A display driver having Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) cells and a method of controlling the timing of the display driver are disclosed. The display driver includes memory cells each of which is implemented using a DRAM cell having a single transistor and a single capacitor. The display driver includes a drive control unit generating a scan signal, a refresh signal and a write/read signal, a word line drive unit driving word lines of the memory cells, and a data input/output unit for controlling input/output of data to/from the memory cells. The display driver gives priority to a write/read operation over a refresh operation and a scan operation.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system for driving display devices and, more particularly, to a device for driving memory in a display device and a method of controlling driving operations.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, a demand for mobile equipments, such as mobile phones and Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), is greatly increased. Accordingly, there has been an increased demand on display devices for the mobile equipments. The display devices have a display driver for driving a display panel including Thin Film Transistors (TFTs). Generally, the display driver has memory cells for storing data, and the data stored in the memory cells is output to the display panel with a regular interval. In order to properly drive a display driver, a collision between a data read/write operation and a scan operation must be prevented. Here, the data read/write operation is performed by reading/writing data from/into the memory cells, and the scan operation is performed by transmitting the data of the memory cells to a display panel.
FIG. 1 is a view showing a memory cell of a conventional display driver. The memory cell of FIG. 1 has a dual port structure in which a write processing block 101 and a scan processing block 103 are separated from each other. The write processing block 101 includes two transistors MN11 and MN12 for transmitting data of a pair of bit lines BL and BLB in response to a word line drive signal WLD, and four transistors MP11, MN13, MP12 and MN14 for latching transmitted input data. The scan processing block 103 includes two transistors MN15 and MN16 for scanning latched data in response to a scan signal SA. That is, in the memory cell of FIG. 1, a circuit in which an operation of writing/reading data to/from memory cells is performed, and a circuit in which a scan operation of outputting the data of the memory cells to a display panel is performed, are separated from each other. Accordingly, a data collision between the two operations is prevented.
However, the conventional display drivers have drawbacks in that the memory cell of a conventional display driver is composed of eight transistors as shown in FIG. 1. As a result, the conventional display drivers necessitate a large layout area.

Apparatus and method of driving memory for display device


A magnetic recorder-reproducer capable of photographing under animation mode in a video system including a video camera, a video tape recorder and the like.. The magnetic recorder-reproducer according to the present invention has a mechanism, wherein recording is ended after a lapse of a photographing time corresponding to one frame from the time of the succeeding recording, and thereafter, rewinding of the tape for a joining taking and stand-by for the succeeding taking are performed, so that photographing under the animation mode can be easily carried out.. Furthermore, the magnetic recorder-reproducer according to the present invention has a warning device for issuing a warning in response to a signal indicating a state, where preparation for the photographing is completed, so that such a mistaken taking can be avoided that a hand or the like of the photographer are taken during the photographing under the animation taking mode.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a magnetic recorder-reproducer in a video system including a video camera, a video tape recorder and the like, and more particularly to a magnetic recorder-reproducer capable of photographing under an animation mode.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As one of several photographing methods using a video camera, there is a so-called "animation" taking. This photographing method uses a technique, wherein image signals are photographed in several fields, so that several frames of images can be reproduced in one second for example, and, by continuously reproducing this, a static object is reproduced as if driven.
The video camera used in this "animation" taking is capable of so-called "joining taking." This "joining taking" is such that when the photographing of the image signals in one field is completed, the next field is photographed. A drivably controlled servo system is employed, so that the photographed fields are continuous on a magnetic tape.
However, in the conventional video system, since the above-described "animation" taking requires complicated operations for the photographing, only some persons have performed the "animation" taking in actuality. Thus, necessity has been voiced for a system for easily performing the "animation" taking.
Furthermore, when automatic photographing is made during the photographing under this animation taking mode, a few seconds lapse between a recording operation and the succeeding recording operation. When a photographer puts his hand in front of a lens of the video camera to move a subject to be photographed during this period of time, there is a possibility of that his hand thus put out is erroneously photographed with the subject because the timing of the photo taking operation on the side of the video camera, shifting from a resting state to a recording operation, is not known by the photographer.

Magnetic recorder-reproducer including a one-frame-taking control sequence


A liquid soap dispensing and scrubbing tool including an open-topped container for holding a predetermined quantity of liquid soap solution. The container has a circular bottom wall and a cylindrical, side wall that is connected to, and extends upwardly from, the circular bottom wall. The cylindrical, side wall is provided with external, helical threads at its top and a pair of vertically aligned openings. A C-shaped, tubular handle is connected to the first, cylindrical, side wall such that it places the pair of vertically aligned openings in fluid communication with one another. A lid is removably fastened to the top of the container. The lid has a circular, top wall with a number of spaced-apart openings for the passage of liquid soap solution from the container. A second, cylindrical, side wall is connected to, and extends downwardly from, the top wall. The second, cylindrical, side wall is provided with internal, helical threads adapted to screw onto the external, helical threads of the container. A sponge is affixed atop the top wall of the lid so as to cover all of the openings in the top wall.

Washing a car is never easy. Typically, filling a bucket with soapy water starts the process. Then, a wash cloth carrying soapy water from the bucket is wiped over a small area of the car, say, the hood. Simultaneously, dirt loosened by the wiping action of the wash cloth is hosed off the hood. Next, the wash cloth is rinsed in the bucket and another area of the car is wiped. Wiping, hosing, and rinsing continue until the car is clean.
Some find the repeated rinsing of a wash cloth in ever dirtier water unappealing. This water, of course, contains germs that can cause illness. Beyond that, the dirt particles suspended in the water serve as an abrasive that can damage the finish of the car being wiped by a wash cloth saturated with the material.
Tools have been proposed for the "touchless" washing of cars. These tools usually jet a stream of liquid under high pressure at a car to loosen dirt. Unfortunately, these tools are impractical for use around a home since they are expensive to purchase and operate.

Liquid soap dispensing and scrubbing tool


A rotary motor blade has rotational mounting structure in its body member to mount the blade to a power driven motor and thereby rotate the blade. The body member includes at least one free end extending outwardly of the mounting structure with the free end having a front leading edge and a rear trailing edge interconnected by a tip. At least a portion of the front leading edge is tapered to comprise a cutting edge. At least one and preferably a plurality of air flow deforming elements such as indentations are formed in the front leading edge and extend inwardly from the exposed outer surface of the front leading edge to disturb air flow along the rotating blade and enhance the creation of vortices which allow the flow to go from the front leading edge to the rear trailing edge.

There is a constant effort to improve the efficiency of blades used on lawnmowers and in particular on powered lawnmowers not only for cutting grass and the like, but also for mulching purposes. In my U.S. Pat. No. 5,581,987 I disclosed a mower blade which can be utilized with both cutting and mulching mowers.
In general, a rotary lawnmower includes a mower blade mounted below the deck which rotates about an axis. The free end of the blade comprises a cutting edge. Typically the cutting edge would be at an angle no greater than 30°. Attempts have been made to improve the efficiency of the cutting edge by forming notches or irregularities in the exposed portion of the cutting edge. These notches or irregularities are also at a small angle and sharpened so that the notches or irregularities are part of the cutting edge and likewise perform the cutting function. Examples of these techniques are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,869,311, 3,022,621, 3,214,896, 3,452,524, 3,949,541, 3,998,037 and 5,899,053. U.S. Pat. No. 4,617,788 shows a variation wherein a mulching blade is provided with a pair of notches in the cutting edge. Each of the notches forms an opening which is substantially an equilateral triangle.


A software development environment that permits early detection of problems that arise in porting a program to a number of different platforms. In the environment, the source code for the program to be ported is compiled together with a set of header files or other database that describes the different platforms. The compiler emits a list of porting problems that the program source code has with respect to the platforms. Also included in the environment are run-time binary code that detects porting problems for the different platforms at run time and a library of run-time routines that deal with particular porting problems. The header files, the run-time binary code for the platform, and the run-time routines are generated by a meta-compiler from a description of the differences between the platforms written in the AdI language. Also generated is platform proof source code which tests whether the description of a platform in the AdI language is correct.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention concerns software development environments generally and more specifically concerns software development environments for writing code that will be ported to a number of different platforms.
2. Description of Related Art
From the moment the second stored program computer became operational, the people who write software have dreamed of being able to write a program once and have it run correctly on all available computers, rather than having to make a different version of the program for each of the computers. The process of taking a program that runs on one computer A and modifying it so that it runs on a different computer B is called porting the program to computer B. Porting has gotten easier over the years. Originally, the program had to be rewritten in the machine language or assembly language used by computer B. Then high-level languages such as Fortran or C made it possible to write the program in a high-level language and compile it into the machine language required by computers A and B. However, each version of the program had to take into account the fact that computers A and B generally ran under different proprietary operating systems. The number of operating systems and the number of different hardware architectures has been reduced over time, but the porting problem remains. Even today, a program which is written for one platform (the combination of a particular operating system running on a processor having a particular hardware architecture) cannot simply be run on another platform as it was written for the first platform, but must instead be ported to the other platform.
More is involved in porting than simply changing code to get it working on the new platform in all but the smallest software development organizations. First a development team gets the original software working on a single development platform. Then the software is handed over to a porting team who have the task of making the original software work on other platforms, termed delivery platforms. This often requires help from the development team, because the porting team may not understand some aspects of the code or the original developers may have coded something that just can""t be done on some of the delivery platforms and a major change is required.
Once the porting is complete, the modified source code is integrated back into the original source code, which is often simultaneously undergoing modification for a new version of the software. In addition to the direct labor and equipment costs of porting there are indirect costs:
The development team must communicate with the porting team to help them resolve issues.
The porting team has opportunity to introduce bugs into the code.
Changes made by the porting team must be integrated back into the source base.
Time differences in the availability of software on different platforms adds to support costs and customer frustration.
Programmers have made many attempts to reduce the costs associated with porting. A major aim of the design of the Unix(copyright) operating system and the C high-level language was to provide a standard programming environment for writing programs that would run on different UNIX platforms. Many programs have in fact successfully run on multiple UNIX platforms, but there have always been ragged edges and the UNIX/C programming environment provides little or no feedback to indicate to a programmer whether the code he or she is writing in fact adheres to the standard or is accidentally using non-standard features that are peculiar to the development platform the programmer is writing the code on and that will not work on other platforms.
To make porting simpler in the UNIX environment, the UNIX community attempted to unify around the concept of an application binary interface (ABI), which was a formal description of the calling conventions, data representation, and available services that an operating system that conformed to the UNIX standard would provide to application programs on specific hardware architectures. There were two problems with the effort:
The ABI""s were not broad enough to be really useful to programmers, and
most vendors of UNIX platforms were unwilling to change their platforms to conform to the ABI.
Some vendors of UNIX platforms, meanwhile, produced utilities which accommodated a program written to run on one platform so that it would run on another platform with the same underlying computer architecture. Examples are DG/UX(copyright)""s Application Capture Option, IBM""s Linux Application Execution Environment, and an Open Source package called Lxrun. Where these utilities work with a given application program, they solve the portability problem for the application program that they work with and the platforms that they are designed for. There is, however, no guarantee that the utility will work with the given application program, or that if it works, that the next version of the application will work. If the utility doesn""t work, it gives the programmer no help in getting the application program itself to work.
The UNIX world has long used the lint utility to help identify portability problems. lint is run on the source code for a program before the source code is compiled and identifies patterns in the source code that may cause problems during compilation or later. Unfortunately, there are many cases where lint can""t decide if a code sequence is acceptable or not. It gives up in these cases and produces false-negative messages that engineers have to read past to find any real problems. This is very tedious.
Finally, many software development organizations insulate their application programs from OS differences by writing an abstract operating system, that is, a layer of software that provides a standard interface to the application program and contains the code needed to make the standard interface work with the operating system interfaces for the operating systems the application is to be ported to. Thus, all that is required when an application is to be ported to a new operating system is to port the abstract operating system to the new operating system. This does in fact reduce porting costs, but the abstract operating system is in essence an internal standard. As such, it must be designed, must be agreed to by all parties, must be implemented, and must be maintained.
While the best solution to the porting problem would be its elimination by the adoption of a single standard platform, it has become increasingly apparent that for historical, technical, and commercial reasons, there will be multiple platforms for the foreseeable future. What is needed are tools that help the programmer do the porting that must be done. What is particularly needed are tools that make the programmer aware of potential porting problems as soon as possible and that are easily adaptable to deal with all present and future platforms. It is an object of the present invention to provide such tools.
The object of the invention is attained through an improved program development environment in which a program which is to execute on a plurality of platforms can be developed. The program development environment includes a compiler for producing object code for a given one of the different platforms from source code for the program. The program development environment is improved by adding a database that describes the platforms and differences between the platforms. The database is accessible to and interpretable by the compiler and the compiler responds to the source code and the database by indicating whether any of the source code is incompatible with any of the differences described in the database. In addition to the database, the program development environment may include a run-time test library that is bound to an application binary produced from the object code and responds to an execution of the application binary by testing whether the application binary is incompatible with any of the differences described in the database. The program development environment may further include a compatibility run-time library for each of the platforms that is bound to the application binary produced for the platform and that performs conversions necessary for compatibility when the application binary for the platform is executed. Additionally, the program development environment may include platform proof code for different ones of the platforms, with the platform proof code for a platform being executed on the platform to determine whether the database correctly describes the platform.
In one version of the program development environment, the database, the run-time test library, the compatibility run-time library, and the platform proof code are all produced by a meta-compiler from a description of the platforms including the differences between the platforms. The language compiled by the metacompiler includes selector names associated with platform and selector constructs that use the selector names to specify bindings of the program constructs for the platforms with which the selector names are associated. The metacompiler makes a tree structure which include tree selectors that represent the selectors, a tree selector specifying a set of bindings for a construct that produce unambiguous readings of the definition of the construct. The meta-compiler then uses the unambiguous readings to generate the database from the description.
Other objects and advantages will be apparent to those skilled in the arts to which the invention pertains upon perusal of the following Detailed Description and drawing, wherein:

Adaptive interface for a software development environment


A content usage right issuing terminal (2) issues a content usage right to a portable terminal (3) of a user who visits a store. In response to a request from the portable terminal (3) that has the content usage right, an in-store server (1) sends a content to the portable terminal (3) via a wireless LAN (7). Because the in-store server (1) limits the content transmission area to within a store (5), only portable terminals in the store (5) can receive the delivery of the content. When a user carrying the portable terminal (3) that has the content usage right leaves the store (5), the in-store server (1) detects the fact and invalidates the content usage right issued to the portable terminal (3).

Conventionally, a technology is known for this type of area-based content delivery method that is implemented by building a wireless LAN in a limited area, such as a book store or a restaurant, as described in JP Patent Kokai Publication JP-P2002-176403A (Patent document 1) that will be described later. In this method, content is delivered from a content server on the Internet or the like to a portable terminal in that area through the base station of the area in broadcasting mode (hereinafter, called a first conventional technology).
Japanese Patent Application No. 2002-25306 (Japanese Patent Kokai Publication JP-P2003-228637A • Patent document 2) describes an area-based content delivery method creating an ID and a password for a user visiting a store to access an in-store wireless LAN. According to the method, it is possible to manage the time allotted to each user to access the LAN and to allow only permitted users to access an information server installed in the store only for a limited period of time (hereinafter called a second conventional technology).
A technology for managing access to content on a time basis is described also in Japanese Patent Kokai Publication JP-P2002-24666A (Patent document 3) that will be described later. Japanese Patent Kokai Publication JP-P2002-24666A also discloses a method for limiting access to content on an access count basis (hereinafter called a third conventional technology).
[Patent Document 1]
    Japanese Patent Kokai Publication JP-P2002-176403A[Patent Document 2]    Japanese Patent Application No. 2002-25306    (Japanese Patent Kokai Publication JP-P2003-228637A)[Patent Document 3]    Japanese Patent Kokai Publication JP-P2002-24666A

Area-based content delivery method and system


According to one embodiment, a sound signal compensation apparatus includes an input module, a compensation module, and an output module. The input module receives identification information identifying a first frequency with regard to a resonance of an ear closed by an earphone or headphone. The compensation module performs first compensation emphasizing a second frequency on a sound signal, the second frequency being determined based on the identification information or the first frequency. The output module outputs the compensated sound signal. The compensation module is configured to perform the first compensation emphasizing the second frequency, at which emphasis is greater than or equal to 2 dB and less than or equal to 12 dB.

Conventionally, there is known a resonance phenomenon induced in a space formed by an ear and an earphone/headphone when a user listens to music through the earphone/headphone. Such resonance phenomenon causes the user to hear unnatural sound. Thus, there has been proposed a system for cancelling the resonance phenomenon induced in the space formed by the ear and the earphone/headphone to fix the sound.
However, in the conventional technology, a user may still feel a sense of discomfort even when the resonance phenomenon in the space formed by the ear and the headphone is cancelled, because of the fact that the ear is closed by the headphone.

Sound signal compensation apparatus and method thereof


A transform and inverse transform circuit is provided. The transform and inverse transform circuit includes: at least one quantization and inverse quantization circuit, including at least one quantization and inverse quantization unit, wherein each quantization and inverse quantization unit includes a plurality of first coefficients, and each quantization and inverse quantization unit performs quantization or inverse quantization on one of multiple ways of inputting data; and at least one one-dimensional transform circuit, coupled to the quantization and inverse quantization circuit, wherein the one-dimensional transform circuit includes a plurality of second coefficients, wherein the one-dimensional transform circuit performs one-dimensional transform on the inputting data processed by the quantization and inverse quantization circuit, wherein the plurality of first coefficients and the plurality of second coefficients are set up based on a video codec standard.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to video processing, and in particular to a transform and inverse transform method and a transform and inverse transform circuit implementing the method thereof compatible with various video codec standards.
Description of the Related Art
Video encoders/decoders are widely used in daily life. For example, video encoders/decoders can be used on DVDs, VCDs, satellite and terrestrial TV broadcasting systems, and the Internet. Generally, online video content is compressed by various encoders. In order to view the video contents correctly, the user has to install a related video decoder. The input video frames are usually divided into macroblocks for encoding, and the size of each macroblock is usually a 16×16 luminance block and corresponding chrominance blocks. Afterwards, motion compensation of the macroblocks is performed to predict the current frame based on the encoded frames. The statistical correlation of the spatial domain is reduced by using the macroblock transform or sub-band division. The output coefficients of the transform are then quantized, and the quantized coefficients after entropy encoding become a portion of the output bitstream. Then, a symbol can be obtained by encoding the quantized coefficients. Generally, entropy encoding is performed by using variable-length encoding. The decoding process is the reverse of the encoding process, wherein the step, which the original information cannot be restored, is quantization. Accordingly, the original information should be restored as much as possible, and the process is regarded as inverse quantization.
Currently, various video compression standards are used in video codec systems on the market, such as H.264, VP8, and Real Video standards. However, the number of logic gates of the video codec systems is very large, and only a specific video codec standard can be processed in current video codec systems, which lacks flexibility.
In view of the above, there is a demand for a video codec system capable of effectively utilizing the logic gate circuits to reduce the chip area and being flexibly compatible with various video codec standards.

Transform and inverse transform circuit and method


To provide a method of sintering an optical fiber porous glass base material, capable of sufficient dehydration and reducing a transmission loss caused by residual moisture by efficiently transferring heat from the heater to the base material during a process in dehydration/sintering for an optical fiber porous glass base material, a porous glass base material having a heat shield plate installed in a vicinity of a lower end is vertically inserted into a furnace core tube provided with a heater along an outer circumference, and heating using the heater is performed. The heat shield plate has an outer diameter which is 70% or larger than a diameter of the porous glass base material and smaller than an inner diameter of the furnace core tube.

A vapor-phase axial deposition (VAD) or an outside-vapor phase deposition (OVD) is known as a manufacturing method of an optical fiber porous glass base material. In such methods, first, a glass raw material is combusted in a flame to generate glass microparticles through hydrolysis. The generated glass microparticles are deposited on a rotating target rod in an axial direction or a radial direction to form a porous glass base material.
The dehydration and the sintering of the porous glass base material are performed using a dehydration/sintering device having a furnace core tube that houses the porous glass base material held by the support rod and a heater arranged around an outer circumference of the furnace core tube. A gas supply nozzle is provided under the furnace core tube, and a gas necessary for dehydrating and sintering the porous glass base material, such as an inert gas or a dehydration gas, is supplied from the gas supply nozzle. Meanwhile, a gas exhaust tube is provided over the furnace core tube to discharge the gas inside the furnace core tube. In addition, the porous glass base material held in the support rod is lowered while being rotated inside the furnace core tube and passes through a heating temperature region of the heater so as to be dehydrated and sintered.
Note that, as a dehydration and sintering method, a two-stage sintering method is generally employed, in which the porous glass base material is dehydrated by passing through the heating temperature region set to have a temperature of 900 to 1300° C. and is then lifted to a predetermined position inside the furnace core tube, the temperature of the heating temperature region is changed to 1400 to 1600° C., and the porous glass base material is sintered by passing through the heating temperature region having the changed temperature again (see Patent Document 1).
In recent years, the size of the optical fiber glass base material increases in order to reduce the manufacturing cost. Meanwhile, in the sintering process of the porous glass base material, it is necessary to sufficiently perform dehydration in order to prevent an increase of a transmission loss of the optical fiber. For this reason, dehydration is performed by passing the porous glass base material through a heater temperature range set to a temperature of 900 to 1300° C., and the dehydrated porous glass base material is then lifted to a predetermined position. Then, sintering is performed by passing the porous glass base material through the heater temperature range set to a temperature of 1400 to 1600° C. again. In this method, the porous glass base material passes through the heater range twice in the dehydration/sintering for converting the porous glass base material to an optical fiber base material. This processing necessitates a long time and degrades productivity.
In this regard, a multistage heater configuration having two or more heaters arranged in a longitudinal direction of the furnace core tube has been proposed, in which dehydration is performed by forming a heating temperature region widened to a temperature of 900 to 1300° C. and heating the base material while housing it in the heating temperature region (see Patent Document 2).

Method of sintering optical fiber porous glass base material


Provided is a circuit device having a configuration in which thermal interference between built-in elements is suppressed and being miniaturized in total size. A hybrid integrated circuit device of the present invention includes: a circuit substrate, a sealing resin and leads. The circuit substrate in its upper surface is incorporated with a hybrid integrated circuit formed of semiconductor elements and the like respectively fixed to heat spreaders. The sealing resin coats the circuit substrate and thus seals the hybrid integrated circuit. The leads each extend to the outside while being fixed to a pad formed of a conductive pattern. In this hybrid integrated circuit device, the semiconductor elements are mounted on the respective heat spreaders at positions offset from each other, and thereby are arranged to be spaced away from each other.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a circuit device, and particularly to a circuit device in which thermal interference between elements is suppressed.
2. Description of the Related Art
With reference to FIG. 5, a description will be given of a configuration of a hybrid integrated circuit device 100 as an example of a conventional circuit device. Firstly, a conductive pattern 103 is formed on a surface of a rectangular substrate 101 with an insulating layer 102 interposed therebetween. Circuit elements are fixed to desired portions of the conductive pattern 103, and thereby a predetermined electrical circuit is formed. Herein, a semiconductor element 105A and a chip element 105B are employed as the circuit elements. The semiconductor element 105A is, for example, a transistor or a diode. An upper-surface electrode of the semiconductor element 105A is connected to a predetermined part of the conductive pattern 103 through a metal wire 107. A back-surface electrode of the semiconductor element 105A is connected to a conductive pattern 103A. Meanwhile, the chip element 105B, which is a capacitor or a resistor, has, in its both ends, electrodes connected to the conductive pattern 103 through a bonding material 106 such as a solder. In addition, a sealing resin 108 has a function to seal the electrical circuit formed on the surface of the substrate 101.
On an upper surface of a hybrid integrated circuit with the above configuration, a circuit for switching a high current such as an inverter circuit is constructed, for example (see, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2007-036014).
However, when multiple power transistors are arranged in a small region for the purpose of miniaturization of the entire device incorporating, for example, an inverter circuit, these transistors thermally interfere with each other, and thereby cause a problem that the junction temperature thereof becomes higher than the temperature caused by self-heating.
In contrast, when transistors are arranged to be spaced apart from each other in order to avoid the above problem, another problem arises that miniaturization of the device in total size cannot be achieved even though thermal interference is suppressed.
The present invention has been made in view of these problems, and a main object of the present invention is to provide a circuit device having a configuration in which thermal interference between built-in elements is suppressed, and being miniaturized in total size.

Semiconductor Components Industries, LLC


A line interface incorporated in a high-speed transmission line system for transmitting and receiving one time slot of the transmission line. A speed changing circuit replaces a high-speed transmission line with n low-speed internal lines. Hence, data transmitting and receiving circuits in each internal unit operate at low speed, saving power to be consumed by the internal unit. Since the time slots which each internal unit uses are the same on all of the internal lines, a single time slot selecting circuit suffices for each internal unit, promoting efficient circuit configuration.

The present invention relates to a high-speed transmission line system and, more particularly, to a line interface for a high-speed transmission line system.
It a common practice to provide a high-speed transmission line system with a line interface connected to a high-speed transmission line. The line interface is made up of an interface circuit for effecting an Alternate Mark Inversion/Transistor-Transistor Logic (AMI/TTL) or similar conversion, and a line state sensing circuit. Usually, a signal format on the high-speed transmission line has one period implemented as n time slots TS1-TSn and is maintained even after the high-speed line has been converted to internal lines by the line interface. Internal units incorporated in the transmission line system each transmit and receive data in one of the time slots TS on the internal lines. Hence, the time slot to be received by each of the internal units is determined on the basis of the location, internal arrangement and so forth of the unit. Each internal unit has n blocks for transmitting and receiving data in the time slots on the internal lines. Connected to the internal lines, the blocks each have a time slot selecting circuit for selecting a time slot, a data transmitting and receiving circuit for transmitting and receiving data in the time slot selected, and a logic circuit. Further, each block reports the time slot selected by the time slot selecting circuit to the data transmitting and receiving circuit which in turn reports such data to the logic circuit.
However, the conventional high-speed transmission line system, particularly a system having a plurality of time slot transmitting and receiving blocks in each internal unit, has some problems left unsolved. Namely, n identical time slot selecting circuits are built in each unit, resulting in wasteful circuit arrangement. Since the data transmitting and receiving circuits are connected to the internal lines and built in each internal unit, the individual unit consumes great current to thereby aggravate the current consumption of the entire system.

Line interface for high-speed transmission line


The subject matter discloses a computerized method for real time emotion detection in audio interactions comprising: receiving at a computer server a portion of an audio interaction between a customer and an organization representative, the portion of the audio interaction comprises a speech signal; extracting feature vectors from the speech signal; obtaining a statistical model; producing adapted statistical data by adapting the statistical model according to the speech signal using the feature vectors extracted from the speech signal; obtaining an emotion classification model; and producing an emotion score based on the adapted statistical data and the emotion classification model, said emotion score represents the probability that the speaker that produced the speech signal is in an emotional state.

Large organizations, such as commercial organizations or financial organizations conduct numerous audio interactions with customers, users or other persons on a daily basis. Some of these interactions are vocal, such as telephone or voice over IP conversations, or at least comprise a vocal component, such as an audio part of a video or face-to-face interaction.
Many organizations record some or all of the interactions, whether it is required by law or regulations, for business intelligence, for quality assurance or quality management purposes, or for any other reason. Once the interactions are recorded and also during the recording, the organization may want to extract as much information as possible from the interactions. The information is extracted and analyzed in order to enhance the organization's performance and achieve its business objectives. A major objective of business organizations that provide service is to provide excellent customer satisfaction and prevent customer attrition. Measurements of negative emotions that are conveyed in customer's speech serve as key performance indicator of customer satisfaction. In addition, handling emotional responses of customers to service provided by organization representatives increases customer satisfaction and decreases customer attrition.
Various prior art systems and methods enable post interaction emotion detection, that is, detection of customer emotions conveyed in speech after the interaction was terminated, namely off-line emotion detection. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,353,810 and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/568,048 disclose methods for off-line emotion detection in audio interactions. Those systems and methods are based on prosodic features, in which the main feature is the speaker's voice fundamental frequency. In those systems and methods emotional speech is detected based on large variations of this feature in speech segments.
The '048 patent application discloses the use of a learning phase in which the "neutral speech" fundamental frequency variation is estimated and then used as the basis for later segments analysis. The learning phase may be performed by using the audio from the entire interaction or from the beginning of the interaction, which makes the method not suitable for real time emotion detection.
Another limitation of such systems and methods is that they require separate audio streams for the customer side and for the organization representative side and provide very limited performance in terms of emotion detection precision and recall in case that they are provided with a single audio stream, that includes both the customer and the organization representative as input, which is common in many organizations.
However the detection and handling of emotions of customers of the organization in real time, while the conversation is taking place, serves as a major contribution for customer satisfaction enhancement.
There is thus a need in the art for method and apparatus for real time emotion detection. Such analysis enables detecting, handling and enhancing customer satisfaction.

Method and apparatus for real time emotion detection in audio interactions


A crash barrier system is provided that generally includes a hydraulic actuator driven piston operably connected to a hydraulic circuit and the crash barrier. In general, the hydraulic circuit includes a normal-UP and normal-DOWN section, an emergency-UP section, and an external pressure relief valve. In order to automatically provide corrective action in the event of an overpressure condition, the external pressure relief valve is connected to the hydraulic circuit. Upon occurrence of condition that causes the hydraulic fluid pressure to exceed a predetermined value, hydraulic fluid is released through the pressure relief valve to maintain the pressure at or below the predetermined value.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to hydraulic powered vehicle crash barrier systems, in particular crash vehicle barrier systems having an emergency mode of operation to rapidly raise the crash barrier.
2. Description of Related Art
Vehicle crash barriers are well known for use as anti-terrorism and other security measures. Generally, a crash barrier pivots between a lowered position in which vehicles easily pass over it, and a raised position that prevents passage of vehicles. In order to sustain an impact from a potential vehicular threat, the barriers have substantial mass and are constructed of very heavy gauge steel, and may include concrete.
In order to raise the barrier rapidly, the mechanisms required are typically over-engineered. Examples of mechanisms to raise and lower the barrier based on hydraulics are described, for instance, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,850,737, 4,627,763, and 4,490,068, all of which are incorporated by reference herein.
Under normal conditions, rapid deployment of the barrier into its raised position is not necessary. Therefore, hydraulic circuits for barriers have been designed to include a normal-UP mode of operation, a normal-DOWN mode of operation, and an emergency-UP mode of operation. In one example of the system described herein, the normal-UP and normal-DOWN modes of operation, the hydraulic piston raises the barrier typically between about 3 and 5 seconds, and lowers the barrier typically between about 6 and 8 seconds. When a threat is imminent or perceived, the emergency-UP mode of operation is used, enabling the barrier to be raised in about 1 to about 1.5 seconds. For instance, such a system including an emergency-UP mode of operation is described in various product literature and is commercially available from Nasatka Barrier Incorporated of Clinton, Md., USA.
However, problems associated with the hydraulic circuit can result in periods of inoperability of the barrier system. Systems that raise and lower the crash barriers are prone to failure, for instance in the form of hydraulic fluid overpressure that exceed the capacity of various valves, seals or other elements in the fluid pathway.
A hydraulic actuator is generally a sealed cylinder having a pair, of variable volume fluid compartments with individual inlet/outlet ports. Under normal operating conditions, hydraulic fluid is pumped from a reservoir into one of the variable volume fluid compartments (a high pressure compartment), thereby displacing the piston and causing the crash barrier to ascend or descend. Hydraulic fluid from the other variable volume fluid compartment (a low pressure compartment) is expelled into the reservoir. However, certain undesirable conditions may cause hydraulic fluid from a high pressure compartment of the hydraulic actuator to leak into the low pressure compartment and into the hydraulic circuit, which will be referred to as an internal leak.
Furthermore, various control valves are in line between the pump and the hydraulic actuator, including a multi-port, multi-position directional control valve (e.g., a sandwich valve) that switches between conduits under control of a solenoid. If the solenoid valve is defective, any resulting overpressure conditions may cause failure in the directional control valve, system hoses, or one or more pressure gauges connected to at various positions in the hydraulic circuit.
In addition, a pressure switch is coupled to a programmable logic controller in order to ascertain the pressurization status of one or more hydraulic fluid lines. The pressure switch is disposed in a hydraulic fluid path between the directional control valve and one of the inlet/outlet ports of the hydraulic actuator (typically the compartment that raises the crash barrier upon increased pressurization due to introduction of hydraulic fluid). This pressure switch is prone to failure, which diminishes control functionality of the programmable logic controller, potentially leading to overpressure conditions that may cause damage to elements in the hydraulic fluid circuit.
If the maximum pressure capacity of any of the system components is exceeded, one or more external leaks can occur, thus wasting hydraulic fluid, potentially creating environmental problems, and, of course, rendering the crash barrier inoperable during the time it takes to make the necessary repairs. If the failure occurs in the raised position, that creates an inconvenience for the normal traffic flow in and out of the facility. If the failure occurs in the lowered position, the facility is left vulnerable to vehicular threats.
Therefore, a need exists for a system and method that overcomes the deficiencies of existing vehicle crash barrier hydraulic circuits.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a pressure relief sub-system that compensates for overpressure conditions in hydraulic circuits that control the vehicle crash barrier.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a pressure relief sub-system that includes an alternate path for pressurized fluid, preventing or minimizing damage to components including the hydraulic actuator, valves, pressure gauges, and other components of the hydraulic system.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a pressure relief sub-system that recycles hydraulic fluid, even during overpressure conditions.

Crash barrier with over-pressure relief system


Provided are light-absorbing polymers which contain backbone unsaturations and which are produced by knoevenagel condensation and which are useful for imparting color and/or ultraviolet light screening properties to thermoplastic resins. The polymeric colorants or UV absorbers may be added during the formation of the uncolored thermoplastic polymer or melt or solution blended with other thermoplastic polymers.

It is well known, of course, that one may impart color to thermoplastic polymeric compositions by using pigments and soluble dyes. See, for example, Coloring of Plastics, T. G. Weber, ed., John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1979. Plastics colored with pigments are usually opaque and may lack brilliance of color afforded by soluble dyes. Use of pigments also is accompanied by problems in storage, blending, uniformity, etc. Some of the deficiencies encountered in the use of pigments can be overcome by use of soluble dyes which give improved clarity and brilliance, but this approach often results in migration and problems related to solvent extraction of the dye from the thermoplastic resins. Some improvement in solvent extraction and migration properties has been achieved by incorporating poly(oxyalkylene) polymer units into colorants. (See U.S. Pat. No. 4,640,690.) These colorants have the disadvantage, however, of having a significant portion of their weight consisting of non-colored polymeric composition. U.S. Pat. No. 4,116,923 teaches the incorporation of reactive colorants into cross-linked polyester resins and the use of these colored polyester resins to color thermoplastics such as polyolefins. Here again, a major portion of the colored polyester resin used to color the polyolefins is "non-colored" resulting in lower tinctorial strength. Finally, it is known that one may improve the nonextractability of colorants and UV absorbers in thermoplastic polyesters by copolymerizing thermally stable colorants into the backbone of the polyester composition. (See U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,617,373; 4,617,374; and 4,707,537.) This method suffers from the difficulty in finding non-volatile, very reactive colorants which will not be lost by volatilization or decomposition during the stages of ester interchange and polycondensation of the polyester preparation.
West German Patent No. 1,088,637 describes high molecular weight pigment dyes which are derived from aromatic dialdehydes and bifunctional active methylene compounds. These compounds are described as useful as colored pigments in the fields of plastics, paints and printing inks. The polymeric colorants of the present invention, as described below, can be utilized as soluble colorants for thermoplastic resins and have increased light absorbing capability relative the high molecular weight pigment dyes.
It is known that one may color thermoplastic polymeric materials using color concentrates consisting of physical admixtures of polymers and colorants. However, the use of such physical admixtures to color polymeric materials such as polyesters, e.g., poly(ethylene terephthalate) and blends thereof, presents a number of problems:
1. Colorant migration during drying of the colored polymer pellets. PA1 2. Colorant migration during extrusion and colorant accumulation on dies which can cause film rupture and shut-downs for clean-up, etc. Such colorant migration and accumulation result in time consuming and difficult clean-up when a polymer of another color is subsequently processed in the same equipment. PA1 3. Colorants may not mix well, for example, when using two or more color concentrates to obtain a particular shade. PA1 4. Colorants may diffuse or exude during storage of the colored polymeric material. PA1 X is selected from cyano; unsubstituted and substituted carboxylic acid ester; unsubstituted and substituted carbamoyl; unsubstituted or substituted alkylsulfonyl; C.sub.3 -C.sub.8 cycloalkylsulfonyl; or arylsulfonyl or unsubstituted or substituted carbocylic or heterocyclic aryl; PA1 Y is selected from --O--, --S--, --NH-- or substituted imino; PA1 Z.sup.- is a counter anion; R is hydrogen, lower alkyl, or unsubstituted or substituted carbocyclic or heterocyclic aryl; PA1 R.sub.1 is selected from hydrogen or 1-2 groups selected from lower alkyl, lower alkoxy or halogen; PA1 R.sub.2 is selected from hydrogen, unsubstituted or substituted lower alkyl, C.sub.3 -C.sub.8 cycloalkyl or unsubstituted or substituted carbocyclic or heterocyclic aryl; PA1 R.sub.2 ' is selected from --OR.sub.3, --NHR.sub.3, or one of the groups listed for R.sub.2 ; PA1 R.sub.3 is unsubstituted or substituted alkyl; C.sub.3 -C.sub.8 cycloalkyl or unsubstituted carbocyclic or heterocyclic aryl; PA1 or wherein .dbd.A--L.sub.1 --A.dbd. in combination has the structure .dbd.C(CN)-arylene-C(CN).dbd.; PA1 and wherein the divalent moiety B is represented by one of the following formulae: ##STR4## wherein R.sub.4 and R.sub.10 are hydrogen or 1-2 substituents selected from lower alkyl, lower alkoxy or halogen; PA1 R.sub.5 and R.sub.12 are selected from unsubstituted lower alkyl, lower alkenyl, lower alkynyl, C.sub.3 -C.sub.8 cycloalkyl, or phenyl and substituted lower alkyl, C.sub.3 -C.sub.8 cycloalkyl and phenyl; PA1 R.sub.6 is selected from unsubstituted or substituted lower alkylene, C.sub.3 -C.sub.8 cycloalkylene, arylene, alkylene-arylene-alkylene, alkylene-(C.sub.3 -C.sub.8)cycloalkylene-alkylene, alkylene-O-alkylene, alkylene-S-alkylene, alkylene-SO.sub.2 -alkylene, alkylene-O-arylene-O-alkylene, alkylene-N(SO.sub.2 R.sub.3)alkylene or alkylene-arylene; PA1 R.sub.7, R.sub.8, R.sub.9 are hydrogen or alkyl; PA1 R.sub.11 is hydrogen, lower alkyl or aryl; PA1 R.sub.13 is selected from lower alkylene, --O--R.sub.6 -- or --N(SO.sub.2 R.sub.3)--R.sub.6 --; PA1 L.sub.1 is selected from the same divalent groups as listed above for R.sub.6 ; PA1 L.sub.2 is selected from a covalent bond; unsubstituted or substituted phenylene; C.sub.3 -C.sub.8 cycloalkylene; --O--; --S--; --SO.sub.2 --; --CO--; --CO.sub.2 --; --OCO.sub.2 --; --O.sub.2 C-alkylene-CO.sub.2 --; --O.sub.2 C-arylene-CO.sub.2 --; --O.sub.2 C--(C.sub.3 -C.sub.8)cycloalkylene-CO.sub.2 --; --O.sub.2 CNH-alkylene-NHCO.sub.2 --; --O.sub.2 CNH-arylene-NHCO.sub.2 --; --CO.sub.2 -alkylene-O.sub.2 C--; --SO.sub.2 N(R.sub.2)--; --N(R.sub.3)--; --SO.sub.2 -alkylene-SO.sub.2 --; --SO.sub.2 -arylene-SO.sub.2 --; --SO.sub.2 N(R.sub.2)-alkylene-N(R.sub.2)SO.sub.2 --; --SO.sub.2 N(R.sub.2)-arylene-N(R.sub.2)SO.sub.2 --; --O-alkylene-O-- or --O-arylene-O--; PA1 L.sub.3 is selected from covalent bond, --O--, --CH.sub.2 -- or --CH(CH.sub.3)--; PA1 and n is an integer of from 2 to about 50; or --B--L.sub.2 --B-- in combination represents the formula: ##STR5## wherein L.sub.4 is selected from --N(R.sub.5)--, --O--, --S--, --CH.dbd.CH-- or ##STR6## PA1 R.sub.4 ' is selected from the groups listed for R.sub.4 ; PA1 R.sub.5 is selected from the following groups: lower alkenyl; cycloalkyl; cycloalkyl substituted with one or two of lower alkyl, lower alkoxy or halogen; phenyl and phenyl substituted with one or two of lower alkyl, lower alkoxy, alkoxycarbonyl, halogen, alkanoylamino, cyano, nitro or alkylsulfonyl; straight or branched chain alkyl of 1-8 carbons and such alkyl substituted with one or more of the following: C.sub.3 -C.sub.8 cycloalkyl and C.sub.3 -C.sub.8 cycloalkyl substituted with one or two of lower alkyl, lower alkoxy, or halogen; phenyl and phenyl substituted with one or more of lower alkyl, lower alkoxy, alkoxycarbonyl, halogen, alkanoylamino, cyano, nitro or alkylsulfonyl; cyano; halogen; 2-pyrrolidino; phthalimidino, vinylsulfonyl; acrylamido; o-benzoic sulfimido; alkoxy; alkoxy alkoxy; cyanoalkoxy; phenoxy; phenoxy substituted with lower alkyl, lower alkoxy, or halogen; groups of the formula: ##STR9## wherein Y.sup.1 is selected from o-phenylene; o-phenylene substituted with lower alkyl, lower alkoxy, halogen or nitro; --O--CH.sub.2 --; --OCH.sub.2 CH.sub.2 --; --CH.sub.2 OCH.sub.2 --; --S--CH.sub.2 ; --CH.sub.2 SCH.sub.2 --; --NHCH.sub.2 --; --NHCH.sub.2 CH.sub.2 --; --N(alkyl)CH.sub.2 --; --N(alkyl)CH.sub.2 CH.sub.2 -- or --NHC(C.sub.6 H.sub.5).sub.2 --; groups of the formula: ##STR10## wherein R.sub.14 is selected from lower alkyl; cycloalkyl; phenyl; phenyl substituted with one or more groups selected from lower alkyl, lower alkoxy or halogen; pyridyl; pyrimidinyl; benzoxazolyl; benzothiazolyl; benzimidazolyl; 1,3,4-thiadiazolyl, 1,3,4-oxadiazolyl; these heterocyclic radicals substituted with one or more groups selected from lower alkyl, lower alkoxy or halogen; PA1 R.sub.15 is selected from hydrogen, lower alkyl or benzyl; wherein the alkyl groups represented by R.sub.5 may be further substituted by groups of the formulae: EQU --SO.sub.2 R.sub.16 ; EQU --SO.sub.2 N(R.sub.17)R.sub.18 ; EQU --CON(R.sub.17)R.sub.18 ; EQU R(R.sub.17)COR.sub.18 PA1 R.sub.16 is selected from cycloalkyl; cycloalkyl substituted with alkyl; allyl; phenyl; phenyl substituted with one or two groups selected from lower alkyl, lower alkoxy or halogen; lower alkyl; lower alkyl substituted with one or more groups selected from lower alkoxy, halogen, cyano, C.sub.3 -C.sub.8 cycloalkyl, phenyl, phenoxy, alkylthio or alkylsulfonyl; PA1 R.sub.17 and R.sub.18 are each independently selected from hydrogen or those groups represented by R.sub.16 ; PA1 R.sub.6 is selected from lower alkylene, alkylene-O-alkylene or alkylene-S-alkylene; PA1 L.sub.1 is selected from lower alkylene, alkylene-O-alkylene, alkylene-(C.sub.3 -C.sub.8)cycloalkylene-alkylene, alkylene-phenylene-alkylene, alkylene-S-alkylene or C.sub.3 -C.sub.8 cycloalkylene; and PA1 L.sub.2 is selected from a covalent bond, phenylene, C.sub.3 -C.sub.8 cycloalkylene, --O--, --S--, --SO.sub.2 --, --O.sub.2 C-alkylene-CO.sub.2 -- or --O.sub.2 C-arylene-CO.sub.2 --.


A pilot aid that includes a sheet material having indicia thereon indicative of a plurality of predetermined flying parameters including at least wind velocity and direction. A plurality of indicia wheels are each separately mounted from the sheet material and each are associated with a different flying parameter. A plurality of windows are disposed on the sheet material, each positioned to overly a corresponding indicia wheel and each for observing one of a plurality of predetermined characteristics that define the flying parameter.

Pilots normally receive mandatory pre-recorded ATIS information via a discreet radio frequency or by telephone. For example, the Providence, R.I. ATIS information is available on frequency 124.2, and also is available by dialing the self-repeating recorded message on telephone number 401.737.3215.
The problem that arises is that the pilot must either remember or make written notes of the submitted information, which is not always easy to do, given the other necessary activities being performed by a pilot during landing and/or takeoff. Accordingly, it is an objective of the present invention to provide means in a durable, sheet-like format that enables the pilot to record the ATIS information in a chart-like format so that the information is memorialized on a case-by-case basis for ready review by the pilot.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


Photothermally sensitive recording sheets for color imaging are disclosed comprising a transparent support sheet having a thermal slip layer disposed on one surface of the support and a heat sensitive image layer on the opposite surface of the support. A second opaque (paper) or transparent (plastic) sheet is laminated to the color-producing layer. The image layer comprises photohardenable microcapsules containing a photopolymerizable or photocrosslinkable compound, a photoinitiator and a dye precursor and a developer material external to the microcapsules. Image-wise exposure of the recording sheet to actinic radiation causes selective photohardening of microcapsules sensitive to that radiation. Heating the resultant exposed recording sheet to a temperature well above the developer melting point by for example a thermal head allows the developer to selectively permeate the non-photohardened capsules resulting in the development of an image, including full color images. The recording sheets are suitable for use in high speed printing applications such as computer print out paper, battery operated printers for digital camera or personal digital assistance, labels, medical imaging, and color proofing films.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to thermally printable imaging materials containing color-forming precursors encapsulated in photosensitive microcapsules.
2. Description of Related Art
Photohardenable imaging systems employing microencapsulated radiation sensitive compositions are the subject of U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,399,209, 4,416,966 and 4,440,846. These imaging systems are characterized in that an imaging sheet including a layer of microcapsules containing a photohardenable composition in the internal phase is image-wise exposed to actinic radiation. In the most typical embodiments, the photohardenable composition is a photopolymerizable composition including a polyethylenically unsaturated compound and a photoinitiator and is encapsulated with a color former. Exposure to actinic radiation hardens the internal phase of the microcapsules. Following exposure, the imaging sheet is subjected to a uniform rupturing force by passing the sheet through the nip between a pair of pressure rollers.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,440,846 discloses a self-contained imaging sheet in which the encapsulated color former and the developer material are co-deposited on one surface of a single substrate as one layer or as two contiguous layers. Upon image-wise exposing the imaging sheet and passing the sheet through pressure rollers, the microcapsules rupture and image-wise release the internal phase whereupon the color former migrates to the developer material where it reacts with the developer material and forms a colored image.
Variations of the processes described above have also been described for making panchromatic full color images, as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,772,530 and 4,772,541. In the color system, photosensitive microcapsules containing cyan, magenta and yellow color-forming dyes are layered on a support and exposed to red, green and blue light. Capsules containing the cyan precursor are photohardened by exposure to red light; capsules containing the magenta precursor are photohardened by exposure to green light and capsules containing the yellow precursor are photohardened by exposure to blue light. Selective exposure of the capsule layer to light of different wavelength, followed by rapture of non-exposed capsules gives rise to full color images on the support sheet after contact of the dye contents of the capsule with a suitable developer.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,783,353 further discloses a self contained imaging assembly capable of producing full color images as described above wherein a composition comprising photohardenable microcapsules and a developer material is disposed between a first transparent support and a second support which may be opaque or transparent to form a sealed assembly. The assembly is image-wise exposed to actinic radiation and subjected to a uniform rupturing force to provide an image in said composition which is visible against the second opaque support when viewed through the first transparent support or, if the second support is transparent, when the image is viewed as a transparency.
One major drawback associated with the systems described above is that there is no mechanism for fixing the image after the capsules are fractured (opened) and the dye precursor contacts the developer. The image contrast thus becomes sharper and sharper after printing which leads to poor preservation of mid-tone images. Also, the process has relatively low printing speed, poor environmental stability and reproducibility, relatively poor resolution as a function of larger microcapsule size (up to 15 microns) required for fracturing and requires the use of bulky capsule fracturing equipment such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,550,627.
Thermal techniques for producing images involving the use of encapsulated color precursors are also known. U.S. Pat. No. 4,598,035 discloses heat sensitive recording material comprising a support having on a surface an imaging layer comprising a plurality of microcapsules encapsulating a color precursor disposed in a binder containing a color developer or coupler. Selective image-wise heating of the layer by proximate contact with a thermal recording head causes the color precursor and/or the developer to permeate through the microcapsule walls selectively only in the heated areas, resulting in a colored image.
For color applications, a support comprising three separate imaging layers containing encapsulated diazonium salts or leuco dyes and non-encapsulated coupler or developer dispersions capable of forming yellow, magenta and cyan images when the coupler or developer is contacted with the diazonium salt or leuco dye are provided. The encapsulant materials in each layer are designed to be sensitive to different levels of heat energy such that image-wise thermal head exposure at low heat selectively activates the topmost yellow layer, image-wise thermal head exposure at moderate heat selectively activates the middle magenta layer and finally exposure at higher heat activates the bottom cyan layer. The structure is exposed to ultra violet light after heat exposure in each of the first two steps to decompose the diazonium salt which fixes the yellow and magenta images. Multicolor images of this type are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,168,029.
Thermal processes of the type described above require complex imaging materials and are subject to printing/temperature variations which can lead to poor image quality and image reproducibility. Also, the need to precisely vary and modulate the temperatures and thermal energy in the printing head for image-wise thermal heating of the heat exposed layers necessarily slows down the process.
In accordance with this invention, a heat sensitive recording sheet is provided comprising a support layer comprising transparent sheet material and a heat sensitive imaging layer disposed on one surface of said first support layer, said imaging layer comprising a mixture of:
i) a plurality of light sensitive microcapsules comprising a polymeric matrix or wall material and a photo-polymerizable or photocrosslinkable composition, a photoinitiator and a color dye precursor;
ii) a finely divided particulate developer or coupler material having a melting point or melt flow temperature in excess of 70xc2x0 C. which is reactive in contact with said color precursor to form a color;
said microcapsules characterized as permeable to said developer material after said recording sheet is heated to a temperature above the melting point or melt flow temperature of said developer or coupler, preferably to a temperature also above the Tg of the polymeric matrix or wall material, sufficient to form an image in an imaging process and impermeable to said developer or coupler material after said microcapsules are photohardened by exposure to a pattern of actinic radiation and said recording sheet is heated to a temperature above the melting point or melt flow temperature of said developer or coupler in an imaging process. The invention also provides a thermal imaging process for forming mono or polychromatic images comprising:
a) providing a heat sensitive recording sheet comprising:
i) a first support layer comprising transparent sheet material;
ii) a thermal slip layer disposed on one surface of said first support layer;
iii) a heat sensitive imaging layer disposed on the opposite surface of said first support layer; and
iv) a second opaque or transparent sheet material bonded to said heat sensitive imaging layer,
said imaging layer comprising a mixture of (1): a plurality of light sensitive microcapsules comprising a polymeric wall or matrix material and a photo-polymerizable or photocrosslinkable composition, a photoinitiator and a color dye precursor as an internal phase, and (2) a finely divided particulate developer or coupler material having a melting point or melt flow temperature in excess of 70xc2x0 C. which is reactive in contact with said color precursor to form a color;
b) image-wise exposing said recording sheet to a pattern of actinic radiation wherein microcapsules sensitive to said radiation are selectively photohardened; and
c) heating said recording sheet to a temperature above the melting point or melt flow temperature of said developer or coupler material such that the developer or coupler material flows into contact with said microcapsules, wherein photohardened microcapsules are impermeable to said developer or coupler material and non-photohardened microcapsules are permeable to said developer or coupler material sufficient to form a color image.
The heat sensitive recording sheets of the invention may be characterized as a self contained imaging assembly capable of producing color images in two simple steps: 1) image-wise exposure of the heat sensitive recording sheet to actinic radiation, followed by 2) uniformly and rapidly heating the exposed heat sensitive recording sheet under low pressure to a temperature well above the melting point or melt flow temperature of the developer or coupler, such as by contact with a thermal printing head, sufficiently to develop an image. The process is considerably simpler and faster than the prior art imaging processes described above and does not require the use of high pressure roller or other microcapsule fracturing equipment, registration mechanism for multiple pass thermal printing, narrow band ultra-violet light sources or multiple image layers. Images produced by the system of the invention are of high density, excellent resolution and have good mid-tone image preservation.
The image assembly of the present invention may be exposed in any suitable photo exposure device to provide an image. The imaging assembly of this invention is especially suitable for exposure using a liquid crystal array or light emitting diodes driven by a computer generated signal or a video signal for the reproduction of images from a video cassette recorder, a camcorder, or the like.

Imaging media containing heat developable photosensitive microcapsules


An electrical connector for reducing high frequency crosstalk interferences is provided to insert with at least two mating elements. The electrical connector includes a first joint, a first signal terminal, a second joint, a second signal terminal and a ground terminal. The first joint and second joint are respectively used to be inserted by the mating elements. The first signal terminal is electrically connected with the mating element inserted within the first joint. The second signal terminal is electrically connected with the mating element inserted within the second joint. The ground terminal is electrically connected with the first joint and the second joint, and disposed between the first signal terminal and the second signal terminal. Signal flow spaces located between the ground terminal and respectively the first signal terminal and second signal terminals are used as signal flow paths for the first signal terminal and second signal terminal respectively.

1. Technical Field
The disclosure relates to an electrical connector, and more particularly to an electrical connector for reducing high frequency crosstalk interferences.
2. Related Art
Nowadays, various electrical devices such as a television, recorder, video player, CD player, DVD (Digital Video Disc) player etc., are all equipped with plugin connectors to connect with each other for signal transmission.
Generally a connector has multiple signal terminals. When signals are sent through the signal terminals, voltage noise interferences are generated due to electromagnetic coupling between adjacent signal terminals; which is the electromagnetic field interference effect generated within the adjacent areas by interactions of electromagnetic fields induced by different structures, namely "Crosstalk". In other words, crosstalk interferences are incurred between the signal terminals inside the connector. Please refer to FIGS. 1 and 2, which illustrate signal connectors on a conventional connector with the structure and position of a ground terminal; FIG. is a partial perspective view, and FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of crosstalk areas. The conventional connector includes signal terminals A1/B1 and ground terminals A2, B2 respectively corresponding to the signal terminals A1, B1. When signals are transmitted through the signal terminal A1, flow spaces are formed between the contact points A11, A12 of the signal terminal A1 and the contact points A21, A22 of the ground terminal A2, such that the signals are transmitted through the path along the contact points A11, A12, A22 and A21. When signals are transmitted through the signal terminal B1, flow spaces are formed between the contact points B11, B12 of the signal terminal B1 and the contact points B21, B22 of the ground terminal B2, such that the signals are transmitted through the path along the contact points B11, B12, B22 and B21. As shown in FIG. 2, if the flow spaces formed between the contact points B11, B12, B22, B21 have electromagnetic coupling with the flow spaces formed between the contact points A11, A12, A22, A21, the crosstalk interferences are generated accordingly.
When the connector is used for low-speed signal transmission, the crosstalk interferences between signal terminals are not serious, and may be ignored if considering performance. However, if the connector is used for high-speed signal transmission, the crosstalk interferences between signal terminals causes serious effects.

Electrical connector for reducing high frequency crosstalk interferences


A program search device is configured to extract a program using search condition attribute information of the program. The device includes a unit storing information concerning the storage condition, and a display control to control display of a list that includes both search condition information and a program list. The display control highlights a search condition as most recently stored in the storing unit.

Along with growth of multichannel broadcasting in recent years, users have been more likely to miss contents such as broadcast programs that they wanted to watch. To address such a situation, there is known a technique for allowing a content reproduction device such as a television receiver device to notify a user of contents. For example, in a technique disclosed in Patent Document 1 cited below, keywords designated by a user are assigned colors specified for the respective inputted keywords using another screen, and the keywords are displayed in the specified colors on an electronic program guide (EPG). When a program displayed in a color is selected with a cursor on the EPG, the keyword shown in a program information column outside the EPG frame is also displayed in the same color. This allows a user to more easily know a program that the user wishes to watch.

Content notifying device, notifying method, and program


The present utility model belongs to that technical field of data transmission and connection, in particular to a device for improving a charging transmission power for external equipment based on the USB port of a computer. The device of the present utility model specifically comprises a computer connecting terminal, an external equipment connecting terminal and a control circuit arranged between the computer connecting terminal and the external equipment connecting terminal for controlling the charging transmission power; wherein the control circuit is provided with a first main control chip, and an LX end of the first main control chip is connected with a fifth inductor; the other end of the fifth inductor is provided with a 102nd capacitor and an 18th capacitor; the other ends of the 102nd capacitor and the 18th capacitor are respectively grounded. On the one hand, the device can achieve the normal charging function of the USB port of a computer during data transmission between computer and device; on the other hand, the device can maintain stable exaggerated charging current and power supply during data transmission, thus solving the problems of battery capacity dropping and charge failure of the portable rechargeable virtual-reality device during use.

At present, when a USB port of a computer transmits data with Virtual-Reality (VR) equipment, it often appears that the normal charging function cannot be realized, or the stable charging current and power cannot be maintained in the process of data transmission. In addition, the traditional portable charging VR equipment often has problems such as charge failure, charging failure and so on.
That is, actually VR products often suffer from charging failure or failure to charge, thus affecting the experience of the user. In other words, the traditional computer USB interface has a low transmission power for charging external equipment.
Therefore, in view of the above technical problems that the normal charging function cannot be realized, the stable charging current and power cannot be maintained during data transmission between the computer USB port and VR equipment, and power down and charge failure often occur, that is, the traditional computer USB port has a low transmission power for charging external equipment, so it is urgent to design and develop a device for the charging improving transmission power for external equipment based on a USB port of a computer.

Device for improving charging transmission power for external equipment based on USB port of computer


In an image processing apparatus, a pseudo tone processor performs a pseudo tone process by performing an area coverage modulation expression process with respect to M-bit image data, to thereby convert the M-bit image data into N-bit image data, where N is smaller than M. A lossy compressor performs lossy compression with respect to the N-bit image data, by suppressing fluctuations in a pseudo tone processing frequency within a certain range.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for image processing, and a computer product in which a tone corresponding to bits in an image in preserved, and mean value preservability and the visual performance can be substantially obtained.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, in a color copying machine having an image storage unit such as a hard disk, an image read by a scanner is stored in the hard disk, and transmitted to external equipment. Considering storage capacity and transmission speed, images are generally compressed before storing or transmitting. Another conventional apparatus is one in which lossy compression is employed, as represented by Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG). In the lossy compression method, high compression efficiency can be expected with a little effect on the image quality, depending on the image. The JPEG images can be displayed on a display unit using general-purpose software on a personal computer (PC), and hence its accessibility is excellent. To output an image as a copied image, an image stored must be read out, and subjected to image processing for reproducing the image.
The method in JPEG adapted by most types of general-purpose software is a baseline method of JPEG, and its limitation is that the number of bits in the baseline method is 8 bits for each color. However, sometimes, it is desired to store an image expressed by more than 8 bits. The most noticeable example is when the number of input bits in an input unit (scanner) is larger than 8 bits. In fact, a 12-bit input unit (scanner) is available in the market. Using 12 bits in the input stage reduces quantization errors. Further, when processing such as nonlinear operation and color space conversion is performed during scanner input and storing of images, a number of bits may be required to approximate these conversions to reversible conversion. This is because quantization errors should be reduced to approximate the conversion to the reversible conversion. In the nonlinear operation, in which complete reversible conversion requires real number calculation, as the number of bits increases, quantization errors decreases, and approximates to the real number calculation.
The color space conversion method is specifically explained here. It is an effective technique to store the color space signals in a hard disk, and does not depend on devices such as an input unit and an output unit. Moreover, an advantage of the color space conversion is that color reproducibility does not change even when the input unit or the output unit changes. sRGB (standard-RGB), sYCC, and scRGB are well-known device-independent color spaces. However, sRGB has a narrow color gamut, requires gamut compression with respect to the input image from a scanner, and has poor color reproducibility. On the other hand, sYCC and scRGB have substantially sufficient color gamut, but due to problems such as the size of the color gamut and quantization errors, it is necessary to express an image with a larger number of bits than in sRGB. To store a JPEG-compressed image expressed by a large number of bits, a bit number reduction unit is necessary. However, if low-order 2-bits are simply omitted, there is a problem in that a pseudo profile that is not visible in the case of 10-bit expression is visible in some images.                (1) Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H2-153676 discloses an image forming apparatus that converts high-tone image data of N bits into N-m bit data. In this technique, low-order M bits of the N bit data are binarized, and high-order N-m bits of the N bit data are combined with the binarized one-bit data, to generate N-m bit data. Expressing the low-order M bits corresponding to the omitted portion by pseudo tone and binarizing the M bits, enables to store the tone corresponding to N bits by area coverage modulation, and to thus prevent occurrence of a pseudo profile. Such a technique has been in use when there is a limitation in the number of tones that can be displayed by a display unit, or when there is a limitation in the number of bits to be transmitted, and the like, and particularly for displaying on a television screen.
However, reduction in number of bits executed on the television is not executed by assuming subsequent lossy compression because a lossy compressor is not included. Even in the conventional art, in which the number of bits is reduced by using pseudo tone processing for data transmission, lossless compression is assumed in most cases. On the other hand, an apparatus having a lossy compressor such as the JPEG, executes lossy compression after reducing the number of bits from 10 bits to 8 bits. If pseudo tone processing is performed with respect to an image to reduce the number of bits from 10 bits to 8 bits and then the JPEG processing is performed, there is a problem in that information for the low-order 2 bits subjected to the pseudo tone processing is almost lost, depending on the pseudo tone processing. In the lossy compression, because the compressibility is increased by unsmoothing a quantization step for high frequency components, the loss occurs when the information for the low-order 2 bits is present just in the place where it is unsmooth in the quantization step.                (2) Further, there are few apparatuses that perform lossy compression such as JPEG after performing the pseudo tone processing. Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H8-317393 discloses an image forming technique in which JPEG compression is performed after error diffusion (or dither processing). In this technique, after the number of bits is reduced from 8 bits to 4 bits by error diffusion, "0000" is added to the low-order bits to form 8-bit data, and the data is JPEG-compressed and stored in an image memory. However, the object of this technique is to reduce the storage capacity of the image memory (a memory used for a blocking unit 61 in FIG. 3), and not preservation of tone after the lossy compression, nor preservation of tone corresponding to 10 bits, which is the number of bits equal to or larger than the bits at the time of JPEG compression. There is also a problem that when compressed data is transmitted to external equipment and displayed on a monitor a halftone image is visible (noticeability of error diffusion or dither basic tone).        (3) Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2001-277602 discloses an apparatus in a printer system that performs image processing and compression processing suitable for each object, where the halftone processing is included in the image processing, and performs error diffusion and dither processing. In some cases, the compressibility is switched.        (4) Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H9-149260 discloses an image forming apparatus that performs compression after the dither processing, and in which an amount of generated code of compressed data is monitored. As long as the amount of code is within an allowable range, multi-level dither processing and lossless compression are performed. Only when the amount of code exceeds the allowable range, the processing method is switched to binary dither processing and lossy compression.
The technique in (1) is a practical technique for displaying images on the television screen, but the number of bits is not reduced by assuming the lossy compression, because the lossy compressor is not provided in the stage after reduction of number of bits. The technique in (2) is for reducing the storage capacity of the image memory, and does not aim at preserving the tone after the lossy compression, nor at preserving the tone corresponding to 10 bits, which are larger than those at the time of JPEG compression. Therefore, the problem that a halftone image appears when compressed data is transmitted to external equipment and displayed on a monitor, still persists. The techniques in (3) and (4) include lossy compression after the halftone processing only when the compressibility is prioritized, and hence, do not include a function of maintaining the tone.

Apparatus and method for image processing, and computer product


A business card is formed as a laminate comprising an information-carrying face sheet and a protective backing sheet which enhances the rigidity of the face sheet. The face sheet has a contact adhesive at its back surface which bonds the face sheet and backing sheet together, and is provided with a score cut about its edge portions which defines a lift-out panel whereon the information is printed and margin portions at the edges of the card. The backing sheet has a release surface engaging the lift-out panel permitting the lift-out panel to be removed and be affixed to other surfaces such as a file card while the marginal surfaces of the backing sheet engage the margin portions of the face sheet and are tightly and permanently adhered thereto. In the preferred embodiment, the release surface extends a short distance beyond the score cut to facilitate removal of the lift-out panel. The panel may be proportioned to properly fit the surface of file cards of standard sizes. Card stock for manufacturing the business card is also disclosed.

This invention relates to information bearing cards such as business or calling cards (hereinafter referred to as "business cards") and more particularly to a business card having an adhesive backed panel which may be mounted upon the file card of a file card storage system.
Many file card systems are available for use in storing, indexing, and retrieving information such as names, addresses, telephone numbers and the like. Typically, the user of such file card systems is required to remove a particular file or index card, and either print or type information upon same, the file or index card thereafter being reinserted into its holder or frame therefor. These conventional file card systems do not readily accommodate persons who may receive business or calling cards and the like (all such cards being generically referred to hereinafter as "business cards"), which persons may desire to not only file the information on such business card, but to retain the business cards per se'. Such a person is required to remove a conventional file or index card from its frame or holder and print or type thereon the information obtained from a business card, with the business cards being thereafter stored in a haphazard fashion or even disposed of.
In the typical business setting, the transfer of information from a business card to a file or index card therefore requires a significant amount of effort, so much so that same is oftentimes overlooked. Further, the retention and storage of business cards is quite unorganized and such business cards are readily misplaced as a result. Also, the improved business cards, herein disclosed, may be used in other ways, such as pasting the cards on bulletin boards, affixing them to special correspondence and the like.

Business card and card stock with lift-out panel and bonded edges


The present invention relates to a first node (1) in a wireless communication system (2), where the first node (1) comprises at least two antenna ports (3, 4), and is arranged for communication with a second node (5) via a channel (H) by means of at least one antenna radiation lobe (6, 7, 8, 9). The second node (5) comprises at least two antenna ports (10, 11) and is positioned at a certain direction (12) in relation to the first node (1), and is arranged for transmitting one of at least two precoding weight set requests to the first node (1) at certain times. Each transmitted precoding weight set request is chosen in dependence of the channel (H) such that the first node (1) receives instructions for a certain beam-forming. The first node (1) is arranged to apply such a beam-forming that the precoding weight set requests received from the second node (5) have one certain distribution, of a set of at least one certain distribution, over a certain time period.

The success of a Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) system depends to a large extent on the characteristics of the channel. In a Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) system the Uplink (UL) carrier frequency differs from the Downlink (DL) carrier frequency.
In general, an FDD system does not have the same channel in UL as in DL, i.e. it is not reciprocal. This implies that the transmitter must inform the receiver what channel it sees and vice versa, to be able to direct energy in correct directions. Transmitting the full channel matrix is costly, and therefore not desired. An alternative, used in the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) standard 36.x is to transmit an index corresponding to a set of weights.
A base station antenna can select one out of a certain number of precoding matrices. These precoding matrices will transmit the streams in predefined directions. However, the freedom to choose precoding weights is rather limited. The current standard does only support a rather course feedback to select precoding.
In other words, there is only a limited set of precoding matrices available, where each precoding matrix relates to certain weights for the antenna, and thus each precoding matrix is related to a certain antenna radiation lobe configuration. If a user terminal supplies feedback to the base station, the base station chooses a certain precoding matrix based on that feedback. That certain precoding matrix provides a certain antenna radiation lobe configuration, which probably is the best antenna radiation lobe configuration among the ones available due to the limited number of precoding matrices available. Even if it is the best antenna radiation lobe configuration, it does probably not provide an ultimate communication situation between the base station and the user terminal. In a worst case, the user terminal may be positioned between two adjacent lobes in the antenna radiation lobe configuration chosen.
It is thus desirable to acquire a more reliable method for providing an acceptable communication situation, where the antenna coverage available is better used.

Device and a method for establishing communication between nodes in a wireless communication system


It is an object of the invention to provide an impact tool having a rational mechanism in an idling state. According to the representative invention, in an idling state defined as a state in which a tool accessory 119 is not pressed against a workpiece and an impact bolt 145 transmits a striking force to the tool accessory 119, the tool accessory retainer 510 moves with respect to a tool accessory holder 117 by movement of the tool accessory 119 in the longitudinal direction, so that the striking force is cushioned.

As an example of an impact tool which is capable of cushioning an impact applied by an impact bolt in a so-called idling state, Japanese non-examined laid-open Patent Publication No. 2002-219668 discloses a technique for providing a first cushioning member and a second cushioning member formed by a rubber sleeve and a rubber ring, respectively, in the impact tool.
In this known impact tool, in a state in which the impact tool is lifted up by a user and a tool accessory is separated from the workpiece, the impact bolt may be driven by driving of a striker. In this case, when the impact bolt collides with a tool holder, the impact bolt may be bounced off toward the striker by the first and second cushioning members formed of rubber. In such a condition, the striker is driven again by a piston and thus the impact bolt is continuously driven even though the tool accessory is separated from the workpiece. Therefore, further improvement is required in this point.


Example embodiments relate to a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device, wherein a metal gate electrode therein may be formed without a void in a lower portion of the metal gate electrode. The method may include providing a substrate, forming a dummy gate electrode on the substrate, forming a gate spacer on the substrate to be contiguous to the dummy gate electrode, forming a first recess by simultaneously removing a portion of the dummy gate electrode and a portion of the gate spacer, the first recess having an upper end wider than a lower end, forming a second recess by removing the dummy gate electrode remaining after forming the first recess, and forming a metal gate electrode by depositing a metal to fill the first and second recesses.

1. Field
Example embodiments relate to a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device, and more particularly to a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device having a metal gate electrode.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, instead of silicon oxide, a higher dielectric constant (higher-k) dielectric has been used as a gate insulation film in a MOS field effect transistor, thereby reducing the gate leakage current. However, a higher-k dielectric may not be compatible with the polysilicon used for a gate electrode.

Method for manufacturing semiconductor device having a metal gate electrode


An information processing system includes an information processing device and a portable terminal. The information processing device includes a card processing section that communicates with an IC chip of an IC card (card IC chip), and when security is satisfied between the information processing device and the card IC chip, performs information processing function of the card IC chip. Authentication processing between an IC chip (terminal IC chip) of the portable terminal and the card IC chip is performed through the card processing section, and secure communication is provided between the terminal IC chip and the card IC chip through the card processing section when the authentication processing is successful. Information input on the portable terminal is transmitted to the card IC chip through the secure communication. In this way, high user convenience can be achieved and increased security can also be achieved for the entire system.

Some IC cards have a credit function (for example, credit card) and others are entry cards for entry control to a room. Such IC cards can be used for settlement processing (for example, payment at the register in a shop or the like). In general, the settlement processing with an IC card involves inputting personal identification number (PIN) information.
Conventional information processing devices, such as a POS terminal, have a connection to an input pad or a key device placed near a door for inputting a personal identification number to open a lock, which allow the use of numeral keys to input a personal identification number. The personal identification number input on the input pad or the like is sent from the information processing device to an IC card. In the IC card, the personal identification number is collated and when it is confirmed that security is satisfied, the settlement processing or unlocking processing are performed (for example, see Patent Literature 1).
In a conventional system, however, if the input pad or the information processing device is tampered, a third party will allowed to obtain important information (PIN information) and security of the system will failed. In addition, a conventional input pad is connected to the information processing device with a cable and is difficult to use (for example, to pay at the register in a shop) at a distance from the information processing device, which reduces user convenience.

PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.