A visual confirmation evaluating apparatus generates unobstructed state information indicating that a driver in a vehicle at an intersection is in a position capable of visually confirming roads on the right and left. This unobstructed state information is used to evaluate a safety check made by the driver, in order to improve the accuracy of the evaluation. In addition, the visual confirmation evaluating apparatus generates viewing direction information indicating a direction in which the driver of the vehicle should look at the intersection, and an appropriateness of a line of sight of the driver is evaluated using the viewing direction information.

Many of traffic accidents occur at intersections, and many accidents may be prevented by safety checks made by a driver. In techniques related to diagnosing the driver's driving safety, a method has been proposed to evaluate the appropriateness of a safety check operation from the driver's head turn angle at the intersection, based on a movement of the driver's head, a vehicle position, and a vehicle velocity, for example. Such a method is proposed in International Publication No. WO2009/148188, for example.
However, the proposed method described above detects the movement of the driver's head, and it is difficult to know a range that is actually being checked by the driver's eyes. In addition, if the evaluation judges that the safety check is made when the driver's head turn is detected in a predetermined angular range, the driver's actual line of sight may not be facing an appropriate direction. Moreover, the angular range to be checked by the driver differs for each intersection. For these reasons, it is difficult to accurately evaluate the driver's safety check operation.
Further, because the proposed method described above detects the vehicle velocity for use in evaluating the appropriateness of the safety check operation, it is difficult to know whether the driver is at a position having an unobstructed view of the intersection. In other words, the view from the driver within the vehicle may be obstructed by a wall, a building, or the like, for example, and it is impossible to judge from simply the vehicle velocity whether the driver is at a position where the safety check can be made. For this reason, it is difficult to accurately evaluate the driver's safety check operation.
Accordingly, it is difficult to accurately evaluate the appropriateness of the driver's visual confirmation operation.
The applicants are aware of Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publications No. 2007-310794, No. 2008-181206, and No. 2009-123182, for example.

Visual confirmation evaluating apparatus and method


A method and system for compacting and distributing graphic data by representing three-dimensional models by primitive objects that are predefined in the system and instructions, which may include solid modeling operations for constructing at least one model from the identified primitive objects. The method and system enable creating compacted representation files that can be distributed via one or more communication network, where a client application enables reconstruction of the models represented by the data in the representation files by combining the primitive objects constructing the model according to the set of instructions that enable the actual construction.

The progress of the semiconductor industry in recent years has brought a high computing power to end users using various types of end terminals such as Personal Computes (PCs). PCs today are equipped with powerful three-dimensional (3D) graphic accelerators capable of rendering hundreds of thousand polygons in a fraction of a second, enabling real time 3D animation of complex scenes.
Despite clear advantages provided by current 3D graphics and animation software and hardware tools, such as high resolution power and a profound user experience when creating graphics and animation files, the graphic content, as currently presented in Internet browsers, is almost exclusively based on two-dimensional types of media (text, graphic-files, movies, Flash animation, etc).
The existing 3D authoring graphics tools create very rich and complex animation content and even present it on their own graphic window, in a real-time frame rate. However, transferring this content, through the Internet or any other communication network, is highly limited by the current available technology.
The available 3D internet formats (such as VRML and its successor X3D), based on current technology, are based on polygonal representation, characterized by large volume even for relatively simple geometric objects. The animation supported by these formats is limited to rigid body animation and cannot cope with today's rich animation standards, which present soft, amorphous and dynamically changing geometrical objects.
Current 3D web visualization plug-ins are based on polygonal formats. That is, besides a limited set of primitive objects such as Box, Cylinder, Sphere and Cone, most object geometries are approximated by meshes of polygons. The advantage of this format is that it is most suitable for display on graphical hardware and hence the required computation is minimal and the implementation is usually straightforward. There are, however, a few disadvantages associated with polygonal formats:
A first disadvantage is that typically, the communication network's bandwidth requirements are high, even for simple graphic models. Therefore, the transmission time to the client is high.
Various compression and streaming technologies provide only a partial solution such as the polygonal formats, which are limited to animation of fixed geometries, and do not allow animation of geometries that change with time, such as animated characters, faces, and soft deformable objects.

Method and system for efficient transmission of rich three-dimensional geometry and animation content over narrow band communication networks


A curtain airbag capable of preventing a partial decrease in internal pressure to improve ejection prevention performance. The airbag includes: a main chamber, which inflates first; a delay chamber that is inflated with gas from the main chamber; a linear seam portion where front and back base fabrics are joined to partition the main chamber from the delay chamber; a planar seam portion formed at a lower end of the linear seam portion to define a non-inflation region in a range of the front and back base fabrics; and a gas inflow channel provided between the planar seam portion and the lower edge of the airbag to allow gas to flow from the main chamber into the delay chamber. The front and back base fabrics of the gas inflow channel sag upon completion of inflation and deployment to form a wrinkled portion that blocks or narrows the gas inflow channel.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a curtain airbag that is inflated and deployed along a side surface of a vehicle interior for the purpose of protecting occupants during a side crash or a rollover (lateral rollover) of a vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, high levels of safety performance have been required of vehicles. This trend is shared across countries around the world, where most vehicles are currently standard-equipped with airbags as vehicle safety devices. Companies involved in vehicle development have adopted ongoing safety improvements as a major development guideline. In line with this, new airbags are continually being developed.
Standards for evaluating vehicle safety differ from country to country, and companies approach product development such that products can meet evaluation standards in multiple countries. In the United States, for instance, which has the largest automobile fleet in the world, Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) have been established by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). In the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM, Docket Number: NHTSA-2009-0183) for FMVSS, which is the basis of FMVSS 226 established by the NHTSA, a requirement is proposed that aims at "reducing the probability of occupant ejection from a vehicle through a side window using an ejection mitigation system in the event of a side impact crash or a rollover (lateral rollover)". The requirement can be met by providing a curtain airbag as an anti-ejection countermeasure that forms an ejection mitigation system.
A curtain airbag is an airbag that is received above a door so as to be inflated and deployed along a side window of a vehicle in the event of an impact. The curtain airbag includes a gas generating device called an inflator. The inflator supplies gas to the inside of the curtain airbag upon detecting an impact with the aid of a sensor. When the curtain airbag receives the gas, a bag-shaped inflation region is inflated to break accommodation tapes or the like with its internal pressure and is deployed into the vehicle interior while pushing a roof trim.
The inflation region of the curtain airbag is partitioned into a plurality of small rooms (chambers) for receiving the occupant. The chambers are set by taking the positions of seats, the flowability of gas, and the like into consideration. In order to improve performance of the curtain airbag in preventing the occupant from being ejected outside the vehicle, it is ideal if the chamber maintains high internal pressure, from completion of inflation and deployment, until the occupant contacts the chamber. For example, in a curtain airbag disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2005-178606, a gasket is formed in the inflator as a sealing member. Moreover, after the inflator is inserted in the curtain airbag, the curtain airbag is joined by bands at the position of the gasket above the base fabric of the curtain airbag. Due to this, it is possible to prevent leakage of gas and to maintain high internal pressure of the curtain airbag.
However, although the technique of Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2005-178606 can prevent leakage of gas from the entire curtain airbag, the location where the occupant actually contacts the airbag is a portion of the chambers of the curtain airbag. For example, when the occupant contacts one chamber, the gas filled in the chamber moves to another chamber due to the weight of the occupant although the gas does not leak from the curtain airbag. As a result, the internal pressure of the chamber that the occupant contacts decreases, and it is difficult to improve the ejection preventing performance.


The present invention relates to a combine header transport which may be rapidly and easily adjusted to support a wide variety of kinds and shapes of headers for transport. The transport includes an inclined bracket having a slotted sloped surface. A rail having a plate affixed thereto overlies the sloped surface and a second plate underlies the sloped surface. When the plates are loosened relative to each other, the rail may be readily slid along the sloped surface to effect rapid and simultaneous adjustment of the rail in both the transverse horizontal direction and in vertical elevation and, when the adjustment is complete, the plates clamp the inclined bracket.

The present invention relates to a transport for transporting combine headers such as corn, bean and grain headers or tables.
It is desireable to be able to detach the headers from combines to permit safe transit of the combine on public roadways. If the header is not detached from the combine, the overall combine assembly with its header typically would be too large to permit such safe transit. Accordingly, various transports have been known in the past to support the detached combine header and permit its transport separately from the combine. Such headers are of widely varying sizes and shapes depending upon their use, e.g. corn, bean or grain headers, and the identity of their manufacturer. Thus, the prior header transports have included adjustable mechanisms to permit the transport to be adjusted to accept the various shapes and sizes of headers which may need to be transported at different times.
These adjustable transport mechanisms have taken many structural forms and shapes from the very simple to the quite complex. In their simpler structural form, adjustability is achieved by a multiplicity of brackets, bolts and holes which permit adjustment of header support rails or brackets on the chassis of the transport in both the horizontal transverse direction relative to the chassis and in vertical elevation to accommodate the various sizes and shapes of the headers. However, these simpler adjustment assemblies are usually capable of adjustment in only one direction at a time, i.e. either in the horizontal or vertical direction. Thus, although these adjustment mechanisms are structurally simple, in practice they are difficult and time consuming to adjust to fit the particular shape of the combine header to be transported due to the multiple individual and incremental adjustments which are needed in order to accommodate the transport support rails or brackets to fit the size and shape of the particular header. Moreover, because of the multiple adjustments required, adjustment becomes complex and two people are usually required to perform the necessary adjustments.
More structurally complex scissors-type assemblies have also been employed in the past for adjustment of the header support rails or brackets. However, these scissors-type assemblies also usually require the loosening, moving and tightening of a number of bolts and the performance of multiple steps in order to accomplish adjustment in both the horizontal and vertical directions. Again usually more then one person is needed to perform the complex adjustments. Moreover, the scissors-type assemblies, because of their scissoring action, can also be dangerous to the personnel making the adjustments, and these assemblies are frequently excessively high off the roadway resulting in instability during transport.
The combine header transport of the present invention is both simple in construction and use and overcomes the several disadvantages experienced in the prior art header transports. The header transport of the present invention includes an adjustment assembly in which the support for the header may be rapidly and easily simultaneously, rather than incrementally, adjusted in both the transverse horizontal direction and in vertical elevation simply by the loosening and tightening of only a few bolts. The adjustment assembly of the present invention is so simple in construction and use that adjustment may be accomplished easily by a single person and without the hazards attendant in the scissors-type assemblies. Moreover, the header support structure of the transport of the present invention has a low profile and supports the header low to the roadway thus substantially improving stability during transport.
In one principal aspect of the present invention a transport for transporting a large bulky object is provided. The transport has a chassis on wheels for rollably supporting the chassis, a pair of rails spaced longitudinally from each other and extending transversely of the chassis, and first and second support means transversely spaced from each other to support transversely spaced portions of the object when the object is placed on the chassis. The improvement in at least one of said support means comprises at least one inclined bracket having a sloped surface thereon and an elongate sloped slot extending substantially parallel to the sloped surface. The one support means also includes a support element adapted to support the object, and adjustable mounting means mounting the support element for movement along the sloped slot in a direction substantially parallel to the sloped surface to effect movement of the support element simultaneously in both elevation and transversely of the chassis to permit adjustment of the support element to support one of the spaced portions of the object.
In another principal aspect of the present invention, the sloped surface remains stationary during the adjustable movement of the support element.
In still another principal aspect of the present invention, the adjustable mounting means comprises a slot extending parallel to the sloped surface. Plate means both overlies and underlies the slot and the plate means overlying the slot is fixed to the support elements. Coupling means extends between the plate means and through the slot to releaseably engage the plate means with the inclined bracket.
In still another principal aspect of the present invention, the aforementioned slot is in the sloped surface.
In still another principal aspect of the present invention, at least a pair of inclined brackets are spaced from each other longitudinally of the chassis.
In still another principal aspect of the present invention, the sloped surface slopes downwardly toward the the other of the support means.
In still another principal aspect of the present invention, a rail is transversely spaced from the one support means and extends longitudinally of the chassis, and the other support means is mounted on the longitudinally extending rail.
In still another principal aspect of the present invention, adjustable mounting means is provided to mount the other support means for longitudinal movement along the longitudinally extending rail and/or the longitudinally extending rail for transverse movement along the pair of longitudinally spaced transversely extending rails.
In still another principal aspect of the present invention, adjustable mounting means may be provided to also permit transverse movement of the inclined bracket.
In still another principal aspect of the present invention, the support element comprises a rail extending longitudinally of the chassis.


A method and apparatus for introducing combustion air in the form of air jets into a furnace (2) of, for example, a soda recovery boiler. Combustion air is introduced through air ports (12), arranged substantially at the same level (10), in air jets (13) of at least two sizes. Air ports in the walls (4) of the furnace are dimensioned in different sizes such that their hydraulic diameters increase from the corners of the furnace towards the centers of the furnace walls, whereby the degree of penetration of the respective air jets flowing through the air ports increases. The penetration of the air jets in maintained constant at different loading conditions.

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for introducing combustion air into a furnace. More specifically, the invention relates to the introduction of combustion air through air ports which are located substantially at the same level in the different walls of the furnace. The walls of the furnace have several such air ports located adjacent each other and at the same level, which air ports communicate with air supply means for introducing combustion air to the furnace.
An optimal supply of combustion air in the lower part of the furnace plays a substantial role in the control of a combustion process in the combustion chamber of a boiler. An exemplary process in this regard is the burning of black liquor in a soda recovery boiler.
Since the chemical reactions in the soda recovery boiler are very rapid, the speed of the process becomes substantially dependent on the mixing of combustion air and black liquor. This mixing step determines the burning rate and also affects the process efficiency. Air and black liquor are typically introduced to the boiler through individual ports, and it is especially important that a rapid mixing in the boiler is caused by the air supply. The burning symmetry must be controlled throughout the whole cross-sectional area of the boiler and the air supply must be adjusted when required.
Black liquor is generally introduced in the form of considerably large droplets into a soda recovery boiler so as to facilitate the downward flow of the droplets, and to prevent them from flowing, unreacted (as fine fume) upwards together with the upwardly flowing gases to the upper part of the boiler. The large droplet size, which results in the droplets being spaced further from each other than in a fine black liquor spray, means that proper mixing is even more important in a soda recovery boiler.
A stoichiometric amount of air, relative to the amount of black liquor, is introduced into a soda recovery boiler and additionally, a surplus amount of air is supplied to ensure complete combustion. Too much excessive air, however, causes a loss in efficiency of the boiler and an increase in costs. Air is usually introduced into the boiler at three different levels: primary air at the lower part of the furnace, secondary air above the primary air level but below the liquor nozzles, and tertiary air above the liquor nozzles to ensure complete combustion. Air is usually introduced through several air ports located in all four walls, or only in two opposing walls of the furnace.
In a soda recovery boiler, an uneven or inefficient supply of secondary air gives especially poor results in combustion, clogs the heat surfaces and increases emissions in flue gases. The flow of secondary air must be adjusted in such a way that volatile and gasifying particles from the black liquor mix optimally with the combustion air and do not leave the boiler unburnt, which, of course, would decrease the efficiency of the combustion process. Moreover, the volatile and fume particles can very easily cause fouling of heat recovery surfaces in heat recovery devices connected to the boiler. Any unreacted particles escaping from the boiler also increase undesirable and/or harmful emissions.
It has been discovered that especially in boilers having large diameters, in which the cross-sectional area of the furnace is approximately 10 m.times.10 m or even more, the penetration of air to the center parts of the boiler is insufficient and difficult to control. Moreover, it has been observed that in a square boiler, air flows supplied in perpendicular directions from the corners of the boiler tend to partially eliminate each other's penetration into the boiler.
FIG. 1 schematically illustrates, how conventional air flows from four different sides or walls of a furnace are distributed in the cross-sectional area of the boiler. Occasionally relatively large empty areas A are formed between the air flows. On the other hand, there is also considerable interlacing B of the air flows. Thus, air flows unevenly over the cross-sectional area of the boiler. As will be appreciated from FIG. 1, some areas remain without any combustion air, whereas other areas receive surplus amounts of air.
Attempts have been made to improve the situation by increasing the number of ports, as illustrated in FIG. 2. Thus, it is possible to diminish the empty areas in the corners. The amount of combustion air available, however, is restricted in order to achieve an optimal combustion efficiency. By increasing the number of air ports, it is possible to achieve with the same amount of combustion air a more uniform air supply close to the walls and corners of the boiler, but as the penetration of air correspondingly must be diminished, an area is formed in the center of the boiler into which air does not reach.
In order to achieve a more uniform supply of secondary air, each air port is adjusted separately so as to avoid surplus amounts of air in the corner areas. It is the usual practice that the air ports in a soda recovery boiler are provided with manual dampers so that the air pressure may be adjusted, if necessary. The control of the air pressure is carried out by varying the open surface area of the air ports either individually at each air port, or at several air ports at the same time. Thus, it is possible, to some extent, to adjust the flow rate of the air being introduced, but it is not possible at all loads to maintain the air penetration to the center area of the boiler in the secondary zone constant. For example, when operating with full load, when all ports are fully open, there is no further possibility for adjustment.
The use of dampers for constricting the air ports, however, is very problematic. When the opening is constricted, the air flow flowing through the air port is not sufficient to cool either the opening or the damper, which warms up and burns off, either completely or partially.
Mixing becomes difficult also because of the upflow of gas which forms in the center part of the boiler, through which it is difficult for the weak secondary air flow to penetrate. More specifically, the primary air flows, supplied from the sides in the bottom part of the boiler, collide with each other in the center part of the boiler and form, in the center part of the boiler, a gas flow flowing very rapidly upwards, catching flue gases and other incompletely burnt gaseous or dusty material from the lower part of the furnace. This gas flow, also called a "droplet lift", also catches countercurrently downwards flowing black liquor particles and carries them to the upper part of the boiler, where they stick to the heat surfaces of the boiler, causing fouling and clogging. In the center part of the boiler, the speed of the upwards flowing gas may become as much as four times as great as the average speed of the gases as a result of incomplete or weak mixing. Thus a zone of rapid flow is formed in the center part of the boiler, and this renders mixing of flue gases from the side of the flow very difficult to achieve.
The object of the present invention is to increase the capacity and energy efficiency of the boiler by improving the supply of the combustion air. More specifically, the principal purpose is to produce an air supply in the furnace which is more uniform than that in the known techniques, and which better covers the entire cross-sectional area of the boiler.
Another object of the present invention is to enable a constant penetration of combustion air into the boiler at different loading levels.
Especially where soda recovery boilers are concerned, an additional object is to produce a better mixing of black liquor and combustion air in the furnace. Yet another object is to reduce the harmful effect of the above mentioned "droplet lift" effect. Finally, the improved air supply arrangement of this invention is also designed to reduce the amount of harmful emissions.
In order to achieve the above mentioned objects, the method in accordance with the present invention is characterized in that combustion air is introduced into a furnace from at least two opposing walls in air jets of at least two sizes, and in such a way that the penetration of the air jets introduced from different air ports increases from the corners of the furnace walls towards the center of the walls. Combustion air is supplied in a soda recovery boiler in jets of different sizes advantageously from all four furnace walls, such that the penetration of air jets is maintained higher in the center parts of the furnace walls than in the corner parts of the furnace. The penetration of air from different air ports is maintained substantially constant so that the air jets cover the entire cross-sectional area of the furnace as uniformly as possible at different loading conditions without forming any interlacing of air flows or leaving any significant open areas between the air jets.
The apparatus in accordance with the present invention is characterized in that the hydraulic diameter of the air ports in the walls of the furnace increases when moving from the corners of the furnace walls towards the center of the furnace walls. In one exemplary embodiment, the relative area of the air ports may be increased from the corner towards the center of the furnace wall by increasing the cross-sectional areas of the ports. The hydraulic diameter may also be increased by providing at least two small air ports arranged within the effective range of each other toward the center of the wall of the furnace so that the combined hydraulic diameter of the two small ports is greater than the hydraulic diameter of other ports arranged close to the corner, or greater than the combined hydraulic diameter of like groups of closely related air ports. By increasing the relative number of air ports by arranging two or three air ports of, for example, the same size and within a very short distance of each other so that they, in practice, form a combined uniform air port, it is possible to increase the penetration of air in a particular area of the furnace.
The air ports in accordance with the present invention may be arranged at a horizontal level in similar or different intervals in the walls of the furnace or boiler. For example, in a soda recovery boiler, it may be advantageous to arrange small openings close to the corners of the boiler at smaller intervals than larger openings located toward the center of each of the boiler walls.
The air ports in accordance with the present invention are advantageously arranged at substantially the same level, but they may, of course, be arranged at slightly different levels when required.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, secondary air port zones are provided in all four walls of a soda recovery boiler. The areas of the openings in air ports in the secondary air nozzles at one level of the soda recovery boiler are dimensioned so that the areas of the openings close to the corners are smaller than those of the openings in the center parts of the wall. Thus a sufficient penetration of air is achieved in the center parts of the boiler and without the disadvantages of conventional apparatus. A good mixing of combustion air also facilitates the formation and control of a bed at the bottom of the furnace.
The above described differential in cross-sectional areas of the flow openings increases the penetration range of air introduced into the boiler. The relationship between the penetration range of air, the hydraulic diameter of the openings, temperatures of air and gas as well as flow rates may be illustrated by a mathematical formula as follows: EQU L.sub.p =k.times.D.sub.n .times.V.sub.n /V.sub.f .times.(T.sub.f /T.sub.n)n
where
Lp=penetration range of an air jet PA0 k=empirical constant PA0 D.sub.n =hydraulic diameter of an opening PA0 V.sub.n =flow rate of air in the opening PA0 V.sub.f =upflow speed of gas in the boiler PA0 T.sub.n =temperature of inlet air PA0 T.sub.f =temperature of gas in the furnace, and PA0 n=empirical constant, typically 0.5
It can seen in the formula that the penetration range is directly proportional to the hydraulic diameter of the opening. In other words, by enlarging the opening, the penetration range is increased. The air ports may be dimensioned according to the formula to produce a symmetric airsupply throughout the entire cross-sectional area of the boiler at constant conditions. At different running conditions, air penetration is maintained constant by adjusting the penetration range by adjusting either the hydraulic diameters of the openings, the air flow in the openings or the temperature of the inlet air. By adjusting the air penetration L.sub.p as a function of flow rate V.sub.n and/or the temperature T.sub.n, it is possible to run the boiler according to the invention at overload without losing the uniform supply of combustion air.
In accordance with this invention, it is possible to use dampers to adjust the hydraulic diameters of the air inlet openings. Dampers are used to adjust the air flow rate as appropriate when the loading conditions change. Because the openings are already correctly dimensioned, it is not necessary to adjust individual openings at standard conditions. The openings in the corner areas of the furnace are dimensioned for weak air flows, and it is thus not necessary in the applications in accordance with the invention to constrict the openings so much that the constriction valves would be as exposed to burning as in the air registers according to the prior art.
Air is introduced to the air ports from wind boxes, from which air is generally simultaneously conducted to several air ports. By adjusting the air pressure in the wind box, it is possible simply to adjust the speed of the air in the air port and thus affect the penetration of air.
A previous Finnish patent FI 65098 illustrates a method by which it is possible to adjust the air ports of a soda recovery boiler in each wall at the same time by using a main shaft. This joint control method is appropriate especially in the apparatus in accordance with the present invention. All dampers in one wall move at the same pace, whereby, when the load of the boiler changes, the adjustment may be made merely by control instructions to the actuator of the main shaft. It is not necessary to change the air supply profile. Similarly, it is simple to control the total amount of air and/or the speed of air at each wall in such a way that the desired combustion result is achieved. Combining the use of the main shaft with an automatic control is simple, and the control parameter may be, for example, the pressure measured in the air nozzles, the amount of the upwards gas flow coming from below, or parameters affecting the air penetration.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the detailed description which follows.

Method and apparatus for introducing combustion air into a furnace


The present invention relates to a helicopter having a modular airframe, with multiple layers which can be connected easily, the layers which house the electronics (autopilot and navigation systems), batteries, and payload (including camera system) of the helicopter. The helicopter has four, six, and eight rotors, which can be easily changed via removing one module of the airframe. In one embodiment, the airframe has a vertical stacked appearance, and in another embodiment, a domed shape (where several of the layers are stacked internally). In one embodiment, there is a combination landing gear and camera mount. The helicopter allows for simple flight and usage by remote control, and non-remote control, users.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a helicopter, in reduced scale form, for industrial use, that includes a modular structure, multiple rotors and wireless capability. The reduced scale modular airframe helicopter is remotely controlled, and provides a high performance platform for high or low altitude surveillance, with a payload such as camera systems for photographic missions. The reduced scale helicopter of the present invention may be used for industrial use, for example in surveillance operations, such as border control, crime prevention, military reconnaissance, disaster reconnaissance, etc., and is reliable to achieve a maximum flight time with a minimum of down time. The reduced scale helicopter of the present invention is a state of the art unmanned aerial vehicle/unmanned aircraft system (UAV)/(UAS) helicopter with a built-in autopilot and navigation system that allows for simple flight and usage by remote control, ground station control and non-remote control users.
2. Description of the Relevant Art
Although reduced scale helicopters are in existence, they suffer from reliability problems, navigation problems, and have long delays in launch time. Further, present day helicopters suffer from a lack of features that would be advantageous in industrial use (used mostly as toys), and are not modular and upgradeable.
Thus, a reduced scale helicopter that could be used industrially, which includes state-of-the-art technology with high reliability, modularity, and upgraded features, such as multi-rotors and wireless capability, is desired.

Helicopter with multi-rotors and wireless capability

Leptron Industrial Robotic Helicopters, Inc.


An apparatus and method of coding a palette table using a palette predictor list operate by receiving input data associated with a current block in a picture, receiving a current palette for a current block in the picture, and receiving the palette predictor list for the current palette. For a current position of the palette predictor list, the operations determine a current palette predictor run, wherein a distance between the current position of the palette predictor list and a next position of a next palette entry of the palette predictor list corresponds to the current palette predictor run. Further, the operation constrains a syntax element representing the current palette predictor run to a range of values to cause the next palette entry of the palette predictor list to be within the palette predictor list, and signal or parse the syntax element in a bitstream for the current block.

High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) is a new coding standard that has been developed in recent years. In the High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) system, the fixed-size macroblock of H.264/AVC is replaced by a flexible block, named coding unit (CU). In recent HEVC development, palette-based coding is being used for screen content coding (SCC). The syntaxes for palette coding mainly consist of two parts. One is signalling palette table and the other is signalling the index map of the block (i.e., a CU) which represents the information of the block coded. For the index map, number of indices, last run_type flag and grouped indices are signalled. After signalling index information, a pair of run type and number of run is repeatedly signalled. At last, group of escape values is signalled, if necessary.
In HEVC document JCTVC-T1005 (Joshi, et al., HEVC Screen Content Coding Draft Text 3, Joint Collaborative Team on Video Coding (JCT-VC) of ITU-T SG 16 WP 3 and ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 29/WG 11, 20th Meeting: Geneva, CH, 10-18 Feb. 2015, Document: JCTVC-T1005), the palette indices are grouped and signalled in the front of the coded data for a corresponding block (i.e., before palette_run_mode and palette_run syntax elements in a bitstream for the current block). On the other hand, the escape pixels are coded at the end of the coded data for the corresponding block. The syntax elements, palette_run_mode and palette_run are coded between palette indices and escape pixels. FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary flowchart for index map syntax signalling according to JCTVC-T1005. The number of indices (110), last run_type flag (130) and grouped indices (120) are signalled. After signalling index information, a pair of run type (140) and number of runs (150) is repeatedly signalled. At last, a group of escape values (160) is signalled, if necessary.
In JCTVC-T1005, the last_palette_run_type_flag uses its own context to code. The context table is shown in Table 1, where initial values (i.e., initValue) for palette_run_type_flag and last_palette_run_type_flag are specified.
TABLE 1ctxIdx ofpalette_run_type_flag andInitializationlast_palette_run_type_flagvariable012initValue154154154
Furthermore, palette_run_type and last_palette_run_type, each having one context (ctxIdx=0), are specified in the following table.
TABLE 2binIdxSyntax element01234>=5. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .palette_transpose_flag0nanananananum_palette_indices_idcbypassbypassbypassbypassbypassbypasslast_palette_run_type_flag0nananananapalette_run_type_flag0nananananapalette_index_idcbypassbypassbypassbypassbypassbypass
The syntaxes for palette coding mainly consist of two parts. One is signalling palette table itself and the other is signalling the index map of the block, which represents the information of the block coded. For the index map, number of indices, last run type flag and grouped indices are signalled. After signalling index information, a pair of run type and number of run is repeatedly signalled. At last, a group of escape values is signalled, if necessary. The palette index map syntax signalling in SCM4.0 can be depicted as below:
In JCTVC-T1005, the difference between NumPaletteIndices and MaxPaletteIndex is signalled, where MaxPaletteIndex specifies the maximum possible value for a palette index of the current coding unit. The value of MaxPaletteIndex is set equal to CurrentPaletteSize−1+palette_escape_val_present_flag. The corresponding syntax element for the number of indices is num_palette_indices_idc. The corresponding syntax is as follows: num_palette_indices_idc is an indication of the number of palette indices signalled for the current block.
When num_palette_indices_idc is not present, it is inferred to be equal to 0. The variable NumPaletteIndices specifies the number of palette indices signalled for the current block and is derived as shown in the following table.
TABLE 3if( num_palette_indices_idc >= ( MaxPaletteIndex − 1) * 32 )NumPaletteIndices = num_palette_indices_idc + 1else if(num_palette_indices_idc % 32 = = 31)NumPaletteIndices = MaxPaletteIndex −(num_palette_indices_idc + 1 ) / 32 −1)elseNumPaletteIndices = (num_palette_indices_idc / 32 ) * 31 ) +(num_palette_indices_idc % 32) + MaxPaletteIndex
In JCTVC-T1005, it also discloses a method to signal the palette table of the current block based on a palette predictor. FIG. 2 illustrates an example of the process of reconstructing the palette for the current block based on a palette predictor as specified in JCTVC-T1005. Some entries of the palette predictor 220 are reused by the palette of the current block 210. The correspondences between the reused entries of the palette predictor 220 and reused entries of the palette of the current block are indicated by arrows 215. Palette reuse flags 230 are used to identify the entries of the palette predictor that are reused. If the palette reuse flag is equal to 1, it indicates that the corresponding entry is reused. If the palette reuse flag is equal to 0, it indicates that the corresponding entry is not reused. The palette reuse flags are coded by run-length coding, where the runs of "1"s are coded as syntax element palette_predictor_run.

Methods of palette mode coding in video coding


A method for generating a radiation image signal comprises the steps of detecting an image signal by reading out a radiation image, which has been recorded on a recording medium during an image recording operation using a grid and which comprises an object image and a striped grid image corresponding to the grid and superposed upon the object image. The image signal is sampled such that a plurality of image signal components are obtained which correspond to a plurality of discrete points on the radiation image, intervals between the discrete points varying irregularly from predetermined intervals at least along a direction intersecting the striped pattern of the grid image on the radiation image.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method for generating a radiation image signal wherein an image signal is obtained by reading out a radiation image which has been recorded on a recording medium during an image recording operation using a grid and which comprises an object image and a striped grid image corresponding to the grid and superposed upon the object image. This invention also relates to an image processing method for such a radiation image. This invention further relates to a radiation image read-out apparatus wherein a method for generating a radiation image signal is employed.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Techniques for reading out a recorded radiation image in order to obtain an image signal, carrying out appropriate image processing on the image signal, and then reproducing a visible image by use of the processed image signal have heretofore been known in various fields. For example, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 61(1986)-5193, an X-ray image is recorded on a sheet of X-ray film having a small gamma value designed for the type of image processing to be carried out, the X-ray image is read out from the X-ray film and converted into an electric signal, and the electric signal (image signal) is processed and then used for reproducing the X-ray image as a visible image on a copy photograph or the like. In this manner, a visible image having good image quality with high contrast, high sharpness, high graininess, or the like can be reproduced.
Also, when certain kinds of phosphors are exposed to radiation such as X-rays, .alpha.-rays, .beta.-rays, .gamma.-rays, cathode rays or ultraviolet rays, they store part of the energy of the radiation. Then, when the phosphor which has been exposed to the radiation is exposed to stimulating rays such as visible light, light is emitted by the phosphor in proportion to the amount of energy stored during exposure to the radiation. A phosphor exhibiting such properties is referred to as a stimulable phosphor. As disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,258,264, 4,276,473, 4,315,318, 4,387,428, and Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 56(1981)-11395, it has been proposed to use stimulable phosphors in radiation image recording and reproducing systems. Specifically, a sheet provided with a layer of the stimulable phosphor (hereinafter referred to as a stimulable phosphor sheet) is first exposed to radiation which has passed through an object such as the human body in order to store a radiation image of the object thereon, and is then scanned with stimulating rays, such as a laser beam, which cause it to emit light in proportion to the amount of energy stored during exposure to the radiation. The light emitted by the stimulable phosphor sheet, upon stimulation thereof, is photoelectrically detected and converted into an electric image signal. The image signal is then used to reproduce the radiation image of the object as a visible image on a recording material such as photographic film, a display device such as a cathode ray tube (CRT), or the like.
Radiation image recording and reproducing systems which use stimulable phosphor sheets are advantageous over conventional radiography using silver halide photographic materials, in that images can be recorded even when the energy intensity of the radiation to which the stimulable phosphor sheet is exposed varies over a wide range. More specifically, since the amount of light emitted upon stimulation after the radiation energy is stored on the stimulable phosphor varies over a wide range and is proportional to the amount of energy stored during exposure to the radiation, it is possible to obtain an image having a desirable density regardless of the energy intensity of the radiation to which the stimulable phosphor sheet was exposed. In order to obtain a desirable image density, an appropriate read-out gain is set when the emitted light is being detected and converted into an electric signal to be used in the reproduction of a visible image on a recording material or a display device.
During the recording of a radiation image of an object on a recording medium, such as X-ray film or a stimulable phosphor sheet, a grid is often located between the object and the recording medium such that radiation scattered by the object does not impinge upon the recording medium. The grid is constituted of bars of a radiation-impermeable material, such as lead, and bars of a radiation-permeable material, such as aluminium or wood, which are alternately located in parallel at small pitches of approximately 4.0 bars/mm. When the grid is used during the recording of a radiation image of an object on a recording medium, radiation scattered by the object is prevented from impinging upon the recording medium, and therefore the contrast of the radiation image of the object can be kept high. However, a grid image having a striped pattern is recorded together with the object image on the recording medium.
In general, in radiation image read-out apparatuses, wherein an image signal is detected from a recording medium which has a radiation image recorded thereon, light which is emitted from the recording medium and which carries information about the radiation image is photoelectrically detected and converted into an image signal. The image signal is then sampled at sampling intervals of .DELTA.x=1/(2.multidot.fss) corresponding to the spatial frequency, which is the maximum of a spatial frequency range necessary for image information. The spatial frequency, which is the maximum of a spatial frequency range necessary for image information, is herein denoted by fss. The sampled image signal is then digitized. In cases where the radiation image comprises the object image and a grid image superposed upon the object image, the image signal obtained in the manner described above includes not only the information representing the radiation image of the object but also noise which is caused to occur by the grid image. The noise will occur even if the spatial frequency of the grid image is higher than the maximum spatial frequency fss necessary for image information.
FIG. 6A is a graph showing the spatial frequency characteristics of a radiation image, which has been recorded on a recording medium and which comprises an object image and a grid image superposed upon the object image, along a direction intersecting perpendicularly to the striped pattern of the grid image.
By way of example, it is herein assumed that, during the recording of the radiation image, a grid having the bars of a radiation-impermeable material and the bars of a radiation-permeable material, which are alternately located in parallel at pitches of 4.0 bars/mm, was used. The spatial frequency of the grid image is 4 cycles/mm. Also, it is assumed herein that the spatial frequency fss, which is the maximum of a spatial frequency range necessary for the reproduction of a visible radiation image of the object, is 2.5 cycles/mm.
FIG. 6B is an explanatory graph showing how noise occurs when an image signal is sampled at sampling intervals of .DELTA.x=1/(2.multidot. fss)= 0.2 (mm) corresponding to the spatial frequency fss=2.5 (cycles/mm), i.e. is sampled five times per mm. When such sampling intervals are applied, it is possible to obtain information in the spatial frequency region which is below the spatial frequency fss=2.5 (cycles/mm), which is the maximum of a spatial frequency range necessary for the reproduction of a visible radiation image of the object.
In FIG. 6B, the same curve as that shown in FIG. 6A is indicated by the solid line. As indicated by the broken line, noise occurs at the position corresponding to 1 cycle/mm, with which the position of the peak occurring at 4 cycles/mm coincides when the curve indicated by the solid line is folded back from the part corresponding to fss=2.5 (cycles/mm). Such noise is referred to as aliasing. Specifically, the aliasing corresponding to a spatial frequency of 4 cycles/mm of the grid image occurs at the position corresponding to 1 cycle/mm.
FIG. 6C is a graph showing the spatial frequency characteristics of the radiation image represented by an image signal obtained from the sampling in which sampling intervals of .DELTA.x=1/(2.multidot.fss)= 0.2 (mm) are applied.
In cases where a visible image is reproduced to a scale of one to one from the image signal, which includes the noise corresponding to the grid image and occurring at the position of 1 cycle/mm, a striped pattern having a spatial frequency of 1 cycle/mm occurs on the reproduced visible image. Even if the spatial frequency of the grid image falls within such a spatial frequency range that the grid image is not very perceptible, when an image signal is sampled, noise which constitutes a striped pattern will occur in such a spatial frequency range that the grid image is perceptible. When the sampled image signal is used in the reproduction of a visible image, a visible image having bad image quality is obtained.

Method for generating radiation image signals, image processing method, and radiation image read-out apparatus


A flywheel energy storage system includes a rotating assembly having a plurality of magnets and a longitudinal axis about which the rotating assembly rotates and static assembly having a stator configured to magnetically interact with the plurality of magnets of the rotating assembly. The rotating assembly includes a rotor back iron supporting the plurality of magnets and disposed further from the longitudinal axis in a radial direction than the plurality of magnets. The back iron being formed of a material having a first stiffness, relative permeability of at least 10, and an electrical conductivity 10% or less than the electrical conductivity of magnetic steel. There is composite structure supporting the rotor back iron and disposed further from the longitudinal axis in a radial direction than the rotor back iron. The composite structure comprises a composite material having a second stiffness, which is greater than the first stiffness.

Short duration power variations on a MW scale occur in many different systems. For example, electrified rail experiences voltage surges and sags when trains decelerate and accelerate. Areas of the grid experience surges, sags and ramps when variable renewable energy sources, particularly wind and solar, provide a significant fraction of the generated power. Draglines used at mines, material handling equipment, and islanded systems all experience frequent, short duration MW scale power fluctuations. Heretofore, the high power and high number of cycles of these disturbances has made it prohibitive for conventional energy storage solutions to be applied. Instead, the excessive fluctuations are dealt with by ramping generating assets with the consequence of reduced efficiency, higher energy cost, higher O&M cost, and reduced service life.
A more effective and less costly solution to this problem is an energy storage device that can source or sink 1 MW for approximately 90 seconds, switch between charge and discharge in a few milliseconds, cycle continuously, and deliver 1,000,000 or more full charge-discharge cycles without degradation. In order to be of value in a range of applications, the storage system should be relatively compact and transportable so it may be deployed in many applications.
No battery or capacitor can economically provide this capability without periodic replacement or significant oversizing. Pumped hydro storage cannot respond as rapidly and is neither compact nor transportable. Heretofore no flywheel energy storage system has attained all of these capabilities including power and stored energy.
Batteries are used in short duration power management applications such as hybrid vehicles. However, even the most durable batteries have a throughput capacity of 3000 which corresponds to 3000 cycles with a depth of discharge of 100% of the capacity of the battery. Consequently batteries are useful in applications with limited cycle life such as vehicles but cannot withstand long-term operation with frequent cycling. Ultra-capacitors have much greater cycle life than batteries but degrade after several hundred thousand cycles and are costly when sized to store more than a few seconds worth of energy.
Flywheels are well suited to withstanding large numbers of cycles without degradation or failure. Cycle life is limited by the fatigue strength of the material that at 1 million cycles is about 50% of new strength for steel and 85% of new strength for carbon composite. However, operation with continuous high power cycling has proven challenging. Even small inefficiencies resulting in losses on the rotor can cause excessive rotor heating. Heretofore no flywheel system with the ability to cycle continuously at more than approximately 200 kW has been developed.

High power flywheel system with rotor having a flowable back iron and a composite structure support


Certain embodiments provide a camera module including a housing of a substantially cuboid shape, a light reflecting portion, a plurality of solid-state imaging device, a lens, and an optical spectroscope. The light reflecting portion is arranged inside the housing and reflects the light incident from the opening portion which is formed on a top surface of the housing, in a direction parallel to a longitudinal direction of the housing. Each of a plurality of solid-state imaging devices has a light receiving surface which is provided in the housing vertically to the bottom surface of the housing. The lens is arranged inside the housing such that an optical axis is parallel to the longitudinal direction of the housing. The optical spectroscope is arranged inside the housing and separates the light which has passed through the lens into lights.

A conventional camera module which is mounted on an electronic device such as, for example, a mobile telephone is a so-called vertical camera module. In the vertical camera module, lens is arranged above a substrate on which solid-state imaging devices such as CMOS sensors are arranged such that optical axes of the lens is in parallel to a traveling direction of incident light. This vertical camera module causes light which is incident on a light receiving surface of the solid-state imaging device from a substantially vertical direction to travel in the substantially vertical direction with respect to the light receiving surface, and receives the light at the solid-state imaging device.
To make resolution of this conventional vertical camera module higher, it is necessary to make the thicknesses of the lenses to be arranged thicker.
Further, to make resolution of this conventional vertical camera module higher, it is necessary to overlay and arrange a plurality of lenses in a vertical direction.
However, when the resolution of the camera module is made higher, there is a problem that the camera module becomes thick.


An optoelectric device (1) has an emitter and/or receiver (5) on a first element (13) of a printed circuit (2) of this device. Moreover, the device has at least one second printed-circuit element (32) such that the second element is not in alignment with the first element. And consequently, the device provides for the first element and the second element to be applied against separate and secant faces of a heatsink (4) of the device. The function of this heatsink is to evacuate the heat emitted by an optic connection provided on the device. The heatsink also permits supporting and holding the different portions of the printed circuit.

The subject of the present invention is an optoelectronic emitter and/or receiver device. It more particularly finds application in the field of high-rate optic connections, notably those respecting usage standards for telecommunications. In the prior art, a device of this type is known, which has a printed circuit on which is positioned an optic emitter-receiver, to emit or receive these optic signals that are exchanged with an optic connector positioned facing this optic emitter-receiver. Such devices dissipate a large amount of energy, and are generally provided with a heatsink or cooler in order to assure their cooling. The interest of the invention is that it presents an optoelectronic device provided with a heatsink, in such a way that the heatsink also serves for a mechanical support for the device.
In the prior art, a parallel optic connection is known from the teaching of document IEEE 078035234 3/99 Electronic Competence and Technologic Conference. This parallel optic connection uses an emitter-receiver and a complementary connector linked to an optical fiber. For this purpose, it has a printed circuit on which is present an emitter-receiver having aligned photodiodes, the printed circuit being designed so that the complementary connector can be mounted on the surface of this printed circuit and presented facing the optic emitter-receiver. For example, the complementary connector has optical-fiber ends connected to this connector with a spacing of its ends equal to the spacing between the photodiodes and the emitter-receiver.
Moreover, in order to assure the correct mounting of the complementary connector on the printed circuit, the printed circuit has two openings and the connector correspondingly has two guiding pins. The position of the optical fiber ends is precisely defined with respect to the guiding pins, and likewise, the position of the photodiodes is precisely defined with respect to the printed circuit openings. Thus, during the mounting of the complementary connector on the surface of the printed circuit, one ends up with a precision optic connection between the optical fibers and the optic emitter-receiver.
This parallel optic connection also has a metal base so as to be able to dissipate the heat emitted by the assembly of electronic components borne by the printed circuit, notably that emitted by the photodiodes. The metal base is a plate applied against one face of the printed circuit, preferentially facing the emitter-receiver. In a preferred example, this metal base also has alignment openings. Thus, the metal base can also receive centering pins from the complementary connector.
In this example, the printed circuit is flexible, and it has several segments permitting a connection with different devices. For example, a first segment is designed to be connected with the complementary connector. In this case, the metal base is applied against only this first segment. On the other hand, a second segment of the printed circuit is provided to be connected, by a bead soldering system, to another device, such as a motherboard, for example. Generally, such a device has a third printed-circuit segment, and said third segment is provided more particularly to receive passive components.
This optoelectronic device of the prior art poses a problem. In fact, such an optoelectronic device releases a great deal of heat. Now the metal base provided to serve as a heatsink is generally of a size that is smaller than the printed circuit. In fact, since the printed circuit is flexible, and the different segments of this circuit are not necessarily aligned, the metal base, which is a rigid plate, cannot follow the different segments of the printed circuit. Therefore, in general, the interest in this metal base is limited to the role of heatsink, in the very restricted zone where the latter is positioned.
Moreover, the flexible printed circuit risks being abraded at the level of the periphery of the metal base. In fact, since this metal base is local, it presents projecting boundary edges to the flexible printed circuit. For example, if the flexible printed circuit is curved in such a way that it is folded on the metal base, then the projecting boundary edges risk cutting the base locally. Moreover, since the metal base is of very fine thickness, this curvature of the flexible printed circuit can lead to the formation of a very crimped bend around this metal base and therefore risks adversely affecting the conductive strips provided in this area on the flexible printed circuit.
The object of the present invention is to solve the problem posed by the optoelectronic device of the prior art. In fact, the optoelectronic emitter and/or receiver device of the invention more particularly provides a device having a printed circuit such that this printed circuit is applied against a heatsink, this heatsink having a form such that it has several distinct faces. The printed circuit has at least one optic receiver and/or emitter, and can receive at least one complementary optic connector, such that the centering pins of this connector can be inserted into the openings of the circuit. In this connection position, the optic contacts of the complementary connector are positioned facing the contacts of the optic emitter-receiver of the circuit.
The printed circuit of the invention is particular since it has a first segment applied against a first face of the heatsink, and a second segment of this same printed circuit applied against a second face of this same heatsink. The particular quality of the invention resides in the fact that the two faces onto which the printed circuit is applied are separate, or, for example, contiguous. The printed circuit also has a flexible segment, such that this flexible segment assures a connection between the first segment and the second segment. The flexible segment permits notably placing the first and the second segments on different planes. Consequently, the heatsink plays a role of physical support for at least these two segments of the printed circuit, and protects them from adverse effects.
The invention therefore concerns an optoelectronic device having a first printed-circuit element, on which is mounted an optic emitter and/or receiver, this first printed-circuit element having at least two openings to receive the centering pins of an optic connector that can be mounted facing the optic emitter and/or receiver, this device also having a heatsink, being characterized in that the first printed-circuit element is applied against a first face of the heatsink, and in that a segment of the flexible printed circuit connects the first printed-circuit element to a second printed-circuit element, this second printed-circuit element being applied against a second face of the heatsink, this second face being separate from the first face.


An arrangement provides for improved synthesis of speech arising from a message text. The arrangement stores prerecorded prompts and speech related characteristics for those prompts. A message is parsed to determine if any message portions have been recorded previously. If so then speech related characteristics for those portions are retrieved. The arrangement generates speech related characteristics for those parties not previously stored. The retrieved and generated characteristics are combined. The combination of characteristics is then used as the input to a speech synthesizer.

The invention relates generally to an arrangement which provides speech output and more particularly to an arrangement that combines recorded speech prompts with speech that is produced by a synthesizing technique.
Current applications requiring speech output, depending on the task, may use announcements or interactive prompts that are either recorded or generated by text-to-speech synthesis (TTS). Unit section TTS techniques, such as those described in "Unit Selection in a Concatenative Speech Synthesis System Using Large Speech Database" by Hunt et al., Proc. IEEE Intl. Conf. Acoustic, Speech, Signal Processing, pp. 373-376, 1996, yield what is considered high-quality synthesis, but results are nevertheless significantly less intelligible and natural than recorded speech. Recorded prompts are often preferred in situations where (a) there are a limited number of basically fixed prompts required for the application and/or (b) the speech is required to be of very high quality. An example might be the welcoming initial prompt for an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system, introducing the system. TTS is used in situations where the vocabulary of an application is prohibitively large to be covered by recorded speech or where an IVR system needs to be able to respond in a very flexible way. One example, might be a reverse telephone directory for name and address information.
The advantage of TTS lies in the almost infinite range of responses possible, the low cost, high efficiency, and flexibility of being able to experiment with a wide range of utterances (especially for rapid prototyping of a service). The main disadvantage is that quality is currently lower than that of recorded speech.
While recorded speech has the advantage of higher speech quality, its disadvantages are lack of flexibility, both short term and long term, low scalability, high storage requirements for recorded speech files, and the high cost of recording a high quality voice, especially if additional material may be required later.
Depending on the application requirements, the appropriateness of one or the other type of speech output will vary. Many applications attempt to compromise, or benefit from the best aspects of both, some by combining TTS with recorded prompts, some by adopting one of the following methods.
Limited domain synthesis is a technique for achieving high quality synthesis by specializing and carefully designing the recorded database. An example of a limited domain application might be weather report reading for a restricted geographical region. The system may also rely on constraining the structure of the output in order to achieve the quality gains desired. The approach is automated, and the quality gains are a function of the choice of domain and of the database.
Another method for which much work has been done is in allowing the customization of automatic text to speech. This technique comes under the general heading of adding control or escape sequences to the text input, more recently called markup. Diphone synthesis systems frequently allow the user to insert special character sequences into the text to influence the way that things get spoken (often including an escape character, hence the name). The most obvious example of this would be where a different pronunciation of a word is desired compared with the system's default pronunciation. Markup can also be used to influence or override prosodic treatment of sentences to be synthesized, e.g., to add emphasis to a word. Such systems basically fall into three categories: (a) nearly all systems have escape or control sequences that are system specific; (b) standardized markup for synthesis e.g., SSML (See SSML: A speech synthesis markup language, Speech Communication, Vol. 21, pp. 123-133, 1997, the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference); and (c) more generally a kind of mode based on the type of a document or dialog schema, such as SALT (See SALT: a spoken language interface for web-based multimodal dialog system, Intl. Conf. on Spoken Language processing ICSLP 2002, pp. 2241-2244), which subsumes SSML.
A block diagram of a typical concatenative TTS system is shown in FIG. 1. The first block 101 is the message text analysis module that takes ASCII message text and converts it to a series of phonetic symbols and prosody (fundamental frequency, duration, and amplitude) targets. The text analysis module actually consists of a series of modules with separate, but in many cases intertwined, functions. Input text is first analyzed and non-alphabetic symbols and abbreviations are expanded to full words. For example, in the sentence "Dr. Smith lives at 4035 Elm Dr.", the first "Dr." is transcribed as "Doctor", while the second one is transcribed are "Drive". Next, "4305" is expanded to "forty three oh five". Then, a syntactic parser (recognizing the part of speech for each word in the sentence) is used to label the text. One of the functions of syntax is to disambiguate the sentence constituent pieces in order to generate the correct string of phones, with the help of a pronunciation dictionary. Thus for the above sentence, the verb "lives" is disambiguated from the (potential) noun "lives" (plural of "life). If the dictionary look-up fails, general letter-to-sound rules are used (Dictionary rules module 103). Finally, with punctuated text, syntactic and phonological information available, a prosody module predicts sentence phrasing and word accents, and, from those, generates targets for example, for fundamental frequency, phoneme duration, and amplitude. The second block 110 in FIG. 1 assembles the units according to the list of targets set by the front-end. It is this block that is responsible for the innovation towards more natural sounding synthetic speech with reference to a store of sounds. Then the selected units are fed into a back-end speech synthesizer 120 that generates the speech waveform for presentation to the listener.
This known arrangement simply does not accommodate well an arrangement in which TTS is combined with recorded prompts.

Method and apparatus for combining text to speech and recorded prompts


A method for removing a mask in a selective area epitaxy process is provided. The method includes forming a first layer on a substrate and oxidizing the first layer. A patterned photoresist can be formed on the oxidized first layer. A portion of the oxidized first layer can then be removed using a wet chemical etch to form a mask. After removing the patterned photoresist a second layer can be epitaxially grown in a metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) chamber or a chemical beam epitaxy (CBE) chamber on a portion of the first layer exposed by the mask. The mask can then be removed the mask in the MOCVD/MBE chamber. The disclosed in-situ mask removal method minimizes both the atmospheric exposure of a growth surface and the number of sample transfers.

Selective area epitaxy (SAE) has been used in the fabrication of advanced devices and circuits including, for example, edge emitting lasers, buried heterostructure lasers, patterned nanostructures, and integrated optoelectronic devices. In an SAE process, a dielectric mask defines window areas on a substrate. Using chemical beam epitaxy (CBE) or metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD), eptaxial growth is then confined to those window areas.
Problems arise, however, because common dielectric mask materials such as SiO2 or SiNx require an ex-situ hydrofluoric acid etch for removal. Moreover, processing schemes typically involve several sample transfer steps to accommodate oxide layer deposition and patterning outside of the growth chamber, a SAE in the growth chamber, followed by mask removal outside of the growth chamber and finally, an overgrowth process. Each exposure of the growth surface to atmosphere can result in contamination that leads to surface degradation, traps, and nonradiative recombination centers.
Thus, there is a need to overcome these and other problems of the prior art to provide a method to remove a mask material using an in-situ etch step that minimizes both the atmospheric exposure of a growth surface and the number of sample transfers.

In-situ mask removal in selective area epitaxy using metal organic chemical vapor deposition


A photothermographic material having, on at least one side of a support, an image forming layer including at least a photosensitive silver halide, a non-photosensitive organic silver salt, a reducing agent, and a binder, and at least one non-photosensitive layer, wherein the photothermographic material contains a water-insoluble azomethine dye and a metal phthalocyanine dye represented by formula (PC-1):

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a photothermographic material preferably used in the field of films for medical diagnosis, the field of films for graphic arts, or the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, in the medical field and the graphic arts field, there has been a strong desire for providing a dry photographic process from the viewpoints of protecting the environment and economy of space. Further, the development of digitization in these fields has resulted in the rapid development of systems in which image information is captured and stored in a computer, and then when necessary processed and output by transmitting it to a desired location. Here the image information is output onto a photosensitive material using a laser image setter or a laser imager, and developed to form an image at the location. It is necessary for the photosensitive material to be able to record an image with high-intensity laser exposure and that a clear black-tone image with a high resolution and sharpness can be formed. While various kinds of hard copy systems using pigments or dyes, such as ink-jet printers or electrophotographic systems, have been distributed as general image forming systems using such digital imaging recording materials, images on the digital imaging recording materials obtained by such general image forming systems are insufficient in terms of the image quality (sharpness, granularity, gradation, and tone) needed for medical images used in making diagnoses, and high recording speeds (sensitivity). These kinds of digital imaging recording materials have not reached a level at which they can replace medical silver halide film processed with conventional wet development.
Photothermographic materials utilizing organic silver salts are already known. Photothermographic materials have an image forming layer in which a reducible silver salt (for example, an organic silver salt), a photosensitive silver halide, and if necessary, a toner for controlling the color tone of developed silver images are dispersed in a binder.
Photothermographic materials form black silver images by being heated to a high temperature (for example, 80° C. or higher) after imagewise exposure to cause an oxidation-reduction reaction between a silver halide or a reducible silver salt (functioning as an oxidizing agent) and a reducing agent. The oxidation-reduction reaction is accelerated by the catalytic action of a latent image on the silver halide generated by exposure. As a result, a black silver image is formed in the exposed region. Photothermographic materials have been described in many documents, and the Fuji Medical Dry Imager FM-DPL is an example of a practical medical image forming system using a photothermographic material that has been marketed.
These photothermographic materials utilizing an organic silver salt have a great characteristic of containing all components necessary for image formation in the film in advance and being capable of forming images only by heating. However, on the other hand, there are many technical problems to be solved.
Generally, silver halide photographic materials contain dyes for various purposes. However, the dyes are mainly employed for two purposes described below.
The first purpose is to provide a light filter, an antihalation effect or an anti-irradiation effect to the materials, where the dye exerts its function during the imagewise exposure process but becomes unnecessary after an image is formed. In the case of a dye having absorption in the visible light region, when the dye remains, the remaining dye degrades image quality. Therefore, it is necessary to decolor the remaining dye during the developing process.
The second purpose is to control image tone, where the dye exerts its function after the image forming process, and it is required to complement the color tone of developed silver images and to have a desired spectral light absorption characteristic in order to bring about preferable image tone.
A dye which is used for a photothermographic material has another task, in addition to the above purposes, which is unique to the photothermographic material. As mentioned above, the photothermographic material contains all components necessary for forming an image in the film in advance. Further, even after an image has been formed, unreacted components or reaction products remain in the film, and these exert complicated influences on storage stability of the dye (prior to or after the image formation). Especially after the image formation, it is required that the dye is stable so that change in color or decoloration does not occur during image storage under various conditions (for example, under light illumination, high temperature and high humidity conditions, or the like).
More specifically, in order to attain images with a good degree of sharpness, the incorporation of dyes is very important for photothermographic materials exposed by a laser beam to provide sufficient antihalation and anti-irradiation effects at the wavelength used for the imagewise exposure. As for the wavelength of a laser beam used for the exposure, a wide range of wavelength regions such as the near infrared region, the infrared region, or the visible light region from red to blue can be applied.
For photothermographic materials exposed with either a near infrared or an infrared laser beam, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) Nos. 9-146220 and 11-228698 disclose photothermographic materials which practically require no color bleaching mechanism therein due to use of a dye which has an absorption maximum within the near infrared region outside of visual sensitivity, a narrow half band width, and little light absorption within the visible light region. All of the patents, patent publications, and non-patent literature cited in the specification are hereby expressly incorporated by reference herein.
For photothermographic materials which are subjected to imagewise exposure with a laser beam having a wavelength within the visible light region of blue to red, a method for decoloring dyes by way of heating during a thermal developing process has been proposed. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,135,842 discloses a method for decoloring polymethine dyes of a specific structure by heating. Moreover, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,314,795, 5,324,627, and 5,384,237 disclose methods in which polymethine dyes are decolorized by heating using a carbanion generating agent.
However, the discoloring mechanisms described above often bring about problems such as incomplete decoloring of dyes or dye decolorization during storage of photothermographic materials due to the insufficient stability of dye occurring after bleaching ability has been enhanced. Moreover, there are also problems such as film turbidity caused by crystallization of decoloring reaction products in the film and powdery deposits oozing out to the surface. Especially, in photothermographic materials used in medical diagnosis, high sharpness and preferable image tone are required. Furthermore, demand has increased for image forming methods used for processing photothermographic materials at a higher speed within a short time.
As dyes used for photographic applications, metal phthalocyanine dyes are well known in the art, and in particular, water-soluble metal phthalocyanine dyes and pigments are known. JP-A No. 2003-295388 discloses the use of a water-soluble metal phthalocyanine dye in photothermographic materials. However, these conventional metal phthalocyanine dyes have a broad spectral light absorption spectrum and can only be added in an amount in a range that does not affect image tone when used in a photothermographic material, and thus, sufficient antihalation effect has not been achieved.
JP-A Nos. 10-268465, and 2000-39685 disclose photothermographic materials which contain dyes or pigments having an absorption maximum in the wavelength region of from 500 nm to 700 nm, or from 520 nm to 580 nm. However, these dyes present problems such as having a broad light absorption spectrum or insufficient storage stability.

Abstract: wherein M represents a metal atom; R1, R2, R3, R4, R5, R6, R7, and R8 each independently represent a hydrogen atom or a substituent; and at least one of them is an electron-attracting group. The invention provides a photothermographic material which exhibits preferable image tone and excellent image storability.


A system for receiving and displaying broadcast audio and visual programming includes a television receiver and a display. The television receiver has a tuner for tuning to the channel to be displayed and is controlled by a processor with which the user communicates by way of a remote control unit. Operation of a random button on the remote control unit causes the processor to initiate a random mode selection whereby the television receiver randomly selects and displays one of the broadcast channels received.

Television receivers, such as set-top boxes (STBs), receive and process transmissions comprised of audio/visual programming from broadcasters and output the programming to a communicatively coupled display, such as a television. The television receivers are typically controlled by a control device, such a remote control device. Thus, the remote control device controls the output of content presented by the display.
Users can spend a lot of time just looking through lists of programs, for example, on an electronic program guide, for a program they might be interested in. Because the vast variety of programs available can be overwhelming, many users tend to have a relatively small list of favorite programs to which they tune.


The present invention provides systems, methods and apparatus for automatically provisioning and managing resources in a computing utility. Its automation procedures are based on a resource model which allows resource-specific provisioning and management tasks to be encapsulated into components for reuse. These components are assembled into more complex structures and finally computing services. This invention provides a method for constructing a computing service from a set of resources given a high level specification. Once constructed, the service includes a component that provides management function, which can allow modification of its underlying set of resources.

A hosting center provides computing services to multiple customers. Each customer is allocated a subset of the service provider's infrastructure resources, such as servers, to meet its needs. Customer needs change over time, and in particular, peak demands for resources can exceed average demands by orders of magnitude. A simple static allocation of resources to satisfy peak demand leaves resources underutilized. Reconfiguring infrastructure resources dynamically, in response to customer needs, demands prompt attention from administrative personnel, increasing both operational costs and the risk of failing to provide adequate service. The problem for the hosting center is how to respond quickly to changes in customer needs such that infrastructure resources and staff are employed in an efficient and cost effective way. Computing utilities attempt to address this problem by automating the creation and management of one or more computing services on shared infrastructures.
Previous work in computing utilities varies in the types of services that are offered, the resources that are used, and the extent to which operation is automated. Operations subject to automation are wide ranging, and include creating services, deploying a service for a customer, modifying the set of resources used to provide the service, and incorporating new resource instances and types into the hosting center and its services.
One system automated the provisioning of front end servers in Web sites based on metrics such as server load and response time. It included a component that discovered server and network topology automatically. Another system provided a variety of multi-tier Web sites in which pre-configured servers could be allocated to different tiers automatically based on metrics such as server load. Another system also allocated server resources in response to server load, but modeled both the value of allocating resources to each customer and the cost of employing those resources, with an emphasis on energy cost. More recent work includes allocation of other resource types such as memory and storage, and allocation of servers for general use.
A growing number of industrial products aim to provide multi-tier applications over a physical infrastructure consisting of a variety of resource. They vary in many respects, such as the types of resources provided (e.g., servers and storage); specific operating systems and middleware supported; assumptions and characteristics of the network infrastructure (e.g., whether or not network isolation is provided via VLAN); level of monitoring support (e.g., resource usage, failure detection, SLA, threshold based alerting); support for resource discovery; support for modifying service resources once deployed; whether modifications can occur automatically (e.g., triggered by SLAs); and the extent to which the products can or must be customized to fit preexisting hosting center infrastructures.
Work is being done at the application layer to automate deployment and management of distributed applications. An application is described as a collection of related, reusable components, which may represent resources or subsystems. The description of an application includes dependency information to ensure that, for example, components are started in the correct sequence. This is not used for low level resource configuration tasks such as installing operating systems on servers, but for higher level application specific configuration.
Provisioning refers to the process of allocating a set of infrastructure resources and configuring them to provide the desired computing services for use by a customer. Provisioning is a complex set of tasks that can include configuring network devices, installing operating systems and application software, obtaining software licenses, installing monitors, and enabling customer access by creating user accounts.
Provisioning is automated by codifying the procedures or scripts for these tasks. Some products provide a GUI interface to assist in the creation and selection of these procedures. For example, a drag and drop interface may be used to specify the "virtual wiring" of resources for an application environment to be deployed. Virtual wiring could include the tier structure of the environment, rules for firewalls, and which operating system to install on servers. The wiring diagram is captured as a template description. This description is used to create and delete environments, and it may be modified to add or remove resources from a computing environment.
In some systems codifying the procedures is done on a service specific basis. Changes in resource types, connectivity, or service requirements can require re-implementation of these procedures. If they are implemented in an ad hoc manner or independently, it can be difficult to systematically enforce best practices or operational constraints. Thus, it is desirable to provide a system that improves upon the prior art.

Componentized automatic provisioning and management of computing environments for computing utilities

International Business Machines Corporation


A pipe joint coating for welded ends of pipes forming a pipeline. A last and third layer of a 3LPP coating system covering at least a circumferential weld area of the pipe joint is a heated sheet applied around the pipe with a machine including a mounting frame and a transport carriage rotatably movable on the mounting frame to move circumferentially about the pipe joint, and a roller applying an adjusted pressure to the sheet against the pipe and adapting to eccentricity or ovality of the pipe. The sheet is pressed below the pipe away from its overlapping ends, a first part of the sheet is then applied when the roller is rolled in a first direction, and a second part of the sheet is applied by the roller rolled back in the reverse direction around the pipe. The sheet is dimensioned to obtain an overlapped area between its extremities.

It is conventional in the pipeline industry to coat steel pipe on pipelines for corrosion protection purposes. Such coatings were applied on the exterior surface of each section or length of pipe, except for exposed short end portions or stubs of the pipe initially left bare or unprotected so that the pipe end sections could be welded together to form the pipeline as it was being laid. The coating on pre-coated section of the pipe is called the "factory coating" (FC).
One type of parent coating that is often used is a Three Layer Coating, which might be Polypropylene (3LPP or Three Layer PP), or Polyethylene (3LPE or Three Layer PE). Three Layer coating is a complete corrosion protection system composed of three elements (layers) working together. The first layer is a fusion bonded epoxy (FBE) coating. The second layer is a chemically modified PP or PE adhesive. The third layer is a co-polymer outer layer in varying thicknesses, usually several millimeters thick. Combined as a system these elements work together to protect the pipe from undesirable corrosion, wear and impact damage.
After welding the sections together, the uncoated area around the weld must then be coated to create a continuous corrosion protection with the "factory coating". This area is called the "field joint" or "joint" (FJ).
The joint area also had to be provided with a corrosion protective coating system. A compatible field joint coating system for 3LPP or 3LPE coated pipelines comprising a heat assisted helically wrapped tape application system from U.S. Pat. No. 7,243,697, is known prior art. This system utilizes existing equipment for abrasive blasting or surface preparation and application of a first fusion bonded epoxy (FBE) layer, then covered with chemically modified polypropylene (CMPP) or polyethylene (CMPE) dual powder second layer. Then a third layer is immediately applied by the machine helically wrapping applied polypropylene (PP) or polyethylene (PE) tape, where the tape overlaps each preceding wrap and is also overlapping the factory coating to create a continuous coating. A known drawback of this solution arises from the multitude of overlapping jointed layers.
Another joint coating is provided by longitudinal sheet wrap which involves wrapping a sheet of thermoplastic material around the pipe. From U.S. Pat. No. 6,440,245, it is known a ready-to-use multi-layer coextruded sheathing comprising at least the 3 layers system in a single sheathing. The multi-layer sheathing is previously heated and then transferred with a roller having a larger diameter than the pipe, around the pipe. According to U.S. Pat. No. 6,440,245, the applicator roller needs to be at least the pipe diameter or bigger. This feature restrict the ability of the machine to coat large diameters pipes, when line pipes are already landed and welded over kilometers, because, it will be no more possible to change the line pipe height relative to the ground.
Now, it is known from US-2014-0076483, a machine for coating a pipe joint with a cylindrically wound unheated sheet of synthetic resin on the joint that is already coated with 2 layers. The machine includes a mounting frame mountable on adjacent coated sections of the pipeline to span the pipe joint being coated and a transport carriage rotatably movable on the mounting frame to move circumferentially about the pipe joint. A storage reel is mounted on the transport carriage for storing a supply of the unheated sheet of synthetic resin to be wound about the pipe joint. An applicator roller is mounted on the carriage frame and applies the unheated sheet of synthetic resin from the storage reel onto the pipe joint as the transport carriage moves about the circumference of the pipe joint. A heater is mounted on the transport carriage to heat the applied unheated sheet of synthetic resin after it has been applied to the pipe joint, to preheat the substrate and the factory coating overlap area, the newly applied unheated sheet of synthetic resin material, and the previously applied material on subsequent revolutions of the applicator.
This machine has several drawbacks because it needs to develop a roller with specific heating capabilities for each type of synthetic resin sheet. This system needs to apply the sheet just after having coated the first two layer of the 3LPP or 3LPE system. This feature is not allowing intermediate control of the first two layers, and in rendering temperature control very difficult due to inevitable change in the production line speed. And the main drawback is the risk of having air trapped between each successive layers of wrapped sheet material provided for an efficient protective coating.
It is also known from WO-2008/107759 a method of forming a protective joint coating around a weld, the method comprising the steps of: laying a thermoplastic sheet on a supporting sheet, winding the thermoplastic sheet and the supporting sheet about the weld to join the thermoplastic sheet to the weld, the supporting sheet being removed when the protective coat is completed. This solution is unsatisfactory, as it requires to add a cement layer of Gunite to bridge the thermoplastic sheet with the factory coating. Moreover the management of the supporting sheet according to this method is difficult to perform without damaging the thermoplastic sheet, because it requires to move a roller in such a way to detach the supporting sheet from the thermoplastic sheet.

Machine and method for installing a coating sheet over welded end sections of pipeline