spray holes along an inner circumferential surface thereof. The second nozzle part is detachably disposed in the first nozzle part and having at least one water spray hole.

The present disclosure herein relates to a water jet massage apparatus, and more particularly, to a water jet massage apparatus for jetting water including bubbles to a human body to obtain a massage effect.
Generally, showers installed in public bathing facilities include a head in which a plurality of spray holes are formed in a housing defining a water storage space. Recently, showers that have a single spray hole for spraying a water jet including bubbles to provide a massage effect are being widely used.
A related-art water jet massage shower sprays water at a higher water pressure compared to a typical shower, while the water jet massage shower can provide a massage effect at a certain water pressure using a drop of a water pressure by bubbles in a water jet.
Recently, various kinds of shower apparatuses for massaging specific body parts such as neck, back, leg, and foot, as well as underwater massage shower apparatuses such as bathe pools, are being developed.


An appliance door includes an outer wrapper and an inner liner that defines an ice making receptacle. An ice maker is disposed proximate a top portion of the ice making receptacle. A sliding assembly is defined within an inward-facing surface of the ice making receptacle. An ice bin is operable between an engaged state, wherein the ice bin is fully inserted into the ice making receptacle, a disengaged state, wherein the ice bin is removed from the ice making receptacle, and a lateral sliding state, wherein the ice bin is operated laterally and free of rotation between the engaged and disengaged states. The ice bin and the ice making receptacle cooperatively define an ice delivery mechanism that selectively delivers ice pieces from an inner volume of the ice bin to an ice delivery zone proximate the outer wrapper.

It is desirable in modern appliances to reduce the energy used to the minimum necessary to accomplish any given task. In the typical automatic ice maker within a refrigerator, a heater is used to heat the ice tray after the water is frozen, to allow the ice to release from the ice tray. After the ice is frozen, the heater may melt a layer of ice back into water. The ice tray is then rotated and the layer of water between the ice and the ice tray allows the ice to slip out of the ice tray and into an ice bin. Typically this type of ice maker is called a "Fixed Mold" ice maker because a shaft running the length of the ice maker down the center axis rotates and fingers coming out of it flip the cubes out of the mold and into the bin.
Stand-alone ice trays may harvest the ice without the use of a heater by twisting the ice tray breaking the bonds of the ice cubes to the tray. Stand-alone ice trays that are manually filled with water may be set in a freezer to freeze into ice, and then removed for harvesting. The ice from a stand-alone tray may be harvested either individually or into an ice bucket. Twisting a stand-alone ice tray breaks the ice connections between ice cubes and ice wells while also deforming the ice tray, thereby forcing the ice cube out of the ice well by mechanical means.

Method and apparatus for increasing rate of ice production in an automatic ice maker


The invention is to simplify the process from pack bits compression to data transfer, thereby improving throughput. For this purpose there are provided a tag generation unit for reading the data stored in the pre-compression data reception buffer, generating a tag from the read data and writing only the tag in the pre-compression data reception buffer, a tag/data selection unit for suitably reading the tag and the data from the pre-compression data reception buffer while analyzing the tag and transferring the data to a transfer control unit, and a transfer control unit for transferring the data from the tag/data selection unit to a host equipment together with a control signal, according to the protocol of an interface with such host equipment.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a data transfer method, a data transfer apparatus and a recording apparatus, and more particularly to a data transfer method, a data transfer apparatus and a recording apparatus for compression transfer of data such as image data, by pack bits compression method in which a tag is given to each unit consisting of a continuous data train containing same data in continuation or a non-continuous data train containing non-same data.
2. Related Background Art
As the information output apparatus for a word processor, personal computer, facsimile or the like, there is already known a printer capable of recording desired information such as characters or an image on a sheet-shaped recording medium such as a paper or film.
There is also recently known a printer capable, in addition to the ordinary recording function, of mounting a scanner unit instead of a recording head which is detachably mounted in such printer and of transferring the image data, read by such scanner unit, to a host equipment.
In the conventional printer, data transferred to a host equipment is of a relatively limited data amount such as error information, but, in the above-described printer with the scanner function, it becomes necessary to transfer a large amount of data, read by the scanner unit, to the host equipment.
In the transfer of recording data from a host equipment to a printer, if the data transfer is executed without data compression, the transfer rate of interfaces connecting the host equipment and the printer generally becomes a bottleneck whereby the throughput of the entire system cannot be increased. In order to overcome such drawback, there has been adopted a method of decreasing the amount of the data to be transferred for example by the pack bits compression, thereby improving the throughput of the entire system.
Also in case of data transfer from the printer to the host equipment, it is conceivable to adopt a compression such as pack bits compression, but such compression increases the burden on the CPU, leading to drawbacks or retarding other processes.
FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of a portion for executing data transfer in the conventional printer provided with a scanner unit.
Referring to FIG. 3, data read by a scanner unit 110 are transferred to a printer 100 and are written in a pre-compression data reception buffer 101. A data processing unit 102 reads data stored in the pre-compression data reception buffer 101, generates a tag from the read data and writes the tag and the data in a transfer buffer 103. A transfer control unit 104 transfer the data of the transfer buffer 103 to a host equipment 200 together with a control signal according to the protocol of an interface with the host equipment 200.
FIGS. 4A and 4B respectively show examples of data before pack bits compression, stored in the pre-compression data reception buffer 101 and data after ordinary compression, processed by the data processing unit 102 and stored in the transfer buffer 103. The data after ordinary compression consist of repeated cycles of a tag, data, a tag, data, . . . (tags being indicated by underlines).
In the following there will be explained the process executed in the data processing unit 102.
As a tag is written in an initial write address 00, the address is advanced beforehand. As the initial data (at address 00) in the pre-compression data reception buffer are xe2x80x9c10xe2x80x9d, data xe2x80x9c10xe2x80x9d are written in a write address 01 of the transfer buffer. As the next data (at address 01) are xe2x80x9c11xe2x80x9d, data xe2x80x9c11xe2x80x9d are written in a write address 02. The reading process is continued with counting of the number of non-continuous data in parallel.
When the data in the pre-compression data reception buffer are read up to the address 05, it is known that the data of the address 04 are same as those of the address 05. It is therefore known that the number of the non-continuous data is four. Thus the write address of the transfer buffer is returned to 00, and there is written a tag 03 (0000 0011b) indicating that the number of the non-continuous data is four.
Thereafter reading of the data from the pre-compression data reception buffer 101 and writing of the tag and the data into the transfer buffer 103 are similarly continued, executing counting of the number of the continuous and non-continuous data.
In the compression process, as explained in the foregoing, it is necessary to write the tag after reading plural units of data in order to attach the tag in front of the data, and there is required a complex process such as address management. On the other hand, the thawing (expansion) process for decompressing the compressed data is relatively simple as it can be realized by successively reading the data collectively by a number of units indicated by the tag.
In general, the CPU of the host equipment is higher in performance than the CPU of the printer, so that the data processing becomes balanced in case the data compressed by the CPU of the host equipment are thawed by the printer, but the data compression process in the printer requires a long time whereby the throughput in the entire system cannot be improved.
Therefore, in case of transferring the image data read by the scanner unit from the printer to the host equipment, the data are often transferred without compression in the conventional configuration, since the entire process time is often shorter in such data transfer without compression than the data compression and the data transfer in combination.
However, with the recent progress in the resolution and definition of the scanner unit, the amount of the read image data, namely the amount of the data to be transferred, has shown a drastic increase, thereby resulting in a significant increase in the time required for data transfer.
Consequently the function of compressing the data received from the scanner unit within the printer and transferring such data at a high speed to the host equipment has become indispensable.
Such situation is not limited to the printer but is likewise encountered in other peripheral equipment having a function of transferring data of a large amount such as image data to a host equipment such as a personal computer.
In consideration of the foregoing, the object of the present invention is to provide a data transfer method, a data transfer apparatus and a recording apparatus capable of simplifying the process from compression to data transfer, thereby improving the throughput of the entire system.
The above-mentioned object can be attained, according to the present invention, by a data transfer method for compression transfer of data by attaching a tag in the unit of a continuous data train in which same data are present in continuation and a non-continuous data train consisting of non-same data, the method comprising:
a step of reading data stored in a buffer; a tag generation step of generating a tag in the unit of the continuous data train and the non-continuous data train and overwriting, with such tag, an area other than the area storing the aforementioned non-continuous data in the buffer; and a data control step of executing compression transfer of the data by reading the tag from the buffer and transferring the data in the buffer according to the tag.
The above-mentioned object of the present invention can also be attained by a data transfer apparatus for compression transfer of data by attaching a tag in the unit of a continuous data train in which same data are present in continuation and a non-continuous data train consisting of non-same data, the apparatus comprising:
a buffer for storing data; tag generation means for generating a tag in the unit of the continuous data train and the non-continuous data train and overwriting, with such tag, an area other than the area storing the aforementioned non-continuous data in the buffer; and data control means for executing compression transfer of the data by reading the tag from the buffer and transferring the data in the buffer according to the tag.
The above-mentioned object of the present invention can also be attained by a recording apparatus comprising the above-mentioned data transfer apparatus and a carriage for scanning, by a reciprocating motion, a recording medium.
More specifically, in the present invention, in compressing the data of a buffer by a format according to pack bits compression, the data are read from the buffer to generate a tag, then thus generated tag is overwritten in an area of the buffer other than the area where non-same data are present in continuation, then the tag is read from the buffer and the data in the buffer are transferred in a format of the pack bits compression, according to such tag.
In this manner the rearrangement of data becomes unnecessary in compressing the data of the buffer by the pack bits compression, and the number of data writing is also reduced, whereby the data processing for data compression can be achieved with a higher speed.
Such data processing is particularly effective in a printer or the like having a scanner unit to be mounted on a carriage in place for the recording head, because the transfer time can be shortened in transferring the read image data to an external equipment such as a host equipment whereby the throughput of the entire system can be improved.

Data transfer method, data transfer apparatus and recording apparatus


An LED lamp A1 includes at least one elongated LED unit 1 including a plurality of light emitting diodes 13, and bases 2 and 3 configured to be attached to the ends of the LED unit 1 in the longitudinal direction to receive power from outside. The lamp is configured to allow a plurality of LED units 1 to be serially connected. Such configuration contributes to reducing the manufacturing cost and facilitating the management of the products, with respect to a plurality of types of products of different lengths.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing an example of a conventional LED lamp (see, for example, Patent Document 1). The LED lamp X shown in the figure includes an elongated rectangular-shaped substrate 91, a plurality of LEDs 92 mounted on the substrate 91, a tube 93 that accommodates the substrate 91, a terminal 94, and a circuit 95 for turning on the LEDs 92. On the substrate 91, a wiring (not shown) is provided that connects the plurality of LEDs 92 and the terminal 94. The LED lamp X is configured to turn on the plurality of LEDs 92 upon fitting the terminal 94 to a socket of a general-purpose fluorescent illumination instrument. Since LEDs 92 have lower power consumption and a longer life, to use the LED lamp X as a substitute for a fluorescent lamp is expected to provide advantage in cost and environment.
Herein, the general-purpose fluorescent illumination instrument refers to an illumination instrument mainly used for general interior illumination, more specifically to an illumination instrument that utilizes, for example in Japan, the commercial power supply of 100 V, and is compatible with a straight-tube fluorescent lamp according to JIS C7617 or a circular fluorescent lamp according to JIS C7618.
In the case of a straight-tube fluorescent lamp for use with a general-purpose fluorescent illumination instrument, FL 20W lamps, which have a shorter tube length (580 mm), and FL40W lamps, which have a longer tube length (1198 mm), for example, are specified to use the same type of base in common.
In the case of the conventional LED lamp X, however, such two types of lamps having different lengths are manufactured as completely different products, with difference in length of the substrate 91 as well as in the number of LEDs 92 mounted on the substrate 91. This considerably raises the manufacturing cost, and complicates the management of the products.    Patent Document 1: JP-U-H06-54103


A hetero-junction bi-polar transistor provided with a collector composed of a .beta. - SiC substrate and a base area composed of a .beta. - SiC layer and an emitter area composed of an .alpha. - SiC layer, thereby forming a hetero-junction bi-polar transistor having superior heat resistance.

The present invention generally relates to a silicon carbide hetero-junction bi-polar transistor having an improved resistance to heat.
Generally, a hetero-Junction bi-polar transistor (hereinafter referred to as HBT) can increase the amplification factor and operation speed of a transistor, because the prohibition band width of an emitter area is made larger than the prohibition band width of a base area so as to prevent a carrier from being injected to the emitter from the base, and simultaneously, the doping concentration of the base can be made higher to reduce the base resistance. Studies of HBTs the GaAs - GaA1As system were effected. In recent years, studies of HBTs of the Si system have actively been effected.
But the conventional HBT is inferior in resistance to heat since GaAs or, Si were used in the basic plate, with a defect in that the locations for the use thereof were restricted to 300.degree. C. or lower.

Method of manufacturing a hetero-junction bi-polar transistor


Method of printing and printing apparatus whereby the repeat length is greater than the circumference of the rotary printing screen (5). This may be achieved by controlling the rotation of the screen as a non-printing zone (2) of the screen passes a moving web (w) such that an associated non-printed region formed on the screen has a length that is greater than the non-printing zone. This, in turn, may be achieved by suspending the rotation of the screen or reducing the speed of rotation when the non-printing zone is in registration with the web and then increasing the speed of rotation to a predetermined printing speed as a printing zone (1) of the screen comes into registration with the web.

Rotary screen printing systems typically comprise a rotatable cylindrical screen (sometimes referred to as a "printing cylinder") with an ink squeegee mounted therein. The screen is configured and continuously rotated with respect to a moving web so as to repeatedly print an image on a moving web. In conventional rotary screen printing systems, the rotational speed of the screen is synchronized with the web line-speed. Hence, the size of the image and image repeat length (i.e. the distance between common points of two adjacent repeat images) is determined by the useful printing circumference of the printing cylinder. The theoretical limit of the size of the image and image repeat length is the maximum viable circumference of the screen. However, the entire screen surface is not commonly used for printing. Usually, a section of the screen circumference is blank and non printing. This non-printing region is provided to delineate between individual printed images and to facilitate the joining of different pattern segments.
Accordingly, it is not possible for this type of conventional rotary screen printing system and method to print images with a size and repeat length that is larger than the circumference of the screen. For example, a rotary screen printing system having a screen with a circumference of 1m can not print images with a repeat length greater than 1m. Moreover, this rotary printing system and method can not print images with a "wall height" repeat (typically 2.4m or more).
Large repeats (images have a large size and repeat length) can be obtained using so-called flat printing by means of flat stencils. The product manufactured in this manner might comprise, for example, a bed sheet with a design printed on its head end. The mechanical process of manufacture is laborious and the rate of production thereof is limited.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,990,363 describes one particular solution to the problem of restricted repeat lengths. In this case, the squeegee pressure is released after an image has been printed onto a substrate and is only reapplied when the next repeat image is required. The screen maintains its rotational printing speed when the squeegee is disengaged. Due to the release of squeegee pressure, the pressure with which the screen stencil is in contact with the web is considerably decreased, or even reduced to zero. The problem with this arrangement is that it is difficult to prevent ink seepage through the rotating screen when the squeegee is disengaged from the screen. This results in ink transfer to the substrate between repeats with unsatisfactory contamination of non-print areas on the substrate or soiling of areas printed by a previous print station.
The problem of restricted image size has been solved by reducing the rotational speed of the screen with respect to the web line-speed so as to print a stretched or elongated image on the web. This type of printing process is commonly referred to as "slip" printing. Although the image is larger than the printing region of the screen, the image produced by slip printing is considered to be of an inferior quality.
Designers are presenting ever more challenging designs for printing. For example, designs having a large size format, remotely spaced images, random images and/or multiple colours. In many instances it has not been possible to reproduce these designs using a conventional rotary screen printing system due to the image size limitations, repeat length restrictions, ink seepage problems and the number of print stations required. Hence, to date, these challenging print designs are often only produced using digital printing technologies as opposed to rotary printing screen technology. However, digital printing technologies have their own limitations and can for example, only be used on certain substrates and by using a limited range of inks and ink technologies.
One particularly challenging design for printing, for example on wallpaper, is a large almost continuous design presented over the whole wall length with multiple repeated images at relatively large repeat separations. Using a conventional rotary screen printing process to try and achieve this design would require large numbers of print stations to build up the design in stages. In practice this arrangement would be unsuitable because it would be inherently difficult to control for quality, it would expensive and relatively inflexible.
There is therefore a need for new printing methods and devices to address or overcome one or more of the problems discussed above.


The present invention relates to a parts supply system applied to a versatile production line, which strives to eliminate manual labor and prevent misdelivery. The parts supply system includes at least one of the product assembling sites (3) on the production line, at least one of the parts supplying sites (4), at least one of the unit assembling sites (5), at which units are assembled from parts delivered from a warehouse and a plurality of sets are arranged with the units, and a delivery means for delivering the set automatically between each of the product assembling sites (3) and each of the parts supplying sites (4) by an automatic carrier (2) or conveyors.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a parts supply system applied to a versatile production line that manufactures various kinds of products, including small quantities, on a single production line.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In general, a production line for manufacturing products is supplied with parts necessary for assembling the products. The products are assembled, tested and inspected after completion of the assembling operation on the line, and finally are conveyed to a packing site after receiving acceptable test results. It is preferable to provide a separate production line for each product in the case of mass production. However, it is disadvantageous to do so when producing various kind of products or a small quantity of products because required space and production facilities are not effectively utilized and the operators on the line are sometimes idle. Therefore, the applicant of the present invention developed an invention described in Japanese Patent Applications previously filed at the Japanese Patent Office entitled "A versatile production system" that solves the abovementioned problems.
The inventions in "A versatile production system" provide only one production line for manufacturing various kind of products including a small quantity thereof. The Japanese Patent Application Numbers of the inventions are 4-290314 and 4-291655.
A parts supply system in the prior art comprises a unit assembling site and a kit arranging site. In the unit assembling site, various kinds of units are assembled with parts delivered from a warehouse. In the kit arranging site, various kinds of kits are arranged by collecting necessary units for making up a product at a product assembling site. In such a parts supply system in the prior art, labor is required for delivering units from the unit assembling site to the kit arranging site and delivering kits from the kit arranging site to the product assembling sites.
The parts supply system described above is disadvantageous, especially when only one kit is delivered in a container from the kit arranging site to the product assembling sites.
The kit arranging site is absolutely necessary, which is separate from the unit assembling site, so that delivery of the kits between the two sites is necessary, and if assembling robots are employed at the product assembling site, they cannot be used for unit assembling or for kit arranging.

Parts supply system applied to a versatile production line


Disclosed herein are methods and compositions relating to synthesized nanopores. The synthesized nanopores can be used for detecting a target molecule (e.g. RNA, DNA, or peptide).

Bacterial proteins having a structure that provides a hole on a nanometer scale are known as "nanopores." These nanopores may be employed to sequence biological polymers such as nucleic acids and proteins. For example, the nanopore may be placed in a membrane, with an applied voltage across the membrane potential, thereby creating a transmembrane potential that drives an electric current. This current can drive a charged molecule, such as a single-stranded DNA ("ssDNA"), through the nanopore. As the ssDNA passes through the nanopore, disruptions occur in the current that correspond to the nucleotides of the ssDNA. Each type of nucleotide, having its own unique structure, creates a signature disruption in the current. The readout of these current disruptions can be translated into a sequence. This process of sequencing DNA, RNA, and peptides with the use of nanopores is generally referred to as "nanopore sequencing."

Methods and compositions for nanopore sequencing


Various “media-components” are provided in a “multi-media center.” In modular architecture, a module-controller communicates with media-modules provided for various media-components. A media-module can include or obtain data pertaining to a particular media-component, identify media-player(s), and access information related to their media. However, the media-modules are isolated from each other, and the module-controller effectively controls output generated in response to user input. A user interface library is provided for the media-modules. Media-modules can obtain a template or other tools from the library and construct their user interface (e.g., menus). Media-modules can also identify a media-player that can be initiated in response to user input. Subsequently, the media-controller forwards user input to the media-player.

Today, virtually anything can be represented as digital data and presented in numerous forms including audible, visual, or audio-visual forms. Digital data can also be transported electronically, for example, as digital files or digital streams. Basically speaking, digital data can be stored as a "digital media" (e.g., a digital file, a media-player which stores digital data). Digital media (or "media") can be accessed by a variety of computing devices (e.g., personal computers, media-players, personal assistants, wireless phones). Typically, digital media includes at least digital content (or "content") that represents the actual content of information stored in a digital form. As such, digital content can, for example, be the content of a printed book, a picture, a song in audible form and/or in audio-visual forms (e.g., a rock video), movies, sports broadcasts, news in a variety of forms including text, audio, or audio-visual.
Digital media can be packaged with media-player(s) and/or other application programs. For example, Apple iPod media-player available from Apple Computers, Inc. combines a digital audio player and a portable hard drive for storing the media. iTunes or iPhoto, which are also available from Apple Computers, Inc, can be packaged with media-players and applications or tools that can be used for organization, searching and retrieval of media (e.g., organizing photo, obtaining lists of music or films from a database, and downloading music or films). Packaging digital media with media-players, tools, or other applications is a relatively recent development. Nevertheless, given the popularity of digital media, numerous forms of media and media-players have been developed and are in use today.
As digital data has become more prevalent, techniques for presenting digital data have become increasingly more useful.

Multi-media center for computing systems


A mechanism is provided for generating event notifications for offline characters from within a persistent world online game. A player agent for an offline player includes an event monitor that monitors for events that occur in a persistent virtual world maintained by a game server. When a game event occurs that triggers an offline player rule, the player agent composes an event notification message and sends the message to the offline player. Event notification messages may include images, voice (text-to-speech), sound, or video. Offline players may receive event notifications at various messaging clients, such as personal computers and wireless telephones. A notification server may transmit the event notifications via existing communications channels, such as electronic mail, facsimile, instant messaging, text messaging, and voice communications.

1. Technical Field
The present application relates generally to an improved data processing system and method. More specifically, the present application is directed to a method, apparatus, and program product for generating virtual world event notifications from within a persistent world game.
2. Description of Related Art
A massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG) is an online computer or console game in which a large number of players interact with one another in a virtual world. As in all role playing games (RPGs), players assume the role of a character and take control over most of that character's actions. The virtual world may be a fantasy setting, a science fiction universe, or the old west, for example.
The origin of multiplayer games may trace back to Dungeons & Dragons® or even tabletop war games. "Dungeons & Dragons" is a registered trademark of Wizards of the Coast in the United States, other countries, or both. The beginning of massively multiplayer online role playing games may be traced back to the multi-user dungeon (MUD), which is a text-based multiplayer game that uses a command line interface. However, with the rising acceptance of person computers, as well as increased graphical capabilities of personal computers and video game consoles, massively multiplayer online role playing games have become wildly popular around the world. In fact, part of the draw of massively multiplayer online role playing games is that players from any continent may be online at any given time.
Massively multiplayer online role playing games distinguish from single-player or small multi-player role playing games by the game's persistent world. The persistent world is hosted by a server and continues to exist and evolve even when a given player is not logged in. Persistent worlds may also include non-player characters (NPCs), marketplaces, auction houses, buildings, animals, vehicles, etc. This results in a game world that is far more dynamic, diverse, realistic, and addictive than those of other games.
Players of persistent world games tend to invest a great deal of time in their online characters, in some cases to the detriment of their real-life counterparts. The player is considered online when the player is logged into the game server through a game client. A typical player performs tasks, such as completing quests, practicing skills or crafts, obtaining items, or selling items, to improve the attributes or status of the character. Often, players become obsessed with the virtual world, not wanting to miss particular events or to allow other players to surpass them in ability or wealth.

Virtual world event notifications from within a persistent world game

International Business Machines Corporation


An image processing apparatus includes a comparison unit that selects a pixel of interest in a processing image, and compare magnitudes of luminance value of the pixel of interest and luminance value of each of a plurality of neighboring pixels having a predetermined positional relationship with the pixel of interest; a calculation unit that calculates a feature amount of the pixel of interest based on the predetermined positional relationship between the pixel of interest and each of the plurality of neighboring pixels and a comparison result obtained by the comparison unit. For two neighboring pixels at positions which are point symmetrical with respect to the pixel of interest, the comparison unit sets that only one of the two neighboring pixels has the predetermined positional relationship.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to pattern matching in image processing technology.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, a practical method for detecting a target pattern from an image by image processing has been proposed. In particular, if a target pattern is a human face, various applications can be considered. Research and development into detection methods is active. Furthermore, research and development is increasingly being made on a face recognition method for not only detecting a face but also identifying which of a set of preregistered people matches the detected face.
A matching method is often used as a detection/recognition method. In the matching method, a similarity between a template prepared in advance (registration image) and a processing image is calculated by recognition processing such as normalized correlation.
If the face detection/recognition technique using such as the matching method is applied in a real environment such as a monitoring system, the contrast of an image may change or a partial shadow may be produced in an image in accordance with weather changes or the time of day. In the real environment, variations in illumination condition may change an image appearance (pattern), and also largely influence detection/recognition accuracy.
To reduce this influence, instead of executing recognition processing for the luminance value of an image, it is proposed to extract a feature amount robust against an illumination variation from the luminance value, and then execute recognition processing for the extracted feature amount. Japanese Patent No. 3831232 describes, for example, a method for performing correlation processing for signs of luminance differences (peripheral increment signs) between a target pixel and its surrounding pixels. In this method, the increments (magnitude relationships) between the density value of the target pixel and those of the surrounding pixels are represented by signs in each of a template image and a processing image, and the number of matching signs is set as a similarity. It is known that such methods make it possible to execute matching which is robust against noise mixing and luminance variation within a range in which a sign is not inverted.
The technique described in Japanese Patent No. 3831232, however, calculates the similarity between the template image and the processing image. It was difficult to actually extend detection targets to those belonging to the same category but having their own individualities such as faces because it was necessary to prepare templates, the number of which is equal to that of faces.
To solve the problem, in Japanese Patent No. 3696212 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-146626, for example, the statistical characteristics of peripheral increment signs are extracted from a database containing detection target images such as various face images.
To detect a target pattern in a conventional manner, however, a large amount of memory was necessary to implement a table to hold measured occurrence probabilities using a database.
Applying a conventional method to a face recognition method which identifies, based on a face, which of a set of preregistered people matches the detected one makes a table size increase proportionately with the number of registered people.

Image processing apparatus and image processing method


A system and method enabled to increase efficiency during a VTOL aircraft's transition. A VTOL aircraft enabled to operate multiple lift fans arranged into separately controllable groups, wherein the VTOL aircraft initially has vertical flight but transitions to horizontal flight. A first group of lift fans may be kept at full throttle, a second group of lift fans may be throttled to balance thrust and/or weight, and a third group of lift fans may be shut off.

Over the years, gas turbine-powered aircraft have used a variety of configurations to achieve vertical and/or short take-off and landing (V/STOL). One method is to vector the engine exhaust from one or more turbojet engines downward to create lift. Once airborne, this type of aircraft gradually transitions the thrust from downward to aft until a forward airspeed sufficient to support wing-borne flight of the aircraft is achieved, at which point conventional aerodynamics may take over. Other configurations use remotely located lifting fans powered by compressor stage bleed air from the turbojet engines to create lift. Alternatively, a ducted mixture of compressor bleed air and turbojet exhaust gas may be ducted to remotely located nozzles that discharge a downward thrust, thereby creating reaction-lifting forces that lift and control the aircraft. While these configurations often use very high disc loading fans, they are still more efficient than pure jet variants.
An exemplary high disc loading lift-fan aircraft is the Ryan XV-5, which was developed during the 1960s and flown successfully in 1968. The XV-5 used a pair of General Electric J-85 turbojet engines and three lift fans to provide controlled flight. Specifically, installed in each wing is a 62.5-inch diameter fan configured to provide collectively a majority of the vertical thrust, with a smaller fan in the nose to provide lift and pitch trim. For vertical liftoff, jet-engine exhaust is diverted to drive the lift-fan tip turbines via a diverter valve. The core engines provided a total thrust of 5,300 pounds in forward flight mode, but could generate a total lift thrust of 16,000 pounds via the lift fans in hover mode. Using the lift fans provides a 200% increase in the total thrust, a clearly advantageous feature for vertical takeoff and landing ("VTOL") aircraft.
Unfortunately, a disadvantage associated with ducted lift-fan aircraft is momentum drag, which causes an aircraft to require much higher power levels. Momentum drag is generally caused by a directional change of the airflow going through the lift fans. For instance, the lift fan airflow initially has horizontal momentum (relative to the aircraft and due to the forward speed of the aircraft), but exits vertically, with no relative horizontal momentum. This change in momentum results in a horizontal force towards the back of the aircraft (i.e., momentum drag), which has an effect similar to normal aerodynamic drag. This momentum drag is a function of the mass flow rate of air through the lift fans times the forward speed of the aircraft through the air. Often the goal of lift-fan aircraft design is to increase the mass flow of air by using larger diameter fans with a smaller lift per unit area. This reduces the power needed to produce the required lift; however, the associated higher mass flow can greatly increase the momentum drag. As momentum drag can become quite large, forward flight thrusters require a large amount of power to enable the aircraft to accelerate fully to wing-borne flight.
Therefore, a need exists for a system and method to both increase efficiency and reduce the momentum drag. More specifically, a need exists for a system and method for increasing efficiency and reducing the momentum drag of a light or low disc loading lift-fan aircraft, such that its peak power requirements are not increased greatly from its hover power requirements.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and system for improving transition lift-fan performance


A heat exchanger which exchanges heat with a DUT while contacting the DUT includes: a heat exchange block which thermally contacts the DUT; a first heat transfer sheet which overlaps a front end surface of the heat exchange block; a second heat transfer sheet which overlaps the front end surface of the heat exchange block through the first heat transfer sheet; and a first holding member which holds the second heat transfer sheet.

In order to suppress a non-uniform heat transfer to the DUT, a thermal contact member (TIM: Thermal Interface Material) in which carbon nanotubes are oriented in the thickness direction is provided between a heat transfer member and the DUT (See, for example, Patent Document 1). Further, a sheet-like TIM in which the carbon nanotubes are bundled with an elastomer is also known.

Heat exchanger and electronic device handling apparatus including the same


Provided is a method and system for extracting features from raw data for machine learning processing. Using an array of gas sensors, raw data for at least one compound of interest are extracted based upon the type of output signals. Where the output signals are amplitude-variant, mean features are extracted by chunking the raw data into slices and calculating the mean area under the curve. Where the output signals are amplitude-and-time-variant, mean-plus-slope features are extracted by taking logarithmic values of the raw data and calculating the mean area under the curve.

With machine learning, the extraction of pertinent information and/or features from raw data in the pre-processing phase is critical in order to avoid exhausting the computational power and memory of a computer system. For efficiency, feature types should be chosen that capture information in such a way that the extracted attributes retain as much original information as possible in a compressed manner. The feature types should also highlight the best features from the raw data. Depending on the application of the computer system, the type of features extracted should improve the orthogonality and separation of classes from within the data. Currently, there is no clear system of machine learning for achieving the extraction of the best type of features from raw data and for tuning those best features to a given application.

Feature tuning—application dependent feature type selection for improved classification accuracy


A minimally invasive controlled drug delivery system for delivering a particular drug or drugs to a particular location of the eye, the system including a porous film template having pores configured and dimensioned to at least partially receive at least one drug therein, and wherein the template is dimensioned to be delivered into or onto the eye.

Diseases of the eye are numerous and frequently difficult to treat effectively. For example, some areas of the eye are difficult to reach with systemic medications, while medications applied topically tend to be transient and require numerous and repeated applications. Surgical treatment of still other diseases is invasive and often problematic as well, with many patients ineligible for surgical treatment.
For example, intraocular diseases, such as age-related macular degeneration (ARMD) and choroidal neovascularization (CNV), are the leading cause of irreversible vision loss in the United States, and yet currently available treatments for subfoveal CNV, which comprise the majority of CNV cases, are associated with only marginal visual improvement and outcomes. As few as one quarter of patients with CNV associated with ARMD are laser eligible, and at least half of those treated experience recurrence of the disease with poor visual outcomes. Similarly, photodynamic therapy using verteporfin is only useful for the small minority of patients with vessels that are angiographically classified as "predominantly classic," and even then the visual outcomes of such treatments are disappointing.
Pharmacologic therapy using local drug delivery or systemic drug delivery is also being investigated using drugs that are antiangiogenic. Such drugs include angiostatic steroids, metalloproteinase inhibitors and VEGF binding drugs. However, the problem common to all of these promising drugs is the transient nature of the therapeutic level requires frequent intravitreal injection.
Nonspecific uveitis is another devastating eye disease that affects millions of people in the world. Uveitis produces a wide spectrum of inflammation of most parts of the eye and chronic uveitis can be devastating in adults and children. Surgically implanted steroids have shown that high intraocular doses for sustained times are extremely beneficial to choronic uveitis patients, but this implant has surgically related side effects.
Intravitreal injection is being used in clinical trials of therapeutic agents, but pose a risk of infection that is estimated to be 0.5% per injection. Due to the short vitreous half-life of most small molecules after intravitreal injection, frequent injection is needed, which significantly increases the chance of intraocular infection.
Delivery of drugs into vitreous via liposomes or slow release crystalline lipid prodrugs extend the drug vitreous half-life, but traditional liposomes or self-assembling liposomes often decrease vitreous clarity when used, can not be easily customized to release drugs with different physicochemical properties, and do not "report" drug release information.
Extraocular diseases are also difficult to treat because, for example, eye drops applied topically require repeated and frequent doses.

Porous photonic crystals for drug delivery to the eye

The Regents of the University of California


[Object] To provide a means that enables information exchange with more fun by reducing dull and uninteresting impression in the information exchanged via a network.

Systems for exchanging text messages or making a voice call via a public communication network such as the Internet or mobile communication network have become popular.
For example, in a system generally referred to as an instant messaging system, once a member logs onto a predetermined server device through a terminal device, he/she can exchange messages or make a voice call in real time with another member who is currently logged onto the system among the members whom he/she has allowed to exchange the message with.
Some of such instant messaging systems even enable a video call that uses not just voice but also video or enable the exchange of data files.
For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a system as follows: when, while a member exchanges text messages with another member, a third member makes a call to the member and a conversation is started, the anxiety or the discomfort of the member with whom the text messages have been exchanged can be relieved by sending notification to the member that the message cannot be replied because the member is now on a call.

Apparatus, method, and program for exchanging message or making voice call via network

Abstract: [Solution] Each member of an instant messaging system 1 connects an aroma emitting adapter 13 to a terminal device 12 and loads an aroma cartridge 14 containing aroma liquid in the aroma emitting adapter 13, whereby the member can log on a messaging server device 11. The terminal device 12 of the member who logs onto displays names of the members with whom the message exchange or conversation can be made among the other members who are currently logged on. Upon the reception of the message or voice calling from another member, the terminal device 12 instructs the aroma emitting adapter 13 to emit the aroma and the aroma emitting adapter 13 thus emits aroma by releasing the aroma liquid contained in the aroma cartridge 14. As a result, the message or conversation can be accompanied by the aroma.


Embodiments of the present invention provide methods, systems, and machine-readable media for integrating communications between multiple systems and/or processes related to different aspects of financial transactions of a consumer. Generally speaking, an integrated communications engine can be communicatively coupled with and adapted to manage communications between a plurality of routines or processes to manage interactions with a consumer throughout a lifecycle of a financial relationship with the consumer. According to one embodiment, the integrated communications engine can further comprise a rules engine. The rules engine can be adapted to monitor the plurality of routines, determine whether a condition specified in a rule is satisfied, and in response to determining that the condition is satisfied, trigger an action by one or more of the routines of the plurality of routines based on the rule.

Embodiments of the present invention relate generally to managing interactions with a consumer. More specifically, embodiments of the present invention relate to methods and systems for integrating communications between multiple systems and/or processes related to different aspects of financial transactions of the consumer.
During a typical consumer financial transaction, such as, for example, a purchase using a credit card, a number of different systems and processes handle or process data related to the consumer and/or the transaction. For example, a financial institution providing or issuing the credit card to the consumer can have one or more systems executing processes for recording the transaction, paying a merchant for the consumer's purchase, billing the consumer, etc. Other systems and/or processes may also be utilized at different times or upon the occurrence of different events through the span of the consumer's relationship with the financial institution. For example, various other processes and/or systems may be involved in handling opening of an account and/or issuance of a credit card or other instrument, activation of the card, renewal of the account or card, generation and/or printing of a statement of the account, etc.
However, these systems and/or processes consist of individual, stand-alone processes. That is, these processes do not interact and/or share data about the customer or transaction of the consumer or, at best, have very limited interaction. If these processes interact at all, it is by saving transaction data in one or more shared databases that may or may not be used by other processes. There is currently no management or oversight of interaction between these processes and/or systems.
Because of this limited interaction between the systems and/or processes handling different aspects of the financial transactions related to the consumer, the various individual systems and/or processes are blind to or unaware of the other processes and events occurring related to the consumer. As a result, significant marketing opportunities are lost.
Hence, there is a need for improved methods and systems for integrating communications between multiple systems and/or processes related to different aspects of financial transactions of a consumer.


A method for simplified MPEG Media Transport (MMT) content presentation is provided. Two or more assets of an MMT package Processing Unit (MPU) are identified. The method also includes defining at least one of the two or more assets as a default asset and a remaining one or more assets as enriched assets. The at least one default asset does not include a composition function. The method further includes configuring the at least one default asset for independent presentation from the one or more enriched assets. The method includes transmitting the MPU including the at least one default asset and the one or more enriched assets.

MPEG Media Transport (MMT) is a standard for Multimedia Delivery in an IP environment and a non IP environment. MMT generally has four functionalities including Encapsulation, Delivery, Signaling and Composition. Among them, the purpose of composition is to provide the information required for MMT content consumption. Composition provides the spatial relation, the temporal relation, and the event based relation with HTML 5 and some tools. However, MMT can be simplified for particular types of MMT content.

Content presentation for MPEG media transport


A modular airfoil assembly (200) and related method for interlocking components of an airfoil structure (210) including a platform (220), an airfoil (210) having a shoulder (230) and a stem (232) extending outward from the shoulder. A ring element (100) positioned against the stem (232) secures the shoulder (230) against the platform (210). First and second members (100a, 100b) of the ring element (100) are bonded together with a portion (128j) of a surface (112a) of the second member (100b) extending within and bonded to a portion (128i) of a surface (112b) of the first member (100a).

A typical gas turbine engine includes a fan, a compressor, a combustor, and a turbine. Fuel and compressed air discharged from the compressor are mixed and burned in the combustor. The resulting hot combustion gases (e.g., comprising products of combustion and unburned air) are directed through a conduit section from the combustor to the turbine where the gases expand, converting thermal energy into mechanical energy in the form of turbine shaft rotation. In electric power applications, the turbine shaft is coupled to turn a generator. Many parts of the combustor section and turbine section are exposed directly to the hot combustion gasses, including the combustor, the transition duct between the combustor and the turbine section, including the airfoils and surrounding ring segments.
With the efficiency of a gas turbine engine increasing with the firing temperature of the combustion gas, it is desirable to increase the temperature of the combustion gases. Temperature limitations of the materials with which the engine and turbine components are formed limit the operating temperatures. Special superalloy materials have been developed for use in such high temperature environments. However, modern high efficiency combustion turbines have firing temperatures in excess of 1,600 degrees C., which is well in excess of the safe operating temperature of the structural materials used in the hot gas flow path components. Consequently, specific cooling arrangements, including film cooling, backside cooling and insulation coatings are used to protect the integrity of such components under these high temperature conditions. Airfoils are exemplary. The term airfoil as used herein refers to a turbine airfoil which may be a rotor (rotatable) blade or a stator (stationary) vane.
Ceramic and ceramic matrix composite (CMC) materials offer the potential for higher operating temperatures than do metal alloy materials, due to the inherent refractory nature of ceramic materials. This capability may be translated into a reduced cooling requirement that, in turn, may result in higher power, greater efficiency, and/or reduced emissions from the engine. Although CMC's are beginning to find applications in military aircraft engines, they are not commonly utilized in large industrial gas turbines. Ceramics and CMCs do not exhibit the necessary balance of mechanical properties required for the manufacture of entire components. Consequently the use of ceramics has been mainly limited to their application as Thermal Barrier Coatings.
Turbine airfoils normally have associated shrouds or platforms. An airfoil platform defines a flow path between adjacent airfoil members for directing the hot combustion gases past the airfoil. The platform is exposed to the same high temperature gas environment as the ceramic airfoil and thus may be formed of a ceramic material. Currently the majority of blades and vanes are cast as single piece monolithic components. However, to support the introduction of more advanced materials (such as ceramics, CMCs, intermetallics and refractory alloys) modular designs are being considered. In many modular designs the platform and the airfoil are formed as separate components that are mechanically joined together, as illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,226,789. Such mechanical joints must be robust. They tend to be complicated and expensive.
Monolithic ceramic is readily moldable to a form, but it is limited to small shapes and is insufficiently strain-tolerant for robust designs. CMC materials incorporate ceramic fibers in a ceramic matrix for enhanced mechanical strength. However, conventional ceramic composite processing methods increase in complexity and cost in a complex three-dimensional component such as a turbine vane. U.S. Pat. No. 6,200,092 describes a turbine nozzle assembly having a vane forward segment formed of CMC material wherein the reinforcing fibers are specially oriented across the juncture of the airfoil and the platform members. Such special fiber placement in the airfoil-to-platform transition region presents a manufacturing challenge, especially with insulated CMC construction. Furthermore, for some CMC compositions, shrinkage during processing may result in residual stresses in complex shapes that are geometrically constrained. The airfoil-to-platform attachment area is one area where such stresses can arise. Additionally, load transfer between the airfoil and the platform results in interlaminar stresses in the fillet region where mechanical properties may be compromised.
In one solution to these problems, U.S. Pat. No. 6,648,597 discloses a method of manufacture for a vane component of a gas turbine where both the airfoil member and the platform member are formed of a ceramic matrix composite material, and joint surfaces of the airfoil member and the platform member are bonded together. The method may be performed by urging the respective joint surfaces of the airfoil member and the platform member together while both members are in a green body state, followed by forming a sinter bond between them. The sinter bond method may be densified with a matrix infiltration process and the sinter bond may be reinforced with a fastener connected between the respective joint surfaces. The joint surfaces may be bonded with an adhesive. However, ceramic joints using refractory adhesives alone are weak and unreliable for carrying primary loads. Furthermore, when such adhesives are applied to already-fired CMC parts in constrained geometries, the adhesives shrink and produce bond joint cracking.
Like reference numerals refer to like parts throughout the drawings.

Joining mechanism and method for interlocking modular turbine engine component with a split ring


This temperature control device is provided with: an endothermic/exothermic unit that heats or cools a subject to be subjected to temperature control; a temperature detection unit that detects the first temperature of the periphery of the subject; a control unit that controls the endothermic/exothermic unit on the basis of a variable target temperature; and a variable target temperature setter that sets the variable target temperature to a first variable target temperature on the basis of the first temperature and target temperature information indicating the target temperature. With such temperature control device, since the target temperature changes to a suitable value as needed, a time needed until the temperature of the subject reaches the target temperature can be shortened.

For this type of apparatus, there is known an apparatus configured to control a temperature of the temperature control target by using a heat (or heat-quantity) transfer element, such as, for example, a Peltier element. For example, Patent Literature 1 discloses an apparatus configured to feed back the temperature of a semiconductor laser to bring it close to a predetermined target temperature.

Temperature control apparatus, temperature control method, computer program, and recording medium


Systems, methods, and apparatus for overvoltage protection in a wireless power receiver are disclosed. One aspect of the disclosure is a wireless power receiver apparatus. The apparatus includes an antenna circuit configured to wirelessly receive power, from a transmitter, at a level sufficient to power or charge a load, wherein the antenna circuit is electrically connected to an overvoltage protection circuit that is electrically connected between the antenna circuit and the load. The apparatus also includes a matching circuit electrically connected to the antenna circuit and a switching element electrically connected to the matching circuit. At least one of the matching circuit or the switching element is configured to control an amount of the received power flowing into the overvoltage protection circuit.

An increasing number and variety of electronic devices are powered via rechargeable batteries. Such devices include mobile phones, portable music players, laptop computers, tablet computers, computer peripheral devices, communication devices (e.g., Bluetooth devices), digital cameras, hearing aids, and the like. While battery technology has improved, battery-powered electronic devices increasingly require and consume greater amounts of power, thereby often requiring recharging. Rechargeable devices are often charged via wired connections through cables or other similar connectors that are physically connected to a power supply. Cables and similar connectors may sometimes be inconvenient or cumbersome and have other drawbacks. Wireless charging systems are capable of transferring power in free space to be used to charge rechargeable electronic devices or provide power to electronic devices, and thus they may overcome some of the deficiencies of wired charging solutions.

Wireless power overvoltage protection circuit with reduced power dissipation


A switch head is disclosed that can be attached to a temperature sensor having elongated expansion elements with different thermal expansion coefficients. The switch head further includes a device for measuring the displacement of the expansion elements relative to each other. Attachment means are provided for attaching at least one additional switch head. At least one opening for receiving a transfer member to transfer the relative displacement of the expansion elements to the at least one additional switch head is provided.

The present invention relates to a switch head for attachment to a temperature sensor with elongated expansion elements having different thermal expansion coefficients and for receiving a device for evaluating the relative movement of the expansion elements.
Cooking areas are frequently made of a glass ceramic plate (Ceran plate) that forms a resting surface for cooking utensils and has a heating space disposed below. Such cooking areas can be heated in different ways, for example with an electric resistive heating element, halogen lamps, gas and the like. Regardless of the heating mode, the Ceran plate can be damaged or destroyed by excess heat, so that overheating has to be avoided.
For this purpose, temperature limiters are frequently used, which comprise a temperature sensor and a switch head of the type described above, which is connected with the temperature sensor. The temperature sensor is arranged in the heating space underneath the Ceran plate and is therefore exposed to substantially the same temperature as the Ceran plate.
When the temperature sensor heats up, the sensor component which can move relative to the switch head is displaced relative to the switch head, and the relative movement is transmitted to a switch via a mechanical connectionxe2x80x94which can be a simple ram. When the temperature sensor senses that the temperature of the Ceran plate may become too high, the aforedescribed relative movement becomes so large that the switch is actuated, which decreases or disconnects the heating power supplied to the heating element.
When the cooking area is heated electrically, power can be disconnected simply by forming the switch as a normally closed switch connected in series with the heater. When the cooking area is heated with gas, then actuation of the switch closes a valve arranged in the gas supply line.
AT 404 776 describes combined switch heads which satisfy the aforedescribed function to prevent overheating. These switch heads also provide a so-called xe2x80x9cheat indicatorxe2x80x9d which warns the user not to touch a section of the cooking area that is too hot. In addition, switch heads for temperature limiters are known which combine different additional functions.
All these embodiments, however, have in common that the switch head is formed as a single piece, which makes it impossible to enhance a switch head by adding additional functions. As a result, dedicated production lines and inventory have to be provided for each combination of those functions.
It would therefore be desirable and advantageous to provide an improved switch head which obviates the prior art shortcomings and allows easy implementation of additional functions. It would also be desirable to provide a modular temperature controller in which additional functions can be incorporated.
The invention is directed to a switch head and a temperature controller/limiter with such switch head, wherein additional functions can be the added or removed.
According to an aspect of the invention, attachment means are provided for attaching at least one additional switch head to an existing switch head. Moreover, at least one opening is provided adapted to receive a transfer member for transferring the relative movement of the expansion elements to the at least one additional switch head. In this way, the switch head can be used as an additional module for a temperature limiter.
According to one embodiment of the invention, the opening can be formed by eliminating a sidewall of the switch head, allowing a lightweight construction of the component.
According to another embodiment of the invention, an electric switching contact can be installed in the switch head for evaluating the relative movement. This arrangement provides a very simple temperature limiter, for example by connecting the switching contact in series with the resistive heating element for the cooking area.
According to yet another embodiment of the invention, the relative displacement of the expansion elements can be transferred to a device for evaluating the relative displacement. A transfer member in the form of a ram can be implemented which is moveable along with longitudinal axis in the switch head. This allows advantageously a particularly rigid and simple construction and makes it unnecessary to install an additional transfer member when the additional switch head is attached to a first switch head.
According to another embodiment of the invention, the switch heads can be covered by a cover that can be easily removed. This cover protects the first switch head from contamination and debris if no other switch head is attached to the first switch head.
According to another aspect of the invention, a temperature limiter includes a temperature sensor with elongated expansion elements having different thermal expansion coefficients and a switch head arranged in a second end region of the temperature sensor, wherein the switch head includes a device that evaluates the relative displacement of the expansion elements.
As mentioned above, such temperature limiters are known for overtemperature protection of glass ceramic cooking areas. A combination of a temperature limiter with a heat indicator is also known. However, these conventional devices do not allow a modular extension or any change in the functionality of the switch heads, such as adding or subtracting functions.
The temperature limiter of the invention includes an additional switch head with an additional device for measuring the relative displacement of the expansion elements, which the additional switch head connected to the first switch head.
In this way, the temperature limiter can be easily modified by removing the second switch head. Alternatively, additional modules can be attached to the temperature limiter.
According to another embodiment of the invention, an additional module can be provided which includes a basic module preferably made of ceramic and provided with a bore, wherein the additional module is placed over the temperature sensor by means of the bore. This provides additional functions in the region of the temperature sensor.
According to another embodiment of the invention, the additional module can be connected directly with the switch head. This provides a particularly rigid connection between the additional module and the temperature limiter.
According to another embodiment of the invention, a resistor, preferably an ohmic resistor with a temperature-dependent resistance value, can be attached to the basic module of the additional module. This enables very precise temperature measurements.
According to another embodiment of the invention, the resistor can be formed by a resistive paste which is printed onto the basic module, preferably by screen printing, which advantageously makes the design very compact. Moreover, the resistor in this embodiment can be manufactured in a single manufacturing step and attached on the basic module, thereby obviating the need for a separate process for attaching the resistor. A suitable range for the resistance value and its temperature dependence can be defined by selecting a suitable material and resistive path of the paste.
According to another embodiment of the invention, the resistor can be shielded by a heat shield to prevent the resistor from heating too quickly during the heat up process.
According to yet another embodiment of the invention, the additional module can include two electrodes attached to the basic module and forming an arc gap therebetween. This makes it possible to provide in the gas-heated cooking areas not only a aforedescribed temperature limiter, but also a device for igniting the gas inside the heating space.
According to another embodiment of the invention, the additional module can include a resistive heating element which can be attached to the basic module and implemented preferably as a helical coil. This type of heating element has a particularly simple construction and is therefore more reliable and more easily controlled as compared to other arrangements, such as a spark plug.

Electrovac, Fabrikation elektrotechnischer Spezialartikel Gesellschaft m.b.H.