A system for detecting presence of coronavirus in a subject, the system including a first pad for placing a first hand, the pad including a contact to measure conductance of the subject's body, a conductance meter connected to the contact, a second pad for placing a second hand, a source of electromagnetic radiation for irradiating the second pad.

Pandemic outbreaks of influenza and recently the 2019 coronavirus are increasingly common. There have been many recent outbreaks of influenza virus epidemics, and the t outbreak of the Ebola Virus, cause much concern for world pandemic. In contrast to the regular seasonal epidemics of influenza, these pandemics occur irregularly and can cause high levels of mortality. Influenza pandemics occur when a new strain of the influenza virus is transmitted to human from another animal species. Species that are thought to be important in the emergence of new human strains are pigs, chickens and ducks. The mutation that allows a fast transfer of the swine virus from human to human has already occurred, and it is just a matter of time before the more dangerous avian type H5N1 influenza A will develop such a mutation.
The often occurring outbreaks of the flu virus and currently the 2019 Coronavirus were shown to be hybrid viruses between different types of species: human, swine, horse and avian. Since the lethality rate from avian-human H5N1 is very high (more than 70%) such a mutation (human to human) can be a global threat for humanity. Today there are no rapid and simple kits available that identify people suspected of carrying a new virus. There are two types of technologies available for detection: immunoassay and RT-PCR. With respect to the immunoassay technique, the patient has to develop antibodies for the virus; hence the detection can be made only at a late stage. If antigens are to be detected with prepared antibodies, the disadvantage is that the virus can develop mutations that will be unrecognized by a specific antibody. Since antibody preparation is time and money consuming, it is not practical to develop new kits frequently. RT-PCR on the other hand, is a complicated assay that cannot be performed in a few minutes, and in massive amounts, and false positive rates are high. In addition, mutations are often not detectable by this technique.
There are some enzymatic assays that are under development that can be used for fast detection, however, observing the course of events in the 2009 swine flu outbreak, the time taken to bring a field detection kit to useful application in any given epidemic is too long to be of more than limited use in prevention of spread. The SARS epidemic in 2003, the H5N1 outbreak in 2007, and the swine flu outbreak in 2009 demonstrate this significant drawback. Currently the 2019 coronavirus has exceeded all dreadful predictions. The most common ways for prevention of the spread of the disease were by identifying people with an elevated body temperature, and isolating and quarantining them. However, often healthy people are quarantined with sick people. The Ebola virus causes an acute, serious illness which is often fatal if untreated. Ebola virus disease (EVD) first appeared in 1976 in 2 simultaneous outbreaks, one in Nzara, Sudan, and the other in Yambuku, Democratic Republic of Congo. The latter occurred in a village near the Ebola River, from which the disease takes its name.
2019 Coronavirus causes complications of pneumonia, can be from cytokine storm as a reaction of the body for an unknown pathogen. More than 20000 people have been infected currently and more than 400 people dead.
The 2014 outbreak in West Africa, is the largest and most complex Ebola outbreak since the Ebola virus was first discovered in 1976. There have been more cases and deaths in this outbreak than all others combined. It has also spread between countries starting in Guinea then spreading across land borders to Sierra Leone and Liberia, by air (1 traveler only) to Nigeria, and by land (1 traveler) to Senegal.
It is thought that fruit bats of the Pteropodidae family are natural Ebola virus hosts. Ebola is introduced into the human population through close contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected animals such as chimpanzees, gorillas, fruit bats, monkeys, forest antelope and porcupines found ill or dead or in the rainforest.
Ebola then spreads through human-to-human transmission via direct contact (through broken skin or mucous membranes) with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected people, and with surfaces and materials (e.g. bedding, clothing) contaminated with these fluids.
Health-care workers have frequently been infected while treating patients with suspected or confirmed EVD. This has occurred through close contact with patients when infection control precautions are not strictly practiced.
It can be difficult to distinguish EVD from other infectious diseases such as malaria, typhoid fever and meningitis. Confirmation that symptoms are caused by Ebola virus infection are made using the following investigations:                antibody-capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)        antigen-capture detection tests        serum neutralization test        reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay        electron microscopy        virus isolation by cell culture.
Samples from patients are an extreme biohazard risk; laboratory testing on non-inactivated samples should be conducted under maximum biological containment conditions.
Therefore, there is an urgent need for rapid detection of infectious diseases at main junctions such as airports and public places to prevent the spread of the disease from an outbreak threat to world pandemic, to avoid a large spread of the pathogen, to prevent mixing of pathogens and creation of more dangerous and contagious species of the pathogen. It is also a long felt and unmet need to provide means and methods for early detection and identification of an individual suspected in carrying a pathogen, in order to avoid transferring the pathogen and infecting other people. A prompt and early detection of a disease will allow effective treatment results.

Physical methods for living tissue inactivation and detection, and physical methods in use for the detection and inactivation of living bodies (like Ebola and 2019 Coronavirus) in living systems and non-living systems thereof

Abstract: A system for detecting presence of coronavirus in a subject, the system including a chip with a plurality of wires disposed on or in the chip, a conductance meter arranged to measure conductance between the wires, and biological material associated with the coronavirus disposed on or in the chip.

Abstract: Related apparatus and methods are also described.


A sulfide solid electrolyte with excellent ion conductivity and a method for producing a crystallized glass contained in the sulfide solid electrolyte. A sulfide solid electrolyte comprising a crystallized glass represented by the following chemical formula yLi2S•(100-x-y)P2S5•xP2O5, wherein 0<x<25 and 67<y<80.

A secondary battery is a battery which is able to provide electricity by converting a loss in chemical energy into electrical energy; moreover, it is a battery which is able to store (during charge) chemical energy by converting electrical energy into chemical energy by passing an electrical current in a direction that is opposite to the discharge direction. Among secondary batteries, lithium ion batteries have higher energy density, so that they are widely used as a power source for notebook personal computers, cellular phones, etc.
In a lithium secondary battery using graphite (C6) as the negative electrode active material, the reaction described by the following formula (I) proceeds at the negative electrode upon discharge:C6Li→C6+Li++e−  (I)
An electron produced by the formula (I) passes through an external circuit, works by an external load, and then reaches the positive electrode. At the same time, a lithium ion (Li+) produced by the formula (I) is transferred through the electrolyte sandwiched between the negative and positive electrodes from the negative electrode side to the positive electrode side by electro-osmosis.
When lithium cobaltate (Li0.4CoO2) is used as a positive electrode active material, a reaction described by the following formula (II) proceeds at the positive electrode upon discharge:Li0.4CoO2+0.6Li++0.6e−→LiCoO2  (II)
Upon charging the battery, reactions which are reverse to the reactions described by the above formulae (I) and (II) proceed at the negative and positive electrodes. The graphite material in which lithium was intercalated (C6Li) becomes reusable at the negative electrode, while lithium cobaltate (Li0.4CoO2) is regenerated at the positive electrode. Because of this, discharge becomes possible again.
Among lithium secondary batteries, a lithium secondary battery all-solidified by using a solid electrolyte as the electrolyte, uses no combustible organic solvent in the battery; therefore, it is considered to be safe, able to simplify the device and excellent in production cost and productivity. A sulfide solid electrolyte is known as a solid electrolyte material used for such a lithium secondary battery.
Many sulfide solid electrolyte-related techniques have been developed so far. A technique is disclosed in Non-patent Literature 1, relating to a sulfide solid electrolyte which has an amorphous structure and is represented by the following chemical formula: 75{(1−x)Li2O.xLi2S}.25P2S5.


The present invention is related to feed granules comprising a feed enzyme and a copper ion donor.

In the art concerning animal feed it is a well known fact that pelleting of feed is a desideratum, as pelleting of feed increases the digestibility of especially the starch fraction of the feed. Furthermore, it is known that pelleting of animal feed reduces dust problems.
In the process of producing feed pellets it is considered necessary to steam treat mash feed in order to kill pathogenic microorganisms if present and to partly gelatinize starch in order to improve the physical properties of the pellets, whereby a steam treatment of around 70-120° C. is appropriate. Active compounds present in the feed pellets such as enzymes are not very stable at high temperature or humidity, and thus, a large surplus of enzymes has to be used, or enzyme free feed components are pelletized and steam treated, where after an enzyme containing slurry or solution is coated onto the steam treated pellets. However, this coating process is cumbersome and is often not compatible with feed mill equipment. An attempt to obtain improved enzyme granules for feed is found in WO 92/12645. WO 92/12645 describes T-granules, which are coated with a fat or a wax. Said T-granules are mixed with feed components steam treated and subsequently pelletized. By this invention it was possible to heat treat the granules comprising enzymes and avoid the cumbersome coating with enzymes after the heat treatment. The use of wax coated T-granules was a significant improvement in this field as it was possible to maintain an acceptable enzyme activity during steam pelleting. Another attempt to improve the pelleting stability of enzyme granules is described in WO 2006034710 where it has been found that coating enzyme granules with a salt coating improves the pelleting stability. However some feed mills are run under very aggressive conditions which are still very harsh for the improved enzyme granules, thus there is still a demand for improved pelleting stability. Furthermore the drawback with coating of the enzyme granules is an additional process step.
The present invention provides very good pelleting stability and makes the step of coating optional.
It is described in WO 99/32595 to use copper sulphate as barrier coating in enzyme granules to stabilize enzyme granules for detergents. It is also known in the art to use inorganic salts of zinc and magnesium to stabilize enzyme granules, see WO 97/05245.


Described is a storage reports scanner that works to generate reports of storage usage in computer systems in an efficient manner. The scanner receives a set of namespaces for a file system volume from a storage reports engine. The scanner scans file system metadata to construct a directory table of entries corresponding to a directory tree of nodes representative of the hierarchy of directories of the file system volume. Each node corresponding to a namespace in the namespace set is marked as included. A second scan of the file system metadata determines, for each file, whether that file is in or under an included directory by accessing the directory table. For each file that is in or is under an included directory, file information is returned to the engine. The engine may request the scanner to provide full path information, which the scanner determines via the directory table.

Managing storage in enterprise configurations is a complex process that presents information technology (IT) departments with many challenges. "Storage Reports" is a service comprising a technology/functionality that provides a set of storage reports to be used by IT administrators to efficiently audit and track the usage of large storage volumes. For example, an administrator may want to see a sorted list of all files larger than one-hundred megabytes on a given namespace, sorted by size, and with summary information on totals. Another such report may provide summary information for each file type (e.g., "Media Files") on a given namespace, including the one-hundred largest files within each file type category. Thus, storage reports help an administrator identify inefficient use of storage, implement mechanisms to prevent future misuse, monitor usage patterns and utilization levels on file servers and other servers, anticipate storage needs, analyze emergency situations and take preventive and/or corrective actions.
While storage reports thus provide valuable functionality, generating the storage reports can take a considerable amount of time, and also consume significant input/output (I/O) and processor resources. This is because in general, to generate a storage report requires scanning one or more storage volumes, each of which may be very large.


A method for identifying and controlling remote user equipment on a network side includes: receiving, by a session management device, an identifier of a remote user equipment, and generating, based on the identifier, a policy related to the remote user equipment, where the policy includes the identifier of the remote user equipment; sending the policy to a user plane function device; and identifying, by the user plane function device, a packet of the remote user equipment based on the policy, and implementing policy control on the remote user equipment based on the policy. According to the method, the network side can be compatible with service access of the remote user equipment and can perform service management and policy control on the remote user equipment.

To meet a challenge of wireless broadband technologies and maintain a leading advantage of a 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) network, the 3GPP standard organization developed a next generation mobile communications network architecture, namely, a fifth generation (5G) network architecture, at the end of 2016. The architecture not only supports wireless technologies, such as Long-Term Evolution (LTE) and 5G radio access network (RAN), defined by the 3GPP standard group, in accessing a core network (CN), but also supports a non-3GPP access technology in accessing a core network by using a non-3GPP interworking function (N3IWF) or a next generation packet data gateway (NGPDG).
Core network functions are classified into a user plane function (UPF) and a control plane function (CPF). The user plane function is responsible for packet forwarding, quality of service (QoS) control, charging information statistics, and the like. The control plane function is responsible for user registration and authentication, mobility management, delivery of a packet forwarding policy and a QoS control policy to the user plane function (UPF), and the like.
Subsequently, in addition to a user equipment (UE) of a mobile operator, the 5G core network (5G CN) needs to support a third-party user equipment, also referred to as a remote user equipment, such as a wearable user equipment, a fixed-line terminal device, a television (TV), and a personal computer (PC). The remote user equipment may not support a subscriber identification module (SIM) card of the mobile operator. A network side cannot detect remote user equipment that has no SIM card, failing to support 5G CN in management and control of the remote user equipment.

Identifying and controlling remote user equipment on network side


A telephone line interface circuit with event detection capabilities is provided that screens out transient signals and provides an indication to the line side that an actual event has occurred; so that appropriate discrimination circuitry is powered up to determine the exact nature of the actual event only when needed. An event detector develops an AC signal that represents the events to be detected. This AC signal is timed to determine its sustained rate. The sustained rate has a timing threshold which is higher than a transient that occurs on the line. If the incoming signal does not meet the required threshold timing, it is disregarded as being transient and no action is taken. If the incoming signal meets the threshold requirement, the line interface circuit switches to the full power mode and facilitates the actual data transmission.

This application is related to an application entitled xe2x80x9cCombination Clock and Charge Pump for Line Powered DAAxe2x80x9d and an application entitled xe2x80x9cEvent Detection Circuitxe2x80x9d, both of which are assigned to the assignee of the present invention and both of which were filed concurrently with this application.
This invention generally relates to the field of telecommunication networks, and more particularly to a telephone line interface circuit with event detection capabilities.
Telephone networks comprise a series of interconnected subsystems that are linked together at points called interfaces. These interfaces provide links between different equipment in the network and allow for simplified design and maintenance. A local loop is an example of an interface that connects a subscriber""s telephone set (device side) and the central office (line side).
Many portable computer devices also utilize modems and other data devices for communicating over a telephone line. The battery source, which powers both the portable computer device and its modem, is typically sized for general computing applications, and runs out of power quickly when actively communicating over a telephone line through a modem. Thus, although portable computer devices operate for a sufficient length of time for quick data transfers over a modem powered completely by a battery, they typically require that external AC power be supplied to allow for longer uses of the modem. It is therefore desirable for battery powered computer devices including a modem to draw power, in addition to the inherent battery, from a secondary power source.
The DC power inherent in a telephone line provides a convenient source of power, but there are often limitations and restrictions which limit the ability of a modem to derive power from the telephone line. For instance, present regulations in the United States require that significant current may only be drawn from the telephone line when the telephone or modem is in an off-hook or active condition. In order to hold the telephone line in an off-hook condition, current in the approximate range of 20 milliamps (MA) to 150 MA must be drawn.
The U.S. Federal Communication Commission (FCC) and other counterpart regulatory agencies in other countries also require electrical isolation between the line side and the user devices on the user side. The user devices include telephone sets and computers using modems. Electrical isolation protects the line side from damage transmitted from the device side and vice-versa.
Many components (e.g., data access arrangements (DAAs) or codec""s) of telephone line interface circuits are PSTN line-powered circuits that also require isolation from low-voltage power supplies. Because of this required isolation, a line powered interface circuit will not function until it is connected to a power source, i.e., the interface circuit must be activated when it is needed to connect the line side to the device side. When a circuit on the line side is placed in the xe2x80x9con-hookxe2x80x9d state (e.g., a telephone receiver is placed in its cradle) the local loop is opened and almost all of the power to the interface circuit is cut off. Activating the DAA or codec requires that some power must be drawn from the loop or from another source. While in the on-hook state a small amount of current (idle-state loop current) can be drawn for a short period of time from the TIP/RING line to register that an event has occurred on the PSTN TIP and RING line. However, it is extremely inefficient to draw the extra power unless it is really needed, i.e., it is extremely wasteful of time and resources to power up the DAA or codec when a transient noise signal occurs on the TIP and RING line.
The primary events that the interface circuit must detect while in the on-hook state are the application of a TIP and RING signal and a polarity reversal of TIP and RING DC voltage, either of which may be used to signal the need for more power. A problem can arise because ordinary transients on the line can have electrical characteristics very similar to those of actual events. To discriminate between transients and actual events, prior art interface circuits employ discrimination circuitry that determines the exact nature of every signal introduced thereto, but these additional circuits draw higher amounts of power. While drawing additional power is acceptable on a temporary basis, the amount of power available is limited. Discrimination circuits must operate at power levels no higher than the amounts determined by regulatory agencies as xe2x80x9csatisfactoryxe2x80x9d on-hook leakage currents.
In addition to determining what an event is, the event signals themselves must be transmitted from the device side to the line side. A problem arises because high voltage isolation prevents the transmission of the event signals from the device side to the line side. Prior art circuits avoid this problem by using optical couplers to transmit the signal caused by the actual event to the low voltage interface. These circuits employ a general purpose optical coupler with an LED input and a photo-transistor output. These optical couplers require xe2x80x9clight pipesxe2x80x9d which are cavities on the chip between the emitter and the detector of the optical coupler to allow the light to pass between the two. These light pipes increase the size and cost of the interface circuit. Capacitive coupling, another known isolation method, allows the circuit size to remain small and low cost, but the rate at which the events occur are too slow to accurately transmit them from the device side to the line side using capacitive coupling.
To avoid powering up the discrimination circuitry except when it is needed to process an actual event, it would be desirable to employ a line interface circuit which can distinguish between actual events (e.g., a ring signal, a polarity reversal, an audio signal) and noise (transient spikes on the line caused by a variety of sources, e.g., lightning, battery noise, etc.) before invoking the high power circuitry such as discrimination circuitry.
Accordingly, there remains a need for a simplified, smaller, and less costly telephone line interface circuit that can operate on the minimal amount of power available when the circuit is in the on-hook state to preliminarily distinguish between actual and noise events, and transmit event signals between the device side and line side while maintaining electrical isolation between the device side and the line side.
A telephone line interface circuit with event detection capabilities is provided that screens out transient signals and provides an indication to the line side that an actual event (actual data signal) has occurred so that appropriate discrimination circuitry is powered up to determine the exact nature of the actual event only when needed.
The telephone line interface circuit comprises a low voltage circuit including an event receiver, a line powered codec including an event transmitter, and an isolation circuit coupled between the low voltage circuit and the line powered codec. The low voltage circuit is coupled to the device side (host) of the network and the line powered codec (via sensory circuit) is coupled to the telephone line source of the network.
The line interface circuit switchabley operates in three modesxe2x80x94a low power mode, a medium power mode, and a full-power mode. The line interface circuit operates in the low power mode (sleep mode) unless the sensory circuit detects an input signal on the telephone line source. This input signal includes actual data signals and noise. Upon the receipt of an input signal, the line interface circuit switches to the medium power mode. The event transmitter and event receiver located in the line interface circuit develops an AC signal that represents the events (actual data signals) to be detected. This AC signal is timed to determine its sustained rate. The sustained rate has a timing threshold which is higher than a transient that occurrs on the line. Thus, the telephone line interface circuit checks the input (incoming on the telephone line source) signal to check whether it meets the threshold timing requirements. If the input signal does not require threshold timing, it is disregarded as being transient and no action is taken. This avoids the need to invoke the discrimination circuits that have large power requirements until they are actually needed. If the incoming signal meets the threshold requirement, the line interface circuit switches to the full power mode and facilitates the actual data transmission.

Line interface circuit with event detection signaling


The method of recovery from a jam of a copy sheet in a clearance zone in an image processing machine including the steps of determining the position of the copy sheet and a following copy sheet in the copy sheet path, recognizing that the following copy sheet is within a second clearance zone, calculating a time period to continue machine operation to drive the following copy sheet into the first clearance zone, and determining that said time period does not exceed a maximum time period.

The invention relates to jam clearance and, more particularly, to selective options in jam clearance including the timing control of a copy sheet drive for single zone jam clearance.
In using reproduction machines, there are various types of system shut downs or malfunctions that can occur in a variety of operating modes. Operator involvement in correcting for the malfunction can often be extensive particularly in machines with various accessories such as sorters, collators, finishers and document handlers. The problem of correcting the malfunction, maintaining the integrity of the run in process, and minimizing down time and operator involvement can be significant.
Jam recovery and associated job recovery in many present copiers often requires the removal of documents or copy sheets stopped in several places in the machine even if the jam occurred in only one location to only one document. Jam recovery also often requires the reordering of documents as well as the purging of some or all of copies in process in the machine. This can be a time consuming and inefficient operation.
Various techniques of jam clearance exist in the prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,627,711 to Schron, assigned to Xerox Corporation, discloses a control system for controlling the shutdown of a paper path system in a copy machine when a paper handling fault occurs. Upon detecting a malfunction or jam, the control system evaluates the status of all sheets in a sheet handling system and makes determinations whether to hold sheets from entering into a boundary between two zones or to drive a sheet at a boundary into a next zone.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,231,567 to Ziehm, assigned to Xerox Corporation, discloses a method and apparatus for clearing jams in a transport path of a copier. When a jam is sensed, in-process sheets either at a jam location or at an area upstream of the jam location are clustered while sheets downstream from the jam location are allowed to continue out in a catch tray. The jam sheets are removed manually after the last downstream sheet exits the copier and the copier shuts down.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,786,041 to Acquaviva et al., assigned to Xerox Corporation, discloses a document handler jam clearance and job recovery system. Upon the occurrence of a paper jam, the system determines whether a document has jammed in a first, second or third document path jam zone and automatically provides a preliminary job recovery operation before the document handler is fully stopped. Document feeding zones are independently operated to feed unjammed documents in a third jam zone to a stacking tray or to feed unjammed documents in the third jam zone to a stacking tray or to feed unjammed documents in the first jam zone to a platen, so that documents are directed to be operator removed from only one zone.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,275,879 to Yamashita et al. discloses an apparatus for detecting an abnormal paper feed. Upon detecting the occurrence of an abnormal paper feed, the apparatus sends forth an abnormality signal only after all preceding sheets have been processed and delivered to an output stacker from entering into a boundary between two zones or to drive a sheet at a boundary into a next zone.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,231,567 to Ziehm, assigned to Xerox Corporation, discloses a method and apparatus for clearing jams in a transport path of a copier. When a jam is sensed, in-process sheets either at a jam location or at an area upstream of the jam location are clustered while sheets downstream from the jam location are allowed to continue out in a catch tray. The jam sheets are removed manually after the last downstream sheet exits the copier and the copier shuts down.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,786,041 to Acquaviva et al., assigned to Xerox Corporation, discloses a document handler jam clearance and job recovery system. Upon the occurrence of a paper jam, the system determines whether a document has jammed in a first, second or third document path jam zone and automatically provides a preliminary job recovery operation before the document handler is fully stopped. Document feeding zones are independently operated to feed unjammed documents in the third zone to a stacking tray or to feed unjammed documents in the first jam zone to a platen, so that documents are directed to be operator removed from only one zone.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,275,879 to Yamashita et al. discloses an apparatus for detecting an abnormal paper feed. Upon detecting the occurrence of an abnormal paper feed, the apparatus sends forth an abnormality signal only after all preceding sheets have been processed and delivered to an output stacker.
One difficulty in these prior art devices is often the requirement that independent control of more than one copy sheet drive is often required or that the copy sheets need to be independently driven to cluster zones. Another difficulty in prior art devices is that it is often necessary to drive a copy sheet totally into a clearance zone with no leeway for clearance of a copy sheet that may extend into more than one clearance zone. Another difficulty is the necessity of clearing copy sheets from multiple machine locations.
It is an object, therefore, of the present invention to be able to position copy sheets for clearance within a single zone of a copy sheet path by merely controlling the time of operation of a single copy sheet drive after detection of a machine jam. Another object of the present invention is to be able to determine that a copy sheet can be cleared from a single zone even though the copy sheet extends into a neighboring zone. Another object of the present invention is to enable clearance of copy sheets by access to only one zone of the copy sheet path rather than multiple zones even though the copy sheet overlaps multiple zones of the copy sheet path. Other advantages of the present invention will become apparent as the following description proceeds, and the features characterizing the invention will be pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this specification.

Hierarchy of jam clearance options including single zone clearance


Field programmable gate arrays using resistivity-sensitive memories are described, including a programmable cell comprising a configurable logic, a memory connected to the configurable logic to provide functions for the configurable logic, the memory comprises a non-volatile rewriteable memory element including a resistivity-sensitive memory element, an input/output logic connected to the configurable logic and the memory to communicate with other cells. The memory elements may be two-terminal resistivity-sensitive memory elements that store data in the absence of power. The two-terminal memory elements may store data as plurality of conductivity profiles that can be non-destructively read by applying a read voltage across the terminals of the memory element and data can be written to the two-terminal memory elements by applying a write voltage across the terminals. The memory can be vertically configured in one or more memory planes that are vertically stacked upon each other and are positioned above a logic plane.

A field programmable gate array (FPGA) is a programmable logic device that allows a user to design custom logic circuits for desired tasks. A user can create a program for a desired task, transfer the program to an FPGA, and use the programmed FPGA to execute the desired task. Certain FPGAs can be reprogrammable, and allow for flexibility when creating or testing device designs.
FPGAs typically include a memory to provide functions for logic gates for implementing the program. Several different types of memories may be used with an FPGA, including write-once and reprogrammable memories. Write-once memories include memories using fuse technologies, which destroy or establish a physical connection during writing, and therefore cannot be rewritten. Fuse technologies are non-volatile and retain their contents when power is removed from the FPGA, but must be discarded if a new or updated program is desired.
FPGAs may also use reprogrammable memories such as random access memories (RAMs) including static RAMs (SRAMs). SRAMs can be reprogrammed, but lose their contents when power is removed from the FPGA. Since SRAMs are volatile, FPGAs incorporating SRAMs must be booted whenever they are powered up to provide functions to the memories.
There are continued efforts to improve the implementation of FPGAs.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A device for use with an endoscope is provided. The device allows the equalization of the pressure between an internal space of the endoscope and an environment outside the endoscope. The device includes a housing defining an opening, a gas-transmissive removal zone in the opening and at least one hydrophobic breathable membrane between the gas-transmissive removal zone and the environment. The housing of the device is adapted to receive a port that is connected to an internal space of the endoscope. The gas-transmissive removal zone includes a desiccant material and a material which removes an antimicrobial agent.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to a device and a method for equalizing pressure between an internal space in an endoscope and an environment about the endoscope.
2. Description of the Related Art
In modern medical practices, it has been a common practice to sterilize instruments used for medical or surgical purposes before each use. It is important that the sterilization and cleaning of such instruments be performed efficiently and quickly without damaging the materials or functionality of the device. However, the ever increasing complexity of such instruments requires corresponding modifications in conventional cleaning and sterilization equipment and processes, which makes the sterilization and cleaning related problems one of the critical aspects of using such instruments.
This is particularly relevant to instruments comprising elongated channels, such as endoscopes. A typical endoscope generally includes two elongated tubular bodies having a distal portion and a proximal portion. The distal portion of the endoscope is generally flexible enough to be inserted into a human body or animal body, and is often referred to in the art as an insertion tube. The endoscope usually contains various internal components, such as wires, for controlling movements of the endoscope as well as a number of tubular passages for passing air, liquid or instruments. In addition, endoscopes are furnished with an image transmission means, such as fiber optic cables, or CCD camera with electrical cables, to transmit images from a distal location in a body.
Such components are conveniently sealed and protected in an internal space of the endoscope by a gas and liquid tight sheath. This sheath is generally made of an elastomeric material and surrounds the endoscope. After each use, it is important that the interior surface of the tubular passages, along with the surrounding sheath, be carefully cleaned and sterilized for reasons of sanitation. At present, some conventional sterilization processes utilize sterilant gas, such as hydrogen peroxide or ethylene oxide, in low pressure sterilization chambers to sterilize endoscopes. However, in such sterilization processes, as the pressure is lowered, the air trapped at the internal space of the endoscope exerts pressure against the elastomeric sheath. If this pressure at the internal space is not properly released, the elastomeric sheath may rupture with the high pressure. In fact, typical prior art endoscopes use a sealable port for releasing the entrapped air during any reduced pressure sterilization process. During a sterilization process in a reduced pressure environment, a cap sealing this sealable port may be opened to allow the internal space of the endoscope to communicate with the sterilizing atmosphere so that the excess pressure within the endoscope may be relieved. However, this port needs to be closed during the washing procedures of the exterior of the endoscope to prevent the flow of cleaning liquid into the endoscope. Therefore, an operator has to either close or open the sealing cap, depending on the type of treatment.
Unfortunately, this situation presents a special challenge for newer in-situ sterilization processes which use liquid sterilant at atmospheric pressure and vapor sterilants in reduced pressure in a continuous cycle. In such systems, briefly, a liquid sterilant, such as liquid hydrogen peroxide, is initially delivered to a sterilization chamber containing articles to be sterilized so that these articles can be pretreated with the liquid sterilant. Subsequently, the liquid sterilant is vaporized in the chamber using vacuum so that the articles are exposed to the sterilant vapor. It will be appreciated, however, that it is very difficult to design a mechanical system which can sequentially close and open this port in the chamber as the sterilization cycle advances from the liquid treatment stage to the reduced pressure vapor sterilization stage.
Therefore, there is a need for alternative systems which allow cleaning and sterilization of endoscopes in the sterilization processes using liquid and vapor sterilants in a continuous cycle in a sterilization chamber.


There is provided a system for immediately reflecting an intention of a driver wanting to avoid an obstacle to assistance to an avoidance operation. A vehicular operation assisting system for assisting the avoidance operation made by the driver of a vehicle in avoiding the obstacle includes an avoidance required distance calculating section for periodically calculating an avoidance required distance that is a distance required to avoid the obstacle when the obstacle is detected ahead of the vehicle, an avoidance operation determining section for periodically determining the avoidance operation with respect to the obstacle on the basis of steering maneuvers of the driver and an avoidance operation assisting degree calculating section for periodically calculating an avoidance operation assisting degree per based on the avoidance required distance calculated by the avoidance required distance calculating section and the judgment result of the avoidance operation determining section.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicular operation assisting system for assisting a driver in making an avoidance operation of a vehicle to avoid an obstacle.
2. Description of Related Art
There have been disclosed technological contents utilizing a steering assistance of a power steering unit to avoid an obstacle found ahead of a vehicle in its advancing direction. For instance, JP3557907A (claim 5 and others) discloses a power steering unit for assisting a driver in steering a steering wheel by an auxiliary steering torque calculated corresponding to a degree of steering torque when the driver operates the steering wheel, wherein the power steering unit calculates a predictive advancing path of own vehicle, measures temporal changes of a transverse deviation of the predictive path with respect to an obstacle, determines that the driver intents to avoid the obstacle when the transverse deviation increases and sets a control gain that increases the auxiliary steering torque.
In order to adequately assist the operation of the steering wheel by the power steering unit, it is necessary to accurately determine that the operation of the steering wheel of the driver is made to avoid the obstacle. However, it is also necessary to immediately reflect the intention of the driver wanting to avoid the obstacle to the assistance made by the power steering unit because the avoidance of the obstacle is often required in emergency.
However, there is a case when the intention of the driver may not be immediately reflected to the assistance to the avoidance operation by the technological content disclosed in JP3557907A. JP3557907A determines that the driver intents to avoid the obstacle when the transverse deviation increases. It means that when the transverse deviation does not increase, JP3557907A determines that the driver has no intention to avoid the obstacle. Suppose now a case when the obstacle is found at position having a transverse deviation in a right direction with respect to own vehicle. When the driver rotates the steering wheel left to avoid this obstacle as shown in FIG. 5 that shows a positional relationship between own vehicle and the obstacle in the prior art assistance given to an avoidance operation, it is possible to determine that the driver intents to avoid the obstacle because the transverse deviation in the right direction increases. However, the transverse deviation decreases or barely changes when the driver rotates the steering wheel right or rotates the steering wheel again right after rotating to left as shown in FIG. 6 that shows a positional relationship between own vehicle and the obstacle in another prior art assistance given to the avoidance operation. Then, determining that the driver has no intention to avoid the obstacle, the power steering unit makes no assistance to steering of the steering wheel until when the transverse deviation increases in this state.
In view of the problem described above, there is a need for providing a system that clearly reflects the intention of the driver wanting to avoid the obstacle to the assistance to the avoidance operation.


A method and apparatus for managing power in a thermal couple aware system includes determining a candidate configuration mapping based upon one or more criteria, the candidate configuration mapping being a mapping of performance for a candidate configuration of processor sockets in the thermal couple aware system. The candidate configuration mapping is evaluated by comparing the candidate configuration mapping to a stored configuration. If the evaluated candidate configuration mapping provides a better metric than the stored configuration, the stored configuration is updated with the evaluated candidate configuration mapping, and programming instructions are executed in accordance with the candidate configuration mapping if no other configuration mappings are to be determined.

In order to accommodate the need for greater computer processing power, servers may include multiple processor sockets in one unit. As these processor sockets operate, they generate heat that can affect their own performance, as well as the performance of other processors in the server due to thermal coupling between the processor sockets caused by the ambient air in the server being heated.
To counteract this performance degradation, various cooling methods have been employed to cool processor sockets. For example, cooling fans, liquid cooling, and immersion cooling systems may be employed to cool the ambient air and the processor sockets so they may operate more effectively. However, some cooling systems, (e.g., fans), cool the air from one side of the server, creating a temperature gradient where processor sockets that are closer to the fan are cooler than processors farther from the fan, allowing the cooler processor sockets to perform at a higher performance level than those farther away.
Conventional processing assignment systems assign workloads based on the processor temperature. Therefore, given a system with homogeneous processor designs, more workloads and more power are assigned to the coolest processor, (e.g., the processor on the socket closest the cooling system). When thermal coupling is considered, the conventional assignment systems techniques may lead to more frequent thermal throttling, non-identical performance among sockets, and degraded overall performance.
It would therefore be beneficial to provide a method and apparatus for more effectively managing power in a thermal couple aware system.

Method and apparatus for managing power in a thermal couple aware system


An automobile power plant apparatus includes an engine, a transmission connected to the engine, a propeller shaft connected to the transmission, a front mount elastically supporting the engine, and a body provided with the engine, the transmission, the propeller shaft and the front mount. The transmission includes a mount engagement portion which is positioned substantially adjacent to a virtual center of the transmission in a vehicle lengthwise direction and which is positioned on a side of the transmission in a vehicle widthwise direction. The body includes a mount installation portion which is positioned substantially adjacent to the virtual center of the transmission in the vehicle lengthwise direction and which is positioned opposite to a side of the transmission in the vehicle widthwise direction, and the body further includes a rear mount which is installed to the mount installation portion and which engages with the mount engagement portion of the transmission. Thus, the transmission is elastically supported by the rear mount at its virtual center in its side which substantially corresponds to one of the vibrational nodes of the flexural vibrations in the automobile power plant apparatus. Hence, the automobile power plant does not generate disturbing noises which are oppressive to the ears of passengers.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automobile power plant apparatus. The automobile power plant apparatus is the part of an automobile which transmits the engine driving forces to the wheels.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As illustrated in the upper half of FIG. 7, an automobile power plant includes an engine 1, a transmission 2 connected to an output side of the engine 1 in series in a vehicle lengthwise direction "Y," a propeller shaft 3 connected to an output shaft of the transmission 2 at an end thereof in the vehicle lengthwise direction "Y," a front mount 4 elastically supporting the engine 1, a rear mount 5 elastically supporting a lower part of the transmission 2 at around an end 2a of the transmission 2, and a body 6. The body 6 is provided with the engine 1, the transmission 2, the propeller shaft 3, the front mount 4 and the rear mount 5. Further, the propeller shaft 3 is provided with universal joints 3a and 3b at its ends, respectively.
In the conventional automobile power plant apparatus, the rear mount 5 supports at around the end 2a of the transmission 2. This is mainly because the transmission 2 has a relatively small dimension "H" in a vertical direction at around the end 2a, and it accordingly is easy to provide a space for installing the rear mount 5.
In the conventional automobile power plant apparatus, when the engine 1 is running at a high speed, flexural vibrations enlarge, there arise phenomena like vibrations of the body 6 and noises, and consequently such phenomena escalates. The flexural vibrations consist of vertical components and horizontal components, and it is especially important to suppress the vertical components of the flexural vibrations in order to relieve the phenomena such as the vibrations of the body 6 and the noises.
In the lower half of FIG. 7, there is illustrated a basic characteristic of resonant mode accompanied by the flexural vibrations when the engine 1 is running at a high speed. As can be seen from the lower half of FIG. 7, since the engine 1 and the transmission 2 have a high rigidity, the boundary area between the engine 1 and the transmission 2 comes to have a low rigidity. Accordingly, it is likely to vibrate at the boundary area between the engine 1 and the transmission 2, and the boundary area corresponds to a vibrational loop "P1." Since the universal joints 3a and 3b have a low rigidity, they correspond to vibrational loops "P2" and "P3" respectively. Since the front mount 1 is placed near a position which corresponds to a vibrational node "P4," vibrations are hardly input into the front mount 1.
In the conventional automobile power plant apparatus, since there arise large amplitudes at around the end 2a of the transmission 2 and since the end 2a of the transmission 2 is elastically supported by the rear mount 5, as illustrated in the resonant mode the lower half of FIG. 7, the vibrations are transmitted increasingly to the body 6. As a result, such a construction is likely to cause disturbing noises which sound like oppressing to the ears of the passengers.


Embodiments described herein provide an optical system having a light source (e.g., LED) and a high numerical aperture multi-element optical stack. According to one embodiment, the optical stack can reimage an entrance aperture. The multi-element optical stack can include a number of optical elements forming a series of lenses. The series of lenses comprises, a first lens positioned to receive light emitted in a first beam angle and a second lens more distal from the LED than the first lens, the second lens defining a second lens exit aperture that has at least a minimum area necessary to conserve radiance for the emission beam angle in air. The lenses in said series of lenses are configured, in combination, to successively reduce a beam angle of light from the first beam angle to the emission beam angle.

Various solutions have been attempted to direct light into a desired beam angle. Condenser lenses have been used in the illumination industry to collect light for centuries. The drawback of condenser lenses is that they have relatively low collection NA. As LEDs have become more prevalent in the illumination industry, new optics have been developed to shape the light beam. The majority of these rely on reflection to control the light distribution. Whether the reflection is off a metal (Ag, Al, alloy, etc) or because of total internal reflection ("TIR"), the optic relays the source aperture to a virtual or physical plane. Other systems use a combination of reflective, refractive and/or diffusing elements to control distribution.
Narrow full beam angles are difficult to achieve. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/788,094, which is hereby fully incorporated by reference herein, describes a reflective optic that exhibits superior beam shaping capabilities and higher efficiencies in a small package. However, in order to achieve high efficiencies at narrow beam angles, the reflective optic becomes relatively large. This may be undesirable in some applications.
Therefore, a small, efficient optic for projecting light into narrow beam angles is needed.


A receiving apparatus includes a symbol timing detection unit, a Fourier transform unit, a first symbol timing correction unit, and an interpolation synthesis unit. The symbol timing detection unit is configured to detect a Fourier transform start position from a received transmitting signal of a symbol unit, the Fourier transform unit is configured to perform a Fourier transform using the detected Fourier transform start position. The first symbol timing correction unit is configured to calculate and correct an amount of change between the Fourier transform start position of a reference symbol and the detected Fourier transform start position, and the interpolation synthesis unit is configured to perform an interpolation synthesis of a plurality of delay profiles corresponding to a plurality of symbols including the reference symbol and a symbol in which the amount of change is corrected.

Modulation in a transmitting apparatus for digital broadcast (for example, terrestrial digital broadcast in Japan) first maps a bit stream of a transmitting signal onto a complex plane through a mapping process. For example, in 64QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation), a bit stream of a transmitting signal is segmented every 6 bits and mapped to 64 signal points on a complex plane.
Furthermore, in OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing), the data (signal) mapped to 64 signal points on a complex plane is subjected to the IFFT (Inverse Fast Fourier Transform). Then, the digital signal having been subjected to the IFFT is converted to an analog signal, and then up-converted to a desired frequency and transmitted from an antenna.
On the other hand, demodulation in a receiving apparatus for terrestrial digital broadcast implements the opposite process to the above-described modulation. That is to say, an analog signal received by an antenna is converted to a digital signal, and furthermore, in OFDM, subjected to the FFT (Fast Fourier Transform) and propagation path compensation.
Then, the signal after propagation path compensation is subjected to error correction and decoding and output as a TS (Transform Stream) format signal, and a video/audio signal is output by decoding this TS signal. As described above, for example, although the Fourier Transform is used in a receiving apparatus for terrestrial digital broadcast, it is known that the optimal position of the time window in the Fourier Transform (the FFT time window position) varies depending on the environment.
However, moving the FFT time window position causes deterioration of propagation path compensation for a certain period of time, resulting in degraded reception performance.
Also, in order to cancel ICI (Inter-Carrier Interference), for example, a propagation path variation value is calculated from the propagation path estimation values of earlier and later symbols upon calculation of ICI, but phase rotation is occurred for propagation path estimation values if the FFT time window position is changed.
In this way, when finding a propagation path variation value from propagation path estimation values of varying FFT time window positions, the propagation path variation value is not calculated correctly, and therefore the accuracy of ICI cancellation deteriorates and reception performance degrades.
Now, various receiving apparatuses for digital broadcast have been proposed heretofore.
In the related art, there have been proposed various kinds of receiving apparatuses for digital broadcast.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2004-266814
Patent Document 2: Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2000-295195
Patent Document 3: Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2009-278448
Patent Document 4: Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2010-268177

Receiving apparatus and receiving method


A two-dimensional image read/display device which is able to read and display information including two-dimensional images. A two-dimenasional image read/display device comprising a substrate, an optical sensor provided on the substrate and a light emitting unit provided to the optical sensor, wherein the optical sensor comprises a sensor area and a non-sensor area arranged alternately in a two dimensional manner, the light emitting unit comprises a light emitting area and a light transmissive area arranged alternately in a two dimensional manner, and the sensor area is disposed opposed to the light transmissive area at given distance therefrom.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an input/output device for information processing apparatus such as a computer and the like and, particularly to a two-dimensional image read/display device which is able to read and display information including two-dimensional images.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, information processing apparatus is equipped with an image display device for displaying information. Examples of such an image display device are a CRT display device, a liquid crystal display (LCD) device, an EL display device (ELD), a plasma display device (PDP), a light emitting diode (LED) display device. In particular, recently, with the development of a high density packaging technology, there have been developed a portable personal computer including an integrated circuit (IC), onto an LCD display substrate of which an IC for driving a display is mounted, and an information processing device of a pocketbook size and the like.
Now, recently, there have been increased the number of such information processing machines and apparatus as include an image input device in addition to the above-mentioned image display device and, in view of this, there have been proposed image display devices each of which includes an image input device added thereto. For example, there has been proposed an image display device which includes a light input type of light pen added thereto in Published Unexamined Japanese Patent Application No. sho-62-37729. Besides this, there are proposed an image display device which employs a capacity coupled type of light pen, an image display device of a pen touch type using a resistance method, and other similar image display devices.
However, in the above-mentioned conventional light pen method and pen touch method, only the image that is drawn by an operator can be input and the image of an original document in which a desired image is drawn cannot be read. In view of this, there is developed a combination of a display device with an image read device which is able to read a two-dimensional image. For example, actually, there is disclosed in Published Unexamined Japanese Patent Application No. Hei-1-106467 a display device in which display elements and image read elements are formed on the same substrate. However, in this display device, because the display elements and image read elements are formed in the different areas of the same substrate, it is necessary to add an illumination device such as a light source or the like to the device, inevitably resulting in the large-sized device.
Also, the conventional image read device is, for the most part, a one-dimension contact type image sensor and, therefore, in order to read a two-dimensional image, there is required a drive system which is used to drive an original document or image sensor. This results in a large-sized image read device which is not suitable for portable information processing equipment. On the other hand, a one-dimension image sensor may be used and a sub scanning operation may be executed manually, so that a two-dimensional image can be read. In this case, a compact image read device can be realized and thus such compact image read device is suitable for a portable information processing device. However, the sub scanning operation cannot be performed due to camera movement and the like, with the result that an image cannot be read with accuracy.
Further, there have been proposed in Published Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Nos. sho-53-119619 and sho-59-149456 two-dimensional image sensors. However, such a two-dimensional image sensor requires an illumination device which is used to move a light source, resulting in a very large-scaled image sensor.
As an image input device for a facsimile and the like, there is known an elongated contact type image sensor including a large number of light receiving elements which are arranged in a line and adapted to convert information from an original document photoelectrically. This image sensor is a line type of (one dimensional) image sensor in which a large number of light receiving elements are arranged only in a line in a main scanning direction.
The above-mentioned conventional one-dimensional image sensor includes, for example, a TFT drive type of image sensor. The TFT drive type of image sensor, as shown in an equivalent circuit diagram of FIG. 1, includes a light receiving element array 51 comprising a plurality of light receiving elements 51" arranged in a line substantially equal in length to the width of an original document, a charge transfer part 52 comprising of a plurality of thin film transistors Ti,J (i=1-N, j=1-n) respectively corresponding to the light receiving elements 51" one for one, a matrix-shaped multi-layer wiring 53, common signal lines 54 respectively guided from the multi-layer wiring 53, a driving IC 55 for sequentially reading out the potentials of the common signal lines 54, a gate pulse generation circuit 56 for applying a gate pulse VG to the charge transfer part 52, and an output line (COM) 57 for outputting in time series the potentials read by the driving IC 55.
To read a two-dimensional image by use of the above-mentioned one-dimensional image sensor, the same light receiving elements must be used repeatedly and, for this reason, the voltage of the gate pulse VG is applied to the same light receiving elements at a certain cycle to thereby read a signal. Thus, when taking into consideration the rising and falling characteristics of a current with respect to the variations in illumination intensity from the blank portion of an original document to the printed or black portion thereof or from the black portion of the original to the blank portion thereof, the speed of the image sensor to read the original is limited.
In order to solve the above problem, there have been developed the above described two-dimensional image sensors. However, as mentioned above, the two-dimensional image sensor requires an illumination device which is adapted to move a light source and, therefore, the whole image sensor provides a large-scale device which is difficult to manufacture as a commercial product. That is, it has a structure which is not suitable especially for a portable use.
Also, referring to one-dimension image sensor, there has been developed a complete contact type of image sensor with a built-in light source which is shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, aiming at realizing a compact device. The complete contact type of image sensor is constructed, as shown generally in FIG. 2, in such a manner that a light source 1 is disposed below a substrate 21 of the sensor and a roller 2 is disposed in the upper portion of the sensor.
Referring to the concrete structure of the conventional image sensor, as shown in FIG. 3 which is an explanatory view of a section in the sub-scanning direction of a sensor part thereof, a light shield layer 26 is formed on the substrate 21, the light shield layer 26 is partly taken away to thereby provide a lighting window 27 which takes in light from the back surface of the substrate 21, a light receiving element 22 is disposed on the top of the light shield layer 26, and there is provided a protection film 28 in such a manner that it can cover all these components.
Referring to the operation of the above-mentioned conventional image sensor of a complete contact type, the light from the light source 1 is allowed to enter from the back surface of the substrate 21 through a lighting window 27, the light reflecting on an original document 3 is received by the light receiving element 22, and electric charges corresponding to the amounts of the light received are read out (see Published Unexamined Japanese Patent Application No. sho-59-122273).
However, in the above-mentioned conventional image sensor of a complete contact type, as shown in FIG. 4 which is an explanatory view of a section of the sensor portion in the main scanning direction, there is a possibility that the incident light entering from a lighting window in an adjoining area may also be received by the light receiving element 22, thereby worsening the resolution of the image sensor to a great extent.
Also, in a conventional portable image input device which uses the image sensor of a complete contact type shown in FIG. 3, when reading a two-dimensional image, scanning is normally executed by hand and an image reading time is synchronized with the speed of the manual scanning. However, it has been conventionally pointed out that such manual scanning is not able to read a figure and the like with accuracy because of movement of the hands.
On the other hand, in information processing machines and apparatus, an image input/output device is widely used and a display, which is one of image output devices, includes various types of devices such as CRT, LCD, ELD and the like. As a modification for these types of displays, there has been developed a composite display which comprises a display and an input device added thereto. For example, there have been disclosed a light pen of a light input type or of a capacity coupled type (see Published Unexamined Japanese Patent Application No. sho-62-37729), a touch pen using resistance. Here, in order to confirm the two-dimensional image that is read, it is convenient if a two-dimensional image reading device and a display device are integrated into one device. However, conventionally, there has not been available an integrated device which can answer to the need that the image can be displayed on the actual spot.

Two-dimensional image read/display device


The invention relates to a composite and oral care compositions for use in the mouth to retard the accumulation of dental plaque and/or calculus. The composite is a microaggregate comprising polymer coated, surfactant stabilized particles of a substantially insoluble metal, metal salt or metal oxide, for example zinc oxide. Also methods for retarding the accumulation of dental plaque and/or calculus are provided.

Dental plaque forms as a film on teeth. It is a product of microbial growth, a dense microbial layer consisting of a mass of microorganisms embedded in a matrix, which accumulates on the tooth surfaces. The microorganisms are mainly coccoidal organisms, particularly in early plaque, which, in the mouths of some persons at least, change to filamentous organisms after a few days.
Dental plaque has been observed to form following a dental prophylaxis treatment, due to bacteria which grew out of defects in the tooth enamel where they had resided and remained unaffected by the prophylaxis treatment. Plaque may form on any part of the tooth surface, and is found particularly at the gingival margin, in cracks in the enamel, and on the surface of dental calculus. The importance of giving consideration to the action of plaque on the teeth lies in the tendency of plaque to produce gingivitis and perhaps other types of periodontal disease, as well as dental caries and dental calculus. Dental plaque is a precursor of dental calculus. The latter forms from the plaque that accumulates on the teeth in the form of a hard mineralized deposit. It is particularly prone to form at the gingival margin, i.e., the junction of the tooth and gingiva. Both the bacterial and non-bacterial components of plaque are mineralized to form calculus, which comprises, in addition to mineralized bacteria, organic constituents, such as epithelial cells, live bacteria, salivary proteins, leucocytes, and crystals of substances having molecularly bound calcium and phosphorus, e.g., hydroxyapatite, octacalcium phosphate, brushite and whitlockite. Calculus, like plaque, is considered to be a prime causative factor in periodontal disease.
Therapeutic compositions containing metal oxides, including zinc oxide, within polymer particles have been described. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,368,586 discloses methods and compositions in which metal oxides, including zinc oxide, are incorporated into polymer microaggregates that contain a therapeutic ingredient in order to enhance the adhesion of the therapeutic polymer to mucosal surfaces. Spray drying and several alternative routes for producing polymer/metal oxide particles are disclosed. U.S. Pat. No. 7,691,413, describes composite particles containing a polyolefin-based resin having a crystallization degree of 80% or less and zinc oxide which are obtained by hot melt microencapsulation or spray cooling, a process for producing the composite particles, and cosmetics containing the composite particles.
Zinc oxide and zinc salts are known to be useful ingredients in oral care products. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,486,350 describes zinc compounds, including zinc oxide, among a list of anti-tartar or anti-calculus compounds useful in toothpaste. Zinc oxide has also been dispersed within a polymer matrix, cast into film and divided into strips for incorporation into oral care compositions. It is challenging to formulate zinc oxide in oral care products, however, as the particles tend to agglomerate and precipitate out of the formulation (zinc oxide is nearly insoluble in water) and/or react with other ingredients.

Oral compositions containing microaggregates


In the event that a cellular telephone is placed in a charging stand in an incoming wait status or if a predetermined time that the device has been left unattended elapses, a slide show display is executed which sequentially switches and displays a plurality of images in the main display portion but only when in the arrangement position of namely, view style, in a folded position with the main display portion facing outward. Additionally, when executing a slide show display, the slide direction is switched as the image size adjusts corresponding to the direction (portrait display position, landscape display position) of the main display portion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a foldable portable information processing device and a slide display activation method for switching and displaying a plurality of images.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, in regard to digital cameras, etc., the technology for activating a slide show function and performing playback display of image data successively for a predetermined time interval using image data automatically recorded in the main display portion and by placing the display device in a charging stand has been proposed (for example, Japanese Laid-Open (Kokai) Patent Application No. 2000-333046 titled "INFORMATION REPRODUCTION DEVICE AND ITS CONTROL METHOD"). Additionally, the technology for activating a slide show function when driven by a commercial power source without being operated by the user has been proposed (for example, Japanese Laid-Open (Kokai) Patent Application No. H11-313229 (1999) titled "SCREEN SAVER FOR ELECTRONIC STILL CAMERA").
Apart from that, in recent years, foldable type cellular telephones comprise a playback function for still images and video recordings. The playback of these still images or video is performed in landscape or portrait style in the main display portion. However, the conventional prior art mentioned above in JP 2000-333046 and JP H11-313229 is based on the assumption of a digital camera. These disclosures do not envision a slide show function in a cellular telephone. Besides, there is no stated reference about a slide show function with respect to either the main display portion in a foldable type cellular telephone or the type of usage.
Specifically, this refers to a foldable type cellular telephone containing a cover part equipped with a main display portion and a main body part equipped with a key input portion which are joined by a two-axis rotation type hinge. Furthermore, a main display portion which accommodates various arrangement positions, such as a position in which the cover part (main display portion) is closed; a position in which the cover part is opened and the main display portion faces toward the user's side; a position in which the back surface of the cover part faces toward the user's side; and a position in which the main display portion faces toward the user's side although the cover part is closed against the main body side, which are suitable or unsuitable for a slide show display contingent upon that specific arrangement position. On the contrary, in the conventional prior art mentioned above in JP 2000-333046 and JP H11-313229, there is a matter of not being able to accommodate such diverse configurations.

Foldable portable information processing device for displaying plural images

Casio Hitachi Mobile Communications Co., Ltd.


The cooling performance on an air-cooled fuel cell and a radiator for cooling electrical equipment is improved in an air-cooled fuel cell vehicle. The air-cooled fuel cell includes: air inlets respectively at both side portions in a vehicle width direction; and air outlets and an exhaust duct at a central portion in the vehicle width direction, the exhaust duct configured to discharge air flowing out of the air outlets to a rear side of the vehicle. Intake ducts extending toward the front portion of the vehicle are respectively connected to the air inlets. Air intake ports of the intake ducts are respectively opened at both side portions, in the vehicle width direction, of a radiator and at positions closer to the front portion of the vehicle than the radiator.

An air-cooled fuel cell vehicle which uses a low-pressure blower fan and utilizes the same air for reaction and cooling, needs large intake and exhaust sections of an air-cooled fuel cell stack in order to reduce pumping loss and supply sufficient air.
As an electric vehicle, the air-cooled fuel cell vehicle needs a radiator which radiates heat of approximately 60 degrees C. to 70 degrees C. to cool electrical components such as a motor. Nevertheless, in an air-cooled fuel cell vehicle which drives at a relatively low temperature, air warmed up by a radiator which is disposed in a space of a vehicle front portion surrounded by a vehicle body panel, cannot provide a temperature difference, so that the cooling efficiency is significantly decreased, and the air cannot be used as air to a fuel cell stack. Accordingly, it is necessary to provide a thermal insulation structure superior to that for an internal combustion engine vehicle.


A ramp loading unit, for use in a disk drive that includes a head and a record carrier, that includes a holding part that holds a head support part apart from the record carrier. The ramp loading unit also includes a sliding part which the head support part elastically contacts. The sliding part includes a patterned sliding surface with a protruding part that has a width that can partially contact the head support part, wherein the position of the protruding part changes in the width direction of the sliding surface along the length direction of the sliding surface orthogonal to the width direction, so that a contact position of the head support part with the protruding part changes as the head support part slides on the sliding part in the length direction of the sliding surface.

The present relates generally to a mechanism for holding a head at a position outside a record carrier. The present invention is suitable, for example, for a hard disc drive ("HDD").
Available electronic information contents have explosively increased with the recent rapid technology developments, as in the Internet. Thus, larger-capacity magnetic storages, typified by HDDs, have been increasingly demanded to store such a large amount of information.
A slider mounted with a head floats on a disc for recording and reproducing in the HDD. As a relationship between the slider and the disc at the time of activation and halt of the disc, referred to as an interface, there are a contact start stop ("CSS") system in which the slider contacts the disc, and a ramp or dynamic loading system in which the slider retreats from the disc at the time of stop of the disc and is held by a holder called a ramp. The conventional HDD interface mainly adopts the CSS system.
The CSS system would, however, cause crashes (or damage the disc) if frictions increase at the time of stop and sliding. In addition, since the slider is easily absorbed onto the disc, the CSS system requires a texture process that forms fine corivexes and concaves on the disc surface so as to prevent the absorption. This texture process increases cost, and becomes difficult particularly due to the reduced floating amount of the slider in the recent higher recording density and the associative demands for the flatness of the disc surface.
Accordingly, the ramp loading system has recently attracted attentions. In the ramp loading system, a non-contact between the slider and the disc when the rotation of the disc starts and stops causes no friction that would otherwise damage the disc or no absorption between them. Additional advantages are that no texture process is necessary, and the head floating amount can be reduced. In the ramp loading system, a suspension that supports the slider slides on a sliding surface on the ramp while contacting, the ramp with an elastic force in loading the slider on the disc and unloading the slider from the disc.

Ramp loading unit including means for reducing powder collected on head support part, and disk drive including same


The anti-identity theft and information security system process includes storing secure information in association with an electronic device having a communication circuit for sending and receiving data. Biometric information is read with a scanner so that the identity of a user can be authenticating in connection with the supplied biometric information. Once approved, a data communication line is established with a remote device and access to the secure information is unlocked. Thereafter, the secure information may be transmitted between the electronic device and the remote device.

The present invention relates to an anti-identity theft and information security system. More particularly, the invention relates to an anti-identity theft and information security system that requires positive identification through association of readable human biological information to facilitate the exchange of information, such as by requiring biometric information to activate an RFID tag before the RFID tag will transmit or receive information.
Identity theft is a form of stealing the identity of another person to assume that person's identity or to access resources of that person such as their financial information or other benefits. Needless to say, and unfortunately, identity theft is a growing problem in the United States and around the world. Obviously, an identity theft victim can suffer any one of a number of adverse consequences, including loss of rights, financial loss, loss of data or other information, and can even be held responsible for financial debts incurred or crimes committed by the perpetrator in the name of the victim. Oftentimes, sensitive and/or private electronic information is stolen or misappropriated through elaborate phishing schemes or other ploys designed to get users to inadvertently provide account information (e.g., username and/or password) or download and install malicious software to an electronic device used to store and/or transmit sensitive information. Additionally, financial institutions are particularly prone to data breaches as a result of malicious hackers vying to obtain sensitive financial information. It is oftentimes difficult, if not impossible, to secure lost information or other important documents once the information is misappropriated. Additionally, identity theft poses a major problem for national security as it increases the difficulty for law enforcement officials to properly identify criminals or for customs officials to stop terrorists from entering the country. This can be especially problematic at the border in view that the United States is now using RFID tags in passports to identify citizens entering and leaving the country.
Radio frequency identification ("RFID") is a technology that uses radio waves to exchange information between an electronic tag attached to an object and a reader, for the purpose of identification and tracking. Some of the most common electronic tags are passive and powered by an interrogation signal emitted from the reader. The amount of information and the distance the reader can interrogate the RFID chip varies by technology. For example, some electronic tags can only be read from several feet, while other tags can be read from much farther distances (e.g., beyond a line of sight with the reader). Such RFID tags have been used in automotive vehicle identification, automatic toll systems, electronic license plates, electronic manifests, vehicle routing, vehicle performance monitoring, banking (e.g., electronic checkbooks, electronic credit cards, etc.), security (e.g., personal identification, automatic gates, surveillance, etc.) and in the medical profession (e.g., identification, patient history, etc.).
In recent years, RFID has been used more as a means of personal identification. One problem with this use is that RFID was not originally designed to authenticate human beings. Rather, RFID was developed as a means to track storage containers, packages, etc. As a result of using RFID in personal identification, concerns have been raised over security and privacy. For example, as mentioned above, the United States started issuing passports having RFID tags therein. One problem with this is that the data on an RFID chip or tag can be cloned. For instance, data from an RFID chip may be copied onto another chip or to a recordable medium using a relatively inexpensive card reader and laptop. This is particularly problematic because passport information may be stolen without the knowledge of the owner. For example, for passports mailed to the owner, it would no longer be necessary to open the package to copy the information. Rather than open the package, the passport information is obtained by a reader that communicates with the RFID chip through the package materials. Thus, the information can be stolen without damaging the package and without the recipient's knowledge.
As a result, using RFID in passports may actually make the information stored therein less secure. This is certainly a problem regarding both national security and privacy. With respect to privacy, identity thieves can obtain personal details such as name, nationality, sex, date and place of birth, and a digital photograph of the passport holder from embedded RFID chips that broadcast such information when queried. If the RFID enabled passport has no security features, that information may be freely available. With respect to national security, identity theft jeopardizes the accurate identification of U.S. nationals or others who may be of interest to the U.S. government. One way to combat such theft is that the United States government added a metallic "anti-skimming" material along the exterior of the passport as a security feature. The metallic material is designed to prevent data from being read from a distance—especially when the passport booklet is closed.
Another security problem associated with RFID is the illicit tracking of RFID tags. In this regard, the ability to read a tag containing personal identification information or other secure or private data poses a risk to privacy, not only for individuals who may be carrying RFID enabled passports, but also for merchandise throughout the supply chain and thereafter. For example, Electronic Product Codes ("EPC's") embedded with RFID tags may easily be embedded in consumer products, such as electronics. Ideally, the EPC's are used in embedded RFID tags to track the products throughout the supply chain. But, without a secure means of controlling communication with the RFID tag, it may be relatively easy to illicitly track the product through the supply chain. Post purchase, these RFID tags may remain affixed to the products and may remain functional. Thus, it would be possible to deduce the location of the purchased product by simply scanning the RFID-enabled EPC tag. This can be particularly undesirable for the product owner. For example, a thief may simply identify products within a home by scanning the house with an RFID reader, in the event the RFID-enabled EPC tag remains active. Additionally, it may be possible to track the location of someone when the RFID-enabled tags are embedded in clothing.
One way to defend against data being stolen from an RFID chip or to prevent illicit tracking throughout the supply chain or post purchase is to use cryptography. For example, some tags use a "rolling code" scheme to enhance RFID tag security. Here, tag identification information changes after each scan to reduce the usefulness of observer responses. More sophisticated cryptographic devices engage in challenge-response authentications where the tag interacts with the reader. Here, secret tag information is never sent over an insecure communication channel between the tag and the reader. The tag and reader secure the channel when the reader issues a challenge to the tag, of which the tag responds with a result that is computed using a local cryptographic circuit key. The tag transmits the key back to the reader to complete the authentication cycle. The keys may be based on symmetric or public key cryptography.
One drawback of cryptographically-enabled tags is that they are typically more expensive and require more power than simpler equivalents. These drawbacks certainly limit the scope of potential deployment. As a result, some manufacturers developed RFID tags that use weaker or proprietary encryption schemes. Weaker encryption schemes are more susceptible to a sophisticated attack. One example of such an RFID tag is the Exxon-Mobil Speedpass, which uses a proprietary cryptographically-enabled tag manufactured by Texas Instruments to execute a challenge-response authentication at a lower cost. Another drawback of such challenge-response algorithms is that the RFID tags typically fail to have computational resources to process the cryptographic authentications without a significant cost increase associated thereto.
Another security measure designed to prevent information from being stolen from RFID tags is to shield the data stored on the RFID tag from an interrogation request from a reader. For example, sleeves or holders generally made from aluminum are designed to prevent reading information from an RFID chip. In this regard, the aluminum shield creates a Faraday cage to prevent the transmission of information to and/or from the RFID chip. The true effectiveness of this technology is unknown as it is still experimental. But, the shielding is thought to be at least partially dependent on the RFID tag. For example, low-frequency RFID tags (e.g., human or animal implantable tags) are relatively resistant to shielding while higher-frequency RFID tags (e.g., 13.56 MHz smart cards and access badges) are somewhat sensitive to shielding and tend to be difficult to read when within a few inches of a metal surface. One concern is that if the metal/aluminum is not completely effective at preventing transmission of sensitive data to and/or from the RFID chip, it may still be easy to obtain access to private information stored on the chip.
Moreover, some prior art references have disclosed certain systems and methods for using biometrics in association with RFID for security purposes. In one example, U.S. Publication No. 2006/0170530 to Nwosu discloses a system and method for fingerprint-based authentication using RFID. More specifically, Nwosu discloses a system for enabling individuals to control the access and storage of biometric attributes required for identity authentication, before being able to execute a financial transaction or the like. In this system, a smart device (e.g., a smartphone or the like) is in communication with a host application on a computer or an RFID reader. The smart device retains encrypted data regarding the biometrics of the authenticated user and can communicate that information to either the host application or the RFID reader. The user scans its biometric information into the smart device via a biometric scanner for comparison against stored and authenticated biometric data. The smart device goes through a verification cycle to match and authenticate the user operating the smart device. An RFID reader may be in wireless communication with the smart device and by wire-line communication with a computer for reading the authentication result from the smart device. Upon authentication, the user is allowed to complete a financial transaction using the smart device.
What the Nwosu publication fails to disclose is a means for completing an RFID tag circuit keyed to a unique fingerprint. In this respect, while Nwosu discloses the use of a fingerprint scanner, said scanner is not in the form of an RFID tag that includes a circuit keyed only to the unique fingerprint of the smart device user. The Nwosu device, therefore, has two readily apparent drawbacks: first, replication of the fingerprint against the scanner is far easier than with said keyed circuit. In this respect, the scanner merely needs to read the fingerprint pattern in two-dimensional form, as opposed to reading the three-dimensional aspects of the user's fingerprint. Second, Nwosu cannot terminate RFID activation when the finger is removed from the RFID circuit. The problem here is that the fingerprint scanner does not require interaction with the user's finger—rather, it only requires a one-time scan to obtain the fingerprint. This particular drawback could expose the smart device to a security breach should the smart device be authenticated and lost. The system disclosed herein alleviates this issue, as discussed in detail below, by requiring authenticated and continued coupling of the RFID chip with a fingerprint. Nwosu does not actually activate/deactivate the RFID tag through physical interaction with a fingerprint, but rather through software instruction once the smart device reads a fingerprint with another scanner. Security of the smart device in Nwosu does not rely on local authentication of the physical communication circuits; but rather it is reliant on known methods for two-dimensional fingerprint scanning.
Other references known in the prior art include U.S. Publication No. 2007/0200681 to Colby, which generally discloses an identity device that includes a switchable RFID tag for use with identity documents such as passports, driver's licenses, financial (transaction) cards such as credit or debit cards, remote controls, security devices, access devices, communication devices, or the like. The "switchable" aspect of Colby refers to changing the operation of an RFID tag from a responsive state to a non-responsive state; or to change the operation of an RFID tag from one responsive state to another responsive state, such as from a data entry state (e.g., programming state) to an external device control state (e.g., a remote). In this respect, the Colby RFID tag operates like RFID tags known in the art—it uses energy emitted from a reader to change some aspect of the tag itself. Colby does not disclose, however, the ability for the tag to redirect the energy captured from the external reader outside of the RFID tag, e.g., to power "on" or power "off" the electronic device (e.g., a smartphone) to which the RFID tag is coupled. In terms of inventory and tracking, Colby is particularly deficient in this respect.
Additionally, U.S. Publication No. 2009/0102606 to Kim discloses a method for authenticating an RFID tag by means of using a rotating synchronization scheme between the tag and reader, but fails to disclose synchronization of an electronic device (e.g., a database) with the product carrying the RFID tag. The problem with Kim is that the synchronization occurs between the RFID tag and reader, as opposed to between the electronic device and product. This is critical in terms of proper identification and tracking of the product because the RFID tag could be removed from the product yet still synchronize with the reader. The product itself, i.e., the item being tracked, is otherwise lost because it is no longer attached to the RFID tag. So, the obvious drawback in Kim is that the product could be disassociated with the RFID tag and the synchronization and tracking system disclosed therein would have no way of knowing this occurred.
Thus, there exists a significant need for an anti-identity theft and information security system designed to prevent illicitly obtaining sensitive information by, for example, tracking and/or cloning information on an RFID chip. Such an anti-identity theft and information security system, especially when used in association with passports and credit cards, should make use of unique biological information to secure the information stored and transmitted therewith. In this regard, the transmission authentication should be used in association with a fingerprint or iris scan that prevents activation of the data stored on the transmitting device if the individual owning the passport or the credit card, or associated authorized users, are not present at the time the transmitting device is queried for access. The fingerprint and/or iris scan verifies that the user has the authority to use the information on the transmitting device for its intended purpose. The transmitting device will not otherwise activate without such continued authentication. The present invention fulfills these needs and provides further related advantages.

Anti-identity theft and information security system