A programmable electronic ignition system is provided including a hand-held programmer, or in the alternative a computer, for controlling engine control parameters including revolutions per minutes limiters, ignition timing retards, gear shift controls and revolutions per minute switching. The hand-held programmer or computer provides a menu driven interface which directs the user through the engine control parameters using easy to recognize terms. The programmable electronic ignition system can employ a cylinder location sensor to identify a predetermined cylinder for controlling individual cylinder ignition timing retards.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method and system for electronically controlling various operational parameters such as revolutions per minute (RPM), ignition spark timing, cylinder timing and gear shifting of an internal combustion engine. Specifically, the present invention allows such control via an interface that has an easy to read, word based menu system and method for easily changing related engine operational parameters.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional, mechanical methods of controlling engine parameters have been employed to govern the maximum revolutions per minute (RPM) the crankshaft of an engine rotates, set ignition spark timing and to control gear shifting.
In the past, revolutions per minute that the crankshaft rotates were limited by controlling the amount of fuel delivered for consumption. Modem, spark internal combustion engines typically utilize the ignition system to control RPM of the engine. Once the engine has reached the maximum RPM allowed, the ignition system will cut the electrical impulse to the spark plug, thereby preventing the spark plug from firing in the cylinder and consumption of fuel. Various methods have been employed to sequentially or randomly interrupt the firing order of the spark plugs. Adjustable RPM limiters typically utilize dial or resistor-type chips on the ignition box itself to set the maximum RPM allowed during operation. More complex RPM limiters allow for more than one RPM limit to be set for controlling RPM during various conditions or stages of operation. Once the maximum RPM of the first set dial or chip is reached, the engine is allowed to reach the next maximum RPM set by the next dial or chip and so on. One problem associate with these types of RPM limiters is that the adjustable dials are typically small and difficult to change in order to prevent the dial from rotating due to engine and chassis vibration. Furthermore, systems that utilize resistor chips are limited by what chips the user has and both systems are limited by the predetermined increments of the dials or the chips.
To increase performance and accuracy of timing in high revolutions per minute engines, electronic ignition systems were developed. As RPM increase, the timing cycles for delivering a spark to the cylinder becomes very compressed and further rotating parts, crank and camshaft, may bend under stress, thereby adding inaccuracies in conventional, mechanical timing systems. Electronic ignition systems overcome these mechanical inaccuracies by typically triggering the spark timing off of the flywheel or balancer on the crankshaft or the camshaft, thereby eliminating the need to mechanically adjust the timing at the camshaft and distributer.
For peak efficiency, the fuel must be ignited in the cylinder on the up stroke of the piston as the fuel mixture is under pressure to give the flame created by the spark time to travel across the cylinder and ignite the fuel mixture. For example, a spark timed to arrive at X degrees advance, before top dead center (TDC) of the piston, may actually spark many degrees before or after the set timing. Improper timing or inaccurate sparking may cause detonation in which the fuel ignites while the piston is at the early phase of the upward travel, pre-ignition, or later in the downward stroke which may damage the valve train assembly, piston, connect rod or in the extreme, the crankshaft.
Typically electronic ignition systems ramp up to a set degree of ignition timing as RPM increase. For example, with ignition timing set at 30 degrees advance, the actual ignition timing may begin from start up (0 RPM) at 10 degrees advance and linearly increase until the timing reaches 30 degrees advance at thousands of RPM later. One problem associated with electronic ignition timing systems, is the inability to set degrees ignition timing as a function of RPM or the ignition system may only allow changing slope of the linear ramp up timing, thereby preventing the engine from operating at peak efficiency or maximum power. Furthermore, these systems do not allow the changing of the ignition timing as a function of an event such as a gear shift.
Sudden changes in cylinder pressure due to the boost of a turbo charger, the injection of nitrous oxide into the fuel mixture, gear shifts or the combination thereof, present another problem for ignition timing. As cylinder pressure changes, the optimum ignition timing point may also change. Electronic ignitions systems have been developed to monitor cylinder or inlet manifold pressure and compensate for these changes, but are limited by the sampling rates of the electronics used and typically do not let the user input timing adjustments. Furthermore, in high performance applications, the timing adjustments cannot be made quickly to compensate for the rapid changing conditions.
To achieve peak engine performance in a racing application, the racer or crew chief may alter engine components and settings to find the optimum combination. Ignition timing is one such setting that must be optimized for each engine combination. The racer often finds the optimum ignition timing setting by adjusting the timing and making a run with the racecar to determine its effect. This process cannot only be time consuming, but also tedious due the physical requirements of manually changing the ignition timing.
Furthermore, varying weather conditions will also affect the performance of these types of engines. Any change in temperature, barometric pressure, humidity or combination thereof will affect the performance characteristics of the engine. Ignition timing is one parameter the racer may change to compensate for these changes in weather conditions.
Also, the racer may alter ignition timing to control the performance of the racecar. For example, in some drag racing applications were the race is run on an ET (elapsed time) index, the racer may desire to slow the ET of the racecar using ignition timing. By retarding the ignition timing, the racer can, in effect, de-tune the engine and elongate the elapsed time of the run. Thus, it is desirable to have an ignition timing system capable of allowing the user to pre-select timing changes as a function of RPM or events.
Another physical limitation of mechanical ignition systems is the inability to control individual cylinder timing. In a conventional mechanical ignition system, the timing is set in relation to TDC of one cylinder. Typically, the first cylinder that fires is used to physically set when the rotor of the distributor makes contact with the terminal which supplies the current to the spark plug when that piston is at TDC, or at a particular degree of timing before TDC, i.e., rotor phasing. Once the rotor is phased, all cylinders will then fire in relation to this pre-determined phasing. The timing can be further adjusted by rotating the entire distributor and shaft and with a timing light, monitoring the timing at the balancer.
In high RPM engines, it may be advantageous to have one or more cylinders firing before or after the pre-selected timing to optimize the efficiency for the conditions of each individual cylinder. For example, with the timing set at 30 degrees advance (before TDC), one cylinder which creates a higher pressure than the rest may burn more efficiently if fired at 25 degrees advance. Thus, for peak efficiency and maximum power applications, it is advantageous to be able to control individual cylinder timing. Although this may be achieved by some real-time using computer systems, these systems may be too slow for high RPM engines and may not be allowed by race sanctioning bodies and further, they do not allow the user to select and specify the individual cylinder timing.
In high performance engines, as well as all engines, there exists an optimum RPM to shift from one gear to the next. It is well known in the automotive industry to use a xe2x80x9cshift lightxe2x80x9d to signal the driver to manually shift gears once the correct RPM has been reached for that particular gear shift. Such shift lights are typically controlled by an electronic system which monitors the tachometer and sends a signal to illuminate shift light once a particular RPM determined by a computer or a dial-type switch has been reached. In an automatic transmission, this signal can also be used to activate an automatic shifter. Typically, these gear shift systems are separate and independent of the electronic ignition timing systems and, thus, two electronic xe2x80x9cboxesxe2x80x9d must be placed on the car.
One attempt to combine both an ignition timing and gear shift controller is the QUICKSHOT(trademark) Programmer and ProStrip Annihilator ignition system developed by Holley Performance Products. Due to the small physical size, the programmer uses a two digit or letter code to identify the parameter and then removes the code and displays the first two digits of value for that particular parameter. Thus, the user must either memorize or use a reference aids to identify the code for the parameter. However, this may become very inconvenient for the racer in the field where the level of surrounding activity can be extremely disruptive due to the limited time between runs, to refer to a reference manual or code sheets while attempting to make adjustments. Moreover, if the codes are confused and the wrong engine control parameter is inadvertently changed, misfiring, or incorrect shifting may result which can cause significant engine damage. Furthermore, due to the limited display on the programmer, approximately 1.25 inches by 1 inch, only one individual parameter code can be viewed and selected at a time. Also, this system does not provide an efficient, user-friendly method for controlling individual cylinder ignition timing.
Accordingly, an interface that allows a wide variety of engine operational parameters to be adjusted via an easy to recognize engine parameter terms on its display. In this regard, a system is needed which allows engine parameter changes to be made quickly without the need of reference materials and provide safeguards to prevent for inadvertent changes in one engine control parameter which may dampen performance or result in engine damage. Furthermore, it would be desirable to provide a programmable engine control system capable of controlling multiple functions such as gear shifting, individual cylinder timing and RPM controls in one box thereby reducing the number of electronic units needed in the car.
The present invention provides a unique approach to controlling engine control parameters by providing a menu driven system which limits which engine parameters the user may change at one time. The present system and method utilizes a menu driven hand-held programmer, or in the alternative a computer, which directs the user through various engine control parameters using easy to recognize terms.
In racing application such as drag racing, racers are won and lost by ten thousandths of a second. Therefore, optimum performance must be achieved during each run to increase efficiency and gain consistency while preventing damage to the engine. One method of increasing consistency and protecting the engine is to limit the RPMs (xe2x80x9crevlimitxe2x80x9d) the engine turn during specific events of the drag race. For example, the racer may desire to control the maximum RPM the engine can reach during the burn-out portion of the race. A burn-out is a procedure which involves either rolling through water and spinning the tires at high RPM once on dry pavement or spinning the tires in the water while using the front brakes to hold the car. This spinning warms the surface temperature of the tire which increases the stickiness of the rubber for a greater grip at the starting line. However, during the burn-out, the engine RPM may rise significantly because the tires are spinning instead of moving the racecar under a load. Therefore, in high RPM engines, it is advantageous to limit the RPMs the engine may turn to prevent catastrophic failure of the engine.
Another portion of a drag race the racer may desire to control RPMs is during the launch stage. After the driver has completed the burn-out, the driver will roll the front tires into a set of light beams, thereby xe2x80x9cstagingxe2x80x9d the car. Once staged, the racer will either activate a transbrake which holds the transmission in first and reverse or engage the clutch of a manual transmission and hold the car using a hand brake. The driver will then xe2x80x9cmatxe2x80x9d the accelerator pedal to increase the engine RPMs. This allows the engine to be at high RPMs when the car is launched. Again, without controlling the maximum RPMs the engine may reach, the engine may reach extremely high RPMs which may result in engine component failure. Thus, it is desirable to have a revlimiter for the launch portion of the race. Similarly, the driver may desire to control the maximum RPMs the engine may reach over the entire run of the race to prevent xe2x80x9cred-liningxe2x80x9d and engine damage.
The racer will typically make these types of revlimit adjustments, as well as gear shift settings and others, before and after a run of the car at the track to achieve the desired performance. However, the racer must be able to quickly input the adjustments due to the short time available between runs. Accordingly, it can be extremely confusing and inconvenient for the racer to have to refer to reference manuals or code-key sheets to input adjustments to engine control parameters such as required by the previously described system. Furthermore, a light-weight programmer which may be easily held and quickly viewed is required so that the racer can make adjustments on both the car and the programmer without have to carry a computer to the car or walk back and forth between the computer and the racecar.
The present invention provides easy-to-read indicia which are word-based allowing the racer to make the desired adjustments by scrolling through menus and switch screens depending on the words read on the screen. This eliminates the needs for referring back and forth between the screen and a code book. The interface displays the indicia in English or other foreign languages may be used tailored to the preferred language of the user. Furthermore, many racers collect data from the run using computer-based electronics, down-load the data after the run and view the data on a computer to determine what adjustments are needed. In one form, the invention provides the racer the option to view engine control parameters such as individual cylinder timing and an ignition timing run curve that represents timing changes over the entire run on a computer display in graphical representations. This allows the racer to quickly view the information without scrolling through excess data and allows the racer to make quick decisions and changes based on the data displayed. Also, the user may program a single value for controlling the revolutions per minute at the launch of the race by using another interface, a small module with rotary dials which can be mounted in the cockpit of the racecar.
The present invention allows for maximum RPM controls to be set by selecting one menu screen which displays selection choices of maximum RPM controls as used in drag racing applications. For example, the user may select and input the maximum RPM setting during the burn-out, thereby eliminating the need for tedious resistor-chips or dials. Instead, the present invention allows inputting the actual RPM number in one hundred degree increments using a keyboard on the small, approximately 3.5 inches by 3 inches, hand-held programmer and easily viewed on the 1 inch by 2 inches screen. Furthermore, these RPM controls may only be changed while in the RPM menu thereby preventing inadvertent changes.
Ignition timing can also be controlled at various stages of the drag race after the initial timing has been set, e.g., the user can retard the ignition timing during the launch of the race car from the starting line and select a ramp of the ignition timing curve as the RPM increase. Furthermore, the menu system also allows for retarding the ignition timing as a function of RPM by numerically inputting the RPM and degree of retard timing necessary for that RPM. This is especially helpful for racecars using a turbo charger or those which utilize nitrous oxide. In the alternative, the user may select a launch or run curve which allows the user to specify the ramp-up of the ignition timing during the launch of the racecar from the starting line or during the entire run. Again, the user simply inputs the RPM value and the degree of timing for that value and continues to input those values over the duration of the run or the launch.
The present invention can also provide independent timing retard of individual cylinders. While in the cylinder degree menu, the user may input the degrees of timing retard for each individual cylinder by selecting the cylinder and numerically inputting the degrees of timing retard from 0 to 5 degrees in 0.1 degree increments. This allows the user to optimize the performance of each individual cylinders. For example, if a cylinder, or more if needed, is creating a higher internal pressure than the rest, that cylinder will burn more efficiently if fired earlier. Thus, the present invention allows the user to set ignition timing for all cylinders and, at the same time, change the timing of one cylinder.
The gear shifting parameters which can be used to illuminate a gear shift light or to automatically control a shifter may also be controlled. The user may select up to five gear shift parameters by numerically inputting the RPM per shift light (or shift) indicator. Further, ignition timing can also be retarded in response to a change in gear. Thus, the need for a separate gear shift controller is eliminated by combining a revolution limiter, ignition timing and gear shift controller in one system.
The programmable engine controller utilizes a non-volatile memory to store the inputted parameters. Thus, once the hand-held programmer or a computer connection of a computer is removed, the engine control parameters are stored in the non-volatile memory in the electronic controller. Further, these values may only be changed when programmer or computer is interfaced with the controller.
The details of the invention, together with further objects and advantages of the invention, are set forth in the detailed description which follows. The precise scope of the invention is defined by the claims annexed to and forming a part of this specification.

User interface for electronic controller and timing sensor


Systems, apparatuses and methods for selecting an appropriate frequency hopping sequence in a system of communicating devices. A random seed value is generated at the host device at its point of deployment. A frequency hopping sequence is generated using the random seed value. Other embodiments involve verifying whether the randomly generated seed value is indeed random in the operational vicinity.

Systems employing numerous devices often require or otherwise benefit from the ability for these devices to communicate with one another. While each device may have its own purpose and responsibilities, they may need to transmit information to, and/or receive information from, other devices of the system. Device-to-device communication may be accomplished by wiring the devices together, and communicating via the wires. In more recent times more and more systems are employing wireless communication, which generally makes installation more convenient, and among other things provides greater flexibility and scalability.
A drawback to wireless communication is that information transfer is not confined to a wire, as in a direct wired system. Rather, the information is transmitted over the air, and transmissions from neighboring systems can interfere with system communications. To address this issue, wireless network systems have employed various methods of transmitting radio signals, such as frequency hopping. Frequency hopping generally refers to a modulation technique where the signal carrier is rapidly switched among many frequency channels. Each party to the communication must know the frequency hopping sequence in order to know when it is to transmit at a certain frequency in the sequence. Using the frequency hopping sequence, transmitting devices can properly address targeted devices, and receiving devices can reject information from neighboring devices that are not within their system but within their reception range.
The selection of the ordered list of hopping frequencies, referred to herein as a frequency hopping sequence or frequency hop set, should be selected to minimize interference to and from neighboring systems sharing the same frequency space. However, because a device may be deployed anywhere, it can be problematic to generate a hop set that is unique at the deployed location.
Customarily, a frequency hopping sequence may be based on a value that is programmed into a device at the factory, or entered by an installation technician when the system is being deployed. In either case, to remove the risk of neighboring systems using the frequency hopping sequence, there must be a large enough set of frequency hop sets to accommodate every like system currently or later in existence. This may require additional resources, such as increased local storage, lengthier messages, more complex frequency hopping sequence calculations, etc. Further, multiple devices may share a common frequency hopping sequence so that each communicating device can determine at what time and what frequency other devices are listening for transmitted messages. Each device must be privy to that common frequency hopping sequence. Establishing manners for each of the devices to create the same frequency hopping sequence can be difficult. These difficulties are exacerbated when new or additional devices need to enter the system.
Accordingly, there is a need in the communications industry for a manner of selecting an appropriate frequency hopping sequence for devices regardless of where they may be deployed. The present invention fulfills these and other needs, and offers other advantages over the prior art.

System, method and apparatus for selecting frequency hopping sequences


A dental instrument mat includes a base portion having two opposite sides and two opposite ends and a pair of racks formed longitudinally along the two opposite sides. Each rack has a plurality of spaced apart teeth, and the teeth of each rack are laterally aligned with teeth of the other rack to form a plurality of laterally disposed holding slots. An elastic band is looped over protrusions formed at the opposite axial ends of the base portion so as to place the elastic band in tension and thereby hold dental instruments in the holding slots during autoclaving.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to holding and organizing devices and, more specifically to a dental instrument mat which can be placed in an autoclave for sterilizing dental instruments.
2. Description of the Related Art
Dental instrument mats are generally known and widely used by dentists to organize a variety of dental instruments while working a patient. Typically, the dental instrument mat includes a pair of longitudinally disposed racks, each having a plurality of spaced apart teeth which extend upwardly from a base portion. The teeth of the two racks are laterally aligned to form a plurality of laterally disposed holding slots, each being adapted to receive a dental instrument. When the dental instrument mat is placed on a tray, with the plurality of dental instruments resting in the plurality of holding slots, a dentist is able to keep his instruments organized while working on a patient.
After the dentist has finished a dental procedure, the instruments are cleaned and then placed longitudinally in a space between the two racks of the dental instrument mat, whereupon the mat is then placed in a sterilizing pouch which is then placed in an autoclave for sterilization. After sterilization, the mat and instruments are removed from the autoclave and the pouch and then the instruments are rearranged in the holding slots according to a desired order, which may be dictated by the dental procedure to be performed by the dentist.
In the sterilization process, the instruments must be handled when placing them in the space between the two racks and, following sterilization, when placing them back in the holding slots. Thus, after sterilization, the instruments must be handled prior to use by the dentist, thereby presenting a problem of potential contamination. Moreover, the additional handling steps require time and labor.


An arm head includes an end portion to which a retainer is pivotally coupled and a surface covered by a coating. The end portion includes a coupling bore. The coupling bore includes an open end. First and second surfaces of the arm head form an annular recess around the open end that extends continuously from the open end. The radial outer surface extends outward in a radial direction from the annular recess. The first surface extends outward in the radial direction from the open end. The first surface is located inward in an axial direction of the coupling bore from the radial outer surface. The second surface extends from the first surface to the radial outer surface at an angle less than 180° with respect to the first surface.

The present invention relates to an arm head of a wiper arm.
A typical wiper arm includes an arm head and a retainer. The arm head includes a distal portion with respect to the longitudinal direction. A coupling bore extends through the distal portion in a direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction. The retainer is coupled to the arm head and is pivotal about a shaft inserted through the coupling bore. An anti-glare and rust resistant coating is applied to the wiper arm to prevent light reflection and metal corrosion.
The retainer is formed by bending a steel plate into a U-shape. After bending the steel plate, it is difficult to coat the inner side of the retainer. Thus, for example, one side of the steel plate is coated in advance. In this case, the steel plate is bent so that the coated surface is arranged at the inner side. Then, the outer side of the steel plate is coated so that the retainer is entirely coated to prevent metal corrosion (refer to, for example, Japanese National Phase Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2007-501152).
The coupling bore of the arm head receives the shaft. Thus, the coating is not applied to the wall of the coupling bore. For example, as shown in FIG. 14, an arm head 101 includes a coupling bore 102, and a coating 103 is applied to the arm head 101 but not to the wall of the coupling bore 102. In this case, a corrosion product 104 may form inside the coating 103 on the arm head 101 near the open end of the coupling bore 102. As corrosion advances, the corrosion product 104 may expand or separate the coating 103. Such a corroded portion would stand out and adversely affect the outer appearance of the arm head prematurely.


A method and apparatus are provided to transport private line traffic over an ATM network. A first plurality of TDM private line traffic links, such as T1 or E1 circuits, are multiplexed to create a first rt-VBR virtual circuit such that the bandwidth of the first rt-VBR virtual circuit is not limited. A second plurality of TDM private line circuits are multiplexed to create a second rt-VBR virtual circuit such that the bandwidth of the second rt-VBR virtual circuit is not limited. This may be done by AAL2 multiplexing with substantially large SCR, PCR and MBS values and the removal of T1 frames that do not contain data (that is, frames that contain only frame delimiters). The first and second rt-VBR virtual circuits are combined for transport over a link in the ATM network. An overload control process may be performed based on the ATM network link utilization.

The present invention relates to communication networks. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for transporting private line traffic over an ATM network.
Within a telecommunication network, xe2x80x9cprivate linexe2x80x9d circuits (TDM lines) may be used to transport information, including voice and/or data traffic. A private line connection between two points may be used, for example, by a business to connect geographically distant offices. The private line connection is reserved, and therefore the network provider can assure a high Quality of Service (QOS) in terms of bandwidth and delay. Although private line traffic may not need such a high QOS, existing customer agreements and equipment often require them. A T-1 circuit is one example of a private line circuit and provides a maximum transmission speed of 1.544 megabits per second (Mb/s).
In order to provide this QOS, private line private line traffic is traditionally transported using a Synchronous Transfer Mode (STM) network. A network using Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) is one example of an STM network. Using TDM, each channel of private line traffic is assigned a specific time period, or TDM channel, configured to let the channel carry a desired maximum rate of data transmission. In this way, the STM network provides a high QOS because each TDM channel, by design, can handle the maximum amount of data information. As a result, data information is generally not lost or delayed. If, however, less than the maximum amount of data information is being sent over a TDM channel, a number of the channel""s assigned time periods are not used, and bandwidth is therefore wasted when no data is being transmitted.
It is also known that private line traffic can be transported via an Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) network. An ATM network uses dedicated-connection switching technology that organizes digital data into 53-byte cells and transmits them over a medium using digital signal technology. Individually, a cell is processed asynchronously relative to other related cells and may be queued before being multiplexed with other cells, from other channels, over a single line, or xe2x80x9clink.xe2x80x9d Because ATM networks are more easily implemented by hardware (rather than software), faster processing speeds are possible. In addition, ATM networks allow for more efficient bandwidth use because different services, such as voice and data, can be statistically multiplexed over the same link.
Generally, TDM circuits are transported over an ATM virtual circuit using an ATM Adaptation Layer (AAL). An AAL adaptation layer merely packages higher layer information, such as the T1 or E1 circuit information, into the contents of the 53-byte ATM cell. A number of these virtual circuits are then combined for transport over an ATM network link, such as over a single ATM network xe2x80x9cpipe.xe2x80x9d
To maintain the high quality traditionally associated with STM networks, the AAL1 adaptation layer is used together with Constant Bit Rate (CBR) service (together known as xe2x80x9ccircuit emulationxe2x80x9d). As with TDM, the CBR circuit emulation approach provides a constant guaranteed rate of transfer. That is, a CBR connection allocates a channel enough bandwidth to support the corresponding STM rate. In this way, CBR circuit emulation provides a QOS similar to that of an STM network, but does not provide any statistical multiplexing benefits since cells are still used even when no information is being transported. In other words, with circuit emulation the excess bandwidth that is not used by a customer is not available in the ATM network for other services. This may be a significant amount of unused bandwidth, especially during non-business hours.
In view of the foregoing, it can be appreciated that a substantial need exists for a method and apparatus to transport private line traffic over an ATM network that allows for statistical multiplexing benefits while still maintaining a high QOS.
The disadvantages of the art are alleviated to a great extent by a method and apparatus for transporting private line traffic over an ATM network. A first plurality of TDM private line traffic links, such as T1 or E1 circuits, are multiplexed to create a first rt-VBR virtual circuit such that the bandwidth of the first rt-VBR virtual circuit is not limited. A second plurality of TDM private line circuits are multiplexed to create a second rt-VBR virtual circuit such that the bandwidth of the second rt-VBR virtual circuit is not limited. This may be done by AAL2 multiplexing with substantially large SCR, PCR and MBS values and the removal of T1 frames that do not contain data (that is, frames that contain xe2x80x9cfillerxe2x80x9d bytes). The first and second rt-VBR virtual circuits are combined for transport over a link in the ATM network. An overload control process may be performed based on the ATM network link utilization.
With these and other advantages and features of the invention that will become hereinafter apparent, the nature of the invention may be more clearly understood by reference to the following detailed description of the invention, the appended claims and to the several drawings attached herein.

Method and apparatus for transporting private line traffic over an ATM network


A custom tool for forming a dental restoration in a mouth of a patient includes a mold body providing for a customized fit with at least one tooth of the patient. The mold body includes a facial portion forming a facial surface corresponding with a facial surface of the tooth, and a separate lingual portion forming a lingual surface corresponding with a lingual surface of the tooth. The mold body is configured to combine with the tooth of the patient to form a mold cavity encompassing missing tooth structure of the tooth.

A dental restoration, or a dental filling, utilizes a dental restorative material used to improve function, integrity and morphology of missing or irregular tooth structure. For example, a dental restoration may be used to restore missing tooth structure following external trauma or as part of a restorative treatment for dental caries, or tooth decay.
Restorative dentistry traditionally consists of drilling decay from an infected tooth (commonly referred to as "preparing" the tooth) and then using simple tools and a high level of craftsmanship to isolate, refract, fill and contour the finished restoration. Quality isolation via a rubber dam is cumbersome and often skipped for less effective isolation via cotton roles—increasing the risk of contamination which reduces longevity of the restoration. Retraction of soft and hard tissue includes manipulation of cords, wedges and matrix bands, and imperfect technique may result in contamination, residual flash in proximal areas, and poorly adapted contacts.
While 'bulk fill' restorative materials and high intensity curing lights facilitate relatively fast filling of deep cavities (e.g., 4-5 mm), many restorations are completed in a single shade as practitioners may be uncertain of the correct layering protocol for multiple shades or types of restorative material. Last, with little geometrical guidance available on a prepared tooth, creation of the final filling level and occlusal surface geometry may include overfilling with dental restorative material, followed by an iterative process of grinding and checking tooth contact and biting function on an anesthetized patient. This process may be the most time consuming for dental restorations and errors here may result in tooth sensitivity and return visits for adjustment.


Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a touch display substrate, a method for manufacturing the same, a driving method thereof, and a display device thereof. The touch display substrate includes a substrate, a plurality of electrode blocks, independent of each other and arranged in an array, disposed on the substrate, and a switching device disposed between the adjacent electrode blocks. The electrode block is configured to receive a common voltage during a display period and receive a touch scan signal during a touch period. The switching device is configured to electrically connect the adjacent electrode blocks during the display period and electrically isolate the adjacent electrode blocks from each other during the touch period.

The present disclosure relates to a field of display technologies, and in particular, to a touch display substrate, a method for manufacturing the same, a driving method thereof, and a display device thereof.
With the rapid development of display technology, the touch screen panel has gradually spread throughout people's lives. At present, the touch panel can be classified into an add-on mode, an on-cell mode, an in-cell mode, and the like according to a composition structure.

Touch display substrate with switching device disposed between adjacent electrode blocks, method for manufacturing the same, driving method thereof, and display device thereof

HEFEI BOE OPTOELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


An anti-collision system for vehicles includes a speed sensor for sensing the speed of the vehicle, a space sensor for measuring the distance of the vehicle from an object, a computer for computing a danger-of-collision distance to the object, an alarm actuated by the computer when the sensed distance of the object is equal to or less than the danger-of-collision distance compared by the computer, and a brake light actuated upon the actuation of said alarm. The system also includes a control panel having parameter presetting means for presetting preselected parameters concerning the vehicle, the vehicle driver, and the environment, which are utilized by the computer for computing the danger-of-collision distance to the object.

The present invention relates to an anti-collision system for vehicles. The invention is especially useful for passenger cars, taxis, trucks and buses, and is therefore described below particularly with respect to such vehicles, but the invention, or some aspects of the invention, could also advantageously be used for other types of vehicles, e.g., trains and aircraft.
One of the most frequent causes of vehicle accidents is the failure of a vehicle to maintain an assured safe distance behind another vehicle to prevent a rear end collision should the front vehicle suddenly stop. The assured safe distance required to prevent such a rear-end collision depends on the reaction time of the vehicle driver before the brake pedal is actually depressed, and the braking distance traversed by the vehicle before it comes to a complete stop after the braking pedal has been depressed. Both of these factors vary according to the surrounding circumstances at the time of driving.
In order to prevent collisions, many parameters, which are constantly changing during the year or even during a trip, may affect the stopping distance of the vehicle and therefore should be taken into account. These parameters include: the condition of the driver, such as the driver's reaction time; the condition of the vehicle, such as the vehicle load, the tires pressure; and environmental conditions, such as road type, visibility, skidding condition.
It is very important that the computer determines the danger-of-collision distance according to the specific conditions existing at the time the vehicle is being operated. Thus, if the determined danger-of-collision distance is too high for the specific operating conditions, there will be a high rate of "false alarms"; this will reduce the credibility of the system to the driver, which can result in a true collision condition being ignored. 0n the other hand, if the determined danger-of-collision distance is too low for the specific operating conditions, this could result in failure to actuate the alarm in time when there was truly a collision condition.
Many anti-collision systems have been proposed, but insofar as I am aware, none has yet gained any widespread use, probably because the proposed systems have not taken into consideration the variable nature of the many parameters which influence the reaction time and/or the braking distance involved at any particular time for determining the assured safe distance required to be maintained.
An object of the present invention is to provide an anti-collision system which is more closely responsive to the actual driving conditions for actuating an alarm.


Provided are a digital image processing device and an operation method therefor, and more particularly, a focus error adjusting apparatus and a method therefor whereby a focus error can be adjusted when a digital image processing device is manufactured or used. The focus error adjusting apparatus includes a photographing unit photographing a first image whose focus is adjusted, and photographing a plurality of images by changing movement values of a focus motor by referring to the first image; and a digital signal processing unit outputting a focus motor control signal to the photographing unit for the photographing, detecting an image having the greatest evaluation value of a high frequency component from among the first image and the plurality of images, and adjusting movement of the focus motor by as little as a variation value of the focus motor with respect to the image having the greatest evaluation value of the high frequency component.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a digital image processing device and an operation method therefor, and more particularly, to a focus error adjusting apparatus and method, whereby a focus error in a digital image processing device can be adjusted during manufacture or use thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
High-grade digital single lens reflex (DSLR) digital image processing devices are now more frequently used than standard-grade compact counterparts.
Currently, a phase detection system using through-the-lens (TTL) measurement is used in a DSLR digital image processing device. The phase detection system is advantageous due to its fast speed and accuracy compared to a contrast detection system using a live-view mode.
Although the phase detection system is fast and accurate, focus can deviate due to mechanical errors during manufacture of the system, or mechanical shocks during use. Two methods are mainly used to adjust focus errors caused by mechanical errors or shocks. In the first method, the focus error is directly, mechanically adjusted and the result of the adjustment process is verified. In the second method, software parameters related to the focus error are adjusted and the result of the adjustment process is verified.
Both methods have disadvantages. In the case of the first method, a user has to directly manipulate a mechanical device (e.g., a mirror), and thus the digital image processing device may be damaged. In the case of the second method, a user has to make firmware changes, which may result in firmware problems, such as memory leaks.
In more-advanced focus adjusting techniques, a user can adjust a focus error by manually adjusting parameters via a user interface (UI). However, such techniques are used by a limited number of digital image processing devices, and users must directly visually verify whether the focus error is accurately adjusted. Thus, user convenience is low.

Focus error adjusting apparatus and method in digital image processing device


A method and apparatus for testing each memory location of a memory device, the method comprising the steps of: generating each of the memory addresses corresponding to each memory location in a pseudo-random order; generating a pseudo-random series of data words; storing one of the data words at each memory location; reading each data word back from memory; regenerating the series of data words; and comparing each read data word to the corresponding regenerated data word. The invention features generating and storing a second series of data words, each data word being inverse of the data words in the first series. The second series of data words are read from memory and compared to regenerated data. The invention also features a novel linear feedback shift register for generating the pseudo-random memory addresses and can generate the address zero. An accumulating register is utilized to store the approximate location of malfunctioning memory locations.

This invention relates to an apparatus and method for testing the memory locations of a memory device. This application is related to U.S. Pat. No. 4,782,487, issued Nov. 1, 1988, entitled "Memory Test Method and Apparatus" and assigned to the same assignee as the present application.
In order to insure that data is accurately stored and retrieved, it is essential that all of the memory locations of a memory device are operating properly. In other words, it is essential that a data word written into a location be accurately read from that location when it is needed. However, memory locations will occasionally malfunction and a data word read from such a malfunctioning location may not match the data word that was written into the location. In order to avoid using data that has been unintentionally altered in this way, it is desirable to identify "bad" memory locations before they are used such that the bad memory can be repaired or replaced.
There are a number of known schemes for testing computer memories. One prior art method is to write all binary ones or zeros into a memory and then to read from the memory, checking for errors.
Another prior art method is to remain at each memory address long enough to write and read a series of data words at that address, wherein each data word comprises zeros and a single one, and the data words differ in the position of that single one bit. The one bit "walks" through each bit position as the data words are written into and read from the memory.
Some prior art memory testers use a simple increment-by-one counter to generate memory addresses, and some prior art memory testers employ more than one address counter to generate addresses while testing is done.
Another prior art method of memory testing, known as the Galpat test, involves staying at one address while changing data patterns that are written into and read from that address, and then moving on to and doing the same at other addresses. The amount of time it takes to run a Galpat test on a memory is generally proportional to the square of the number of memory addresses tested.
One prior art way to check data for errors is to check parity. Various prior art error detecting and correcting codes can be employed, including the Hamming code. The Hamming code offers the ability to detect errors involving two bits and detect and correct errors involving a single bit.

Memory selftest method and apparatus same


This disclosure is related to a procedure of handling UE (100) behavior when the UE (100) is attached for emergency services. More specifically this disclosure defines the UE (100) behavior when the UE (100) is registered to a PLMN or two different PLMN via 3GPP access network and non-3GPP access network and UE (100) has is registered for emergency service over one of the 3GPP access network or non-3GPP access network.

In the 5GS, a UE supporting 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) access and Non-3GPP access can register to a Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) or to two different PLMN via 3GPP access and non-3GPP access at the same time. When the UE is registered to a PLMN or equivalent PLMN over 3GPP access network (e.g. Next Generation-Radio Access Network (NG-RAN), g Node B (gNB) and non-3GPP access network (e.g. Wifi access point) then the UE is registered to the same Access Management Function (AMF) i.e. the 3GPP access network and the non-3GPP access network are connected to the same AMF. When the UE is registered to two non-equivalent PLMNs, one over 3GPP access and the other one over non-3GPP access then the UE is registered to two different AMFs i.e. one AMF belongs to a first PLMN and another AMF belongs to a second PLMN. The Registration Management contexts of a UE for a 3GPP access and a non-3GPP access are different.
The UE establishes the Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session for emergency service to make emergency call. The UE is considered as attached for emergency services when the UE has only PDU session for emergency service(s) when the UE is registered and in normal service state or in limited service state, or the UE has performed emergency registration procedure successfully. When the UE is registered for emergency service then the UE is not allowed access normal service. It must de-register and register to get a normal service.

UE behavior when the device is attached for emergency service


A measuring apparatus for an ear thermometer includes a battery, a mode switching circuit and a microcontroller, and the microcontroller, during a run mode or a normal operating state, does not pass battery current to the mode switching circuit in order that the insertion of the mode switching circuit causes no substantial change in power consumption so as to suppress a power consumption of the apparatus and extend the power of the battery.

A typical example of a conventional ear thermometer will be explained with reference to FIGS. 15 and 16. FIG. 15 is a circuit block diagram illustrating an operation principle of the conventional ear thermometer and FIG. 16 is a vertical section of a temperature sensing part of the conventional ear thermometer. As illustrated in FIG. 15, a probe 10 of the typical conventional ear thermometer employs a thermopile 11. Generally, the thermopile produces a potential difference depending on a temperature difference between a cold junction and a hot junction (the Seebeck effect). Using the thermopile as a temperature measuring probe needs a room temperature (ambient temperature) compensation like a thermocouple. For this, the conventional ear thermometer employs a thermistor 12.
If the temperature of a measuring object is equal to a cold junction temperature of the thermopile 11, an output from the probe 10 is zero (zero point). On the other hand, if the temperature of the measuring object is higher than the cold junction temperature of the thermopile 11, an output from the probe 10 becomes nonlinearly larger.
When using the probe 10 to measure a body temperature, an output from the probe 10 is weak. Accordingly, the output from the probe 10 is amplified by a signal amplifier 13 to a signal processing possible level. A linearizer 14a linearizes a nonlinear output. An output from the thermistor 12 is also nonlinear, and therefore, is linearized by a linearizer 14b.
In a state in which an ambient temperature is stable, the temperature of the thermistor 12 and the cold junction temperature of the thermopile 11 are equal to each other. The signal formed by linearizing the output from the probe 10 indicates a difference between the temperature of the thermistor 12 and the temperature of the measuring object. Accordingly, the signal formed by linearizing the output from the probe 10 is corrected by an emissivity corrector 15, the corrected signal and the signal formed by linearizing the output from the thermistor 12 are compensated by an adder 16 for a room temperature or a cold junction temperature, and the compensated signal is compensated by a temperature converter 17 for an ambient temperature, thereby providing the temperature of the measuring object, which is displayed on a display 18.
The thermopile involves a large variation in sensitivity due to individual differences, and therefore, provides a different output voltage with respect to a given temperature difference. Accordingly, a probe employing the thermopile must carry out an individual sensitivity adjustment (calibration work). An infrared absorbing film of the thermopile (a part where the infrared absorbing film and hot junction are integrated, refer to 116 of FIG. 16) absorbs infrared rays from a measuring object and increases the temperature thereof. A package of the thermopile also radiates infrared rays to the infrared absorbing film. In normal use, the package is considered to have the same temperature as a heat sink (heat absorbing part) of the thermopile. If an external factor applies a sudden temperature change, a head of the package and the heat sink of the thermopile produce a temperature difference to transiently destabilize the output of the probe.
For this, as illustrated in FIG. 16, to make a temperature change be uniformly and gently applied to the probe 10, the thermopile 110 is arranged inside a metal (for example, aluminum) holder 111 having a good heat conductivity. In addition, there is arranged a cover 114 to surround the same with an air layer 112 and resin 113 serving as heat insulating materials. In front of the thermopile 110, there is arranged a metal pipe 115 to reduce the influence of heat radiation from the measuring object. The metal pipe 115 is plated with gold to reduce an emissivity and function as a waveguide. As a cold junction temperature compensating sensor, a semiconductor, a thermistor, or the like is employed. The thermistor is low in manufacturing cost and precise, and therefore, is generally used.
If thermal bonding between the thermopile cold junction and the thermistor is bad, a temperature difference occurs to prevent a correct measurement. The thermistor (not illustrated) and thermopile 110 are arranged in the same package, to improve thermal bonding between the heat sink of the thermopile cold junction and the thermistor. Even thermistors based on the same standard have different B-constants (the B-constant representing the magnitude of a resistance change obtained from temperatures at optional two points on a resistance-temperature characteristic curve), and therefore, it is difficult for the thermistor to keep accuracy for a wide range of ambient temperatures. For example, for a thermistor of an electronic thermometer used to measure the temperature of a human body in the range of 34 to 43° C., the thermistor is required to keep an accuracy only for the range of 8° C. If the thermopile must cover an ambient temperature range of 5 to 40° C., the thermistor must be accurate for the range of 35° C. (40−5=35).
According to the structure of the probe 10 illustrated in FIG. 16, an increasing ambient temperature produces a temperature difference between the thermopile 110 and a front end part of the probe 10, so that the temperature measuring part becomes to have a higher temperature than the thermopile 110, to cause a positive-direction error. A decreasing ambient temperature produces a temperature difference between the thermopile 110 and a front end part of the sensor, so that the temperature measuring part becomes to have a lower temperature than the thermopile 110, to cause a negative-direction error. To reduce the error, the thermopile 110 is surrounded with the cover 114 to reduce the influence of a temperature change. Enlarging the metal holder 111 is limited by the measuring object. To cope with the error caused by an ambient temperature change, a rate of change per unit time of the thermistor in the thermopile package is calculated to correct a probe output and reduce the error.
In connection with this, the applicant of the present invention has proposed in a preceding patent application (refer to Patent Document 1) an ear thermometer that eliminates the influence of an ambient temperature change of a short time and causes no error due to the ambient temperature change.
The ear thermometer according to Patent Document 1 has a probe that includes a first heat insulating member made of resin, a second high heat insulating member made of resin connected to a front end part of the first heat insulating member, a protection cover to cover the first heat insulating member and second high heat insulating member, a thermistor lead thin line embedded in the first heat insulating member and second high heat insulating member, and an ultrafast response thermistor arranged substantially at the center of a front return part of the thermistor lead thin line.
According to the invention of Patent Document 1, a temperature range in which the thermistor must keep accuracy is only a body temperature range of a measuring object. Unlike the conventional ear thermometer employing the thermopile, the thermistor is not required to keep a measuring accuracy for an entire measuring ambient temperature range. As a result, the probe according to the invention of the patent application is not influenced by a change in an ambient temperature (a temperature change of a short time).
The ear thermometer according to Patent Document 1, however, has problems of hardly being miniaturized, consuming large power, involving a complicated circuit, and partly needing expensive parts to increase a total cost.
The ear thermometer according to Patent Document 1 is appropriate for once measuring a body temperature in a short period of time, but it is inappropriate for continuously measuring body temperatures for a long period of time. Under a special using condition, for example, when measuring the body temperature of a patient during his/her surgery, a sufficient time is available in a preparatory stage before the surgery. Namely, if a warm-up time of certain extent (about 10 minutes) is allowed, if a large relative temperature and a quick temperature change are ignorable (if sensing a temperature change of 1° C. for 10 minutes at the maximum is sufficient), if continuous measurement is needed, and if ambient temperature is relatively stable, the ear thermometer according to Patent Document 1 is expensive and is inappropriate.
To obtain an ear thermometer that is capable of continuously measuring the temperature of a measuring object for a long period of time and is inexpensive and disposable, the applicant of the present invention has proposed in the succeeding patent application (refer to Patent Document 2) an ear thermometer having a measuring apparatus and a probe that is connected to the measuring apparatus and includes a probe body and a temperature measuring part joined with the probe body. The probe body is substantially formed in an L-shaped cylinder, a first end thereof is connected through a cable to the measuring apparatus, and a second end thereof is connected to the temperature measuring part. The temperature measuring part includes a flange joined with the probe body and a front end part extending from the flange. Inside the front end part, a sensor mirror is fitted. The sensor mirror includes a cylindrical holder with an internal concave reflection face, a joint shaft extending from the back of the cylindrical holder, a temperature measuring first sensor and a correcting second sensor supported with lead wires in a front space of the cylindrical holder, and a protection cover covering a front face of the cylindrical holder. The lead wires supporting the first and second sensors are passed through the temperature measuring part and probe body and are electrically connected to the cable.
In the ear thermometer according to Patent Document 2, a thermistor used for the probe must secure an accuracy only for a temperature range in which the body temperature of a measuring object varies. Unlike the conventional ear thermometer using a thermopile, the thermistor is not required to secure a measurement accuracy for a whole range of measurement ambient temperatures. Under a relatively stable ambient temperature, it is possible to achieve continuous measurement for a long period of time. With a simplified temperature measuring circuit, simplified temperature calibration, miniaturized probe, and simplified assembling work for mass production, this ear thermometer is compact and inexpensive. Accordingly, the ear thermometer according to Patent Document 2 is disposable, is stably and surely attachable to the ear of a measuring object, and is optimum for, in particular, measuring the body temperature of a patient during his/her surgery.
The ear thermometer according to Patent Document 2, however, is configured to support the first and second sensors with the lead wires in the sensor mirror, and therefore, the work to solder the sensors and lead wires together and the work to arrange the sensors in the sensor mirror need a high skill and a long time. Accordingly, this ear thermometer is unsuitable for mass production.
Conventional ear thermometers have the problem that their measuring apparatuses are large in scale, and therefore, it is required to reduce the sizes thereof.    Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2006-250883    Patent Document 2: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2007-111363

Ear thermometer and measuring apparatus used with it


The drawings and description disclose a thermoplastic coated rectangular cross-section paperboard container suitable for being filled with milk, juice or other still beverage, and having a top closure arrangement adapted to being readily partially opened to disclose a pouring opening therein. The top closure arrangement includes four inwardly sloping connector panels intermediate the front, back and side panels and a flat top configuration having the opening apparatus formed thereon.

Containers for beverages such as milk, cream, other dairy products, juices, and the like, are conventionally constructed from thermoplastic coated paperboard. Typically, these containers include a top end closure with a folded gable roof having a vertically projecting seal at the roof ridge for sealing the container and providing a readily available pouring spout when the contents of the container are to be dispensed. At times, various additional means are provided for enhancing the folding over of the gable roof into a slant top or flat top configuration, retaining the typical pouring spout feature.
Coated paperboard blanks for constructing such a container are made on converting machines similar to those disclosed by Monroe et al. U.S. Pat. No. 2,682,208 and Earp U.S. Pat. No. 3,731,600. After construction, the blanks are processed by forming, filling and sealing machines, such as those disclosed by Monroe et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,303,761, Allen U.S. Pat. No. 3,918,236, Egleston U.S. Pat. No. 3,398,659 or Young U.S. Pat. No. 4,193,833, to produce the formed, filled and sealed containers of the type referred to above and shown and described in Egleston et al. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,270,940 and 3,120,335.
A flat top arrangement which does not include a gable top configuration is shown and described in Lisiecki U.S. Pat. No. 4,397,415. The latter arrangement is adaptable to being fully opened at the top to dispense a frozen juice concentrate therethrough.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,422,570 is an example of an improved flat top end closure for a liquid carrying, paperboard container wherein the sealed fin previously used in conjunction with flat end closures is not required, but wherein a pitcher pour spout is included. An external lift tab is integrally formed one outer closure panel for initial lifting of a portion of the pitcher pour spout, and an underlying lift tab is formed on one fold-back closure panel of another portion of the pitcher pour spout, in order to facilitate the opening process.
While the above types of containers have been generally satisfactory for milk and juice products, it is desirable in some instances to utilize a similar square or rectangular thermoplastic coated paperboard container for milk or juices with a flat top closure arrangement which is adaptable to being partially opened to expose an opening on the flat surface, rather than having the conventional pouring spout arrangement integrally formed thereon. Such a container is shown and described in Lisiecki U.S. Pat. No. 4,520,930.


A system for secure delivery of on-demand content over broadband access networks utilizes of servers and security mechanisms to prevent client processes from accessing and executing content without authorization. A plurality of encrypted titles are stored on a content server coupled to the network. An access server also coupled to the network contains the network addresses of the titles and various keying and authorization data necessary to decrypt and execute a title. A client application executing on a user""s local computer system is required to retrieve the address, keying and authorization data from the access server before retrieving a title from the content server and enabling execution of the title on a user""s local computer system.

This invention relates generally to a method and system for distribution of data across networks, and, more specifically to a system for delivering executable software content over broadband access networks in a secure manner that enables on-demand subscription.
The on-demand delivery of software applications and multimedia data types such as audio, video, animation, etc. has not been practical until recently primarily due to the rates at which data is transmitted across communication networks. The rate at which data, formatted into a series of bits, is transmitted is referred to as a bit per second (bps). Early modems were capable of transmitting information at a rate of approximately 300 bits per second. Thereafter, the speeds at which modems were capable of transmitting and receiving data increased. With such increases in modem speed, the nature of network topologies as well as the types of data transmitted across networks began to evolve. With modem speeds of 9600 bps and 1200 bps computer networks such as the Internet were primarily an ASCII text environment with specific protocols and text messaging. Subsequent increases in modem speed enabled more complex information to be accessed over the Internet and other computer networks. While ASCII text paradigm still exist on the World Wide Web portion of the Internet today, the more recent increased bandwidth environment has enabled communication of more complex content and multimedia data types.
More recently, high performance broadband technology and cable modems, with connectivity speeds in excess of 1 million bps, are being deployed and offered by cable, telephone, cellular and satellite enterprises worldwide. Current broadband access networks include the cable industry""s shared medium Hybrid Fiber Coax (HFC) networks and the telephone industry""s digital subscriber lines (xDSL).
With the advent of broadband technology and broadband access networks, complex multimedia data types and software titles, previously only available on Compact Disc Read Only Memory (CD-ROM) and Digital Versatile Disc (DVD), hereafter referred to as xe2x80x9ctitle(s),xe2x80x9d are now capable of being remotely accessed by subscribers to broadband access network services.
There are, however, factors other than data rates that also have made on-demand delivery of titles impractical. One such obstacle preventing on-demand delivery of content including software and multimedia titles to date has been the requirement to have the title loaded onto the subscriber""s local computer system in order to execute the title. Further, the widespread copying or xe2x80x9cpiratingxe2x80x9d of title content, and the associated security risks associated with distribution of fully enabled copies of titles, has made on-demand distribution unattractive to software publishers and content libraries.
Accordingly, a need exists for a method and system for on-demand delivery of executable software content, which does not require installation of the content on the subscriber""s local computer system.
An additional need exists for a method and system to deliver content to subscriber""s in an on-demand basis which provides security to protect the value of the content and which prevents unauthorized use and copying thereof.
An additional need exists for a method and system in which content may be delivered across broadband access network in a manner which meets the latency requirements of the content being executed.
The Secure Content Delivery Platform (SCDP) of the present invention delivers high-bandwidth executable content, on-demand, over broadband, access networks. Using the SCDP platform, broadband subscribers, e.g. subscribers to cable modem and xDSL services, have access to titles across the broadband networks.
Users select a title to run from a virtual storefront, for example on the World Wide Web, which contains a virtual catalog of available titles. Upon selection of the title, the user negotiates for an actual purchase of the title. Negotiation includes user registration with a third party electronic commerce system (eCommerce), provision of user billing information, and selection of one of the purchase types offered with the selected title. Examples of possible purchase types may include 1) a time-limited demo of the title, 2) a single payment for a single usexe2x80x9d of a title, 3) a single payment which allows unlimited xe2x80x9cusesxe2x80x9d of a title over some specified time period e.g., week, month, etc.
Upon completion of the purchase negotiation, SCDP client software running on the user""s PC obtains an authorization token and keying material from a Conditional Access Server (CAS). The token authorizes the client process to run the selected title from a network file server accessible across the broadband network. The data retrieved from the file server is encrypted. The SCDP client process uses the keying material provided by the conditional access server to decrypt the data from the file server. With the present invention, titles run on the user""s PC, but the title is not downloaded, in its entirety, onto the PC. A title is formatted into an electronic package that contains the title""s files in a compressed and encrypted form, referred to hereafter as a briq. The briq is actually a portable, self-contained file system, containing all of the files necessary to run a particular title. Briqs are stored on a network file server, referred to hereafter as a RAFT server, accessible across a broadband network. The SCDP client treats the briq like a local file system on the user""s PC. When running a title, the operating system, e.g. Windows, makes read requests to this local file system. The SCDP client, which, in the illustrative embodiment, includes a Windows Virtual Device Driver (VxD), services these requests by retrieving the requested blocks of briq data from the RAFT server. After retrieving the requested block of data, the VxD decompresses and decrypts the briq data, and passes the data onto the operating system on the user""s PC.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, the software title is never xe2x80x9cinstalledxe2x80x9d on the target system. The SCDP client software creates an installation abstraction, maintaining the illusion for the operating system that the title currently executing is installed on the host PC. Thus, when execution of the title is terminated, there is no remaining evidence the title ran on the system. No files associated with the title are left on the PC""s hard-drive, and no operating system state information e.g., registry variables associated with the title, remains. Users of titles have the option of saving certain state information that would be desirable to maintain across plays; e.g., the xe2x80x9clevelxe2x80x9d achieved in a game, etc. Such state information may be saved in write-through file described hereinafter.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, the SCDP client software uses an inventive proprietary Random Access File Transport (RAFT) protocol to retrieve briq data across broadband network. The protocol provides SCDP clients with read-only access to files and directories stored on RAFT servers. Because the briq is treated like a local file system, the RAFT client does not need to be visible as an operating system drive and does not need to interface with the operating system""s file system manager, the Windows Installable File System (IFS) Manager in the illustrative embodiment. As a result, the RAFT client file system driver, a VxD in the illustrative embodiment, is smaller and simpler than a remote or network filelsystem driver. In addition, the RAFT protocol supports dynamic bandwidth restrictions, e.g., xe2x80x9cbandwidth throttlingxe2x80x9d, and access control through the use of RAFT authorization tokens.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, the SCDP employs a variety of security mechanisms to protect content from unauthorized access and replay. Authorization tokens and decryption keys are obtained from a conditional access server. Network communication between an SCDP client and CAS is protected via a secure remote procedure call (RPC) interface. Once a secure channel is established between SCDP client and CAS, the SCDP client requests a RAFT authorization token and keying material for the selected title. The authorization token is a signed message from the CAS indicating that the requesting user can have access to a specified briq, on a specific RAFT file server, for the length of time spelled out in the negotiated payment type.
While the RAFT authorization token gives an SCDP client access to a title""s briq, the SCDP client must still unpack, e.g. decompress and decrypt, the briq to gain access to the title""s file data. The CAS provides the user with the keying material necessary to decrypt briq data, however, the CAS does not directly provide the SCDP client with keying material. Instead, the CAS hides keying material from the user by embedding the keys in obfuscated bytecode that implements the decryption algorithm. Rather than delivering isolated keying material to the SCDP client, the CAS delivers obfuscated bytecode, referred to hereafter as an activator. The SCDP client""s virtual device driver decrypts briq data by running the activator on a bytecode interpreter. Code obfuscation makes the activator difficult to reverse engineer, requiring a hacker to spend significant time and resources to extract the keying material from the activator, at a cost typically greater than the value of the content being protected. With the contemplated invention, activators are unique per client, per briq, per execution, i.e., each activator obtained from the CAS is different and usable for one time only thereby preventing the leveraging of a single, costly reverse engineering effort out to multiple users.
In accordance with the present invention, both the RAFT authentication tokens and activators have a limited lifetime. Authorization tokens include an expiration time, after which they are no longer valid. A running activator, at a certain point, initiates an exchange with the CAS to refresh itself. If the exchange is unsuccessful, the activator becomes inoperable and the title inoperable. The refreshing of activators is referred to hereinafter as activator keepalive. The keepalive mechanism results in the delivery of an update to the currently running activator, which may include new keys, data, or even code. Authorization token refresh accompanies activator refresh. A new authorization token, along with the decryption keying data, is embedded within the new activator. At startup, the refreshed activator delivers a new RAFT authentication token to the RAFT VxD within the SCDP client.
SCDP system is media independent and will operate across any broadband networking technology, including HFC networks and the telephone industry""s digital subscriber lines, provided sufficient bandwidth exists between the user and network file servers to satisfy the latency requirements of the currently executing CD title. The SCDP system may also be implemented using 10 Mbps and 100 Mbps Ethernet Local Area Networks, for example within enterprise networks to deliver executable content over intranets as well.
According to one embodiment of the invention, a server apparatus connectable over a computer network to one or more requestor processes and at least one source of titles comprises a processor, a memory coupled to the processor, a network interface coupled to the memory and processor, conversion logic responsive to a unique identifier of a title and configured to convert the unique identifier into a location identifier indicating an address on the computer network where the title may be accessed, and activator generator logic responsive to the network interface and configured to generate an activator. The activator may comprise cryptographic data useful to a requestor for processing a title as well as a token containing data identifying a time period in which the requestor may access a source.
According to a second embodiment of the invention, a computer program product for use with a server apparatus connectable to a computer network, comprises a computer usable medium having computer usable program code embodied thereon, the computer program code further comprising (a) conversion program code responsive to a unique identifier of a title and configured to convert the unique identifier into a location identifier indicating an address on the computer network where the title may be accessed; (b) network interface program code responsive to requesting tasks on the computer network; and (c) generator program code responsive to the interface program code and configured to generate an activator for a requesting process.
According to a third embodiment of the invention, in a server apparatus connectable to a computer network, a method for enabling requesting processes to access a source of titles comprises the steps of (a) authenticating a launch string from a requesting process; (b) converting a unique identifier received from a requesting process in to a location identifier indicating an address on the computer network where the title may be accessed; (c) generating an activator; and (d) forwarding the activator to the requesting process over the computer network.
According to a fourth embodiment of the invention, a server apparatus connectable to a computer network to one or more client processes comprises a processor; a memory coupled to the processor, the memory capable of storing a plurality of titles therein; a network interface coupled to the memory and processor; authentication logic responsive to a token received from a client, the token containing data identifying a time period, and configured to determine whether the client is authorized to the memory at a specific time; and access logic responsive to the token received from the client, the token containing data uniquely identifying a title, and configured to access the memory and a title uniquely identified by the token.
According to a fifth embodiment of the invention, a computer program, product for use with a server apparatus, connectable to a computer network, comprises a computer usable medium having computer usable program code embodied thereon, the computer program code further comprising authentication program code responsive to a token received from a client, the token containing data identifying a time period, and configured to determine whether the client is authorized to access the memory at a specific time, and access program code responsive to the a token received from the client, the token containing data uniquely identifying one of the titles stored in memory, for accessing the memory and a title uniquely identified by the token.
According to a sixth embodiment of the invention, in a server apparatus connectable to a computer network, a method for enabling to access a title comprises the steps of (a) receiving a token from a client process through the network interface, the token containing data identifying a time period and data uniquely identifying a title, (b) determining whether the client is authorized to access the memory at a specific time, (c) if the client is authorized in step (b) accessing the memory and a title uniquely identified by the token, and (d) transmitting to the client at least a portion of the title identified by the token.
According to a seventh embodiment of the invention, a computer data signal embodied in a carrier wave comprises authentication program code responsive to a token received from a client, the token containing data identifying a time period, and configured to determine whether the client is authorized to access a memory at a specific time; and access program code responsive to the token received from the a client, the token containing data uniquely identifying a title stored in the memory, for accessing the memory and the title uniquely identified by the token.
According to a eight embodiment of the invention, a computer data signal embodied in a carrier wave comprises network interface program code responsive to requests from a requestor process on a computer network; conversion program code responsive to a unique identifier of a title supplied by a requesting program and configured to convert the unique identifier of the title into a location identifier indicating an address on the computer network where the title may be accessed; and generator program code responsive to the network interface program code and configured to generate an activator for a requesting process.

Method and apparatus for content protection in a secure content delivery system


A connector comprises a housing of insulating material and a plurality of signal and ground contacts regularly arranged in rows and columns within the housing. All contacts have first and second ends and an intermediate section. The first ends each include a connection section. The housing is provided with a front will having a grid of entrance openings leading to the connection sections. The housing is provided with an air chamber and all contacts extend along a part of their length through this air chamber.

The invention relates to a high density connector, comprising a housing of insulating material and a plurality of signal and ground contacts regularly arranged in rows and columns within said housing, each of said contacts having first and second ends and an intermediate section, said first ends each including a connection section, wherein said housing is provided with a front will having a grid of entrance openings leading to said connection sections.
EP-A-0 446 980 discloses a connector of this type. In this known connector the signal contacts are mounted in a dielectric insert surrounded by an outer conductor. Although the impedance of the signal contacts can be determined in this manner, manufacturing the connector is relatively complicated. Further, increasing the density of the contacts would significantly increase the complexity of the connector.
The invention aims to provide a connector of the above-mentioned type wherein the impedance of the contacts can be improved in a simple manner.
According to the invention, the connector is characterized in that said housing is provided with an air chamber, all contacts extending along a part of their length through said air chamber.


An approach that allows for replicating data sets that have different attributes. A logical copy operation may not be possible from a source data set to a target data set due to differences between their respective attributes. The source data set may have obsolete attributes that prevent a logical copy to a target data set with supported attributes. The presented solution may involve allocating an intermediate data set with the same attributes as the source data set. The intermediate data set may be allocated with the same obsolete attributes as the source data set. The approach may also involve executing a logical copy operation from the source data set to the intermediate data set. A standard copy operation that reformats the data may be executed on the intermediate data set to the target data set.

A number of storage systems today offer what can be broadly referred to as logical copy operations. Logical copy operations are intended to provide fast replication of data. For example, IBM offers a logical copy operation entitled FlashCopy that is often used with IBM's virtual storage access method (VSAM) storage systems. A logical copy operation is a process that creates a logical copy of data by associating data stored at a source location (which is the data being copied) with a target location (which will become the copy of the data). The logical copy operation may establish the relationship between the source location and the target location with a logical operation at first; for example, the logical copy operation may establish a series of pointers to associate data at the source location with corresponding data at the target location. The data may then be physically copied from the source location to the target location as a background operation.
Logical copy operations often occur on the storage device hardware itself, without involvement by the host operating system. As a result, the data, and the organization of the data in the data set, cannot be changed during the logical copy operation. If changes are necessary, the logical copy operation is not an option, and the copy operation is executed by the host operating system using a standard copy operation using traditional input/output (I/O).
One situation where changes in the data set, or its organization, can cause problems arises with changes in attributes in a VSAM system. Supported control interval (CI) and control area (CA) sizes may change over time. When a data set with an obsolete CI or CA size is copied, FlashCopy is not available as the target data set (where the data will be copied to) will have to be allocated with the new, supported CI and CA sizes. The host operating system is required to rearrange the records in the CIs to fit within the new CI sizes and/or CA sizes.
As a result, when an administrator installs a new version of VSAM, jobs and operations that would previously run in minutes could take hours on the first run. The cause is the source data sets that used to be eligible for FlashCopy which now have to be copied using much slower standard I/O operations. This can cause the system to miss service level agreements (SLAs), backup windows, and other deadlines.

International Business Machines Corporation


A filter unit is a filter unit disposed in a printer including a control unit, and includes a filter configured to trap a foreign material, a frame configured to hold the filter, and a storage element provided on the frame and capable of transmitting/receiving information about the filter to and from the control unit.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a filter unit, a light source unit, and a printer.
2. Related Art
In the related art, an ultraviolet irradiation unit including an ultraviolet irradiation part and a fan for cooling the ultraviolet irradiation part has been known. Further, the above-described ultraviolet irradiation unit is provided with a filter for trapping ink mists (for example, see JP-A-2014-188927).
In the above-described ultraviolet irradiation unit, when the filter is clogged, cooling efficiency of the ultraviolet irradiation part lowers, and the ultraviolet irradiation part deteriorates, thus the filter needs to be replaced at an appropriate time.
However, for the above-described ultraviolet irradiation unit, there has been a problem that it is not possible to easily grasp when to replace the filter.


A pilot and channel estimation method for SDMA MIMO transmission downlink is provided in the present invention, and the method provides possibility for saving the orthogonal pilot resources; the pilot signals of different users in the transmitting antenna domain can occupy the same time-frequency resources, and thereby the pilot overhead of system resources can be reduced greatly; the method includes: for the MIMO transmission downlink that employs pre-coding for SDMA, taking the quantity of orthogonal pilot resources occupied by the users in the pre-coding domain as the number of data streams that can be transmitted or the number of spatial dimensions occupied first, at the transmitting end of the base station; then, performing SDMA transmission pre-coding for the orthogonal pilots in the pre-coding domain in the same way as the data signals, to obtain the pilot signals of the users in the transmitting antenna domain; wherein, the pilots of the users in the pre-coding domain can be orthogonal in the frequency domain or code domain, and the pilots of different users in the pre-coding domain can be identical or not identical to each other; the pilot signals of different users in the transmitting antenna domain can occupy the same time-frequency resources.

The MIMO transmission technique is a basic approach for exploiting and utilizing spatial dimension radio resources and improving utilization ratio of spectrum and utilization ratio of power, and it has been a mainstream technique researched and developed in the mobile communication field for more than a decade. Owing to the limitations of MIMO configuration of mobile terminals, the angle spread of MIMO channels at the base station is usually very small; in addition, owing to factors such as the existence of visible path, the performance of MIMO transmission links for single user usually suffers big limitation, and therefore it is difficult to fully exploit and utilize radio resources of spatial dimension. For this reason, multi-user MIMO or SDMA MIMO transmission technique on the same time-frequency resources has received attention; the SDMA MIMO technique can improve the utilization ratio of radio resources to a greater degree.
In SDMA MIMO systems, due to the asymmetry between uplink and downlink, the channels are classified into uplink multiple access channel (MAC) and downlink broadcast channel (BC). The research work is carried out in the two aspects, and mainly focuses on the downlink. In order to implement SDMA MIMO downlink transmission, it is required to use a pre-coding technique to eliminate or suppress the interference between users. Available SDMA pre-coding techniques include short-time pre-coding that utilizes short-time channel state information and long-time pre-coding that utilizes long-time channel state information; short-time pre-coding is applicable to fixed and low-speed mobile communication environments, while long-time pre-coding is applicable to middle or high speed mobile communication environments.
In actual systems, in order to obtain the channel state information required for coherent detection and channel measurement accurately and timely, usually a pilot symbol assisted channel estimation method is used. In the SDMA MIMO downlink, the number of orthogonal pilots and the quantity of time-frequency resources occupied by the orthogonal pilots for the channel estimation will increase as the number of base station antennae increases. One of the urgent tasks is how to carry out pilot and channel estimation for SDMA MIMO downlink on limited time-frequency resources. The present invention provides a pilot and channel estimation method for SDMA MIMO transmission downlink.

Pilot and channel estimation method for SDMA MIMO transmission downlink


An otherwise conventional in-canal hearing aid, including a receiver providing a sound output port typically facing directly towards the ear drum of a user, is provided with a hood disposed between the sound port and the ear drum completely shielding the sound port from foreign substances moving towards the hearing aid from all directions except upwardly from the bottom floor of the user""s ear canal. The hood can comprise solid vertical walls completely surrounding the sound port and forming a downwardly extending sound conduit terminating in a downwardly facing sound exit, or the vertical walls can comprise a mesh preferably also forming a downwardly facing sound conduit and sound exit. The hoods provide gravity assisted paths, particularly for mobile fluid components of the foreign substances, downwardly past and away from the receiver sound port. The hoods can be extensions of the hearing aid receiver at the front end of the receiver. The combination of shielding the sound port from entry of foreign substances and the presence of paths diverting fluids past the sound port greatly facilitates cleaning of the hearing aid, particularly by use of previously generally unavailable solvent washing.

This invention relates to hearing aids, and particularly to in-canal hearing aids including means for minimizing entry into the hearing aids of wax-fluid-like substances present within the ear canal; such means also facilitating solvent washing away any such substances adhering to the hearing aids.
A major problem in the use of small hearing aids for full insertion within the ear canal of a user is the clogging of and even permanent damage to the hearing aid caused by penetration of foreign substances into the hearing aid (by xe2x80x9cforeign substancesxe2x80x9d being meant substances foreign to the hearing aid itself). Primarily, although not limited thereto, such foreign substances are wax-like ear secretions and various fluidsxe2x80x94both oil-like secretions and water entering the ear during washing and the like.
The prior art shows many examples of means for protecting hearing aids from such substances. One typical arrangement is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,984,277 to Bisgaard, et al. Therein is shown a typical in-canal hearing aid terminating in a sound port pointing, during use of the hearing aid, directly towards the user""s ear drum. For preventing entry of foreign substances into the sound port, a small cap-like, impervious shield is mounted on the hearing aid directly in front of the sound port but spaced therefrom by mounting legs. Sound exiting from the sound port passes outwardly from the hearing aid through the spaces between the shield mounting legs and, while the sound is thus not directly aimed at the ear drum, the sound is guided by the walls of the ear canal to the ear drum.
As described in the patent, a primary function of the cap-like shield is to prevent foreign substances within the ear canal from being forced directly into the hearing aid during insertion of the hearing aid into the ear canal. In effect, the cap-like shield functions as a plow for pushing aside foreign substances in the path of advance of the hearing aid.
In a number of other patents, such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,408,461, 4,532,649, 4,706,778 and 4,972,488, apertured plates or screens are placed in close proximity, and often inside, the hearing aid sound port for trapping and collecting wax which would otherwise migrate into the sound port. A problem in all these patents (including the aforecited Bisgaard et al patent), is that the various openings through the plates or screens (or around the Bisgaard et al cap) are pervious to fluids within the ear canal which can pass through the openings or around the cap directly into the sound port. While collected wax is likely to merely clog the sound exit, fluids entering into the hearing aid receiver are likely to permanently damage the receiver. Also, because of the possibility of entry of fluids into the receiver, the use of wax-dissolving solvents for washing away accumulated wax is generally precluded. Thus, removal of accumulated wax can be quite difficult.
While many other patents show various schemes for collecting or trapping foreign substances as a means for protecting the hearing aids, experience has shown that such collection mechanisms are generally unsatisfactory and, indeed, many presently used hearing aids effectively ignore the problem and leave to the user the need for frequent cleaning or replacement of the hearing aid. The structures disclosed in my co-pending, parent application greatly improve this situation. The structures disclosed herein provide additional solutions to the foreign substance problem.
An in-canal hearing aid includes a receiver having a sound port facing, when in use, directly towards the ear drum. Disposed forwardly of the sound port is a foreign substance shield which provides gravity assisted paths for fluids downwardly past and spaced from the sound port and to the floor of the ear canal below.
In first embodiments, the shields, similar to those disclosed in my copending parent application, are mounted on or comprise extensions of the hearing aid receiver. For simplicity of mounting, the shields can be disposed at the ends of cylindrical boots telescoped onto the receivers.

Protection and solvent washing of in-canal hearing aids


There is disclosed a rotary actuator apparatus for hydraulically or pneumatically rotating a robotic joint. In an embodiment the apparatus comprises: a curved piston rotatably coupled to an axel shaft, and positioned within a curved piston chamber; resilient barrier modules are adapted to separate the curved piston within the curved piston chamber from first and second hydraulic or pneumatic chambers on either side of the curved piston chamber; whereby, in use, the curved piston is configured to rotate about the axel shaft upon hydraulic or pneumatic pressure being applied to at least one of the first and second hydraulic or pneumatic chambers.

Hybrid hydrostatic "power-by-wire" actuators have been developed for performing various robotic applications, including robotic manipulation of objects requiring high dexterity, and more delicate tasks such as robotic interaction with humans.
Hybrid hydrostatic actuators greatly simplify actuation and control to provide fast response and greater reliability and efficiency. However, for certain applications requiring significant rotary motion, existing designs can be limited in dexterity, efficiency and performance.
Therefore, what is needed an improved apparatus for performing rotary motion more efficiently utilizing hybrid hydrostatic rotary actuators.

Hybrid hydrostatic rotary actuator apparatus