An aqueous pharmaceutical suspension for oral administration of a drug, which suspension maintains its content uniformity for prolonged period.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to pharmaceutical liquid suspension formulations suitable for oral administration, more particularly to liquid suspensions that remain homogeneous during prolonged storage.
2. Description of Related Art
The most convenient and commonly employed oral drug formats are solids such as tablets and capsules. Many children and some adults however have difficulty swallowing solid dosage formats, and in this case, the drug is given in liquid form, either as syrup or suspension.
Drugs are formulated as suspensions for different reasons, but the most common one is poor drug solubility. Suspensions may also be used to mask the poor taste resulting from the dissolved drug in solution. A suspension, however, unlike syrup in which the drug is fully dissolved, requires adequate shaking of the container to resuspend the drug uniformly before dosing. Difficult redispersion of the drug from a sediment, or in the worst case, from caking, will result in under- and overdosing. This problem of variable dosing is also encountered when the patient or the caregiver forgets to shake the container before dosing. It is therefore desirable to produce a suspension that is able to maintain its homogeneity on prolonged storage without shaking.
Stoke's law defines the sedimentation rate of a sphere in a fluid as:
                    v        =                                                            D                2                                                          (                                                      ρ                    P                                    -                                      ρ                    L                                                  )                                                  g                                18                        μ                                              (        1        )            where                v=sedimentation rate        D=mean particle diameter        ρP=particle density        ρL=liquid density        g=acceleration due to gravity        μ=viscosity of the liquid phase
The above equation indicates that the rate of sedimentation can be reduced by minimizing the density difference between the suspended particles and the liquid phase, reducing the particle size, and increasing the viscosity of the liquid phase.
If the densities of the suspended particle and the liquid phase are the same, sedimentation will not occur. In practice, precise matching of the densities is not always possible. The drug density may be too high, or the amount of density increasing ingredients may be too great.
Reducing the particle size is another way of slowing sedimentation. However, small particles tend to cake more severely because of the increased surface energy from the larger surface area, making redispersion much more difficult and sometimes impossible.
Small particle size is desirable for reasons other than slowing the rate of sedimentation. For drugs that are not very soluble, smaller particles generally dissolve faster due to the increase in the total surface area, which can in turn enhance bioavailability. Also, smaller drug particles are less likely to cause grittiness, which improves the palatability of the finished product. There is therefore a need for a suspension containing fine particles, hereafter referring to an average particle size less than about 20 μm, which will not cake on storage, but in addition is able to maintain its homogeneity on prolonged storage without shaking.
The most popular approach to slowing the sedimentation rate is by increasing the viscosity through the addition of a suspending agent. Excessive viscosity is undesirable, however, if it interferes with pouring and redispersal of settled particles.
As described in the book Pharmaceutical Dosage Forms: Disperse Systems Volume 2, Second Edition, New York, 1989, pages 234-236, yield value is an important mechanism of permanent suspensions. The theoretical yield value (Y) must balance or exceed the force of gravity on the settling particles. For spherical particles:
                    Y        =                              2                          3                            π                                                      (                                          ρ                P                            -                              ρ                L                                      )                              Dg                                    (        2        )
Other than providing a general guideline of introducing a yield value to the dispersion medium, this prior art is unclear on what combinations of particle size, yield value, and density difference will produce a suspension of fine particles that maintains its homogeneity for prolonged period.
The prior art has shown extensive use of combinations of suspending agents to promote redispersability. U.S. Pat. No. 4,975,465 discloses a tastemasked ibuprofen suspension comprising a suspending base of xanthan gum, microcrystalline cellulose, sodium carboxymethylcellulose and polysorbate 80. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,272,137 and 5,409,907 teach the use of xanthan gum and microcrystalline cellulose to minimize sedimentation. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,374,659 and 5,621,005 provide easily redispersable pharmaceutical suspensions using xanthan gum, pregelatinized starch and polyoxyethylene sorbitan monooleate. U.S. Pat. No. 5,658,919 discloses the use of xanthan gum, a mixture of microcrystalline cellulose and sodium carboxymethylcellulose, and an auxiliary suspending agent selected from hydroxyethylcellulose and a salt of carboxymethylcellulose to minimize sedimentation of paracetamol suspensions. U.S. Pat. No. 5,712,310 provides easily redispersable suspension base comprising a water-soluble modified starch, a water-soluble hydrocolloid polysaccharide, and a water-soluble wetting agent. U.S. Pat. No. 5,759,579 provides a liquid suspension base comprising xanthan gum and hydroxypropyl methylcellulose. None of these patents discloses a storage stable suspension that remains homogeneous for prolonged period of time without shaking.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,112,604 assigned to Riker laboratories discloses an aqueous pharmaceutical suspension containing large particles of coated sustained-release theophylline, wherein the drug is maintained in suspension for prolonged period. The suspending base comprises a hydrocolloid gum, colloidal silicon dioxide, a carbohydrate, and a wetting agent. This prior art does not teach how particle size, density difference, and yield value can be combined to produce a suspension of fine particles that maintains its homogeneity for prolonged period.


An extended input device for a portable wireless communication apparatus includes a first input keypad, a second input keypad, a pivot portion connecting the first input keypad and the second input keypad, and pivotally switching the first input keypad and the second input keypad between a normal and an operating statuses, and a signal transmission portion connected to the first input keypad and the second input keypad for transmitting a signal between the extended input device and the portable wireless communication apparatus. Therefore, the extended input device can provide an enough area for typing and a small size for being easily packed up to be carried on.

The present invention relates to an extended input device, and more specially one for the portable wireless communication apparatus.
Owing to the evolutions of software and hardware, additional functions of the mobile phone system have been gradually directed toward to the wireless transmission of the information. Therefore, it will be very common to use the mobile phone for receiving or sending e-mails, browsing web sites, doing internet-shopping, dealing with personal finance. Since the sale situation of the mobile phone with the WAP (wireless application protocol) function is so hot, the future of the mobile phone can be expected. As the demand of inputting the data into the mobile phone increases, the traditional keys of the present mobile phone cannot meet such demand for inputting function. Therefore, it is necessary to provide an extended keyboard for the user to quickly type therethrough alphabet characters or instructions into the mobile phone.
FIG. 1 shows the appearance diagram of the extended keyboard according to the prior art. As shown in FIG. 1, as the mobile phone is getting smaller and smaller, the size of the traditional extended keyboard is too big to be carried conveniently because it has to provide the enough input area for typing. Thus, it seriously affects the buying and using will of the consumer. Therefore, it is worthwhile for researching how to solve the defects in the traditional device for further providing an extended input device which is convenient in use and easy in packing up the portable wireless communication apparatus such as the mobile phone.
It is therefore tried by the applicant to deal with the above situation encountered in the prior art.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to propose an extended input device having an enough area for inputting retrieving information easily.
It is therefore another object of the present invention to propose an extended input device having a small size for be packed up to be carried on conveniently.
According to the present invention, an extended input device for a portable wireless communication apparatus comprises a first input keypad, a second input keypad, a pivot portion connecting the first input keypad and the second input keypad, and pivotally switching the first input keypad and the second input keypad between a normal and an operating statuses, and a signal transmission portion electrically connected to the first input keypad and the second input keypad for transmitting a signal between the extended input device and the portable wireless communication apparatus.
Certainly, the extended input device can further comprise a clipping portion for clipping the first input keypad and the second input keypad on the portable wireless communication apparatus. The clipping portion is connected to the back of said first input keypad and pivots about a shaft.
Certainly, the clipping portion can comprise a first movable protruding portion located on the back of the first input keypad, and placed in a groove of the back of the first input keypad under a normal status (non-operating status) and protruding on the back of the first input keypad under an operating status for clipping the portable wireless communication apparatus, and a second movable protruding portion located on the back of the second input keypad, and placed in a groove of the back of the second input keypad, under a normal status and protruding on the back of the second input keypad under an operating status for clipping the portable wireless communication apparatus.
Certainly, the signal transmission portion can be a signal connecting line.
According to another aspect of the present invention, an extended input device for a portable wireless communication apparatus comprises a first input keypad, a second input keypad, a pivot portion connecting the first input keypad and the second input keypad, and pivotally switching the first input keypad and the second input keypad between a normal and an operating statuses, and a signal transmission portion connected to the first input keypad and the second input keypad for transmitting a signal between the extended input device and the portable wireless communication apparatus.
Preferably, the signal transmission portion is an infrared ray signal transmission module.
According to additional aspect of the present invention, an extended input device for a portable wireless communication apparatus comprises a first input keypad, a second input keypad, a switching device allowing the first input keypad and the second input keypad to form a flat surface under an operating status, and to form a collapsed condition under a normal status, and a signal transmission portion connected to the first input keypad and the second input keypad for transmitting a signal between the extended input device and said portable wireless communication apparatus.
Certainly, the switching device can include a hollow portion provided in the first input keypad for receiving therein the second input keypad under the normal status, the second input keypad being pulled out of the first input keypad under the operating status.

Extended input device for portable wireless communication apparatus


A photo mask for use in forming a pattern, such as a photoresist pattern, is corrected to compensate for discrepancies in the transmissivity of the photo mask which results in the pattern having a distribution of critical dimensions that is too great or which deviates too much from the target critical dimension of the pattern. The photo mask includes a transparent substrate, a light-shielding layer pattern defining transmission sites on the transparent substrate, and at least some of which sites have a relatively low transmissivity. The method of correcting the photo mask includes doping a front surface of the transparent substrate of the photo mask with ions. A predetermined number of the sites can be doped to narrow the distribution of the critical dimensions of the pattern formed using the photo mask, or all of the transmission sites of the photo mask can be doped to make the average of the critical dimensions of the pattern closer to the target critical dimension of the pattern.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the fabrication of semiconductor devices. More particularly, the present invention relates to a photo mask used in a photolithography process in which a pattern is transcribed onto a semiconductor substrate.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, the fabrication of a semiconductor device includes several photolithography processes and etch processes to form circuit elements on a semiconductor substrate. Photolithography is a process in which the pattern of a photo mask is transferred to a layer of photoresist on the substrate. More specifically, the photolithography process involves coating the semiconductor substrate with photoresist, exposing the layer of photoresist to light directed through a photo mask so that the pattern of the photomask is transferred to the photoresist, and developing the exposed photoresist using a developer whereby the layer of photoresist is patterned. Subsequently, a layer underlying the photoresist pattern is etched using the photoresist pattern as an etch mask, and the photoresist pattern is removed.
Also, semiconductor devices have become much more highly integrated in recent years. Accordingly, the critical dimensions (CD) of semiconductor devices have become smaller and smaller. Thus, the critical dimensions of the patterns of the photo masks are becoming smaller, and the patterns themselves are becoming much finer. Under such circumstances, a mask error enhancement factor (MEEF) of the photolithography process has increased, and the process of fabricating an effective photo mask has become more difficult.
More specifically, in order to meet the current demand for a highly integrated semiconductor device, the photolithography process must produce a pattern on a substrate whose distribution of critical dimensions is beyond the capability of the photo mask. Furthermore, the complexity of the device requires that the pattern formed in a die of the substrate have a wide distribution of critical dimensions. This requirement makes it difficult to maintain shot uniformity on the semiconductor substrate. Thus, it is very difficult to fabricate an effective photo mask unless the photolithography process has a low MEEF. Recently, however, a method of compensating for the transmissivity of the photo mask has been employed to overcome these limitations. More specifically, the transmissivity of a predetermined portion of the photo mask is altered to produce a critical dimension different from that which is produced from the original photo mask pattern. A conventional method of compensating for the transmissivity of a photo mask will be explained with reference to FIGS. 1A through 1F.
Referring first to FIG. 1A, a photo mask 100 is prepared. The photo mask 100 includes a transparent substrate 105 such as a quartz substrate, a light-shielding layer pattern 110 on the transparent substrate 105, and a chrome pattern 115 disposed at the edge of the light-shielding layer pattern 110. The photo mask 100 may be a phase shift mask (PSM), and in this case, the light-shielding layer of the light-shielding layer pattern 110 is a phase shifter. Alternatively, the photo mask 100 may be a binary mask, in which case the mask consists of a transparent substrate and a light-shielding layer pattern.
A critical dimension of the photo mask 100 is the interval between the elements of the light-shielding layer pattern 110. The areas between these elements define transmission sites, respectively, at which the transparent substrate 105 is exposed and light is transmitted by the mask. That is, the critical dimension is the width of a transmission site. Each photo mask used in the fabrication of a semiconductor device is designed to have a predetermined target critical dimension. However, the actual critical dimension may differ from the target critical dimension due to fabrication errors, or the like. Furthermore, the pattern of a photo mask may have a plurality of critical dimensions, i.e., the critical dimension may vary across the photo mask.
The critical dimension of a semiconductor device is a very important factor in the performance of the device. In particular, the gate length in a highly-integrated device is on the sub-micron order and if this critical dimension of the gate does not correspond to the design CD, the device may experience serious operating defects caused by a short channel effect or the like. Similarly, if the size of a contact hole does not correspond to the design CD of the contact hole, the contact resistance or the like may be so high as to seriously impede the operating speed of the device. Therefore, fabricating semiconductor devices with precise critical dimensions becomes more important as the semiconductor devices become more highly integrated.
Referring to FIG. 1B, the back surface of the transparent substrate 105 of the photo mask 100 is coated with a layer of photoresist 120. Then, the photoresist 120 is exposed to light directed through another photo mask using an exposure apparatus such as a stepper (not shown). As shown in FIG. 1C, the photoresist reacts with the light, whereby its etch characteristics are changed; reference numeral 120′ in the figure designates an exposed portion of the photoresist 120.
Referring to FIG. 1D, the photoresist 120 is developed, thereby forming a photoresist pattern 120b. The developing operation may be a wet etch. In the case in which the photoresist 120 is a positive type of resist, the exposed portion 120′ of the photoresist is removed, as shown in drawing.
Referring to FIG. 1E, the back surface of the transparent substrate 105 is etched using the photoresist pattern 120b as an etch mask, thereby forming a transparent substrate 105a having a lattice structure whose pattern has a CD less than that of the wavelength of the exposure light (the light that will be used in the photolithography process). The etching operation may be a reactive ion dry etch.
Referring to FIG. 1F, the photoresist pattern 120b is removed, thereby completing the formation of the photo mask 100a. The transmissivity of the light passing through the transparent substrate 105 is altered by the lattice structure of the pattern at the back surface of the photo mask 100a.
The transmissivity of the photo mask is thus affected by the diffraction of the light by the lattice structure (pattern) at the back surface of the transparent substrate. Therefore, the intensity and phase of the transmitted light can be controlled according to a duty ratio or fill factor of each portion of the lattice structure, and by the orientation of the pattern of the lattice structure. Furthermore, the transmissivity can be controlled across the photo mask by designing the lattice structure to have local characteristics, i.e. characteristics according to the position that it occupies in the photo mask. Furthermore, phase changes in the transmitted light may be realized just by providing a lattice of one binary phase. Accordingly, a multi-phase diffraction optical device may be realized by one process.
According to the conventional art as described above, variations in the distribution of the actual CDs from the design CDs of the photoresist pattern and of the ultimate semiconductor device formed using a photo mask may be compensated for by forming a lattice structure at the back surface of the photo mask to alter the transmissivity of the photo mask. However, the turn-around time (TAT) of fabricating the photo mask is slowed by the additional process of forming the lattice structure on the back surface of the photo mask. Furthermore, defects such as scratches or the like may occur on the front surface of the photo mask during the process of patterning the back surface of the photo mask.

Photo mask and method of correcting the transmissivity of a photo mask


Unmanned missile and method for releasing the unmanned missile from a carrier aircraft, in which the missile has an autonomous flight control device that acts on control devices of the missile. The method includes adjusting vertical rudders and elevators of the missile into a neutral position in which a respective rudder angle is 0°, separating electrical and mechanical connections between the missile and the carrier aircraft, and detecting, via sensors of the missile, that the separating has occurred. The method also includes activating the autonomous flight control device and automatically controlling the missile with the flight control device and the control devices based upon correction flight condition variables caused by a prevailing downwash between the missile and the carrier aircraft, and automatically controlling the missile with the flight control device and the control devices based on data stored in at least one storage device on the missile.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for releasing an unmanned missile from a carrier aircraft. In particular the invention relates to a method for releasing an unmanned, aerodynamically unstable missile from a carrier aircraft.
2. Discussion of Background Information
Although conventional unmanned missiles, for example so-called "cruise missiles," are provided with their own wings as uplift aids, these wings in carried flight, i.e., when the missile is attached to the carrier aircraft, are in a retracted position within the contour of the missile, and are not extended until after the missile is released. The missile is thus in an aerodynamically unstable state directly after the release from the carrier aircraft. The aerodynamic stability (above all in the pitch axis) does not improve substantially until the wings have been extended.
In the release of an unmanned missile attached to a so-called pylon on the carrier aircraft, it should be ensured that the unmanned missile is not immediately deflected after its release by aerodynamic forces, for example, by the so-called downwash field (i.e., the flow field around the missile in the attached state) and through repulsive forces of an ejector system (e.g., a gas pressure system) provided on the pylon. Such an immediate deflection can result in the unmanned missile colliding with the carrier aircraft or getting into a flight condition that can no longer be controlled.
The aerodynamic forces acting on the missile are dependent on the velocity of approach, i.e., on the tape-to-head speed of the carrier aircraft to the air upon release of the unmanned missile, on the atmospheric density, i.e., the flight altitude at which the release occurs, on the angle of incidence of the missile and on the aerodynamic flow conditions, i.e., the downwash field, of the unmanned missile attached to the carrier aircraft. This downwash field, which is different from an airflow around the missile in the free air field, results from flow bottlenecks (e.g., through containers on adjacent weapon stations or through restriction of the space between a missile and an underside of the carrier aircraft by a pitch angle offset provided during the installation of the missile) and/or from fluid-flow stagnation areas (e.g., on the front root of the pylon). In this way, static and dynamic pressure differences and thus special actions of forces and moments on the missile result, which disappear again with increasing distance from the carrier aircraft during release, typically occur approximately 200 ms after the release. Subsequently the aerodynamics of the free air flow acts on the missile.
Pressure differences between the top and underside of the missile generate pitching moments and pressure differences between the left and the right side of the missile generate yawing moments. Typically, negligible moments about the yaw axis and about the roll axis result at wing weapon stations with sufficient distance from adjacent containers. However, a dominating pitching moment results, which presses the missile nose downwards and the strength of which depends on the angle of incidence of the missile, on the Mach number and on the atmospheric density. This pitching moment already acts on the missile in the attached state and during the release exerts a more or less strong angular momentum about the pitch axis on the missile. This specific rotational effect disappears during the release operation with increasing distance of the missile from the carrier aircraft, because the pressure differences between the top and underside balance one another. Since in this situation the missile has hardly any aerodynamic pitch stability, the rotational motion about the pitch axis caused by the pitching moment continues. The pitch rotation rate greatly increases due to the increasing area of the missile, which is exposed to the dynamic pressure of the approach flow, and which results above all when the aerodynamic center of pressure is located ahead of the center of gravity (nose is at the front). Then a flight attitude of the missile very quickly occurs thereby which can no longer be stabilized, so that the released unmanned missile crashes out of control and is lost for the planned mission, unless corresponding countermeasures are initiated promptly.
Immediately after the release, the unmanned missile is subjected to a pitching moment due to the aerodynamic forces acting on it, which pitching moment presses the nose of the missile downwards that can result in the missile being in an uncontrolled vertical flight attitude. This flight attitude can no longer be stabilized even after the wings have been extended, so that the released unmanned missile crashes out of control and is lost for the planned mission.
The release of a missile from the carrier aircraft is carried out in a state of the missile in which the flight attitude control thereof has not yet been activated. This is thereby intended to avoid a collision between the missile and the carrier aircraft occurring in the immediate vicinity of the carrier aircraft through an error in the flight attitude control of the unmanned missile. For this reason, different approaches have hitherto been preferred.
Since the missile is aerodynamically stable and inactive during the carried flight, i.e., without its own power supply, it is connected to the carrier aircraft by a release cord in addition to the mechanical fastening device. The release cord activates the power supply of the missile after the release of the missile at a specific distance of the missile from the carrier aircraft, so that the flight attitude control of the missile cannot be operable until then. Only missiles with sufficiently large aerodynamic stability or with restricted release conditions with respect to angle of incidence, Mach number and altitude can be used for this method, so that a loss of the missile through the downwash field acting until the start of its own flight control is ruled out.
In an alternative approach, the power system of the aerodynamically stable missile is already active during the carried flight. However, for safety reasons, the activation of the flight attitude control of the missile is delayed via corresponding time-delay devices in the missile and the control surface deflection of the control surfaces is limited for a specific time until the missile is sufficiently far away from the carrier aircraft. During the phase of the unregulated flight between the release and the start of the flight attitude control of the missile, there is no risk of loss here either through the aerodynamic forces acting thereon because of the aerodynamic stability of the missile.
However, if the missile is aerodynamically unstable, at least in the first flight phase after the release, and if relevant forces and moments of the downwash field act on the missile, there is a risk that it will get into an unstable flight attitude in the time between the release and the start of the missile flight attitude control and will therefore be lost. However, the safety philosophy has hitherto required that the flight attitude control of the missile can be active only when it has been ensured that a faulty flight attitude control will not lead to a collision of the missile with the carrier. In practice, this period of time for aerodynamically unstable missiles has hitherto not been less than 100 ms after release from the carrier aircraft has been detected.
In the case of aerodynamically unstable missiles, the vertical rudders and elevators provided on the tail of the unmanned missile have hitherto been brought from the neutral position (rudder angle=0°) into a deflected rudder position (so-called "fin preset") shortly before the release of the missile from the carrier aircraft. In this manner, moments result to the missile center of gravity through the approach flow of the rudder and through the lever arms of the rudders which are opposed to the moments of the downwash field acting on the missile and thus correspondingly suppress the rotary motion of the missile during release.
Since the forces and moments acting on the missile due to the downwash are essentially dependent on the flight altitude and on the airspeed of the carrier aircraft, the preset rudder angles of the elevators/vertical rudders have to be adjusted to the approach flow conditions, i.e., to the airspeed and the flight altitude. In order to determine these rudder angles, it is therefore necessary to carry out a multiplicity of flight tests and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. These flight tests and simulations have to be carried out not only for each combination of a carrier aircraft model and missile model, but in addition also for each attachment location of the unmanned missile on the carrier aircraft (for example, under the fuselage or under the wings) and for each combination of the configuration of adjacent stations for the attachment of weapons and containers. Furthermore, the presetting of the rudder angles of the missiles has to be determined anew with the introduction of new weapons or containers at adjacent stations, since the new adjacent configuration changes the downwash field of the missile and since the resulting rotary and translational effects on the missile therefore change. This shows that a huge expenditure in terms of preliminary tests and simulations has to be invested before the clearance for use of a combination of carrier aircraft and unmanned missile.

Method for releasing an unmanned missile from a carrier aircraft


A reclining seat includes a seat base coupled to a support surface. The seat base is moveable between extended and retracted positions as supported on a support roller by a guide rail disposed on an underside of the seat base. The guide rail includes a first support surface disposed at a first height, and a second support surface is disposed at a second height that is greater than the first height of the first support surface with a ramped portion disposed therebetween. The seat base is supported at the first support surface in the retracted position, and supported at the second support surface in the extended position. A seatback is coupled to a rear wall and is operable between upright and reclined positions. In the reclined position, the seatback is moved downward and away from the rear wall.

Increased comfort for rear seat passengers can be a challenge with specific regard to rear seats disposed in pick-up trucks. Particularly, the rear wall of a pick-up truck cabin can prevent a rear seat from reclining to a desired position for increasing the comfort for a rear seat passenger. Further, the rear seats in pick-up trucks are generally foldable to increase the amount of cargo space in the cabin, such that a desire exists to provide an adjustable rear seat that can recline and fold to optimize cargo space and provide comfort options for a rear seat passenger.


A snap ring pliers contain: a handle, a first clamper, a second clamper, two clamp feet, and an adjustment structure. The handle includes a connection column. The first clamper includes a first hollow fitting ring, a first arcuate section, a second arcuate section, and a first straight section. The second clamper includes a second hollow fitting ring, a third arcuate section, a fourth arcuate section, and a second straight section. A respective one clamp foot of the two clamp feet includes a shaft inserted into the first straight section or the second straight section. The adjustment structure includes a first post, a second post, a threaded rod, and a sleeve. A direction of a threaded section of the first threaded orifice is opposite to a direction of a threaded section of the second threaded orifice. The threaded rod has a first screwing section and a second screwing section.

A conventional snap ring is a mechanical component applied to fix shafts and bearings.
The conventional snap ring is applied to the shafts and holes. When the snap ring is applied to the shafts, it is called as an outer retainer, and when the snap ring is applied to the holes, it is called as an inner retainer. The snap ring is made of metal and is formed in an arcuate sheet, wherein the snap ring has two segments formed on two arcuate ends thereof, and each of the two segments of the snap ring is inserted through a receiving aperture.
As shown in FIG. 1, the pliers are used to fix or remove the snap ring and contain a handle 11, a first clamper 12, a second clamper 13, and an adjustment structure 14. The handle 11 is upright, a top of each of the first clamper 12 and the second clamper 13 is rotatably connected with a connection column 15 of the handle, and two ends of the connection column 15 point to the handle 11 axially, the first clamper 12, and the second clamper 13 so that the first clamper 12 and the second clamper 12 are rotated reciprocately along the connection column 15. The first clamper 12 has a first clamp foot 122 extending from a bottom thereof and inserted into one of the two receiving apertures (not shown) of the snap ring, and the second clamper 13 has a second clamp foot 132 extending from a bottom thereof and inserted into the other receiving aperture of the snap ring, such that the snap ring is forced to deform outward or inward, thus fixing or removing the snap ring.
The adjustment structure 14 has a first post 142, a second post 144, and a threaded rod 146. The first post 142 is formed on a middle section of the first clamper 12, the second post 146 is formed on a middle section of the second clamper 13. The threaded rod 146 has a first screwing section 1462 and a second screwing section 1416, wherein a direction of the first screwing section 1462 extends opposite to a direction of the second screwing section 1416. The first screwing section 1462 passes through the first post 142, and the second screwing section 1464 passes through the second post 142. When the threaded rod 146 is rotated, the first screwing section 1462 forces the first clamper 12 to rotate along the connection column 15, and the second screwing section 1464 urges the second clamper 13 to rotate along the connection column 15, wherein a rotation direction of the first clamper 12 is opposite to a rotation direction of the second clamper 13 so as to change a distance between the first clamp foot 122 and the second clamp foot 132. The threaded rod 146 has a coupling portion 1466 arranged on an end thereof so as to connect with a wrench or other hand tools, such that the threaded rod 146 is rotated by the wrench or the other hand tools to operate the first clamper 12 and the second clamper 13.
The conventional snap ring pliers are applicable for a connection or a removal of a large-sized of snap ring, and the threaded rod 146 is rotated by an auxiliary tool to derive the first clamper 12 and the second clamper 13 to revolve, thus obtaining easy operation.
As illustrated in FIG. 2, when the snap ring is connected or removed by the pliers, the first clamper 12 and the second clamper 13 are driven to rotate along the connection column 15, such that an angle between each of the first clamp foot 122 and the second clamp foot 132 and each receiving aperture is changed, and each of the first clamp foot 122 and the second clamp foot 132 slides relative to and remove from the snap ring, thus causing operation unsafe.
The present invention has arisen to mitigate and/or obviate the afore-described disadvantages.


The present invention relates to the fast code acquisition methods based on signed-rank statistic. In more detail, it presents novel detectors required for PN (PN) code acquisition in DS/SS system.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to fast code acquisition methods based on signed-rank statistic. In more detail, it relates to novel detectors required for PN (PN) code acquisition in direct sequence spread spectrum (DS/SS) systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
When the receiver and transmitter in a DS/SS system start communicating each other, the local despreading PN code sequence should first be synchronized to the incoming spreading PN code sequence. The synchronization process is normally composed of two steps: code acquisition and tracking. The code acquisition is a process of successive decisions wherein the final goal is to bring the two code sequences into (at least) coarse time alignment within a fraction g of the chip duration Tc. After the successful code acquisition, a code tracking loop is used to synchronize the two code sequences even more accurately. In the present invention, the code acquisition problem is considered.
The basic unit in any acquisition receiver is a decision-making device; that is, a detector. The class of detectors can be classified as either coherent or noncoherent; according to the specific detection criteria, it can be classified into Bayes, Neyman-Pearson, and etc. In accordance with the present invention, the noncoherent Neyman-Pearson detector is considered.
In the conventional parametric detector, the variance of time-varying interference has to be estimated to decide the threshold of a detector. Small deviation of the estimated value from the real value, however, may lead to a significant performance degradation of the parametric detector. The nonparametric detector based on the sign statistic has been proposed recently for the PN code acquisition problem, whose threshold can be decided without first estimating the variance of interference.
Accordingly, it is therefore the object of the present invention to provide the novel nonparametric detectors, which may improve the performance of code acquisition system.

Fast code acquisition method based on signed-rank statistic

Abstract: In accordance with the present invention, first, the LOR (LOR) detector is derived and then the LSR (LSR) and MSR (MSR) detectors using approximate score functions are proposed. It is compared the single-dwell scheme without the verification mode using the proposed LSR and MSR detectors with that using the conventional squared-sum (SS) and modified sign (MS) detectors.

Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology


A laser processing apparatus is provided wherein a laser beam of a wavelength which passes through a wafer having a surface on which a plurality of devices are disposed is irradiated along a schedule division line to separate the adjacent devices from each other to form a modification layer which continuously extends in a given length in the inside of the wafer. A mark portion is displayed in an overlapping relationship with a picked up image obtained by image pickup of a wafer on a display unit. If the mark portion is moved to a desired position of the picked up image displayed on the display unit, then coordinates which correspond to the desired position of the picked up image are stored as a start point or an end portion of a scheduled division line, along which the modification layer is to be formed, into a storage unit.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a laser processing apparatus which irradiates a laser beam for forming a modification layer serving as a start point of division on a wafer.
Description of the Related Art
In order to divide a wafer, on which devices such as an IC (Integrated Circuit) and so forth are formed, into a plurality of chips, a processing method for a wafer wherein a laser beam is focused on the inside of the wafer to form a modification layer serving as a start point of division has been proposed (refer to, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-86161). With this processing method, it is possible to reduce the cutting margin (cutting width) and suppress chipping (chipping of the chip) in comparison with conventional processing methods which uses a cutting blade. Further, with this processing method, also it is possible to process a wafer without using water.
Incidentally, in a laser processing apparatus used for the processing method described above, it is possible to easily switch between irradiation and non-irradiation of a laser beam. Therefore, a method has been proposed which takes advantage of this characteristic of the laser working apparatus to process a wafer of the so-called multi-project type in which devices of different shapes and different sizes are provided in a mixed state (refer to, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2010-123723).


The image subject to be transferred is applied in preformatted form to at least two printing formes in the form of segment-like image data in a row and column arrangement, in such a way that a first portion of information from each segment of the image subject (information (a) with appropriate index features) is provided on a first printing forme, and a second portion of information from the corresponding segment of the image subject (information (b) with appropriate index features) is provided on a second printing forme. As a result of synchronous rolling of the printing-forme cylinders, the portions of information are assembled to form complete information ( less than a,b greater than  with the respectively combined index features) for each segment of the image subject on the printed page. For each printing-forme cylinder revolution, the index features for each segment of the image subject (information  less than a,b greater than ) are recombined step by step in the manner of a permutation, so that each printed segment constitutes a unique print.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the field of conventional printing on a rotary printing machine (for example offset, gravure, flexo or screen printing) and relates to a method of printing unique prints or individually assembled printed products on rotary printing machines by using a plurality of printing forme cylinders.
2. Description of the Related Art
As is known, by means of the digital printing machines, text passages, graphics and images can be interchanged during each cylinder revolution, provided appropriate regions have been predefined on such pages. This can be implemented in conjunction with various templates (pre-prepared configuration patterns with text predefinitions) or by means of the page-by-page restructuring of entire documents, so that quite specific tailor-made printed products are produced, whose individual copies no longer have anything at all in common with one another with regard to information content and appearance. In this sense, a plurality of data streams, that is to say at least two, are brought together. These can consist, for example, firstly of repeated and secondly of one-off page elements. The elements used many times are pre-processed in a raster image processor in modern workflows, are stored and called up as required as a bitmap. The variable data are supplied from databases to a so-called RIP/front end. The databases which are used play a rather subordinate role, since their contents must in any case be present in a format that can be processed by the printing system or must be converted. Because of these technical possibilities, digital printing is also referred to as dynamic printing in the trade.
Variant printing or unique printing has previously only been possible with electronic, that is to say digital, printing processes (laser/inkjet/thermal transfer). xe2x80x9cImage onexe2x80x94print onexe2x80x9d therefore requires direct imagesetting from a stock of data for each unique print, for example in the case of electrophotographic, thermographic or inkjet systems. The advantage resides precisely in the fact that the data can be varied for each printxe2x80x94for example in order to produce barcodes on price tickets, numbering systems or else individualized flight tickets, etc.
The increasing trend towards a desire for distinguishability, that is to say individualization, cannot currently be satisfied in productive conventional printing (for example offset, gravure, flexo or screen printing) (all copies are identical). This has previously been the deficiency of conventional or therefore also of xe2x80x9cstaticxe2x80x9d printing which, because of its cost structure, is rather more aligned to mass duplication. xe2x80x9cImage onexe2x80x94print manyxe2x80x9d means setting an image on a plate or a writeable cylinder for the production of a plurality of identical printed copies. The image setting itself can quite possibly be brought about digitally by means of xe2x80x9ccomputer-to-filmxe2x80x9d (including the production of a digitally output film with the possibility of also continuing to print conventionally) or xe2x80x9ccomputer-to-platexe2x80x9d (that is to say a process for exposing a printing image directly onto the printing forme or plate) or xe2x80x9ccomputer-to-pressxe2x80x9d (the process requires neither film nor plate, as described for example in DE 199 39 240 A1 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,070,528. However, the printing speed of conventional printing is comparatively very high and complicated front-end systems, which the use of variable data makes necessary, are not an issue.
In the case of conventional printing, the printing unit, as a central subassembly of each rotary printing machine, performs the function of transferring the printing image from the printing forme on the printing-forme cylinder (via the rubber blanket in the case of offset printing) to the printing material. Examples of familiar printing-unit formes are the 3-cylinder system for each printing unit for the single-color printing of a printing material, or the 4-cylinder system for a so-called double printing unit for printing both sides of a printing material, or a 6-cylinder system, in which for each printing unit, a printing material is led between two blanket cylinders and printed in 2/1 colors, that is to say two systems of rubber blanket printing-forme cylinder are arranged on a blanket cylinder for each printing unit. As is known, rotary printing machines print from cylindrical printing formes, so that printing forme and impression cylinder in each printing unit roll continuously and in each case synchronized with each other. Rotary printing machines are used both for relief and for gravure and offset printing, their construction, in particular the number of printing units, of course depending on the process used. Furthermore, the variation in the printing units when conceiving a printing machine is very wide and, by means of an aggregate or modular method, can be differentiated in accordance with the envisaged production profile.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to propose a method for printing unique prints or individually assembled printed products on rotary printing machines which can be used for conventional printing (offset, gravure printing, and so on).
The invention relates to a method of printing unique prints or individually assembled printed products on rotary printing machines by using a plurality of printing-forme cylinders. According to the invention, the image subject to be transferred is applied in preformatted form to at least two printing formes in the form of segment-like image data preferably in a row and column arrangement, in such a way that a first portion of information from each segment of the image subject (information (a) with appropriate index features) is provided on a first printing forme, and a second portion of information from the corresponding segment of the image subject (information (b) with appropriate index features) is provided on a second printing forme. As a result of synchronous rolling of the printing-forme cylinders, the portions of information are assembled to form complete information ( less than a,b greater than  with the respectively combined index features) for each segment of the image subject on the printed page. For each printing-forme cylinder revolution, the index features for each segment of the image subject (information  less than a,b greater than ) are recombined step by step in the manner of a permutation, so that each printed segment constitutes a unique print. Apart from familiar unique subjects such as barcodes and numbers comprising preformatted data sets, even the printing of individual polymer electronics, that is to say the production of individual electronic patterns by imprinting, for example, links which close the circuit bit by bit, suitably polarized diodes or other semi-conductors or suitably designed feed lines for respectively identical electronics is feasible.
The production of transponder chips (response devices), which can be written and read by means of appropriate electronics, is widely known (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,826,175 or EP 1 079 397 A1). As electronics which can be produced comparatively cheaply, polymers with a certain conductivity have already become known, and by means of these polymers, conductors, insulators and semiconductors can be produced. Polymer conductors, insulators and semiconductors are therefore available nowadays (as indicated, for example, by EP 1 079 397 A1), but attractively priced processes for the mass production of such polymer electronics (for example radio tags) have hitherto not been known. This is the starting point for the present invention. Substrates and materials permit cheap production by means of printing with the method according to the present invention, so that an inexpensive combination of individuality and mass production can be offered.
The fact that for each revolution of the printing-forme cylinder, the index features for each segment of the image subject (information  less than a,b greater than ) are recombined step by step in the manner of a permutation, so that each printed segment of a production constitutes a unique print, means that precisely individual links preformatted segment by segment, which close the circuit of an electric structure bit by bit, can be printed on, or diodes or else semiconductors or suitably designed feedlines for a constantly repeating electric pattern (for example a basic pattern of a transponder or radio tag) can be printed in.
Other objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. It is to be understood, however, that the drawings are designed solely for purposes of illustration and not as a definition of the limits of the invention, for which reference should be made to the appended claims. It should be further understood that the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale and that, unless otherwise indicated, they are merely intended to conceptually illustrate the structures and procedures described herein.

Method of printing unique prints or individually assembled printed products on rotary printing machines


A method and apparatus, including a computer program product, implementing techniques for creating an indexed-color image from a direct-color image. The techniques include receiving a color lookup table and an associative data structure. The color lookup table comprises an indexed list of direct color values. For each pixel of the indexed-color image, the techniques include performing a lookup operation in the associative data structure to determine whether a corresponding direct color value was previously associated with an index value. If the lookup operation yields a positive result, then the associated index value is used as the pixel value. Otherwise, an entry in the color lookup table is selected for the corresponding direct color value of the pixel, the index value of the selected entry is used as the pixel value, and the index value of the selected entry is associated with the corresponding direct color value in the associative data structure.

The present invention relates to creating indexed-color images.
Current image processing systems provide numerous methods for converting an image into an indexed-color image. One system provides a color lookup table for the image and uses a tree algorithm or a brute force algorithm to invert the color lookup table to create the indexed-color image. Another system provides a color lookup table for the image and uses a 32768 entry table indexed with 3 5-bit numbers to invert the lookup table. The system first fills the 32768 entry table with the closest index in the color lookup table corresponding to the direct color represented by each 3 channel, 5-bit per channel number that indexes the 32768 entry table. For a direct color value of the image, the most significant 5 bits of each channel in the direct color value (e.g., the red channel in an RGB color value) are used as an index into the 32768 entry table. The color lookup table index that is stored in the 32768 entry table at that location is used to represent the color in the indexed image.
In general, the number of entries in a color lookup table ranges from 2 to 256. However, this number is limited only by the number of bits used to define each color in the indexed-color image. If the image has 256 or fewer distinct colors, the color lookup table defines an exact palette consisting of the exact colors used in the image. Alternatively, the color lookup table defines an adaptive palette formed by taking a sample of all the colors in the image (i.e., the most commonly-used colors in the image or the colors providing the best coverage of the image). An adaptive palette can be used by a dithering process to approximate colors that do not specifically appear in the image. If the image is going to be reproduced on a web-site, for example, the color lookup table can be a web palette that consists of the 216 web-safe colors shared by most computers.
Conventionally, to convert each pixel""s color value to an index value, a system searches the color lookup table to find the entry having the color value closest to the color value of the pixel, and places the index of the entry into the indexed-color image. This process is time-consuming and computationally inefficient.
In general, in one aspect, the invention provides a method and apparatus, including a computer program product, implementing techniques for creating an indexed-color image from a direct-color image. The techniques include receiving a color lookup table comprising an indexed list of direct color values; receiving an associative data structure, the associative data structure being different from the lookup table and associating direct color values in the direct-color image with indices into the color lookup table; and for each pixel of the indexed-color image, performing a lookup operation in the associative data structure to determine whether a corresponding direct color value was previously associated with an index value. If the corresponding direct color value was previously associated with an index value, then the associated index value is used as the pixel value. Otherwise, an entry in the color lookup table is selected for the corresponding direct color value of the pixel, the index value of the selected entry is used as the pixel value, and the index value of the selected entry is associated with the corresponding direct color value in the associative data structure.
Advantages that can be seen in implementations of the invention include one or more of the following. The invention uses an associative data structure, such as a hash table, to provide good speed performance in converting direct color values to index values. The use of associative data structures provides for more accurate results compared to the approximations resulting from the use of the 555 lookup table algorithm or the tree algorithm.

Color table inversion using associative data structures


A color generation device 1000 according to the present invention has a light source 8, and also has a linear polarizing means 10, a first birefringence medium 30a and a second birefringence medium 30b attached to each other in sequence in front of the light source 8. A display means 500 is provided which is distanced from the linear polarizing means 10, the first birefringence medium 30a and a second birefringence medium 30b. The first birefringence means 30a is arranged for the principal axes thereof to be at angle of 45° or −45° with respect to the polarization direction a1 of the linear polarizing means 10 and the second birefringence medium 30b is arranged for the principal axes thereof to be the same as or perpendicular to polarization direction a1 of the linear polarizing means 10 and quarter wave plate is used therefor.

If a birefringence medium causing a light polarized by passing a first polarizing means to have different polarization directions according to wavelengths is arranged between the first polarizing means and a second polarizing means and a light is emitted to transmit through them in sequence, the light out through the second polarizing means presents color.
The present inventors have invented various display or illumination devices by using these phenomena and the inventions have been filed with Korean Patent Application Nos. 10-2012-0070627 (title of the invention: Polarization display device in which color and shape can be changeably viewed according to position of view), 10-2012-0070519 (title of the invention: Color change device by means of polarization) and 10-2011-0124247 (title of the invention: Polarization illumination system) so on.
In generating color by means of polarization of light in the field of the illumination or display, it is desirable if it is possible to generate various colors and chroma of the generated colors is high. For example, if a color-generation device is applied to an advertisement sign, it will attract more persons and achieve more advertisement effect as the chroma is getting higher and more various colors are getting generated.
The present inventors have tried their best efforts to develop an illumination or display device which generates color by means of polarization of light and to improve the quality of the generated color, and have filed Korean Patent Application No. 10-2013-0055010 (Title of the invention: Color-generation apparatus by means of polarization of light for generating color having high chroma or high concentration). This invention improves concentration or chroma of the generated color by arranging three polarizing means and, at least, two birefringence media.
The present inventors have found that, as for the light (visible light) entering the polarizing means at which color is to be generated after being polarized and passing through the birefringence medium, if the polarization states in the light according to the wavelengths are linear polarizations or even elliptical polarizations having high tendency of linear-polarization, it is helpful to generate the improved color. Whereas it is not helpful to generate the improved color if they are either circular polarizations or elliptical polarizations near to the circular polarizations. Accordingly, if it is possible to make the polarization states of the light according to the wavelengths have more linear polarizations or tendency of linear polarization higher and if it is possible to make the directions of the linear polarizations according to the wavelengths more different from one another, it is possible to generate more various colors and the generated color will be more improved.
Here, for instance, if the circular polarization state is put at one extreme and the linear polarization state is put at the other extreme, then, the states between the two extremes indicates elliptical polarization. The oscillation state becomes to be more linear towards the linear polarization state from the circular polarization state and it is said that the tendency of linear polarization is getting higher towards the linear polarization state from the circular polarization state.
Assuming that waves of two colors in the visible light are in the linear polarization states, if the directions of the polarizations of them are the same or are a little different even though they are not the same, the two colors according to the waves are mixed and it is difficult to generate the improved color. If the different colors according to the different wavelengths are in the linear polarization states, it is more helpful to improve the chroma and generate various colors as the polarization directions of them are more different from one another.
In this specification, description that "the tendency of linear-polarization of a light is increased" or "increase the tendency of linear polarization of a light" means to make the polarization states of the light according to wavelengths have higher tendency of linear-polarization according to wavelengths in overall and make the polarization directions according to wavelengths more different from one another.
The present inventors have tried to find a way to increase such a tendency of linear polarization of a light and the present invention is the result.

Color generation device having first and second birefringence media for generating improved color by increasing tendency of linear-polarization and method for the same


An electrical power generation system includes a micro turbo alternator having combustion chamber, a turbine driven by combustion gases from the combustion chamber and a compressor operably connected to the combustion chamber to provide a compressed airflow thereto. A permanent magnet generator is located along a shaft connecting the compressor and turbine such that electrical power is generated via rotation of the shaft, and a cyclonic dirt separator operably connected to a compressor inlet. The cyclonic dirt separator includes an air inlet, and an air exhaust disposed at opposing ends of a housing. The cyclonic dirt separator is configured to induce circumferential rotation into the airflow entering through the air inlet, and separate the airflow into a clean airflow and a relatively dirty airflow, such that the relatively dirty airflow flows through the air exhaust and the clean airflow is directed to the compressor inlet.

Exemplary embodiments pertain to the art of electrical power generation and supply systems.
Some systems, such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV's) or the like often utilize electrical power for propulsion and operation of onboard systems. Some such systems, such as medium-sized UAV's that require power levels in the range of about 1 KW to 30 KW, have relatively short mission times because the energy density of batteries is far too low to effectively work in this power range, and conventional internal combustion engines and jet engines are very inefficient at these low power levels. One option that has been developed is a tethered UAV system in which the UAV is connected to a power source on the ground by a tether. Use of a tethered UAV allows for an increase in mission duration time, but reduces an operating height and distance in which the UAV may operate, due to the constraint of the tether.
Further, power generation and supply systems in, for example, UAV's or the like, must often operate in dusty environments, which may effect operability of the power generation and supply system.

Cyclonic dirt separator for high efficiency brayton cycle based micro turbo alternator


A method of monitoring a heating operation on an component by a flame torch, including the steps of producing a flame with the flame torch, rotating the component with respect to the flame so that a circular weld is created on the component, and providing a first sensor that is operatively engaged with the component so that the first sensor monitors rotation or non-rotation of the components.

To help insure even heat distribution and weld creation on cylindrical components, it is known to rotate the component with regard to the welding assembly as the weld is created. Current methods for verifying and controlling the temperature of the component in the vicinity of the weld while under flame heating typically require the use of temperature crayons and/or pyrometers that are placed in direct contact with the surface of the component. Based on the information gathered by the temperature crayons and/or pyrometers, an operator adjusts the flame intensity of the welding assembly by manually adjusting the flow of fuel (i.e., natural gas, etc.) from its fuel source. Checking component temperatures and the corresponding adjustment of the welding flame typically occur a finite number of times over the time interval required for the creation of the weld. For example, temperature verification may occur hourly, bi-hourly, etc., during weld creation. This infrequent temperature verification and welding flame adjustment can lead to temperature excursions in the weld zone that are both above and/or below temperature set points that are required per specification requirements and, therefore, approval of the component for its intended use. Additionally, if rotation of the component during welding ceases and goes unnoticed by the operator, localized overheating may occur which can lead to the component being damaged to the extent that it cannot meet prescribed standards for its desired use.
Such welding operations typically include a "preheat stage" prior to creation of the weld, as well as a "post-bake stage" after weld creation. The preheat stage is required to bring the temperature of the component up to a minimum temperature limit at which weld creation can be commenced. In the post-bake stage the component temperature is elevated to a predetermined amount above the temperature at which the weld is created to help insure hydrogen is diffused from the weld and surrounding base material, helping to prevent hydrogen cracking. It is important that temperature excursions beyond the upper and lower temperature set points are prevented during all three phases of the weld operation.
The present invention recognizes and addresses considerations of prior art constructions and methods.

Methods and systems for monitoring a temperature of a component during a welding operation


An image capturing apparatus for capturing a chart having color patches of a plurality of colors using a taking lens and obtaining a color-patch signal for creating a color profile. In the apparatus, the type of chart is identified, after which the focal length of the taking lens is acquired. Then, based upon the focal length, object distance suited to the chart type is determined and the user is notified of the object distance.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image capturing apparatus and method of controlling the apparatus. More particularly, the present invention relates to an image capturing apparatus for capturing a chart having color patches of a plurality of colors and obtaining a color-patch signal for creating a color profile, and to a method of controlling this apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
In digital cameras now in general widespread use, color conversion processing is executed in such a manner that color reproduction of captured image data will result in an optimum color namely a color that is faithful to the color of the subject or a color that is desired by the observer, etc. The color of a subject, however, differs greatly depending upon the light source that illuminates the subject. Accordingly, even in case of color conversion processing that has been set up so as to obtain the optimum color reproduction under a certain light source, the optimum color reproduction will not necessarily be obtained if this processing is applied to image data that has been captured under a different light source.
In a digital camera, therefore, white balance control is carried out as processing preliminary to color conversion processing. However, R, G, B or other color information that is output by the sensor of the digital camera do not necessarily correspond to the tristimulus values perceived by a human being. This is ascribable to the fact that the spectral sensitivity of each pixel of R, G, B in the digital camera does not coincide with the color matching function. If the spectral sensitivity coincides with the color matching function, then, as long as an appropriate white balance is achieved, it will be possible to obtain optimum color reproduction by a single optimum color conversion processing operation under any light source whatsoever. In actuality, however, spectral sensitivity differs from the color matching function. Therefore, in order to execute highly accurate color conversion processing, it is necessary to execute color reproduction processing that difference depending upon the light source.
In order to execute color reproduction processing that differs in accordance with the light source, it is necessary to provide color profiles, such as look-up tables for performing color conversion, for respective light sources. A known method of creating such a color profile is to capture the image of a chart, which comprises a plurality of color patches, and create the color profile based upon the captured data of each color patch (e.g., see the specification of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-244464). Another example of prior art for creating a color profile of a digital camera is to display a frame for capturing color at the time of photography (e.g., see the specification of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-186594).
In the conventional methods of creating a color profile described above, it is assumed that the color patches have been captured accurately. That is, it is assumed that the chart to be captured has been captured under correct exposure conditions and at a correct focus under a prescribed shooting magnification. Accordingly, if the chart has not been captured accurately, the precision of the created color profile declines or creation itself becomes impossible.
However, performing chart capture is not easy for a user who has little experience in chart capture, and often a color profile is created from a badly captured image of the chart. Finally, resulted color profile has problem in its accuracy.

Image capturing apparatus and method of controlling same


A matching algorithm and device for data with different scales based on global road network features are provided. The method includes: loading data of different maps, constructing crossroad groups in each map, and extracting information on attributes of the crossroad groups; allocating, according to the importance degree of the attribute information, weights for each attribute of the crossroad groups, and comprehensively evaluating confidence values of matching between two crossroad groups in different maps; and constructing, according to the confidence values, matched road networks, calculating total confidence values of the matched road networks, and selecting a road network with the highest total confidence value as an optimal matching solution, namely a matching result.

In the emerging era of automatic driving, an in-vehicle map must be changed from single use of traditional map data to combined use of traditional map data and high-precision map data. It is necessary to match the traditional map data with the high-precision map data. However, because map providers of a traditional map and a high-precision map are often different, data models are different from data ranges of the traditional map and the high-precision map, GPS coordinates of the same name of the two maps are different or even offset due to data encryption, and road networks are greatly different due to different mapping time (timeliness) between the traditional map and the high-precision map.
At present, the conventional patent technologies for map number matching rely on GPS coordinates, and the GPS coordinates of the same-named map data of different scales are not the same, which cannot match the map data of different scales. Since the data model and the data range are different, it is not possible to use a uniform method for offset processing.
Data matching of traditional maps and high-precision maps is adopted as an example for explanation herein.

Matching algorithm for data with different scales based on global road network features


A lithographic printing plate substrate is conditioned for imaging in a printer engine by attaching a leader to the leading edge. The leader is sufficiently flexible to be drawn into the printer engine and is adapted to pull the plate substrate through the printer engine.

The present invention relates to the imaging of lithographic plates and, more particularly, to conditioning a lithographic printing plate substrate for imaging in a conventional, commercially available electrostatic printer or ink-jet printer.
Imaging of lithographic printing plates by electrostatic or ink-jet printing has been the subject of extensive research and development and has been commercialized to some extent. In the case of electrostatic imaging, a toner is applied to an electrostatic image formed on a lithographic plate substrate and is then fused. Similarly, the desired image can be formed and then fixed on a suitably prepared substrate by ink-jetting a fluid. The toner or ink-jet image on the substrate is either receptive or repellant to a printing ink, depending on the nature of the surface of the plate substrate to which the image is applied and fixed. The substrate may or may not include a coating suitable for receiving toner or ink jet fluid. An important advantage of electrostatic or ink-jet imaging is the current availability of machines (electrostatic copier/printers and ink-jet copier/printers) that can be readily adapted for use in imaging lithographic plate substrates.
Lithographic printing machines and processes require plates that are highly dimensionally stable and durable, which inherently makes them relatively thick and stiff. Currently available electrostatic and ink-jet printing engines, on the other hand, are designed to handle relatively thin, flexible materials, such as paper, thin plastic films, or metal foils. Substrates suitable for lithographic printing plates may be too stiff or thick to be reliably inducted into and transported in many available printing engines.
An object of the present invention is to provide an article suitable for imaging in currently available electrostatic and ink-jet printer engines to make a lithographic printing plate. More particularly, it is an object to condition a lithographic plate substrate so that it will be reliably inducted and transported by the sheet-transports of such printer engines. It is also an object to provide a plate substrate that is conditioned in a very simple, economical and effective way to feed through printer engines for imaging.
As used hereinafter, the term xe2x80x9cprinter enginexe2x80x9d means an apparatus that is capable of transporting sheet material and forming an image or the sheet material by placing a substance on the sheet material by electrostatic or ink-jet deposition.
The objects referred to above are attained, in accordance with the present invention, by an article for use in preparing a lithographic printing plate by imaging in a printer engine. The article includes a lithographic plate substrate and a leader attached to and projecting from a leading edge of the plate substrate, the leader being sufficiently flexible to be drawn into the printer engine and being adapted to pull the plate substrate through the printer engine.
It has been found that even though many presently available printer engines may not accept and transport the relatively thick and rigid plate substrates required by lithographic printing machines for durability, such plate substrates will transport properly and reliably with a leader according to the invention. The leader may be of any thin material that will itself (without the plate substrate that is to be imaged) be picked up and transported by the printer engine. The leader need not itself be especially durable, because it need only xe2x80x9cleadxe2x80x9d the plate substrate through the printer engine and will be removed after the plate substrate is imaged. The provision and use of the leader involves a comparatively negligible cost and avoids the need for the costly development and production of special printer engines for imaging lithographic plates.
The plate substrate may be of a high-density polymeric material, a coated paper, or a metal, such as aluminum, tin or copper. The leader may be paper, a film of a polymeric material, or a thin metal film or plate substrate. In the case of electrostatic imaging, the leader must be of a material that will not melt during fusing of the toner. The leader may be attached to the plate substrate by an adhesive, which may be a self-sticking adhesive that is detachable from the plate substrate without marring the plate substrate or an adhesive that aggressively and more or less permanently attaches the leader to the plate substrate. In the latter case, the leader is severed from the plate substrate after the plate substrate has been imaged.
The leader may be a strip of material having a portion overlapping the plate substrate and may be attached to the plate substrate by in adhesive on the overlapping portion. It is also possible for the leader to be a strip of material forming a butt joint with the leading edge of the plate substrate and attached to the plate substrate by a band of an adhesive tape on one side or bands of adhesive tape on both sides.
In a particularly desirable embodiment, the leader is a strip of an adhesive tape having a portion overlapping and adhered to the plate substrate and a portion extending from the leading edge of the plate and doubled back on itself such that a free edge of the doubled back portion forms a butt joint with the leading edge of the plate substrate. The adhesive tape may be a paper adhesive tape, which provides a desirable surface for induction and transport by the printer engine and avoids any possible problem of melting or softening in the fuser of an electrostatic printer engine.
The leader may project from the leading edge of the plate substrate by a distance of from 0.125 inch to 10 inches. The amount of the projection will depend on the sheet-transport structure of a particular printer engine. It has been found generally that a projection of about 0.5 to 1.0 inch is sufficient. It is usually desirable that the leader be substantially coextensive widthwise with the leading edge of the plate substrate.
The foregoing description has outlined rather broadly some features and advantages of the present invention. The detailed description of embodiments of the invention that follows will enable the present invention to be better understood and the present contribution to the art to be more fully appreciated. Those skilled in the art will recognize that the embodiments may be readily utilized as a basis for modifying or designing other structures and methods for carrying out the purposes of the present invention. All such structures and methods are intended to be included within the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

Article for use in preparing a lithographic printing plate by imaging in a printer engine


An apparatus and method useful for the efficient display of images on a computer display screen a display area description language is provided for describing and manipulating portions of a raster display screen. The area description language is comprised of a set of instructions and masks that define the areas and manipulations for a particular display. The area description language is used to define the location, dimension and contents of areas within a logical display grid. Each area description command is comprised of three components. First, each command has an associated scan count. The scan count defines which scan line or lines will be operated upon by the command. Secondly, each command has at least one instruction. The command instruction is used to define the location and the dimension of the area being defined by the command. The third component that may or may not exist in each command is a mask. The mask is used to define the individual pixels that will be merged with a new source image to create a modified image within the area defined by command instruction.

1. Field of the Invention
The present Invention relates to an apparatus and method for displaying images on a display screen. Specifically, the present invention relates to an apparatus for generating and manipulating images on a display screen.
2. Prior Art
Computer controlled display devices have become very useful in the computer industry for displaying information to the user. The information displayed to the user can take many forms. For example, it may be useful to display information in terms of alphanumeric characters or in terms of graphic images. In either of these two forms or a variety of other forms, the user seeks to maximize the quantity and quality of information displayed on the display screen, as well as maximizing the speed at which the information is displayed. The quantity and quality of information conveyed to the computer user is increased by use of graphical representations or images on the display screen. Human computer users tend to absorb and manipulate information more quickly when it's presented in a graphical form, rather than an alphanumeric form. The increased use of visual images thus creates a better environment for conveying information to the user. On the other hand, not all information lends itself to display in a graphical form. The optimal computer system needs to be able to manipulate both alphanumeric-type information and graphical information with relative ease.
It has also been determined in the computer industry that the use of color tends to increase the amount of information presented to the computer user. Use of color in an alphanumeric information format can be used to highlight portions of the information displayed on the display screen. For example, a computer system may be devised whereby portions of the screen are displayed in green, indicating the user may alter the information in those areas. Other areas may be displayed in another color, i.e. yellow or red, indicating areas where the user is not allowed to modify the contents of the data. Similarly, the use of color in a graphical image format also facilitates the effective display of information to the user. Just as color photographs convey a better representation of information than black and white photographs, color imagery on the display screen conveys more information to the user than black and white imagery. Thus, the use of multiple display formats and the use of color with those formats provides an effective display capability for conveying large amounts of information to the user.
Unfortunately, the ability to display information in multiple formats and multiple colors comes at the expense of processing time and memory usage. In conventional computer display systems screen images are stored in a large block of memory allocated for the display screen. In this display screen memory, each memory bit (a memory element able to hold a value of one or zero) is mapped to a corresponding picture element (pixel) on the display system. Thus, images and/or text visible on the CRT (cathode ray tube) screen is represented as either a one (black dot) or a zero (white dot) in the block of display screen memory. Ibis type of image representation is known as a bitmap because each bit is mapped one for one to a pixel on the display screen. Although the use of a bitmap is the simplest form of image rendering on a raster type computer display system, the bitmap method has some major drawbacks. For example, on a display screen containing an average size, two-dimension array of pixels (1,000 pixels.times.1,000 pixels) a million bits of memory (125,000 bytes of memory where each byte is 8 bits) would have to be reserved just for the display screen imagery.
The large memory area necessary for display rendering becomes even greater when the bitmap scheme is used for displaying images in multiple shades of gray or multiple colors. In the traditional black and white display system using a bitmap scheme, each bit is either on or off (white or black). In more sophisticated non-color display systems, each pixel can be displayed as a shade of gray. In these systems, instead of each pixel being represented as a single bit, each pixel must be represented as a collection of bits. The number of bits per pixel depends upon the desired number of shades of gray. For example, in a simple system where two bits were allocated per pixel each pixel could be displayed in one of four gray shade values. One of those values might be used to represent white, another might represent black, and the other two possible values may be used to represent two different shades of gray. As the number of shades of gray per pixel increases the clarity of the images displayed on the display screen increases. However, in a computer display system using a bitmap scheme to display shades of gray the memory allocation necessary to hold the image displayed on the display screen rises dramatically. In the above example of a display system using a 1,000.times.1,000 pixel display screen array, the memory allocation required for the display screen memory is multiplied by the number of bits used to represent each pixel. Thus, a system providing 8 bits per pixel (thereby providing 256 possible shades of gray per pixel) a 1 million byte memory area would have to be allocated strictly for the display screen.
Rendering color images on a raster type computer display screen can be accomplished in a manner similar to computer systems providing variations in shades of gray. In color systems, each pixel can be represented by more than one bit in memory; but, instead of the multiple bit value representing a shade of gray, the value represents a different color. Typically, an effective rendering of color images requires the use of more bits per pixel than is necessary in a system using multiple shades of gray. It is not uncommon to use at least 8 bits per pixel to render a color image. More desirable is the ability to render an image using 32 bits per pixel. Unfortunately, the implementation of a 32 bit per pixel color display system using a bitmap scheme is less efficient both in terms of the memory consumed and the processing required in order to manipulate a memory area of the size required for the color image. Again, for the above example of a computer display system having a two-dimensional pixel array of 1,000 pixels.times.1,000 pixels implementing a 32 bit per pixel color scheme would require a memory area of at least 4 million bytes of storage space. Moreover, more processor execution time would be required to process the much larger display memory area. Clearly, a better method is desired in order to render high resolution, multiple color computer display images.
One method for a more efficient rendering of computer display images than is provided by the bitmap scheme is disclosed in the patent titled "Method and Apparatus for Image Compression and Manipulation", (U.S. Pat. No. 4,622,545, inventor William D. Atkinson, filed Sep. 30, 1982. In Atkinson, an apparatus and method is disclosed which provides an improved graphics processing capability. The Atkinson method improves the art over the bitmap scheme by disclosing a method for defining displayed images in terms of inversion points. An inversion point is a point at which the state of all points having coordinates to the right and below the inversion point are inverted (e.g. binary zeroes are converted to binary ones and vice versa). Multiple inversion points can be defined to create any arbitrary area (region) on the display screen. Unlike the bitmap scheme described above, any given region in the Atkinson, scheme can be defined in terms of its inversion points. In Atkinson, all points comprising the region need not be stored in memory. Thus, the Atkinson scheme represents both a savings in memory storage requirements as well as processor execution time.
The Atkinson method provides additional enhancements to the traditional bitmap method of display image generation. Frequently, during the course of using a computer display system, the information presented on the display screen is modified or updated in some form. Often only a portion of the display screen needs to be updated, while other portions of the display screen remain static. Using the bitmap method, it is often difficult to isolate the areas of the screen that change. Typically, an entire source bitmap (new image being used for update) must be processed and the entire screen bitmap must be regenerated at considerable expense in terms of processor execution time.
Atkinson provides a method for operating on regions (or portions thereof) within computer memory and for displaying a resulting region on the display screen. Since portions of memory associated with the display screen can be specified using inversion points to define regions, individual regions can be targeted for update while other regions are left unmodified. The Atkinson method of using lists of inversion points to define regions provides a means for representing the contents of each raster scan line on the display screen. A raster scan line is a horizontal row of pixels on the display screen from the left edge of the screen to the right edge of the screen. In display systems where one bit in memory represents one pixel on the display screen, one raster scan line may be represented in memory by a collection of bits in a scan line buffer, which represents the entire raster scan line of pixels. Thus, regions in the Atkinson scheme are horizontally sliced into a scan line buffer corresponding to a single raster scan line. A particular region is updated by transferring the scan lines associated with the region (source bitmap) to a destination bitmap after applying a mask to each scan line. Using masks, selected portions of the source bitmap are transferred to the destination bitmap.
While the Atkinson method does provide an improved scheme over the traditional bitmap method, the inversion point and masking method in Atkinson can be further improved. The Atkinson scheme works well for display systems where one pixel is represented by a single bit in memory. In these systems, only a single one bit per pixel scan line mask is required per scan line. However, as described earlier, more powerful display systems employ multiple bits per pixel. For color display systems, at least 8 bits per pixel are required, yet 32 bits per pixel or more may be used. In a 32 bit per pixel display system using the Atkinson method, each scan line would require a distinct 32 bit per pixel scan line mask. As the size and number of regions increases, the memory requirements and processing power required to manipulate the regions would become greater than may be available in smaller computer systems.
As discussed below, the present invention provides a method and an apparatus for describing and manipulating areas in the frame buffer of raster display systems. Specific display areas can be manipulated without affecting other areas of the display screen. The present invention facilitates the use of multiple bits per pixel while reducing the processing time required to process the images displayed on the screen. Additionally, the present invention allows the use of prior methods, such as the traditional bitmap scheme or the improved Atkinson masking scheme in order to maintain compatibility with prior systems.

Efficient area description for raster displays