A Bulk Acoustic Wave (BAW) filter, comprising at least one resonator structure that is disposed over a substrate, and an acoustic mirror that is disposed over the resonator structure. The acoustic mirror includes a plurality of layers. The acoustic mirror substantially isolates acoustic vibrations produced by the resonator from reaching beyond an upper surface of the acoustic mirror. The acoustic mirror also prevents environmental contaminants from coming into contact with the resonator. Also disclosed are surface-mountable BAW components.

It is known in the art to use Surface Mount Technology (SMT) to assemble integrated circuits. The performance of this technology involves various steps including, by example, the application of solder cream to a substrate, the placement of circuit components on the substrate, soldering, and cleaning. During the performance of these steps, the circuit components often need to be protected from, by example, solder, solvents, or other types of materials that can contaminate these components during the assembly process.
The need for using miniature and high performance filters in wireless communication devices has led to the widespread usage of Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) filters. As is known by those having skill in the art, layer surfaces of SAW filters typically need to be protected from external contaminants during assembly and subsequent use. One known method of protecting these layer surfaces during assembly includes assembling the filters using, for example, flip-chip technology in a hermetic environment. As can be appreciated, this technique can be tedious to perform.
Another known method of protecting layer surfaces of SAW filters includes packaging the SAW filters in hermetically sealed ceramic packages. After being packaged in this manner, the SAW filters can then be surface mounted to a circuit board. Unfortunately, this technique tends to be expensive, as packaging costs can contribute considerably to overall fabrication costs.
Fortunately, the drawbacks associated with using hermetically sealed ceramic packaging and/or hermetic environments can be avoided by using another type of high performance acoustic filter, namely a Bulk Acoustic Wave (BAW) filter. BAW filters typically include several BAW resonators. In a BAW filter, acoustic waves propagate in a direction that is perpendicular to the filter's layer surfaces. In contrast, acoustic waves which propagate within a SAW filter do so in a direction that is parallel to the layer surfaces of the filter. As a result, and as may be appreciated by those who are skilled in the art, the performance of a SAW filter is likely to be more detrimentally effected when its layer surfaces are contaminated or otherwise impaired by external elements than would be the performance of a BAW filter that experiences similar contamination.
BAW filters can be fabricated to include various known types of BAW resonators. These known types of BAW resonators comprise three basic portions. A first one of the portions, which is used to generate acoustic waves, includes an acoustically-active piezoelectric layer. This layer may comprise, by example, zinc-oxide (ZnO), aluminum nitride (AlN), zinc-sulfur (ZnS), or any other suitable piezoelectric material that can be fabricated as a thin film. A second one of the portions includes electrodes that are formed on opposite sides of the piezoelectric layer. A third portion of the BAW resonator includes a mechanism for acoustically isolating the substrate from vibrations produced by the piezoelectric layer. BAW resonators are typically fabricated on silicon, gallium arsenide, or glass substrates using thin film technology (e.g., sputtering, chemical vapor deposition, etc.). BAW resonators exhibit series and parallel resonances that are similar to those of, by example, crystal resonators. Resonant frequencies of BAW resonators can typically range from about 0.5 GH to 5 GHz, depending on the layer thicknesses of the devices.
As can be appreciated by those who are skilled in the art, at least some of the layers that form BAW filters may be exposed to the air. If a contaminating or otherwise harmful external material comes into contact with any of these layers, the performance of the BAW filters can become degraded. In order to avoid this problem, these layers are typically protected using a semi-hermetic packaging. Unfortunately, the costs of using semi-hermetic packaging can be high. Thus, it would be desirable to provide a novel, inexpensive technique for protecting these surfaces. It would also be desirable to fabricate BAW filters in a manner so as to provide interfaces for reflecting acoustic waves that replace the layer and air interfaces of known types of BAW filters.

Bulk acoustic wave (BAW) filter having a top portion that includes a protective acoustic mirror


The present disclosure provides a coupling system for coupling a medical accessory to an accessory support is provided. The present disclosure also provides a system for powering a medical accessory with an accessory support.

Accessory supports are used in the medical field and may support intravenous fluid containers. In some instances, accessory supports may be used to support other medical accessories that assist with patient care. By way of non-limiting example, medical accessories may include an infusion pump, a line coupler assembly, an oxygen bottle holder, a fluid warmer, a monitor, a respirator, a physiological sensor, and an oxygen bottle.
Caregivers, such as nurses, are often required to transfer medical accessories from one accessory support to another accessory support as a patient travels to various locations within a healthcare facility. Furthermore, movement of the patient in a wheelchair or bed with the attached accessory support can be cumbersome.
A system that overcomes one or more of the aforementioned challenges is desired.

Accessory support and coupling systems for an accessory support


An access door is provided in a housing for a gas turbine engine, with the access door being movable to an access position independent of any required movement of any cowl door or a fan duct door.

This application relates to an access door provided in an inner housing of a gas turbine engine to provide access to internal components, without the need to open the cowl or fan duct doors.
Gas turbine engines are known, and often include a fan delivering air to a compressor. Air is compressed in the compressor and delivered downstream to be mixed with fuel and combusted in a combustion section. Products of this combustion pass over turbine rotors, and drive the turbine rotors to rotate. A portion of the air delivered by the fan passes into a bypass duct about an engine core and is not delivered to the compressor. This air provides the majority of thrust for such a gas turbine engine.
A nacelle surrounds the fan, and defines the bypass duct with an inner housing. The inner housing surrounds the engine core. Typically fan cowl doors, and fan duct/thrust reverser doors (hereafter "fan duct doors") are provided in the nacelle. These doors may be pivoted to an open position to provide access to the inner components in the inner housing. Typically, when these doors pivot, they carry a portion of the internal housing to provide access to the internal components. Thus, to provide access to internal components, the fan cowl doors, or the fan duct doors must be pivoted to an open position. This is somewhat cumbersome and time consuming, particularly when required for routine maintenance to an internal component such as the gear box or an electrical generator.
Locally positioned small access doors are incorporated into gas turbine engines to facilitate simple maintenance such as filling oil tanks or reading visual indications of an electrical generator oil level. However, these access doors have not been sufficiently large to allow maintenance such as removal or replacement of an auxiliary gear box or an electrical generator.

Access door for gas turbine engine components


A syringe comprises a barrel with a plunger in slidable and sealing engagement therein, and a needle attached to one end of the barrel. The barrel has an aspiration device in the form of manually-operable resilient portions, which can be operated to cause a pressure differential in the barrel, the pressure differential then being used to perform aspiration. The resilient portions are preferably formed by localized reductions of wall thickness in the external surface of the barrel.

I. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a syringe having means to perform aspiration.
II. Description of Related Art
A conventional syringe has a barrel with a plunger in slidable and sealing engagement therein, and a needle attached to one end of the barrel. An injection using a conventional syringe is performed by inserting the needle of the syringe into a vial of injectant. The plunger of the syringe is then withdrawn while the user grips the barrel of the syringe with their other hand. This draws the injectant into the barrel of the syringe. The user may then check for any air bubbles in the injectant in the barrel, caused by air being inadvertently drawn into the barrel, and remove them in the usual way through the needle. The injection can then be performed.
The injection is administered by inserting the needle through the skin of a patient. It is necessary to check the position of the needle tip within the patient to ensure the injectant is delivered appropriately, such as to a muscle or into a blood vessel. This is achieved by aspiration of the syringe, which involves withdrawing the plunger a small amount once the needle is within the patient. This will cause the body material adjacent the needle tip to be drawn into the syringe barrel through the needle where the user can view it. Thus, if the injectant is intended for a blood vessel for example, if blood is drawn into the syringe then the needle tip is in the correct position for the injection to be delivered. If blood is not observed, the user would need to find an alternative injection site.
As can be appreciated, the aspiration procedure may be painful for the patient and also potentially hazardous. In particular, as the user is required to pull on the plunger while the needle is within a patient, this can cause unwanted movement of the needle tip, which may be painful. This is particularly so as, due to the seal the plunger needs to have with the barrel of the syringe, withdrawal of the plunger may require the application of a significant force thereby reducing the chance of keeping the syringe still. The position of the needle tip may also move during aspiration and therefore the injectant may not be delivered to the intended location. Thus, although the user may have thought that an appropriate injection site had been found by aspirating the syringe, the action of aspiration may cause the needle tip to move, which may render the injection ineffective or even dangerous to the health of the patient.

Syringe having a resilient part in order to facilitate an initial aspiration


The invention relates to a method for the purification of crude rice bran wax using an alcohol as a purifying solvent under high pressure conditions. It particularly relates to the use of ethyl alcohol as said solvent for efficient and economic purification of crude rice bran wax into economically valuable high purity wax products.

Rice is one of the most important crops in the world and India is second largest producer of it. The rice bran is a valuable by-product of the rice milling industry. It is recently used for preparing the edible rice bran oil as a valuable product. The bran contains about 12 to 25% oil component. Beside oil, the bran also contains about 5% waxy material called rice bran wax, which is by-product of rice bran oil refining process. The crude wax has certain low value applications; however if purified to certain higher degree it forms a valuable product as being used in cosmetics, polish and food preparations.
Chemically the rice bran wax is a heterogeneous product made up of saturated monoesters of long chain fatty acid [C-22 to C-26] and long chain fatty alcohols [C26 to C30]. After refining or purification the wax becomes a relatively homogenous mixture having physical characters like melting point between about 78° C. to 82° C., saponification value between about 70 to 120 units and iodine value between about 4 to 20 units. This purified rice bran wax then has many industrial applications like leather polishes, crayons, candles, shoe creams, paper coatings, carbon papers, lubricants etc. Other major applications are in food industry like in chocolate enrobes, vegetable coatings and wax emulsions for fruit preservation. It is further used in pharmaceuticals products like tablets, ointments, suppositories and cosmetic products like moisturizing lotions, lipsticks, skin creams etc.
In the prior art in one of the methods, the rice bran wax is purified or refined is by removing the residual oil from it by hydraulic pressing to maximum extent possible, followed by extracting it in solvents like isobutanol or isopropanol with water. These extractions are costly for recycling of isobutanol or isopropanol is expensive and efficiency of the process is limited. Beside that the several steps involved in purification make it complex. Also wax needs to be bleached after isopropanol or isobutanol extractions. As the crude rice bran wax contains about 10 to 20% resinous materials besides the oil, its removal greatly increases its value and applicability of purified final products. The disclosed invention describes a novel method of purification of crude rice bran wax to high purity waxes with minimum extraction steps using less quantity of solvent.


The present invention includes a first canister disposed within an intake air passage. The first canister communicates with a fuel tank via a second canister, so that a fuel vapor produced within the fuel tank can be purged by the second canister and further by the first canister. The second canister communicates with the intake air passage via a purge passage. The negative pressure within the intake air passage may be applied to the first and second canisters via the purge passage, so that the fuel vapor adsorbed by the first and second canisters can be desorbed or purged and can then be returned into the intake air passage.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to fuel vapor processing apparatus for processing fuel vapor that may be produced within a fuel tank.
2. Description of the Related Art
A known fuel vapor processing apparatus is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 6-74107. The fuel vapor processing apparatus of this known publication is shown in FIG. 5 and includes a main canister 101 and a sub canister 103 connected in series with each other via a throttle 102. The main canister 101 communicates with an upper chamber of a fuel tank T via a fuel vapor passage 105 on one hand, and communicates with an intake air passage 108 of an engine E via a purge passage 106 and a control valve 107 on the other hand. The sub canister 103 is open into the atmosphere via an atmospheric port 103p.
When the engine E is not started and is stopped, the control valve 107 is closed, and fuel vapor produced within the fuel tank T is introduced into the main canister 101 via the fuel vapor passage 105 so as to be adsorbed by an adsorption material K contained within the main canister 101. A part of the fuel vapor that has not been adsorbed within the main canister 101 is introduced into the sub canister 103 via the throttle 102 so as to be adsorbed by an adsorption material K contained within the sub canister 103. Therefore, the fuel vapor is prevented from dissipating into the atmosphere.
On the other hand, during the operation of the engine E, the control valve 107 is opened, so that a negative pressure within the intake air passage 108 is applied to the sub canister 103 via the main canister 101. Therefore, external air may enter the sub canister 103 via the atmospheric port 103p, so that the fuel vapor adsorbed by the adsorption material K within the sub canister 103 can be purged. In addition, the air that may flow into the main canister 101 via the throttle 102 can purge the fuel vapor adsorbed by the adsorption material K within the main canister 101. With the air flowing into the main canister 101, the purged fuel vapor is introduced into the intake air passage 108 via the purge passage 106.
According to the known fuel vapor processing apparatus, the fuel vapor adsorbed within the sub canister 103 is purged by the air that enters the sub canister 103 via the atmospheric port 103p and subsequently flows through the main canister 101 and the control valve 107. Therefore, if the control valve 107 is operated in a closing direction, for example, due to the control of the air-fuel ratio, during the operation of the engine E, the flow rate of the air entering the sub canister 103 via the atmospheric port 103p may be decreased. Hence, there is a possibility that the purging of the fuel vapor from within the sub canister 103 may not be effectively performed.
If the amount of the fuel vapor remaining within the sub canister 103 increases, there is a possibility that the fuel vapor is dissipated to the atmosphere via the atmospheric port 103p of the sub canister 103 when the engine E has stopped.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for fuel vapor processing apparatus that can prevent or minimize dissipation of fuel vapor into the atmosphere.


A cane holding apparatus and method for permitting a cane user to conveniently retain a cane free of the user's hands while maintaining the cane available for immediate use. A preferred embodiment of the cane holder apparatus includes a cane, hook-pile fastening material secured to the cane, a flexible panel adapted for being removably secured to a belt worn by the user, and loop-pile fastening means on the outerside of the worn panel for cooperating with the hook-pile fastening means on the cane for releasably securing the cane to the panel when the cane is placed to the panel with at least a portion of the hook-pile fastening material contacting at least a portion of the loop-pile fastening material.

This invention relates to a cane holding apparatus and method, and more particularly to an apparatus and method for permitting a cane user to conveniently retain a cane free of the user's hands while maintaining the cane ready for use.
A person who uses a cane for assistance in walking finds need, from time to time, to temporarily stow the cane so that he (or she) may use both hands free of the cane for performing other tasks, and in such manner that the cane is maintained available for immediate use. To rest the cane against a wall, table, counter or other support often results in awkward maneuvering of the cane, including the cane's slipping from its intended support and falling to the floor.
Although this problem is well known and long-standing, efforts toward its solution have resulted in such devices as a wrist strap with a detached loop cord for retaining the cane (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,958,758), or simply a looped wrist cord secured to the cane and/or in the vicinity of its handle or handgrip. Use of a wrist strap or wrist cord, however, does not provide a complete solution to the problem, since movement of one of the user's hands is constrained by virtue of the cane's attachment to the user's wrist.


A portable desk with a generator for providing electrical power to a computer or other electrical device that is collapsibly foldable to a compact form wherein successive sections comprise a back panel, a desk top panel hinged from the top edge of the back panel, two side panels hinged from the side edges of the back panel, two bottom panels hinged from the bottom edges of the side panels and two movable foot treadle panels hinged to the bottom edge of the back panel. The generator is removably attached to the top panel and is connected to the foot treadles so the generator is operated by actuating the foot treadles. The power generator comprises an electrical connection, such as a USB connector, for a computer or other electrical device.

The present invention relates to an inexpensive, foldable table having a manually operated generator for powering an electrical or electronic device and, more particularly, a computer.
Recently it has been proposed that inexpensive computers, including laptop computers, be made available to students and individuals around the world and particularly in "third world" countries. It is believed that the distribution of such computers would significantly help raise the literacy and educational levels in those countries, eventually resulting in an economic benefit to the country itself. This would particularly apply if the computers were capable of accessing the Internet. To that end, U.S. industry is currently implementing plans to manufacture and distribute such computers.
It appears then that the distribution of these computers would create a problem in that there may be few or no sources of electricity readily available for providing power for the computers, particularly in rural areas. Whatever power sources as may be available might be some distance away from where it is needed, requiring the computer operator to travel great distances in order to find a power source to operate the computer or charge the batteries. Multiple sources of electricity would be helpful, so that students could power their computers at home as well as school and in remote locations.
Accordingly, there arises a need for a lightweight, portable and inexpensive power source for powering computers in remote areas where electricity may not be available. Electrical sources such as solar panels and rechargeable storage batteries have obvious drawbacks. Both of these sources would be prohibitively costly, with the added problem that batteries might be too bulky and heavy, and not easily transported. Electrical generators operated by motors such as gasoline engines similarly would not be economical or portable.
Thus, there is a need for a source of electrical power generator that relies on manual operation. Because computers are operated by a user's hands, it is desirable that the generator be manually operated by the user's foot or feet.
There is also a need for a lightweight, portable and inexpensive table on which to place the computer during operation. Such table would need to be collapsible for ease of transporting.

Portable computer desk with power generator


A wireless mobile terminal determining a size of an advertised window depending on a current data rate of a wireless downlink transmission is provided. The wireless mobile terminal receives from a transmission control protocol (TCP) sender a data packet comprising a header portion and a payload portion; and determines the current data rate of the wireless downlink transmission to the wireless mobile terminal from signaling information contained in the header portion of the data packet; and determines the size of the advertised window depending on the current data rate of the wireless downlink transmission.

The invention is based on a priority application EP 04 290 907.7 which is hereby incorporated by reference.
The present invention relates to the field of wireless telecommunication systems and more particularly without limitation to the usage of the transmission control protocol (TCP) over wireless links.
The transmission control protocol (TCP) originally has been designed and tuned for networks composed of wired links and stationary hosts. However, usage of TCP in a mobile wireless environment has also been considered in the prior art (cf. TCP (transmission control protocol) over wireless links, Vehicular Technology Conference, 1997 IEEE 47th Chan, A. C. F.; Tsang, D. H. K.; Gupta, S. Pages: 1326-1330 vol. 3).
In an Ethernet LAN (IEEE 802.3), the Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection (CSMA/CD) protocol establishes how simultaneous transmissions (packet collisions) will be handled. In a WLAN, collision detection in this manner is not possible due to the fact that a station is not able to transmit and listen at the same time. To account for this difference, 802.11 uses a slightly different protocol known as Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance (CSMA/CA) or the Distributed Coordination Function (DCF). CSMA/CA is based on a "listen before transmit" policy and attempts to avoid packet collisions by using explicit packet acknowledgement (ACK), which means that an ACK packet is sent by the receiving station to confirm that a packet arrived intact.
CSMA/CA works by having the station that wishes to transmit senses the air and if there is no activity detected, the station will wait an additional random period of time and if there still is no activity, will transmit the data. If the packet is received intact, the receiving station will send an ACK frame that once it is received by the original sender the transmission is complete. If the ACK command is not received in a specified random period of time, the data packet will be resent, assuming that the original packet experienced a collision.
A particular problem is created by the "near-far" effect in WLAN systems. Such systems face the so called near-far problem; the presence of a remote user in the cell in a low bit rate area e.g. at 1 megabit per second can greatly degrade the throughput of a high data rate user. The aggregate throughput of the cell is also affected. This phenomenon is due to the fact that all mobile terminals within a given cell have equal access probability to the same transmission medium. For equal packet sizes a packet transmitted at 1 megabit per seconds usually occupies the transmission medium 11 times longer than a packet transmitted at 11 megabits per second.

Wireless mobile terminal and telecommunication system


A method of simulating deformation of a rubber material with a filler part made of one filler particle and a rubber part surrounding the filler pan, comprises the steps of: dividing the rubber material into a finite number of elements to form a rubber material model; performing deformation calculation of the rubber material model based on a predetermined condition; and acquiring necessary data from the deformation calculation; wherein the step of dividing includes the steps of: dividing the filler part into a finite number of elements to form a filler model; and dividing the rubber part into a finite number of elements to form a rubber model disposed around the filler model, the rubber model having strain-rate dependence such that the viscoelastic property varies with strain rate thereof.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of simulating deformation of a rubber material which comprises: a filler part made of at least one filler particle; and a rubber part made of rubber and surrounding the filler part, with good accuracy.
2. Description of the Related Art
The rubber material is widely used in for example, tires and industrial goods such as sporting goods. To reduce the trouble and the cost of experimental manufacture, a simulation of for example, deformation process of the rubber material is carried out using a computer. The conventional simulation methods of the rubber material are described in for example, the following articles.
(1) "A THREE-DIMENSIONAL CONSTITUTIVE MODEL FOR THE LARGE STRETCH BEHAVIOR OF RUBBER ELASTIC MATERIALS" by Ellen M. Arruda and Marry C. Boyce, Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids Volume 41, Issue 2, Pages 389-412 (February 1993).
(2) "CONSTITUTIVE MODELING OF THE LARGE STRAIN TIME-DEPENDENT BEHAVIOR OF ELASTOMERS" by J. S. BERGSTROM and M. C. BOYCE, Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids Volume 46, No.5 PP. 931-954 (1998)
The article (1) describes a method for analyzing a rubber material using a molecular chain network model theory. According to the method described in this article, however, strain-rate dependence of general rubber material can not be replicated.
The strain-rate dependence is a characteristic of a rubber material showing different viscoelasticity characteristics depending upon its strain rate. That is, when amplitude strains of different frequencies (e.g., 10 Hz and 1,000 Hz) are applied to the same rubber test pieces, energy losses of the respective frequencies have different values. In the article (1), such the strain-rate dependence is not taken into consideration. Thus, material characteristics of different frequencies can not be evaluated precisely from one rubber material model.
Here, a pneumatic tire is used as an example of a rubber product, and two performances, i.e., its fuel efficiency and grip performance (index of stick of the tire with respect to a road surface at the time of acceleration and/or deceleration) will be considered. First, in order to enhance the fuel efficiency of the tire, it is effective to use a rubber having small energy loss for a tread rubber when a vehicle runs at general steady running speed. That is, when the fuel efficiency is to be evaluated, it is necessary to check the energy loss of rubber at a low strain rate of about from 10 to 100 Hz at frequency.
On the other hand, in order to enhance the grip performance, it is necessary to use a deformable rubber for a tread rubber such that the rubber fits to fine projections and depressions on a road surface at the instant when the rubber comes into contact with the road surface. For this purpose, in order to enhance the grip performance, it is desirable that the rubber has high energy loss at the time of high speed deformation. When evaluating the grip performance, it is necessary to check the energy loss of rubber at high strain rate of about from 10,000 to 1,000,000 Hz at frequency.
FIG. 21 is a graph showing a relationship between the frequency of strain rate and the energy loss calculated using frequency-temperature conversion rule with respect to a tire rubber material, and the relationship is shown with solid line. As apparent from the drawing, if frequency is varied, the energy loss is also largely varied. According to the method of the article (1), however, even if the strain rate of the rubber model is changed, only the same energy loss is obtained as shown with chain double-dashed line. With this, data useful for developing rubber can not be obtained. The strain rate is a product of deformation frequency and strain.
The article (2) describes that a rubber model is set from rubber material in which a filler is mixed, and the strain-rate dependence is taken into consideration. When deformation of the rubber material is calculated, the handling of an interface between the filler and rubber is important problem. As a result of various researches, it was found that in the interface, relatively high energy loss was generated due to slip or friction between the rubber and filler. Therefore, in order to carry out a precise simulation of rubber material, it is important to model the filler and the rubber separately.
According to the technique described in the article (2), however, the filler and the rubber are modeled collectively not separately. With such a method, it is not impossible to obtain information such as a state of interface between rubber and filler and a distribution state of stress at the time of deformation.

Method of simulating deformation of rubber material


An orthotic device is developed and customized to control the (un)desired movements of the patient's defective lower limb. The device incorporates a footplate made of a rubber like elastomeric material, a proximal segment that encompasses the foot at the metatarsal phalengeal joints and the dorsal aspect of the foot, and a second proximal segment that encompasses the shin portion of the leg. Motion of the patient's talocrual is allowed and controlled by laminating mechanical joints to the medial and lateral aspects of the brace and providing cutouts in the lamination just anterior and posterior to the ankle joint axis of motion.

1. Field of the Invention
This application relates to orthoses, and more particularly to ankle-foot orthotic braces which have a joint for allowing movement along a rotational axis.
2. Detailed Description of Related Art
Ankle foot orthoses are commonly used as foot, ankle, and leg braces for improving movement. Years ago a leg brace would consist of two metal bars and a stirrup attached to the sole of the shoe. A horizontally positioned padded, metal band, contoured to the back of the leg calf, would connect the two metal bars. A broad strap across the anterior section of the calf would hold the brace in place. This type of brace has limited use today, but is not considered to be state of the art orthotic management. This type of device lacks biomechanical control of the foot and ankle and is cumbersome and heavy. It would be very difficult to adapt this brace to athletic applications since the metal bars would pose a hazard for the user, and possibly to other participants in the sport.
A modern ankle foot orthosis, being a device that applies biomechanical forces to a body segment, is usually fabricated from thermoplastics. The thermoplastic is heat molded over a positive mold similar in shape to the patient's limb, then cooled, and trimmed. Often the thermoplastic is formed into rigid laminates of non-resilient material. Ankle joint motion in the orthotic device is often provided by a mechanical hinge type joint at the ankle joint. Once again, these devices may pose a hazard to the user and others, especially when used in contact sports.
An existing fundamental problem of orthotic management is that a rigid orthosis, which does not allow plantar flexion of the ankle, will also prevent extension of the hip and knee and causes instability in the hip and knee. Balance at the foot-ankle complex cannot properly develop because activity and sensation of movement is limited, with resultant muscle wasting. These rigid orthosis are sometimes utilized for rehabilitating athletes, but provide a potential for possibly injuring the user or other participants in a sport.
Current orthotic technology does not allow triplanar activity of the foot and ankle in stance phase found in normal gait. The use of very thin or more flexible plastics has been attempted to allow more motion in the foot and ankle. Much of the benefit of wearing an orthosis is lost when using very flexible, but still non-deformable and non-resilient, plastics, however, in cases where significant control is needed for spastic muscle activity, pathomechanical deformities, or athletic activities following an injury or other problem. The very flexible plastics reduce stability to allow mobility. Allowing motion is not the same as promoting and controlling more normal motion. The disclosure of the present invention promotes and controls more normal motion.
For many patients who require the use of an ankle-foot orthosis, current orthotic technology does not adequately address the dynamic changes that occur in the foot and ankle complex during the gait cycle. Triplanar motion of the foot and ankle requires a dynamic response. Current technology either positions the segments of the foot in a static position or allows motions to occur by reducing the corrective forces. The use of a mechanical ankle joint with a rigid frame may provide motion of the talocrural joint in the sagittal plane, however complex motions required within the foot, are restricted from a normal biomechanical response because of the static forces applied by the brace. Optimal orthotic management should control abnormal motion by restricting specific motion during specific events of the gait cycle. This cannot be achieved by holding the segments of the foot in an uniform position throughout the gait cycle. The foot must remain a mobile entity that engages in the normal activity of gait, but is prevented from abnormal motion. Because the needs of the corrective forces of the foot and ankle complex differ within different events of the gait cycle, a need exists for an orthosis which is dynamic in its application of corrective forces.

Dynamic response ankle-foot orthosis with joint


Briefly, a wireless communication system having two or more wireless communication devices. The wireless communication device includes a transmitter to transmit a signal over a wireless channel and to determine a bandwidth of the wireless channel and a power level of the signal based on a quality value of the wireless channel. A method of varying the bandwidth of the wireless channel is also provided.

In some wireless communication systems, for example, cellular communication systems such as, for example Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) and/or Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) systems, a soft hand-off (SHO) mechanism may be used to transit from one servicing station to several servicing stations or from several servicing stations to a single servicing stations. For example, such a mechanism is used in commercial CDMA cellular networks such as, for example, those operating under the TIA/EIA IS-95 standard published in 1993, ITU standard IMT 2000-CDMA2000, WCDMA networks, and the like. Similar mechanisms have been developed for some Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) systems. For example, the IEEE 802.16e WirelessMAN® standard defines a mechanism where two or more base stations may transmit the same signal to a specific user. The transmitted signals from these two or more base stations may be synchronized in time such that the delay between the received signals of the different base stations may occur within a time interval which is shorter than the cyclic prefix interval.
In an OFDM based cellular network, a receiver may perform maximal ratio combining over an equivalent channel that may contain combined channel responses from multiple base stations of the cellular network.
Unfortunately, SHO may have a number of drawbacks. Some disadvantages of SHO include increased network complexity, increased round trip delay and increased complexity of the mobile terminal.
It will be appreciated that for simplicity and clarity of illustration, elements shown in the figures have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements may be exaggerated relative to other elements for clarity. Further, where considered appropriate, reference numerals may be repeated among the figures to indicate corresponding or analogous elements.

System, apparatus and method of varying channel bandwidth


A current sensor includes: a core formed by U-shaped flat plates made of a magnetic body and stacked together; a flat plate-like conductor which is inserted on an interior side of a U-groove of the core and through which a current to be measured flows; a detection element which is arranged on the side of an opening of the U-groove in such a way that a detecting direction extends in a spacing direction of the opening, and which detects a strength of a magnetic field; a housing which supports the core, the conductor and the detection element; and a pair of spacing direction supporting portions which are provided at positions along the spacing direction on both sides of the detection element, in an opening-side end of the core, and which abut on the housing.

Recently, hybrid vehicles and electric vehicles using a motor as a driving source are widely used. In order to control motor output properly, it is important to measure a current flowing through the motor. As a method of measuring such a current, for example, there is a method in which, according to a current flowing through a busbar that connects a DC brushless motor to an inverter, a magnetic field generated around the busbar is magnetically concentrated by a core made of a magnetic body and is detected by a magnetic detection element such as a Hall element, and the current flowing through the busbar is calculated based on the detected magnetic field, for example, as disclosed in JP 2010-203910A (Reference 1) and JP 2009-42003A (Reference 2).
The current sensor disclosed in Reference 1 includes an annular magnetic core with a gap portion provided at a part thereof, and a metal plate provided on the magnetic core and having a shielding effect. The magnetic core and the metal plate are formed by insert molding with a mold resin.
The current sensor disclosed in Reference 2 includes a ring-shaped magnetic concentration core having a gap. The magnetic concentration core is formed by insert molding in a resin case in such a way that the periphery of the gap is exposed to an internal space connecting to an opening.
In the techniques disclosed in References 1 and 2, the core (the magnetic core and the magnetic concentration core are collectively referred to as the "core") is fixed to the case or the like by insert molding. Therefore, a compressive strain is applied to the core according to the compressive stress of the resin, and the hysteresis increases. Since the hysteresis characteristic of the current sensor deteriorates, the current cannot be detected accurately.


A recording apparatus comprising: a printing head which has a plurality of recording elements and performs recording on the recording medium; a head holder which holds the printing head; a flexible wiring board comprising a flexible insulating band and a plurality of conductive wires and a driver element for actuating the printing head, which are provided on the flexible insulating band; and a heatsink for releasing heat generated by the driver element, wherein the heatsink is disposed between the flexible wiring board and the head holder.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to a recording apparatus. In particular, the invention relates to an ink jet recording apparatus having a printing head to record a desired image on a recording medium, a driver element for driving the printing head, and a flexible wiring board for transmitting signals from the driver element to the printing head.
2. Discussion of Related Art
There is conventionally known an ink-jet recording apparatus for recording a desired image on a recording medium such as a sheet of paper, which apparatus is adapted to eject, onto the recording medium, a droplet of ink through a plurality of nozzles formed in a printing head so that the desired image is formed on the recording medium. On the ink-jet recording apparatus, there is mounted an ink carriage which is reciprocable in a direction along a printing area of the printing medium. A head holder is mounted on the ink carriage. The printing head, a circuit board for supplying drive signals to the printing head, and a flexible wiring board for connecting the printing head and the circuit board are disposed on the head holder. Such an ink-jet recording apparatus is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,305,784, for example.
Due to the existing tendency that the number of the nozzles increases and density thereof also increases, wiring between a driver IC chip as the driver element generating drive signals and a printing head becomes thinner and denser, making the drive signals on the wiring susceptible to noise. Further, the number of interconnections between wires of the circuit board and wires of the flexible wiring board increases. There is disclosed, in U.S. patent application No. 2002-0105567, an arrangement for dealing with the above-described drawbacks, where driver IC chips are mounted on respective flexible wiring boards to have each driver IC chip as close as possible to the corresponding printing head.
With the increase in the number of nozzles, heat generated by the driver IC chips increases. To release this heat, the driver IC chips are pressed by an elastic member such as a sponge member, onto a cover plate which covers the flexible wiring board, so that the cover plate serves as a heatsink. The above-mentioned U.S. patent application No. 2002-0105567 discloses this arrangement, too.
On the other hand, there is a request to further increase the number of the nozzles. However, such an increase leads to a larger amount of heat generated at the driver IC chips, and accordingly requires enlarging the heatsink. In addition, a condenser preventing an excessive voltage drop and a connector connecting a control portion in a main body of a printer including the recording apparatus and the circuit board, which are essentially disposed on the circuit board, must be enlarged if the number of nozzles increases. Since the circuit board is positioned adjacent to the flexible wiring board, the increasing the sizes of the heatsink, condenser and connector leads to mutual intervention of the three members. Further, in a case where the head holder has a small size, the size of the heatsink is limited and therefore the heat generated at the driver IC chips can not be effectively released. In this case, performance of the driver IC chips may be deteriorated, or the driver IC chips may be damaged.
Furthermore, according to the recording apparatus disclosed in the U.S. Patent Application indicated above, a foreign material may be introduced between the heatsink and one of the driver IC chips during an assembly process of the apparatus. If such introduction of a foreign material occurs, the driver IC chip may be damaged, since the driver IC chip is pressed onto the heatsink by the elastic member and subjected to a local pressure due to the presence of the foreign material. In addition, the foreign material introduced between the heatsink and the driver IC chip deteriorates close contact between the heatsink and the driver IC chip, lowering heat conduction from the driver IC chip to the heatsink. Further, since a surface of the driver IC chip functions as a ground electrode, when an electrical noise which deteriorates print quality occurs at one of the driver IC chips, the noise is propagated to other driver IC chips through the heatsink.


An electronic interview auction method for auctioning an interview for a job, wherein the auction is conducted using at least an auctioneer's computer and one or more bidders' computers communicating electronically over a network, wherein a client may be the auctioneer, or the client and auctioneer may be separate. The method contemplates establishing criteria for the auction and storing the criteria on the auctioneer's computer, allowing potential bidders to access the stored criteria from a bidder's computer by electronic communication with the auctioneer's computer, storing in the auctioneer's computer submitted bid information, including relevant job-related information and a monetary bid, automatically selecting one or more winning bids based on the stored monetary bids, and allowing the user to select other bids with monetary values less than the monetary value of the highest bid.

Electronic message boards and classified listings commonly are used to facilitate the exchange of information between hirers and applicants. Internet web sites including Monster.com (U.S. Pat. No. 5,832,497 to Taylor), focus specifically on the collection, storage, retrieval and indexed or keyword searching of stored application materials and resumes. The system envisages charging fees for access to such databases and also to control access of applicants based on the payment of a fee.
These job-listing systems have a substantial drawback from the point of view of the applicant in that no tangible measure of service is provided in return for payment. Many such services therefore are offered free. There is no guarantee of any positive outcome for the applicant, who may have no knowledge of the procedures that the company may use in evaluating the application. This system and similar ones exhort applicants to submit their personal information and may make it available to any and all potential employers. In return, the applicants may receive an interview call leading to a job offer, but in the vast majority of cases they receive automated responses or a cursory rejection notice. These systems, by increasing the efficiency of the methods of submitting applications, have induced applicants to apply to ever-increasing numbers of companies without seriously considering their qualifications or even interest to work for the company.
This has led to a situation wherein qualified and interested candidates must submit to the same process as the unqualified majority, leading to a situation where qualified candidates feel it a waste of time trying to apply through these automated channels and rely instead on time tested personal networks and "friends and family" to turn up job leads.
Electronic auctioning and trading systems are known, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,640,569 to Miller et al, U.S. Pat. No. 5,243,515 to Lee, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,136,501 and 5,077,665 to Silverman et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,789,928 to Fujisaki U.S. Pat. No. 3,581,072 to Nymeyer, U.S. Pat. No. 6,311,164 to Ogden, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,161,099 to Harrington et al.
The Miller patent relates to an electronic "auctioning" system specifically directed to allocating computer resources such as transmission bandwidth of a multiplicity of network links interconnecting the users. The system allocates resources to maximum declared values based upon the second highest bid such that successful bidders are charged an opportunity cost for the goods.
The Lee patent discloses a secure teleprocessing bidding system relating to a secret bidding process. The system maintains the bids secret from other bidders until after the period for bidding is closed. The system is intended to eliminate bid procedure violations and provides an electronic record of the bids received.
The Silverman et al. patents disclose an electronic trade matching system for trading instruments in which bids are automatically matched against offers for the given trading instruments. The system uses a network to connect the host computer with bidding and offering clients of the system.
The Fujisaki patent discloses an auction information transmission processing system that sets up a hierarchical system of host and server computers, which are configured to minimize the data transmitted between computers during an auction. The system is designed to allow auction participants to be spread out over a wide area. The system was directed to auctioning of specific items such as used cars.
The Nymyer patent discloses an apparatus that automates the process of price determination in a market for fungible goods and consequently eliminates or reduces the influence of human judgment in such price determinations.
The Ogden patent discloses a method and apparatus that receives job application information from job applicants using automated, electronic methods. It is designed to remove human errors in obtaining, processing and storing applicant related information while reducing the cost of procuring such information incurred by hiring companies.
The Harrington et al. patent discloses an Internet-based municipal bond auction system in which the auctioneer maintains an auction database that is accessed by users by a conventional Internet browser.

Method and apparatus for allocating interviews based on dynamic pricing or auctions using electronic networks


A method for correcting a time delay between at least two signals in ultrasound systems is provided. The ultrasound system comprises a beamformer processor comprising a summer coupled to the transducer array and configured for performing a complex operation on a first plurality of receive signals to generate a beamsum signal; wherein each of the receive signals comprise a corresponding beamforming delay and a complex filter coupled to the summer and configured to transform the beamsum signal to an analytical signal. The beamformer processor further comprises a plurality of correlator processors coupled to at least one respective transducer element and the complex filter, each correlator processor configured to calculate a correlation sum for at least one receive signal and at least one time delay estimator adapted to receive the correlation sum of at least one receive signal and configured to estimate the corresponding time delay using the correlation sum.

The invention relates generally to imaging systems and more specifically to a method and system for estimating and correcting time delays in an ultrasound imaging system.
Ultrasound systems comprise an array of transducer elements used for transmitting a set of waveforms into an imaging subject and for receiving a set of reflected ultrasound signals. Each waveform is emitted with a relative time delay chosen to focus the net transmitted waveform in a desired direction and depth and with a desired shape. Similarly each received signal is individually delayed to maximize the response of the system to reflected energy for a desired direction and depth and with a desired shape. The delayed receive signals are summed and processed to create and display an image of the imaging subject.
The transmit and receive time delays, known collectively as beamforming time delays, are typically calculated assuming that sound propagates through the body with a known, constant speed. When this assumption fails, the transmit and receive focusing is degraded and there will be a loss of image resolution and contrast.
One way to reduce this loss of image quality is to adjust the beamforming time delays based on measurements of the relative time delays of the receive signals. It is convenient to measure these relative time delays after the receive beamforming delays have been applied to them. If the assumption of a known, fixed sound speed is correct, the delayed receive signals will be well-aligned in time, i.e., the arrival time errors will be small. If the assumption is not correct, the delayed receive signals will not be well-aligned in time; the arrival time errors will be large. By adjusting the beamforming delays for the arrival time errors, the focusing will be improved and image resolution and contrast will increase.
In medical ultrasound imaging, the estimation of arrival time errors must be fast, accurate and robust. It is also very desirable that the extra cost required to implement the estimation hardware be minimized.
A fast estimation is desired because the beamforming corrections need to be updated quickly since the required corrections will vary as the transducer moves, either as the operator moves the probe over the patient as part of the normal scanning procedure, or due to slight movement of the operator's hand or because of patient motion or breathing.
An accurate estimation is desired to improve image resolution and contrast and to avoid undesirable degradation of the image due to the adjustment of beamforming time delays by incorrect time delay estimates. Beamforming time delay errors typically introduce artifacts into the image which may lead to incorrect diagnosis or a longer examination time. The rate of artifact production must be sufficiently low for the majority of operators to routinely use the time delay correction feature and thereby gain the benefit of improved image resolution and contrast.
The Fourier spectrum of a real signal with a bandwidth which is not too large (as is typical for ultrasound signals) consists of two relatively isolated regions of non-negligible amplitude, known more commonly as bands. One of these bands is centered around a positive frequency known as the "carrier" frequency, and the other band is centered around a negative frequency which is the opposite of the carrier frequency. There are many methods of producing the baseband signal corresponding to a real signal but the desired net effect is to suppress the negative frequency band and to shift the positive frequency band in frequency such that it is approximately centered at zero frequency. Note that the baseband signal is complex.
A related signal to the baseband signal is the analytic signal. Mathematically, the analytic signal is derived from a real signal by removing its negative frequency components. In practical systems, the negative frequency components are suppressed, but not totally eliminated, by filtering. The analytic signal differs from the baseband signal in that the positive frequency spectral band is not shifted down in frequency such that it becomes centered at zero frequency.
One method to estimate time delays between two real signals requires converting both signals to their complex baseband form. The complex conjugate of one baseband signal is multiplied sample by sample with the other baseband signal and then summed. The phase of the resulting complex number is proportional to the time delay error between the two signals. One problem with the above method is the requirement for converting both real signals to complex form. Converting signals to their baseband form requires large and expensive filters. Since this method requires converting each receive signal to its baseband form, it is undesirably costly. It is helpful to consider the above method as follows. Let SB0(t) and SB1(t) be two baseband signals, each a function of time t. For simplicity, t is considered to be a continuous variable. In practice, the signals are sampled over a set of evenly spaced time intervals, t[i]=iΔt, where Δt is the sampling time interval.
The method described above constructs a complex correlation sum 'C' by integrating the product of one baseband signal with the complex conjugate of the other baseband signal as shown in the equation below.C=∫−∞+∞dtS*B0(t)SB1(t)  Equation (1)As is well-known, however, the integral over time (as in equation 1) can also be expressed as the integral over frequency of the spectra of the two signals:C=∫−∞+∞dtS*B0(t)SB1(t)=∫−∞+∞dfA*B0(f)AB1(f)  Equation (2)In Eq. (2), AB1(f) is the Fourier transform of the baseband signal SB1(t), and A*B0(f) is the complex conjugate of the Fourier transform of the baseband signal SB0(t).
The above described method of estimating time delay is usually accurate when the signals which are compared are produced by relatively uniform random scatterers. An example of this in the human body is a region of the liver without bright arterial walls and without large, nearly anechoic, blood vessels. In practice, such a region of uniform scatterers is not always available. As a result, the time-delay estimates can be corrupted, especially when there are strongly reflecting scatterers which are not aligned with the desired scan direction. A strongly reflecting, off-axis scatterer produces a signal at the transducer with an arrival time error which varies approximately linearly across the array. If such a signal were used to estimate the time delay error, then correcting the observed arrival time errors would erroneously steer the beamformer toward the scatterer.
Therefore there is a need for a method and system in ultrasound systems to accurately estimate time delays while minimizing the cost and size of the system.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Time delay estimation method and system for use in ultrasound imaging


In a carbon dioxide separation and capture apparatus according to an embodiment, a control device calculates a flow rate range of a carbon dioxide gas based on the concentration of the carbon dioxide gas and an output range of a blower. The control device determines a flow rate of the carbon dioxide gas in which the sum of energy is the least based on relationships, corresponding to a preset target amount of carbon dioxide gas to be captured, between a flow rate of the carbon dioxide gas, and sum of energy obtained by summing the amount of heat to be supplied by a heating medium from the external, power of the blower and power of a pump. The control device controls output of the blower, an opening degree of the first flow rate control valve, and an opening degree of the second flow rate control valve.

In recent years, as one of effective measures against globally-concerned global warming, particular attention is given to a carbon dioxide capture and storage technique for capturing and storing a carbon dioxide gas contained in an exhaust gas. As an example of the technique, a carbon dioxide separation and capture apparatus has been considered, which causes an absorbing liquid to absorb carbon dioxide gas contained in combustion exhaust gas discharged from a thermal power plant or the like or carbon dioxide gas contained in process exhaust gas, separates the carbon dioxide gas from the exhaust gas, and captures the carbon dioxide gas.
The carbon dioxide separation and capture apparatus includes an absorption tower and a regeneration tower, for example. The absorption tower is configured to cause an absorbing liquid to absorb carbon dioxide gas contained in supplied exhaust gas and generate a rich liquid. The regeneration tower is configured to cause the rich liquid supplied from the absorption tower to release the carbon dioxide gas and generate a lean liquid. The lean liquid generated by the regeneration tower is supplied to the absorption tower, and the rich liquid is generated from the lean liquid. A heat exchanger, installed between the absorption tower and the regeneration tower, is configured to cause thermal exchange between the rich liquid to be supplied to the regeneration tower from the absorption tower and the lean liquid to be supplied to the absorption tower from the regeneration tower. The rich liquid supplied to the regeneration tower is heated by a steam generated by a reboiler from the absorbing liquid and then releases the carbon dioxide gas. The carbon dioxide gas released from the rich liquid is discharged from the regeneration tower. In this manner, the carbon dioxide separation and capture apparatus separates the carbon dioxide gas from the exhaust gas and captures the carbon dioxide.
The amount of the carbon dioxide gas captured by the carbon dioxide separation and capture apparatus is expressed by a product of an average amount of the carbon dioxide gas contained in the exhaust gas and an average rate of capturing the carbon dioxide gas. In a thermal power plant, a flow rate of exhaust gas or the concentration of carbon dioxide gas in the exhaust gas vary due to power control, a generation load, a method of operating a boiler, or other factors. The rate of capturing carbon dioxide can therefore fluctuate as well.
A partial capture method of capturing a predetermined amount of carbon dioxide even if a flow rate of exhaust gas or the concentration of carbon dioxide gas fluctuate has been considered.
However, if the amount of carbon dioxide gas to be captured is maintained at a predetermined target amount and energy required to capture the carbon dioxide gas increases, effectiveness in the measures against global warming can decrease.

Carbon dioxide separation and capture apparatus and method of controlling operation of carbon dioxide separation and capture apparatus


A diagnostic parameter calculation method, system and program which detect symptomatically abnormal electrocardiogram data of a patient, using R-R intervals detected from electrocardiogram data collected for a patient to generate a time-series data, then generating a series of partial sets B(j)'s, each B(j) consisting of successive elements starting from the j-th element of the time-series data, and calculating characteristic quantity set (yj, xj) for each B(j), wherein yj is the mean value of all elements, and xj is the mean value of each difference of the first element from each element in the B(j), then, after splitting the (y, x)-plane into lattices, parameters u, v, w are calculated as indices for diagnosis, wherein v is the number of lattices including only one characteristic quantity set, u is the difference subtracted v from the total number of the characteristic quantity sets, and w is the maximum number of characteristic quantity sets included in a lattice.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a diagnostic parameter calculation method and a system for diagnosis and a diagnostic program, and more particularly, to a diagnostic parameter calculation method, a system for diagnosis and a diagnostic program suitable for diagnosing symptoms of patients through electrocardiogram analysis.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many technologies for diagnosing symptoms of patients by analyzing an electrocardiogram are developed and examples of these technologies include technologies that allow correct diagnosis by accurately and automatically recognizing characteristic points of individual electrocardiogram waveforms (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 8-56914, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-201344, etc.), technologies that make a diagnosis by analyzing individual electrocardiogram waveforms (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-225443, U.S. Pat. No. 5,609,158, U.S. Pat. No. 5,560,368, etc), and technologies that extract time-series data such as R-R interval from electrocardiogram waveform and make a diagnosis by analyzing the time-series data (U.S. Pat. No. 5,755,671, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-54815, etc), etc. Using these technologies allows more efficient and more speedy diagnosis than diagnosis depending only on a visual check of electrocardiogram and reduces a possibility of overlooking symptoms.
The above-described conventional technologies carry out an observation and analysis of electrocardiogram waveforms for a few minutes or over 10 minutes at longest, but it is often the case that data suggesting some abnormality of the heart is not obtained in such a short
period. For example, if myocardial infarction occurs, there is a danger of sudden death in a few hours due to ventricular tachycardia and the probability that arrhythmia will occur in a few days after the occurrence of myocardial infarction reaches 90%. The rate of occurrence of arrhythmia then reduces, but 5 to 10% of patients die within one year. Therefore it is desirable to acquire and monitor electrocardiogram data for many hours continually for diagnosis of such patients. However, according to the prior arts, a doctor reads the record by the naked eye and makes diagnosis after the recording is finished, or a doctor extracts short time data that he/she regards as abnormal from the recorded data and subjects the data to an automatic analysis, etc. For this reason, there is a large time delay after measurement until the diagnosis result is obtained, and the prior arts are insufficient in prognosticating changes in a symptom or imminent danger. Furthermore, since the prior arts involve judgements through looking electrocardiogram by the naked eye of the doctor, there is a problem that oversight is likely to occur.

Diagnostic parameter calculation method, system for diagnosis and diagnostic program


A load floor assembly for a vehicle includes a seatback that pivots between an upright position and a stowed position. A cargo floor extends rearward of the seatback, and a load panel is coupled with the cargo floor. The load panel moves between a rearward position and a forward position. In the forward position, the load panel extends over at least a lower portion of the seatback in the stowed position.

It is common for vehicles to include a cargo area behind a rear row of seats within the vehicle. Typically, the cargo area is defined between a floor extending between the rear row of seats and a rear opening of the vehicle. In some instances, the rear row of seats may be collapsible to expand the cargo area forward. Upon collapsing the seats, the floor of the cargo area may be uneven or otherwise unfit for supporting items or objects that are preferably transported on a substantially flat surface. In addition, the cargo areas of some modern vehicles are becoming more constricted due to smaller vehicle sizes as well as being restricted with additional vehicle components, such as batteries or fuel cells, which may cause the floor to have uneven, raised, or inconsistent surfaces.


A transaction security code database and a method and apparatus for generating the transaction security code database. The transaction security code database is comprised of multiple transaction security codes, each transaction security code constituting a transaction code generated based upon a transaction initiated by a user, which is appended to or linked to a security code which is based upon a biometric sensor code generated by a biometric sensor from a biometric presentation of a biometric feature of the user.

Every modern commercial transaction, including sale and purchase transactions and payment transactions, utilizing a credit card, debit card, or other electronic validation, verification, or payment authorization, results in the generation of a digital transaction code. That transaction code is used for a number of purposes, such as authorizing the charge of the transaction to a credit card account or authorizing the electronic transfer of funds from one account to another to pay for the transaction. Unauthorized access to such transaction codes can and is used to misappropriate or misdirect the transaction code and the financial transactions intended to follow the commercial transaction. Access to user account information, vendor account information, or other information related to the transaction may enable such unauthorized access. A transaction database and a method for generating and using such database is needed that will prevent unauthorized access to and use of the transaction code.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a transaction database of unique transaction security codes wherein each transaction security code is comprised of a unique digital biometric security code, generated from a biometric feature of a user, which is appended or linked to a transaction code from a transaction engaged in by the user.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method for generating a unique transaction security code for a transaction engaged in by a user by generating a unique digital biometric security code from a biometric feature of a user and appending or linking the security code to a transaction code from the transaction.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for generating a unique transaction security code for a transaction engaged in by a user by generating a unique digital biometric security code from a biometric feature of a user and appending or linking the security code to a transaction code from the transaction.

Apparatus and method for secured commercial transactions


In one general aspect, a drone control device includes a body, a motor that is configured to move the body, a network module, an input module, and a processor. The network module is configured to communicate with a security system that monitors a property and receive data associated with a location within the property. The input module is configured to receive user input. The processor is configured to perform operations that include: determine, from among the location within the property and other locations within the property, a target location within the property; move the body to the target location within the property by providing a signal to the motor; receive, from the input module, input data that is associated with an operation of the security system; and in response to receiving the input data, perform the operation of the security system.

Security companies often provide security services to residential and commercial properties. Security services may include monitoring properties for alarm events, which may include security breaches, floods, fires, or carbon monoxide poisoning. The properties may include a security panel that communicates alarm signal information to a central alarm station, which transmits a signal to dispatch emergency responders in response to detecting the presence of an alarm event.


An apparatus for improving a transition from a concealed audio signal portion is provided. The apparatus includes a processor being configured to generate a decoded audio signal portion of the audio signal. The processor is configured to generate the decoded audio signal portion using the first sub-portion of the first audio signal portion and using the second audio signal portion or a second sub-portion of the second audio signal portion, such that for each sample of two or more samples of the second audio signal portion, the sample position of the sample of the two or more samples of the second audio signal portion is equal to the sample position of one of the samples of the decoded audio signal portion.

In case of an error-prone network, every codec is trying to mitigate the artifacts due to those losses. The state of the art focuses on concealing the lost information by means of different methods, from simple muting or noise substitution to advanced methods such as prediction based on past good frames. One clearly overlooked great source of artifacts due to packet losses is located at the recovery (few good frames after a loss).
Due to the long term prediction often used in the case of speech codecs, the recovery artifact could be really severe and the error propagation could impact multiple following good frames. Some conventional technology tries to mitigate that problem, see, e.g., [1] and [2].
In the case of generic or audio codecs (any codec working in the transform domain), a lot of documentation about the concealment of frame losses like in [3] can be found. However, the available conventional technology does not focus on the recovery of frames. It is assumed that due to the nature of transform domain codec that the overlap and add will smooth out the transition artifacts. One good example is AAC-ELD (AAC-ELD=Advanced Audio Coding−Enhanced low delay; see [4]) used in Facetime for communication on IP network.
The first few frames after a frame loss are referred to as "recovery frames". Conventional transform domain codecs do not appear to provide a special handling regarding the one or more recovery frames. Sometimes, annoying artifacts occur. An example for a problem that can happen when conducting recovery is a superposition of the concealed and of the good wave signal in the overlap and add part, which sometimes leads to annoying energy boosts.
Another problem is abrupt pitch changes on frame borders. An example for the case of speech signals is that when the pitch of the original signal changes and a frame loss occurs, the concealment method might predict the pitch at the end of a frame slightly wrong. This slightly wrong prediction might cause a jump of the pitch into the next good frame. Most of the known concealment methods do not even use prediction and only use a fix pitch base on the last valid pitch what could result in an even bigger mismatch with the first good frame. Some other methods use advanced prediction to reduce the drift, see, for example, TD-TCX PLC (TD=Time domain; TCX=Transform Coded Excitation; PLC=Packet Loss Concealment) in EVS (EVS=Enhanced Voice Services), see [5].
State of the art methods for modifying the pitch in a speech signal, such as TD-PSOLA (TD-PSOLA=Time Domain—Pitch Synchronous Overlap-Add), see [6] and [7], conduct prosody modifications on the speech signal, such as duration expansion/contraction (known as time-stretching) or conduct changing the fundamental frequency (the pitch). This is done, by decomposing a speech signal into short-term and pitch-synchronous analysis signals that are then repositioned on the time axis and juxtaposed progressively. However, the signal in the recovery frame is destroyed after the overlapping mechanism, when the pitch in the concealed frame and the pitch in the original signal differ. The TD-PSOLA mechanism would just reposition the artefact on the time axes, what is not suitable for recovery.

Apparatus and method for improving a transition from a concealed audio signal portion to a succeeding audio signal portion of an audio signal

Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung e.V.


A sling assembly including a surgical sling configured to be implanted during a surgical sling procedure. The sling includes first and second regions and a central portion. The sling assembly further includes a removable sheath assembly situated about the surgical sling. The removable sheath assembly includes first and second upper sheaths. The first upper sheath is configured to be situated about the first region of the surgical sling, and the second upper sheath is configured to be situated about the second region of the surgical sling. The removable sheath assembly further includes a lower sheath. The lower sheath is configured to be situated about the central portion of the surgical sling and to be in cooperative association with both the first and second upper sheaths.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a surgical instrument and a method for treating female urinary incontinence.
2. Description of the Related Art
Urinary incontinence is a significant health concern worldwide. Incontinence may occur when the pelvic floor weakens. There are five basic types of incontinence: stress incontinence, urge incontinence, mixed incontinence, overflow incontinence and functional incontinence. There are a large number of surgical interventions and procedures for addressing incontinence.
A variety of surgical procedure options are currently available to treat incontinence. Depending on age, medical condition, and personal preference, surgical procedures can be used to completely restore continence. One type of procedure, found to be an especially successful treatment option for Stress Urinary Incontinence in both men and women, is a sling procedure.
A sling procedure is a surgical method involving the placement of a sling to stabilize or support the bladder neck or urethra. There are a variety of different sling procedures. Descriptions of different sling procedures are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,112,344; 5,611,515; 5,842,478; 5,860,425; 5,899,909; 6,039,686, 6,042,534 and 6,110,101.
Sling procedures differ in the type of material used for the sling, the method of anchoring the sling material in the body and how the sling material is inserted in the body. The time required for a surgical procedure varies, but is preferably as short as possible. This factor is frequently reported in urology and gynecology literature. See Atherton M. J., et al., A Comparison of Bladder Neck Movement and Elevation After Tension-free Vaginal Tape and Colposuspension, British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, November 2000, Vol. 17, p. 366-1370, Nilsson et al, The Tension-free Vaginal Tape Procedure is Successful in the Majority of Women with Indications for Surgical Treatment of Urinary Stress Incontinence, British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, April 2001, Vol. 108, P. 414-419; and Ulmsten et al., An Ambulatory Surgical Procedure Under Local Anesthesia For Treatment of Female Urinary Incontinence, Int. Urogynecol. J. (1996), v. 7, pps. 81-86.
Although serious complications associated with sling procedures are infrequent, they do occur. Complications include urethral obstruction, development of de novo urge incontinence, hemorrhage, prolonged urinary retention, infection, and damage to surrounding tissue and sling erosion. Infection may occur as a result of exposing contaminants from the vagina during the removal of prior art two piece overlapping sheath assemblies via either suprapubic incisions or groin incisions. A two piece overlapping sheath assembly is disclosed in published U.S. patent application No. 2002/0156487-A1.
Many slings include a protective sheath used during insertion of the sling. After the sling is implanted, the sheath is removed and discarded. The protective sheath is generally constructed of a material that affords visual examination of the implantable sling and that affords smooth passage of the sling assembly through tissue of the patient.
In many cases, the sheath is made of polyethylene. Other materials used to construct the sheath include polypropylene, nylon, polyester or Teflon. The sheath material should be flexible and provide sufficient structural integrity to withstand the various forces exerted on the sheath throughout the sling delivery procedure. Referring to FIG. 14, the sheath 44 is configured to have sufficient flexibility to facilitate user manipulation and adequate structural strength to withstand the various forces applied to the sheath 44 during delivery and/or positioning of the sling assembly. It should also conveniently separate from the sling material after the sling is implanted without materially changing the position of the sling.
The sheath 44 may comprise two elongate, separable sections 86. Portion S of the sheath 44 detachably and telescopically overlap near the middle portion of the sling. During sheath removal, the first section and the second section of the sheath are slid off the sling by pulling each end 86 of the sheath 44 away from the middle portion of the sling assembly. Removal of the sheath 44 causes separation of the overlapping sheath sections, thereby exposing the sling.
The problem with the telescoping configuration of the first and second sections of the sheath 44 is that there has been a tendency for the two telescoping sections to "stick" to one another during the removal process believed to be due to either friction caused by the respective telescoping sections of the sheath or use of a spacer such as a clamp under the urethra. In the latter, the spacer increases the friction between the two sheaths and causes them to stick. That is, the overlapping section of the first and second sections of the sheath is situated at the point of maximum curvature and hence the point of maximum interference/friction.

Surgical article and methods for treating female urinary incontinence


Systems and methods are provided for selecting content based on user interactions with content previously presented to a user but failing to generate a conversion. In operation, a content delivery system delivers a content package to a user terminal, where the content package includes a content designed to elicit a pre-defined response, such as a conversion. The user terminal then presents the content to a user and generates a journal of events occurring in response to the content package. The journal is then used to determine the proximity of the events in the journal to the pre-defined response. If the degree of proximity to the desired response is high, the user is likely prepared to complete the conversion and therefore a same or similar content can be selected for the user terminal. Otherwise, new content can be delivered to the user terminal.

Computer applications, websites, or other electronic content including offers for products and services generally require a user to explicitly select and/or interact with one or more portions of the content being presented to generate a conversion (e.g., completion of a sale or purchase, submission of information to a content provider, causing delivery of additional information to the user or any other pre-defined response for the content). For example, an advertisement for a product or service can require the user to select the advertisement and navigate to the online store offering the product for sale. At the online store, the user can then enter information to purchase or obtain additional information regarding the product or service.
In many types of electronic content maintained by content providers, the portions of the content offering products and services are generally not static. Rather, such (primary) content providers may offer portions, directly or via an agent, for use by one or more other (secondary) content providers. Thus, these portions can vary over time, depending on the arrangement between the primary and secondary content providers.
Typically, content from secondary content providers, such as advertisements, are presented and priced based on some type of arrangement between the primary and secondary content providers. For example, a secondary content provider may pay up front for a number of impressions (i.e., presentations of their advertisement) during a period of time. In another example, the secondary content provider may only pay for the number of times an impression results in a conversion.
Such models are generally based on the premise that advertisements and similar content are effective for generating interest in a product or service only if a conversion results. Unfortunately, consumer behavior can be unpredictable and accordingly a consumer may walk away prior to a conversion. This can occur for any number of reasons, including reasons unrelated to the advertisement. Thus, the existing metrics for determining the effectiveness of electronic campaigns may not accurately reflect the amount of actual interest in the product or service.

Content delivery based on user terminal events


A method includes generating a static model for classifying transactions of a designated type, the static model being trained using predefined input data corresponding to a first set of features generic to transactions of the designated type, and generating a dynamic model for classifying transactions of the designated type, the dynamic model being trained using dynamic input data corresponding to a second set of features specific to subsets of transactions of the designated type. The method also includes combining the static and dynamic models to generate a combined model, detecting transactions of the designated type between client devices and an enterprise system, and utilizing the combined model to classify a given detected transaction between a given client device and the enterprise system as potentially malicious or benign. The method further includes modifying processing of the given detected transaction responsive to classifying the given detected transaction as potentially malicious.

As transactions with enterprise systems are increasingly digitized, the task of classifying such transactions is becoming more challenging. With digitization, enterprise systems face both an increase in the number of transactions and in the number of channels over which transactions take place. For example, new and different types of devices including Internet of Things (IoT) devices continually provide new channels for transacting with enterprise systems. Classifying transactions is important for a number of tasks, such as in evaluating whether transactions represent a security threat for an enterprise system and its users. Security threats may arise, for example, from fraudulent or malicious transactions that present risks that can expose the enterprise system and its users or devices.

Combining static and dynamic models for classifying transactions


Described are techniques for securing a most recent block in a data structure such as a blockchain. Techniques include configuring a data processing node that is deployable to a physical location, with a module that generates a verification signing key (VSK) pair, the VSK pair including a private VSK key that is known only to the data processing node, and a public VSK key, receiving by the data processing node, an indication of the deployment to the physical location, generating in response to the indication, by the data processing node the verification signing key (VSK) pair, and transmitting from the data processing node the public VSK key to one or more electronic devices. These techniques assure to a high degree that the generated private key remains unknown and thus can be used to secure the most recent block that is added to a data structure such as a blockchain.

This specification relates to information integrity in blockchains and other types of data structures.
Information security generally refers to practices used to prevent unauthorized access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification, inspection, recording, or destruction of information. Information security is widely understood to include (at least) three categories, e.g., confidentiality, availability, and integrity.
Confidentiality pertains to insuring that information that is confidential remains confidential. Confidentiality of digital information is typically provided by certain measures such as data encryption. Availability pertains to insuring that data and services can be accessed when needed.
Integrity generally refers to making sure that information is correct and not corrupted. For example, one common information integrity measure is a digital signature that is used to verify that received data actually came from the party from which the data claims to have originated. Another example of information integrity is immutability, involving mechanisms to make information tamper-resistant such that data cannot be surreptitiously altered after the data is recorded.
Blockchain (or block chain) is a technology that is potentially resistant to data modification. Blockchain potentially offers a capability of sharing business records whose tamper resistance (both content and order) can be trusted with greater confidence, for longer durations, and/or over a wider range of contexts, than any trust relationships that may exist among participants.
A blockchain includes data blocks that are linked together via a cryptographic hash function, where each block includes a hash of the prior block. The blockchain structure helps to make tampering evident because manipulating any part of the blockchain will alter the hash of the manipulated block(s) and every subsequent block in the chain. As such, if some data integrity mechanism is applied on a given block, then that integrity accrues to all prior blocks as well, and also to their block ordering in the blockchain.
One problem with chaining blocks together with cryptographic hash sums, as it pertains to the problem of data integrity, is securing the most recent block. Techniques have been used to secure the most recent block.
One technique to secure the most recent block in blockchains is "Proof of Work," such as presently used in Bitcoin. A proof of work algorithm involves performance of significant amount of computational work for the right to produce a new block.
Another approach to secure the most recent block in public block chains is Proof of Stake, which involves a set of "validators" signing the most recent block while having a certain amount of cryptocurrency at stake to incentivize certain behaviors necessary to the algorithm.

Information integrity in blockchain and related technologies