Methods, systems, apparatuses, and computer program products are provided herein for determining the handedness of input provided by a user via a touch interface. For instance, for each touch-based input detected, a score indicating a probability whether the touch-based input was inputted by a particular hand of the user is generated. A classification for the touch-based input is then generated based on a drift diffusion model-based technique in which inter-dependencies between a series of touch-based input are approximated. The determined classifications are aggregated and compared to threshold(s) to determine the handedness of the user. For example, if the aggregated classifications meet a first threshold, then a determination is made that touch-based input provided by a user was inputted by the user's left hand. If the aggregated classifications meet a second threshold, then a determination is made that touch-based input provided by the user was inputted by the user's right hand.

Touch interfaces are being increasingly used as a mean to provide input to computing systems due to their ease and versatility of operation. A touch interface can allow a user to perform various functions using a finger, stylus or other object at a location often dictated by a user interface being displayed via the touch interface. In general, the touch interface can recognize a touch event and the position of the touch event on the touch interface. The computing device can interpret the touch event and perform one or more actions based on the touch event.

Diffusion-based handedness classification for touch-based input


A method of detecting a pulse density violation in the T1 transmission of digital signals, which includes counting bits in sets of "k" successively in n serial stages generating an empty-out signal on detection of an "empty" set of "k" bits, and generating a pulse density violation on detecting a second set of "k" zero bits in the "n" stages of bits at a time when the empty-out signal is present.

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for detecting pulse density violations in the T1 transmission of digital signals.
In the transmission of digital signals, the information is transmitted in frames and synchronized by a process called framing. Each frame contains 193 bits of data with 24 frames making up an extended super frame of 4,632 bits. Some of the bits are used for synchronization and some for error detection. The common North American standard for the transmission of T1 information is specified in ANSI T1.403-1989 which provides that there be a minimum of N "ones" in each and every time window of 8(N+1) time slots or bits where N can equal from 1 to 23. The time windows defined by the ANSI standard consist of a smallest window of two octets covering bits A.sub.0 to A.sub.15. The largest window contains 24 octets covering the most recent 192 digit time slots of A.sub.0 to A.sub.191.
One way of ensuring the integrity of the transmitted data and being able to recover a clock from the incoming data is to ensure that there are a sufficient number of "ones" in a 192 bit window or time frame and monitoring the data to see that it has the required number of "one" bits. Thus, the ANSI T1 standard ensures that one will be able to recover a clock from the incoming data as well as prescribing a standard for the industry. Presently, the only known methods of monitoring the number of "ones" and ensuring that there are at least N "ones" in 8(N+1) time slots is to record a violation and maintain that violation status until all 193 good bits comes through. Such schemes do not allow bit by bit monitoring and identification of both the offending bit (i.e. the bit that puts the window into violation) and the saviour bit (i.e. the bit that corrects the violation). Bit-by-bit monitoring would allow "stuffing" of a correction bit into the required location, as well as better performance monitoring.
The only known technique used to detect and report the presence and absence of pulse density violations is combinational logic. However, such a technique requires an enormous number of input combinations and makes the task difficult.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide an improved method of detecting pulse density violations. It is a further object of the invention to provide a simpler method of detecting pulse density violations.

Method and apparatus for detecting pulse density violations in T1 transmission


A projection-type image display device includes a transmissive image display panel having a matrix of pixels arranged at different pitches in different directions perpendicular to each other, and a planar microlens array for converging light emitted by a light source onto the transmissive image display panel. The planar microlens array comprises a substrate and a matrix of microlenses disposed on the substrate for converging the light onto the pixels, respectively, each of the microlenses being of an oblong shape. Each of the microlenses may have a longitudinal axis inclined with respect to an axis of the matrix of pixels to cover the pixel aperture of one of the pixels. The oblong shape of each of the microlenses may be composed of a pair of spaced identical semicircles and a rectangle interconnecting the identical semicircles and having sides of the same length as the diameter of the semicircles. Since the oblong microlenses are shaped to fully cover the pixel apertures of the corresponding pixels, the light from the light source is efficiently converged onto the pixels by the microlenses to produce light display images.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a projection-type transmissive image display device having a liquid crystal display panel for producing a display pattern based on light applied to and transmitted through the liquid crystal panel, and more particularly to such a transmissive image display device which includes a planar microlens array for converging light onto each pixel of the liquid crystal panel.
2. Description of the Relevant Art
Some projection-type transmissive image display devices employ a liquid crystal display panel having a matrix of minimum display units known as pixels. The image display devices display desired images and/or characters when independent drive voltages are applied to the pixels to modify optical properties of the liquid crystal of the pixels. Since it is necessary for the pixels to have wires which apply the drive voltages, each of the pixels has a relatively small aperture through which the light passes.
If it is assumed that light applied to liquid crystal display panels has the same intensity, then those crystal display panels which have smaller pixel apertures produce darker images on the screen because the light that is applied to the pixel areas other than the apertures Goes not pass through the apertures.
To solve the above problem, there have been proposed planar microlens arrays comprising circular planar microlenses which are rotationally symmetric with respect to their optical axes and disposed in Confronting relationship to the respective pixels, for converging the applied light onto the pixels (see, for example, Japanese laid-open patent publications Nos. 60-165621, 60-165622, 60-165623, and 60-165624).
As shown in FIG. 9 of the accompanying drawings, one conventional planar microlens array is used with a liquid crystal display panel composed of triads of pixels. The planar microlens array comprises circular microlenses 100 confronting the pixels, respectively. The pixels are spaced horizontally with a pitch a and vertically with a pitch b, the pitches a, b being different from each other. If the difference between the horizontal and vertical pitches a, b is larger, then those areas 101 of the pixels which are not covered by the respective microlenses 100 are larger. Therefore, the light applied to the liquid crystal display panel is not effectively utilized for producing a display pattern, and the image projected onto the screen is relatively dark.
The same problem arises if the horizontal and vertical pitches of pixels are different from each other in other pixel matrix configurations.
As shown in FIG. 5 (a) of the accompanying drawings, a pixel 1b of an active-matrix liquid crystal display panel has an asymmetrically shaped aperture 15 because of an area 16 in which there is located a switching element for applying a voltage to pixel electrodes, such as a TFT (thin-film transistor) or an MIM (metal-insulator-metal) diode.
The circular spot of light converged by each circular microlens 100 is positioned on a line M of the pixel aperture 15, as shown in FIG. 5 (b) of the accompanying drawings. Therefore, an area S of the aperture 15 is remote from the center of the light spot, and is not as effectively used as the other area of the aperture 15. Consequently, the image projected onto the screen is further made darker.


A wavelength tunable filter for optical communication systems has an optical fiber containing a Bragg grating disposed within a compliant support block. A length of the fiber is wrapped in a spiral of fixed pitch around the longitudinal axis of a cylindrical polymer support block. The support block is placed within a support frame to which a micrometer screw assembly is attached and oriented to apply a variable mechanical load substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the cylindrical support block. Application of the load introduces a strain on the support block, changing the period of the refractive index in the fiber Bragg grating with a resulting shift in the Bragg reflection peak.

1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to devices for use in optical communication systems. More specifically, it relates to tunable filters for optical communications systems.
2. Discussion of Related Art
The current trend towards increased channel density in wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) optical communication systems, with increasing numbers of channels per fiber and increasingly narrow channel bandwidths, has intensified the need for simple, efficient methods to precisely control signal flow and content. A basic requirement for this technology is the availability of a tunable optical filter. Such a device may be used as a dynamic channel selector in a WDM system, as part of a reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexer, or as a component in an optical monitor. Desired device characteristics include a well-defined passband and a small insertion loss. Chromatic and polarization-mode dispersion attributable to the filter should also be minimized.
Conventional fiber Bragg gratings are commonly used in fiber optic systems for selectively controlling and modifying specific wavelength bands of light. A grating reflects light in a well-defined, narrow bandwidth centered around a wavelength directly related to the period of the grating. Such a device may be used as a tunable filter if the grating period can be controllably and reversibly altered. This has been accomplished in the past with such methods as the application of heat to a material rigidly attached to the grating fiber, with the subsequent thermally induced strain to the grating and temperature dependent changes in the refractive index altering the grating period, and thus shifting the reflected waveband peak. One drawback to such an approach is a relatively slow response time. Others have employed piezoelectric actuators attached to the portion of fiber containing the Bragg grating in such a fashion as to stretch it on application of an applied voltage. The strain produced by piezoelectric actuation, however, is relatively small, which limits the tuning range of the device. Another potential disadvantage of this method is the need for continuous application of relatively high voltages.
A copending patent application commonly assigned to the same assignee as this application describes a tunable dispersion compensating device in which a fiber Bragg grating is embedded in a compliant material at an angle to a load-bearing surface (xe2x80x9cTunable Dispersion Compensating Bandwidth Device for Fiber Optic System,xe2x80x9d application Ser. No. 09/957,022 filed Sep. 21, 2001), the entire contents of which is incorporated herein by reference. In that device, a non-linear strain results from an applied load on the load bearing surface to result in a chirped Bragg grating within the fiber.
A wavelength tunable filter device for fiber optic systems has a compliant support block that has a longitudinal axis and a load-receiving surface oriented substantially orthogonal to the longitudinal axis. The load receiving surface is capable of receiving a load substantially orthogonal to said surface. The device also has a portion of fiber containing a Bragg grating disposed in the compliant support block and extending substantially along, and at an angle to said longitudinal axis.
A wavelength division multiplexed optical communication system has a plurality of optical transmitters, an optical multiplexer in optical communication with the plurality of optical transmitters, a signal transmission waveguide in optical communication with the optical multiplexer, a wavelength tunable optical filter unit in optical communication with the signal transmission waveguide, an optical demultiplexer in optical communication with the signal transmission waveguide, and a plurality of receivers in communication with the demultiplexers.
The wavelength tunable optical filter unit has a compliant support block having a longitudinal axis and a load-receiving surface oriented substantially orthogonal to the longitudinal axis. The load-receiving surface is suitable to receive an applied load in a direction substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis. A portion of fiber containing a Bragg grating is disposed in the compliant support block and extends substantially along, and at an angle to, the longitudinal axis of the compliant support block.
A method of making a wavelength tunable optical filter device for optical communications systems includes disposing a portion of fiber containing a Bragg grating into a cylindrical mold, pouring support material into the cylindrical mold, said support material being compliant when it sets, and attaching a load-supplying assembly to a top surface of the support material.

Wavelength tunable filter device for fiber optic systems


A teaching tool and method for teaching anatomy including a model having thereon at least one representation of an anatomical part and a template having therein an aperture that approximates the shape of the anatomical part. The template is superimposed on the model such that the anatomical part is visible through the aperture in the template. Preferably, the template includes indicia thereon describing the name and function of the anatomical part.

Various types of anatomical dolls and models have been used for teaching anatomy. One type is a doll that has representations of anatomical parts thereon and is used as a therapeutic aid. Another type is a doll that has a hollow abdominal cavity which contains various internal organs located in their approximate anatomical correct positions within the cavity. Further, another type is a stuffed toy animal with stuffed fabric internal organs that are removably received in the abdominal cavity. Finally, anatomical charts are also used as teaching tools and methods of teaching anatomy.

Anatomical teaching tool and method for teaching anatomy


A support frame for a pump stand for receiving vacuum pumps for a coating device for coating containers by a coating method. The support frame includes a structure on which bearing struts are formed for detachably connecting to at least two bearing devices, onto which a respective vacuum pump can be detachably mounted. Feet extend downwards from the lowermost bearing struts and have detachable securing devices for connecting to a main support frame of the coating device. The hearing devices have a rectangular cross-section, which is slightly larger than the cross-section of a fork of a lifting truck or a forklift truck, and which are sufficiently spaced apart from one another in the horizontal direction so that the fork of the lifting truck or the stacking fork of the forklift truck can be moved therein with minimal play.

Container coating devices are known from the prior art which are used, among other functions, for the coating of inner surfaces of containers, such as PET bottles. This coating is applied by means of a coating method, for which, among other considerations, a vacuum must be created, in particular by means of a CVD (Chemical Vapor Deposition) method. The vacuum pumps required for the creation of the vacuum can be divided into such as are required for the creation of a pre-vacuum. Such pump arrangements of several vacuum pumps are regularly all set up separately and connected to one another and to a container treatment machine in such a way that the coating process can be carried out in this and the inner sides of the containers are vapour-deposited. Depending on the arrangement of the vacuum pumps, they are difficult to access, or arranged at locations inside the system as a whole which are distant from one another.

Support frame for a pump stand for receiving vacuum pumps, and main support frame for a coating device for containers, and coating device


A fire-resistant foam having hydrogen-filled cells for use in airship/balloon envelopes.

1. Field of the Invention
The structure and method of this invention reside in the area of airship/balloon envelopes such as used in blimps, dirigibles and other types of lighter-than-air structures which lift objects, and more particularly relate to a system of maintaining hydrogen gas within the cells of a foam in such airship/balloon envelopes.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Airships such as blimps and dirigibles have long been in use and hydrogen gas has been utilized to cause the craft to be lighter than air. Problems, though, arose with the use of hydrogen gas since it is highly inflammable. To replace hydrogen, helium has been used, but helium is expensive while hydrogen can be made inexpensively by the simple electrolysis of water. Fire retardant foams using polyglycols have been used in the past to smother fires.

Structure and method of producing foams having hydrogen-filled cells for use in airship/balloon envelopes


A rotating assembly for a grass trimmer includes a cutting element, a cutting head for mounting the cutting element and driving the cutting element to rotate about a rotating axis and a cover mounted on the cutting head. The cutting head includes a cutting head body and fan blades for generating an air flow when the cutting head being rotated, which are disposed on a top of the cutting head. The cover includes a cover body and protecting ribs for preventing the fan blades from wearing.

Grass trimmers are a kind of gardening tool. The grass trimmer includes a cutting head. The cutting head is rotated at a high speed so as to drive a cutting element mounted thereon to rotate.
The cutting head generally includes a fan for cooling and blowing the grass clippings. When the fan is rotated at a high speed, the grass clippings strike the fan, so that the fan is easy to wear and damage.
The cutting element extends out of the cutting head. During operation, a friction is produced between the cutting element and a housing of the cutting head, so the cutting element is easy to wear and break.
The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.


Aspects of the subject matter described herein relate to a mechanism for seamlessly changing a network mode of a network device that is connected to multiple nodes. In aspects, agents reside on the nodes. A master agent communicates with the other agents and receives the capabilities of the nodes on which they execute. The master agent creates a data structure that includes the settings needed to connect using the new network mode. The master agent distributes this data structure to the other agents and each agent stores settings associated with the current network mode in case a rollback is needed. The master agent then instructs the other agents to begin communicating using the new network mode and the network device is reconfigured. If the master agent does not receive success acknowledgments from all of the other agents, the master agent initiates a rollback procedure.

Wireless devices may connect to a wireless network through the use of a wireless access device. Vendors have created many wireless access devices that allow users to connect wireless devices. Most of these wireless access devices come with a default security setting of no security. When an unsophisticated user sets up a wireless network with one of these devices, the user often leaves the security settings at their default setting of no security.
When a user learns of the security risk posed by this default setting, the user may configure the wireless access device into a secure mode. Unfortunately, this has the effect of disconnecting all the wireless devices that are currently connected to the wireless access device. To reconnect the devices, the user may go from device to device and enter security settings so that the devices can securely connect to the reconfigured wireless access device. This is cumbersome and error-prone.


An introducer assembly for introducing a stent-graft (70) or other device into a vessel of a patient includes a pre-shaped curved cannula (60) made preferably of a shape memory material. The curved cannula can pull the proximal end (74) of the stent-graft (70) against the inner side wall of the vessel thereby to ensure a good leak free connection at this point. The assembly is particularly useful in deploying stent-grafts into the aortic arch.

Prostheses for the repair of vascular defects, including for example vascular aneurysms, are well known in the art. A common prosthesis for treatment of such a medical condition is a stent-graft.
Prostheses of this type are typically deployed endoluminally through a vein or artery adjacent a surface of a patient. For example, aortic prostheses are commonly fed through the femoral artery. A common method of deployment involves the location of a guide wire along the path to be followed by the introducer assembly, up to the site in the vasculature to be treated. Once the guide wire is in place, a series of catheters is advanced along the guide wire, finally with the introduction of a catheter assembly which carries the stent or stent-graft to be fitted. The catheters have sufficient trackability to follow the guide wire along the curves and turns of the patient's vasculature and some can also curve sufficiently so as to be able to fit a stent-graft, for example, into the aortic arch of a patient.
Even though such a procedure is possible into the aortic arch, it is mired in difficulties as a result of the tight curvature of the latter. One such difficulty arises in connection with the proximal end of the stent-graft, which is liable to be incorrectly fitted such that it incompletely seals around the inner wall of the aorta as a result of the curvature imparted to the stent-graft. This can lead to leakage of blood around the outside of the stent-graft and thus of a less than effective treatment. Furthermore, as a result of the non-optimal placement of the stent-graft using known procedures, there is a limit to the length of neck of healthy vascular wall which is needed to provide a seal around the proximal end of the stent-graft. This limits the application of such stent-grafts, in particular for the treatment of aneurysms close to a branch vessel. In addition, in some instances at least, a part of the proximal end of the stent-graft can remain loosely located in the vessel, leading to premature fatigue failure and thrombus effects.
Attempts have been made to resolve these difficulties. For instance, in the applicant's U.S. Pat. No. 6,974,471, mechanisms are described for imparting a curvature to the stent-graft at the moment of its deployment.
A number of other types of device seek to provide medical devices which can be curved in situ but these are not related to the deployment of stents or stent-grafts or able to be used in any such application. Such other devices are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,602,288, US-2006/0,129,101, U.S. Pat. No. 5,788,713, U.S. Pat. No. 6,270,496, U.S. Pat. No. 5,219,358, US-2006/0,074,403 and WO-00/33,909.

Introducer for endovascular grafts and stents


An open/closed display handle for rotating a spindle of an open/closed valve mechanism of a valve device includes a handle main body having a handle-side gear that rotates about an axis of the spindle, a rotary display body having an open/closed display portion that displays an open/closed valve state and a display body-side gear, and a rotary fixed body that pivotally supports planetary gears. The planetary gears, the handle-side gear, and the display body-side gear form a differential rotation mechanism, and a visual recognition restricting body that covers the rotary display body and has openings that open to allow a portion to be displayed of the open/closed display portion to be visually recognized from an outside and a transparent cover body that covers an entire outer side of the visual recognition restricting body and is translucent to allow visual recognition from an outer side form the handle main body.

Conventionally, a valve device is often used which is attached to a gas storage container such as a gas cylinder, and in which a handle is rotated to vertically move and open/close an open/closed valve so as to restrict inflow and outflow of a fluid such as gas or liquid (refer to Patent Literature 1).
For example, the valve device described in Patent Literature 1 includes a handle for rotating a valve rod, and an open/closed display member with which an open display or a closed display can be visually recognized from above the handle, and configures a gear transmission mechanism between the handle and the open/closed display member, and thus an open valve state and a closed valve state can be read.
However, in the case of the above-mentioned configuration, in order to visually recognize the open/closed display from above the handle, a handle main body is provided with a window portion through which an open/closed display symbol can be visually recognized, and unintended foreign matter such as dust may enter through a gap between the handle main body and the window portion.

Opening and closing handle, and valve device


A pulsed solid state laser system is disclosed which utilizes a plurality of individual laser rods which are sequentially pumped and whose beans are combined into a single interleaved output bean. The individual laser rods are pumped at an average power level which is below that for maximum output power from each rod, thereby obviating the need for refrigeration cooling. A compact optical system is disclosed which permits a constant beam size even at different pump levels and other advantages. A compact cooling system is also disclosed.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention pertain to pulsed lasers, specifically to optically pumped solid state lasers. The present invention has particular application to optically-pumped lasers which include a plurality of laser rods and in which each laser rod is optically pumped at a level below its maximum output operation so that refrigeration cooling is not required.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many conventional solid state laser systems employ optical pumping means to excite solid state gain media into a lasing state. For example, in one type of conventional solid state laser system, the gain medium is a cylindrical rod, and the optical pumping means comprises elongated flash lamps positioned parallel to the rod. Radiation for optically pumping the rod is focused from the lamps onto the rod's central longitudinal axis. The rod and the adjacent flash lamps are mounted within a reflective housing. The entire assembly (comprising rod, flash lamps, and housing) is referred to as a "laser head."
Most solid state gain media in common use can be maintained at a relatively high temperature during lasing operation. However, some solid state gain media, such as Holmium:YAG material, Holmium:YLF material, and other Holmium-doped gain media, are preferably maintained at a low temperature during lasing operation (for example, a low temperature in the range from about +10 degrees Celsius to as low as about -15 degrees Celsius) for maximum power output. A cooling system is required for this purpose, since the flash lamps (or other optical pumping means) will otherwise increase the temperature of the entire laser head (including the gain medium) to undesirably high levels. Existing lasers use refrigerant cooling to achieve the range of temperatures specified above.
However, refrigerator-cooled Ho:YAG lasers have serious drawbacks. The cooling system typically is heavy, bulky, noisy, and expensive to fabricate. Also, there are problems in shipping laser systems with the typical water/alcohol refrigeration coolant.
Also, there are limits, even with refrigeration, on the rate at which a Ho:YAG laser can be pumped before the efficiency of the laser drops. Additionally, increasing the optical pumping rate and intensity runs the risk of damaging the Ho:YAG laser rod.

Solid state laser with interleaved output


A terminal device and a sound-emitting apparatus arranged in the terminal device, where the terminal device includes a housing, a display is arranged on a surface of the housing, a notch is formed at an end of the display, and a camera system is arranged inside the housing. The camera system is arranged opposite to the notch in a direction perpendicular to the display, and a camera of the camera system is located inside the notch. A through-hole is arranged opposite to an opening of the notch in the housing in a direction parallel to the display.

In a current development trend of terminal devices such as smartphones, functions that can be implemented by the terminal devices are constantly expanding. For the terminal devices, consumers are no longer just satisfied with requirements for calls, and a demand for display is also constantly increasing. From feature phones with numeric keypads to terminal devices with resistive touchscreens or capacitive touchscreens, a size of a display module has also developed to 5.5 inches or even larger. Large-screen terminal devices are increasingly popular among consumers.
An existing terminal device may be shown in FIG. 1. A plurality of devices such as a front-facing camera hole 101, an earpiece hole 102, an ambient light sensor, an optical proximity sensor, and a front camera flash 104 are arranged in a top region 100 of the terminal device. An earpiece body 105 is located in the terminal device and arranged below the earpiece hole 102 toward the inside of a mobile phone. Specifically, the earpiece body 105 is arranged in a region formed between a housing of the terminal device and a display module 106. Because the earpiece body 105 and devices located in the top region 100 all have considerable volumes, a non-display area of the terminal device, namely, the top region 100, occupies a relatively large area, and a screen-to-body ratio cannot be effectively improved.

Terminal device and sound-emitting apparatus


An x-ray detector for a medical imaging device includes an anti-scatter grid, a measuring layer including a regular arrangement of measuring cells, and an evaluation unit. The anti-scatter grid covers the measuring layer and is aligned toward a specific focal point. The evaluation unit is configured to determine a focal position of an x-ray source relative to the focal point based on a local intensity difference of x-rays striking the measuring layer.

If x-rays are used for an imaging method, these are typically generated in an x-ray tube and in the process irradiated from a relatively small surface to an anode, which, as a good approximation, can be considered as a punctiform x-ray source and is typically referred to as x-ray focus. In order to implement the imaging method, an x-ray detector is also frequently used, which is made up of regularly arranged detector elements or detector pixels.
When examining an object or patient using such a structure comprising an x-ray source and x-ray detector, the attenuation of the x-rays originating from the x-ray source, produced by the object and/or the patient, is generally to be detected directly toward the detector elements, for which reason a so-called anti scatter-grid, which is positioned on the detector elements, is also to be used in many cases.
A corresponding anti-scatter grid is in most instances made up of a plurality of walls, with which a honeycomb-type structure is realized. With the aid of this honeycomb-type structure, x-rays, which do not propagate along a straight connection between the x-ray focus and a detector element, are easily absorbed in the walls of the anti-scatter grid, whereas x-rays, which spread along a straight line between the x-ray focus and a detector element, reach the detector element without a relevant influence by means of the anti-scatter grid. To this end, the walls of the anti-scatter grid and in most instances also the detector elements, are aligned toward the x-ray focus.
Here a change in the focus position defines a change in the positioning of x-ray focus and x-ray detector, including anti-scatter grid, relative to one another, thereby virtually resulting in a misalignment of x-ray source and x-ray detector relative to one another and as a result in a reduction in the image quality which can be achieved using this arrangement. In order to prevent corresponding losses in quality, there is the possibility of either correcting the alignment of x-ray source and x-ray detector relative to one another or preparing the generated image data with the aid of a correction algorithm. In both instances, there is the need here to determine the position of the x-ray focus relative to the x-ray detector and thus also relative to the anti-scatter grid.
In the patent application US 2011/0176663 A1, an apparatus is described, with the aid of which the corresponding x-ray focus position can be determined. Here an anti-scatter grid is used, which is made up of a number of anti-scatter grid modules which are tilted in respect of one another in each instance. The relative alignment of the individual anti-scatter grid modules relative to one another is known and by evaluating the measuring signals of the detector elements assigned to the anti-scatter grid modules, it is determined which of the anti-scatter grid modules is best aligned relative to the x-ray focus.

X-ray detector and method for operating an X-ray detector


An event management apparatus collects event data which an event extraction unit of each business system extracts on the basis of event extraction definition, and performs queuing to an event queue. An event relation unit makes groups of event data in units of business data, and performs the relative processing of business data to store the event data in an event management DB. When retrieval conditions are inputted from a user terminal, the output unit retrieves the event management DB according to the retrieval conditions, and outputs and displays relation between business data on the user terminal in a tree form.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an apparatus and method for a business process tracking, a business process tracking program and a recording medium thereof, and more particularly to an apparatus and method for a business process tracking, a business process tracking program and a recording medium thereof, which use business process tracking technology that tracks a business process that flows among a plurality of business systems, and which make groups of event information extracted from each business system in units of business data, manages the business data with relating each other, and tracks business process on the basis of retrieval conditions inputted.
2. Description of the Related Art
When improving an existing business under operation, an analysis of the business process between business systems is conducted to determine where a problem is and how to improve it. There is a workflow system as a system which watches how a business flows between business systems. Generally, a workflow system has meaning of a system which is provided with an existing flow engine and is provided with an application program (hereinafter, simply called "application") which performs automatic execution of a system in order of following a defined flow.
FIG. 37 is a diagram showing the outline of a conventional common workflow system. FIG. 37 shows a flow management server 20, an application E 21, an application F 22, an application G 23, and an application H 24. The applications E to H or 21 to 24 are located in different systems, respectively. FIG. 37 further shows a workflow E 200, a workflow F 201, a workflow G 202, and a historical database (DB) 203 in the flow management server 20 which manages the execution history of the applications E to G or 21 to 23.
Furthermore, FIG. 37 shows a status DB 210 of managing the status of the application E 21, a status DB 220 of managing the status of the application F 22, a status DB 230 of managing the status of the application G 23, and a status DB 240 of managing the status of the application H 24.
In addition, the application E 21, application F 22 and application G 23 are called from and executed in the workflow E 200, workflow F 201 and workflow G 202, respectively. On the other hand, it is assumed that the application H 24 has not such an execute form that it is called and executed from either of the above mentioned workflows.
In the workflow system shown in FIG. 37, with defining that businesses between different systems flow in order of the workflow E 200, workflow F 201, and workflow G 202, the flow management server 20 manages the execution history of an application corresponding to each workflow. That is, the flow management server 20 executes the application E 21 corresponding to the workflow E 200, executes the application F 22 corresponding to the workflow F 201 after the execution end of the application E 21, and executes the application G 23 corresponding to the workflow G 202 after the execution end of the application F 22.
In addition, Japanese Patent Application laid-Open No. 10(1998)-63747 (patent document #1) shows a workflow support system and method for making it possible to refer to or follow the history and the management information of progress with regard to a workflow or a typical business that is executed with spreading across different systems.
However, the workflow system shown in FIG. 37 has the structure of sequentially executing each application consistently and the flow management server 20 manages only the execution history of each application. Accordingly, it is difficult to grasp the status of each application. For this reason, for example, in order to meet a request that the flow management server 20 should manage various businesses in an application E 21, it is necessary to modify the application E 21 for subdivision of the internal processing of the application E 21, and to modify such that the subdivided processings are called from the flow management server 20 to execute them.
In addition, for example, the application H 24 is not made to be called and executed by either of the workflows E to G or 200 to 202. Accordingly, the flow management server 20 cannot grasp the status of the application H 24. Then, in order to grasp the status of the application H 24, it is necessary to modify the structure of the application H 24 such that the application H 24 has a form in which the application H 24 is called from and executed by a workflow.
Furthermore, in the present workflow system, as shown in FIG. 38, there is a problem that it is not possible to grasp the relation between applications which branch into a plurality of paths on the way. In FIG. 38, for example, the workflow F 201 makes the application F 22 and application F′ 22′ execute a plurality of processing in relation to the workflow E 200 separately. In addition, the workflow G 202 makes the application G 23 and application G′ 23′ execute a plurality of processing in relation to the workflow F 201 separately. It is assumed that the data of the application F 22 and the data of the application F′ 22′ is made to be passed to both of the application G 23 and application G′ 23′.
A conventional common workflow system cannot grasp the relation between the application F 22 or F′ 22′ and the application G23 or G′ 23′. For this reason, to grasp the relation between applications which branch into a plurality of paths on the way, it is necessary to review a business process and an analysis method such as dividing the business process into a plurality of processes, and analyzing them separately.
In addition, the above mentioned patent document #1 does not disclose the technology in which the tracking result of the flow of a business between business systems is displayed in a flow form.
In particular, plenty of existing business systems is not necessarily executing transactions according to a workflow under a flow engine such as the flow management server 20. When the flow management server 20 does not exist, data such as processed data and unprocessed data must be collected by accessing each business system and analyzed to track the flow of the business. Accordingly, actually, it is impossible to track the flow of the business.

Apparatus and method for business process tracking and business process tracking program, and recording medium thereof


According to one embodiment of the present invention, an electronic device may comprise a processor and an image sensing module, wherein the image sensing module comprises an image sensor, and a control circuit electrically connected to the image sensor and connected to the processor through an interface, and the control circuit is configured to: acquire at least one raw image, using the image sensor; designate, for the at least one raw image, first data corresponding to a first region and second data not corresponding to the first region, on the basis of information related to the first region in the at least one raw image; transform the at least one raw image by changing at least a part of the second data to a designated value; and compress the at least one transformed raw image and transmit the compressed transformed raw image to the processor.

Along with the widespread of digital cameras, digital cameras have been recognized as electronic devices in everyday use. In addition, various electronic devices such as not only digital cameras, but also cellular phones, smartphones, etc., include cameras, and the public as well as experts increasingly use the cameras.
Consequently, recent electronic devices have essentially implemented image and data communication at high speed as well as voice communication and, especially, digital camera functions using an imaging module.
Among the digital camera functions used in the electronic device, functions required for basic photographing, storage, and transmission have been simply used initially, but to meet various demands of users, techniques for improving performance, quality, and functions have been developed. In particular, recently, systems increasing an output frame rate in a camera system have emerged, and such systems make it possible to provide users with various image processing and camera operations using a high-speed output image readout function.
Such high-speed output image systems employ a scheme to compress and transmit an image due to an interface speed or transmission power issue.

Electronic device and image compression method of electronic device


There is disclosed an IGBT which includes an n.sup.+ layer (2A), an n.sup.- layer (2B), a p well region (3), an n.sup.+ diffusion region (4), a gate oxide film (5), a gate electrode (6) and an emitter electrode (8) around the upper major surface of a p.sup.+ substrate (1), similarly to conventional IGBTs. In the lower major surface of the p.sup.+ substrate (1) is formed an n.sup.+ diffusion region (10) which adapted not to reach the n.sup.+ layer (2A). The n.sup.+ diffusion region (10) and p.sup.+ substrate (1) are connected to a collector electrode (9). When there is a small potential difference between the emitter and collector electrodes, holes are injected from the p.sup.+ substrate into the n.sup.- layer to provide a low ON-resistance. When the potential difference is large, a depletion layer extending from the n.sup.+ diffusion region is brought into a reach-through state to limit an increase in the amount of injected holes. This prevents the device from being broken down due to an excessively increased current density.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an IGBT which is operated by a predetermined voltage applied to a gate electrode and to a method of fabricating the same.
2. Description of the Background Art
FIG. 24 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional insulated gate bipolar transistor (hereinafter referred to as an IGBT). An n.sup.+ epitaxial layer (hereinafter referred to as an n.sup.+ layer) 2A is formed on the upper major surface of a p.sup.+ substrate 1. An n.sup.- epitaxial layer (hereinafter referred to as an n.sup.- layer) 2B is formed on the n.sup.+ layer 2A. In the surface of the n.sup.- layer 2B is formed a p well region 3 provided by the diffusion of p-type impurities. In the surface of the p well region 3 is formed an n.sup.+ diffusion region 4 provided by the selective diffusion of n-type impurities.
A gate oxide film 5 is formed over the surface of the p well region 3 which is between the n.sup.+ diffusion region 4 and n.sup.- layer 2B. A gate electrode 6 made of polysilicon is formed in the gate oxide film 5. An emitter electrode 8 made of metal is provided in contact with the n.sup.+ diffusion region 4 and p well region 3. The emitter electrode 8 and the gate electrode 6 are insulated from each other through an interlayer oxide film 7. On the lower major surface of the p.sup.+ substrate 1 is formed a collector electrode 9 made of metal.
The IGBT thus constructed operates as follows. When the emitter electrode 8 and the gate electrode 6 are at the same potential and positive bias is applied to the drain electrode 9, a depletion layer extends from a pn junction formed by the p well region 3 and n.sup.- layer 2B toward the n.sup.- layer 2B. This holds the voltage in the OFF-state. Increasing the positive bias, the depletion layer extends up to the n.sup.+ layer 2A and then stops, the depletion layer is prevented from reaching the p.sup.+ substrate 1 and being brought into a reach-through state.
When the gate electrode 6 is positive-biased relative to the emitter electrode 8, n-inversion occurs to form an n-channel in the p well layer 3 immediately under the gate electrode 6, so that electrons flow from the n.sup.+ diffusion region 4 through the n-channel to the n.sup.- layer 2B. The voltage retention in p the well region 3 and n.sup.- layer 2B goes eliminated, and the potential between the p.sup.+ substrate 1 and the n.sup.+ layer 2A is in the forward direction so that holes flow from the n.sup.- layer 2B to the p well region 3. The modulation by the holes injected from the p.sup.+ substrate 1 increases the concentration of electrons in the n.sup.- layer 2B, so that a low ON-resistance is provided. When the gate electrode 6 and the emitter electrode 8 are made to be again at the same potential, the n-channel disappears and the voltage retention between the p well region 3 and n.sup.- layer 2B restarts. The potential between the p.sup.+ substrate 1 and n.sup.+ layer 2A is no longer in the forward direction, and the injection of holes stops. The holes which have already been injected in the n.sup.- layer 2B successively reach the p well region 3, and the resultant tail current causes power loss. To reduce the tail current, a recombination center is introduced by doping the n.sup.- layer 2B with heavy metal or by irradiation of electron beams and the lifetime of carriers is shortened. For the low ON-resistance, in general, it is effective to increase the resistivity of the n.sup.+ layer 2A, to decrease the thickness thereof, or to prolong the lifetime of the carriers. A device of low ON-resistance, however, is easily broken down by an excessive collector-emitter voltage, if applied, in the ON-state because of an excessively large current density.
In the conventional IGBT which is optimized under normal use conditions and has the low ON-resistance, there arises a problem that an excessive collector-emitter voltage (e.g., short-circuit), if applied in the ON-state, increases forward bias between the p.sup.+ substrate 1 and the n.sup.+ layer 2A and the amount of injected holes, and causes the excessively increased current density, resulting in the breakdown of the device.
On the other hand, another problem is that, when the excessive increase in current density is restrained to prevent the breakdown, the current density under the normal use conditions decreases, resulting in an increased ON-resistance.

Method of fabricating an insulated gate bipolar transistor


The present disclosure relates to linking processing codes between platforms, and more particularly, to automatically record linking processing codes between platforms and methods of use. The method includes: obtaining a legacy processing code from a legacy system; obtaining a virtual code from a virtual entry table (VET) which corresponds with the legacy processing code; and mapping the legacy processing code to a target processing code using the virtual code from the VET.

Migrating information from one system to a contemporary, disparate system can be a complicated and costly process. Migration of data may include copying or rotating data to a different model. For example, many systems which are used to migrate data (e.g., client information) do not include the same processing codes (i.e., client factors, naming conventions) for the client information. In these cases, a user needs to manually select and match the processing codes from a legacy client to the contemporary system. In this scenario, the user needs to understand the processing codes from the client's legacy system and select the matching code for the new system. Mistakes are likely with any manual intervention and impact a level of client satisfaction.
With the above noted, in known systems, there is a problem in linking processing codes when migrating customer information between platforms. This process is similar for any value without a well-defined transformation function. During a setup, for example, definitions must be assigned to data of the customer information, but these definitions (e.g., processing codes) may be different amongst different systems. Accordingly, matching of the processing codes is either done manually or by using different types of algorithms that are lacking in depth and definition of the elements still making it difficult to link processing codes using the current method. Even using full string matching or "fuzzy matching" (i.e., fuzzy matching is based on similarity of text, as opposed to full string matching) could still be distant in the true meaning of an item for example "Deferred Compensation" has no matching to "403b" or "401k" even though we may know them to be the same.

Systems and methods of migrating client information


Disclosed is an apparatus for pretreatment of printable fabrics, comprising a washer/extractor; a control apparatus connected to the washer/extractor to control said washer/extractor; and a source of pretreatment chemicals to be added to the washer/extractor in a controlled manner by the control apparatus. Also disclosed are methods of pretreating fabrics using the disclosed apparatus.

Presently, Direct-To-Garment (DTG) printing onto fabrics such as cotton or polyester is typically preceded by pretreatment steps that include spraying pretreatment solutions onto the finished garments. Without such pretreatment, DTG printed fabrics may suffer from easily faded graphics after wash or not retain the ink on the fabric altogether. However, conventional pretreatment processes can be labor and machine-intensive in that personnel are required to operate the pretreatment spray machines, properly utilize a heat press/conveyor to dry the fabrics, as well as requiring a detailed knowledge of the proper amounts of pretreatment to apply, for example. These additional steps increase the complexity and cost of producing DTG fabrics. In addition, current spraying pretreatment methods can result in staining of fabrics in the sprayed area, uneven coating of a sprayed area, lack of printability in non-coated or insufficiently coated areas of the fabric, as well as changes in the visual appearance of the fabric due to uneven spraying. There is a need to pretreat fabrics in a manner that is cost-effective, reproducible, efficient, and effective to adhere digital printing to the treated fabrics.

Apparatus and method for pretreatment of printable fabrics


Various embodiments disclosed relate to an abrasive article (10). The abrasive article (10 includes a backing (12) defining a major surface. The abrasive article (10) includes an abrasive layer including a plurality of tetrahedral abrasive particles (16) attached to the backing (12). The tetrahedral abrasive particles (16) include four faces joined by six edges terminating at four vertices (40, 42, 44, 46). Each one of the four faces contacts three of the four faces, and a major portion of the tetrahedral abrasive particles (16) have at least one of the vertices (40, 42, 44, 46) oriented in substantially a same direction.

Abrasive particles and abrasive articles made from the abrasive particles are useful for abrading, finishing, or grinding a wide variety of materials and surfaces in the manufacturing of goods. As such, there continues to be a need for improving the cost, performance, or life of abrasive particles or abrasive articles.

Tetrahedral abrasive particles in abrasive articles


Disclosed herein are ultrasonic transducer systems comprising: an ultrasonic imager comprising a plurality of pMUT transducer elements; and one or more circuitries connected electronically to the plurality of transducer element, the one or more circuitries configured to enable: pulse transmission and reception of reflected signal for the ultrasonic transducer, where inductors are used to equalize impedance to obtain greater pressure output. Also disclosed are methods of altering a pressure of an ultrasonic wave emitted by an ultrasonic transducer.

For ultrasound imaging, transducers are used to transmit an ultrasonic beam towards the target to be imaged and a reflected waveform is received by the transducer. The received waveform is converted to an electrical signal and with further signal processing an ultrasound image is created. Conventionally, for two-dimensional (2D) imaging, the ultrasonic transducer includes a one-dimensional (1D) transceiver array for emitting an ultrasonic beam. It is desirable to generate high pressure levels in the ultrasonic beam transmitted.

Equalization for matrix based line imagers for ultrasound imaging systems


A network of a half-duplex frequency division duplex (HD-FDD) communication system for handling hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) includes a processing means for executing a program; and a storage unit, coupled to the processing means, for storing the program. The program instructs the processing means to perform the following steps: determining a first timing reference for a HARQ of downlink (DL) transmission from a first set of predetermined timing references, and determining a second timing reference for a HARQ of uplink (UL) transmission from a second set of predetermined timing references; and transmitting the first timing reference and the second timing reference to a user equipment of the HD-FDD communication system, allowing the user equipment to perform the HARQ of DL transmission based on the first timing reference and perform the HARQ of UL transmission based on the second timing reference.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus utilized in a half-duplex frequency division duplex (HD-FDD) system, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for handling hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) in an HD-FDD system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A long-term evolution (LTE) system supporting the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Rel-8 standard and/or the 3GPP Rel-9 standard is developed by the 3GPP as a successor of a universal mobile telecommunication system (UMTS) for further enhancing performance of the UMTS to satisfy increasing needs of users. The LTE system includes a new radio interface and a new radio network architecture that provide high data rate, low latency, packet optimization, and improved system capacity and coverage. In the LTE system, a radio access network known as an evolved universal terrestrial radio access network (E-UTRAN) includes multiple evolved Node-Bs (eNBs) for communicating with multiple user equipments (UEs), and communicating with a core network including a mobility management entity (MME), a serving gateway, etc., for Non-Access Stratum (NAS) control.
An LTE-advanced (LTE-A) system, as its name implies, is an evolution of the LTE system. The LTE-A system targets faster switching between power states, improves performance at the coverage edge of an eNB, and includes advanced techniques such as carrier aggregation (CA), coordinated multipoint (COMP) transmission/reception, uplink (UL) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), etc. For a UE and an eNB to communicate with each other in the LTE-A system, the UE and the eNB must support standards developed for the LTE-A system, such as the 3GPP Rel-10 standard or later versions.
Machine-type communication (MTC) is one type of data communication including one or more entities not requiring human interactions. That is, the MTC refers to the concept of communication based on a network such as the existing GERAN, UMTS, long-term evolution (LTE), or the like used by a machine device instead of a mobile station (MS) used by a user. The machine device used in the MTC can be called an MTC device. There are various MTC devices such as a vending machine, a machine of measuring a water level at a dam, etc. That is, the MTC is widely applicable in various fields. The MTC device has features different from that of a typical MS. Therefore, a service optimized to the MTC may differ from a service optimized to human-to-human communication.
The MTC devices, which are regarded as low cost, small and pervasive, have drawn a lot of attention in 3GPP standard developing due to their ability to augment the usage scenarios of 3GPP standard. Their transmission and reception abilities are limited (e.g., limited bandwidth usage, limited buffer and limited number of antennas). By removing extra duplexers, the half-duplex frequency division duplex (HD-FDD) mobile devices can provide further cost reduction. This extra cost reduction is helpful for pushing the MTC markets. Therefore, specific design towards HD-FDD devices is desirable in future 3GPP releases.
Although HD-FDD devices can have further cost reduction due to removing unnecessary duplexers, they suffer from their inability of having simultaneous transmission/reception in both uplink (UL) and downlink (DL) directions. If their hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement and negative acknowledgement (HARQ ACK/NACK) timing related to DL transmission directly follows the legacy FDD HARQ ACK/NACK timing (i.e., an ACK/NACK is transmitted on 4 milliseconds (ms) after the detection of DL transmission), the subframe where ACK/NACK is transmitted cannot be used for another DL transmission. Because there is only one ACK/NACK transmission in the UL subframe, only half of the subframes can be used for DL transmission, which results in huge reduction of throughput. Also, the frequency resource is expected to be limited for future MTC devices (e.g., the total number of used physical resource block pairs is small). Therefore, the availability and efficiency in the usage of time resources become far important. On the other hand, UL transmission suffers from the same problem. Thus, there is a need to improve the system throughput for operations in the HD-FDD communication system.

Network and user equipment of HD-FDD communication system for handling HARQ


The present invention relates to a robust method for optical recognition of markers in an outdoor environment. In this context, the present invention provides a method for optical recognition of optical markers comprising the steps of: acquiring an image; identifying regions of contiguous colours in the image by flood filling; extracting data and parameters of the contiguous regions; and detecting an optical marker by means of a convex hull algorithm and prediction of position of squares based on the data and parameters extracted from the contiguous Thus, the method of the present invention allows identification of markers, such as chequerboards and targets, unequivocally and with enough robustness as regards partial occlusions and variations of illumination.

Detection of patterns in an outdoor environment is a challenging task that has been the object of research in many fields, from face recognition to recognition of patterns inserted in environments with varying illumination. However, little attention has been paid to the problem of locating optical markers in external situations, where the illumination and the overall histogram may vary considerably.
Among the possible applications of a robust method for optical recognition of markers in an outdoor environment, we may mention:
(i) identification and localization of components, equipment or other objects in construction sites, shipyards, ships and platforms;
(ii) systems for dynamic positioning of equipment for assembly of modules and platforms;
(iii) applications of virtual reality with immersion in an outdoor environment;
(iv) geolocation and optical reference systems for aircraft, manned or unmanned;
(v) locating, monitoring the movement of and tracking components and equipment in an outdoor environment;
(vi) feedback system for robotized positioning of components.
At present, optical recognition of markers is restricted to indoor environments with controlled illumination, and there are no requirements for robustness in an outdoor environment. These methods are generally associated with the creation of augmented reality, which is very common nowadays.
Document WO2015176163A1, for example, discloses a method for detecting a marker in an image including the steps of: (i) detecting a marker in one or more previous frames of the image; (ii) using an edge detector for detecting an edge in a current frame of said image; (iii) tracking line segment edges of the marker detected in the previous frame to find a new set of line segments; (iv) grouping the new set of line segments to supply a new set of polygons having salient points; (v) calculating homography from polygon salient points; (vi) generating a list of homographies; (vii) extracting binary data from the input image having homographies; (viii) verifying if the image is a marker by performing check sum and error correction functions; and (ix) if the image is a marker, identify as a marker and verify binary data, wherein the image is a consecutive image sequence.
Document U.S. Pat. No. 8,963,957B2 discloses a system and method for augmenting the view of reality. In one embodiment, a first medium is superimposed over a first view of reality. One or more changes to the superimposed medium are received, such as a change in transparency, change in size and change in position. A first marker, comprising at least a portion of the first view of reality, is generated. First metadata relating to the first medium and/or the first marker are also generated. The first medium, the first marker, and the first metadata are sent to a depository. In another embodiment, a second medium, second marker, and second metadata are received from the depository. The second marker is matched to at least a portion of a second view of reality, and the second medium is superimposed over the at least one portion of the second view of reality to generate an augmented view of reality.
Document EP1720131B1 describes an augmented reality method and system comprising: (i) means for gathering image data of a real environment, (ii) means for generating virtual image data from said image data, (iii) means for identifying a predefined marker object of the real environment based on the image data, and (iv) means for superimposing a set of object image data with the virtual image data at a virtual image position corresponding to the predefined marker object.
However, none of the methods described in the aforementioned documents discloses steps that would provide robustness in the identification of markers in an outdoor environment.
In addition, as is known, the technology most used for optical recognition is ARToolKit, which is widely used in the creation of augmented reality. The ARToolKit algorithm comprises the following steps:
1. Image acquisition;
2. Digitization;
3. Identification of connected components;
4. Identification of fine edges;
5. Extraction of vertices and sides;
6. Normalization of the pattern;
7. Comparison with templates;
8. Homography and camera transformation;
9. Inclusion of the virtual object.
However, this technology has serious limitations that mean that it is not very robust for use in an industrial and construction site environment—recognition of the markers fails in situations with uncontrolled illumination or partial occlusion. In particular, steps 3, 4, 5 and 7 listed above are quite sensitive to variations in illumination and partial occlusion, so that this technology is not robust enough for application in outdoor environments.
Other tracking technologies exist, such as radio frequency identification (RFID) and VICON systems that require fixing unique markers on the components, but they require databases and complex data acquisition equipment.
Thus, in the prior art there is a need for a technique for optical recognition of markers in common use that is robust even in situations of uncontrolled illumination or partial occlusion, as normally encountered in outdoor environments.
As will be described in more detail hereunder, the present disclosure aims to solve the problem of the prior art described above in a practical and efficient manner.

Method for optical recognition of markers


A bicycle seat is provided that allows for dynamic adjustment of longitudinal seat position when a locking mechanism is unlocked. In one embodiment, the unlocking is accomplished by lifting the nose of the seat body away from the base, thus providing the capability of dynamic adjustment of longitudinal or fore-aft seat position while riding without the component complexity and aerodynamic drag limitations of prior art devices. In an alternative embodiment, a bolt protruding from the seat body is retracted to disengage the locking mechanism and allow dynamic adjustment of longitudinal seat position without lifting the nose of the seat body. A vertical adjustment corresponding to the longitudinal position of the seat is taught to maintain, if desired, the same distance between bike seat and pedals for any longitudinal position of, the seat.

For both recreational and competitive bicycle riders, the fit of a bicycle and the adjustment of the rider's position on the bicycle are key considerations that directly impact overall performance. Such parameters as comfort, safety, aerodynamic efficiency, power delivery, and endurance are influenced by fit and rider position.
Given the importance of rider fit and position, considerable information and various techniques are available to obtain the proper bike fit when purchasing a bike, and then to adjust the rider's position on the bicycle so selected, taking into account comfort, safety, aerodynamics, and power delivery. By way of example, the book entitled "Zinn & the Art of Triathlon Bikes" (hereinafter referred to as "Zinn"), published in 2007 by VELOPRESS, a trade name for a division of Inside Communications, Inc., provides detailed instructions and illustrations of bike and bike equipment selection and rider positioning on the bike. This is particularly important for triathlon bikes equipped with aerobars as illustrated and described in Zinn, but also applies to road bikes, mountain bikes, hybrids, and other types of bicycles, including stationary exercise bikes. The material most relevant to the present invention appears in Zinn chapters 2, 3, and 13, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
As taught in Zinn, the process of rider position adjustment includes various position modifications and fine-tuning that are performed to put the rider in the best possible position on the bike. Key adjustments include seeking the best seat position in height and longitudinal location for the bike owner. The longitudinal position is also referred to as fore-aft position of the bike seat or saddle and is illustrated in Zinn at FIG. 2.3 along with the relationship between fore-aft position and seat-tube angle. The term "effective seat-tube angle" refers to the result achieved by positioning the seat in different fore-aft locations as opposed to the neutral position over the seat post, thereby changing what is referred to in the art as the effective seat-tube angle. The actual angle formed between the seat tube and the horizontal plane or level ground, however, remains constant on a given bicycle frame, but the rider experiences the effective angle as though it were the actual seat-tube angle.
Using typical bicycle components, and as illustrated and described in Zinn, the rider's position is optimized, then fixed. That is, the bicycle components are secured in place with clamps, bolts, or the like. Subsequent adjustments may be done periodically by riders based on comfort and performance considerations from riding, or when new equipment is purchased, such as a new seat or new handlebars or aerobars. The problem with this current state of the art is that the optimal seat longitudinal position and corresponding effective seat-tube angle vary during a ride. This occurs, among other reasons, because of changing road conditions such as inclines, which cause the rider to sit upright as opposed to riding in the aerobars or drop bars, and during times in which the rider needs to take in fluids or food, and to stretch or otherwise relax back muscles. The adjustability of longitudinal seat position is also advantageous in allowing the rider to emphasize or recruit different muscle fibers at different times during a ride or race.
Attempts have been made by others to provide for dynamic seat adjustability in response to the desirability of seat adjustment during a ride. The term "dynamic seat adjustability" as used herein refers to the feature of seat adjustability while riding. The prior art devices that provide for dynamic seat adjustability are generally unsuitable for use with many bikes, particularly road racing, triathlon, and time-trial bikes because of the prior art component's weight, size, or aerodynamic drag burdens.
One example of a prior art attempt at solving this problem is U.S. Pat. No. 6,827,397. The device described in the '397 patent does provide dynamic adjustability in longitudinal seat position, but at the expense of creating an awkward and large seat, which is incompatible with existing seats and the desire for minimum weight, volume, and aerodynamic drag. In addition, the device of the '397 patent suffers from complexity in its components and operation. The device includes a large boom which extends well forward of the seat post, a locking system having multiple components, and a release lever located behind the seat, which must be manipulated to adjust the seat position. Not surprisingly, such prior art devices are seldom if ever used, especially in a triathlon, road bike race, or the like.
Other prior art attempts at solving this problem of rider positioning teach away from the present invention. Several leading manufacturers and designers of bicycle seats for use by riders with aerobars have adopted as a design feature a wider or heavily padded nose, or a combination of both, so that the rider can slide forward and sit on the nose of the seat when in a forward position using the aerobars or when such a position is desired to recruit different muscle fibers. The width of the seat in the nose area and the amount of padding in that area, however, are limited by the rider's need to pedal unimpeded when sitting in the normal position. The practice of sitting on the nose of the seat, or anywhere forward of the optimized shape and padded area is generally a painful compromise for the athlete, perhaps delivering faster riding speeds for some, but at the expense of a sore buttocks, tail bone, and/or genitals. In addition, there are medical concerns about possible injury to the rider from concentrated and prolonged pressure to the genitalia caused by sitting on a narrow bike seat for extended periods of time.
Accordingly, what is needed is a bicycle seat with a mounting system, which provides for easy longitudinal adjustability of the seat position during a ride while minimizing the component weight, volume, and aerodynamic drag. Ideally, the bicycle seat mounting system should allow for compatibility with existing bicycle seat shapes and sitting surface designs, and existing seat posts and seat-post clamps so as to take full advantage of the products currently available in the marketplace as well as the advancements that can be expected in those product areas. Additionally, a vertical adjustment corresponding to the longitudinal position of the seat is desirable to maintain approximately the same distance between bike seat and pedals for any longitudinal position of the seat.


The present invention relates to a method for treating a patient having suffered from severe aphasia associated with cerebrovascular accident chronic stage for at least three years, wherein said treatment consists essentially of administering a composition comprising 2-oxo-1-pyrrolidineacetamide as an active ingredient and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier.

Aphasia is an disorder in acquired speech functions, which occurs as a result of brain damage (Non-patent reference 1). That is, it means a state in which speech functions (spoken language and written language) once acquired with growth are damaged by a brain injury due to a focus formed by a certain cause in a certain region (language area) of the cerebral hemisphere. Diseases as the cause for aphasia include brain tumor, head injury, cerebrovascular accident and the like. When the brain injury by these diseases is slight and transient, aphasia is also slight. The focus which is large or spread on the center of language area causes severe aphasia and the aphasia is more severe and recovery is difficult as the focus broadens (Non-patent reference 2).
In general, recovery of aphasia is remarkable until 3 months after the onset, gradual improvement continues thereafter, and improvement reaches plateau and symptoms are fixed 1 year after the onset (Non-patent reference 2). However, recovery of functional language is not expected in the case of severe aphasia such as total aphasia (Non-patent reference 3).
Speech therapy (language rehabilitation), which is the sole therapy for aphasia, is carried out by several kinds of methods in accordance with the symptoms of aphasia patients. As the medicinal therapy, sedatives (Sodium amytal, Meprobamate), a vasodilator (PRISCOL®) and the like have been tried from relatively old times, which are not used currently because of no reproducibility of their therapeutic effects.
In addition, a hyperbaric oxygen therapy was tried recently but no effect was found (Non-patent reference 3). From these point, there is no therapeutic method as a pharmacotherapy in Japan now, and there is no drug approved as an aphasia-treating drug.
Even in the case of the language rehabilitation as the only one method for treating aphasia, its application has limitations, and patients having critical aphasia, particularly total aphasia, and patients who already received a systematic language rehabilitation for a certain period of time and the effect reached plateau, are excluded from the subject of treatment (Non-patent reference 3). Since the situation is that no appropriate therapeutic method is available for the patients excluded from the subject of treatment, treatment and care of this disease are taken as a great social problem. Under such a situation, various agents have been investigated with the aim of finding an agent effective for this disease, but an agent which can be judged clinically useful has not been found.
On the other hand, it is known that the compound of formula (I), which is called piracetam as the generic name (trade name: MYOCALM®), shows its effectiveness against the diseases such as motion sickness, excessive movement, increase of tonus, epilepsy and the like (Patent references 1 and 2). In addition, piracetam has the following indications in Europe.
In adults:
                Symptomatic treatment of the psycho-organic syndrome whose features, improved by treatment, are memory loss, attention disorders and lack of drive.        Treatment of cortical myoclonus, alone or combination.        Treatment of vertigo and associated disorders of balance, with the exception of dizziness of vasomotor or psychic origin.        For prophylaxis and remission of sickle cell vaso-occlusive crises.In children:        Treatment of dyslexia, in combination with appropriate measures such as speech therapy.        For prophylaxis and remission of sickle cell vaso-occlusive crises.
However, these diseases do not have any relationship with the disorders of the aforementioned aphasia. In addition, in Europe and U.S.A., therapeutic effect of piracetam is found by the combination use of speech therapy at the acute phase for the aphasia after cerebrovascular accidents. In the non-patent reference 4, investigations were carried out on the improvement of speech disorder in acute ischemia patients, in which 12 g of piracetam was intravenously administered to the patients within 12 hours and then it was administered orally at a dose of 12 g/day for 4 weeks and further at a dose of 4.8 g/day for 8 weeks. However, nothing is known about the clinical therapeutic effect of the present invention for severe aphasia in cerebrovascular accident chronic stage, which passed 3 years or more after onset of the aphasia and has no possibility of being recovered by various treatments.    Non-patent reference 1: Rinsho Shitsugosho gaku (Clinical Aphasia), Igaku Shoin, 2001, p. 2    Non-patent reference 2: Rinsho Shitsugosho gaku Handobukku (Clinical Aphasia Handbook), Igaku Shoin, 2000, p. 78, p. 74    Non-patent reference 3: Shitsugosho no Gengo Chiryo (Speech therapy of Aphasia), Igaku Shoin, 2000, p. 18, p. 48, p. 80    Non-patent reference 4: CNS Drugs, 1998, 9, Supple. 1, 41-49
Patent reference 1: JP-B-42-19093
Patent reference 2: U.S. Pat. No. 3,459,738

Agent or method for treating severe aphasia in cerebrovascular accident chronic stage


A method and an apparatus for collecting flux are disclosed. A rosin particle contained in an atmosphere gas, and a vapor of a solvent or an atomized solvent particle are mixed in a mixing section upstream of a flux collection unit-side inlet, and a gas containing a mixed particle is cleaned by electrostatic precipitation. The solvent particle adheres to the rosin particle, and forms an aggregate of larger particle size.

Traditionally, soldering of electronic components to a circuit board uses an apparatus such as a reflow furnace and a flow vessel. For example, a reflow furnace is configured from a preheat zone in which volatiles, mainly solvent, vaporize from the solder paste applied to a circuit board; a primary heat zone, a goal of which is to evaporate the rosin component—a main component of the flux components, and to melt the solder powder; and a cooling zone, which is provided to solidify the solder, and to cool the circuit board itself. That is, soldering is a process in which a circuit board and electronic components are electrically joined to each other through thermal melting of the solder paste by passing the circuit board through a reflow furnace after applying the solder paste on the circuit board and mounting the electronic components on the paste.
Typically, soldering is accomplished in an atmosphere charged with inert gas or nitrogen, or in an air atmosphere.
In the solder paste applied to the circuit board and sent to the primary heat zone, the rosin component as a main component of the flux components evaporates inside the furnace in the form of rosin particles upon being exposed to high temperature. These rosin particles condense in relatively low-temperature portions inside the furnace, including, for example, a conveyer provided for transport of a circuit board into the furnace, inner wall surfaces of the furnace, the ceiling surface, a nozzle plate, a cooling plate, and the labyrinth. The rosin particles condensing on these parts of the furnace turn into a solid or a sticky rosin material as the temperature drops. Such a solid or sticky material causes problems when it clings to the constituent components of the reflow furnace in large quantity.
For example, when such a solid or sticky material is clinging to the conveyer in large quantity, the circuit board sticks to the conveyer, and cannot separate from the conveyer when exiting the furnace, causing it to be caught in the sprocket of the conveyer, and damaged. When the inner walls or the ceiling of the furnace have the solid or sticky material clinging to the surface in large quantity, the deposited fume solid may fall on the traveling circuit board, and stain the circuit board.
Various methods and apparatuses intended to remove the flux components in a furnace are proposed to overcome the problems caused by the clinging solid or sticky material.
For example, Japanese Patent No. 5366395 proposes an apparatus for collecting flux components. In this apparatus, the atmosphere gas generated in a reflow furnace is drawn into a flux collection unit installed outside of the furnace unit, and the atmosphere gas drawn into the flux collection unit is cooled by means of heat exchange to collect the flux components.
FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the reflow furnace on a cross section orthogonal to the transport direction of a circuit board. A flux collection unit 102 is installed in a zone where the atmosphere gas is contaminated most in a reflow furnace 101. A furnace-side outlet 103 for sending an atmosphere gas out of the reflow furnace 101 is connected to a collection unit-side inlet 104 of the flux collection unit 102. A furnace-side inlet 105 for introducing an atmosphere gas into the reflow furnace 101 is connected to a collection unit-side outlet 106 of the flux collection unit 102. A radiator 107 is installed in the flux collection unit 102 to cool the incoming atmosphere gas, and collect the flux components precipitating out of the atmosphere gas.
Japanese Patent No. 4580590 proposes an apparatus for collecting flux components. In this apparatus, the atmosphere gas generated in a reflow furnace is drawn into a flux collection unit installed outside of the furnace unit, and rosin particles are separated and removed from the atmosphere gas in the flux collection unit by means of electrostatic precipitation to collect the flux components.
FIG. 9 is a diagram showing the reflow furnace of Japanese Patent No. 4580590 on a cross section parallel to a direction perpendicular to the transport direction of the circuit board. A reflow furnace 201 is configured from a preheat zone 208 in which volatiles, mainly solvent, vaporize from the solder paste applied to a circuit board; a primary heat zone 209, a goal of which is to evaporate the rosin component—a main component of the flux components, and to melt the solder powder; and a cooling zone 210 provided to solidify the solder, and to cool the circuit board itself. In this related art, a furnace-side outlet 203, which leads to the flux collection unit 202, is provided between the cooling zone 210 and the primary heat zone 209, an area of the furnace contaminated most by the flux. The furnace-side outlet 203 is connected to a collection unit-side inlet 204 via a pipe or the like.
The flux collection unit 202 is configured from a corona discharge section 211, ground electrodes 212, and a fan 213. The atmosphere gas in the furnace is drawn into the flux collection unit 202 by the fan 213, and released to outside through a collection unit-side outlet 206.
The rosin particles generated in the reflow furnace become negatively charged by the corona discharge generated in the corona discharge section 211 as the atmosphere gas containing the rosin particles passes through the flux collection unit 202. The flux components are collected by trapping the charged rosin particles on the ground electrodes, that is, by attaching the charged rosin particles to the ground electrodes.

Flux collection method and flux collection apparatus

PANASONIC INTELLETUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.


A scanning optical system configured to scan laser light on a scanned surface in a scanning direction, includes a light source emitting the laser light, a converging element converging the emitted laser light in the predetermined scanning direction, a deflector deflecting the converged laser light to scan the laser light on the scanned surface, and a scanning speed controlling element controlling the deflected laser light to be scanned at a constant scanning speed. The scanning optical system is configured to satisfy predetermined conditions.

The following description relates to one or more scanning optical systems configured to be incorporated in an image forming device.
A conventional scanning optical system has generally been configured as follows. Laser light emitted by a light source is converted into parallel light through a collimating lens, and thereafter made incident onto a deflector. The light deflected by the deflector is scanned in a predetermined direction on a scanned surface at a constant speed maintained via an fθ lens group. The conventional scanning optical system has usually been configured with a polygon mirror employed as a deflector. In recent years, a scanning optical system is required to be miniaturized to meet a requirement for downsizing an image forming device. Thus, as exemplified in Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. HEI 10-232347 (hereinafter referred to as '347 Publication), there has recently been proposed a scanning optical system which can be miniaturized.
It is noted that a direction in which the laser light deflected by the deflector is scanned on the scanned surface will be defined as a main scanning direction in the following description. Additionally, a direction perpendicular to an optical axis of the scanning optical system and the main scanning direction will be defined as an auxiliary scanning direction. Each direction used when describing elements other than the scanned surface will be determined based on the directions defined on the scanned surface.
The scanning optical system disclosed in '347 Publication is provided with a converging lens as substitute for the collimating lens so as to convert the laser light emitted by the light source not into parallel light but into light converged in the main scanning direction. Thereby, a back focus of the scanning optical system is shortened so as to maintain a focal length of the scanning optical system and to hardly reduce a scanning amount with respect to a rotation angle of the polygon mirror. Consequently, a field angle required for the fθ lens group provided between the polygon mirror and scanned surface is constrained, and therefore the scanning optical system can be miniaturized, keeping favorable optical performances.
In case of using the polygon mirror as the deflector, there is known such a phenomenon that an incident point, namely, a reflection point of the laser light on the polygon mirror (hereinafter referred to as a deflection point) is slightly shifted during a single scanning operation. The positional shift of the deflection point is caused due to an effect of the polygon mirror in which plane deflection surfaces are rotated, with a value up to a radius difference between an inscribed circle and a circumscribed circle of the polygon mirror. When using the converged light, the shift of the deflection point causes an asymmetric scanning trajectory with respect to the optical axis of the fθ lens group, or more specifically, an asymmetric aberration (note: the scanning trajectory represents a trajectory of an imaging point of the converged light deflected by the polygon mirror, which imaging point is defined under the assumption that the converged light is not transmitted through the fθ lens group, as shown in FIG. 6). Therefore, the scanning optical system disclosed in '347 Publication employs the fθ lens group designed such that power allocation thereof in the main scanning direction is asymmetric with respect to the optical axis thereof, in order to overcome the aforementioned asymmetric aberration.
However, when using the fθ lens group with the asymmetric power allocation disclosed in '347 Publication, an allowable margin of location error of each optical element such as the fθ lens group and coupling lens group provided between the light source and polygon mirror is narrower. In other words, the optical performances of the entire scanning optical system are very sensitive to a positional error of each optical element dislocation. Namely, a minute positional error caused when each element is attached results in unacceptable level of astigmatism and shift of the scanned position on the scanned surface.