The present application discloses a fouling control coating composition comprising a polysiloxane-based binder system, 0.01-20% by dry weight of one or more hydrophilic-modified polysiloxanes, and one or more biocides. The hydrophilic-modified polysiloxane may be a poly(oxyalkylene)-modified polysiloxane, e.g. a polysiloxane having grafted thereto poly(oxyalkylene) chains and/or having incorporated in the backbone thereof poly(oxyalkylene) chains. The poly(oxyalkylene) may e.g. be selected from polyoxyethylene, polyoxypropylene and poly(oxyethylene-co-oxypropylene) (polyethylene glycols/polypropylene glycols). The application further discloses a marine structure comprising on at least a part of the outer surface thereof an outermost coating prepared from the coating composition. Moreover, the application discloses the use of the combination of non-reactive hydrophilic-modified polysiloxanes and biocides, wherein the weight ratio between the hydrophilic-modified polysiloxanes and the biocides is in the range 1:0.2 to 1:6, for improving the antifouling properties of a polysiloxane based coating composition.

Traditionally, silicone formulations rely on physical means, this being mainly a factor of modulus of elasticity and surface tension to create a low fouling surface. The traditional polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) coatings have shown difficulty in resisting slime fouling over time, thus decreasing the advantage of drag reduction.
Hence, there is a need for fouling control polysiloxane-based coating compositions combining the benefits of conventional polysiloxane-based fouling-release coating compositions with the benefits of biocide-based antifouling coating compositions.
WO 2007/053163 discloses an antifouling material that may include one or more of a number of suitable copolymers (e.g. block copolymers, graft copolymers, etc.) which provide biocidal and/or fouling release characteristics. The copolymers may include a polysiloxane backbone with one or more polymers grafted onto the polysiloxane backbone. Such grafted polymers may carry biocidal groups.
WO 2008/132195 discloses an antifouling coating composition comprising a curable polymer (e.g. an organosiloxane-containing polymer) and an organosilicone polymer.
WO 2008/132196 discloses a method to physically deter marine fouling which method involves forming on the substrate a coating composition comprising curable polyorganosiloxane, polyoxyalkylene block copolymer, organosilicon cross-linking agent and/or catalyst. The polyoxyalkylene is reacted to the silicone binder by addition reaction (vinyl/hydrid) to form a block copolymer of polyoxyalkylene and polysiloxane. The copolymer can subsequently be terminated with vinyltrimethoxysilane to form a moisture curable binder.
US 2004/006190 discloses a room-temperature curable organopolysiloxane composition, which includes (A) an organopolysiloxane with the terminals blocked with a hydroxyl group, a hydrolysable group, or both these types of groups, and (B) an organosilicon compound containing a hydrolysable group, a partial hydrolysis-condensation product thereof, or a mixture of the two, and (C) a polysiloxane with at least one oxyalkylene group bonded to a silicon atom via, for example, a C—C—Si linkage.
WO 2002/088043 discloses a process for coating a siliceous substrate with a silicon-containing layer, wherein in a first step a layer comprising a biocide is applied.
US 2002/0197490 A1 discloses a curable antifouling polysiloxane based composition comprising hydrophobic silica possibly in combination with hydrophilic silica. In some embodiments, the composition further comprises a silicone oil, e.g. oils comprising polyethylene glycol or polypropylene glycol moieties. It is further envisaged, that antifouling agents may be used, in particular copper and inorganic copper compounds.
EP 2 103 655 A1 discloses a curable antifouling polysiloxane based composition comprising a reaction curable silicone rubber and a particularly designed organopolysiloxane mixture. In some embodiments, the composition further comprises a silicone oil, e.g. a polyether-modified silicone oil. It is further envisaged, that antifouling agents may be used, in particular copper and inorganic copper compounds.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,313,193 B1 i.a. discloses a composition comprising a silanol-terminated polydimethyl siloxane, a dimethylethoxy-terminated polydimethyl siloxane, polydiethoxy siloxane, and benzalkonium chloride. The polydiethoxy siloxane reacts with the polydimethyl siloxanes so that the polydiethoxy siloxane becomes an integral part of the binder network.
JP 2006 052283 A discloses a coating composition comprising a polyether-modified silicone oil having polyoxyalkylene side chains, an acrylic type binder system based on a polysiloxane macropolymer and an antifoulant.
JP 2006 299132 A discloses an antifouling coating composition which is based on a vinyl copolymer binder system which include polysiloxane side chains, and which is modified with certain reactive silanes, and which further comprises, e.g., an poly(oxyalkylene)-modified polysiloxane. The composition may also include an antifouling agent.
The silicone based fouling release coatings have demonstrated an advantage over conventional antifouling coatings showing significant lower drag resistance, hence reduced fuel consumption of marine vessels. The difference is especially obvious as long as the silicone coating is free from marine fouling including slime fouling. Many conventional silicone coatings have until now only been able to maintain a slime free surface for a shorter period.
Some traditional biocide containing antifouling coatings have demonstrated a greater resistance towards marine fouling compared to the silicone based fouling release coatings under, e.g., static conditions. The surface characteristics of such a coating will however lead to an increased drag resistance compared to silicone coatings even when the surface is fouling free.
The rationale behind the present invention has been to prolong the slime free period of a silicone based coating by combining the biocidal components from the antifouling coatings with a silicone based fouling release coating. This provides a coating with low drag resistance that will remain fouling free for a longer time than conventional silicone based fouling release coatings.


The invention relates to pharmaceutical compositions comprising unmicronized fenofibrate in admixture with a wetting agent and one or more pharmaceutically acceptable excipients, wherein the admixture is not comicronized before processing. The invention also relates to processes for the preparation of such compositions.

Fenofibrate is a lipid-regulating agent and belongs to the family of fibrates or fibric acid derivatives. It is indicated as an adjunctive therapy to diet for the treatment for adult patients with very high elevations of serum triglyceride levels who are at risk of pancreatitis and who do not respond adequately to dietary control. It is particularly useful for the treatment of adult endogenous hyperlipidemia, hypercholesterolemia and hypertriglyceridemia. It is commercially available as oral capsules containing micronized fenofibrate in the strengths of 67 mg, 134 mg and 200 mg
Fenofibrate is practically insoluble in water and exhibits a low rate of dissolution in aqueous media that results in inadequate bioavailability after oral ingestion. This low rate of dissolution of fenofibrate in aqueous media is also found in gastrointestinal fluids. Chemically, fenofibrate is 2-[4-(4-Chlorobenzoyl) phenoxy]-2-methylpropanoic acid 1-methylethyl ester of Formula I. Several methods of increasing the rate of dissolution of drugs having low solubility in water and other aqueous media have been disclosed in the prior art.

U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,145,684; 6,375,986; 6,969,529; and 6,592,903 disclose nanoparticulate compositions of fenofibrate.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,277,405; 6,652,881; 7,037,529; 7,041,319; 6,589,552; 6,531,158 and U.S. Patent Application Nos. 20040057998; 20040058005 and 2004137055 disclose micronized fenofibrate compositions.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,895,726, 5,880,148 and U.S. Application No. 20040071771 describe co-micronizing the fenofibrate with surface-active agents.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,555,135 describes co-micronized mixture of fenofibrate with pharmaceutically acceptable excipient that is not a surfactant.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,074,670 and 6,277,405 disclose micronized fenofibrate coated onto hydrosoluble carriers with optional surface-active agents.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,828,334 describes inclusion complex of fenofibrate with cyclodextrins.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,027,747 describes solid dispersion of fenofibrate.
U.S. Patent Application No. 20040087656 describes fenofibrate of particle size less than 2000 nm with an improved bioavailability.
U.S. Patent Application Nos. 20060222706 and 20060222707 describe fenofibrate in intimate association with menthol or surfactant mixture.
U.S. Patent Application No. 20030138496 micronized fenofibrate with inert hydrosoluble carriers.
Several other patents and applications describe specific formulations of micronized fenofibrate with specific polymeric or surface-active agent additives while several others describe emulsion and suspension formulations of fenofibrate.
The solubility of an active pharmaceutical ingredient influences the bioavailability of the drug. Fenofibrate is a poorly soluble drug. Due to its poor hydrosolubility, fenofibrate poses problem of low dissolution. It is also poorly absorbed in the digestive tract and consequently its bioavailability is incomplete and irregular. Clearly, there is a need for improved compositions in which the fenofibrate exhibits better dissolution properties.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Pharmaceutical compositions of fenofibrate


Software failures are processed by categorizing images associated with the failures into groups based on similarities in the images. The categorizing of the images may be performed by a software failure analysis tool. The images may include full or partial screenshots of a computer at the time of the software failure. An image may be part of the output of a test, or may be part of a report of a software failure from an end user of the software. The software failure analysis tool may be part of a larger software test management system.

Software testing checks whether or not software operates as intended. When software does not operate as intended, yielding unexpected results, this is due to defects in the software. The correction of these defects, and the introduction of new features or the enhancement of existing features, may introduce new defects into the software. Repeated testing improves the likelihood of catching defects soon after their introduction.
Manually testing software, by having a person operate the software, provide inputs to the software, and examine the behavior and outputs of the software, may be appropriate in certain situations because it provides immediate benefits. However, in the long run, it is tedious for the person and an inefficient use of the person's time and effort. Consequently, automated tests that are planned in advance and run without human intervention are popular, since repeated testing is performed quickly and efficiently.
A company's test designers may have created dozens and even thousands of tests for its software. These suites of tests encompass valuable knowledge of the software, user scenarios, and expected configurations. If a test results in the failure of the software, information captured from the computer up to and at the time the software failed is stored for further analysis.
The volume of software failures associated with a given test suite may be huge, even though a relatively small number of defects in the software are causing the failures. The order in which these software failures are presented to the person or people who are supposed to analyze them may bear no relation whatsoever to the causes of the failures, thus complicating the analysis.

Categorizing images of software failures


A system and method for quantizing a photonic signal involves passing the photonic signal through a photonic crystal. The photonic crystal has localized defects for splitting the photonic signal into a plurality of quantized photonic components and for directing the quantized photonic components to a set of optical detectors. A digital conversion of the photonic signal can occur by performing a threshold comparison of the quantized components, either in the electrical domain through comparators or in the optical domain through optical limiters.

An analog-to-digital converter is a ubiquitous component found in many different types of systems, such as but certainly not limited to computer, data, control, sensor, communication, and telecommunication systems. The analog-to-digital converters receive analog signals and provide a digital signal to another component, such as a processor. As the systems within which the analog-to-digital converters are used develop and become more sophisticated, the performance of the analog-to-digital converter is becoming more important.
For instance, as the development of a software defined radio continues, the need for high-speed analog to digital conversion to directly digitize RF to microwave signals rather than to down-converting the signal to IF becomes necessary to improve performance, to simplify design, to reduce noise, to reduce interference, and to reduce cost. The current technology of analog to digital conversion is primarily done at the electronic signal. The high speed sampling of the electronic signal has been limited to the stability of the clock jitter, thermal noise of the electronics, electromagnetic interference of other electronic devices and circuits, cross-talk, and coupling noises of interconnect lines.
The use of an optical signal has benefited many high speed communication applications due to the inherent inertness of the optical signals to the EMI noise and minimal cross-talk and coupling to close by devices. Optical signals can also travel relatively long distances without compromising severe signal distortion and attenuation at high modulation speed.
To obtain even better performance, some work has been done in performing the analog-to-digital conversion in the optical domain. a photonic analog-to-digital converter can take advantage of the high speed analog signal of the optical domain and convert it to a high speed digital signal in the electronic domain for further signal processing. The photonic analog-to-digital converter can therefore achieve high speed analog to digital conversion beyond today's technology. The photonic analog-to-digital converter can provide a system with the low noise, low distortion, and high-speed characteristic of photonics while leveraging the more established high-speed digital electronics for low cost signal processing. The digital signal is also less sensitive to noise and can be processed using today's semiconductor technology at relatively high speed.
FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a photonic analog-to-digital converter 10 using a conventional optical splitter 12, saturable absorbers 14, optical delay lines 16, photo-diode detectors 17 and electronic comparators 19. With this analog-to-digital converter, incoming photonic signals are split into a plurality of photonic components and directed toward the saturable absorbers 14. The saturable absorbers 14 quantize the photonic signal by preventing any signal from reaching the photo-diode detectors 17 unless the photonic components exceed a certain threshold level. The comparators 19 then digitize the output by comparing the output of the photo-diode detectors 17 to a reference level for the digital signal. A digital encoder 18 combines the individual bits from the comparators to form a digital signal.
A problem with this approach is that the use of conventional optical waveguides 16 and/or fiber splitter 12 makes it difficult to miniaturize the analog-to-digital converter 10. This is due to the minimum-bending radius allowed in order to minimize the scattering losses at the bends of the waveguides 16 and splitter 12. Secondly, the use of saturable absorbers 14 to quantize the optical signal creates a highly inefficient conversion. Most of the original optical signal will be wasted through absorption. As number of optical split channels required for the number of digital bit resolution is channels=2n bits, the device 10 quickly becomes impractical to implement.

Photonic analog-to-digital converters using photonic crystals


A floating vessel 11 for producing hydrocarbons comprises one or more containers 12 having a chamber 13 formed therein, a structural frame 15 for interconnecting the one or more containers 12, a power system 16 for producing, storing, and distributing power, and a hydrocarbon processor 27.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the production of hydrocarbons, and more particularly concerns the production of hydrocarbons using air, water and wind energy as raw materials.
2. Brief Description of Prior Art
There is an ongoing erosion of energy generating capacity in North America, especially with respect to base load generating facilities. Base load energy is the least costly energy to produce by power companies. Because of environmental and industry regulation and significant market changes, utilities foresee that base load energy production will not keep pace with demand, therefore requiring the generation of additional energy using other more costly means. This is especially troublesome because base-load energy plants are usually the most costly and time consuming to construct, traditionally being coal, nuclear, heavy oil or hydro-electric plants. Some new combined cycle plants have slightly shorter construction time, but they are still costly to build and are dependant on natural gas or light oil, both fuels with a volatile price history.
The electric utility companies could increase their base-load energy capacity by 30 percent overnight if they use their peak load combustion turbines for base load power. Presently this is not possible because these turbines are simple-cycle gas turbines with a maximum thermal-dynamic efficiency of 25 percent. Additionally, they can only be run for a limited number of hours a day since they do not conform to air pollution standards. Because of these factors, they cannot be run profitably and are used only to make up for small, short term power short falls, as might occur during the morning and evening peak demand times. To operate these plants for base load profitability, in an environmentally clean manner, power producers would require a fuel that does not cause noxious emissions and sells at an economically feasible price. Several fuels possess one or the other of these desired traits, but none possesses both traits.

Floating vessel for producing hydrocarbons and method for producing hydrocarbons


A laser radar (LADAR) including an acoustic-optical (AO) laser scanner for deflecting a pulsed laser beam through a plurality of angles, means for diffracting the deflected laser beam from the acoustic-optical laser scanner into a plurality of laser beams and a linear detector array including a plurality of detector elements respectively positioned to receive reflected energy from the respective plurality of laser beams such that a line scan is produced composed of a plurality of pixels.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to active electro-optical imaging systems for searching object space. More particularly, this invention relates to imaging systems that require high pixel rates and programmable scan rates.
2. Description of the Background Art
Presently, there exist many types of imaging systems for searching object space for potential targets and for providing target position information to a sensor system to initiate and guide projectiles and/or missiles to the selected target. Such target position information may also be provided to a visual display device allowing visual review of the selected target for visual identification and prioritization of the selected target(s).
Militarily, there exists a need for a very precise imaging system that can detect and identify enemy targets with great precision. Current laser technology, coupled with state-of-the-art optics, can provide narrow beams that can be accurately placed to determine very precise target characteristics for detection and identification as well as precise target location compared to other deployed sensor systems. However, the very small beam size imposes significant limitations in data and scan rate requirements to cover a required field of view (FOV). Therefore, a laser radar (Ladar) applied to missile systems requires high pixel rates and programmable scan rates. Typical prior art systems employ the use of a rotating polygon scanner at high angular rates. In such scanners, mechanical systems are used to generate the angular steps that must be coupled to the pulse repetition frequency of the system. Unfortunately, such mechanical implementation reduces reliability, is inflexible and requires significant volume.
Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide an improvement which overcomes the aforementioned inadequacies of the prior art devices and provides an improvement which is a significant contribution to the advancement of the Ladar art.
Another object of the invention is to provide a scanner comprising an acoustic-optical laser scanner for deflecting a pulsed laser beam through a plurality of angles; means for diffracting the deflected laser beam from the acoustic-optical laser scanner into a plurality of laser beams; and a detector array including a plurality of detector elements respectively positioned to receive reflected energy from the respective plurality of laser beams, whereby a line scan is produced composed of a plurality of pixels.
The foregoing has outlined some of the pertinent objects of the invention. These objects should be construed to be merely illustrative of some of the more prominent features and applications of the intended invention. Many other beneficial results can be attained by applying the disclosed invention in a different manner or modifying the invention within the scope of the disclosure. Accordingly, other objects and a fuller understanding of the invention and the detailed description of the preferred embodiment in addition to the scope of the invention defined by the claims taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Acoustic optical scanning of linear detector array for laser radar

Alliant Defense Electronics Systems, Inc.


A portable seat cushion having upper and lower seat pads. The upper seat pad is hingedly connected to the lower seat pad forming a hingeline therebetween. The lower seat pad includes first and second cushion members. The first cushion member includes top, bottom and side surfaces. The second cushion member is secured to the bottom surface of the first cushion member. A cavity is formed in the second cushion member such that when an individual sits on the lower seat pad a portion of the first cushion member is free to recess or sag into the first cavity. The upper seat pad includes a lower back support positioned adjacent the hingeline formed between the upper and lower seat pads. The seat cushion is formed from high density polyurethane.

Individuals often experience discomfort when sitting in one place for a prolonged periods of time. For instance, those people whose livelihood involves daily sitting for long periods in a vehicle such as a taxi, car, bus, truck, boat or airplane will often develop hemorrhoids and experience severe discomfort in the lower back and buttocks. People with hemorrhoidal problems can also experience discomfort while watching a ball game or similar event at a stadium.
A number of padding or cushioning devices have been developed in an effort to reduce back and hemorrhoidal pain brought about by sitting for a lengthy period of time. However, these devices have had little success as compared to the present invention.


The object of the present invention is to provide a method for screening a substance involved in a metabolic shift of skeletal muscle, and a kit for screening a substance involved in a metabolic shift of skeletal muscle.

We face a super-aged society today. Sarcopenia, as well as dementia, is a major problem in today's super-aged society, but an early diagnosis and prevention of muscle atrophy are long-standing problems. Sarcopenia is defined as a disease associated with a decrease in the amount of skeletal muscle. Further, in a broader sense, it is considered that sarcopenia includes a disease associated with a skeletal muscle weakness or a decline in function.
Sarcopenia is developed in skeletal muscles. The skeletal muscle is mainly composed of two fibers, i.e. slow-twitch muscle fiber and fast-twitch muscle fiber, and, in each muscle, these two fibers with a certain proportion are arranged in a mosaic-like arrangement. The slow-twitch muscle fiber has excellent, aerobic energy production ability. A contraction rate of the slow-twitch muscle fiber is low, but a tolerance to fatigue thereof is excellent. Therefore, it is considered that the slow-twitch muscle fiber is suitable for an exercise of endurance. On the other hand, the fast-twitch muscle fiber has excellent, anaerobic energy production ability, and a generated tension thereof is high. Therefore, it is considered that the fast-twitch muscle fiber is suitable for a resistance exercise.
Further, disuse muscle atrophy, motor nerve damage, cachexia, chronic obstructive lung disease, Crohn disease, type I and II diabetes, neuromuscular incurable disease, autoimmune myasthenia gravis, sarcopenic obesity, arteriosclerosis with muscle atrophy, muscle atrophy associated with cerebral vascular disease, muscle damage, muscle tissue reconstruction after external injury or surgery treatment, muscular dystrophy, or the like, is known as a disease with a change of skeletal muscle (non-patent literatures 1 to 3), and development of therapeutic agents against the above diseases have been conducted. However, an effective therapeutic agent has not been developed.
The incurable neuromuscular diseases include amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, polymyositis, Guillain-Barré syndrome, congenital myasthenia, muscular dystrophy, distal myopathy, congenital myopathy, glycogen storage disease, mitochondrial myopathy, steroid myopathy, inflammatory myopathy, endocrine myopathy, and lipid storage myopathy.
A MyHCβ-YFP knock-in mouse in which a fluorescent protein YFP is bound to myosin-heavy chain β is reported as a means for visualizing myosin-heavy chain β of a cardiac muscle (non-patent literature 4). The myosin-heavy chain β gene of a cardiac muscle is the same as a MyHCI gene of a skeletal muscle, and thus, the inventors have found that the MyHCI can be expressed in the skeletal muscle and visualized (non-patent literature 5). Hereinafter, MyHCβ-YFP is referred to as MyHCI-YFP. Further, the inventors prepared a knock-in mouse, wherein a fusion protein in which a fluorescent protein Sirius is bound to myosin-heavy chain IIa of a skeletal muscle, and a fusion protein in which a fluorescent protein mCherry is bound to myosin-heavy chain IIb of a skeletal muscle are knocked-in, and reported that a composition shift of muscle fibers caused by training can be visualized (non-patent literature 5). However, the knock-in mouse is not a model mouse of a skeletal muscle disease, and thus, it is not used for developing therapeutic agents.

Muscle stem cell or myoblast, method for screening substances that participate in metabolic conversion using same, and pharmaceutical composition comprising substance obtained from said screening method

Abstract: The object can be solved by a muscle stem cell or myoblast comprising at least one myosin-heavy chain fusion gene selected from the group consisting of a myosin-heavy chain I fusion gene wherein a myosin-heavy chain I gene and a fluorescent protein or photoprotein gene are fused, a myosin-heavy chain IIa fusion gene wherein a myosin-heavy chain IIa gene and a fluorescent protein or photoprotein gene are fused, a myosin-heavy chain IId/x fusion gene wherein a myosin-heavy chain IId/x gene and a fluorescent protein or photoprotein gene are fused, and a myosin-heavy chain IIb fusion gene wherein a myosin-heavy chain IIb gene and a fluorescent protein or photoprotein gene are fused.

Tokyo Metropolitan Geriatric Hospital and Institute of Gerontology


A process for the purification of hydrogen based gas mixtures utilizing zeolite X wherein the particle size distribution of the zeolite X powder has a coefficient of variation from about 15% to about 30%.

The production of high-purity hydrogen is of great interest industrially, the latter being widely used in many processes, such as hydrocracking, the production of methanol, the production of oxoalcohols and in isomerization processes.
In the prior art, PSA processes have proved to be very efficient in the separation of gas mixtures and in particular in the production of pure hydrogen or oxygen from gas mixtures contaminated by various impurities. PSA processes take advantage of the adsorption selectivity of a given adsorbent for one or a number of the contaminating substances of the gas mixture to be purified.
The choice of the adsorbent is problematic because it depends on the nature of the mixture to be treated. As a general rule, the adsorbents are selected according to their ability to adsorb and to desorb a specific compound. In fact, PSA processes involve the operation of pressure cycles. In a first phase, the adsorbent bed separates at least one constituent of the mixture by adsorption of this constituent on the adsorbent bed. In a second phase, the adsorbent is regenerated by lowering the pressure. At each new cycle, it is therefore essential for the desorption to be efficient and complete, so that there is an identical regenerated state at each new cycle. However, it is clear that this ability to adsorb and then desorb a specific constituent of a gas mixture is a function of the specific operating conditions of the PSA process envisaged and in particular of the temperature and pressure conditions.
However, insofar as the mixture to be purified generally comprises more than one impurity, it is desirable for the adsorbent to be able to adsorb and then desorb not one alone but a number of these impurities. In point of fact, the adsorption profile and selectivity for a given constituent are often influenced by the presence, in the gas mixture, of other impurities, this being due, for example, to possible competition or to poisoning of the adsorbent. These various considerations account for the complexity of the problem of the optimization of PSA processes by improvement of the adsorbent.


A method for power control with signal quality estimation for smart antenna communications system is described. The method, for example, starts with a transmit power assignment. Receive weight vector determination is carried out with this assigned transmit power, and the new weights used. An estimate of the resulting received signal quality is obtained and used for another power adjustment.

In a wireless communication system, as a general rule, it is highly desirable that the minimum radiated radio frequency (RF) carrier power necessary to achieve a specified quality level of communications be used in order to conserve energy and, perhaps more importantly, in order to reduce interference with other users of a shared RF spectrum. With the increasing use of cellular wireless communication systems comprising a base station (BS) at each cell, and remote terminals (a remote terminal also is called a subscriber unit (SU) or a subscriber station) communicating with an assigned base station, the problem of interference between stations within a given cellular area, and between neighboring cells, requires intelligent interference management in order to more effectively use the allocated common RF bandwidth. Such interference management is the goal of power control. As a general rule, the minimum radiated RF power required for maintaining an acceptable quality of service should be used.
Two types of power control are necessary: initial power control, and ongoing power control. In initial power control, the goal is to initiate communications with the minimal level of power necessary to achieve an acceptable level of communications. Ongoing power control maintains minimum transmitted power usage on a link as the communication system changes over time by new links being formed while others are being established.
Initial Power Control
Several communications protocols are known for cellular systems, including, for example, the Personal Handiphone System (PHS) and the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM). Both use time division multiple access (TDMA) together with frequency division multiple access (FDMA) techniques. Such communications protocols all include protocols for call establishment, for example for a subscriber unit initiating communications to a BS, or a BS initiating communications with a SU. Some of these protocols may not include initial power control. There thus is a need in the art for an initial power control method that may be applied to an existing communication system without adversely impacting communication system protocols that are in existence.
Ongoing Power Control
Ongoing power control is the control of radiated power as the communication environment changes after initial communications is achieved. For example, when the radiated power is increased in a particular link between a SU and a BS in order to achieve an acceptable quality for the received signal, or for some other reason, such a change may cause unacceptable quality changes for other stations using either the same or adjacent channels. In addition, as new connections are established and on-going connections are disconnected, power assignments might change resulting in changes (for better or worse) in the quality of existing connections. For example, "excess quality" may result, implying that excess RF power is being used under the new conditions. Degraded quality also may be experienced, implying that some connections may require greater radiated RF power. Variations in propagation characteristics, atmospherics, and man-made interference can also cause changes that require adjusting RF power levels. This is the goal of ongoing power control.
Spatial division multiple access (SDMA) techniques are known in which the same "conventional channel" (i.e., the same frequency channel in a frequency division multiple access (FDMA) system, timeslot in a time division multiple access (TDMA) system, code in a code division multiple access (CDMA) system, or timeslot and frequency in a TDMA/FDMA system) may be assigned to more than one subscriber station. This is done by using an antenna array of several antenna elements at the base station, and on the uplink (communications from a subscriber unit to a base station), the signal from each antenna element is weighted in amplitude and phase by a receive weight (also called spatial demultiplexing weight), all the receive weights determining a complex valued receive weight vector which is dependent on the receive spatial signature of the remote user. The receive spatial signature (also called the receive manifold vector) characterizes how the base station array receives signals from a particular subscriber unit. On the downlink (communications from the base station unit to a subscriber unit), transmission is achieved by weighting the signal to be transmitted by each array element in amplitude and phase by a set of respective transmit weights (also called spatial multiplexing weights), all the transmit weights for a particular user determining a complex-valued transmit weight vector which also is dependent on the spatial signature of the remote user. When transmitting to several remote users on the same conventional channel, the sum of weighted signals is transmitted at the antenna arrays.
The weighting of the signals either on the uplink from each antenna element in an array of antennas, or on the downlink to each antenna element is called spatial processing herein. Spatial processing is useful even when no more than one subscriber unit is assigned to any conventional channel. Thus, the term SDMA shall be used herein to include both the true spatial multiplexing case of having more than one user per conventional channel, and the use of spatial processing with only one user per conventional channel to mitigate adjacent channel interference and adjacent cell interference, reduce the cellular frequency reuse factor, etc. The term channel shall refer to a communications link between a base station and a single remote user, so that the term SDMA covers both a single channel per conventional channel, and more than one channel per conventional channel.
Methods for determining spatial receive and transmit weight vectors are known in the art. See for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,515,378 (issued May 7, 1996) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,642,353 (issued Jun. 24, 1997) entitled SPATIAL DIVISION MULTIPLE ACCESS WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS, Roy, III, et al., inventors; U.S. Pat. No. 5,592,490 (issued Jan. 7, 1997) entitled SPECTRALLY EFFICIENT HIGH CAPACITY WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS, Barratt, et al., inventors; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/735,520 (filed Oct. 10, 1996), entitled SPECTRALLY EFFICIENT HIGH CAPACITY WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS WITH SPATIO-TEMPORAL PROCESSING, Ottersten, et al., inventors; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/729,390 (filed Oct. 11, 1996) entitled METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DECISION DIRECTED DEMODULATION USING ANTENNA ARRAYS AND SPATIAL PROCESSING, Barratt, et al., inventors (hereinafter "Our Demodulation Patent"); and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/948,772 (filed Oct. 10, 1997) entitled METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CALIBRATING A WIRELESS COMMUNICATION STATION HAVING AN ANTENNA ARRAY, Parish, et al., inventors (hereinafter "Our Calibration Patent"), each of these incorporated herein by reference in their entirety, these patents or applications collectively referred to herein as "Our Spatial Processing Patents". For example, in systems that use time division duplexing (TDD) so that uplink and downlink communications occurs over the same frequency (in a FDMA or a TDMA/FDMA system), a receive weight vector of receive weights determined on the uplink can be used to determine the required transmit weight vector of transmit weights for communications on the downlink from the base station to the same remote subscriber unit.
No practical methods of ongoing power control are known in the prior art that are applicable to systems using SDMA techniques, in that the power control methods can effectively adjust all of the SDMA system parameters required for minimizing the total radiated RF power while maintaining acceptable quality levels for all channels. Using SDMA introduces substantial complexities in the RF radiated power control problem because determining weight vectors affects power control, and vice versa. Any change in RF power on a conventional channel using SDMA will affect the transmit and receive weight vectors assigned to users using the same conventional channel and any change in the spatial processing effects the power required by existing users in order to maintain an adequate communication quality level. Prior art methods for power control typically do not account for the specific aspects of SDMA, and may cause instability in such an SDMA system, wherein an improper choice of transmit power adversely alters the spatial multiplexing (i.e., transmit) and demultiplexing (i.e., receive) weight vectors, causing the transmit powers to deviate further from optimum until signal quality and network capacity are both degraded.
The optimal solution of the ongoing power control problem for an SDMA system requires the simultaneous solution of the SDMA multiplexing weight assignment problem and the power assignment problem. This at the very least is an involved computational task, and to date has been an intractable and overwhelming computational task. Thus there is a need in the art for a practical near optimal method for determining spatial processing weight vectors and ongoing power control for an SDMA system.
The objective of ongoing power control problems for communications is to minimize the total power transmitted in the communication system while ensuring that a desired ("target") signal to interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) for every connection within every cell is achieved. When expressed in this way, the resulting power control method is referred to as a globally optimal method. Such a globally optimal method in general requires communications between base stations of the system. Locally optimal methods are those for which optimality is satisfied within some subset of the overall system, for example, within a particular cell. There may be practical difficulties with directly determining a globally optimal method when dealing with a large number of intercell and intracell connections. For example, the computation time may be too long relative to the rate of change of connection conditions; and, it may not be feasible or practical to gather the necessary data, such as the path gain between every base station and every remote subscriber unit in real time. It has been shown (Yun, L. C. M., Transport for Multimedia on Wireless Networks, Doctoral Dissertation, University of California, Berkeley, Calif., 1995) for a non-SDMA system that, by incorporating the effects of interference coupling between cells, the localized control strategy can be made to asymptotically converge to the globally optimal solution. Thus there are advantages to having an ongoing power control strategy that uses locally optimal power control. Thus there is a need in the art for locally optimal power control methods for systems with SDMA that are "distributed," in that no inter-base station communication of power control information is required for operation.
Signal Quality Estimation
In order to implement power control, an objective measure of the quality of the received signal is required. It is generally accepted that a measure of the error in the signal is a useful objective measure of quality. It is desirable that any such measurement of error be made while normal communications are taking place.
Several prior art methods exist for estimating the quality of received signal. One class or prior art techniques uses a measure of the received signal power as a measure of the received signal quality. An example is the commonly used received signal strength indicator (RSSI). The problem with such measures is that they do not distinguish between the desired signal and any interfering signals and/or noise. To overcome this shortcoming, some prior art power control methods use a measure of the bit error rate (BER) or the easier to obtain frame error rate (FER). For example, the initial power control method used in the IS-95 CDMA standard uses FER. FER is easier to obtain in practice than the BER because cyclic redundancy check (CRC) bits usually are part of a frame structure. The FER may be viewed as an approximate indication of the BER. Two main shortcomings of BER and FER as measures include:                1. It takes a long time (many frames) to accumulate a statistically meaningful estimate of BER or FER, which may be too slow for power control; and        2. The BER (or FER) may not be only a function of power, but may also be affected by other causes of a demodulation error. For example, residual frequency offset (even after any frequency offset correction has been applied) may contribute to the modulation error.
Additionally, prior-art decision-directed modulation error estimation methods exist which have used for quality estimation an error vector that represents the difference between the received signal and an idealized model of the signal that should have been received. The idealized model is generated from the detected bits by passing the detected bits through a bits-to-symbol mapper which converts the bits to the correct symbols, and then passing the correct symbols through a pulse shaper to produce the idealized model of the signal (a reference signal). The pulse shaper also needs to undo frequency correction and undo timing alignment. The difference between the resulting idealized model of the modulated signal (with any frequency offset and timing misalignment) and the actual received signal is used to estimate the noise and interference present in the actual signal, and this is used as a quality estimate.
This prior-art decision based quality estimator has several undesirable properties, some similar to the BER and FER measures:                1. a demodulation error may cause a large error in the quality estimate by substituting an incorrect symbol in place of the actual symbol that was meant to be transmitted;        2. frequency offset contributes to the modulation error;        3. measurement of modulation error does not directly relate to the RF carrier strength and to the noise and interference levels; and        4. estimation of the signal to interference-and-noise ratio (SINR) from the modulation error tends to result in a high variance (unreliable) estimator.
Note that the sensitivity to frequency offset is particularly undesirable when the quality estimator is for transmitter power control. Increasing the transmitter power because a frequency offset error is mistaken for noise or interference error, is not only completely ineffective, but is undesirable because an unnecessary excess transmitter power will cause increased interference with other system users.
Thus there is a need in the art for power control methods that use a process for estimating the quality of received signal which (a) is fast; (b) is substantially insensitive to frequency offset variations; and (c) leads to a measure, for example the signal to interference-and-noise ratio (SINR), that differentiates signal from interference and noise.

Power control with signal quality estimation for smart antenna communications systems


A backlight unit includes a light-source substrate having mounted thereon a plurality of light-emitting elements emitting illumination light; a light guide plate having a side surface with the light-source substrate attached thereto so as to receive the illumination light from the light-emitting elements, the light guide plate also having a first surface extending substantially perpendicular to the side surface, and a second surface; a reflective sheet attached to the first surface and reflecting the illumination light towards the second surface; and an optical sheet layer attached to the second surface and including a plurality of stacked optical sheets. The side surface has a reflective portion that reflects at least a part of the illumination light. The at least a part of the illumination light to be reflected at the reflective portion is incident on the reflective portion at an incidence angle equal to or above a critical angle.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to backlight units that illuminate transmissive liquid crystal panels and to liquid crystal display devices equipped with such backlight units.
2. Description of the Related Art
Liquid crystal display devices optically display, for example, predetermined images by applying voltage to liquid crystal sealed between two transparent substrates. In detail, the application of voltage causes the orientation of the liquid crystal molecules to change, thereby changing the light transmittance. A liquid crystal display device is equipped with a backlight unit that illuminates a transmissive liquid crystal panel included in the device.
A backlight unit is generally equipped with a cold cathode fluorescent lamp (CCFL) or light-emitting diodes (LEDs) as a light source. Because the light crystal itself is not self-active, the backlight unit emits illumination light evenly and stably over the entire surface of the liquid crystal panel from the rear side of the panel so that a predetermined image, for example, can be displayed on the liquid crystal panel.
FIG. 15 shows a backlight unit 100 disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-281924. In this backlight unit 100, a light guide plate 103 has a side surface 103a to which a light-source substrate 102 is attached, and the light-source substrate 102 has mounted thereon a plurality of LEDs 101 as a light source in a substantially single line. The LEDs 101 are used in place of a CCFL since they consume less power, are smaller in size, are lighter in weight, and allow for easier maintenance.
In the backlight unit 100 disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-281924, illumination light is emitted from the LEDs 101 in a diffusing manner so as to enter the light guide plate 103. The illumination light undergoes total reflection repetitively within the light guide plate 103 so that the illumination light can be widely distributed to the far side of the light guide plate 103. In order for the illumination light to undergo total reflection within the light guide plate 103, it is preferred that an incidence angle θ1 of the illumination light incident on the light guide plate 103 be equal to or above a critical angle.
In this case, an incidence angle θ1 of illumination light refers to an angle formed between a ray of illumination light and a normal line of a boundary surface of the light guide plate 103 at a point where the illumination light in the light guide plate 103 and the boundary surface of the light guide plate 103 intersect.
The critical angle can be determined on the basis of Snell's law.sin θ=nA/nB(nB>nA)  Formula 1
where "θ" represents a critical angle, "nA" represents a refractive index of medium A, and "nB" represents a refractive index of medium B.
In the backlight unit 100 disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-281924, supposing that the light guide plate 103 composed of an acrylic material has a refractive index of about 1.5 and the refractive index of air is about 1.0, the critical angle can be determined to be about 41.8° based on Snell's law. As shown in FIG. 15, regarding illumination light propagating from the acrylic light guide plate 103 to air, the incidence angle θ1 of the illumination light is preferably about 41.8° or higher in order to allow the illumination light to undergo total reflection at the boundary surface of the light guide plate 103.

Backlight unit and liquid crystal display device


An automotive audio reproducing apparatus according to the present invention comprises: a sound image position correction circuit 52 for converting a left-channel input digital audio signal XL(Z) and a right-channel input digital audio signal XR(Z) into a digital audio signal YL(Z) and a digital audio signal YR(Z), respectively, for output expressed by:

The present invention relates to an automotive audio reproducing apparatus.
When an audio reproducing apparatus reproduces music or the like, ideal height of a reproduced sound image is said to be eye level of the listener. Therefore, speakers are generally mounted at the eye level of the listener.
However, with an automotive audio reproducing apparatus, it is difficult to mount speakers at the eye level of the listener (driver or passenger of the vehicle, that is, an occupant). As shown in FIG. 12A, the speakers are often mounted at a lower position (1) of front doors of the vehicle or at a lower position (2) of rear doors. Hence, reproduced sound is heard from the direction of the lower position, so that the sound image is localized at a position lower than the eye level of the listener.
In order to avoid such a problem, there is a method of mounting speakers of small diameter for reproducing high frequencies at a position (3) in front of the listener, as shown in FIG. 12A. However, this method causes reproduced sound at high frequencies and reproduced sound at low frequencies to be outputted from different positions, thereby resulting in separate reproduced sounds.
Also, it is known that sound tends to be absorbed more as its frequency is increased. Therefore, when the speakers are mounted at a lower position in a passenger compartment, high-frequency sound is absorbed by the seats and the interior of the compartment. This results in a difference between the reproduced sound outputted by the audio reproducing apparatus and the sound actually heard by the listener.
In order to deal with the above situation, it is effective to actually determine transfer functions in the compartment and correct the reproduced sound according to the transfer functions. However, this requires a high-performance digital signal processing apparatus. Since such a digital signal processing apparatus is rather expensive, it is difficult to use it in a consumer audio reproducing apparatus.
In addition, when the reproduced sound is corrected according to transfer functions, high frequencies generally tend to be emphasized. Therefore, when sound volume level is increased, high-frequency sound becomes excessively noticeable.
Furthermore, the passenger compartment is rather small when viewed as an acoustic space, and therefore affects the reproduced sound. Thus, the reproduced sound actually heard by the listener lacks in breadth and depth.
The present invention has been made to solve the above problems.
Thus, according to the present invention, there is provided an automotive audio reproducing apparatus comprising:
a sound image position correction circuit for converting a left-channel input digital audio signal XL(Z) and a right-channel input digital audio signal XR(Z) into a digital audio signal YL(Z) and a digital audio signal YR(Z), respectively, for output expressed by:
YL(Z)xc2x7GLL(Z)+YR(Z)xc2x7GLR(Z)=XL(Z)xc2x7FLL(Z)+XR(Z)xc2x7FLR(Z)
YR(Z)xc2x7GLL(Z)+YL(Z)xc2x7GLR(Z)=XR(Z)xc2x7FLL(Z)+XL(Z)xc2x7FLR(Z)
xe2x80x83where
FLL(Z) is a head related transfer function from a first left-channel speaker and a first right-channel speaker located in front of a listener in a passenger compartment to a left ear and a right ear of the listener, respectively;
FLR(Z) is a head related transfer function from the first left-channel speaker and the first right-channel speaker to the right ear and the left ear of the listener, respectively;
GLL(Z) is a head related transfer function from a second left-channel speaker and a second right-channel speaker located in lower front of the listener to the left ear and the right ear of the listener, respectively; and
GLR(Z) is a head related transfer function from the second left-channel speaker and the second right-channel speaker to the right ear and the left ear of the listener, respectively;
a reflected sound signal generating circuit for generating reflected sound signals by delaying the output signals YL(Z) and YR(Z), respectively;
a pair of adding circuits for adding the reflected sound signals to the output signals YL(Z) and YR(Z), respectively; and
a D/A converter circuit for being supplied with output signals of the pair of adding circuits;
wherein when
Hp(Z)=(FLL(Z)+FLR(Z))/(GLL(Z)+GLR(Z))
Hm(Z)=(FLL(Z)xe2x88x92FLR(Z))/(GLL(Z)xe2x88x92GLR(Z)),
the sound image position correction circuit includes:
a first adding circuit and a first subtracting circuit for subjecting the input digital audio signals XL(Z) and XR(Z) to addition and subtraction, respectively;
a first digital filter and a second digital filter having transfer characteristics of the Hp(Z) and the Hm(Z) for being supplied with output signals of the first adding circuit and the first subtracting circuit, respectively;
a second adding circuit and a second subtracting circuit for subjecting output signals of the first digital filter and the second digital filter to addition and subtraction and thereby generating the output signals YL(Z) and YR(Z), respectively; and
a level control circuit connected in series with the second digital filter in a signal line between the first subtracting circuit and the second adding circuit and the second subtracting circuit;
whereby the level control circuit controls level of a difference signal supplied to the second adding circuit and the second subtracting circuit; and
analog signals outputted from the D/A converter circuit are supplied to the second left-channel speaker and the second right-channel speaker, respectively.
Thus, virtual speakers are disposed in front of the listener, and the virtual speakers reproduce a sound field and a sound image.

Abstract: where FLL(Z) to GLR(Z) are given head related transfer functions; a depth correction circuit 53 for adding reflected sound signals to the signals YL(Z) and YR(Z), respectively; a D/A converter circuit 6 for subjecting output signals of the correction circuit 53 to D/A conversion; and a level control circuit 522 for controlling level of a difference signal in the sound image position correction circuit 52; whereby analog audio signals outputted from the D/A converter circuit 6 are supplied to a left-channel speaker and a right-channel speaker, respectively.


An optical amplifier to which an optical output power automatic attenuation circuit according to the present invention is applied, comprises: one amplifier board to and from which a WDM light is input and output; and a plurality of booster boards which supply pumping lights to the amplifier board, an ID pattern generated in an ID pattern generating circuit disposed in each of the booster boards is superposed on the pumping light to be sent to the amplifier board, an electric signal indicating a monitoring result of the pumping light in a light receiver disposed on the amplifier board is transmitted to each of the booster boards, it is detected in an ID coincidence detection circuit in each of the booster boards whether or not a received ID pattern contained in the electric signal is coincident with the generated ID pattern, and a connection condition of an output fiber is judged according to the detection result so that an output level of the pumping light is controlled. Thus, it is possible to detect with a simple configuration the erroneous connection of an optical fiber between each of a plurality of transmission sections and a reception section, thereby reliably preventing the light of high power from being emitted to the outside.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical output power automatic attenuation circuit for monitoring the disconnection and the erroneous connection of optical fibers in an optical communication apparatus to prevent a light of high power from being emitted to the outside.
(2) Related Art
FIG. 15 is a configuration diagram showing one example of a typical optical communication system. This optical communication system is configured such that a transmission side terminal apparatus 110 and a reception side terminal apparatus 120 are connected to each other by a transmission path 130 laid on the seated or the like, and also a plurality of repeaters 140 is arranged on the transmission path 130. In the transmission side terminal apparatus 110, a plurality of optical signals of different wavelengths output from an optical sender (OS) 111 is multiplexed by a multiplexer 112 to become a wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) light, and the output power of the WDM light is controlled by an optical amplifier 113 and a supervisory control section 114 so that the input power to the repeater 140 reaches a required level, to be output to the transmission path 130.
FIG. 16 is a configuration example of a conventional optical amplifier disposed in the terminal apparatus or the repeater of the optical communication system as described above. In the optical amplifier of FIG. 16, a WDM light input to a signal light input terminal TsIN of an amplifier board 210 is propagated sequentially through erbium-doped fibers (EDF) 211 and 212 serving as amplification media. Pumping lights Lp respectively output from a plurality of booster boards 220A to 220C, and 220A′ to 220C′ are injected to the EDFs 211 and 212 via pumping light input terminals TpA to TpC and TpA′ to TpC′. Thus, the WDM light Ls is amplified when passing through the EDFs 211 and 212, to be output from a signal light output terminal TsOUT. At this time, as the pumping light Lp supplied to the amplifier board 210 from each of the booster boards 220A to 220C and 220A′ to 220C′, there is used a laser light belonging to the hazard class 3B in conformity with IEC 60825 which is the International standards of laser products, CENELEC standards (EN60825-1), and JIS standards (JISC6802). Therefore, in the case where any one of optical fibers, which are connected respectively from the respective booster boards 220A to 220C and 220A′ to 220C′, to the pumping light input terminals TpA to TpC and TpA′ to TpC′, is artificially pulled out, the high power pumping light Lp of the hazard class 3B is emitted into the air. In such a case, on the laser standards described above, there is required the safety designing to attenuate the pumping light Lp to the safety level such as the hazard class 1 at which a human bodies are not affected by the pumping light Lp.
FIG. 17 is a diagram showing an essential configuration of a conventional optical amplifier provided with an optical output power automatic attenuating function. As shown in the left side of FIG. 17, if an optical fiber connected from a booster board 220 to an amplifier board 210 is pulled out from a pumping light input terminal Tp, the pumping light Lp is not received by an optical coupler 215 and a light receiver (PD) 216 which are disposed on the amplifier board 210 side for monitoring the pumping light Lp input to the amplifier board 210, and an electric signal Sm indicating information of the non-reception is transmitted from the light receiver 210 on the amplifier board 210 side to a level monitoring circuit 223 on the booster board 220 side. The level monitoring circuit 223 recognizes that the optical fiber is not connected in the case where the light receiving level of the light receiver 216 reaches a threshold or less, and transmits information of disconnection to a LD control circuit 222. The LD control circuit 222 controls a pumping light source (LD) 221 so that an output from the pumping light source 221 becomes the safety level, in accordance with the information from the level monitoring circuit 223. Then, as shown in the right side of FIG. 17, when the optical fiber from the booster board 220 is connected to the input terminal Tp of the amplifier board 210, the light receiver 216 in the amplifier board 210 receives the pumping light Lp of the safety level, so that information of the reception is transmitted via the electric signal Sm to the level monitoring circuit 223 on the booster board 220 side. In the level monitoring circuit 223, the connection of the output fiber is recognized based on the light receiving level of the light receiver 216, and information of the connection is transmitted from the level monitoring circuit 223 to the LD control circuit 222, so that the pumping light source 221 outputs the pumping light Lp of the normal operational level. As described above, in the conventional optical amplifier, there has been applied a function (closed loop control) of automatically attenuating and returning the output level of the pumping light source 291 by the disconnection and connection of the optical fiber, to perform the safety measure.
A submarine cable communication enables an economic construction of a large capacity transmission system by applying an optical amplification repeating technology, and serves an important role as means for data communications such as the Internet and the like, and also means for international internal communication for which demands are increased. However, in order to realize the long distance and large capacity transmission, it becomes necessary to design an in-line amplifier to have the high power, and accompanied with this, an increase in the pumping light output level from the booster boards, an increase in the numbers of booster boards and the like will be expected in the future. Therefore, there is a demand for the establishment of the safety designing for the high power output.
To such a demand, the dosed loop control applied to the above described conventional optical amplifier has a problem in that there is a possibility that the pumping light of high power is erroneously emitted into the air in the case where the optical fiber is erroneously connected.
Namely, as shown in FIG. 18 for example, it is provided that a connection end of an output fiber of a booster board 220A to an amplifier board 210 is disconnected, and a connection end of an output fiber of a booster board 220B to the amplifier board 210 is erroneously connected to a pumping light input terminal TpA on the booster board 220A side. In such a case, if the attention is made on the booster board 220B side, since a pumping light input terminal TpB is in a disconnection state, a light receiver 216B in the amplifier board 210 does not receive the pumping light Lp, and information indicating the non-reception state is transmitted from the light receiver 216B to a level monitoring circuit 223B of the booster board 220B. The level monitoring circuit 223B recognizes that the optical fiber is not correctly connected to the pumping light input terminal TpB, according to the information from the light receiver 216B, to transmit the recognition result to a LD control circuit 222B. As a result, the LD control circuit 222B controls a pumping light source 221B so that an output of a pumping light source 221B becomes the safety level.
On the other hand, on the booster board 220A side, a light receiver 216A in the amplifier board 210 receives a light of safety level from the booster board 220B, and information indicating the light receiving state is transmitted from the light receiver 216A to a level monitoring circuit 223A of the booster board 220A. The level monitoring circuit 223A erroneously recognizes that the optical fiber is correctly connected to the pumping light input terminal TpA, according to the information from the light receiver 216A, to transmit the recognition result to a LD control circuit 222A. The LD control circuit 222A controls a pumping light source 221 A so that an output of the pumping light source 221 A becomes the normal operation level. As a result, there is a possibility that the pumping light of high power belonging to the hazard class 3B is emitted into the air.
In order to solve the above problems related to the conventional dosed loop control, as shown in FIG. 19 for example, in a transmission section (for example, transmission terminal station) 300, there are disposed a transmission side ID generating section 301 that generates connection management information (ID), and a transmitted light control section 302 that switches a transmitted light to the connection management information generated in the ID generating section 301 according to an erroneous connection monitoring request Further, in a reception section (for example, a wavelength division multiplexing apparatus) 310, there are disposed a photoelectric converting section 311 that receives the connection management information from the transmission side, a reception side ID generating section 312 that generates connection management information corresponding to the transmission side, and a judging section 313 that judges whether or not the connection management information received by the photoelectric converting section 311 is coincident with the connection management information generated in the reception side ID generating section 312. Thus, it is effective that the known technology which realizes the detection of erroneous connection of the optical fiber between the transmission section 300 and the reception section 310 (refer to Japanese Patent No. 3478247, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2001-358657 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 5-134790) is applied to the dosed loop control of the optical amplifier.
However, in the case where the know technology as described above is applied to the dosed loop control of the optical amplifier, the configuration is such that whether or not the connection management information transmitted from the transmission section 300 to the reception section 310 is correct is judged on the reception section 310 side. Therefore, in the configuration of the optical amplifier as shown in FIG. 16, if the number of booster boards 220 corresponding to the transmission section 300 is increased, there is caused a problem in that the circuit scale of the amplifier board 210 corresponding to the reception section 310 is enlarged according to the number of booster boards. Further, since the judgment of the connection management information in the reception section 310 is performed using the connection management information generated in the reception section 310 as an expected value, there is a drawback in that the management of the connection management information to be transmitted and the management of the connection management information which becomes the expected value for the judgment on the reception side should be doubly performed.

Optical output power automatic attenuation circuit for optical communication apparatus


The invention relates to a mutant strain of bacteria, which either lacks or contains mutant genes for several key metabolic enzymes, and which produces high amounts of succinic acid under anaerobic conditions.

The valuable specialty chemical succinate and its derivatives have extensive industrial applications. Succinic acid is used as a raw material for food, medicine, plastics, cosmetics, and textiles, as well as in plating and waste-gas scrubbing (61). Succinic acid can serve as a feedstock for such plastic precursors as 1,4-butanediol (BDO), tetrahydrofliran, and gamma-butyrolactone. Further, succinic acid and BDO can be used as monomers for polyesters. If the cost of succinate can be reduced, it will become more useful as an intermediary feedstock for producing other bulk chemicals (47). Along with succinic acid, other 4-carbon dicarboxylic acids such as malic acid and fumaric acid also have feedstock potential.
The production of succinate, malate, and fumarate from glucose, xylose, sorbitol, and other "green" renewable feedstocks (in this case through fermentation processes) is an avenue to supplant the more energy intensive methods of deriving such acids from nonrenewable sources. Succinate is an intermediate for anaerobic fermentations by propionate-producing bacteria but those processes result in low yields and concentrations. It has long been known that mixtures of acids are produced from E. coli fermentation. However, for each mole of glucose fermented, only 1.2 moles of formic acid, 0.1-0.2 moles of lactic acid, and 0.3-0.4 moles of succinic acid are produced. As such, efforts to produce carboxylic acids fermentatively have resulted in relatively large amounts of growth substrates, such as glucose, not being converted to desired product.
Numerous attempts have been made to metabolically engineer the anaerobic central metabolic pathway of E. coli to increase succinate yield and productivity (7, 8, 12, 14, 15, 20, 24, 32, 44, 48). Genetic engineering coupled with optimization of production conditions have also been shown to increase succinate production. An example is the growth of a succinate producing mutant E. coli strain using dual phase fermentation production mode which comprises an initial aerobic growth phase followed by an anaerobic production phase or/and by changing the headspace conditions of the anaerobic fermentation using carbon dioxide, hydrogen or a mixture of both gases (35, 49).
Specifically, manipulating enzyme levels through the amplification, addition, or reduction of a particular pathway can result in high yields of a desired product. Various genetic improvements for succinic acid production under anaerobic conditions have been described that utilize the mixed-acid fermentation pathways of E. coli. One example is the overexpression of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (pepc) from E. coli (34). In another example, the conversion of fumarate to succinate was improved by overexpressing native fumarate reductase (frd) in E. coli (17, 53). Certain enzymes are not indigenous in E. coli, but can potentially help increase succinate production. By introducing pyruvate carboxylase (pyc) from Rhizobium etli into E. coli, succinate production was enhanced (14, 15, 16). Other metabolic engineering strategies include inactivating competing pathways of succinate. When malic enzyme was overexpressed in a host with inactivated pyruvate formate lyase (pfl) and lactate dehydrogenase (ldh) genes, succinate became the major fermentation product (44, 20). An inactive glucose phosphotransferase system (ptsG) in the same mutant strain (pfl- and ldh-) had also been shown to yield higher succinate production in E. coli and improve growth (8).
The maximum theoretical yield (molar basis) of succinate from glucose under anaerobic conditions is limited to 1 mol/mol, assuming that all the carbon flux will go through the native succinate fermentative pathway (FIG. 1). The fermentative pathway converts oxaloacetate (OAA) to malate, fumarate and then succinate and this pathway requires 2 moles of NADH per mole of succinate produced. One major obstacle to high succinate yield through the fermentative pathway is due to NADH limitation. This is because one mole of glucose can provide only two moles of NADH through the glycolytic pathway; however, the formation of one mole of succinate through the native fermentative pathway requires two moles of NADH. Anaerobic production of succinate is also hampered by the limitations of slow cell growth and production.
Metabolic engineering has the potential to considerably improve process productivity by manipulating the throughput of metabolic pathways. Specifically, manipulating enzyme levels through the amplification, addition, or deletion of a particular pathway can result in high yields of a desired product. What is needed in the art is an improved bacterial strain that produces higher levels of succinate and other carboxylic acids than heretofor provided.


A method for installing EXT (extended) file system from a server to at least a client, the method includes the following steps. The super blocks of original files in a server are read to obtain subarea basic parameters of original files which are then packed into an image file. The reserved nodes and the first data pointing to the reserved nodes are analyzed in sequence. Whether the reserved nodes point to directory files is judged. A directory sequence is created according to the judge result. The nodes and the first data pointing to the nodes is reviewed. A client receives the image file and separates the subarea basic parameters of original files and data blocks from the image file, and calculates the basic data and data blocks for storing them in the client.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a method for installing EXT (extended) file system, and particularly to a method for installing EXT file system from a server to clients.
2. Description of Related Art
Linux is a generic term referring to Unix-like computer operating systems based on the Linux kernel. Their development is one of the most prominent examples of free and open source software collaboration. Typically all the underlying source code can be used, freely modified, and redistributed by anyone under the terms of the GNU GPL and other free licenses. Linux is predominantly known for its use in servers, although it is installed on a wide variety of computer hardware, ranging from embedded devices and mobile phones to supercomputers. The EXT file system was invented in April 1992 and is the first file system created specifically for the Linux operating system. Typically, the EXT file system is installed to clients using an installation disc, which is inefficient and wastes much time and money.

Hong Fu Jin Precision Industry (ShenZhen) Co., Ltd.


A DC blocking capacitor and a resistor are coupled in series, and coupled in parallel with an electricity storing section. An ON/OFF circuit and a peak voltage holding circuit are coupled in parallel with the resistor. A current sensing section is coupled in series with the storing section, with its output supplied to the peak current holding circuit. Current from a positive to a negative electrode of the storing section is referred to as a positive direction. The ON/OFF circuit is turned on when the current flows in a negative direction, and is turned off when the current flows in the positive direction. An internal resistor of the storing section is found based on a peak voltage and a peak current resulting from the control and held by the respective circuits. A degree of degradation of the electricity storing section is determined with this internal resistor.

In recent years, cars have been equipped with an idling stop function which stops an engine when the car comes to a stop, or an electric power steering wheel which takes the load off the engine. These two items contribute environmental protection and fuel saving. A hybrid system or an electric turbo system, which positively complements the drive of engine, will be used widely in the market. On top of that, car manufacturers have proposed various ideas about a car brake such as an electrical hydraulic brake that will replace a conventional mechanical hydraulic brake.
As discussed above, the car tends to need electric power increasingly from now on; however, a battery, having conventionally supplied power to the car, cannot supply an instantaneous large amount of power only by itself, so that it sometimes fails to supply sufficient power. If the battery becomes abnormal, the driving system possibly fails to work normally.
To overcome the foregoing problems, an electric storage device is proposed as an auxiliary power supply for supplying enough power when the battery falls into abnormal operation. The electric storage device is disclosed in, e.g. patent document 1, which refers to the electric storage device, in particular, a backup power-supply unit for supplying power to an electronic controller of a system when the battery falls into abnormal operation.
FIG. 14 shows a block diagram of a conventional electric storage device. In FIG. 14, an electrically double-layered capacitor having large capacitance is used as a capacitor for storing electric power. Multiple capacitors are coupled together to form capacitor unit 101 working as an electricity storing section. Capacitor unit 101 has charging circuit 103 and discharging circuit 105 coupled thereto for controlling the charging and discharging of capacitor unit 101, while these circuits are controlled by microprocessor 107. Voltage sensor 109 is connected to microprocessor 107 for sensing abnormal operation of a battery, while it is coupled to FET switch 111 which supplies power to capacitor unit 101 when sensor 109 senses abnormality.
Electric storage device 113 structured above and working as a backup power-supply unit is coupled between battery 115 and electronic controller 117 working as a load. Storage device 113 is controlled its start and halt by ignition switch 119.
Assume that electronic controller 117 is employed in an electric braking system of a vehicle, then controller 117 must be kept driving to allow applying a brake when battery 115 falls in abnormal operation. In such a case, when voltage sensor 109 senses an abnormality of battery 115, FET switch 111 is turned on so that capacitor unit 101 can supply power to controller 117, thereby overcoming the abnormality of battery 115.
Capacitor unit 101 basically works as an auxiliary power supply with the structure and operation discussed above. However, since the electrically double-layered capacitor forming capacitor unit 101 is degraded time-dependently, capacitor unit 101 needs to be monitored its degradation in order to drive controller 117 at any time, and a degradation should be reported to an operator. The electric storage device thus needs the foregoing functions in order to maintain highly reliable operation. The conventional electric storage device thus monitors the changes in its internal resistance value "R" and capacitance "C" which vary in response to the degradation of capacitor unit 101.
Since the values of internal resistance "R" and capacitance "C" are found when capacitor unit 101 is charged, a method of charging the capacitor unit 101 is firstly described hereinafter. FIG. 15 shows variation with time in the voltage of capacitor unit 101 during the charge to the conventional electric storage device. The horizontal axis represents time "t" while the vertical axis represents voltage "V" of capacitor unit 101. In FIG. 15, charging circuit 103 supplies a given current "I" at time "t0" from battery 115 to capacitor unit 101 in order to charge capacitor unit 101. At this instant, voltage "V" rises proportionately to internal resistor R of capacitor unit 101, and then voltage "V" rises linearly due to a charge with a constant current as shown in FIG. 15.
Charging circuit 103 interrupts the charge temporarily (e.g. at time "t1") in the course of the charging, so that voltage "V" lowers proportionately to internal resistance "R" as shown in FIG. 15. However, since capacitor unit 101 has stored electric charges, voltage "V" will not lower more than a value caused by internal resistor "R"before it settles down at a certain value. Then the charge starts again at time "t2", and voltage "V" rises proportionately to internal resistor "R" as it has risen at time "t0". The voltage "V" linearly rises in the course of the charge before capacitor unit 101 is fully charged at time "t3". The charge then halts and voltage "V" stays at a certain value.
Capacitor unit 101 is thus charged and the values of its internal resistor "R" and capacitance "C" are found in the course of the charge. First, internal resistor "R" can be found by measuring the rises of voltage "V" at time "t0" and "t2" or the fall of voltage "V" at time "t1". A voltage sensing section built in charging circuit 103 can find these rises or a fall in the voltage.
To be more specific, the range of rise or fall (hereinafter referred to as a voltage variable range "ΔV") of voltage "V" changes proportionately to internal resistance "R", so that the voltage sensing section finds the voltage variable range "ΔV" at any one of time "t0", "t1", and "t2". Since current "I" to be used for charging capacitor unit 101 has a known and predetermined value, internal resistance "R" can be found by the equation: ΔV=R×I. The voltage variable range "AV" can be found at any one of time "t0", "t1", and "t2", however, since time "to" comes right after the start, a greater measurement error can be expected, so that the variable range "ΔV" found at time "t1" or "t2", at which the charge is interrupted temporarily, is preferably used.
Next, capacitance "C" is found from an inclination "V/t" during the time span of t0-t1 or t2-t3 in the graph shown in FIG. 15. To be more specific, electric charge amount "Q" of capacitor unit 101 can be found by the equation: Q=C×V, while Q=I×t is established, so that C=I×(t/V) is satisfied. Accordingly, capacitance "C" can be found by multiplying an inverse number of the inclination V/t of the graph by current "I". In the foregoing discussion, the way of finding "R" and "C" during the charge of capacitor unit 101 is described; however, they can be found in a similar way during the discharge, with a constant current, from capacitor unit 101.
The "R" and "C" thus found are compared with a degradation limit found in advance, thereby determining how much the capacitor unit 101 is degraded. A reliable electric storage device has been thus obtained.
The foregoing conventional electric storage device can indeed determine how much its capacitor unit 101 is degraded, and thus maintain the reliability at a high level, but the "R" and "C" can be actually found during the charge or discharge only with a constant current. If the load coupled to the electric storage device is, e.g. a motor of a hybrid system, capacitor unit 101 undergoes charges/discharges with a large current repeated frequently in a short time. The conventional method is thus not suitable for finding internal resistance "R" among others.                Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2005-28908


A system, in certain embodiments, includes a high intensity discharge lamp having a composite leg. The composite leg includes a plurality of leg sections coupled together in series. The plurality of leg sections includes different materials, coefficients of thermal expansion, Poisson's ratios, or elastic moduli, or a combination thereof. A method, in certain embodiments, includes enclosing a high intensity discharge within a ceramic arc envelope. The method also includes reducing thermal stresses associated with the high intensity discharge via a composite leg extending outwardly from the ceramic arc envelope. The composite leg includes a plurality of leg sections coupled together in series. The plurality of leg sections includes different materials, coefficients of thermal expansion, Poisson's ratios, or elastic moduli, or a combination thereof.

The invention relates generally to lamps and, more particularly, techniques to reduce the potential for thermal stresses and cracking in high intensity discharge (HID) lamps.
High-intensity discharge lamps are often formed from a ceramic tubular body or arc tube that is sealed to one or more end structures. Unfortunately, various stresses may arise from the sealing process, the interface between the joined components, and the materials used for the different components. For example, the component materials may have different mechanical and physical properties, such as different coefficients of thermal expansion (CTE), which can lead to residual stresses and sealing cracks. These potential stresses and sealing cracks are particularly problematic for high-pressure lamps.
HID lamps are typically assembled and dosed in a dry box, which includes a furnace to facilitate hot sealing with temperatures reaching about 1500 degrees centigrade or higher. Unfortunately, the dry box complicates the assembly of HID lamps due to the closed environment. In addition, the furnace typically subjects the dose materials to high temperatures, thereby limiting the operational pressure of the dose materials.

High intensity discharge lamp having composite leg


A turbine engine with a tip shroud and method for shaping the tip shroud where at least one pair of airfoils including a first and second airfoil each having an outer wall bounding an interior. Each airfoil extending between a pressure side and a suction side to define a circumferential direction and extending between a leading edge and a trailing edge to define an axial direction. Each airfoil extending between a root and a tip to define a radial direction. The first and second airfoils are circumferentially spaced to define an inlet between the leading edges and an outlet between the trailing edges where each airfoil is coupled to an inner platform at the root. A tip shroud circumscribing the airfoil operably coupled to the tip extending in the axial direction between axially spaced first and second planes where the tip shroud includes at least one scalloped portion.

Turbine engines, and particularly gas or combustion turbine engines, are rotary engines that extract energy from a flow of combusted gases passing through the engine onto a multitude of rotating turbine blades. Gas turbine engines have been used for land and nautical locomotion and power generation, but are most commonly used for aeronautical applications such as for aircraft, including helicopters. In aircraft, gas turbine engines are used for propulsion of the aircraft. In terrestrial applications, turbine engines are often used for power generation.
Gas turbine engines for aircraft comprise multiple compressor stages designed with a plurality of bands of blades rotated by a rotor and bands of static vanes disposed between the blades. The blades can be integrally formed with a tip shroud. Tip shrouds can be scalloped to reduce weight and therefore centrifugal loads on the blades. While scalloping provides a reduction in weight, it can increase aerodynamic loss due to seal leakage flow and losses due to mixing of leakage flow with the main flow of combusted gases.


A handheld, hand-operated blender may include a container, a lid threadably connected to an upper portion of the container, a bottom portion including a stationary bottom portion threadably connected to a lower portion of the container and a rotatable bottom portion rotatable with respect to the container. The blender may also include a blade assembly including a plurality of blades and a shaft rotatably connected to the rotatable bottom portion and a gear assembly mechanically connected to the blade assembly and the rotatable bottom portion such that rotation of the rotatable bottom portion rotates the blade assembly at a faster revolution per minute than the rotation of the rotatable bottom portion.

Embodiments described herein relate to manually-operated blender devices and methods of making and using the same and, in particular embodiments, to such blender devices and methods that can produce, from a manual input of force, a sufficiently high rotational speed (revolutions per minute, RPMs) for certain shredding and blending processes.
Typical blender devices for blending food products include an electric motor coupled, through a gear arrangement, to a rotatable blade held within a container. While electric motors can produce rotational motion to rotate a blade at sufficiently high RPMs to pulverize and shred many food products, such motors require a source of electric power to operate.


An array substrate and a manufacturing method thereof are provided. A patterned metal member of the array substrate includes a patterned first metal layer, a patterned second metal layer, and a patterned copper layer which are sequentially disposed on a substrate. An etching rate at which an etching solution etches the second metal layer is less than another etching rate at which the etching solution etches the first metal layer. An adhesion force between the patterned first metal layer and the substrate is greater than another adhesion force between the patterned copper layer and the substrate.

In high-generation liquid crystal display panels, metal wires made of copper materials have advantages of low impedance and strong resistance to electromigration, so they replace conventional metal wires made of aluminum materials. However, the copper metal has poor adhesion to a glass and is prone to metal peeling Also, copper metal ions are prone to diffusion, which causes a performance of thin film transistors (TFTs) to deteriorate. A metal layer is usually added to improve an adhesion between a copper metal layer and block the diffusion of copper. In a conventional manufacturing process of a display panel, the added metal layer is usually selected from molybdenum, titanium, and molybdenum-titanium alloy. In a process using molybdenum metal as a bi-metal layer, because a copper/molybdenum structure is prone to bimetallic corrosion during a metal patterning process, and a copper metal corrosion will occur in a subsequent photoresist stripping process, resulting in the copper being hollowed out. The hollowing out of copper can lead to a formation of metal tips. In a subsequent manufacturing process, different layers of metals are prone to electrostatic breakdown, which greatly affects a product yield. A use of molybdenum-titanium alloy as the added metal layer can significantly improve the corrosion of copper metal. However, due to a presence of titanium metal in the molybdenum-titanium alloy, a wet etching solution containing fluorine must be used in a patterning process of the metal, which results in a low etching rate and is prone to a residue of molybdenum and titanium.
Therefore, it is necessary to propose a technical solution to improve the adhesion of the copper layer and prevent copper diffusion. It can also avoid copper corrosion and metal residue problems caused by adding a metal layer.

Array substrate and manufacturing method thereof


An image processing system enables the manipulation of individual anonymous laser pointers in interactive visual games. The system includes a display system that displays an image on a display screen. A camera acquires a sequence of images of the display screen. Participants in the game aim individual laser pointers at the screen; the laser pointers form dots on the display screen. A warp module corrects the acquired images for distortion. A registration module registers the corrected sequence of images with the displayed image, and modifies the displayed image in response to a distribution of the laser dots on the display screen.

This invention relates generally to game playing, and more particularly, to interactive visual games with anonymous laser pointers.
Pointing is one of the simplest ways for a person to indicate his wishes or to convey information to others. Pointing to a projected image is one of the most common aids to conversation, instruction, and cooperative effort. Pointing devices include fingers, pointing sticks, and other mechanical and illuminated instruments, light pens, touch pads, computer mice, touchscreens, and other electromechanical and electronic pointers.
Pointing may be direct pointing along a line of sight to a target, for example, when a pointing device is directly aimed at a portion of display of a radiated or otherwise projected image, or indirect pointing, as when a mouse is manipulated to control the position of an image of a pointer on a display, without pointing the mouse itself at the display. When the pointing is directed to a place on an object which is being shown on an electronic display, e.g., to a displayed icon, the act of pointing must be linked by some sort of electronic processing to the target icon.
Self-contained, hand held laser pointers which generate laser beams for use as a pointer are well known in the art and widely used in numerous applications. Typically, a hand held pointer is designed to look like a writing pen or key chain, see U.S. Pat. No. 5,121,188. Self-contained laser beam generators of this type are produced in substantial quantities to meet a well established demand for hand held pointer applications such as fishing, golfing, bowling, leveling, and pool.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,793,361 describes a pointer interface for natural human interaction with a display-based system. The system includes detectors to determine selection of particular displayed images by laser pointers.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,453,758 describes a car racing game where a car and a steering wheel are displayed, and the movement of the car is controlled by a laser pointer.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,145,182 describes a board game, which utilizes lasers. Players selectively divert the path of laser beams. The board apparatus includes an enclosed chamber with X-shaped pieces to deflect an incident laser beam from a row or column to a corresponding column or row. A scoring module, sensitive to incident laser light, is positioned in the chamber in front of each player. The players alternate in placing deflecting pieces in the chamber with the object to either direct their laser beams toward the opponent""s scoring module or to prevent their opponent""s laser beams from reaching their own scoring module.
Most prior art laser games, or for that matter, laser pointer applications, are for individual identified users. It is desired to provide a game where a large number of anonymous players can use laser pointers in cooperative or competitive game playing.
The invention provides an image processing system that enables the manipulation of individual anonymous laser pointers in interactive visual games. The system includes a display system that displays a stored or generated image on a display screen. A camera acquires a sequence of images of the display screen.
Participants in the game aim individual laser pointers at the display screen. The laser pointers project dots on the screen. A warp module corrects the acquired sequence of images for camera distortion. A registration module registers the corrected sequence of images with the stored image, and modifies the displayed image in response to a distribution of the laser dots on the display screen. The system can be used for shape forming games, as well as for games that move objects around on the screen according to the distribution of the laser dots.
As a unique feature of the invention, unlike traditional laser pointer games, the present invention makes no association between an individual laser dot on the display and the particular laser pointer that generates the dot. In a typical game, hundreds or thousands of players can simultaneously aim their laser pointers. What the invention is concerned with is the overall distribution of all of the pointers, and not the aiming of any one particular laser. In that sense, the playing is essentially anonymous, unlike prior art laser games, where the exact aiming point of a single laser is of prime concern.

Game playing with individual anonymous laser pointers

Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc.