A cajon includes a box-like base body with a lower side, a front, a rear and two mutually remote lateral side walls and an upper side, as well as a playing surface. The base body is provided at the top on the two lateral side walls with widening bodies, which widen the upper side in the lateral direction. The playing surface is formed by the thus widened upper side of the base body lying horizontally in the playing position.

A cajon is traditionally configured as a cuboid box, on which the user sits for playing. The playing surface is, in this case, formed by the front side.
Such known cajons are increasingly widespread as percussion instruments. Their mode of playing, however, entails the drawback that the playing position seated on the cajon and bent forward to reach the playing surface located relatively far down is uncomfortable in the long term. The sound produced is in need of improvement in that the player sits facing the public but the cajon at best has sound openings on its rear, as the front serves as a playing surface and, in this respect, is continuously made from one piece.
Variants of cajons, which avoid the uncomfortable playing position, are, on the one hand, known as so-called "conga cajons", in which the base body is designed to be significantly higher and widening upwardly in a truncated pyramid shape. A conga cajon of this type is played like a conventional conga and the playing surface is thus located at the top. A conga cajon is, however, no longer a simple percussion instrument that is economical and easy to transport because of its size and its mode of construction.
The so-called "bongo cajon", a small cuboid box, in which the side walls run slightly obliquely inwardly, also exhibits a different type of play. The playing surface is also horizontal here, the bongo cajon being clamped for playing between the opened thighs, which can also be uncomfortable in the long term. Because of its smallness, a bongo cajon of this type is, however, not comparable with a conventional cajon.

Roland Meinl Musikinstrumente GmbH & Co. KG


Methods are disclosed for producing melt supply pipes. In one illustrative implementation, there is provided a method for producing a melt supply pipe, composed of an inner ceramic pipe and an outer steel pipe fitted to the inner pipe, the melt supply pipe directed to connecting a melting furnace and a plunger sleeve of a die casting machine. Moreover, the method may include forming a Ni alloy layer over the inner circumferential surface of the outer steel pipe, burying the outer pipe in and bonding the surface of the Ni alloy layer to TiC particles, and fitting the inner ceramic pipe into the outer pipe with the TiC particles bonded to the inner circumferential surface.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a melt supply pipe for supplying a molten aluminum alloy from a melting furnace to a plunger sleeve of a die casting machine in aluminum die casting.
2. Background Art
In conventional die casting machines, a ladle method has been commonly employed for supplying a molten aluminum alloy to a plunger sleeve. According to the ladle method, a molten aluminum alloy is drawn from a melting furnace by means of a ladle and supplied to a plunger sleeve.
As a technique to take the place of the ladle method, a melt supply pipe method has recently been attracting attention which involves directly connecting a melting furnace and a plunger sleeve with a melt supply pipe, and supplying a molten aluminum alloy through the melt supply pipe to the plunger sleeve. Mixing of an Al oxide film or solid broken pieces into a molten aluminum alloy can be significantly reduced with the melt supply pipe method as compared to the conventional ladle method. The melt supply pipe method thus has the advantage that it can provide a higher-quality die-cast product.
A conventional melt supply pipe, which has so far been used to connect a melting furnace and a plunger sleeve, has such a structure that a heater is wrapped around a ceramic pipe. A ceramic material is used for a melt supply pipe because the material has high melting loss resistance to a molten aluminum alloy.
While a ceramic pipe is thus strong to a molten aluminum alloy, it is weak to impact and can be broken by its vibration during operation or by erroneous handling upon its maintenance. Further, only an insufficient load can be applied on the connecting portions of such a breakable ceramic pipe, which could cause leakage of a molten aluminum alloy from the connecting portions.
The applicant has proposed a molten aluminum alloy-contact member having enhanced melting loss resistance to a molten aluminum alloy, comprising a steel base, a Ni alloy layer formed on the steel base, and TiC bonded in a particulate state to the surface of the Ni alloy layer (Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2005-264306).
Further, a melt supply pipe is known which has such a structure that a ceramic or graphitic pipe is encased in a steel pipe for the purpose of covering the breakableness of the inner pipe. However, because of a large difference in thermal expansion coefficient between the steel pipe and the ceramic or graphitic pipe, a large gap can be formed between the inner and outer pipes due to their different thermal expansions. A molten aluminum alloy will easily intrude into the gap, which may result in melting loss of the steel pipe and formation of holes therein in a short period of time.

Method for producing melt supply pipe for aluminum die casting


An enclosure for and/or enclosure containing a ballast circuit is substantially rectangular in shape and is subdivided into sections arranged in the following order: a first transformer section; a thermal protector section; a second transfer section; and a printed circuit board section, the thermal protector section comprising a pair of upstanding U-shaped channel members designed to securely receive thermal protectors and which serve as a barrier between the first and second transformer sections. The printed circuit board section and second transformer section are separated by means of an upstanding wedge-shaped rib employed to secure a printed circuit board in the circuit board sections.

The present invention generally relates to ballast circuits for fluorescent lamps and the like. More specifically, the invention relates to an enclosure for a ballast circuit.
Ballast circuit enclosures are generally provided to house ballast circuits that are used to operate fluorescent lamps and the like. The enclosures generally are inefficiently assembled using messy potting compounds to hold components in place therein. Without the potting compounds, the components would rattle within the enclosure.
The assembly of ballast circuit systems generally requires a relatively large amount of time. The various electrical components must be placed within the enclosure and steps must be taken to ensure appropriate electrical connection and/or isolation.
Further, Underwriters Laboratories, a certifying entity whose certification is a de facto if not a de jure requirement before successful sales of a ballast enclosure can be made, requires enclosures and assembled circuits therein to meet several stringent tests relating to voltage capabilities and isolation of components. Generally, to meet these requirements, it is necessary to employ fish paper, volcanized fiber, and/or high dielectric electrical grade tapes, which can be expensive.

Enclosure for and/or enclosure containing a ballast circuit


A device for optically scanning media or objects includes a mirror which deflects light beams and is coupled to a drive unit. The deflection mirror can be rotated with a mirror normal being tilted relative to the axis of rotation. An area can be scanned quickly at a large aperture such that the device is particularly suitable for use in optical remote sensing systems or remote locating systems, such as for gases, especially hydrocarbons in the atmosphere.

Systems for the remote sensing or remote locating of gases, in particular hydrocarbons such as methane, in the air or the atmosphere above the ground analyse light coming from the ground or the atmosphere as a result of radiation emission or scattering or reflection of light from a light source. To this end, the light beam is focused with a telescope onto a detector. The light beam may be a light beam in the ultraviolet, visible or infrared spectral range.
When high sensitivity is to be achieved and/or the amounts of light which are emitted by the atmosphere or a surface are relatively small, telescopes or receiving systems must be used with large optical apertures of several 10 cm in diameter.
If a surface is to be scanned quickly, either the receiving system has to be moved quickly or the field of view of the telescope must be continually realigned using a suitable device.
When receiving systems or telescopes with large optical apertures are used, it is not possible to move the receiving system or the telescope because of their size and the resultant drive problems.
With receiving systems with small optical apertures, i.e. with diameters of less than 1 cm, the use of deflection mirrors for deflecting the light beam between the surface or an object and the receiving system. The deflection mirrors are, for example, driven with piezo elements or galvo scanners. Such drive units are not available or are too complicated and expensive for receiving systems with larger optical apertures.
Furthermore, a deflection system with two deflection mirrors, the first deflection mirror deflecting the light beam by 90° is known from practice. A surface can be scanned relatively quickly using a second deflection mirror which deflects the light beam again. However, the use of two deflection mirrors is complicated design-wise and cost-intensive.
Furthermore, a cardan-driven deflection mirror is known. Here the deflection mirror is moved quickly around the cardanic axis. The very high accelerations which occur are a disadvantage. The fast reversal of movement puts very high mechanical strain on all components and very powerful drives are required for the deflection mirrors in order to achieve the required fast acceleration. Furthermore, the fast acceleration causes vibration in the measuring system which may have a disadvantageous effect.
Thus the object of the present invention is to create a device of the aforementioned type which has a simple design and can scan large surfaces quickly.

Device and method for the optical scanning of media, objects, or areas


A method for reducing extreme loads acting on a component of a wind turbine includes measuring, via one or more sensors, a plurality of operating parameters of the wind turbine. Further, the method includes predicting at least one blade moment of at least one rotor blade of the wind turbine based on the plurality of operating parameters. The method also includes predicting a load and an associated load angle of the at least one rotor blade as a function of the at least one blade moment. Moreover, the method includes predicting a pitch angle of the at least one rotor blade of the wind turbine. In addition, the method includes generating a load envelope for the component that comprises at least one load value for the pitch angle and the load angle. Thus, the method includes implementing a control action when the load is outside of the load envelope.

Wind power is considered one of the cleanest, most environmentally friendly energy sources presently available and wind turbines have gained increased attention in this regard. A modern wind turbine typically includes a tower, a generator, a gearbox, a nacelle, and one or more rotor blades. The rotor blades are the primary elements for converting wind energy into electrical energy. The blades typically have the cross-sectional profile of an airfoil such that, during operation, air flows over the blade producing a pressure difference between its sides. Consequently, a lift force, which is directed from the pressure side towards the suction side, acts on the blade. The lift force generates torque on the main rotor shaft, which is connected to a generator for producing electricity.
The amount of power that may be produced by a wind turbine is typically limited by structural limitations (i.e. design loads) of the individual wind turbine components. For example, the blade root of a wind turbine may experience loads (e.g. a blade root resultant moment) associated with both average loading due to turbine operation and dynamically fluctuating loads due to environmental conditions. Such loading may damage turbine components, thereby eventually causing the turbine components to fail. The fluctuating loads can change day-to-day or season-to-season and may be based on wind speed, wind peaks, wind turbulence, wind shear, changes in wind direction, density in the air, yaw misalignment, upflow, or similar. Specifically, for example, loads experienced by a wind turbine may vary with wind speed.
As such, it is imperative to ensure loads acting on the wind turbine do not exceed design loads. Thus, many wind turbines employ one or more sensors configured to measure the loads acting on the various wind turbine components. Though the sensors may provide the desired information, new sensor systems can be complex and expensive to install. Further, the sensors may provide inaccurate information and can be prone to fail.
Additionally, wind turbines utilize control systems configured to estimate loads acting on the wind turbine based on a wind turbine thrust. The terms "thrust," "thrust value," "thrust parameter" or similar as used herein are meant to encompass a force acting on the wind turbine due to the wind. The thrust force comes from a change in pressure as the wind passes the wind turbine and slows down. Such control strategies estimate loads acting on the wind turbine by determining an estimated thrust using a plurality of turbine operating conditions, such as, for example, pitch angle, power output, generator speed, and air density. The operating conditions are inputs for the algorithm, which includes a series of equations, one or more aerodynamic performance maps, and one or more look-up tables (LUTs). For example, the LUT may be representative of a wind turbine thrust. A +/− standard deviation of the estimated thrust may also be calculated, along with an operational maximum thrust and a thrust limit. As such, the wind turbine may be controlled based on a difference between the maximum thrust and the thrust limit.
Such existing controls, however, are tuned to minimize the blade root resultant moment irrespective of the load direction and pitch angle, thus always targeting the worst case situation. Accordingly, such controls operate conservatively using additional pitch travel and also giving up annual energy production in the process.
In view of the foregoing, the art is continuously seeking new and improved systems for controlling extreme loads of wind turbine components, such as rotor blades, pitch bearings, and the hub that address the aforementioned issues.

System and method for improved extreme load control for wind turbine components


In an embodiment, a hierarchical data structure includes data blocks separated into a plurality of data segments partitioned into a plurality of supersegments. Each data segment includes a predetermined number of data blocks. Each supersegment includes a predetermined number of data segments. Responsive to receiving data to store in the hierarchical data structure, a first subset of data segments are grouped into a first supersegment to allow a first portion of the data to be sequentially stored to a first set of data blocks in a first data segment of the first supersegment. Also, a second portion of the data is sequentially stored to a second set of data blocks in a second data segment of the first supersegment. Probabilistic membership query filters are generated at each different level for each data segment and the first supersegment of the hierarchical data structure to allow for efficient search and data retrieval.

Data backup systems are configured to store data of a reference system so that should data on the reference system become corrupted, changed without authorization, deleted, locked, or otherwise rendered unacceptable, the data for the reference system may be at least partially replaced using the backup data. A data backup system may copy all of the data of the reference system to create the backup file in one approach. In another approach, an initial backup image of the reference system may be created, and then subsequent backups only store data which has changed between a previous backup and the current state of the data of the reference system, rather than storing a full copy of the data of the reference system during every backup operation. Full copy strategies are both inefficient and costly in terms of system resources.
Reference symbols in the various drawings that have the same number indicate like elements.

Hierarchical data structure having tiered probabilistic membership query filters


In a multi-path computer system, a host apparatus and devices are connected via a plurality of paths, recorded therein. From channel adapters of the devices, device information of said devices, area information corresponding to a plurality of accessible areas, channel-adapter number information in said devices, and/or component exchange-unit information in said device are obtained. Properness of the plurality of paths is determined from access path information and identification information comprising the device information and area information. Identification information is determined, concerning an error path, comprising the device information and channel-adapter number information, to the other multi-path control parts of its own apparatus or the multi-path control parts of the other apparatuses, when detecting the error path. Operation of a path employing a channel adapter is caused to stop, and, also, identification information is determined, concerning said channel adapter, comprising the device information and component exchange-unit information, to the other multi-path control parts of their own apparatus and/or the multi-path control parts of the other apparatuses, when a request of exchanging said channel adapter is given.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system of a connection between servers and devices, to a multi-path computer system by which devices are accessed via multi-path access paths, and, in particular, to a multi-path computer system in which reliability in multi-path device control is secured.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, in a case where servers and devices are connected, multi-path device control in which not only a single server and a single device are connected, but also a plurality of servers and a plurality of devices are connected, has been regarded as important, so that reliability is secured.
In the above-mentioned multi-path device control, a user sets a multi-path configuration in order to access devices, and, a multi-path control mechanism apportions access paths based on the above-mentioned multi-path configuration setting.
There are problems as will now be described when the above-mentioned multi-path environment is built:
(1) Data destruction may occur due to an erroneous setting of multi-path configuration.
Because a user makes setting of a multi-path configuration, the setting may be made erroneously. When the erroneous setting is made, different areas may be accessed via two paths, and, thereby, data may be destroyed. Further, there may be a case where, for example, after the access paths are set, an access path is erroneously re-connected while maintenance work is performed. Also in such a case, data may be destroyed.
In particular, recently, Fibre Channel has spread widely, and thereby, it becomes difficult to find out which devices are connected by access paths. Accordingly, multi-path setting may be easily made erroneously.
(2) A method of maintenance performed when a same path is used in common for a plurality of devices has not been clearly established.
For example, when a channel adapter of a device is exchanged, and an access path was set for another device using a channel adapter in a same exchange unit as that of the above-mentioned channel adapter to be exchanged, it is necessary to inform the other device that the channel adapter of this other device will also be exchanged. Otherwise, the other device may not able to render a proper connection. In the related art, a method of dealing with such a situation has not been established clearly. Accordingly, it was not possible to perform maintenance work efficiently.
(3) A long time is required for switching paths, and, thereby, a useless time of dealing with error/fault is required.
For example, when a channel adapter of a device has a fault, a path-fail-over function of a multi-path control mechanism functions, and, thereby, an access path using the channel adapter is prevented from being used. Thereby, when a plurality of access paths were set using this channel adapter, an error dealing-with operation starts each time an access is made via each access path thereof, and path switching is performed. Thus, a useless error dealing-with time is required. Especially, in a case of a Fibre Channel, a long time is required for detecting an error (for example, tens of seconds). Accordingly, for a system employing a Fibre Channel, an efficient channel switching method needs to be developed.
The present invention has been devised in consideration of the above-discussed situations, and, an object of the present invention is to solve a problem due to an erroneous setting of a multi-path configuration by a user, to shorten a time required for a recovery from a path-fail-over state, and, also, to shorten a time required for maintenance work of a device, in a multi-path computer system.
FIG. 1 shows a general configuration of the present invention.
As shown in FIG. 1, host apparatuses 1 are connected with a plurality of input/output devices 3 via an interface 2. As the interface 2 between the host apparatuses and plurality of input/output devices, the above-mentioned Fibre Channel network system may be used, for example. However, it is also possible to use a SCSI, a hub, or the like for the same purpose. In each host apparatus 1, a plurality of host adapters 1c are provided, and, a plurality of access paths are set for connection between the host adapters 1c and channel adapters 3a of the input/output devices 3.
An I/O request from a host application 1a of the host apparatus 1 is sent to a multi-path control part 1b, which then apportions the I/O to a plurality of access paths. The thus-apportioned I/O is sent to the input/output device 3 via the host adapter 1c, access path and channel adapter 3a, and, then, is processed by the input/output device 3. Then, a response is sent to the host application 1a via the same path.
In this system, the present invention solves the above-mentioned problems as follows:
(1) Each input/output device 3 includes a plurality of areas which the host apparatuses 1 can access; area information corresponding to each of the plurality of areas; device information for identifying this input/output device; and channel adapters 3a, each of which renders permission or inhibition of access from the host apparatuses 1 for each one of the plurality of areas, according to the area information.
Further, each of the host apparatuses 1 includes the plurality of host adapters 1c which are connected to the plurality of paths and perform access to the input/output devices 3; access path information indicating areas of the input/output devices which can be accessed by the respective ones of the plurality of host adapters; and the multi-path control part 1b which selects a specific host adapter 1c according to the access path information when access is made from a software operating in the host apparatus 1, to a specific area of the input/output device 3.
Further, each channel adapter 3a of the input/output devices 3 includes an identification information responding part which responds to the host apparatuses 1 by identification information {circle around (1)} including the device information and area information, and each host apparatus 1 determines from the access path information and identification information {circle around (1)}, whether or not the plurality of paths are proper (or properly set).
Thus, erroneous setting of access paths is prevented from being accepted, by using the identification information {circle around (1)} specifying the area as mentioned above. Accordingly, it is possible to prevent different areas from being accessed via two paths erroneously. Thus, it is possible to prevent data from being destroyed due to an erroneous setting of the access-path configuration.
Further, by obtaining the above-mentioned information from the channel adapters 3a of the input/output devices 3 at a time of turning on of power, and periodically, it is possible to deal with an erroneous connection made also at a time of maintenance work.
(2) Each input/output device 3 includes device information for identifying this input/output device 3, information of a number of each of the channel adapters 3a in the input/output device 3 (adapter number information), and the channel-adapters 3a, each of which renders permission/inhibition of access from the host apparatuses 1 connected with the plurality of paths.
Further, each of the host apparatuses 1 includes the plurality of host adapters 1c connected with the plurality of paths and perform access to the input/output devices 3 therethrough; access path information indicating areas of the input/output devices 3 which can be accessed by the respective ones of the plurality of host adapters; and the multi-path control part 1b which selects a specific host adapter 1c, according to the access path information when access is to be made from a software operating in the host apparatus 1.
Further, each of the channel adapters 3a of the input/output devices 3 includes an identification information responding part which responds to the host apparatuses 1 by identification information {circle around (2)} including the above-mentioned device information and adapter number information, and, when detecting an error path, the host apparatus 1 sends the thus-responded identification information concerning the error path to the other multi-path control parts of their own apparatus and/or the multi-path control parts of the other apparatuses.
Thus, the identification information {circle around (2)} concerning the detected error path is sent to the other multi-path control parts of their own apparatus and/or the multi-path control parts of the other apparatuses. Thereby, the other multi-path control parts of their own apparatus and/or the multi-path control parts of the other apparatuses can terminate operation concerning the relevant access path and perform path-fail-over operation previously. Accordingly, it is possible to prevent a useless error dealing-with time from being required.
(3) Each of the input/output devices 3 includes device information for identifying this input/output device 3; information of component exchange units in this device (component exchange-unit information); and the channel adapters 3a, each of which renders permission/inhibition of access from the host apparatuses 1 connected with the above-mentioned plurality of paths.
Further, each of the host apparatuses 1 includes the plurality of host adapters 1c connected with the above-mentioned plurality of paths and performing access to the input/output devices 3 therethrough; access path information indicating areas of the input/output devices 3 which can be accessed by the respective ones of the plurality of host adapters; and the multi-path control part 1b which selects a specific host adapter 1c, according to the access path information when access is to be made from a software operating in the host apparatus 1.
Further, each of the channel adapters 3a of the input/output devices 3 includes an identification information responding part which responds to the host apparatuses 1 by identification information {circle around (3)} including the above-mentioned device information and the component exchange-unit information. Then, when a request for exchanging a channel adapter is given, the host apparatus 1 terminates operation of any path using this channel adapter, and, simultaneously, sends the identification information {circle around (3)} concerning this channel adapter to the other multi-path control parts of their own apparatus and/or the multi-path control parts of the other apparatuses, and, thereby, causes operation concerning the paths using the channel adapters having the same component exchange-unit information to be terminated.
Thus, when a request for exchanging a channel adapter is given, the path using this channel adapter is made to be terminated, and, simultaneously, as the identification information {circle around (3)} concerning this channel adapter is sent to the other multi-path control parts of their own apparatus and/or the multi-path control parts of the other apparatuses, operation is made to be terminated for the paths using the channel adapters having the same exchange-unit information. Accordingly, it is possible to perform exchange of channel adapters or the like of the input/output devices 3 without adversely affecting the other applications of the own apparatus and/or I/O requests of the other apparatuses.
Further, when re-start is performed after the exchange of components is finished, the same identification information {circle around (3)} is sent to the other multi-path control parts of their own apparatus and/or the multi-path control parts of the other apparatuses so as to inform them of recovery of the path. Thereby, it is possible to shorten a time required for the recovery after the exchange of components.
In a case where Fibre Channel is used as the interface, it is possible to utilize WWN (World Wide Name) of the Fibre Channel which each channel adapter has, as the above-mentioned identification information specifying/identifying the device. Further, it is also possible to utilize a node name of WWN, as the above-mentioned exchange component-unit information.
Other objects and further features of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.


An air-intake device includes a throttle valve pivotally movable around a shaft connected to one end of the throttle valve and an airflow passage formed in the intake air passage above an upper end of the throttle valve. In a region where an amount of intake air is small (i.e., in a region where an opening-degree of the throttle valve is small), an amount of intake air passing through the airflow passage is precisely controlled. In the same region, a high-speed airflow is generated in the airflow passage thereby to formulate a uniform air-fuel mixture in a combustion chamber of an internal combustion engine. These functions are easily realized by simply adding a member for forming the airflow passage to a throttle valve unit disposed in the intake air passage.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an air-intake device for an internal combustion engine, in which a function for adjusting an amount of an intake-air volume and a function for generating a desired air stream are included.
2. Description of Related Art
An example of an air-intake device is disclosed in JP-A-7-269375. In this device, a rotary-type throttle valve rotatable around a shaft supporting a diametric center of the throttle valve is disposed in an intake air passage. An amount of air supplied to an internal combustion engine is controlled according to an opening-degree of the rotary-type throttle valve. An additional air passage for a low air volume, corresponding to a region of a low opening-degree of the throttle valve, is provided at an upstream portion of the throttle valve in order to control an amount of air more precisely in a low air volume region. The rotary-type throttle valve in this device, however, does not generate a desired airflow directed toward an intake port of an engine cylinder. If it is necessary to generate the airflow, an airflow control valve has to be additionally provided at a downstream portion of the throttle valve, thereby increasing a manufacturing cost of the device.
Another example of this kind of device is proposed in JP-A-9-222063. In this device, an airflow control valve rotatable around its center axis is provided downstream of a throttle valve that controls an amount of air supplied to an engine. Further, a guide-groove for generating a high speed airflow when the airflow control valve is closed is provided along a wall of an intake air passage. The airflow control valve and the guide-groove in this device, however, do not has a function for precisely controlling an amount of air at a low air volume region though the airflow is generated. Further, since the airflow control valve is rotatable around its center axis, air also flows through an opening formed at an opposite side of the guide-groove when the airflow control valve is opened. Accordingly, the guide-groove cannot generate a desired airflow effectively.
A conventional throttle valve is usually made rotatable around its center axis, and intake air flows though openings at both sides of the throttle valve when it is opened. Therefore, it is difficult to precisely control an amount of intake air at a region where a volume of the intake air is low.

Air-intake device for internal combustion engine


A method for listening to ultrasonic animal sound signals comprises: obtaining a plurality of input samples at an input sample rate, the plurality of input samples including at least one sequence of samples corresponding to an instance of an intermittently occurring animal sound signal; receiving a frame including at least two of the plurality of input samples; selecting a fraction of the samples as output samples, the fraction of the samples including a sample containing the at least one sequence of samples corresponding to an instance of an intermittently occurring animal sound signal; and transmitting the output samples at an output sample rate slower than the input sample rate.

Several animals give calls or make other sounds in an audio frequency range which humans find to be normally undetectable or difficult to detect without aid. Perhaps best-known amongst these are bat echolocation calls and certain sea-mammal calls, though other animals are also known to use ultrasonic calls.
The typical echolocation call of a bat consists of a rapid series of short narrowband frequency-modulated whistles in the ultrasonic frequency range beyond human hearing. Calls across species vary from between 1 and 100 milliseconds in duration and between 10 and 120 kilohertz in pitch. Call rates are typically 10 per second while bats are navigating or searching for prey but can increase significantly when closing in on a meal.
The prior art includes a class of bat detectors known as time expansion detectors. These detectors typically buffer approximately 5 seconds of ultrasonic sound samples at a high sample rate after some trigger event, and then drain the buffer at a much slower sample rate (typically 10 or 16 times slower) over the subsequent 50 to 80 seconds producing output audio samples. The output is suitable for recording by a conventional audio recorder or playback through speakers or headphones. Time expansion bat detectors effectively divide the frequency information by the ratio between the input and output sample rates (e.g. by 10 or 16) and preserve all of the spectral, amplitude, and temporal information of the original signal. However, this method is not suitable for real-time bat monitoring because bat activity can not be monitored while the buffer is drained over relatively long periods of time.

Method for listening to ultrasonic animal sounds


A strobe device includes: a battery case configured to hold a plurality of batteries; a main capacitor charged by the batteries; a flash discharge tube to which a voltage is applied by the main capacitor; a voltage detecting unit configured to detect a voltage of each of the batteries, respectively; and a charging control unit configured to control charging of the main capacitor such that the main capacitor is charged with a first electric current that is suitable for lithium batteries in a case where a total voltage of the batteries detected by the voltage detecting unit is more than a prescribed first value, and control charging of the main capacitor such that the main capacitor is charged with a second electric current that is greater than the first electric current in a case where the total voltage is equal to or less than the first value.

A known strobe device for a camera includes an internal power supply and an external power supply as power supplies for charging a main capacitor that applies a voltage to a flash discharge tube. In this strobe device, charging speed of the main capacitor is switched depending on whether only the internal power supply is used or both the internal power supply and the external power supply are used (see JP2003-295280A). Another known strobe device sets a charging electric current of the main capacitor based on a temperature of the battery (see JP 2006-58482A).
A columnar lithium battery, which is substantially the same size as an alkaline battery and a nickel-metal hydride battery in an AA size, is commercially available as a battery used for a strobe device in a replaceable manner. Rated voltages of the alkaline battery and the nickel-metal hydride battery are 1.5V to 1.2V, while a rated voltage of the lithium battery is 3.7V. That is, the rated voltage of the lithium battery is more than twice as high as the rated voltages of the alkaline battery and the nickel-metal hydride battery.
As the lithium battery has a higher rated voltage than the alkaline battery and the nickel-metal hydride battery, a charging speed of the main capacitor when the lithium battery is used is preferably lower than that of the main capacitor when the alkaline battery or the nickel-metal hydride battery is used so that a battery with a long life can be provided.

Strobe device and charging control method therefor


The present invention is an anchor for a thermally responsive ligature that deforms when heated. The ligature has an engaging segment for engaging the anchor with two clamping portions and a curved portion. The anchor is made from a thermally and/or electrically conductive material and has an engaging surface for engaging a curved portion of the ligature. The clamping portions of the engaging segment of the ligature pass between the body and the clamping component when the curved portion of the engaging segment is engaging the engaging surface of the anchor body. Then, portions of the clamping component can be moved towards the anchor body to reconfigure the clamping component so that the portions of the clamping component press the clamping portions of the engaging segment of the ligature against the anchor body and maintain the engaging segment of the ligature in thermal or electrical communication with the anchor body.

Active material elements such as shape memory alloy (SMA) wires are used in various devices, such as actuators and smart devices to cause displacements of structural members of the devices by activation of the active elements. This may be done, for example, by passing current through SMA wire, thereby causing it to heat, resulting in contraction of the wire and the application of force to the members it is attached to.
However, when an SMA wire is heated, normally all portions of the wire contract, or attempt to contract, including those portions that are directly attached to a structural member. Such repeated deformation or contraction in the portion(s) of the wire attached to members can result in failure of the device. One failure mode is failure by fatigue due to uneven stress distribution when contraction occurs along a curve. Another failure mode is slide-through of wire at the attachment point leading to pull-out.

Anchor for shape memory alloy wire and actuator


A dental implant that includes a tubular body portion which can be positively secured within a bore in a jaw bone by an expander mechanism, the tubular member being internally threaded so that a selected prosthetic component can be threadably connected to the tubular body portion immediately following securement of the tubular body to the bone.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to dental implants. More particularly, the invention concerns a dental implant which includes a tubular body portion that can be positively secured within a bore in a jaw bone by an expander mechanism, the tubular member being threaded so that a selected prosthetic component can be threadably connected to the tubular body portion immediately following securement of the tubular body to the bone.
2. Discussion of the Invention
Introduction
Dental implants of the character receivable within a bore provided in the jaw bone are old in the art. Typically such implants comprise an apertured body portion which is emplaced within a bore drilled in the bone. The body portion is designed so that during a period of about four to six months after its emplacement within the bore, bone tissue will grow into the apertures so as to secure the body portion of the implant in place within the bone bore. Following this four to six month period, an artificial tooth or other prosthetic component is secured to the body portion. This procedure is undesirable in several respects. In the first place, the procedure is protracted and requires multiple visits to the oral surgeon. Secondly, during the extended period of time required for the bone tissue to grow into and around the implant, the patient is left with an uncomfortable and unsightly cavity where the prosthetic component, such as an artificial tooth will eventually go. Additionally, this procedure does not always provide adequate anchoring of the implant to the jaw bone so that in time the implant can loosen.
In order to overcome the drawbacks of the standard procedure described in the preceding paragraph, several types of implants using mechanical locking means for securing the implant in place within the bore in the jaw bone have been suggested. Exemplary of such devices is the device described in U.S. Pat. No. No. 3,708,883 issued to Flander.
The Flander device comprises an implant which has an elongated tubular body provided with an outer anchoring portion which includes spreadable portions having projections adapted to be pressed into the bone. These portions are mechanically spread apart by an elongated spreader screw which extends through the tubular body. A nut mounted on the outer end of the tubular body is threaded onto the spreader screw to pull it outwardly causing the spreadable anchor portions to spread a part from each other and to press the projections formed thereon into the bone. The artificial tooth is then bonded to the nut and to a portion of the spreader screw.
The implant of the present invention also makes use of mechanical securement means, but unlike the Flander device, the device includes means by which selected dental prosthetics of standard design can be threadably interconnected. In this way, angular corrections of the prosethetic, such as an artificial tooth, can readily be made. Further, in one form of the device of the invention, the implant is positively secured within the bore in the bone by two separate, but cooperating securement mechanisms. The first securement mechanism comprises self-tapping, external threads provided on the tubular body of the device which are threaded into the bone by rotating the device in a first direction. The second, cooperating securement mechanism comprises a plurality of bone penetrating anchor blades formed on the skirt portion of the tubular body which are moved into a bone engagement position only after the implant has been securely threaded into the bone. In this embodiment of the invention, the anchor blades are moved into the bone engagement configuration by rotating a threaded expander member also in a first direction. However, because the threads on the expander member are opposite to the threads on the tubular body, rotational forces exerted on the expander member continuously urges the implant in a thightening direction. In other words, as the anchor blades are urged outwardly, the implant is continuously urged into threaded engagement with the bone. This novel, double locking approach permits the selected prosthetic component to be connected to the implant immediately without the patient having to return to the oral surgeon a second time.
In an alternate form of the invention, the tubular member is provided with means for locking it against rotation as the anchor blades are cammed outwardly into the bone. In this form of the invention, means are also provided for threadably connecting a wide variety of dental prosthetics to the implant immediately after the implant is secured to the bone.


An IC connector is adapted for connecting an IC card having a terminal array. The connector includes a base member having a plurality of electrically conductive contacts for engaging the terminal array of the IC card. A cover is mounted on the base member for pivotal movement toward and away from one side of the base member. The cover has a receptacle means for securing the IC card thereon. The IC card is received for sliding movement relative to the cover between a preload position and a latched position. A biasing shoulder on the base member slides the IC card from its preload position to its latched position in response to closing of the cover. A latch on the base member engages the IC card in its latched position to lock the cover and IC card in a closed position on the base member. A release on the base member moves the biasing shoulder out of engagement with the IC card to allow the IC card to be moved back to its preload position out of engagement with the latch, whereby the cover and IC card can be pivoted back to an open position.

IC cards have been developed and contain IC's (integrated circuits) including memory circuits, such as rams (random access memories), and controls circuits, such as CPUs (central processing units). A special type of IC card, called a SIM card (subscriber identification module card) is of increasing interest and is used in cellular phones as an identification and storage unit for subscriber related data. SIM cards normally include a terminal array for connection through a card reader system to the external equipment. The connector usually includes some form of IC card socket and a plurality of electrodes or contacts exposed in the socket for engaging the terminal array of the IC card. The card is inserted into and removed from the socket, and the connector contacts are resilient or comprise springy contacts for yieldably engaging the terminal array of the card when the card is inserted into the socket.
With the ever-increasing miniaturization of IC cards and their respective connectors, various problems continue to arise. For instance, the very handling of the miniature IC cards is difficult, and proper positioning of the cards in the connector presents corresponding problems when the card is inserted into and removed from the card-receiving cavity or other receptacle means of the connector. Such card connectors may have locking means for holding the IC card in a locked reading position, but such locking means often have reliability problems. Still further, it often is very difficult to grip and remove the inserted chip card from the connector. This invention is directed to solving these various problems in a miniature SIM card connector which is reliable and simple to manufacture and assemble.


A method of forming a complementary bipolar transistor device includes the steps of: providing a substrate of semiconductor material including at least two electrically isolated N-type device regions having a generally planar common surface; forming a P-type buried subcollar region in a first of the device regions; forming an N-type buried subcollector region in a second of the device regions; forming an N-type base region in the common surface of the first device region; forming a layer of P-doped polysilicon over the base region in the first device region and over the second device region; patterning the layer of P-doped polysilicon to form an emitter contact generally centered on the base region of the first device region and a generally annular base contact on the second device region; forming a layer of insulating material over the patterned layer of P-doped polysilicon; forming a layer of N-doped polysilicon generally conformally over the device; patterning the layer of N-doped polysilicon to form a base contact generally surrounding the emitter contact on the first device region and an emitter contact generally surrounded by the base contact on the second device region; and heating the device at least once to drive impurities from the base and emitter contacts on the first and second device regions into the device regions whereby to form a vertical PNP transistor in the first device region and a vertical NPN transistor in the second device region.

In the field of bipolar transistor devices it is generally recognized that it is desirable to incorporate complementary transistors, i.e. both NPN and PNP type transistors, onto a single chip or substrate. When complementary transistors are thus employed, in operation one type of transistor is typically on while the other type is off, both types changing on/off states relatively simultaneously. This complementary operation results in improved semiconductor chip characteristics, such as decreased power consumption and decreased signal noise.
However, it is also recognized that it is difficult to fabricate high-performance complementary transistors on a single substrate. This difficulty is due in large part to the fact that the fabrication of high-performance transistors requires a highly specialized process, and such a process is typically tailored to either the NPN or PNP type of transistor. In the past it has been extremely difficult to provide a fabrication process which yields high-performance transistors of both the NPN and PNP types on a single substrate/chip.
Those skilled in the art have addressed the task of fabricating complementary bipolar transistors in many different manners, several of which are briefly described below.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,719,185 to Goth (assigned to the assignee of the present invention) shows a complementary transistor structure wherein vertical NPN and PNP transistors are formed by ion implantation of the transistor regions. Metal contacts are subsequently provided to the transistor regions.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,485,552 to Magdo et al. (assigned to the assignee of the present invention) shows a complementary transistor structure utilizing isolation structures that permit carefully controlled impurity doping of the transistor regions. The extrinsic base region and the emitter region of the PNP device are out-diffused from doped polysilicon regions.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,730,786 to Ghosh (assigned to the assignee of the present invention) shows a method for forming complementary bipolar transistors wherein a vertical NPN emitter region and a vertical PNP base region are formed by out-diffusion from a single doped oxide layer. The NPN base region and the PNP emitter region are formed by separate diffusions.
European Patent Application 0 301 468 by Fairchild Semiconductor Corporation shows a process for fabricating complementary bipolar transistors wherein the emitter and extrinsic base regions of the complementary transistors are formed by out-diffusion from a single layer of polysilicon. This out-diffusion is performed by first defining and doping selected regions of the polysilicon layer, and then by heating the device to out-diffuse these regions into the substrate. The separation of the emitter and extrinsic base is limited by lithographic resolution of the type used to etch the polysilicon therebetween.
The present invention is directed to providing a method for fabricating high performance, complementary bipolar transistors utilizing a process compatible with current self-aligned transistor fabrication technology.

Method for forming a complementary bipolar transistor structure including a self-aligned vertical PNP transistor


Disclosed is a dispensing system. The dispensing system includes a dispensing unit to dispense therapeutic fluid, and a validation mechanism to enable operation of the dispensing unit based, at least in part, on a determination of whether operation of the dispensing device is authorized.

Diabetes mellitus is a disease of major global importance, increasing in frequency at almost epidemic rates, such that the worldwide prevalence in 2006 is 170 million people and predicted to at least double over the next 10-15 years. Diabetes is characterized by a chronically raised blood glucose concentration (hyperglycemia), due to a relative or absolute lack of the pancreatic hormone, insulin.
Treatment of diabetes mellitus requires frequent insulin administration that can be done by multiple daily injections (MDI) with syringe or by continuous subcutaneous insulin injection (CSII) with insulin pumps. In recent years, ambulatory portable insulin infusion pumps have emerged as a superior alternative to multiple daily injections of insulin. These pumps, which deliver insulin at a continuous basal rate as well as in bolus volumes, were developed to liberate patients from repeated self-administered injections, and allow greater flexibility in dose administration.
Several ambulatory insulin infusion devices are currently available on the market. Examples of first generation disposable syringe-type reservoir and tubes were disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,631,847 to Hobbs, U.S. Pat. No. 3,771,694 to Kaminski, U.S. Pat. No. 4,657,486 to Stempfle, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,544,369 to Skakoon. Other dispensing mechanisms have also been discussed, including peristaltic positive displacement pumps, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,498,843 to Schneider and U.S. Pat. No. 4,715,786 to Wolff, the contents of all of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties.
Although these devices represent an improvement over multiple daily injections, they nevertheless all suffer from several drawbacks, including, for example, their large size and weight, caused by their configuration and the relatively large size of the driving mechanisms and of the syringes. These relatively bulky devices have to be carried in a patient's pocket or be attached to the belt. Consequently, the fluid delivery tubes of the infusion set are very long, usually longer than 60 cm, in order to permit needle insertion at remote sites of the body. These uncomfortable bulky devices and long infusion set are rejected by the majority of diabetic insulin users since they disturb regular activities such as sleeping and swimming. Furthermore, the effect of the image projected on the teenagers' body is unacceptable. In addition, the delivery tube excludes some optional remote insertion sites, like buttocks, arms and legs.
To avoid the consequences of long infusion sets, a new concept, referred to as a second generation pump, was proposed. This concept includes a remote controlled skin adherable device with a housing having a bottom surface adapted to contact patient's skin, a reservoir disposed within the housing, and an injection needle adapted to communicate with the reservoir. These skin adherable devices are disposed every 2-3 days similarly to available pump infusion sets. These devices were described, for example, in at least in U.S. Pat. No. 5,957,895 to Sage, U.S. Pat. No. 6,589,229 to Connelly, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,740,059 to Flaherty. Additional configurations of skin adherable pumps were described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,723,072 to Flaherty and U.S. Pat. No. 6,485,461 to Mason, the contents of all of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties. These devices also have several limitations: they are also bulky and expensive. Their high selling price is due to the high production and accessory costs; the user must discard the entire device every 2-3 days, including the relatively expensive components, such as driving mechanism and electronics.
A third generation dispensing device, such as the Medingo device described in co-pending/co-owned U.S. publication no. 2007-0106218 and International Patent Application No. PCT/IL06/001276, the contents of all of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties, is a miniature portable programmable fluid dispenser that has no tubing and can be attached to the patient skin. It includes of two parts, a disposable part (DP) and a reusable part (RP). After connection of the reusable and the disposable parts, the unified dispensing unit presents a thin profile. The RP contains electronics and other relatively expensive components and the DP contains reservoir. The Medingo device includes a remote control unit that enables data acquisition, programming, and user inputs. An improvement to a skin adherable pump that includes of the two parts is described in co-pending/co-owned U.S. publication no. 2008-0215035 and International Patent Application No. PCT/IL09/000,388, the contents of all of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties. In this application, a device, a system and a method for connection and disconnection of a skin securable pump is disclosed. The system enables the use of a cradle, which is initially adhered to the skin and then a cannula is inserted through the cradle into the body of the user. The cannula, which is a sterilized component, is provided to the patient protected in a cannula cartridge unit. An example for such cannula cartridge unit including a cannula is described in co-pending/co-owned U.S. publication 2008-0319416, the content of which is hereby incorporated by reference. The two-part pump can be consequently connected and disconnected to and from the cradle upon patient discretion. The cannula, cradle, and disposable part are all designed for a single use and are preferably sterilized, to prevent contaminations, irritations, infections and other ill effects. And thus, they should be replaced every several days (e.g. once or twice a week).
Such a device, as described in the above-mentioned patents assigned to Medingo, comprises a number of parts, some of which are disposable. These parts require authentication and identification before and/or during assembling the parts for the following reasons:                1. Intentional or inadvertent reuse of any of the parts might have hazardous consequences on the user. For example, reuse of a cannula may lead to a local, and even systemic infection, reuse of a reservoir may lead to a deficiency of insulin which might result in hyperglycemia. Identification and authentication would allow tracking of the different parts and thus prevent their intentional or inadvertent reuse. Tracking can be done for example, by storing the serial number of the assembled disposable parts in the memory and preventing assembling from disposable parts with the same serial number.        2. As part of the quality control of the genuine device, inspections and tests are carried out, and all components and materials must conform to pre-defined specifications. Use of imitations instead of genuine parts might have hazardous consequences on the user because the imitations do not undergo strict quality control and therefore do not conform to the high standards that the genuine parts must meet. For example, use of imitation parts that do not meet the sterility standards may lead to infections. Authentication of the different parts during assembly of the parts may therefore prevent the use of imitations.        3. Use of parts whose expiry date has elapsed might have hazardous consequences on the user, for example, the consequence of using insulin after expiry date is deleterious. Determination of the expiry date of the different parts during their assembly may thus prevent the use of parts whose expiry date has passed.        4. Assembling of device from parts belonging to different users might also have hazardous consequences on the user. For example, the DPs of different users may comprise different reservoir volumes or different therapeutic agents (e.g. insulin 100 U/mL or 40 U/mL), and faulty assembly may therefore result in fatal consequence due to underdosing or overdosing. Parts identification may prevent assembling of device from RPs and DPs belonging to different users.
Parts identification and/or validation could therefore prevent intentional or inadvertent reuse of any of the parts.

Device, a system and a method for identification/authentication of parts of a medical device


A computer-implemented method is provided for guiding a robot in a robotic system, by creating a refined path, based on an initial path in a three-dimensional space. The method includes receiving data related to creating the initial path, including a start point and an endpoint, and generating the initial path by interpolating the start point and the endpoint. The method also includes receiving inputs for at least one support point that defines a coordinate in the three-dimensional space for altering the initial path, and adjusting the initial path to generate the refined path by modifying a set of one or more polynomial functions, such that the refined path interpolates the at least one support point between the start point and the endpoint. The method further includes providing the refined path to a second computing module for guiding the robot.

Robotic path planning is used in a variety of industries to improve throughput. For example, in a manufacturing processing facility, a robotic system can be used to automate processing (e.g., heating, cutting, gouging and marking) of workpieces by one or more thermal processing torches (e.g., plasma arc torches). Specifically, the manufacturing facility can include a computer numeric controller (CNC) used by an operator to input information specifying various operating parameters. The CNC can be in electrical communication with one or more robots of the manufacturing processing facility, where at least one robot can have a thermal processing torch mounted thereon for automatically processing a workpiece. In operation, a user can supply inputs to the CNC to program the robot, such that the robot moves the thermal processing torch along a planned path to process the workpiece. This type of path planning can be used to create a transition between two robotic operations or in a pick-n-place operation where processing starts at a designated location.
Robotic path planning can be used in industrial manufacturing applications, such as trimming, cutting (e.g., using laser, water-jet or plasma), 3D machining, de-burring, welding, dispensing, surfacing (e.g., polishing, sanding or grinding), spraying (e.g., thermal projection, cold spray, coating or painting) and additive applications (e.g., 3D printing or material build-up). However, robotic path planning is not limited to the manufacturing processing industry, as described above. A variety of other industries also benefit from such planning. For example, robotic path planning can be used in the medical industry for robotic assisted medical services, in the entertainment industry, in automated warehousing for sorting, assembling, picking and/or placing applications.
Generally, a robot is defined by a set of links, which are the solid structural members of the robot, and a set of joints, which are the movable couplings between the joints. In addition, a tool center point (TCP) can be defined in relation to the robot or a tool mounted on the robot, where the TCP refers to the robot position, as well as the focal point of the tool if it is mounted on the robot (e.g., the tip of the plasma arc torch mounted to the robot). In the context of the present invention, a "path" of a robot refers to a path for moving the TCP from a start pose to an end pose. A "pose" refers to a set of position and orientation of the robot's TCP. In addition, in the context of the present invention, a "configuration change path" refers to a path for changing the configuration of the robot, such as turning one or more joints of the robot to reach a desired end configuration. Further, "a joint-turn change path" refers to a path for turning a particular joint of the robot to reach a desired end joint-turn.
Typically, path planning for a robotic system is accomplished through either a series of rapid moves of a robot executed in a joint space or a series of feed moves of a robot executed in a Cartesian space. In particular, joint-space planning involves planning joint moves of a robot by specifying a set of joint parameters that describes the configuration of the robot. Joint-space planning does not require verification of the path for robotic errors, such as singularity errors or out-of reach errors. This type of planning naturally incorporates configuration and joint-turn changes of the robot. However, planning in joint space typically results in an unintuitive movement of the robot in the three-dimensional space. For example, in an exemplary planning process, the user simulates the joint moves of a robot between a start posture and an end posture. The user then verifies if the robot motion remains collision free. If not, the user adds a few via points between the start and end postures to avoid collision. However, it is extremely difficult to produce an accurate joint-space simulation of the robot, where the accuracy of the simulation depends on many factors, including robot parameters, robot loading and controller settings. For these reasons, joint-space planning for a transition in tight three-dimensional spaces is not feasible.
Cartesian-space planning involves planning a path of a robot by specifying a set of feed moves in the Cartesian space between a start posture and an end posture. Although suitable for tight spaces, this approach requires configuration information and verification of the path for possible robotic and collosion errors.
Generally, path planning tools in today's market are either manual planners or automated solvers. For manual planners, the user needs to create a series of transition points and meticulously ensure that the resulting path is efficient and error free (e.g., collision-free). For example, in both joint-space planning and Cartesian-space planning, the placement of via points or feed moves in a three-dimensional environment can be made through a point-by-point manual teaching technique, which requires the user to move the robot to each via point between the start and end postures and save each via point. Upon completion, the path, which is defined by the start point, the via points and the end point, is tested to make sure that it is free of robotic or collision errors. If an error exits, some or all of the saved points are modified to remove the error. This is a repetitive process that is time consuming and challenging. Automated solvers typically use some type of heuristics to drag the robot incrementally from the start point of the transition to the desired target without planning the entire path as an initial step. These automated approaches also do not allow a user to control or participate in the planning process, such as allowing the user to refine a path or perform other types of interactions. Further, in the context of manufacturing processing, these tools are typically unable to design efficient paths in complex manufacturing facilities that have numerous workpieces of varying geometries.

Systems and methods for planning paths to guide robots


Systems and methodologies are described that facilitate providing flow control feedback for controlling downlink data transmission rates. Various schemes can be utilized to send the flow control feedback from an access terminal to a base station. For example, a control PDU (e.g., MAC control PDU, PDCP control PDU) can be generated based upon a level of resource utilization of the access terminal, and sent to the base station for controlling the downlink data transmission rate. Following this example, a type of control PDU, a value included within the control PDU, etc. can be selected as a function of the level of resource utilization. By way of another illustration, a CQI report that includes a value selected as a function of the level of resource utilization associated with the access terminal can be generated and transmitted to the base station for controlling the downlink data transmission rate.

I. Field
The following description relates generally to wireless communications, and more particularly to providing feedback related to resource utilization of an access terminal that can be leveraged for downlink flow control in a Long Term Evolution (LTE) based wireless communication system.
II. Background
Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication; for instance, voice and/or data can be provided via such wireless communication systems. A typical wireless communication system, or network, can provide multiple users access to one or more shared resources (e.g., bandwidth, transmit power, . . . ). For instance, a system can use a variety of multiple access techniques such as Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM), Time Division Multiplexing (TDM), Code Division Multiplexing (CDM), Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM), and others.
Generally, wireless multiple-access communication systems can simultaneously support communication for multiple access terminals. Each access terminal can communicate with one or more base stations via transmissions on forward and reverse links. The forward link (or downlink) refers to the communication link from base stations to access terminals, and the reverse link (or uplink) refers to the communication link from access terminals to base stations. This communication link can be established via a single-in-single-out, multiple-in-single-out or a multiple-in-multiple-out (MIMO) system.
MIMO systems commonly employ multiple (NT) transmit antennas and multiple (NR) receive antennas for data transmission. A MIMO channel formed by the NT transmit and NR receive antennas can be decomposed into NS independent channels, which can be referred to as spatial channels, where NS≦{NT, NR}. Each of the NS independent channels corresponds to a dimension. Moreover, MIMO systems can provide improved performance (e.g., increased spectral efficiency, higher throughput and/or greater reliability) if the additional dimensionalities created by the multiple transmit and receive antennas are utilized.
MIMO systems can support various duplexing techniques to divide forward and reverse link communications over a common physical medium. For instance, frequency division duplex (FDD) systems can utilize disparate frequency regions for forward and reverse link communications. Further, in time division duplex (TDD) systems, forward and reverse link communications can employ a common frequency region so that the reciprocity principle allows estimation of the forward link channel from reverse link channel.
Wireless communication systems oftentimes employ one or more base stations that provide a coverage area. A typical base station can transmit multiple data streams for broadcast, multicast and/or unicast services, wherein a data stream may be a stream of data that can be of independent reception interest to an access terminal. An access terminal within the coverage area of such base station can be employed to receive one, more than one, or all the data streams carried by the composite stream. Likewise, an access terminal can transmit data to the base station or another access terminal.
Access terminals typically support multimedia and many different applications running concurrently (e.g., email, voice, video, . . . ). Long Term Evolution (LTE) based environments can also enable supporting very high data rates (e.g., data can be sent over the downlink at rates on the order of 100 Mbit/s, 300 Mbit/s, . . . ). Further, each application can demand a certain amount of resources from the access terminal (e.g., processing power, buffers, battery power, . . . ). Moreover, the amount of resources needed at a given time can be dynamic.
It is to be appreciated that access terminals can be designed to handle the sum of maximum instantaneous requirements of all applications that can be effectuated therewith. To maintain costs associated with access terminals at a reasonable level, however, access terminals can be designed to handle common load conditions rather than peak instantaneous requirements, which can be significantly larger than the common load. For example, the peak instantaneous requirements can occur when all applications supported by an access terminal happen to launch concurrently while the access terminal is simultaneously receiving data at the peak rate via the downlink. Thus, the access terminal can be provisioned to handle the peak rate for a short duration of time rather than being able to sustain operability at the peak rate for an extended period of time, which in turn can significantly reduce costs associated with the access terminal.
If an access terminal is not over-dimensioned (e.g., designed to accommodate common load conditions rather than peak instantaneous requirements for an extended period of time, . . . ), it can run low in resources. When availability of resources of an access terminal is low, the access terminal can attempt to reduce its load. However, LTE currently fails to support providing feedback from the access terminal to the base station when the access terminal is experiencing low resources. For example, if the base station is sending data to the access terminal at a high speed (e.g., 100 Mbit/s, . . . ) for an extended period of time, the access terminal can be unable to handle processing of such downlink data and/or the buffer can become full; meanwhile, the access terminal can lack a manner by which it can notify the base station to reduce the downlink transmission rate.
In UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN), flow control is supported in Radio Link Control (RLC). According to an illustration, an access terminal operating in UTRAN can set a transmitting window size of a base station for flow control purposes; thus, when the access terminal is congested, the access terminal can collapse the transmitting window size of the base station. The aforementioned flow control technique utilized in UTRAN, however, is not applicable to LTE since the RLC has been redefined in LTE. Accordingly, utilization of the RLC for flow control is inoperable in LTE.


A method, system and computer program product for composing a reply to a text message received in a messaging application and automatically changing the settings of an input method editor are provided. The language of a received text message is determined and compared to a current input language of the input method editor. The input language of the input method editor is automatically changed to the determined language for the input of a reply to the received message by a user.

Nowadays, the operating systems of computers support multiple languages. Typically, a large set of languages are installed as part of the Operating System (OS) installation, and additional languages may also be installed as required. With multiple languages installed on a computer, a user can compose documents that contain more than one language. Recipients of these documents must have the same languages installed on their computer to read or edit the documents. Many messaging systems, such as instant messaging (IM) and email applications, also support multiple languages. Examples are IBM® Sametime® and IBM Lotus® Notes®.
The ease with which character data is input into computer systems goes largely unnoticed by today's software users and, for that matter, by most software developers as well. The task of inputting characters is trivial for many scripts that have a small number of alphabetic characters, as is the case with the Latin script. When a script has a small number of characters, each character can be directly assigned to an individual key on a keyboard. To input a character one simply depresses the appropriate key. This strategy breaks down, however, when scripts, such as Japanese, possess a large number of characters. The challenge of inputting scripts with numerous characters requires that the keyboard be used in a different fashion than most users are accustomed to. The methodology that has been created to input these scripts is called an Input Method Editor (IME).
An IME acts as an intermediary between a software application and a user and allows computer users to enter complex characters and symbols, such as Japanese characters, using a non-Japanese input device. Operating System software typically includes standard IMEs that are based on the most popular input methods used in each target market. These include: Japanese, Korean, Chinese (which is subdivided into Traditional and Simplified), Greek, and Hebrew, as well as other scripts, such as those which use the Arabic or Cyrillic alphabets.
IMEs may simply carry out transliteration i.e. a mapping from one script system to another. For example, the user enters Latin characters via a Latin character keyboard or other input means, and the IME converts each character entered into a Cyrillic character. However, for more complex writing systems the composition of text may comprise more steps.
It is useful to take a look at one of the more complex writing systems, such as the Japanese writing system, before explaining how a user enters such characters using an IME. The entire Japanese written language comprises more than 50,000 characters, of which about 10,000 are in common use. The complexity of the characters and the large number of them requires some organization to simplify reading and writing. The Japanese writing system is organized into two categories: Kana and Kanji.
Kana is an alphabet of written phonetics or syllabary that represents Kanji. The Kana syllabary itself is further broken down into two subsets: Katakana and Hiragana both of which represent the same set of phonetic syllables. The Katakana set of phonetic syllables are written in an angular form and are used to represent names and words that come from foreign languages other than Chinese and Korean. The Hiragana characters are written in a cursive form and are used to represent all native Japanese phonemes and words.
Kanji characters are non-phonetic characters that represent ideas or concepts and that originate from Chinese ideographs. Kanji characters are commonly referred to as ideographs and are comprised of units, known as radicals, and other, non-radical units. For example, the radical 'rain' is used to construct the Kanji character for 'cloud'. Radicals themselves are constructed from even smaller units, called strokes, which are lines that are drawn in one continuous motion.
Using an IME and non-Japanese input device, the user composes each Japanese character in one of several ways: by radical, by stroke count, by phonetic representation, or by typing in the Japanese character's numeric encoding index.
Japanese input devices have Hiragana characters on the keys and combinations of Hiragana characters are lumped into potential matches for Kanji characters (there are lots of homonyms however). In Chinese input devices the keys represent radicals. A Han character is selected in response to the entry of a plurality of radicals in a particular order. The user of a computer system identifies to the OS of the computer system the language setting of the input device which is to be used with the computer. The OS can then identify the particular characters represented by keys selected by the user.
A problem exists in messaging systems, where a user is working in a first language, but receives a message in a second, different language. In this case, it makes sense for the user to reply to the sender in the language of the received message. Currently, the user has to change the IME settings manually before composing a reply message in the second language. This takes a number of steps which makes it slow and cumbersome for the user to respond.
The present invention aims to address this problem.

Composing a reply to a text message received in a messaging application

International Business Machines Corporation


An image processing apparatus prints a processing instruction sheet for instructing to perform processing on a document to be processed. The processing instruction sheet is printed only when a processing region displayed by a display unit and a content of processing to be performed thereon are determine to be the same as those instructed by a user.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus for recognizing a processing instruction written on a medium, an image processing method, and a program.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there is a technique in which a computer analyzes an image on a sheet of paper read by a scanner and recognizes text written on the paper. For example, such a technique can be used to easily extract money amounts and dates written in a plurality of forms and to enter the extracted data to processing such as adding the data. However, instructing the computer on where the various types of data are written in the sheets to automatically perform such processing is to be performed.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-145611 discusses a technique in which an answer sheet to be processed and a processing instruction sheet are read by a series of reading processes. The processing instruction sheet describes processing instruction information for instructing which columns are to be processed and the processing to be performed on the contents written in the columns in the answer sheet form. The processing instruction information is then detected and analyzed based on the read data of the processing instruction sheet. As a result, write-in regions which are to be processed on the form and processing contents for each region can be recognized.
However, according to the above-described method, users are unable to confirm, before analyzing a document to be processed, whether an apparatus has correctly recognized the regions to be processed and the processing contents of the regions described in the processing instruction sheet.

Image processing apparatus, image processing method, and program for displaying a preview of a document region and a recognized content processing


Various embodiments train a prediction model for predicting a label to be allocated to a prediction target explanatory variable set. In one embodiment, one or more sets of training data are acquired. Each of the one or more sets of training data includes at least one set of explanatory variables and a label allocated to the at least one explanatory variable set. A plurality of explanatory variable subsets is extracted from the at least one set of explanatory variables. A prediction model is trained utilizing the training data. The plurality of explanatory variable subsets is reflected on a label predicted by the prediction model to be allocated to a prediction target explanatory variable set with each of the plurality of explanatory variable subsets weighted respectively.

The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, a program, and an information processing method for performing machine learning.
As a method of photographing a road surface or the like with an apparatus mounted on a vehicle and analyzing a traffic situation and a road condition, Patent Literatures JP2012-7922A and JP10-204821A are known. It is also known that an MCI (a maintenance control index of a road) indicating soundness of a road in each of sections is estimated on the basis of features of the road derived from moving images and the like recorded in a drive recorder. See, for example, ([[http://img.jp.fujitsu.com/downloads/jp/jmag/vol64-6/paper04.pdf]]—Realization of Efficient Maintenance Control of Social Infrastructure, Shigeyuki Murakami, et al., P. 30-637, FUJITSU. 64, 6, 11, 2013. However, not all of the features of the entire road are always fully reflected on the MCI. In a method using a conventional regression analysis for predicting the MCI from the features of the entire road, it is impossible to accurately predict the MCI.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Information processing apparatus, program, and information processing method


Aspects of the present invention disclose a method for assisting a stalled autonomous vehicle in an incommunicable area. The method includes one or more processors determining a route of an autonomous vehicle. The method further includes identifying an area of the route of the autonomous vehicle that includes a communication outage. The method further includes determining a driving difficulty of one or more segments of the route of the autonomous vehicle within the area. The method further includes determining a location of the autonomous vehicle within a segment of the one or more segments of the route based at least in part on the driving difficulty of the segment.

The present invention relates generally to the field of Internet of Things (IoT) and more particularly to rescuing low functioning autonomous vehicles.
In recent years, developments in advanced controls systems have provided autonomous vehicles to operate safely with little or no human input. An autonomous vehicle is a vehicle capable of sensing a surrounding environment and operating without human involvement. Additionally, a human passenger is not required to take control of the vehicle at any time, nor is a human passenger required to be present in the vehicle at all. Autonomous vehicles combine a variety of sensors to perceive the surroundings environment, such as radar, lidar, sonar, global positioning system (GPS), odometry, and inertial measurement units. Autonomous vehicles utilize advanced control systems interpret sensory information to identify appropriate navigation paths, as well as obstacles and relevant signage.
Additionally, developments in navigation systems have become efficient in providing directions to users. Many navigation systems provide users with routes based on traffic flow, accidents, time of day, etc. Typically, navigation systems use a satellite navigation device to get its position data which is then correlated to a position on a road. A user may request directions when needed and routing can be calculated on the continuously using traffic information to adjust the route.
Furthermore, autonomous vehicles demand efficient route planning in a dynamically changing environment. Existing navigation systems consist mainly in the analysis of static parameters (e.g., total route length or road type), and even recent systems rarely use dynamic data (e.g., average driving speed in selected hours). In modern navigation systems the dynamic properties of traffic and road conditions are still not considered enough. Therefore, in many cases the autonomous vehicles must recognize traffic and road conditions in advance or in the place of an event.

Stalled self-driving vehicle rescue system


A silver halide color photographic material is described which is to be processed by a scheme including at least the step of development with a color developer having a pH of at least 11 wherein said material contains a specific pyrazoloazole based magenta coupler and a compound that react with the oxidized product of a color developing agent and which substantially lacks the ability to impart an image density. The color photographic material is improved in granularity and color reproduction and yet permits efficient desilvering.

The present invention relates to a silver halide color photographic material. More particularly, the present invention relates to a silver halide color photographic material that is improved in granularity and color reproduction and which yet permits efficient desilvering.
The need for a silver halide color photographic material (hereinafter referred to as "a color photographic material") capable of producing high-quality image is constantly growing and a particularly strong need exists for improving its granularity and color reproduction.
Dyes formed as a result of coupling reaction between couplers and the oxidized products of aromatic primary amino developing agents have unwanted absorption in varying degrees and cause undesired phenomena in color reproduction such as hue distortion and reduced color purity. In particular, dyes formed from 5-pyrazolone based magenta couplers have pronounced absorption in the blue at about 430 nm and active efforts have been made to develop magenta couplers having a minimum degree of such secondary absorption. Magenta couplers that have been developed to meet this need include the pyrazolotriazole compounds described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,725,067 and the pyrazolopyrazole compounds described in Research Disclosure No. 24230, June 1984. However, these magenta couplers have such a nature that their ability to form color is increased with the pH of color developers. In the color reversal process, the pH of the color developer used is high (typically in the range of 11-13) as compared with the case of processing of color negative films or color photgraphic paper, and the above-mentioned magenta couplers cannot be commercially used in such color reversal process without reducing sensitivity or increasing granularity on account of their high color forming ability.
A scavenger of the oxidized product of a color developing agent is frequency incorporated in light-sensitive emulsion layers containing the above-mentioned couplers with a view to preventing the increase in granularity but this often causes a decrease in the efficiency of desilvering.
It is therefore desired to develop a photographic technique that is free from the problem of reduced sensitivity and which improves granularity and color reproduction without adversely affecting the efficiency of desilvering.

Silver halide color photographic material


Embodiments include a semiconductor device including a non-volatile memory transistor with a split-gate structure that is operable at a lower voltage. The semiconductor device includes a P-type silicon substrate 10 that includes a memory region 4000, an N-type first well 11 located in the memory region 4000, and a P-type second well located in the first well 11. The semiconductor device includes a non-volatile memory transistor with a split-gate structure. A source 16 and a drain 14 of the non-volatile memory transistor are located in the second well 12. The silicon substrate 10 and the second well 12 are isolated from each other by the first well 11. Therefore, the potential of the second well 12 can be set independently of the potential of the silicon substrate 11.

Japanese patent application No. 11-233965, filed Aug. 20, 1999, is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
The present invention relates to semiconductor devices having a non-volatile memory transistor and includes a semiconductor device comprising a non-volatile memory transistor with a split gate structure.
There are a variety of different types of non-volatile memory transistors. One type of the non-volatile memory transistors can electrically write and ease data. Such type also runs a great variety. For example, one of the non-volatile memory transistors has a P-type semiconductor substrate, a P-type well located in the semiconductor substrate, a source and drain of an N-type located in the well and a gate with a split-gate structure located over the well through a thin insulation layer.
In a non-volatile memory transistor having the above-described structure, the semiconductor substrate is normally grounded, and therefore the well has a ground potential. As a result, a high voltage of one polarity (for example, a positive polarity) must be used for data writing and erasing operations.
One embodiment relates to a semiconductor device having a non-volatile memory transistor having a split structure. The semiconductor device includes a semiconductor substrate of a first conductivity type having a memory region. A first well of a second conductivity type is located in the memory region, and a second well of a first conductivity type located in the first well. The non-volatile memory transistor includes a source and drain that are located in the second well. In one aspect of certain embodiments, the semiconductor substrate is a p-type, the first well is an n-type, the second well is a p-type, and each of the pair of source and drain is an n-type.
Other embodiments relate to a semiconductor device having a non-volatile memory transistor having a split-gate structure, the semiconductor device including a semiconductor substrate of a first conductivity type having a memory region. The semiconductor device also includes a first well of a second conductivity type located in the memory region and a second well of a first conductivity type located in the first well. The non-volatile memory transistor includes a source and drain that are located in the second well. The non-volatile memory transistor includes a split gate structure including a source, a drain, a gate insulation layer, a floating gate, an intermediate insulation layer adapted to act as a tunnel insulation layer, and a control gate. The intermediate insulation layer is composed of at least three insulation layers, wherein a first layer of the three insulation layers contacts the floating gate, a third layer contacts the control gate, and a second layer is located between the first and third layers.
Other embodiments relate to a semiconductor device having a non-volatile memory transistor having a split-gate structure. The semiconductor device includes means for performing an data writing operation using a first voltage of a first polarity and a data erasing operation using a second voltage of a second polarity opposite from that of the first polarity. The means include a substrate selected from the group of a P-type substrate and an N-type substrate, a first well of an opposite type than the substrate, a second well of an opposite type than the first well, and a source and drain formed in the second well.

Semiconductor devices including a multi-well and split-gate non-volatile memory transistor structure