Disclosed herein are devices and methods for generating stereoscopic views of the eye (or any desired anatomic structure) using a dual-camera portable computing device. The locations of the two cameras are fixed, and the camera lenses may have different focal lengths. For example, the focal length of the second camera lens may be longer than the focal length of the first camera lens. One variation of a detachable imaging system comprises an objective lens and a relay lens that are disposed over the two cameras. The relay lens may be disposed over the first and second cameras, and have a focal length that is greater than the focal length of the first camera lens and less than or equal to the focal length of the second camera lens.

Regular and accessible eye screening can help promote early detection of ophthalmic diseases such as diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma, and help prevent those diseases from progressing further and leading to blindness. Furthermore, some diseases such as glaucoma involve a thorough examination and assessment of the optic nerve head in order to identify any pathologies. While 3-D or stereoscopic imaging or viewing of the eye may facilitate the assessment of various structure of the eye, the availability of such specialized equipment is typically limited to ophthalmologists' offices. Access to physicians who have specialized equipment for eye screening and expertise in diagnosing ophthalmic diseases may be a major challenge for individuals who live in rural areas and/or regions where there are few (if any) eye care specialists. This may lead to delays in medical care for preventable and irreversible causes of blindness.
Accordingly, it is desirable to develop simple, inexpensive, and portable eye screening equipment that can acquire stereoscopic or 3-D images of the retina and/or fundus region of the eye.


An apparatus and method for quick release of a spinner head assembly of a cotton candy machine. The spinner head is snap-fit to the rotational output shaft of the motor of the cotton candy machine to prevent longitudinal separation between the two during operation. Intermeshing portions between the spinner head and the output shaft are configured to translate rotational torque between the two and thus translate rotational torque of the output shaft of the motor to the spinner head. Quick release of the head is possible by pulling on the head along the rotational axis of the output shaft to overcome the snap-fit. This allows longitudinal separation of the spinner head and disengages the intermeshing portions for complete removal of the head. Reattachment is possible by snap-fitting connection between head and output shaft.

A. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to cotton candy machines, and in particular, how the rotating or spinner head assembly of a cotton candy machine is detachable and re-attachable from and to the machine.
B. Problems in the Art
Cotton candy making machines have a relatively long history. They have retained their basic form. They typically utilize a rotating spinner head assembly. That head assembly rotates at substantial speeds (e.g. several thousand RPM) by connection to an electric motor in the base of the machine. An electric heating element is in the head. Therefore, electrical power must be provided to the spinning head. This usually requires something like a slip ring assembly to transfer electrical power to a base of the machine to the spinning spinner head. A raw cotton candy, sugar-based solution is poured into the head. The rotation of the head throws the sugary solution by centrifugal force out to the walls of the head and through screens or openings to basically create the fluffy cotton candy caramelized sugarized strains. Those strains are caught in a bowl that surrounds the head.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,036,532 and published U.S. Patent Application US2002/0062743 A1 illustrate several examples of these types of cotton candy machines. Details regarding them can be seen in those patents, which are incorporated by reference in their entireties herein as background information.
There are several interesting and subtly-related factors that come into play with these types of cotton candy machines. One is the relatively extreme rotational speeds of the head. These machines are utilized in a variety of settings; sometimes using workers that are not experts with these machines. The connection of the rotating head to the motor shaft must be robust. Even though the spinner heads are relatively lightweight, spinning at such high RPM creates substantially forces. These forces not only can include centrifugal force but, because of manufacturing tolerances, substantial vibration forces in different directions.
Additionally, the electrically-energized heating element in the head must maintain electrical connection to an electrical power source while the head is rotating. Thus, a variety of ways have been developed to try to reliably do so. Several are described in detail in the incorporated by reference patent and published patent application listed earlier. For electrical connections using conducting rings and brushes, the head-to-motor-shaft connection must be not only robust but also ensure that electrical power to the head is maintained when operating.
But moreover, the general operational environment of these machines creates rather unique issues. The sugary substance involved with cotton candy is messy, coats components, and can make it important to frequently clean the machine. It is desirable to restrain the substance to the bowl around the rotating head. It is desirable to be able to clean the bowl as well as the head. To do so thoroughly generally requires the ability to remove the bowl and the head from the machine. This can be antagonistic to having a robust connection between head and rotating shaft and a good electrical connection between head and remainder of the machine.
For example, over time the screens or small openings in typical cotton candy machine spinner heads get clogged with the cotton candy solution and must be cleaned out. One conventional way to attach a head to a motor drive shaft is with an Allen screw, bolt or pin or other set screw. It can be difficult for non-mechanical persons, or persons not familiar with the machine, to find and then remove this fastening mechanism to remove the head and reattach it in the secure manner.
A further consideration is that not only is it desirable that the head be detachable, but that both detachment and reattachment be as easy and efficient as possible. It is also desirable that reattachment provide high confidence to the operator that the reattachment is secure. It is not desirable to rely on an operator's mechanical skills to ensure good reattachment. There are also issues with expired conducting surfaces and motors when the head is removed from the base.
FIGS. 1-3 illustrate a typical present way of attaching a cotton candy machine spinner head to the drive shaft of the motor. The lower end of adapter head 4 is bolted to spinner head 2 (e.g. see bolt 11 which clamps spinner head 2 to adapter head 4 by tightening it into threaded bore 12 in the upper end of adapter head 4. This allows spinner head 2/adapter head 4 to be attached and detached from motor shaft 5 by slideably fitting the bottom end of adapter head 4 over the upper or distal end of motor shaft 5.
Attachment and detachment of the head 2 is achieved by tightening or loosening a single Allen or set screw 7 with an Allen Wrench tool 9 through a small blind hole 3 in housing or base 1. The head 2 can be marked for the orientation of the setscrew 7 (see visual dot 10 placed on the outside of head 2 in FIG. 1; this dot 10 can be lined up with the blind hole 3 in base to try to line up set screw 7 with blind hole 3 so that it can be accessed by Allen Wrench tool 9 through blind hole 3). However, there are difficulties with this arrangement. Aligning dot 10 with blind hole 3 is an approximation. It may not indicate consistent exact alignment. Thus, the user may have to find set screw 7 with wrench 9 by trial and error, as it is not possible to get a good visual view of set screw 7. Also, mark 10 might no longer be there or may not be visible after the machine is used for awhile. To remove head 2 then has to be done through even more trial and error to find setscrew 7 in blind hole 3. Note also that if the Allen wrench or other tool is lost or misplaced, it may be very difficult if not impossible to detach or attach the head at least until another appropriate tool is obtained.
Note that motor shaft 5 can have a flat spot 6 to receive the setscrew 7, to help ensure torque is transferred from motor 8 to the head 2. As can be appreciated, if said screw 7 is not firmly installed, forces generated by the high RPM rotating or spinner head can create vibrations or other forces which attempt to try to separate the rotating or spinner head from its shaft or which cause the motor shaft to slip relative the head. This could cause malfunction or at least poor operation. Even relatively small separation might also affect electrical connection between electrical brushes of a slip ring assembly in base 1 (see, e.g., FIGS. 2 and 11) and conducting rings on the head. Also, over time, the setscrew can dig into the motor shaft or can strip in its threads which create risk of malfunction or poor operation.
FIG. 3 shows in section view setscrew 7 and its relationship with motor shaft 5. It also illustrates the relationship of electrical brushes with conducting rings on the head 2. The single set screw is central to this state of the art detachable head assembly.

Quick release head assembly on cotton candy machine


Various embodiments of systems and methods for converting reports between disparate report formats are described herein. In one aspect, a first report in a markup data schema is received. On another aspect, a second report in a banded report schema, comprising one or more bands, is created. The second report is created as a blank report. First report formatting settings of the first report are converted to second report formatting setting of the second report. Report content and report content layout from the first report are converted to the second report.

With greater access to Information Technology (IT), enterprises have increased capacity and desire to produce and use reports to view useful data. Reports are used in a lot of different fields, such as business, marketing, human resources, education, and others. Reports contain information retrieved from (i.e., in response to computer executable instructions) a data source (e.g., a database, a data warehouse, and the like), where the information is typically structured in accordance with a report schema that specifies the form in which the information may be presented. Reports are usually built by inserting report data items and other formulas into a containment hierarchy of report elements, each structured in graphical zones that are arranged with respect to axes. Any value displayed in a report, or report value, belongs to a specific instance of a zone in a terminal reporting element, and is thus obtained by computing a formula in a dimensional context determined by one of the many combinations of values for each of the axes that govern this zone. Filters may also be assigned to the reporting elements.
There are various software systems and tools that provide techniques for analysis and presentation of information, as well as storing and managing of reports and analytics. Business Intelligence (BI) is a term used to describe a category of systems and applications used to gather, store, provide access to, and analyze data to help enterprise users make better business decisions. Applications that exemplify BI include querying and reporting, online analytical processing (OLAP), profiling, statistical analysis, and forecasting. Examples of applications that allow creation of human-readable reports are BI solutions, such as SAP® Crystal Reports®. There are however a lot of other publically available products that may offer different functionality for preparing the design, visualization, and delivery of reports in various formats. Enterprises may use many different reporting tools with various schemas. However, migrating data from one reporting tool to another imposes a significant burden on IT resources.

Converting reports between disparate report formats


An image processing device may comprising a USB I/F and a control device. The USB I/F may be configured to receive USB data packets transmitted by a data processing device. The USB I/F may be configured to cause a specific buffer corresponding to one USB endpoint for reception to store content data included in the received USB data packets. The control device may be configured to: execute one or more processing on the basis of an HTTP command; execute image processing on the basis of a particular command other than the HTTP command; and execute content data allocation processing. The content data allocation processing may include: causing content data including the HTTP command to be processed in the execution of the one or more processing; and causing content data including the particular command to be processed in the execution of the image processing.

There has been disclosed a technique for providing a Web server function in an image processing device and displaying a setting screen and the like of the image processing device on a Web browser executed in a terminal device. There has been known a standard called Internet Printing Protocol (referred to as IPP) for connecting the image processing device and the terminal device through the Internet and causing the image processing device to process an image via the Internet. Further, there has been known a standard called IPP over USB for performing communication by the IPP in an environment in which an image processing device and a terminal device are connected by a universal serial bus (referred to as USB).
The USB can include a plurality of logical channels called endpoints. Since the USB includes the plurality of endpoints, it is possible to form a plurality of communication routes using the USB that physically performs serial communication. There has been known an image processing device connected to a terminal device such as a personal computer (referred to as PC) by the USB. Such an image processing device includes endpoints for control and for printing data reception and endpoints for printing state transmission and reception. Consequently, it is possible to perform, via the USB, transmission of printing data from the PC to the image processing device and transmission of information from the image processing device to the PC.

Image processing device and computer-readable storage medium for use in connection with USB data packets


A method and computer program to assign certificates/private keys to a token. This method and computer program allows a user to access a certificate authority and have certificates/private keys that are used for signature, encryption and role purposes generated and downloaded to the token. The use of secure communication lines and computers is not necessary since the token contains a unique token ID and private key, while the certificate authority contains the associated public key for the token. The certificate generated is wrapped in the public key and only the token, having the associated private key, may activate the certificate.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a method of assignment of user certificates/private keys in a token enabled public key infrastructure (PKI) system and, more particularly, to a method and computer program for creation, transmission, assignment and management of encryption, signature and role certificates/private keys in a token enabled PKI system.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
For centuries individuals, governments, and business entities have searched for mechanisms and techniques whereby sensitive information may be transmitted to authorized parties over long distances and still remain secure. The problem faced by the foregoing entities is how can information be sent to the individual or entities that require it and still be assured that unauthorized parties may not be able to comprehend the transmitted information should they intercept it. Early methods of securing information have employed scrambling techniques, lookup tables, substitution ciphers, and code books in which letters or terms would be substituted for the original letters and terms in the information. These techniques frequently required that both the sender and receiver of information have access to the same "code book." One danger in such a technique is that the code book would fall into unauthorized hands.
In the early twentieth century, and in particular during World War II, code books were replaced by electromechanical cipher machines. Both the sender and receiver would have an identical cipher machine used to encrypt and decrypt messages sent. In order to make it more difficult to decrypt these messages the cipher machines have the ability to change the cipher used in a message or change the cipher used for every few words within a message. In order to accomplish this the cipher machine would need to know the initial state or key utilized to encrypt the message.
In recent years cipher machines have been replaced by digital encryption algorithms in which both the sender and receiver have an identical copy of the digital encryption algorithm and a common key used to encrypt and decrypt messages. Both the encryption algorithm and key are held secret by both the sender and receiver.
More recently another encryption technique has been developed in which two separate keys are used for encryption and decryption. A public key is transmitted freely to whoever requires it and is used to encrypt messages for a particular receiver. The receiver would have an associated private key which may be used to decrypt the message encrypted with the associated public key. For each public key there is only one private key and for each private key there is only one public key. When sending a message to several recipients it is necessary to have each recipient's public key. The message would then be separately encrypted using each recipient's public key and transmitted to that particular recipient. Therefore, if ten separate entities are to receive the same message, ten separate messages would be transmitted with each message encrypted with individual's public key. With the advent of the Internet, such a public key infrastructure has gained significant acceptance as discussed in request for comments number 2459, by Housley et al., entitled "Internet X.509 Public Key Infrastructure", herein incorporated in its entirety by reference.
In addition to the need for the encryption and decryption of messages, with the advent of electronic mail and the Internet a need has developed for a secure mechanism to indicate approval and acceptance by an individual. In the past an individual would typically show his approval or acceptance of such items as a contract or an order via a handwritten signature, a stamp, or a seal which would only be held by that individual. Anyone else that attempted to imitate such a signature, stamp, or seal would be subject to criminal penalties. With the advent of electronic mail and the Internet, a need has arisen to take advantage of the ease and speed of electronic mail to indicate, by a person or entity with proper authority, approval or acceptance of a contract or purchase. This has come to be known as a digital signature in which an individual may digitally sign a document.
This digital signature capability has been implemented using the same public key infrastructure previously discussed. However, instead of an entire document being encrypted, the document itself is passed through a one-way hashing algorithm that produces a small document, referred to as a digest. This digest is then encrypted using the individual's private key, also known as a private signing key, and is appended to the document. The receiver of the document can verify the authenticity of the digital signature (digest) by stripping the signature from the document and recomputing the hash function on the document to generate an as received digest. Using a public signing key, included in the document or previously received, it is possible to decrypt the digest of the document and compare it to the digest as received. If the two digest match, then the signature is authenticated. Therefore, using the aforementioned public key infrastructure it is possible to both encrypt and decrypt messages as well as digitally sign documents.
However, in the aforementioned public key infrastructure, several limitations exist. One such limitation is in order for a group of individuals or entities to transmit and receive the encrypted messages each individual must have created a key pair having a public key and a private key. Further, each individual or entity in a group is also required to have a separate public signing key and a private signing key in order to digitally sign documents. In order for other members of the group to be able to decrypt messages received it is necessary for members of the group to exchange key pairs including the private key. This may be necessary when a member of the group is not in the office due to illness or travel. Where such an exchange of key pairs does not take place, when an urgent encrypted message comes into, for example, the office of finance, human resources, or an engineering group in the corporation, only the person holding the private key may decrypt the message. When that person is unavailable, that message will not be decrypted and a prompt response will not be received by the sender. However, when key pairs are exchanged by members of a group, then all members who possess an individuals private key may decrypt all messages sent to that person, regardless of the nature the message or its sensitivity. This creates significant problems for businesses that need to respond quickly to customer requests and in which customer confidences must be maintained. This may most acutely be seen in law offices, medical offices and the military where delay in delivering a response may be very costly. Further, it is cumbersome for a large group of individuals or entities to exchange key pairs with one another. For example, where group contains 30 individuals, a total of 30 times 30, or 900 exchanges of key pairs must take place in order for anyone in the group to be able to decrypt any message received by any other member of the group.
Another limitation that exists deals with security and portability of certificates/private keys. Typically, certificates/private keys assigned to users have both private and public keys with each stored on a computer. These certificates/private keys are often limited to usage in those computer systems in which they are stored. Therefore, if a user desires to use another computer system he must move his certificates/private keys to that system. Further, personal computers connected to the Internet have proven to be vulnerable to infiltration and damage by unauthorized parties. Therefore, if private and public encryption and signature certificates/private keys are stored on a personal computer which is directly or indirectly connected to the Internet, it is possible to copy the certificates/private keys and with some effort to determine the passphrase required to use the certificates/private keys.
Still another limitation to these certificates/private keys is that generating a new certificate/private key may either only be done by a security officer where high security is desired or done at a remote computer and downloaded to the user's computer with a password providing security. The use of a security officer is expensive and time consuming since the employee must setup an appointment, meet the officer, confirm his identity and then receive the certificate/private key. The downloading of a certificate/private key with only password security is risky particularly when a type of program known as a Trojan horse is used. This "Trojan horse" may intercept or access the certificates/private keys stored on the computer system for transmission to an unauthorized party.
A further limitation exists with the methods used to securely transport certificates/private keys to a User. In the typical PKI architectures, a unique X.509 private key and key encipherment certificate is issued to each server platform. This is used to create a Secure Socket Layer (SSL) session between the server platform and the client platform, so that all data transferred between these two platforms are encrypted and secure. However, a major security limitation exists because the so called last "6 inches" of the data path is not encrypted or secure; i.e., storage of the private key may be done while the key is in plain text and not yet re-encrypted.
Therefore, the client platform is a major point of vulnerability. Malicious code, such as viruses or Trojan horses, running surreptitiously on the Client Platform, could corrupt, replace, or intercept data being transferred between a server platform and the destination storage medium.
Therefore, what is needed is a method and computer program in which certificates/private keys of all types may be created, transmitted and stored in a secure manner. This method and computer program should not require a security officer or other person to provide security for the verification of the user's identity or the creation or downloading of any certificates/private keys. Further, this method and computer program should be secure against viruses or "Trojan horse" type viruses that may be present on the computer system being accessed by the user.

Assignment of user certificates/private keys in token enabled public key infrastructure system


A point source assembly for a thin film deposition device having a chamber for holding a substrate, includes a crucible configured for holding and vaporizing a deposition material therein, where the crucible is configured for operative engagement to the chamber, an opening in the crucible configured for directing therefrom a vaporized form of the deposition material, where the opening includes a longitudinal line extending through the center of the crucible opening, and means operatively engaged to the crucible for facilitating rotational movement of the crucible for varying the orientation of the longitudinal line relative to the position of the substrate in the chamber.

Several methods for depositing thin films on substrates (i.e., deposition targets) are known in the art. Such methods include physical vapor deposition and chemical vapor deposition. One common form of thin film deposition is evaporation deposition. Evaporation deposition involves vaporizing a deposition or source material under high vacuum, and condensing the vaporized deposition material on a substrate to form a thin film. Operating under vacuum conditions allows the vaporized deposition material to travel unhindered in a direct path to the substrate where it condenses back to a solid state. This process is used to produce thin films with a relatively high level of purity desirable in many applications. The deposition material can be selected from any vaporizable material including, but not limited to, pure elements, compounds, metals, alloys, ceramics, oxides, semiconductors and mixtures thereof.
The typical evaporation deposition device includes a deposition chamber, a vacuum pump for evacuating the deposition chamber, a movable substrate carrier for transferring and supporting a substrate into the deposition chamber, and one or more fixed evaporation or point sources usually located opposite from the substrate. Typically, evaporation deposition is a continuous production process where the substrate is moved through a series of deposition chambers for depositing one or more layers of same or different materials thereon. The substrate carrier can be configured for transferring or moving the substrate from one deposition chamber to another during production.
During the film deposition process, the point sources vaporize the deposition material and direct the resulting vapor flux to the substrate. The point source typically includes a crucible for holding the deposition material, a vaporizer for supplying the energy, typically thermal energy, needed for vaporizing the deposition material (e.g., a heat generator), and an opening in the crucible through which the vaporized deposition material is directed to the substrate in the deposition chamber.
Evaporation deposition is used in the fabrication of semiconductor devices such as, for example, thin film solar cells and modules. Thin film solar cells or modules employ, inter alia, thin films of absorber materials composed of elements, binary compounds, ternary compounds and multinary compounds selected from Group I, Group II, Group III, Group IV, and Group VI of the periodic table. One type of absorber material is composed of combinations of copper, indium, gallium, selenium and sulfur (CIGS(S)). The thin films of absorber material are typically deposited on a substrate coated with a back contact metal layer. It is very important that these thin films be deposited with a high degree of uniformity to realize the electrical and mechanical properties necessary for the production of a useful solar cell.
Referring to FIG. 1, a prior art evaporation deposition device 10 includes a housing 12 defining a deposition chamber 14, a movable substrate carrier assembly 16 transporting and supporting a substrate 18 in position at the upper end of the chamber 14 in an operable position for receiving the deposition material, and one or more fixed point sources 20 (two fixed point sources are shown) located at the end of the chamber 14 opposite the substrate 18. The substrate carrier assembly 16 includes a pair of opposed slidably movable railings 17 each supporting opposite ends of the substrate 18, and configured to move the substrate 18 into and out of the deposition chamber 14. The substrate carrier assembly 16 can be adapted for conveying or transporting the substrate 18 between two or more deposition chambers 14 for continuous processing or production. The substrate carrier assembly 16 may be selected from any other suitable substrate transport mechanism as known in the art (e.g., conveyor assembly).
The fixed point sources 20 are maintained in a spaced apart arrangement within the deposition chamber 14 and remain in a fixed position such that the longitudinal axis passing through the point source 20 is contiguous with the longitudinal axis of the opening leading to the deposition chamber 14. The term "contiguous" as used herein means that the line passing through the center of the opening leading to the chamber 14 will likewise pass through the center of the fixed point source 20.
Each point source 20 includes a crucible 22, containing a deposition material 24 and a vaporizer or source of energy (not shown) operatively associated with the crucible 22 for vaporizing the deposition material 24. An example of such sources of energy is an electrical heating device for supplying sufficient heat to vaporize the deposition material 24. The crucible 22 further includes a fixed opening 26 having a longitudinal axis 29 through which the vaporized deposition material is directed to the substrate 18 as a vapor flux plume 28. The longitudinal axis 29 is likewise the longitudinal axis passing through the crucible 22. The plumes 28 produced by the point sources 20 are directed to the substrate 18 in a manner such that a portion of opposed plumes 28 overlap one another forming an overlap region 32.
FIG. 1 shows a normal distribution curve 30 which represents the relative concentration of vaporized deposition material from the center to the lateral sides of the vapor flux plume 28 for a given sized opening 26. The normal distribution curve 30 of fixed point sources 20 demonstrates a relatively narrow bell curve indicating the concentration of the vaporized deposition material is highest at the center of the plume 28 (generally corresponding to the longitudinal axis 29 of the opening 26) with the concentration of the vaporized deposition material 24 diminishing sharply toward the lateral sides of the plume 28. The plumes 28 are directed by the point sources 20 with a portion of each overlapping one another in the overlap region 32.
Referring to FIG. 2, there is shown a top view of the substrate 18 having a thin film 34 deposited by the fixed point sources 20 thereon produced by the type of evaporation deposition device 10 shown in FIG. 1. The deposition pattern of the thin film 34 includes non-uniform deposition areas. More specifically, the thin film 34 includes two areas 36 of relatively dense deposition, a central area 38 of relatively intermediate density deposition and two side areas 40 of relatively low density deposition. The high deposition areas 36 of the thin film 34 are produced by exposure of the substrate 18 to the center portion of the respective plumes 36. The intermediate deposition area 38 of the thin film 34 is produced by exposure of the substrate 18 to the overlap region 32 of the lateral sides of the plume 28. The low deposition areas 40 of the thin film 34 are produced by exposure of the substrate 18 to the lateral sides of the respective plumes 28. (i.e., the areas remote from the center portion of the plumes 28.)
Referring again to FIGS. 1 and 2, the size of the opening 26 can have an effect on the deposition pattern. For example, if the size of the opening 26 is increased (i.e., increased area), the width of the distribution curve 30 increases and the steepness of the center portion of the bell curve is reduced (i.e., becomes less pronounced). This adjustment tends to spread the deposition material over a greater area of the substrate 18 but also increases that part of the distribution curve 30 that does not contact the substrate 18. Overall, the substrate 18 characteristically exhibits an uneven pattern of deposition material.
Similarly, if the size of the opening 26 decreases, the substrate 18 will exhibit a different, but still uneven pattern of distribution. In particular, as the width of the distribution curve decreases, the steepness of the center portion increases. Thus, the distribution of deposition material is focused on a smaller area of the substrate 18 and the overlap region 32 will be reduced or eliminated.
It can readily be seen that varying the size of the opening 26, while varying the pattern of distribution does not achieve a desired uniform deposition over the entire substrate 18. In order to obtain uniform deposition under these prior art conditions, it is often necessary to subject the substrate to post-deposition operations to alter the deposition pattern on the substrate 18. Post deposition operations add significantly to the cost and time of producing finished substrates.
The use of fixed point sources 20 significantly limits the ability of thin film deposition devices to produce thin films 34 with a high degree of uniformity or desired thickness patterns, or to readily accommodate substrates of different sizes and/or shapes. This is due in part to the fixed position of the longitudinal axis of the opening leading to the chamber and the point source. In particular, the longitudinal axis of the chamber and the point source are in a fixed orientation and do not vary.
One approach to overcome the uneven deposition patterns is to periodically interrupt the deposition process (i.e., shutting off or taking the evaporation deposition device offline) to perform adjustments needed to achieve the desired film uniformity, thickness pattern and the like. This approach is very costly, time consuming, and labor-intensive.
In view of the foregoing problems and limitations, there is a need for a point source assembly and thin film deposition devices employing the same for depositing thin films, that enables adjustment of deposition parameters in situ to produce thin films on a substrate with a high degree of uniformity or desired thickness patterns in a cost effective manner. There is a further need for a point source assembly and thin film deposition devices employing the same for depositing thin films, that enhances production yield, reduces downtime, and/or reduces the number of point sources needed to achieve desired deposition uniformity.

Point source assembly for thin film deposition devices and thin film deposition devices employing the same


A network apparatus comprising an optical gain medium, a wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) filter coupled to the optical gain medium, and a Faraday Rotator Mirror (FRM) coupled to the WDM, and wherein the optical gain medium, the WDM filter, and the FRM are coupled by single mode fibers to form a self-seeded external cavity laser for a DWDM wavelength channel.

A passive optical network (PON) is one system for providing network access over "the last mile." The PON is a point to multi-point network comprised of an optical line terminal (OLT) at a central office, an optical distribution network (ODN), and a plurality of optical network terminal (ONTs) or optical network units (ONUs) at customer side. An ONT is a single integrated electronics unit that terminates the PON and presents native service interfaces to the user. An ONU is the PON-side half of the ONT, terminating the PON, and may present one or more converged interfaces, such as xDSL or Ethernet, toward the user. An ONU typically requires a separate subscriber unit to provide native user services such as telephony, Ethernet data, or video. In some PON systems, such as Gigabit PON (GPON) systems, downstream data is broadcasted at about 2.5 Gigabits per second (Gbps) while upstream data is transmitted at about 1.25 Gbps. However, the bandwidth capability of the PON systems is expected to increase as the demand for services increase. To meet the increased demand in services, some emerging PON systems, such as Next Generation Access (NGA) systems, are being reconfigured to transport the data frames with improved reliability and efficiency at higher bandwidths, for example at about ten Gbps.

Method, apparatus, and system for a self-seeded external cavity laser for dense wavelength division multiplexing applications


A mobile navigation system using a communication system between at least one mobile object and a key station. The navigation system includes a unit mounted on the mobile object for determining the position of the mobile object, and a unit mounted on the mobile object for transmitting data representative of the determined position to the key station via the communication system. The navigation system further includes a data base unit mounted in the key station for storing map data, a unit mounted in the key station for deriving map data of an area including the position of the mobile object from the data base unit, in response to the transmitted position data, a unit mounted in the key station for transmitting data including the derived map data to the mobile object via the communication system, and a unit mounted on the mobile object for displaying a composite image composed of the position data of the mobile object and the map data, in response to the transmitted data from the key station.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a navigation system capable of displaying positions of mobile objects on a map by using a mobile communication system consisting of mobile objects and a key station.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, data communication technology has been remarkably advanced. With the advancement, a new navigation system has been developed and proposed. With the assist of this navigation system, mobile objects, such as vehicles, vessels, and aircrafts, when traveling, can check their present positions and travels toward and exactly reach their destined places.
A GPS (Global Positioning System) has been known as a system to determine the present positions of mobile objects with a high precision. Reference may be had to U.S. Pat. No. 4,114,155 and the references cited therein, and to ELECTRONICS, issued by Ohm Ltd., December, 1984.
A plurality of artificial satellites are used so that at least four satellites may constantly be observed from the earth. Each mobile object carries a GPS receiver which is for receiving and demodulating a microwave carrying a meaningful signal from each satellite. Through the modulation, the receiver detects orbiting data of the satellite that is contained in the received microwave signal having frequency of about 1 to 2 GHz. The present position of each satellite is obtained by applying the detected orbit data to Kepler's equation and solving the equation. A distance from one mobile object on the ground and each satellite can be obtained by measuring a propagation time of the signal transmitted from each satellite. To work out the present position of the mobile object, the simultaneous equations are solved for the present positions of the satellites and the distances between of the mobile object and the respective satellites.
In the mobile navigation system as applicants of the present patent application know, the GPS receiver, a data base unit storing map data, an image processing unit, and a display unit are all assembled into each navigation apparatus carried on each mobile object.
The position data of a mobile object derived from the GPS receiver and the map data derived from the map data base unit are composed by the image processing unit. The image processing unit produces composite image data representative of an image in which a position of the mobile object is traced on a map. The display unit receives the image data and visually presents such an image on its display screen.
Such a mobile object navigation system is advantageous in that so long as the GPS operates, an operator, e.g., a driver, may always recognize the present position of the mobile object per se, but is disadvantageous in that the expensive map data base unit has to be mounted for each mobile object. Especially, when the mobile object travels in a wide area, since a tremendous amount of map data is required, a great volume data base unit has to be equipped for every mobile. Furthermore, since landform and roads change day by day, the map data must be frequently updated to guarantee exact travelings. Also, it is very difficult or impractical to frequently update the data base unit installed in the mobile object.


According to one embodiment, an information reproducing method including, fetching facial image data of a viewer, extracting feature points on a face of the viewer from the fetched facial image data, and coding the feature points, comparing the coded feature points with viewer feature-point information stored in a management table, and presenting different pieces of information depending upon whether a viewer corresponding to the viewer feature-point information stored in the management table is present or not.

As picture/audio reproducers that reproduce pictures and audio, various devices such as television receivers, monitor devices, player devices, video cameras, personal computers, portable terminals and digital photoframes have been put to practical use and have already come into wide use.
Further, with the fulfillment of networks and the increase in speed and capacity thereof, content items (programs) as reproduction targets are unilaterally supplied from a transmission side (delivery station) through, e.g., electromagnetic waves or an optical fiber, and they can be also acquired at an arbitrary time according to a request from a viewer based on the spread of an on-demand scheme.
Furthermore, with the spread of a widget (information screen) that can independently display a news telop provided on a network or information in a preset specific field in a screen of a television receiver, a digital photoframe, or a personal computer, a picture or audio provided at a viewpoint different from a request from a viewer based on the on-demand scheme can be acquired and reproduced.
Meanwhile, for example, when a viewer and his/her family set an arbitrary number of widgets (information screens) in a digital photoframe installed in a living room for selfish reasons, the widgets are hard to see for the respective persons. Moreover, when they have a visitor, they must take actions, e.g., turning off the digital photoframe or hiding the same so that the visitor cannot see it.
Japanese Patent Application Publication (KOKAI) No. 2006-236218 discloses an electronic album display system that detects a viewer and selects and displays images concerning the detected viewer.
Although the electronic album display system disclosed in this literature detects a viewer and displays images (photographs) concerning the viewer, but it also displays unwilling images that the viewer does not want other persons to see since this system displays images even though the viewer and other persons share the system at the same time.

Presenting information based on whether a viewer corresponding to information is stored is present in an image


The present disclosure disclose a configuration management method and apparatus, and a device. A control device determines that an application message needs to be published to a target logical group. The control device obtains an identifier of the target logical group and queries, according to a gateway mapping table and the identifier of the target logical group, a gateway connected to each of the at least one target terminal, to obtain at least one target gateway. The control device generates based on the application message, a MQTT publish packet and sends the MQTT publish packet to the at least one target gateway, where the MQTT publish packet is used to instruct a target gateway that receives the MQTT publish packet to send a corresponding application message to each target terminal that is connected to the target gateway and that belongs to the target logical group.

By interacting with massive network access devices, a control device may manage the massive network access devices or provide various services for the massive network access devices. Management of the massive network access devices by the control device may include device configuration management, device performance management, device fault management, application deployment management, virtual machine deployment management, radio calibration, terminal location analysis, user access control, mobile operation and management, and the like. The services that the control device may provide for the massive network access devices include network services such as Wi-Fi access, data exchange, and network security. In addition, the control device may provide data-level services such as collection and storage of system logs and performance indicator data. Further, the control device may provide application-level services, for example, provide an application analysis report with an industry attribute for public running businesses, so as to meet diverse device management and service requirements of users.
However, because efficiency of publishing an application message by the control device to the massive network access devices is relatively low, device management and quality of service are adversely affected. For example, when the control device sends configuration update messages to a plurality of network access devices, the network access devices are unable to update configuration information in time because of a slow sending speed, and consequently, the network access devices cannot interact with other devices. Therefore, how to improve the efficiency of publishing an application message by the control device to the massive network access devices is a problem in the current computer network field that needs to be urgently resolved.

Configuration management method and apparatus, and device


An artificial airway device, for use in place of an endotracheal tube to facilitate lung ventilation in an unconscious patient, is in the form of a laryngeal mask comprising an airway tube opening into the interior space of lumen of a mask portion whose periphery, which may be inflatable, is adapted to seal around inlet to the larynx, thus securing the patient's airway and permitting spontaneous or controlled ventilation. Drainage from the anterior region of the mask or directly from the oesophagus is provided by suitably arranged drainage tubes arranged for insertion with the mask. A soft, flexible upstanding collar is carried by the periphery of the mask, so as to surround the lumen of the mask and improve the sealing contact with the tissues around the circumference of the laryngeal inlet.

To maintain the airway of an unconscious patient, and to achieve the objectives mentioned above, it is normal practice in general anaesthesia to use an endotracheal tube, which is a flexible tube of rubber or plastics, usually with an inflatable cuff around the distal end. Alternatively, an oro- or naso-pharyngeal airway may be used, which is a flexible tube extending from the mouth or nose into the pharynx but not into the larynx, and which is used in conjunction with a face mask, unlike the endotracheal tube. While preventing obstruction of the airway by the tongue, the oro- or naso-pharyngeal airway cannot conveniently be used for controlled ventilation and does not prevent inhalation of extraneous matter.
The endotracheal tube is introduced through the larynx into the trachea or windpipe, whereupon the cuff is inflated through a small auxiliary tube to seal against the wall of the trachea. Introduction of the endotracheal tube is a skilled operation normally requiring use of a laryngoscope to guide the tube through the larynx, past the vocal cords and into the trachea. There is a risk that the tube or the laryngoscope may cause damage to soft tissues or to the sensitive structure of the larynx. It is not alway possible to see the larynx, making intubation difficult or impossible in some patients. There can be a risk of accidental intubation of the oesophagus or of the right or left main bronchus. Placing of the tube in the trachea effectively narrows the interior passage or lumen of the trachea and provides a potential source of damage through infection or pressure while preventing normal upward flow of mucus from the trachea and rendering effective coughing impossible.
In my British Pat. Specification No. 2111394B, I have described and claimed an artificial airway device comprising a curved or flexible tube and a mask portion carried at one end of the tube, the mask portion having a flexible annular peripheral formation which may be inflatable and which surrounds a hollow interior space or lumen of the mask portion, said annular peripheral formation of the mask portion being pre-formed with a roughly elliptical shape such as to be capable of conforming to, and of fitting readily within, the actual and potential space behind the larynx so as to form a seal around the circumference of the laryngeal inlet without the device penetrating into the interior of the larynx, the tube opening into the lumen of the mask portion to provide the airway with the axis of the tube substantially aligned with the length of the roughly elliptical annular peripheral formation of the mask portion. The device thus constitutes a laryngeal mask. In practice, the annular peripheral formation has been made as an inflatable tube, e.g. of a silicone rubber.
This device has proved successful in use. Insertion of the device has been found to be easy and convenient in the majority of patients. A laryngoscope is not usually required. The mask does not enter the larynx or trachea so the risk of damage to these structures is avoided and the tracheal lumen is not narrowed as it is by insertion of an endotracheal tube. The risk of accidental entry into the oesophagus or one of the main bronchi is also avoided. Once in place the laryngeal mask generally permits the lungs to be ventilated by positive pressure. Alternatively the patient may be permitted to breathe spontaneously.
To avoid the risk that the epiglottis could obstruct the airway by falling inwards into the lumen of the mask and blocking the opening of the tube therein, which could happen, for example, with small displacements of the mask which may occur during surgery or manipulation of the patient on the operating table, I have described in my U.S. patent application No. 8713173 (Publication No. 2205499A) an artificial airway device of the kind described above wherein the airway tube opens into the lumen of the mask through an aperture which is provided with means, such as flexible cross-bars, to prevent it from being obstructed by the epiglottis while permitting passage of a second smaller tube, when required. Such a tube may be, for example, an endotracheal or endobronchial tube or a suction catheter, or an inspection tube such as a fibre-optic broncho- or laryngoscope.
The seal around the circumference of the laryngeal inlet which has been achieved, using an inflatable annular peripheral formation of the mask, has been found fully adequate in most circumstances. There are occasions, however, when an improved seal could be advantageous, e.g. to reduce the possibility that air might be allowed into the stomach when the patient's lungs are being ventilated under positive pressure, or to reduce the possibility that food regurgitated from the stomach might enter the lumen of the mask and the larynx. It is an object of one aspect of the invention to provide an improved seal around the circumference of the laryngeal inlet.


One embodiment is a method of dynamically adjusting a rate at which a dynamic random access memory (“DRAM”) module is refreshed in a computer system. The method comprises monitoring a plurality of system conditions; detecting a change in at least one of the monitored system conditions; responsive to the detection, determining an optimum refresh rate for a current state of the computer system; and setting the refresh rate to the determined optimum refresh rate.

It is common knowledge that Dynamic Random Access Memory ("DRAM") modules are comprised of capacitive electrical cells that leak their charge out over time. As a result, DRAM cells must be recharged, or "refreshed", thousands of times per second or they lose their data. Reading from or writing to a DRAM cell refreshes its charge, so a common way of refreshing a DRAM is to read periodically from each cell. This is typically accomplished by only activating each row using Row Address Strobe or RAS. In addition, a DRAM cell controller takes care of scheduling the refresh cycles and making sure that they don't interfere with regular reads and writes. So to keep the data in DRAM module from leaking away, the cell controller periodically sweeps through all of the rows by cycling RAS repeatedly and placing a series of row addresses on the address bus.
Even though the cell controller handles all the refreshes and tries to schedule them for maximum performance, having to go through and refresh each row every few milliseconds can interfere with the performance of reads and writes and thus have a serious negative impact on the performance of the DRAM modules. Clearly, it is beneficial to overall system performance to reduce the amount of time spent refreshing DRAM cells.
The number of refresh cycles required to refresh an entire DRAM module depends on the number of rows of DRAM cells in that module; the more rows, the greater the number of cycles required to refresh the entire module. Therefore, one manner in which to reduce the amount of time spent refreshing DRAM modules is to reduce the number of rows in the module.
Another manner in which to reduce the amount of time spent refreshing DRAM modules is to adjust the refresh rate; that is, the frequency with which the modules are refreshed. Commonly, there is a feature in the Basic I/O System ("BIOS") of a computer system that allows a user to set the refresh rate of the DRAM modules. In one embodiment, BIOS supports three different refresh rate settings, as well as an "AUTO" option. If the AUTO option is selected, the BIOS queries the DRAM modules and uses the lowest setting found for maximum compatibility. Optimizing the refresh rate is important, yet difficult. Refreshing too often negatively impacts system performance, as indicated above; however, refreshing too infrequently can result in lost data.
It will be recognized that various conditions can affect the optimization of the refresh rate. These conditions include temperature, power consumption, altitude, air pressure, DRAM manufacturer, memory module loading locations, and bus utilization, to name a few. For simplicity, all such conditions will hereinafter be collectively referred to as "system conditions". As previously noted, the refresh rate is set during boot-up of a computer system and remains at that rate until the system is rebooted. In other words, currently, the refresh rate is not adaptable to changes in one or more of the above-noted system conditions during use of the system. For example, a change in temperature may result in a need for a change in the refresh rate for system performance to be optimized; however, this current state of the art does not allow for this change to be made without the system being rebooted. As a result, previous solutions have been to either over-design the cooling system, which helps to prevent overheating of the DRAM modules under a variety of extreme heat conditions, but increases cost and energy consumption, or to permanently set the refresh rate at a high level (i.e., more refreshes per unit time), which negatively impacts system performance.

Method and system for dynamically adjusting DRAM refresh rate

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A method for selecting an attack pose, when loading piled materials, for a working machine having a bucket includes acquiring three dimensional pile data, generating a set of attack poses, generating a bucket trajectory through the pile for each attack pose, for each attack pose in the set of attack poses, calculating a measure of a convexity of the pile surface for an area of the pile surface delimited by a bucket width and a vertical projection of the bucket trajectory, and selecting an attack pose based on the measure of convexity.

The present invention relates to a method for selecting an attack pose for a working machine having a bucket, such as a wheel loader. In particular the present invention relates to a method which evaluates a set of possible attack poses for assessing a loading condition of relevance for the potential filling rate of the bucket. The invention also relates to a method of loading a bucket by use of said method for selecting an attack pose and a corresponding bucket trajectory.
Automatic handling of heterogeneous piled materials is a core component in many construction and mining applications. A typical work cycle of an autonomous wheel loader working in these applications consists of or comprises three repeated tasks: loading, hauling, and dumping. Hauling between the load and dump points can be handled in a number of ways, whether by GPS-waypoint following, or some more flexible approach from the rich literature on mobile-robot navigation. Dumping is relatively straightforward and can, in principle, be performed with preprogrammed motions. Efficient loading is a harder problem than the dumping sequence, and no practical solution for fully autonomous vehicles exists today. For economical and environmental reasons, it is important that the bucket is filled maximally in each load cycle and that the mechanical stress on the machine is minimized. When an automated wheel loader approaches a gravel pile, then, it should evaluate potential attack poses; i.e., positions and orientations at which it is efficient to approach the pile. Also, when used as an operator support function, the same functionality is important to evaluate any potential attack pose and inform the user about the quality of choice.
An example of a prior art method for determining an excavation strategy is presented in U.S. Pat. No. 6,167,336. According to the method a concavity measure is determined by assessing a quota of the volume inside a bucket divided by the total bucket volume. The measure is determined based on the volume in the bucket when the front corners of the bucket touches the pile. Hence a very limited information of the pile is considered for the determination of this concavity measure. Since filling of the bucket is determined by the shape of the pile along the whole trajectory of the bucket through the pile, it is apparent that the measure cannot be used to separate between poor and good trajectories in a real pile. This approach is further quite sensitive to the point sampling of the pile, especially at places that are only mildly convex. Because only a small part of the bucket model enters the pile when the front corners touch the edge, it can easily happen that a high value is obtained even when the bucket enters the pile perpendicularly.
Another example of a method for assessing the quality of an attack pose is provided in "Planning of scooping position and approach path for loading operation by wheel loader", Shigeru Sarata, et. al., 22nd International Symposium on Automation and Robotics in Construction ISARC 2005—Sep. 11-14, 2005, Ferrara (Italy).
In this paper the shape of the pile at a trajectory of the bucket through the pile is considered. The method uses an approach where a value related to the torque around the center of the bucket is calculated and used as a parameter for determining the quality of an attack pose. It is apparent that important information is lost by the proposed method, since the load distribution cannot be derived from the studied torque measure.
It is desirable to provide an improved method for selecting an attack pose which enables provision of high fill rates of the bucket.
A method according to an aspect of the present invention includes the steps of: acquiring three dimensional pile data, generating a set of attack poses; and generating a bucket trajectory through the pile for each attack pose. The acquiring of the pile data can be performed by a use of a 3D range sensor.
The set of generated attack poses and corresponding bucket trajectories are possible attacks. Among the set of attack poses and bucket trajectories one will be selected at each loading operation. After a loading operation is performed, new pile data will be retrieved, a new set of attack poses and bucket trajectories will be determined for enabling selection of an actual bucket trajectory and a corresponding attack pose to be executed.
The method further includes the steps of for each attack pose in said set of attack poses, calculating a measure of a convexity of the pile surface for an area of the pile delimited by a bucked width and a vertical projection of the bucket trajectory, and selecting an attack pose based on said measure of convexity.
An attack pose consists of or comprises an angle of attack of the bucket and a position for the attack. The angle of attack is an angle of the bucket with reference to a negative surface normal, which is a normal pointing inwardly into the pile, hence in the same direction as the attack of the bucket into the pile at the position of attack. The position of the attack is considered to be the point of the pile at which the middle of the bucket in a lateral direction makes contact with the pile.
By considering the convexity of the area of the pile for an area at the surface of the pile delimited by the bucked width and vertical projection of the trajectory, a measure which has a substantial impact on the filling rate of the bucket is evaluated. It is apparent that cross-sections of the pile transverse to the bucket trajectory having a convex shape will assist in providing a bucket load having a convex shape. This is different from the known prior art which do not consider the shape of the pile along the bucket trajectory and therefore cannot be used to determine the convexity of the pile in the relevant area.
In an embodiment of the invention the convexity measure is determined by determining sweep volumes of segments of said bucket. A sweep volume is a volume of the pile within a sweep area at the surface of the pile defined by a width of a segment of the bucket and length extension of the bucket trajectory, that is the vertical projection of the bucket trajectory. The bucket trajectory is the trajectory which the bucket is intended to propagate through the pile in the event the bucket trajectory is selected for execution. The method further comprises the step of calculating said measure of convexity based on said sweep volumes of segments of said bucket.
Specifically the segments may include a central segment, a right wing segment and a left wing segment. The measure of convexity may be calculated based on a comparison between the sweep volumes of the left wing segment, the right wing segment and the central segment.
In an embodiment the width of the bucket is separated into three segments of equal width. Here the measure of convexity may be calculated as CC=(Vc/max(Vr, Vl))−1.
Optionally, a side load measure may additionally be determined for each attack pose. The attack pose may be selected in dependence of the measure of convexity and the side load measure. The side load measure may be based on a comparison between the volumes of the left and right wing segments. The side load measure may be calculated as CS=(abs(Vr−Vl))/(Vr+Vl).
The pile data may be retrieved by retrieving 3D point cloud from a sensor and separating said 3D point cloud into ground data and said three dimensional pile data.
Optionally a ground plane may be fitted to the ground data.
Optionally potential attack poses may be selected among scan points in the vicinity of and preferably at the border of the pile, wherein orientations of the attack pose is selected within a range of less than 20° deviation from a border normal.
Optionally, the sweep volumes are calculated from the ground plane to a pile surface.
Optionally, the sweep volumes are calculated from the trajectory to a pile surface.
In an alternative embodiment, a surface may be fitted to three dimensional pile data within an area defined by a width of the bucket and said bucket trajectory, and the measure of a convexity may be calculated from said surface.
Such an alternative embodiment may include the process steps of:                fitting a quadratic polynomial: zr=axr2+bxryr+cyr2+dxr+eyrto said three dimensional pile data within the area defined by a width of the bucket and said bucket trajectory; and        determining said measure of convexity from said factor a.
The method may optionally include the steps of:                fitting a plane to the three dimensional pile data within an area defined by a width of the bucket and said bucket trajectory;        constructing a rotated principal frame from a ground frame being rotated around the surface normal of said plane;        mapping the three dimensional pile data into the rotated principal frame.
Optionally, a measure of side load may be determined from said factor d.
The invention also relates to a method for loading a bucket by use of a construction machine having a bucket, a sensor system for detecting three dimensional pile data, and an automated steering system for enabling propagation of the bucket along a bucket trajectory in a pile, said method including selection of an attack pose and a corresponding bucket trajectory by use of a method for selecting an attack pose as described above and control of the construction machine to position the bucket at said selected attack pose and to run said bucket along said selected bucket trajectory in order to optimize the filling of the bucket. This method is suitable for automatic handling of heterogeneous piled materials by an autonomous wheel loader

Method for selecting an attack pose for a working machine having a bucket


A headliner for mounting in the passenger compartment of a vehicle is formed from a plurality of layers of materials including foamed polyurethane, fiber glass, scrim and remay. The layers are bonded together under heat and pressure which cures an incorporated adhesive.

Headliners for vehicles are conventionally fiber glass or multi-layered laminated panels incorporating fiber glass and foam resin layers. The fiber glass or layers are placed between mirror image mold surfaces, compressed, heated to cure an incorporated resin adhesive, and then cut to shape at their periphery. Sometimes apertures for window openings, light fixtures, sun visors and the like are cut after molding. More often than not, in the assembly of the vehicle the headliner is inserted through the front window before the windshield is mounted. The typical headliner is concave downward and is sufficiently rigid to hold its shape when mounted along its side edges and with the central part of the headliner juxtaposed to the roof.
Various problems exist in the assembly of the headliner and one of those problems is that the headliner includes a decorative layer as the exposed surface visible to the passengers. Any folds, bends or blemishes in the visible surface creates a problem for one marketing the vehicle. As a practical matter, it is unacceptable to have exposed blemishes.
The headliner serves three other functions in addition to aesthetics which may be at odds with the concern for exposed blemishes. One problem is to provide a soft surface to minimize injury with head bumps. Fiber glass headliners are hard as are conventional headliners incorporating foamed resin. The only cushioning is in the decorative fabric. A second function is insulation from heat between the roof of the car and the interior or passenger compartment. The third function is sound insulation from exterior wind noise, engine noise, and the like.
A common solution to the problem of heat and noise insulation is the use of foamed resin layers in the headliner. The foamed resin is a better heat and sound barrier than resin impregnated fiber glass. Unfortunately, the foamed resin used is of the "closed cell" variety which includes a plurality of bubbles throughout the resin and a sealed skin surface on the surface of the resin layer. Foamed resin is initially quite rigid and with a sealed skin coating it will be even more rigid. Therefore, when the headliner must be bent or folded out of its original molded shape to get it into the proper position for installation in the vehicle it will often crack and/or rupture bubbles within the foamed layer itself. This often leaves a crease in the headliner which will be visible through the fabric. That is also true of fiber glass headliners. This exposed crease problem makes the flawed headliner unusable from a practical standpoint. As a consequence of the problem, the size of the windshield opening will often be dictated by the size of the headliner which must be inserted (whether the car manufacturer knows it or not).
The patent to Steward et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,211,590, discloses a process for manufacturing a headliner for a passenger vehicle and the laminated contoured headliner includes one or more foamed resin thermoplastic layers of the closed cell variety sandwiched between a pair of rigid thermoplastic skin coats.
The patent to Harayama et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,721,643, discloses another process for making a headliner and it too discloses a thermoplastic foamed resin layer of closed cells. The disclosure includes a laminate of a plurality of layers but all are structured so that there is a surface skin layer at each boundary of each foamed resin layer which inherently makes for rigidity and crease problems in assembling the headliner.
The patent to Landler et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,478,660, discloses a different laminate and different process for making a foamed plastic layer in a decorative panel but it is even more rigid because of the incorporation of a hardenable resin mixed with wood dust filler in one layer.
The patent to Breitscheidel et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,826,552, discloses a process for making a panel using an elastomeric, fiber glass reinforced, foam and a polymer substrate. It is clear from a reading of the patent that the rigidity of the resulting panel would make it inappropriate for a headliner.
The product on the market which is currently being used for headliners which is similar to the instant invention is a laminated panel which includes a decorative fabric layer for its exposed surface and the fabric is bonded directly to a closed cell foamed resin layer, the layer being coated on both sides with a hard resin skin. The next layer is a fiber glass mat which is sandwiched between the aforementioned foamed resin layer and another which is essentially identical. The backing layer is scrim. In both cases the closed cell foam used is coated on both sides and has an industry designation "120 ILD". The panel is relatively rigid and a fold will result in a permanent crease clearly visible through the fabric layer.


An occupant knee protection apparatus for a vehicle includes a knee airbag 11 disposed in front of a knee portion B1, B2 of an occupant and configured to expand and deploy toward the knee portion B1, B2 of the occupant upon collision of the vehicle to thereby protect the knee portion B1, B2 of the occupant. The knee airbag 11 is attached to a panel 21 capable of absorbing energy. The panel 21 is connected to a support member of the vehicle; that is, an instrument-panel reinforcement 23, via brackets 22 capable of absorbing energy. The panel 21 is disposed in front of the knee portion B1 of the occupant at a vertical position where the knee portion B1 of the occupant can come into contact with the panel 21 when the occupant has a small build as compared with a standard build. The brackets 22 are disposed in front of the knee portion B2 of the occupant at a vertical position where the knee portion B2 of the occupant can come into contact with the brackets 22 when the occupant has the standard build or a large build as compared with the standard build.

An occupant knee protection apparatus for a vehicle of such a type is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (kokai) No. H9-123863. The patent publication discloses a leg protection apparatus in which a knee airbag module is connected to a reinforcement member within a vehicle by means of a bracket having a weakened portion that absorbs impact force through deformation.
In the leg protection apparatus of the above-mentioned patent publication, upon collision of the vehicle, the knee airbag expands and deploys toward a knee portion of an occupant to thereby receive an impact load of the knee portion of the occupant. Further, the bracket can receive a portion of the load which the knee airbag has failed to receive. However, the leg protection apparatus cannot sufficiently cope with variations in knee position or load stemming from variation in physique among possible occupants, and fails to optimally absorb energy.

Occupant knee protection device for vehicle


A method for determining correction during steering of a point on an object towed by a towing device, the object point, toward a target position, the object being provided with a bird, including the steps of determining a target position; determining the position of the object point, determining the speed and acceleration of the object point and directions of these and thereby determining an inline direction; determining whether the inline is directed toward the target position and if it deviates from the desired direction, determining a distance vector between the object point and the target position; calculating the object point distance, speed and acceleration components at least in the lateral direction or the vertical direction; and transferring values for the components to a control system for the corresponding bird.

This invention relates to a method for determining correction during steering of a point on a towed object toward a target position. More particularly it concerns a method for determining correction during steering of a point on an on a towing device towed object, the object point, toward a target position, the object being provided with a rudder.
In the following a desired towing direction, such as between two target positions following each other, is called direction of motion, while the actual direction of motion of an object point is called inline, an in the horizontal plane relative to the inline lateral direction is called lateral direction, while a direction perpendicular to the horizontal plane is called vertical direction.
During towing of an object in a fluid such as water, it may be necessary to see provide for an object point to be in a certain position at a certain point in schedule. This is achieved according to prior art by controlling speed and direction at the same time as compensation is made for drift that may be caused by current, wind or other conditions.
If many points on a flexible object are to be controlled, as is necessary when towing such as long, seismic cables, it may be necessary to control these points individually in the lateral and vertical directions.
It is known to provide seismic cables with birds (well known technical term for rudder in the art) distributed along the length of the cables, and where each bird may be controlled from such as a towing vessel. A cable may be provided with one set of birds for vertical control and one set of birds for lateral control, but this is no requirement.
Thus UK document 2364388 describes a method for repetition of seismic measurements wherein both seismic source and receivers are controlled. The method comprises calculating where a predetermined point along the seismic cable shall be positioned for future firing of the source. However, the document does not describe how this shall be achieved.
NO document 20063819 deals with systems and a method for positioning of a centre of a marine seismic source or the like. The towing vessel is automatically controlled to hold the centre in a desired path. 3D coordinate and conventional PID control system is used for control of the vessel. The desired positions that each object point in succession shall be positioned in, may be constituted by points on a curve that the cable is to follow, or by other predetermined positions.
Experience has shown that prior art does not provide correction of the birds with the desired accuracy.
The object of the invention is to remedy or reduce at least one of the disadvantages of the prior art or at least provide a useful alternative to the prior art.
The object is achieved in accordance with the invention by the features disclosed in the below description and in the subsequent claims.
There is provided a method to determine correction during steering of at least a point on an object towed by a towing device, the object point, toward a target position, the object being provided with a bird, and wherein the method comprises:                determining at least a target position;        determining at least the position of an object point;        determining at least the speed and acceleration of an object point and also their directions thereby determining at least an inline direction;        determining if the inline is directed toward the target position, and, if it deviates from the desired direction,        determining a distance vector between the object point and the target position;        determining the distance, speed and acceleration components of an object point at least in the lateral direction or vertical direction; and        transferring the values of said components to a control system for one or more corresponding birds.
The desired towing route for an object point is decided as a series of successive discrete points. Each of these points as a waypoint or relative point in relation to for example a towing vessel. The target position for steering of the object point is typically chosen at a distance adequate for there being time enough to perform steering before the target position is passed, for example 30 seconds.
The position of a corresponding object point is determined in a per se known manner at a point in time by means of GPS combined with compass and triangular and/or trilateral acoustic measurements.
A position vector may represent the difference in position between the object point position and the target position.
The direction of the relevant inline of the object point is determined for example by comparing earlier positions for the object point or by means of accelerometer and directional measurements in the object point.
If the relevant inline is directed toward the target position, then no correction is made. If the inline is not directed toward the target position, then the relevant position vector, the current speed and accelerations of components in lateral and vertical directions respectively are decomposed, whereafter the values of these components are transferred to a control system for the corresponding bird.
The method may further comprise:                estimating the distance from the object point to the target position at a later point in time, at least in the lateral direction or the vertical direction, based on the calculated distance, speed and acceleration components; and        transferring the value for the distance to a control system for a corresponding bird.
Estimated positions at several later points in time on the way forward toward the target position may profitably be transferred to the control system to give the control system an improved correction basis for its calculations.
The method may further comprise:                determining the time taken before the object is at the target position in the inline direction;        determining the necessary acceleration at least in the lateral direction or the vertical direction to correct the direction of the inline;        transferring at least one acceleration value to a control system for the corresponding bird; and        checking after a certain time whether the correction is adequate.
Speed and acceleration in the inline direction are controlled by the towing device and are not influenced by the bird or birds.
The time taken before the object point passes the target position is equal to the distance in the direction of movement between the object point and the target position divided by the speed of the towing device in the direction of movement.
At the same time it is desirable that the orientation of the object point is changed to pass through the desired position, being obtained by supplying the object point with the necessary accelerating forces in the lateral direction and in the vertical direction.
The distance the object point has to be displaced in the lateral direction is decided by the position vector component in the lateral direction, St.
      s    t    =                    v        t                  t        +                            a          t                2                          t        2            wherein t is the time available before the waypoint is passed, vt is current speed in the lateral direction and at is current acceleration in the lateral direction.
The necessary total acceleration that must be present in the object point in the lateral direction to balance the distance st in the time t is given by:
  a  =                                          v            t                              t                -                  s          t                            t        2              *    2
Information about the necessary acceleration is transferred to the control system for the relevant bird so that the control system calculates the necessary change in bird deflection based on known principles for control engineering and among other things design data for bird and mass in the equipment point.
After a certain time being considerably less than t, the operation is repeated to check that the correction is adequate.
The method may further comprise calculating, based on current position, speed, acceleration and masses, the force that must be applied to the object point to achieve the desired acceleration, and to transfer the value of said force to the control system for the corresponding bird.
In a corresponding way the object point may also be controlled in the vertical direction.
The method according to the invention also provides, by means of relatively simple means, an improvement in the control precision for towed objects. This is particularly favourable in seismic measuring wherein multiple parallel long cables is often used involving a danger of entanglement.
In the drawing the reference numerals 1, 2 and 4 indicate several discrete target positions for an object point 6 where the target positions 1, 2 and 4 are on a predetermined curve 8. The current direction of movement 9 is made up of a straight line between the target positions 2 and 4.
FIG. 1 is simplified in that it does not show components in the vertical direction, but corresponding relations like the ones explained below are also valid in the vertical direction.
The object point 6 is towed by a not shown towing device and is positioned close to a bird 10. The object point 6 has an inline 12. A line in the plane in perpendicular direction relative to the inline 12 is called lateral direction 14. A distance vector 16 shows the current distance between the object point 6 and the target position 4 constituting the current target position.
The distance st between the inline 12 and the target position 4 gives the component of the distance vector 16 in the lateral direction 14.
The direction of the inline 12 is determined in a per se known manner based on earlier position measurements whereof one is carried out in position 18.
The distance st and also a not shown distance in the vertical direction is transferred to a not shown control system for the bird 10 which adjusts the bird 10 to achieve the desired change of direction of the inline 12.
While the invention has been described with a certain degree of particularity, it is manifest that many changes may be made in the details of construction and the arrangement of components without departing from the spirit and scope of this disclosure. It is understood that the invention is not limited to the embodiments set forth herein for purposes of exemplification, but is limited only by the scope of the attached claims, including the full range of equivalency to which each element thereof is entitled.

Method for determining correction under steering of a point on a towed object towards a goal position


The Printed Circuit Board Assembly Extraction Tool is designed to provide a method for removing Printed Circuit Board Assemblies from card file assemblies. The Extraction Tool is provided with a rubber bumper that protects the card file designation strip from damage during the extraction process. Also provided is an handle design that accommodates spare rubber bumpers. The handle also provides a way to remove PCBA's from the card file directly above panels by inclusion of a 15.degree. offset in the handle design. The Extraction Tool design allows transfer of the extraction force to the same direction as PCBA removal. Finally, a channel is provided that acts to automatically deactivate card retainer strips while using the tool.

Today's large computing facility or telephone central office systems are generally constructed from several frames of equipment. Electrical functions or sub units are provided in increments of card files mounted within the frame. From time to time removal of Printed Circuit Board Assemblies (PCBA) is required to accomplish various functions. For example, an existing PCBA may be replaced by an improved version offering superior operating characteristics. Another example is replacement of a PCBA that has been diagnosed as defective. Insertion of the new PCBA must be preceded by removal of the old or existing PCBA.
Existing extraction tools have several negative side effects. First, use of existing extractor tools causes damage to the card file designation strips. Designation strips are used to denote which PCBA's are to be equipped in a given slot. Second, existing extraction tools are designed in a manner that exerts the applied removal force in a direction that opposes PCBA removal. Due to the existing tool design the PCBA is forced upward instead of outward. The tool works against the handle to remove the PCBA from the card file connector. As the force is applied upward, unnecessary force is exerted on the handle causing it to become loose. Also, existing tools cannot be used on PCBA's directly above the fuse panel. Lastly, some card file contains a built in card retainer made of mylar. Use of existing tools require manual deactivation or displacement of the mylar card retainer.
Therefore it is the objective of the present invention to provide an improved PCBA Extraction Tool. Such a new tool eliminates the negative side effects of PCBA removal while providing the basic removal function gracefully by its focus on providing proper force location and direction.

Printed circuit board assembly extractor tool


A focus acquisition servo system and method which speeds the acquisition process by focusing on the recording media of an optical disk while the disk is coming up to speed. Focus is accomplished by jumping the focus actuator from a start position close to the focus position and by ramping the focus actuator away from the surface of the disk while monitoring focus gain. When the focus gain reaches a peak amplitude the disk is in rough focus, ramping is stopped and the focus servo system is activated to lock the focus actuator onto a fine focus on the disk's recording media.

Storage systems that use optical disks as the storage media lose time when access to the recorded data waits upon the optical focusing servomechanism to acquire focus onto the recording surface of the spinning optical disk.
A patent of interest for its teachings relevant to the state of the art is U.S. Pat. No. 4,497,047 entitled "Optical Disk Player with Focus Control During Search Mode" by K. Fujiie et al. The focusing control system of the patent responds to the need of quickly acquiring focus when shifting transversely across a plurality of tracks to a new read position. The system reduces the gain of the focusing servo but maintains servo control at a defocused level such that the servo control system does not have to commence the acquisition of focus at the new read position from a start or reference position. Additionally, if a sharp focus was to be maintained as the objective lens moved in the traverse manner across the recording tracks it would be subjected to vibratory movements as the servo mechanism attempted to lock onto the different refelective patterns that passed through the field of view of the lens as it was moved to the new read position.
Another patent of interest is U.S. Pat. No. 4,512,003 entitled "Control Circuitry for Preliminary Focusing of Light on a Record Medium Surface in an Optical Reproducing Apparatus" by S. Kimura et al. The apparatus of the patent uses a preliminary focusing signal which is derived from a signal generator such that a first polarity signal, that varies rapidly at one polarity and then varies slowly towards a second predetermined level of opposite polarity, creates a zero crossover point corresponding to a preliminary focus point for the servo system. Once preliminary focusing is achieved, the system shifts into the second level of focus utilizing a focus error signal generated by the focusing servo.
A third patent of interest is U.S. Pat. No. 4,677,605 entitled "Focus Acquisition and Maintenance for Optical Disk System" by M. Abed. In the system of that patent there is also disclosed a two-level focusing technique which utilizes the asymmetrical properties of a light beam reflected from the surface of the recording disk onto a quad detector wherein the electrical signals resulting therefrom are compared against a threshold value as the objective lens is driven towards a focusing position and when the electrical signals'value compares to a known threshold value, indicating a coarse focus, the system is switched to a fine focus servo configuration so that the fine focus can be achieved. Additionally, in column 8, lines 41-49, it is mentioned that the method of the invention is used to avoid a false focus on the overcoat layer of the optical disk. This is accomplished by having the objective lens relatively close to the disk or focused behind the disk and as the objective lens is ramped away from the disk the first legitimate focus appears on the recording material and not on the overcoat layer. In this manner a false focus is averted.
A fourth patent of interest is U.S. Pat. No. 4,396,959 entitiled "Data Transducer Position Control System for Rotating Disk Data Storage Equipment" by J. N. Harrison et al. The system of that patent uses wide-driving pulses to quickly move an optical head across many tracks when the track to be focused on is located a considerable distance from the optical head's initial position.

Focus acquisition servo system and associated method


An actuator, a remote triggering apparatus, a governor, and an elevator. The actuator includes: a mandrel, the mandrel having a proximal end and a distal end, and the mandrel being driven to move from a contraction position toward an actuation position; a mandrel sleeve; and a shell, the shell defining a channel, wherein the actuator further includes at least one sliding member, and when the mandrel moves from the contraction position toward the actuation position, the at least one sliding member is located at a first radial position where the mandrel is joined to the mandrel sleeve, such that the mandrel sleeve can move along the channel together with the mandrel; and wherein at the actuation position, the at least one sliding member moves outward radially to a second radial position where the mandrel sleeve is joined to the shell, thus locking the mandrel sleeve.

With the development of technologies for governor assemblies of elevators, new Car Mounted Governor (CMG) assemblies are more widely applied. Compared with a conventional governor assembly with or without a machine room, the car mounted governor assembly has a more compact structure. The US Patent Publication No. US2013/0098711A1 published by Aguado et al. on Apr. 25, 2013 has disclosed a governor assembly. In such a governor assembly, when a rotating speed of a sheave exceeds a certain value, a centrifugal mechanism that rotates together with the sheave is triggered such that the sheave drives a core ring related to a safety apparatus to rotate, thereby triggering the governor assembly, including triggering a safety switch to stop supplying power and enabling the safety apparatus to generate mechanical friction with a channel to brake a car. The patent is incorporated here by reference in its entirety. In such a car mounted governor assembly, the governor assembly further includes a remote triggering apparatus. The remote triggering apparatus can be controlled actively to act on the centrifugal mechanism, such that the governor assembly can be triggered actively even that the car is not stalled, so as to achieve an objective such as testing. The existing remote triggering apparatus is mainly composed of an electromagnet, and a tail end of a column of the electromagnet directly acts on the centrifugal mechanism that is generally made of plastic.
In the past applications, the CMG is generally applied to low-speed elevators. The Chinese Utility Model Patent No. ZL201621141734.2 submitted by the Otis Elevator Company on Oct. 20, 2016 and entitled "REMOTE TRIGGERING APPARATUS, GOVERNOR ASSEMBLY, AND ELEVATOR" has disclosed a remote triggering apparatus. A contact having a smooth transition surface is adopted in the remote triggering apparatus, for attempting to apply the CMG to a high-speed elevator. The patent is incorporated here by reference in its entirety.

Actuator, remote triggering device, governor assembly and elevator


A semiconductor memory device includes a memory cell, a word line, a bit line, a column gate, and a power supply decode circuit. The memory cell has a first MOS transistor including a charge accumulation layer and a control gate. The bit line is connected to a drain of the first MOS transistor and is applied with first voltage at the test operation time and at data program operation time. The column gate includes a second MOS transistor having current path connected to the bit line to transfer the first voltage to the bit line at the test operation time. The power supply decode circuit applies a second voltage to a gate of the second MOS transistor at the program operation time and applies a third voltage lower than the second voltage at the test operation time.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a semiconductor memory device and a test method thereof and, for example, to a semiconductor memory having stacked gate including charge accumulation layer and control gate.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a NOR flash memory is known as an electrically data rewritable nonvolatile semiconductor memory. In the NOR flash memory, a drain stress test is made before shipment in order to attain the high reliability of the operation thereof. The drain stress test is to apply voltage to the drain of the memory cell and check whether a leakage of charges occurs or not.
Conventionally, a method of applying program voltage at the drain stress test time to a bit line by use of the same path as that used at the normal program time in order to make the drain stress test is proposed in Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2005-310303, for example. However, with the configuration disclosed in the above Publication, there occurs a problem that the potential of a bit line is lowered if a failure in which another bit line is shorted to ground potential occurs, for example. The reason is that the conductive resistance of the column gate is low.

Semiconductor memory device having stacked gate including charge accumulation layer and control gate and test method thereof