An apparatus for automatically measuring a blood pressure of a subject, including a device for defining an inflatable pressure chamber, the device being set on a body portion of the subject, a flexible piping, a device for supplying a pressurized fluid to the inflatable pressure chamber via the flexible piping so as to increase fluid pressure in the pressure chamber and thereby press the body portion of the subject, and a relief device for discharging the pressurized fluid in the inflatable pressure chamber, into atmosphere, if the fluid pressure in the pressure chamber exceeds a predetermined value, the relief means being supported by the means for defining the pressure chamber.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an automatic blood pressure (BP) measuring apparatus and particularly to such an apparatus which has an inflatable pressure chamber for pressing a body portion of a subject.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
There is known an automatic BP measuring apparatus of the type having (a) a pressing device which has an inflatable pressure chamber and which is set around a body portion of a subject, (b) a flexible hose, (c) a supply device for supplying pressurized fluid to the inflatable pressure chamber via the flexible hose so as to increase fluid pressure in the pressure chamber and thereby press the body portion of the subject, and (d) a relief-valve device for discharging the pressurized fluid in the inflatable pressure chamber if the fluid pressure in the pressure chamber exceeds a predetermined value as the pressurized fluid is supplied to the pressure chamber.
However, in the BP measuring apparatus of the above-described type, the relief-valve device is associated with the main body of the apparatus which is spaced apart from the pressing device or inflatable pressure chamber via the flexible hose provided therebetween. Accordingly, if the flexible hose is bent double, the relief-valve device may erroneously be operated, that is, placed in its operative position in which the device permits a decrease in the fluid pressure in the inflatable pressure chamber, though the fluid pressure in the pressure chamber may not have exceeded the predetermined value. In the case where the relief-valve device is provided with a manually operated reset mechanism for restoring the device from its operative position to its inoperative position, the operator or subject must operate the reset mechanism each time the relief-valve device is changed from its inoperative position to its operative position due to bending of the flexible hose.

Automatic blood pressure measuring apparatus having pressure chamber-relieving means


An electric circuit includes a circuit path from a first reference voltage to a second reference voltage lower than the first reference voltage. The path includes a current generator, a capacitor, a first switching element suitable for connecting or disconnecting the capacitor with respect to the current generator. The first switching element has a triggering value and the electric circuit includes a second switching element placed in parallel to the capacitor and control elements suitable for acting on the first and second switching elements for controlling the charging and discharging of the capacitor. The control elements comprise a comparator operable during the charging of the capacitor and suitable for acting on the first switching element for blocking the charging of the capacitor when the voltage value at its terminals reaches a threshold voltage value. The threshold voltage value is lower than the triggering voltage of the first switching element and higher than the second reference voltage.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention refers to an electric circuit and an oscillator comprising said electric circuit.
2. Description of the Related Art
Circuit structures are generally known that supply triangular or square waveform signals. Said circuits are frequency oscillators and are widely used in digital and analog circuitries. The main characteristics of a good oscillator are to operate at high frequency and to have an oscillation frequency that is independent from the supply voltage, the variations of the process and the temperature and to have a duty-cycle defined by a constant ratio. Many oscillators however present inconveniences linked to the dependence of the oscillation frequency and of the duty-cycle on the values of the threshold voltages of the inverters.
A low supply voltage oscillator is described in EP 1049256. Said oscillator has a symmetrical structure and comprises two circuit stages having a specular circuit structure and placed between a supply voltage and ground. The oscillator also comprises two capacitors placed between the supply voltage and ground and said stages serve to charge and discharge said capacitors in alternated mode. The stages are connected together by means of a memory element formed by a bistable device or by a flip-flop. Each of the two circuit stages comprises a constant current generator suitable for charging the capacitor, a first MOS transistor having the gate terminal connected to the common terminal of the capacitor and of the current generator and a second MOS transistor placed in parallel to the capacitor. The capacitor is charged until the voltage at its terminals reaches the threshold voltage of the first MOS transistor; the discharge of the capacitor comes about by turning on the second MOS transistor. Thus an inconvenience of said oscillator lies in the fact that the charging time and therefore the oscillation frequency depend on the threshold voltage of the MOS transistor.

Electric circuit and oscillator comprising said electric circuit


Apparatuses, methods and storage medium associated with coolant systems for computer and electrical environments are disclosed herein. In embodiments, an apparatus for selectively transferring of heat within a computer environment may include a cold plate thermally coupled to a liquid line of a liquid coolant system of the computer environment, the cold plate to transfer heat to the liquid line and a thermally-conductive body to cool a component of the computer environment. The apparatus may further include a thermoelectric cooler (TEC) thermally coupled with the cold plate on a first side of the TEC and thermally coupled with the thermally-conductive body on a second side of the TEC, the TEC to increase an amount of heat transfer from the second side of the TEC to the first side of the TEC in response to energy provided to the TEC.

The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Unless otherwise indicated herein, the materials described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
Advancements in computer and electrical technology have introduced issues with cooling of heat-producing equipment. For example, as the size of computer processor dies shrinks while maintaining or even increasing the number of cores within each computer processor, increase of heat dissipation for computer processors is desired for proper operation. Today, a computer processor may produce upwards of 200 watts of heat. Additionally, advancements in memory technologies have led to memory devices integrated within the computer processors increasing thermal design power from eight watts to greater than 15 watts of heat dissipation. Legacy cooling systems struggle and/or fail to dissipate the increased amount of heat leading to component failures and computer and/or electrical environments being designed for reduced performance to protect against permanent damage due to excess heat.

Heat transfer apparatus for a computer environment


A hearing assistance suitability determining device (120) according to the present invention is a hearing assistance suitability determining device (120) which determines a suitability (153) of a subject for dichotic hearing assistance, and includes: a hearing ability information obtaining unit (130) which obtains left-ear hearing ability information (150) and right-ear hearing ability information (151) each of which indicates a hearing ability for frequencies; a hearing ability type determining unit (131) which determines, among hearing ability types each of which is defined by a tendency in a change of the hearing ability with respect to the frequencies, a hearing ability type (152) of the hearing ability indicated by the left-ear hearing ability information (150) and the right-ear hearing ability information (151); and a suitability deciding unit (132) which determines, with reference to a suitability database (144), the suitability (153) of the subject for the dichotic hearing assistance based on a suitability corresponding, in the suitability database (144), to the hearing ability type (152) determined by the hearing ability type determining unit (131), the suitability database (144) showing a correspondence relationship between each of the hearing ability types and one of suitabilities of the subject for dichotic hearing assistance.

In recent years, the aging of population has progressed, and there has been a growing number of hearing-impaired people due to aging. In order to maintain the quality of life of the elderly, it is important for them to be able to hear sounds that they cannot hear as they grow older, especially words. Thus, it is considered that the need for hearing aids will increase more and more.
On one hand, a deterioration in hearing of the hearing-impaired people differs from person to person. Accordingly, when a hearing-impaired person directly wears an off-the-rack hearing aid, the hearing aid is not suitable for the specific hearing impairment of such a person. In other words, it is necessary to measure aural characteristics of buyers when selling hearing aids, and to set each of the hearing aids according to a symptom of a corresponding one of the buyers.
In the currently most common aural characteristics test, a pure tone is produced by using an audiometer, and the minimum sound pressure level (hearing level) at which subjects can hear is measured. Generally, the lowest audibility level (hereinafter, referred to as a hearing level) is measured for the respective sinusoidal waves (pure tones) of 125 Hz, 250 Hz, 500 Hz, 1000 Hz, 2000 Hz, 4000 Hz, and 8000 Hz. In addition, if necessary, the same measurement may be performed for the respective sinusoidal waves of 750 Hz, 1500 Hz, 3000 Hz, and 6000 Hz. A unit of hearing level is dB (decibel). A sound pressure level at which people having a normal hearing ability can hear is 0 dB, a hearing ability diminishes as a value of a hearing level increases. A graph on which a hearing level at each of frequencies is plotted is called an audiogram, and is widely used to set the hearing aids. FIG. 1 shows an example of an audiogram.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a common hearing assistance adjustment system 900. The hearing assistance adjustment system 900 shown in FIG. 2 causes a hearing-impaired person to hear, through headphones, a pure tone produced by an audiometer 901. Then, a measuring person operates the audiometer 901 when the hearing-impaired person hears the tone for measurement, so as to measure a hearing level of the hearing-impaired person.
After the audiometer 901 completes the measurement of the hearing level, in a hearing assistance adjustment device 901, a hearing level obtaining unit 911 obtains a hearing level at each of frequencies measured by the audiometer 901, as shown in FIG. 3. Next, an amplification amount calculating unit 912 calculates, based on the obtained hearing level at each frequency, an amplification amount for compensating a deterioration in hearing of the hearing-impaired person.
An amplification amount display unit 913 notifies a person in charge of adjustment of the calculated amplification amount. Furthermore, a hearing aid setting unit 914 sets the calculated amplification amount to an internal parameter of a hearing aid 903.
The adjustment of the hearing aid 903 for compensation (amplification) according to a hearing level of an individual is completed through the above procedure.
Moreover, Patent Literature 1 has proposed, in conventional hearing assistance adjustment processing, a method for substituting an amplification amount setting process having specific patterns for an amplification amount setting process which is performed in detail for each frequency, by classifying a general shape shown in audiograms into some predetermined values and combining the predetermined values with an overall hearing level.
On the other hand, it is said that frequency resolution of the hearing-impaired people has been reduced in addition to reduced hearing sensitivity. Here, the frequency resolution is a subject's ability to differentiate between two tones having different frequencies. Normal-hearing people can differentiate between two tones having adjacent frequencies such as 1 kHz and 1.2 kHz. However, the hearing-impaired people whose frequency resolution has been reduced cannot differentiate between the two tones.
Furthermore, in recent years, a model in which auditory filters are used has been proposed as a model for representing a frequency-analysis mechanism for human auditory. This model represents the frequency-analysis mechanism for human inner ears with an aggregate of band filters (auditory filters) which divide the mechanism into frequency bands. When a width of an auditory filter is large, it is considered that frequency resolution has been reduced.
Large reduction in the frequency resolution grows an influence of masking between frequency band components, particularly masking high-frequency components by low-frequency components (upward masking). Especially in speech, a vowel having a main component in low frequencies has a large amount of energy. The vowel having the large amount of energy masks a consonant having a main component in high frequencies. This causes a problem such as reduction in ability to hear words or significant reduction in speech discrimination ability in noise.
The problem caused by the deterioration in frequency resolution is a phenomenon based on a principle different from the reduced hearing sensitivity. Therefore, amplification of sound by the hearing aids cannot solve the problem, and the problem has been a major hurdle for the hearing-impaired people in terms of the hearing of words.
Examples of hearing assistance processing which is intended to increase clarity of audio input signals by reducing the masking between frequency bands include dichotic hearing assistance with which an input signal is divided on the frequency axis to be assigned to respective left and right ears. Past study examples have proposed, in the dichotic hearing assistance, a method for dividing an input audio signal by a frequency in a region where auditory filters are placed, and assigning an audio signal having a frequency lower than a crossover frequency to one of the ears and an audio signal having a frequency higher than the crossover frequency to the other ear. It has been reported that this method can increase clarity of speech (Non Patent Literature 1). FIG. 4 shows a structure for deciding setting of the hearing assistance method. In FIG. 4, an auditory filter measuring unit 951 measures an auditory filter. Moreover, it is decided by which frequency a tone region is divided into a high-tone region and a low-tone region, according to a value obtained by a frequency resolution calculating unit 952. Patent Literature 2 has proposed a speeding-up method concerning the auditory filter measuring unit 951.
Nevertheless, it has been reported that the dichotic hearing assistance cannot increase the clarity for all of the hearing-impaired people, and did not produce an effect on some hearing-impaired people (Non Patent Literature 1). Thus, when the dichotic hearing assistance is applied to hearing aids, it is necessary to determine whether or not to recommend the dichotic hearing assistance to a hearing-impaired person for whom adjustment of the hearing aids is made. However, measuring an auditory filter using the above method allows only prediction of a part of a setting value of the dichotic hearing assistance. In other words, currently there is no established method as a suitability determining method for the dichotic hearing assistance.

Hearing assistance suitability determining device, hearing assistance adjustment system, and hearing assistance suitability determining method


A multi-segment turning light lamp includes a lamp housing assembly and a lighting assembly. The lamp housing assembly includes a substrate, a lens having a concave inner surface, and a light divider arrangement disposed between the substrate and the lens. The light divider arrangement includes a plurality of partitions angularly arranged with respect to a center of curvature of the concave inner surface of the lens, and extending radially to the lens. The partitions, the substrate and the lens cooperate to define a plurality of light-exit channels. The lighting assembly includes a plurality of light-emitting elements, each of which is disposed for emitting light through a respective one of the light-exit channels.

Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional turning light lamp is mounted on the outer side of a headlight 11 which acts as a main illumination source of a vehicle and which has an optical axis extending in a front-rear direction. The conventional turning light lamp includes a curved reflector 12, and a halogen bulb 13 disposed with respect to the reflector 12. Such a turning light lamp can provide illumination in addition to the illumination provided by the headlight 11 while the vehicle is turning, such that the vehicle turning safety can be enhanced. However, the above-mentioned turning light lamp is bulky and provides only single-segment lighting.

Multi-segment vehicle turning light lamp


A method and system for browsing a distributed database. Storage is allocated in a computer for a file, wherein the file is used for storing references to data in the distributed database for retrieval at a later time. A reference to data in the distributed database is added to the file in response to a user input from a user using the computer to browse the distributed database. The data is retrieved from the distributed database using references to the data stored within the file in response to a selected event.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to an improved data processing system and in particular to an improved method and apparatus for accessing data on a distributed database within a distributed data processing system. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for storing references to selected web pages within a distributed data processing system.
2. Description of Related Art
Internet, also referred to as an xe2x80x9cinternetworkxe2x80x9d, in communications is a set of computer networks, possibly dissimilar, joined together by means of gateways that handle data transfer and the conversion of messages from the sending network to the protocols used by the receiving network (with packets if necessary). When capitalized, the term xe2x80x9cInternetxe2x80x9d refers to the collection of networks and gateways that use the TCP/IP suite of protocols.
The Internet has become a cultural fixture as a source of both information and entertainment. Many businesses are creating Internet sites as an integral part of their marketing efforts, informing consumers of the products or services offered by the business or providing other information seeking to engender brand loyalty. Many federal, state, and local government agencies are also employing Internet sites for informational purposes, particularly agencies which must interact with virtually all segments of society such as the Internal Revenue Service and secretaries of state. Operating costs may be reduced by providing informational guides and/or searchable databases of public records online.
Currently, the most commonly employed method of transferring data over the Internet is to employ the World Wide Web environment, also called simply xe2x80x9cthe webxe2x80x9d. Other Internet resources exist for transferring information, such as File Transfer Protocol (FTP) and Gopher, but have not achieved the popularity of the web. In the web environment, servers and clients effect data transaction using the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), a known protocol for handling the transfer of various data files (e.g., text, still graphic images, audio, motion video, etc.). Information is formatted for presentation to a user by a standard page description language, the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). In addition to basic presentation formatting, HTML allows developers to specify xe2x80x9clinksxe2x80x9d to other web resources identified by a Uniform Resource Locator (URL). A URL is a special syntax identifier defining a communications path to specific information. Each logical block of information accessible to a client, called a xe2x80x9cpagexe2x80x9d or a xe2x80x9cweb pagexe2x80x9d, is identified by a URL. The URL provides a universal, consistent method for finding and accessing this. information by the web xe2x80x9cbrowserxe2x80x9d. A browser is a program capable of submitting a request for information identified by a URL at the client machine. Retrieval of information on the web is generally accomplished with an HTML-compatible browser.
When a user desires to retrieve a page, a request is submitted to a server connected to a client computer at which the user is located and may be handled by a series of servers to effect retrieval of the requested information. The information is provided to the client formatted according to HTML. Typically, personal computers (PCs) along with work stations are typically used to access the Internet.
A number of users employ the Internet to access information using links displayed on a page in the browser. The method of searching for information on the Internet is referred to as xe2x80x9csurfingxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cbrowsingxe2x80x9d. Internet browsing can be distracting because a user may be searching for a particular piece of information and become distracted by other interesting links, such as advertisements or articles. By the user becoming distracted by other articles while browsing, the user may forget the original information being searched or may spend too much time following interesting links other than those leading to the desired information. Alternatively, if the user remains concentrated on the user""s tasks, the user may lose the interesting links. For example, the page may no longer be found in back/forward list, or the user may forget on what page the link occurred.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to have an improved method and apparatus for searching the Internet.
It is one object of the present invention to provide an improved data processing system.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an improved method and apparatus for accessing data on a distributed database within a distributed data processing system.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for storing references to selected web pages within a distributed data processing system.
The present invention provides a method and system for browsing a distributed database. Storage is allocated in a computer for a file, wherein the file is used for storing references to data in the distributed database for retrieval at a later time. A reference to data in the distributed database is added to the file in response to a user input from a user using the computer to browse the distributed database. The data is retrieved from the distributed database using references to the data stored within the file in response to a selected event.

Method and apparatus for browsing and storing data in a distributed data processing system

International Business Machines Corporation


An image processing system performs a position-matching operation on first and second images, which are obtained by photographing the same object a plurality of times. A plurality of shift points are detected in the second image. The shift points correspond to fixed points, which are dispersed throughout the whole of the first image. The second image is divided into a plurality of partial images, the vertices of which are positioned at the same coordinates as the fixed points in the first image. Each of the partial images are shifted to the shift points to transform the partial images so that corresponding transformed partial images are produced. The transformed partial images are combined to form a combined image.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing system in which, when a plurality of images are composed, one of the images is transformed in order to facilitate a position-matching operation of the images.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, an image composition technique is known, such as HDR (i.e., high dynamic range imaging), by which a dark area and a bright area contained in the same image are clearly indicated. An image-blur correcting composition method is also known as an image composition technique, by which an influence of camera-shake is reduced. In HDR, an average image is created from an image captured at a higher shutter speed and an image captured at a lower shutter speed, so that an image having a virtually wide dynamic range is obtained. In the image-blur correcting composition method, a plurality of images are captured at a high shutter speed, such that the camera shake will hardly affect the images, and then summed together so that a single image, in which an influence of camera-shake is reduced and which has sufficient brightness, is obtained. Thus, various image composition techniques using a plurality of images have been proposed.
In image compositions using a plurality of images, it is required that pixels positioned at the same coordinates in the images correspond to the same point of the object. However, in a plurality of images, which are photographed without a tripod at a different time, a small deviation may occur in the images because of a translation or rotation of the camera.
Thus, some methods for position-matching two images have been proposed as disclosed in US2008/0175439 (A1). In '439, motion vectors of a plurality of target blocks, set in one image, are calculated for the target blocks, and the magnitude of translation and the rotational angle about the optical axis of the whole image are calculated based on the motion vectors.
According to the method disclosed in '439, an image composition using a position-matching operation can be performed between two images for a translation and a rotation about the optical axis. However, when a camera is rotated about an axis perpendicular to the optical axis (e.g., panning or tilting), it is difficult to compose images using a position-matching operation because the object images contained in the two images are deformed.

Image processing system and image processing method


The apparatus includes a cleaning section that includes a cleaning material for cleaning a transportation belt, which transports a recording target medium, by contact with the transportation belt. The cleaning section is capable of switching between a contact state, in which the cleaning material is in contact with the transportation belt, and a non-contact state, in which the cleaning material is not in contact with the transportation belt. The cleaning section is capable of performing renewal operation. The renewal operation is operation of renewing a contact region of the cleaning material, that is, a region of contact with the transportation belt, from a region that has already been used to a region that has not been used yet.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a recording apparatus that performs recording on a medium.
2. Related Art
In a recording apparatus such as a printer, a structure of transporting a target object, that is, a recording target medium such as recording paper, by using a transportation belt is adopted in some cases. However, a transportation belt is sometimes contaminated with dust or fiber, etc. originating from a recording target medium and having settled thereon, or with ink, etc. that is an example of liquid. If such contaminants transfer onto a recording target medium, it might make the quality of recording low. In particular, when recording is performed on both sides of a sheet of paper, there is a high risk of adhesion, to a transportation belt during recording on the back, of ink that was applied during recording on the front.
To solve this problem, a structure that includes a means for cleaning a transportation belt has been proposed in related art. For example, such a structure is disclosed in JP-A-2004-161454. An ink-jet recording apparatus disclosed in JP-A-2004-161454 includes a cleaning blade and a cleaning web. The cleaning blade is brought into contact with the transportation belt, and, in a contact state, scrapes off ink or paper dust, etc. that is on the surface of the belt. The cleaning web is brought into contact with the transportation belt, and, in a contact state, wipes the surface of the belt. The cleaning web is in the form of a roll on a web shaft. Driven by a motor, the cleaning web is taken up onto another shaft.
How unclean a transportation belt is varies from one to another depending on the state of use of an apparatus. However, in a recording apparatus according to related art, cleaning control is performed always in the same way regardless of how unclean a transportation belt is. This results in wasteful consumption of a cleaning material (cleaning web in JP-A-2004-161454).


A bat swing guide apparatus is described that has a horizontal guide member, an arcuate guide member and a base. The arcuate guide member may be adjusted for the height of the batter and for a left or right-handed batter. There is a vertical locking means and an arcuate locking means to lock the bat swing guide apparatus in position. The length of the tubular member of the arcuate guide member may be measured by an angle of 90 to 180 degrees and preferably the angle will be 120 degrees. The radius of the arc may vary between 30 and 45 inches. Preferably the radius will be 36 inches. The bat swing guide apparatus shape aids the batter to emulate the swing of a successful professional batter. There is a ball holding means on the horizontal member to allow the batter to strike a ball at the completion of his guide swing. The is an angular adjustment means that enables the user to set the bat swing guide apparatus at an angle to align the batter to hit, for example, ground balls, line drives and home runs.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a guide to train a batter to pattern his swing in a manner so as to emulate a successful professional batter's swing.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many of the devices developed in the past trained the batter to guide his bat using swing theory as known at that time. Since the true nature of a consistently, successful hitter was not known, the guides helped but generally fell short of their goal. The present invention was discovered through detailed research that utilized slow motion video photography to reveal the true nature of a successful swing structure.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,985,452 to W.A. Trippet on May 23, 1961 for a Batting Practice Apparatus is constructed to follow the "level swing" theory. It does not address the "approach" or "follow-through" portions of the swing. The batter is required to swing between the two horizontally parallel bars and is not to allow his bat to contact the bars. Non-contact with the bars is difficult and causes the batter discomfort and tension. The batter, therefore, "tenses-up" mentally and physically instead of addressing the ball in a relaxed manner. The configuration and location of the vertical support bars creates a problem because the batter may strike the bar when his arms extend during the swing. U.S. Pat. No. 3,482,838 to S.H. Gibson, et al. on Dec. 9, 1969 describes a Golf Swing Training Device. The device has a pair of stationary rails mounted on a platform. The practicing golfer is to keep his club between the two rails to improve his swing. Touching the rails indicates an improper swing. The guide of the present invention allows the batter to rest his bat on the guide and obtain the "feel" of a proper swing while concentrating on the ball. The present guide is therefore a positive feed-back apparatus as it guides the user in the proper swing and does not indicate an improper swing as does the Gibson device.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,711,103 to Ralph D. Seltzer on Jan. 16, 1973 shows a Golf Swing Guide having arcuate track members to guide a golf club through a grooved swing. The golf club is rigidly attached to a "car" that follows a trackway formed in a predetermined swing arc.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,940,131 to Ebba J. St. Claire, Jr. on Feb. 24, 1976 shows a Batting practice device for determining whether a batter has a "level" swing relative to a strike zone. The bat of the batter must pass through the two parallel horizontal bars in order to hit the ball. This device is not concerned with the approach or the follow-through portions of the swing. It is concerned only with the "contact" segment. The guide of the present invention conditions and guides the user in the approach, the contact and the follow-through segments of a swing. All of which are important to training a consistent, successful hitter.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,105,204 to Wilbur V. Koenig on Aug. 8, 1978 describes a Tennis Stroke Practice Device. A rod describing the preferred approach to a ball is mounted on a stand. The practice racquet has no strings, The user never experiences actually hitting a ball and is not allowed to "follow-through". He is instructed to not allow the racquet to touch the bar as touching it would indicate an improper swing. The guide of the present invention positively reinforces the user by providing a place to rest the bat and let the user get the "feel" of the proper location without having to constantly keep eye contact with the bat and guide.
The bat swing guide of the present invention allows the user to focus his attention on the ball and more realistically stimulates actual play.


The present invention provides a call-return process and system, wherein a called party can return a missed call to a caller's private number. A forwarded call is received by a call management system, wherein the forwarded call was originally directed by a caller to a first telephone line associated with a user. The call management system receives call signaling information, including a phone number, associated with the caller. The call management system then determines whether the phone number is a private phone number or a public phone number. If the phone number is private, the call management system notifies the user of the call, and without revealing the caller's phone number to the user, enables the user to return the caller's call.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to methods and systems for telecommunications, and in particular, to methods and systems for processing calls.
2. Description of the Related Art
In today's public telephone network there is no convenient way to return a missed call to a private number. Typically, if the called party does not have the caller's phone number, the called party will not be able to return the call. To address this problem, there exist conventional telephony systems that do offer a convenient return call function to a public telephone number. These conventional telephony systems allow a user who misses a call to return the call by entering a predetermined touch tone code, such as *69, but do not offer this feature when the caller has a "private" number, that is, has caller-ID blocking turned on.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Methods and apparatus for returning a call over a telephony system


Systems and methods for advanced management of runtime errors are described herein. Based on a preference, a runtime error manager selects one or more error dumps generated in a computer system landscape. The runtime error manager filters one or more data portions from the selected error dumps. The filtered data portions are supplemented with additional information collected from the nodes of the computer system landscape, or received from external systems. The data portions and the supplemental data are used to assign users responsible to resolve one or more of the logged runtime errors. The data portions and the supplemental information are used to create and send notifications to the responsible users or to instantiate and manage workflows in behalf to the responsible users.

The ever growing complexity of modern information systems is often characterized by greater risk of malfunctions. Many computer systems show an increasing number of system and program errors through their lifecycle from initial development, through new releases, and until retirement. Moreover, the complexity of the encountered errors also grows. As a flip side of the same process, various tools for detecting and fixing computer system errors evolve in a similar pace. This tendency is especially true regarding software applications, and techniques to prevent, detect and correct programming problems. Undoubtedly, efficient error detection and bug fixing have measurable advantages. For example, a typical programming error would systematically propagate if not timely addressed, and would require bigger effort to fix, including remote communication, re-distribution of software packages, etc.
The earlier a software problem is detected, the fewer maintenance resources would be spent. Therefore, in a productive computer system environment, system errors should quickly lead to alerts when detected. Thus, the appropriate measures for analyzing and solving a detected problem could be executed as soon as possible. However, in many cases the appropriate measures to resolve a computer software problem are not timely taken due to various factors. For example, the problem is reported with significant delay, or the problem is not directly reported to a specialist or organization best suited to solve it, etc. Often, some software errors are tolerated and not reported at all in order to avoid tedious manual procedures, e.g., searching for relevant data in log files, describing the error and the circumstances, communicating the problem with maintenance specialists, etc.


An exhaust gas-treating device (1) for an exhaust system of an internal combustion engine, especially of a motor vehicle, is provided with a housing (2), which has a jacket (3) extending circumferentially on the side and at least one bottom (4). The homogenization of the exhaust gas flow is improved with a mixing housing (14), which is arranged in the interior space (23) of the housing (2) and which has a mixing chamber (15). An inlet (16) of the mixing housing passes through the bottom (4) and communicates with the mixing chamber (15). An outlet (17) of the mixing housing passes through the bottom (4) and communicates with the mixing chamber (15).

It is known that liquid reducing agents are introduced into the exhaust gas flow for treating the exhaust gas. For example, ammonia or urea or an aqueous urea solution can be dosed to the exhaust gas flow upstream of a so-called catalytic converter, which can perform a selective catalytic reduction, in order to decompose nitrogen oxides in the SCR catalytic converter. It is important for the proper and efficient mode of operation of such an SCR catalytic converter or of another means operating with a dosed liquid educt that the most homogeneous mixture of exhaust gas and reducing agent be obtained. Furthermore, possibly extensive or complete evaporation of the educt introduced in the liquid state must be achieved, in addition, in case of certain educts before the mixture enters the means in question, for example, the SCR catalytic converter. It is common practice for this to provide within the respective exhaust gas-treating device a mixing section, which is usually formed by a straight tube, through which the educt-exhaust gas mixture enters a chamber, into which an inlet of the SCR catalytic converter in question or of the treating means in question opens.

Eberspächer Exhaust Technology GmbH & Co. KG


A system and method for facilitating contextual communications that includes creating a contextual resource that is initially associated with at least at first communication session; receiving an incoming communication request and establishing a second communication session; associating the second communication session with the contextual resource; setting contextual information of the contextual resource; performing at least one contextual communication action.

Various tools and technologies have been developed in recent years that enable more integration between services and applications with communication tools. Apps on phones and on the web can now enable a customer to initialize a call to a customer representative. Similarly, text messages can be sent to customers as reminders or confirmation. However, many of the annoyances and hassles of interacting with a customer support phone service still exist. Customers are still asked to navigate a phone tree. Customers still have to re-submit information when the customer is transferred or connected to a different agent. Thus, there is a need in the communication field to create a new and useful system and method for a media intelligence platform. This invention provides such a new and useful system and method.

System and method for contextual communication


A paper sheet finishing system includes a sheet guiding mechanism having nip rollers to transport a sheet forward, at least one diverter gate through which the sheet passes when the at least one diverter gate is open, and a temporary compiler to support the sheet after the sheet passes the at least one diverter gate, a diverter member to travel in conjunction with the at least one diverter gate, and at least one rear suppressor member connected to the diverter member to push a trailing edge of the sheet forward and pitch a leading edge of the sheet downward after the sheet controllably descends past the temporary compiler with reduced flutter and improved positioning during compilation of the sheets.

1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to controlling sheet placement in finishing devices.
2. Description of Related Art
Devices that process sheets of paper, such as high-speed printers, digital copiers and photocopiers, often require finishing operations to be performed. Such a finishing device causes the paper sheets to be deposited in manner either selected by the user or in a default fashion.
Many finishing devices and sheet stacking devices are known in the sheet handling equipment industry, and involve collating or stacking sheets into sets of sheets and finishing each set of sheets by stapling or binding prior to depositing the finished sets of sheets onto a collection tray. Commercially-available designs for finishing devices are currently either too slow for efficient use in high-speed photocopiers, or present an excessive footprint and thereby consume greater volume and surface area in an office space than is desirable.
Conventional finishing devices convey paper sheets horizontally to control their travel for processing. Such configurations require considerable volume for the mechanisms to controllably move the paper sheets. Finishing devices having vertical configurations present either uneven stacking from flutter as the sheets drop or require volume-intensive mechanisms to control the descent of the sheets.
A high-speed finishing device confined to a small footprint requires that the aerodynamic flutter of the incoming sheets be controlled. A sheet passes through one of a series of diverter gates, depending on the size of the sheet. As the sheet is ejected through a diverter gate, the sheet drops onto a retracting temporary compiler structure.
This invention provides devices and methods for controllably dropping a sheet in a finishing device, such as from an image-forming device.
This invention separately provides devices and methods for reducing flutter in dropped sheets.
This invention separately provides devices and methods for reducing drop time in dropped sheets.
This invention separately provides devices and methods for suppressing forward and rearward motion of dropped sheets.
In various exemplary embodiments, the sheet passes through a retracting temporary compiler structure and continues its descent. At the same time, rear paper suppressor structures provided on a diverter assembly swing down and forward to push the trailing edge of the sheet forward, preventing rearward motion of the sheet. Front paper suppressor slats or baffles provided on a front dampener swing down and backwards to intercept the leading edge of the sheet. These baffles operate to prevent the sheet from moving past the front register gate and to pitch the leading edge of the sheet downward. This enables the sheet to stack evenly on the collection tray after passing under the retracting temporary compiler.
In various exemplary embodiments, the diverter assembly for the rear paper edge suppressor slats can be positioned by a diverter gate positioning motor through a gate belt suspended between two pulleys. In various exemplary embodiments, the rear paper edge suppressor slats are swung by a trail edge suppression drive motor through a positioning system driven by a drive motor through a clutch.
These and other features and advantages of this invention are described in, or are apparent from, the following detailed description of various exemplary embodiments of the systems and methods according to this invention.

Systems and methods for trail edge paper suppression for high-speed finishing applications


A process for the production of a semiconductor device comprising the steps of; (a) forming a patterned mask layer on a surface of a semiconductor substrate, (b) etching the semiconductor substrate using the mask layer as an etching mask, to form a step between a portion of the semiconductor substrate covered with the mask layer and an etched portion of the semiconductor substrate, (c) forming an insulating film on the entire surface, and then planarizing the insulating film to cover the etched portion of the semiconductor substrate with the insulating film, (d) removing the mask layer, then, forming a first gate insulating film on an exposed surface of the semiconductor substrate, then forming a first gate electrode on the first gate insulating film, and at the same time, forming a first word line extending from the first gate electrode on the insulating film, (e) forming an interlayer on the entire surface, and bonding the semiconductor substrate and a supporting substrate to each other through the interlayer, (f) grinding and polishing the semiconductor substrate from its rear surface to expose a bottom surface of the insulating film and to leave a semiconductive layer which is the semiconductor substrate remaining after the polishing, surrounded by the insulating film, and (g) forming a second gate insulating film on an exposed surface of the semiconductive layer, then forming a second gate electrode on the second gate insulating film, and at the same time, forming a second word line extending from the second gate electrode on the insulating film.

The present invention relates to a process for the production of a semiconductor device, and more specifically to a process for the production of a semiconductor device having a structure in which one gate electrode is formed above a channel-forming region and the other gate electrode is formed below the channel-forming region.
It is known that complete isolation of semiconductor devices can be achieved and "soft error" and a "latch-up" phenomenon which is inherent in CMOS transistors can be prevented by the formation of a semiconductor device in a semiconductive layer formed on an insulating layer. A semiconductor device formed in a semiconductive layer (to be called an "SOI" layer for convenience hereinafter) formed on an insulting layer will be referred to as an SOI (Silicon-On-Insulator) type semiconductor device. It has been studied since a relatively earlier time whether or not high-speed performance and high reliability of a semiconductor device can be accomplished by forming an SOI type semiconductor device (for example, CMOS transistors) in an approximately 0.5 .mu.m thick SOI layer composed of, for example, silicon.
In recent years, the following has been found. The thickness of the semiconductive layer is adjusted to 100 nm or less, source/drain regions are formed in the entire region of the semiconductive layer in its thickness direction, and a portion of the semiconductive layer below a gate electrode is adjusted to have a relatively low impurity concentration, in order to bring the whole of the portion of the semiconductive layer into a depletion state. In this case, short channel effect can be suppressed, and current driving capacity of the semiconductor device can be improved. Further, high-speed performance of the semiconductor device can be achieved at a low supply voltage, so that a low power consumption can be materialized.
For example, when a MOS type field-effect transistor (to be sometimes referred to as "MOS-FET" hereinafter) is fabricated, one gate electrode is formed above a channel-forming region and the other gate electrode is formed below the channel-forming region, whereby short channel effect can be suppressed, a threshold voltage (V.sub.th) and "swing" can be controlled, and further, there can be fabricated an X-MOS (MOS-FET which permits concurrent operation of the gate electrodes formed above and below the channel-forming region).
For forming a semiconductive layer on an insulating layer, a SIMOX (Separation by IMplanted OXygen) method or a so-called substrate-bonding method are known, while these methods have their merits and demerits. That is, the SIMOX method is excellent in uniformity of the SOI layer, while it has a defect that flatness of an interface between an insulating layer and a semiconductive layer is not so good. The substrate-bonding method shows excellent flatness of an interface between an insulating layer and a semiconductive layer, while it has a defect that it is difficult to form a uniform semiconductive layer having a particularly thin thickness.
The method of producing a semiconductor device structured to have gate electrodes formed above and below a channel-forming region according to a conventional substrate-bonding method will be explained with reference to FIGS. 12A, 12B, 13A, 13B, 14A, 14B and 15 hereinafter. FIGS. 12A, 12B, 13A, 13B, 14A, 14B and 15 show schematic partial cross-sectional views of a silicon semiconductor substrate, and so forth when the silicon semiconductor substrate, and so forth are cut in the length direction of a gate electrode.
[Step-10]
First, a convex portion 10A is formed in a semiconductor substrate 10 composed of a silicon semiconductor substrate by lithography and etching processes. Then, an approximately 50 nm thick first insulating film 121 of SiO.sub.2 is formed on the entire surface by a known thermal oxidation method. Then, a polycrystalline silicon (polysilicon) layer containing an impurity is formed on the entire surface by a known CVD method, and then, the polycrystalline silicon layer is patterned to form a first gate electrode 122 on the convex portion 10A of the semiconductor substrate 10. At the same time, a first word line 123 extending from the first gate electrode 122 is formed on the first insulating film 121. This state is shown in FIG. 12A. The first insulating film 121 formed on the surface of the convex portion 10A of the semiconductor substrate 10 also works as a first gate insulating film.
[Step-20]
An interlayer 16 is formed on the entire surface by a CVD method, and then the top surface of the interlayer 16 is planarized (see FIG. 12B). The interlayer 16 may have a two-layered structure, for example, an SiO.sub.2 film and a polycrystalline silicon film formed thereon. The semiconductor substrate 10 and a supporting substrate 17 are bonded to each other through the interlayer 16 (see FIG. 13A). For example, the bonding is carried out under a condition of an oxygen gas atmosphere at 1100.degree. C. for 30 minutes.
[Step-30]
Then, the semiconductor substrate 10 is ground and polished from its rear surface. Specifically, for leaving no grinding damage in the semiconductive layer, first, the semiconductor substrate 10 is mechanically ground with diamond grinding grains from its rear surface until the semiconductor substrate 10 comes to have a thickness of several .mu.m on the first insulating film 121 (see FIG. 13B). Then, the semiconductor substrate 10 is selectively polished with a chemical/mechanical polishing method (CMP method) until the bottom 121A of the first insulating film 121 is exposed. The first insulating film 121 works as a polishing-stop layer, and a semiconductive layer 10B which is a remaining portion of the semiconductor substrate 10 is left as an SOI layer (see FIG. 14A).
[Step-40]
Then, a sacrificial oxide layer is formed on the surface of the semiconductive layer 10B by a thermal oxidation method, an ion-implanting mask is formed from a resist material, and the semiconductive layer 10B is ion-implanted for threshold voltage control. Then, the sacrificial oxide layer is removed with hydrofluoric acid. This state is shown in FIG. 14B.
[Step-50]
Then, a second insulating film i.e., a (second gate insulating film 124) is formed on the surface of the semiconductive layer 10B by a thermal oxidation method. Then, a polycrystalline silicon layer containing an impurity is formed on the entire surface by a known CVD method, and the polycrystalline silicon layer is patterned to form a second gate electrode 125 on the semiconductive layer 10B through the second gate insulating film 124. At the same time, a second word line 126 extending from the second gate electrode 125 is formed on the first insulating film 121. This state is shown in FIG. 15.
In the above-produced semiconductor device, an integration degree thereof can be more significantly improved since it has a structure in which semiconductor device elements are formed below the semiconductive layer 10B, and the thickness of the semiconductive layer 10B can be determined with a relatively high degree of freedom since the thickness of the semiconductive layer 10B can be defined by the height of the convex portion 10A formed in the semiconductor substrate 10.
In the semiconductor device produced according to the above steps, the first word line 123 which is an extending portion from the first gate electrode 122 and the second word line 126 which is an extending portion from the second gate electrode 125 face each other through the first insulating film 121. Generally, the first insulating film 121 has a thickness t.sub.0 (see FIG. 14A) of approximately 50 nm when it is formed. In [step-40], the sacrificial oxide layer is formed on the surface of the semiconductive layer 10B, and after ion implantation is carried out, the sacrificial oxide layer is removed with hydrofluoric acid. As a result, the thickness t.sub.1 (see FIG. 14B) of the first insulating film 121 is decreased to approximately 10 nm.
With the above decrease in the thickness of the first insulating film 121, there is caused a problem that parasitic capacitance in a portion where the first word line 123 and the second word line 126 face each other increases, so that operation speed of the semiconductor device decreases.
In the production of the above semiconductor device, the convex portion 10A is formed in the semiconductor substrate 10 in [Step-10]. There is another method in which an oxide layer is formed on a surface region of a silicon semiconductor substrate by a selective oxidation method (LOCOS method), then, a region of a silicon semiconductor substrate surrounded by the oxide layer is left by a substrate-bonding method, as a semiconductive layer. In this method, the oxide layer is formed as one having a large thickness by a selective oxidation method. However, there is a problem that a critical dimension loss is large when the above oxide layer is formed. Further, there is another problem that the eventual semiconductive layer is liable to have defects since the semiconductive layer has a stress due to the formation of the oxide layer. The SOI type semiconductor device is being employed for LSIs of a next generation and generations thereafter, while it is a serious problem that the critical dimension loss is large. Further, thickness of the semiconductive layer is determined depending upon the thickness of the oxide layer, and it is difficult in many cases to form a semiconductive layer having a thin thickness.

Process for the production of semiconductor device


A bone fixation assembly comprising a bone fixation plate having an outer surface, a bone contact surface, and at least one bore sidewall defining at least one bore extending between the outer surface and the bone contact surface, the outer surface being located outwardly of the bone contact surface; at least one slot sidewall defining at least one slot formed in the bone fixation plate, the at least one slot being adjacent to the at least one bore sidewall and between the outer surface and the bone contact surface, the at least one slot having at least one slot passage adjacent to a corresponding bore and a slot opening adjacent to the slot passage; at least one stop formed by the at least one sidewall, the at least one stop positioned opposite of the slot passage from the corresponding bore; and at least one retaining member insertable into the at least one slot from the at least one bore, wherein the at least one retaining member is bendable between a normally-open position having a width greater than the width of the at least one slot passage and a closed position having a width less than the width of the slot passage.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to medical devices. More specifically, the present invention is a bone fixation assembly for attachment between bones for stabilization.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are several bone fixation assemblies available in the industry that incorporate locking mechanism to prevent screw or anchor back out. Some of these systems have snap rings to cover screws, some system have screw covers, and some have threaded bores for engagement with the bone screw or anchor. Drawbacks of conventional systems include the complexity of the locking mechanism as well as locking mechanisms that secure more than one screw, so that if the locking mechanism fails, multiple screws could be left unsecured.


Provided herein is a lens composition of an LED device for an LCD having high transparency and high heat resistance, and an LED device, a backlight unit and an LCD comprising the lens composition. The lens composition includes a copolymer represented by the formula 1 and having a weight average molecular weight of about 5,000 to about 500,000:

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lens composition for a light emission diode (LED) device, an LED device, a backlight unit, and a liquid crystal display (LCD) comprising the same, and more particularly, to a lens composition for an LED device, for an LCD having high transparency and high heat resistance, an LED device, a backlight unit, and an LCD comprising the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a liquid crystal display (LCD) is an image display device in which liquid crystal is injected into a space between two glass plates and power is applied to upper and lower electrodes installed at the two glass plates to thus vary the molecular arrangement of the liquid crystal at each pixel location. Such an LCD device largely includes a panel unit, a driving unit, and a backlight unit.
Unlike a cathode ray tube (CRT) or a plasma display panel (PDP), the LCD is not a self-luminescent display so that a display of the LCD cannot be achieved in dimly lit environments. To address this problem, that is, in order to operate an LCD device as a display device in a dark place, a backlight unit is utilized to provide uniform illumination onto an information display panel.
In particular, as the trend towards large-sized LCD devices grows, the use of a direct-type backlight unit, which generally provides a high luminance, will increase.
In a direct-type backlight unit, in which a light source is positioned below an LCD panel, a light guide plate (LGP) is disposed in front of the light source and a reflection plate is disposed behind the light source so that light emitted from the light source is diffused and reflected to then illuminate the LCD panel. Since the direct-type backlight unit efficiently utilizes light because of the presence of the reflection plate and the light guide plate, it can be effectively used in a backlight unit requiring high luminance.
As direct type backlight units are becoming increasingly smaller, thinner, and lightweight, a light emitting diode (LED) has been proposed to replace a cold cathode fluorescent lamp (CCFL) that is normally used. This is advantageous from the standpoint of superior luminance, lower power consumption and lower weight over devices that employ CCFL.
However, in the conventional backlight unit, multiple LED devices are arranged to achieve high luminance, resulting in an increase in the internal temperature of the backlight unit. That is, a temperature rise in the backlight unit using LED devices is approximately 1.5 times that of the backlight unit using CCFL as a light source.
Particularly, epoxy resin, which is a material used for a lens of the conventional LED device, is prone to deterioration due to such a large temperature rise. Accordingly, it is desirable to develop compositions suitable for the lens of an LED device in light of the trend toward increasingly larger-sized LCD devices.

Lens composition of light emission diode device, LED device, backlight unit and liquid crystal display comprising the same

Abstract: wherein R1 and R2 independently represent a hydrogen atom, a linear, branched or cyclic alkyl group having 1 to 10 carbon atoms or —COOR3 group in which R3 represents a linear, branched or cyclic alkyl group having 1 to 10 carbon atoms, R4 and R5 independently represent a hydrogen atom or an alkyl group having 1 to 10 carbon atoms, the ratio n/n+m ranges from about 0.3 to about 0.995, and the ratio m/n+m ranges from about 0.005 to about 0.7.


An apparatus is provided that includes a waveguide adjacent an air bearing surface, a near-field transducer comprising a peg having a side orthogonal to the air bearing surface and a write pole adjacent to the waveguide. The write pole includes a first portion extending towards the air bearing surface at a non-orthogonal angle with respect to the air bearing surface, and a second portion in contact with the first portion comprising a side that extends towards and orthogonally contacts the air bearing surface. The second portion or the write pole defines a gap between the side of the peg orthogonal to the air bearing surface and the side of the second portion of the write pole that extends towards and orthogonally contacts the air bearing surface. A method of making a magnetic recording head that includes the provided apparatus is also disclosed.

In response to increased demand for higher magnetic storage capacity, areal bit densities approaching or greater than 1 Tb/in2 are being contemplated. The bit size of sub 50 nm required to fulfill this goal is within a range where superparamagnetic instabilities affect the lifetime of stored data. Superparamagnetic instabilities become an issue as the grain volume of the recording media is reduced in order to increase the areal density of recorded information. The superparamagnetic effect is most evident when the grain volume V is sufficiently small such that the inequality KUV/kBT>70 can no longer be maintained, where is the magnetocrystalline anisotropy energy density of the material, kB is Boltzmann's constant, and T is absolute temperature. When this inequality is not satisfied, thermal energy can demagnetize the stored bits. As the grain size is decreased in order to increase the areal density, a threshold is reached for a given and temperature T such that stable data storage is no longer feasible.
The thermal stability can be improved by employing a recording media formed of a material with a very high Ku. However, with available materials, recording heads are not able to provide a sufficient or high enough magnetic writing field to write on such a media. Accordingly, it has been proposed to overcome the recording head field limitations by employing thermal energy to heat a local area on the recording media before or at about the time of applying the magnetic field to write to the media in order to assist in the recording process.
Heat assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) generally refers to the concept of locally heating a recording media to reduce the coercivity. This allows the applied magnetic writing fields to more easily direct the magnetization during the temporary magnetic softening caused by the heat source. HAMR allows for the use of small grain media, with a larger magnetic anisotropy at room temperature to assure sufficient thermal stability, which is desirable for recording at increased areal densities. HAMR can be applied to any type of magnetic storage media including tilted media, longitudinal media, perpendicular media, and patterned media. By heating the media, the Ku or coercivity is reduced such that the magnetic write field is sufficient to write to the media. Once the media cools to ambient temperature, the coercivity has a sufficiently high value to assure thermal stability of the recorded information.
For heat assisted magnetic recording, an electromagnetic wave of, for example, visible, infrared, or ultraviolet light can be directed onto a surface of a data storage media to raise the temperature of a localized area to facilitate switching. Well known optical waveguides such as solid immersion lenses (SILs), solid immersion mirrors (SIMs), and mode index lenses have been proposed for use in reducing the size of a spot on the media that is subjected to the electromagnetic radiation. Due to diffraction limited optical effects, SILs, SIMs, and mode index lenses alone are not sufficient to achieve focal spot sizes necessary for high areal density recording. Metal pins and other near field transducer (NFT) designs are positioned at the focal point of the waveguide and used to further concentrate the energy and direct it to a small spot on the surface of the recording media.

Apparatuses and methods for controlling near-field transducer to write pole spacing


An ultrasound diagnosis apparatus includes an ultrasound transducer, an evaluation value acquisition unit, a determination unit, and an output unit. The evaluation value acquisition unit obtains an evaluation value for evaluating the function of tissue including a predetermined site based on biological information acquired for a predetermined period of time by the ultrasound transducer. The determination unit determines whether the function of the tissue is abnormal based on the evaluation value. The output unit outputs information based on a result of determination by the determination unit.

A medical image diagnosis apparatus is a device that creates, for examination and diagnosis, a medical image (tomographic image, blood flow image, etc.) from information on tissues in a subject without surgical removal of the tissues. Examples of such medical image diagnosis apparatus include X-ray diagnosis apparatuses, X-ray CT (Computed Tomography) apparatuses, MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) apparatuses, and ultrasound diagnosis apparatuses.
From medical images, anatomical images representing the form of tissue inside the subject's body and functional images representing the function of tissue inside the subject's body are generated. A variety of medical images are generated according to the physical condition of the subject and the status of the disease, and used to support diagnosis, surgery, treatment, and the like. For example, medical images are sometimes used in the continuous monitoring of the subject. In the ultrasound diagnosis apparatus, medical images may be used for the monitoring of blood flow and cardiac function such as, for example, the monitoring of moving objects such as myocardium and blood flow in the heart, and the like.
To monitor the function of tissues in the subject's body using medical images, there may be a need to continue capturing images of the tissues for a certain period of time. Besides, to acquire the condition of a single tissue, it may be required to capture medical images from several points of view. Images generated in such imaging are displayed for a prolonged period of time, or contain a large amount of information (a large number of images, etc.). If the workload of imaging and reading the images (interpretation, etc.) increases, it may become difficult to monitor the conditions of body tissues.


The general learning support system comprises a preliminarily learning unit 50, an information providing unit 20, an input unit 53 and a post leaning unit 55. The preliminarily learning unit 50 provides, for preliminary learning, first information about a situation to be experienced by a learner. The information providing unit 20 provides second information to the learner who preliminary learned the first information by using the preliminary learning unit 50 such that the learner experiences the situation.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a general learning support system. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system for supporting a learning in order to develop a self-talent through an experience.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a learning support apparatus for supporting learning by using an information processor has been developed and served to practical use. For example, Japanese Laid Open Patent Application (JP-A 2000-98865) discloses a learning support system, and a teaching material server apparatus and a learner side apparatus which constitute the learning system, and a recording medium in which their programs are recorded.
According to this learning support system, when a plurality of teaching materials stored in a WWW server on the teaching server side apparatus are given to the learner through a client side apparatus, a study guidance function block of a learning program within the client side apparatus is used to generate a guidance on the basis of at lease one of link information based on a predetermined relation between teaching materials, a learning history with regard to the teaching materials for each learner, and evaluation information with respect to the teaching materials for each leaner, and then the guidance is provided to the learner.
Also, the teaching materials are systematically correlated in vertical and horizontal directions by classifying into, for example, a plurality of hierarchical trees and setting the link information for each hierarchy. The learner advances his or her learning while referring to the guidance and then pursuing the teaching materials systematically correlated to each other. Due to the above-mentioned configuration, the learner himself or herself can carry out the learning independently and systematically while groping and considering the learning method.
Recently, in a case of a business for using a vast place or land, for example, such as a circuit business, it is pointed that the place can not be effectively utilized only for the original business purpose. Thus, it is desired to attain the effective utilization of the place by collectively carrying out businesses besides the original business.
On the other hand, a new cumulative guidance record will be enforced in a recent future. In the new cumulative guidance record, an approximate time of several hours per year will be reserved as xe2x80x9cGeneral Learning Timexe2x80x9d. In the new cumulative guidance record, it is insisted to use this general learning time and carry out the general learning so as to feed an active ability. Therefore, the policy how to embody this general learning is required. Also, a time for a basic learning is reduced because of the introduction of the weekly two-holiday system, the time assigned to the general learning time and the like. Thus, a policy is requested for carrying out a high quality learning in a short time.
The present invention is accomplished in view of the above-mentioned background. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a general learning support system that can attain an effective utilization of the place by carrying out a general learning in a vast place and can generally improve an individual ability through learning in a short time.
The general learning support system according to the present invention is installed in a vast place, for example, such as a circuit, and it includes a plurality of facilities such as a race place and a museum, and it supports a general learning by using a compound facility where nature can be experienced. Also, in this general learning support system, the learning in the aspect of the talent development becomes possible.
Means for achieving the object will be described below using reference numerals and symbols used in xe2x80x9cEmbodiments of the inventionxe2x80x9d. These reference numerals and symbols are added so that relation between the description of xe2x80x9cScope of the Patent to be Claimedxe2x80x9d and the description of xe2x80x9cEmbodiments of the inventionxe2x80x9d is made clear. However, it is never permitted to use the reference numerals and symbols for the interpretation of technical scopes of the inventions described in xe2x80x9cScope of the Patent to be Claimedxe2x80x9d and the description of xe2x80x9cEmbodiments of the inventionxe2x80x9d.
That is, in order to attain the above-mentioned object, the general learning support system according to the present invention comprises a preliminarily learning unit (50), an information providing unit (20), an input unit (53) and a post leaning unit (55). The preliminarily learning unit (50) provides, for preliminary learning, first information about a situation to be experienced by a learner. The information providing unit (20) provides second information to the learner who preliminary learned the first information by using the preliminary learning unit (50) such that the learner experiences the situation. The input unit is used by the learner to input the experience. The post leaning unit provides third information for post leaning to the learner based on said experience.
This general learning support system may further include a team classifying unit (52). The team classifying unit (52) classifies a plurality of the learners into teams in accordance with results of the preliminary leaning by using the preliminarily learning unit (50), wherein the second information is different between the teams classified by the team classifying unit (52).
Also, this general learning support system may further include a preliminarily evaluating unit (51) which evaluates the learner before the experience and a post evaluating unit (54) which evaluates the learner by comparing with a evaluation result of the preliminarily evaluating unit (51) after the experience.


Provided is a vibrating body for a vibratory drive unit, including: a piezoelectric element including a piezoelectric layer and an electrode layer; and a plate-shaped elastic member bonded to the piezoelectric element, wherein the vibrating body drives a body to be driven, which is in contact with the plate-shaped elastic member, by a vibration generated in the plate-shaped elastic member through an application of a drive voltage to the piezoelectric element, and the plate-shaped elastic member has a front surface and a back surface each provided with one or a plurality of the piezoelectric elements to generate at least two different vibration modes through the application of the drive voltage to the one or the plurality of the piezoelectric elements.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vibrating body for a vibratory drive unit called a vibration wave actuator or the like, and a vibratory drive unit, and more particularly, to a vibrating body for a vibratory drive unit in which piezoelectric elements are provided respectively on front and back surfaces of a plate-shaped elastic member.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, in a vibratory drive unit (vibration wave actuator), a piezoelectric element is generally used as a vibration source for a vibrating body.
FIG. 8 is an outer perspective view of a vibratory drive unit 70 according to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-304887.
The linear vibration wave actuator 70 includes a vibrating body 71 and a linear slider 76 that is brought into pressure contact with the vibrating body 71.
The vibrating body 71 includes a piezoelectric element 75 and a drive plate 72, and the piezoelectric element 75 is a laminated piezoelectric element in which multiple piezoelectric layers and multiple electrode layers are laminated alternately. The drive plate 72 is made of metal and is bonded to the piezoelectric element 75 with an adhesive.
The drive plate 72 has a plate portion formed in a rectangular shape and two protrusions 73 formed in a convex shape on the upper surface of the plate portion.
The tip surface of the protrusion 73 is a member to be brought into direct contact with the linear slider 76 that is a body to be driven, and hence, has abrasion resistance.
The vibrating body 71 of the linear vibration wave actuator 70 excites two bending vibration modes.
FIGS. 9A and 9B illustrate the two bending vibration modes.
As illustrated in FIG. 9A, one of the bending vibration modes is a secondary bending vibration in the long-side direction (X-direction) of the vibrating body 71, which has three nodes parallel to the short-side direction (Y-direction). Here, the protrusions 73 are each placed close to the position to be a node.
As illustrated in FIG. 9B, the other of the bending vibration modes is a primary bending vibration in the short-side direction (Y-direction) of the vibrating body 71, which has two nodes parallel to the long-side direction (X-direction). Then, the protrusions 73 are each placed close to the position to be an antinode of the primary bending vibration.
The two bending vibration modes are excited to generate an elliptic motion in the two protrusions 73. As illustrated in FIG. 8, the elliptic motion generates a relative locomotion power between the vibrating body 71 and the linear slider 76 that is in pressure contact with the vibrating body 71.
The relative locomotion power can drive the linear slider 76 linearly.
Further, the configuration illustrated in FIGS. 10A to 10C is a vibrating body 80 in a vibration wave actuator according to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-124791.
The vibrating body 80 is assumed to be applied to the above-mentioned linear vibration wave actuator.
The vibrating body 80 includes a piezoelectric element 81 that is a vibration source and a ceramics substrate 82 that is a plate-shaped elastic member which vibrates integrally with the piezoelectric element 81.
The ceramics substrate 82 and the piezoelectric element 81 are integrally bonded (fixed) to each other by calcination. In addition, the piezoelectric element 81 is sintered.
In the piezoelectric element 81, a piezoelectric layer 83, an electrode layer 84, a piezoelectric layer 85, an electrode layer 86, and a piezoelectric layer 87 are laminated successively on one surface of the ceramics substrate 82 that is an elastic member.
The electrode layers 84 and 86 are placed so as to be divided into two parts, and the piezoelectric layers 85 which are divided into two parts and sandwiched between the electrode layers 84 and 86 are polarized after calcination. As a result, the above-mentioned two bending vibration modes can be excited by applying an AC voltage to the piezoelectric layers 85 divided into two parts.
In the vibratory drive unit as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-304887 illustrated in FIG. 8, the laminated piezoelectric element and the drive plate (elastic member) made of metal are bonded to each other with an adhesive made of resin.
However, the adhesive is relatively soft, and hence, particularly when the temperature increases due to the drive, the adhesive becomes softer. Therefore, the influence on vibration attenuation of the vibrating body is large, which is a main factor for degrading the efficiency of the vibratory drive unit.
Further, when the vibratory drive unit is downsized, a fluctuation in thickness of an adhesive layer of an adhesive and the position precision relating to bonding more affect the performance of the downsized vibratory drive unit, which also increases the fluctuation in performance.
Further, the conventional piezoelectric element is produced independently through a large number of steps such as the formation from piezoelectric material powder, the calcination, and the subsequent mechanical processing and attachment of electrodes, which is one factor for increasing production cost.
To address the problem, the vibrating body according to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-124791 has been devised, in which a piezoelectric element is directly bonded to an elastic member without using an adhesive, at the same time as the production of the piezoelectric element.
However, in the case of providing the piezoelectric element only on one surface of a ceramics substrate that is an elastic member, the elastic member is warped and deformed due to the contraction of the piezoelectric element during calcination.
Further, for a higher output which leads to the downsizing of the vibrating body, the output is small only with the piezoelectric element provided only on one surface. Therefore, it is desired that the piezoelectric element have a multi-layered structure, but there is a problem that the multi-layered structure only on one surface causes large warpage deformation.

Vibrating body of vibratory drive unit and vibratory drive unit


A wireless system includes a TTI memory architecture in which encoded data are stored in a memory at a rate of one block of encoded data per transmission time interval (TTI), TTI being selected from a set of predetermined values, the memory including memory lines each having a predetermined number of bits that is determined according to the set of predetermined TTI values. For every block of data in which the end of the block of data does not align with an end of a last memory line occupied by the block of data, one or more padded bits are stored after the end of the block of data to the end of the last memory line occupied by the block of data so the last memory line is filled with a portion of the block of data and the one or more padded bits. The block of data and the padded bits are read in one or more equal sized segments.

This description relates to TD-SCDMA uplink processing.
Time Division-Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA) is a newly emerging third generation wireless standard widely expected to be deployed in China. TD-SCDMA is also part of 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) wireless standards. 3GPP is a global collaboration formed of numerous telecommunications associations whose mission is to assist in the creation and implementation of a 3G telecommunication system specification that is globally applicable, making TD-SCDMA an important standard for 3G applications.
TD-SCDMA is based on spread spectrum technology and combines aspects of both time division multiple access (TDMA) and code division multiple access (CDMA) concepts. One departure of TD-SCDMA from other 3G standards (e.g., Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (W-CDMA)) is the use of time division duplex (TDD) instead of frequency division duplex (FDD). Amongst other things, TDD separates outward and return signals to emulate full duplex communication over a half duplex communication link. TDD has a strong advantage over FDD in situations in which there is an asymmetry in the uplink and downlink data speed. Uplink refers to the data communications in a direction from the mobile device to the base station, whereas downlink refers to data communication in a direction from the base station to the mobile device.
In some communications, the uplink and downlink portions may have very different speed and bandwidth requirements. For example, when a mobile telephone downloads information from a network, downlink processing may require significantly more of the channel bandwidth than uplink processing. Similarly, when the mobile device uploads information to the network, uplink processing may require significantly more of the bandwidth. By dynamically adjusting the number of time slots used for downlink and uplink processing, the system can more easily accommodate asymmetric traffic with different data rate requirements on downlink and uplink than FDD schemes are capable. For example, as the amount of uplink data increases, more bandwidth can dynamically be allocated to the uplink processing.
As discussed above, TD-SCDMA uses both TDMA and CDMA concepts. The synchronous aspect of the TD-SCDMA standard means that uplink signals are synchronized at the base station receiver, achieved by continuous timing adjustments.

TD-SCDMA uplink processing for synchronization of signals at base station receiver


A door hinge device for vehicle includes a checking-force generating mechanism provided between an inner cylinder and an outer cylinder. The checking-force generating mechanism has a holding member attached to the outer cylinder, an elastic member biasing the holding member toward the inner cylinder, a detent roller being held in a holding groove of the holding member, and detent grooves that are provided in an outer peripheral surface of the inner cylinder and are capable of holding the door at a plurality of positions where the door should be stopped by an engagement with the detent roller. The detent roller applies a compression load to the elastic member even in a state where the detent roller is engaged with any of the detent grooves. An assembly groove is provided in the outer peripheral surface of the inner cylinder and allows the detent roller to be inserted into the holding groove in a state where the holding member is in contact with the outer peripheral surface of the inner cylinder. Accordingly, it is possible to exert an enough checking-force at a predetermined position where the door should be stopped and to allow the detent roller to be easily inserted into the holding groove at the time of the assembling.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle door hinge device that supports a door for opening and closing a door opening or a tail gate of an automobile or the like. The present invention particularly relates to an improvement in a checker-equipped door hinge device for vehicle, comprising: a first bracket fixed to one of a body and a door; a second bracket fixed to the other of the body and the door; a hinge pin connecting the first and second brackets to each other while allowing the brackets to be relatively rotatable; an inner cylinder connected integrally to the first bracket and disposed coaxially with the hinge pin; an outer cylinder connected integrally to the second bracket and disposed so as to surround the inner cylinder in a rotatable manner relative to the inner cylinder; and a checking-force generating mechanism provided between the inner cylinder and the outer cylinder and generating a checking force against the door at a predetermined opening position of the door. In the checker-equipped door hinge device for vehicle, the checking-force generating mechanism includes: holding members attached to one of the inner cylinder and the outer cylinder and arranged in a peripheral direction, the holding members being capable of moving toward and from the other of the inner cylinder and the outer cylinder; and elastic members respectively biasing the holding members toward the other of the inner cylinder and the outer cylinder. Detent rollers are rotatably held respectively in holding grooves formed axially respectively in the holding members, and are capable of moving in a rotational manner on a peripheral surface of the other of the inner cylinder and the outer cylinder. A plurality of detent grooves are provided in the peripheral surface of the other of the inner cylinder and the outer cylinder, and the detent rollers are capable of holding the door in a snapping manner at a plurality of predetermined positions, respectively, by biasing forces of the biasing members causing the detent rollers to engage the detent grooves, respectively.
2. Description of the Related Art
Such a checker-equipped door hinge device for vehicle has already been known as disclosed in the specification of U.S. Pat. No. 6,481,056.
In such a checker-equipped door hinge device for vehicle, in order to obtain an enough checking force at each of the positions of the door, including a fully closing position, a predetermined intermediate-opening position, and a fully opening position, a load needs to be applied to an elastic member through a holding member even in a state where a detent roller is engaged with a corresponding detent groove at each of the positions of the door.
However, in assembling such a checker-equipped door hinge device, the detent roller being inserted into the holding groove with a load applied to the elastic member is subjected to an extremely large insertion resistance; thereby the assembling is not easy without using a special assembling equipment.

Checker-equipped door hinge device for vehicle