A suspension assembly for a motor vehicle includes a wheel assembly attached to the frame of a motor vehicle for movement in response to uneven roadway surfaces. A first inductive coil attached to the frame is mounted along an axis, and a second inductive coil is mounted co-axially with the first inductive coil and for movement with the wheel assembly. The inductive coils are movable relative to one another along the axis. An electromagnetic force generated by the inductive coils provides spring and dampening forces for the motor vehicle. Further, variation in the inductance between the coils is measurement to determine the relative position between the coils in order to monitor motor vehicle ride height.

This invention relates to an electromagnetic suspension assembly for a motor vehicle.
Conventional suspension assemblies include fluid filled shock absorbers in combination with coil springs to provide the required spring and dampening forces.
Most conventional suspension assemblies are known as passive suspension assemblies because they can only react to forces input from movement of the wheel assembly.
It is known in the art to improve on such passive suspension systems by including a variable damper assembly. Conventional variable damper assemblies change the dampening force by changing flow orifice sizes or by changing the viscosity of a fluid filled damper by using a magnetorheological fluid. Variable damper assemblies improve the driveability of a motor vehicle by adjusting the dampening force depending on desired vehicle handling characteristics including traction, braking and handling. However, such suspension assemblies still only react to forces input from the wheel assembly.
It is also known in the art to include an electric motor to provide variable dampening characteristics of a suspension system. Typically, such systems utilize an electric motor rotatebly driven by vertical movement of the wheel assembly. A resistance load on the electric motor is varied to adjust and vary dampening characteristics of the damper and thereby the suspension system. However, such systems are generally utilized as an alternate means of utilizing wheel movement to generate electrical power for use in the motor vehicle.
Currently suspension systems react to force input by the wheel assembly and are unable to input forces to improve driveability of the motor vehicle. It is therefore, desirable to develop a suspension system that can both react to input forces from the wheel assembly, and input forces to the wheel assembly to provide improved motor vehicle drivability.
The invention is a suspension assembly for a motor vehicle including two generally co-axially mounted electromagnetic coils between which is generate a controlled magnetic field adjusted to provide required spring and dampening forces. The suspension assembly includes a wheel assembly movably mounted to the motor vehicle frame such that the wheel assembly moves in a substantially vertical direction in response to uneven roadway surfaces. A first inductive coil attaches to the wheel assembly about an axis, and a second inductive coil mounts co-axially with the first inductive coil and movable relative to the first inductive coil. The coils are electrically coupled to a power source controlled by a vehicle controller. The power source provides electrical power to the inductive coils to produce an electromagnetic force between the inductive coils to provide a dampening force required dampen oscillations of the wheel assembly. The variation in inductance between the coils caused by variation in the relative position of the coils to one another is used to determine a ride height of the motor vehicle.
Further, the generated magnetic force between the two coils provides a means in which force can be input into the suspension assembly instead of merely reacting to forces input from the wheel assembly. The inductive coils may be energized in a manner to increase traction by increasing the force with which the wheel assembly contacts the road surface. This provides the ability to actively control the suspension characteristics as desired to control particular motor vehicle driveability characteristics such as traction, braking and handling.
The suspension assembly of the subject invention both reacts to input forces from the wheel assembly, and inputs forces to the wheel assembly to provide improved motor vehicle drivability.


An electronic gaming die includes an enclosure, a flexible substrate, a number of light emitting diodes, a sensor, a processor and a battery. The enclosure has N sides where N is equal to or greater than 4. The flexible substrate folds into N sides and fits into an interior of the enclosure, wherein each side has an inner face, an outer face and is assigned an integer from 1 to N. The light emitting diodes are disposed on the outer face of each side of the flexible substrate, wherein the number of light emitting diodes equals the integer assigned to the side of the flexible substrate. The sensor, processor and battery are disposed on one of the inner faces of the flexible substrate.

Without limiting the scope of the disclosed embodiments, the background is described in connection with methods for manufacturing 3D objects and structures, more specifically 3D structural electronic, electromagnetic and electromechanical components and devices.
The recent introduction of MEMs-based accelerometers has enabled many new gaming and commercial electronics applications like enhanced features in cell phones and the Nintendo Wiimote. The introduction of the accelerometry into gaming dice has only recently been made possible by this new technology. Although a LED-lit 20 sided dice has been sold on websites like Thinkgeek, the electronics involved are basic and only involve one side (the 20) with a pressure sensor.


Methods and systems are provided for capturing information associated with a component of a system during a maintenance procedure. In one embodiment, a method includes: managing a dialog with a user via a wearable device based on a pre-defined dialog file, wherein the pre-defined dialog file is defined for at least one of a component and a procedure; receiving speech signals at the wearable device based on the dialog; processing the speech signals by the wearable device to identify component information; and transmitting the component information from the wearable device to a host component for use by a maintenance application. The managing, receiving, and transmitting are performed during a maintenance procedure.

During maintenance repair and overhaul of an aerospace product, specific data must be recorded. Conventional methods require collecting large amounts of data based on knowledge and/or via a hardcopy check list. The collection process is typically a multistep process of writing down the information and then entering the information into informational screens on a computer. To ensure accuracy, multiple reviews are required while collecting large strings of data and in many cases multiple recordings on paper and computer. Such a process is redundant and wastes motion and time in recording, re-recording, and reviewing the data.
Hence, there is a need for improved systems and methods for capturing the information about components during maintenance repair and overhaul. Other desirable features and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.

Speech recognition systems and methods for maintenance repair and overhaul


An impact dot line printer has a hammer bank equipped with a plurality of printing heads along printing lines mounted on the upper side of a belt extended between a pair of rotational drums. A counter balancer is mounted on the lower side thereof, the hammer bank and the counter balancer being reciprocated in the directions reverse to each other. Since repelling springs are provided on both left and right sides in order to reduce thrust required for deceleration at the end of shuttling operation of the hammer bank and the counter balancer, vibrations or noises caused by the collisions with the spring might occur. But by the present invention, rotors are provided with eccentric weights which act so as to offset force couple at the time of the collisions with the repelling springs, whereby the shock force caused by the collisions is sharply decreased to suppress the vibrations or noises.

The present invention relates to a hammer bank rocking device in an impact dot line printer equipped with a plurality of printing heads along printing lines.
FIG. 1 shows a structure of a conventional linear motor type impact dot line printer. Reference numeral 1 designates a hammer bank equipped with a plurality of printing heads along printing lines; 3 a hammer bank mounting bed provided with repelling portions 3a and 3b; and 9 a coil core plate and counter balancer provided with repelling portions 9a and 9b and equipped with coils 8 and 8'.
The counter balancer 9 is provided in parallel with the hammer bank mounting bed 3 and connected to upper and lower portions of a belt 5 extended between rotational drums 4 and 4' provided on opposite sides thereof so that the counter balancer 9 and the hammer bank 1 are rocked in a direction reverse to each other.
The coils 8 and 8' face permanent magnets 6 and 6', respectively, of a magnetic circuit comprising permanent magnets 6 and 6' and a yoke 7 secured to a frame (not shown). When a reverse current is supplied to the coils 8 and 8' at regular intervals, the counter balancer 9 and the hammer bank 1 are rocked in the directions reverse to each other.
Reference numerals 10-1, 10-2, 10-3 and 10-4 designate repelling springs provided on opposite sides in order to reduce the thrust required for deceleration at the end of the rocking stroke of the hammer bank 1 and the counter bank 9. Reference numeral 11 designates an ink ribbon; 12 a printing paper; and 13 a platen.
In the conventional hammer bank rocking device shown in FIG. 1, the hammer bank mounting bed 3 and the counter balancer 9 simultaneously collide with the left and right repelling springs opposed to each other at the end of the shuttling operation. However, in the conventional construction shown in FIG. 1, a couple F.sub.1 .times.2l.sub.1 is produced which is expressed by product of a force F.sub.1 caused by the collision and a length 2l.sub.1 between axes of the hammer bank mounting bed 3 and the counter balancer 9, and as a result, a shock force by which the hammer bank mounting bed 3 is rotated acts, resulting in vibrations and noises that give rise to the lowering of printing-dot precision.

Hammer bank rocking device in impact dot line printer


A valve contains a connection for connecting to a tube of a supplemental shower head or spray nozzle, the connection preferably containing a check valve. In the case of the preferred embodiment, the connection for the supplemental apparatus is arranged in the handle of the operating lever connected to a spherical plug valve. The water is supplied to the handle through the hollow connecting rod, from the interior of the spherical plug.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a valve, particularly a mixing valve, with a valve casing, a water outlet and at least one water inlet.
2. Prior Art
It is known to connect a dental syringe to the outlet end of a mixing valve with the aid of an adapter. When the dental syringe is attached, the water tap can no longer be normally used.
It is also known (DOS No. 30 25 023) to connect a dental syringe to the shower tube of a bath or shower bath fixture. For this purpose, the normal shower must firstly be disconnected and then the dental syringe connected. Here again, it is no longer possible to use the shower tube normally, when the dental syringe is connected.
It is also known (DOS No. 29 47 720) to attach a three-way valve to the outlet end of a water tap. This three-way valve has two water outlets, it being possible to connect a feed tube for a dental syringe to one water outlet and a so-called bubbler to the other water outlet. Such an additional three-way valve naturally has a prejudicial effect and significantly impairs the appearance of a mixing valve.
In addition, dental syringes are known, which have their own water container, which is filled prior to operation and supply the liquid with the aid of a pump.


A technique performs policy-based intelligent data placement in an electronic environment. The technique involves selecting, from a pool of candidate local area networks (LANs) of the electronic environment, a plurality of LANs within which to store the data based on a set of policy priority levels assigned to the data. The technique further involves generating a set of information elements (e.g., data fragments, erasure codes, etc.) from the data, and placing the set of information elements on storage nodes of the plurality of LANs. Such a method enables the data to be stored in a distributed manner and alleviates the need for a central storage facility. Since the data is distributed among the storage nodes of the plurality of LANs, system capacity and infrastructure is able to grow (i.e., scale) in a manner which does not create a problematic bottleneck.

A conventional approach to storing data is to collect the data at a main data center or a central storage repository. For example, suppose that a corporate enterprise wishes to save video surveillance files from multiple remote video camera installations. The hardware at each video camera installation may send a respective video surveillance file to a centralized facility (e.g., a corporate data center) for storage.
While the video surveillance files are stored at the centralized facility, the video surveillance files may be saved in a fault tolerant manner. For example, the video surveillance files may be stored according to a particular RAID level, may be backed up, etc.


A dart target with a function of automatically displaying scores is disclosed. The dart target is installed with a damping panel. The damping panel is formed by at least one damping layer; the damping layers are made of flexible and transmitted cloth, such as sisal, non-woven cloth, etc. Thus, metal dart can be used. As the dart passes through the target panel, it can be damped by the damping layer and fixed. A pattern is formed at the surface of the first damping layer so that the dart player may identify the target. The target panel is a plane for being used by metal dart needle, and the score can be displayed properly. The target unit is constructed by a sisal block and a frame box. On the bottom side of the frame box, there are a plurality of protrusions opposite to the switches formed on an electric circuit panel, when the needle of a dart stabs into a target unit, the momentum of dart would press the dart, and then the protrusions on the frame box press the touch switches formed on the electric circuit panel, the electric circuit then operates to show the scores on the displayers. A damping net is installed at the front end of the displaying panel; when the metal dart head impinges into the target, by the damping of the damping net, the displaying panel will not be harmed.

In the prior art, the conventional dart has a metal tip, and the target body is made of a sisal block without a function of displaying score.
FIGS. 1A and 1B shows another prior art dart toy which is primarily formed by target body 21. The target body 21 includes a plurality of targets 201, 202, 203, . . . , with holes therein, a dart frame 23. The targets 201, 202, 203, . . . are located in an object frame 20. On the target body 21, a score display 24 and a plurality of buttons are installed. When the tip of the dart 25 inserts into the holes 201A, 201B, . . . of the targets, it will touch switch 26 in the target 26 so that the switch is closed. Then a signal will pass through the wire 27 to a processing circuit. Then, the signal is connected to a score display 24 for displaying the score.
However some defects is existed in this prior art design.
1. In order that as the tip of the dart inserts into the targets, it will not destroy the switch, and is fixed therein, the tip of the dart needle generally must be made of nylon. However, such material is easily broken or bent so as not to be sustained in equilibrium as a large force is applied on the dart.
2. A plurality of holes must be formed on the target, the cost is high.

Dart target with a function of displaying scores

No. 20-4, Alley 1, Lane 217, Sec. 3, Chung-Hsiao E. Rd.


There is provided a shape memory ceramic structure including an aggregate population of crystalline particles. Each crystalline particle in the population, of crystalline particles comprises a shape memory ceramic particle material. Each crystalline particle in the population of crystalline particles has a crystalline particle extent that is between about 0.5 microns and about fifty microns. At least a portion of the population of crystalline particles has a crystalline structure that is either oligocrystalline or monocrystalline.

This invention relates generally to shape memory materials, and more particularly relates to ceramic shape memory materials.
Ceramic shape memory materials, or shape memory ceramics (SMC) are ceramic compounds that can change their shape by application of a load to the ceramic material, and that can subsequently return to their original shape by either heating or unloading of the ceramic material. The so-called shape memory effect refers to a cycle of load application and heating for cyclic shape change, while the characteristic of superelasticity refers to the cycle of loading and unloading for cyclic shape change. The physical mechanism underlying both of these cyclic Shape changes is related to a thermoelastic martensitic transformation between two crystallographic phases. The most widely employed shape memory materials are metals, and in particular metal alloys. Shape memory alloys (SMAs) are well-known for their ability to transform between the martensitic and austenitic crystallographic phases. But conventional SMA structures are characterized by relatively low transformation stresses and correspondingly low energy dissipation capabilities. In contrast, some ceramic shape memory materials have been shown to be capable of exhibiting reversible martensitic transformation with high stresses, offering the prospect of improved energy dissipation over that of conventional SMAs and the ability to particularly address applications in, e.g., actuation, energy harvesting, and mechanical energy damping.
For example, the family of zirconia-based shape memory ceramics has been well-studied for applications in sensing, actuation, and mechanical energy damping. Zirconia exhibits a reversible thermoelastic transformation between a high-temperature tetragonal phase, referred to as austenite, and a low-temperature monoclinic phase, referred to as martensite, with associated shear strains of up to 15%. This strain can be fully recovered by release of an applied stress that induced the strain, to cause a reverse martensitic transformation, as a result of the superelastic capability of zirconia.
It is found that for many shape memory ceramics like zirconia, the martensitic transformation and its associated shape change generally leads to substantial internal stresses. As a result, many shape memory ceramics, which are in general brittle materials, have a tendency to fracture or crack during martensitic transformation. For example, at strains of only about 1%-2%, cracking occurs in polycrystalline zirconia after only a few transformation cycles. This cracking originates from the large mismatch stress that accumulates in neighboring crystalline grains, which have differing crystal orientations, during a martensitic transformation. Thus, although ceramic materials can in principle exhibit superior shape memory and superelastic properties with useful transformation shape recovery, such was not in general historically achievable due to the inherent brittle nature of such ceramic materials.
It has been proposed to mitigate the condition of shape memory ceramic material cracking by employing small-volume ceramic structures that include only a few crystalline grains within. Such a ceramic structure has a large free surface area and little grain boundaries. This enables relaxation of transformation stress in the structure and hence minimization of the formation of inter-granular fractures during martensitic transformation, leading to a robust shape memory ceramic structure capable of many superelastic cycles with large strains. The combination of high strength, large recoverable strain, large energy damping, and light weight that such structures exhibit are interesting for many challenging applications, particularly in energy damping and absorption.
But such ceramic structures generally are not in a geometric form that can be employed in many engineering applications, particularly large-scale engineering applications. Further, the production of such micro-scale ceramic structures is not in general amenable to large-volume production methods. As a result, the challenge of successful integration of shape memory ceramic materials into many energy-damping systems remains unmet.

Shape memory ceramic particles and structures formed thereof


Bakery compositions and baked goods which have taste and organoleptic properties equal to or superior to the same types of products prepared in accordance with traditional, full fat formulations, have substantially reduced fat contents. One or both of a dough formulation and a roll-in spread positioned between layers of the rolled dough formulation have substantially reduced fat contents. A fat substitute which is substantially fat free or contains only very low levels of fat is incorporated into either or both of the dough formulation and of the roll-in formulation.

This invention relates to reduced fat baking products, more particularly to a reduced fat roll-in-shortening spread, a combined dough and roll-in-spread composition which exhibits a reduced fat content, reduced fat doughs such as sweet dough compositions, and baked products made therefrom. A fat substitute is included within the roll-in spread composition according to the invention, and the total amount of shortening typically included within these types of products is reduced substantially. Shortening can be completely eliminated from the dough formulation which makes up the dough component of the combined dough and roll-in spread composition, which combined product has reduced fat roll-in shortening spread generally between layers of the dough.
Composite laminated doughs are known to be prepared by wrapping a fat such as butter or margarine in a rolled dough to thereby form a dough/fat/dough structure and folding it in such a manner as to form a multi-layered structure. When baked in an oven, the laminated dough having the alternate structure of dough and fat layers produces a confectionery product having a laminated or flaked structure. Exemplary confectionery products in this regard include sweet rolls, croissants and the like.
One of the characteristics of these types of products is that they exhibit puffing properties or a "pop" when baked such that there is a separation between the dough layers. These products are characterized by their puffed-up appearance and delicate eating attributes. Often these doughs also include leavening components such as yeast and baking powder. Over the years, it has come to be appreciated that the fat component is important in achieving excellent "pop" and eating characteristics. Properties such as excellent extensibility and viscoelasticity are types of properties of the fat or shortening which are believed to be important to achieving these desirable characteristics of these types of baked products. Often, these shortenings or fats are butter or in the nature of margarines, which by definition have an oil content of at least 80 percent by weight.
Typically, these roll-in products have numerous layers, for example from 50 to 250 or more layers of dough and roll-in shortening spread which help to give these products their distinctive attributes that provide the perception of a light and flaky and carefully prepared product. Although these types of products are desirable from an organoleptic perspective, particularly in view of their delicate consistency and attractive taste, they may not meet the criteria of individuals who, by choice or by dietary restrictions, wish to limit the intake of fat or shortening. Often, typical sweet dough roll-in-shortening products have a fat content of on the order of approximately 25 to 35 weight percent.
Attempts have been made to provide products utilizing the multi-layered roll-in spread concept modified to eliminate or substantially eliminate any fat, shortening, butter or margarine component. It has now been found that these types of attempts are not satisfactory, primarily because the product is too stiff to be suitable for use in these types of multi-layered products. When it is possible to prepare fat-free or substantially fat-free roll-in baked goods, they do not exhibit the eating qualities important to these goods.
Other approaches which have met with some success, typically for goods less delicate than these types of roll-in goods, have substituted traditional high fat content fats, shortenings, butter or margarines with non-fat substitutes such as gums, agar, carrageenan and the like with water. The result is a product not suitable in eating quality for a roll-in baked good because these types of formulations use water tied up in gums or the like to give an impression of fattiness without necessarily replicating organoleptic qualities.
In accordance with the present invention, roll-in-bake products are provided which contain a minimum of 30 percent to 40 percent less fat, while still exhibiting the exceptional flakiness and desirable eating quality which are characteristic of high fat roll-in baked products. The reduced fat roll-in shortening spread according to the invention includes a relatively low amount of a fat substitute, a substantially reduced amount of fat, as well as water and emulsifiers. The reduced fat roll-in spread is combined with a dough formulation by being positioned between layers of the dough. Upon baking of this combined composition, a product such as a Danish-style sweet roll or a croissant is provided.
It is a general object of the present invention to provide an improved roll-in-shortening spread which is substantially reduced in fat content.
Another object of the present invention is to provide improved reduced fat roll-in bakery compositions and baked goods which incorporate a non-fat fat substitute.
Another object of this invention is to provide improved baked goods containing a minimum of 30% to 40% less fat than traditional baked goods while maintaining desired flakiness and eating quality.
Another object of the present invention is to provide improved reduced fat baked goods, dough and/or roll-in compositions that exhibit a better "pop" when baked and provide greater separation between layers to imbue the baked goods with an excellent flaky consistency.
Another object of the present invention is to provide reduced fat baked products and bakery compositions which incorporate low-to-moderate levels of fat substitutes such as Simplesse (registered trademark) in combination with reduced levels of fat, shortening or margarine.
Another object of this invention is to provide an improved reduced fat roll-in shortening spread which, when used in baking multi-layered sweet dough bakery products provides a product which is of improved eating quality and extends the length of time that the baked product remains moist, resulting in a product which tends to be perceived as being fresh for a longer time.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved reduced fat roll-in shortening spread wherein a significant proportion of the fat is replaced by a combination of water, an emulsifier system and a non-fat fat substitute.
Another object of this invention is to provide roll-in baking formulations wherein shortening is totally replaced in the dough phase with a fat substitute, which can be added successfully to either the dough phase or the roll-in spread containing reduced levels of shortening.
Another object of this invention is to form a reduced-fat roll-in dough and spread which has excellent extensibility and viscoelasticity suitable for rolling and folding by rolling pins and reverse sheeter machines.
These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be clearly understood through a consideration of the following detailed description.

Reduced fat roll-in baking compositions and baked goods


A method for driving a liquid crystal display device is provided. The device includes a plurality of row electrodes to which a scanning signal is applied: a plurality of column electrodes disposed so as to cross the plurality of row electrodes, to which a display data signal is applied; and a liquid crystal layer interposed between one of the plurality of row electrodes and one of the plurality of column electrodes, for performing a display at a crossing portion of one of the plurality of row electrodes and one of the plurality of column electrodes in response to an effective value of a voltage applied across one of the plurality of row electrodes and one of the plurality of column electrodes, wherein gray-scale display data consisting of a plurality of bits is received, and a voltage of a display data signal selected per bit by a scanning signal is applied during a period in which weights are assigned to bits during one horizontal scanning period and a voltage applying timing is made different at at least one column electrode, whereby a gray-scale display is realized.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a matrix-type super twisted nematic (STN) liquid crystal display device used for various office automation (OA) equipment such as a personal computer and/or a word processor, a multi-media information terminal, audio video (AV) equipment, game equipment, etc., and a method for driving the same. More specifically, the present invention relates to a liquid crystal display device in which an improved uniform display quality can be obtained, and a method for driving the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the above-mentioned STN liquid crystal display device, higher response is known to decrease contrast. Hereinafter, the reason for this and proposed techniques for solving this problem will be described.
In the past, in an STN liquid crystal display device, a line sequential driving system has been adopted. According to this driving system, row electrodes are successively scanned one at a time over one frame period, high scanning pulse is applied to each row electrode only once in one frame period, and in synchronization with this, a data voltage in accordance with display data of each pixel on a row electrode to be scanned is applied to column electrodes.
In a liquidcrystal display device adopting the above-mentioned driving system, a display of mainly a freeze-frame picture is intended. Therefore, such a liquid crystal display device uses liquid crystal with relatively low response. In this case, liquid crystal responds to an effective value of a voltage to be applied, and a practical contrast ratio is obtained. However, when it is attempted to realize high response of the liquid crystal by reducing the viscosity of the liquid crystal and making a liquid crystal layer thinner so as to create a display of a moving picture, according to the line sequential driving system, the liquid crystal responds to a driving waveform itself, without responding to an effective value of a voltage, and the transmittance noticeably fluctuates per frame. This phenomenon is called a frame response phenomenon, which causes a significant decrease in the contrast ratio.
In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the following driving system is proposed. According to this system, unlike the linear sequential driving system, a plurality of low scanning pulses are applied in one frame, thereby suppressing a frame response phenomenon to prevent the contrast ratio from decreasing. Such a driving system is called a multi-line simultaneous selection driving system, which is characterized in that a plurality of row electrodes are simultaneously scanned by using an orthogonal matrix. Hereinafter, its basic operation will be briefly described.
Input data is subjected to orthogonal transformation by using an orthogonal matrix, and a data voltage based on operational data is applied to a column electrode. In synchronization with this, a scanning voltage based on a column vector of the orthogonal matrix is simultaneously applied to row electrodes to be simultaneously selected. In this way, orthogonal transformation of image data is performed on a liquid crystal panel, and an input image can be reproduced. At this time, depending upon the number of row electrodes be simultaneously selected and the scanning order, the following three driving systems are proposed. The basic principle of each driving system is as described above.
The first driving system is an active addressing system in which all the row electrodes in one screen are simultaneously scanned. This system is disclosed in T. J. Scheffer, et al., SID ""92, Digest, p. 228, and Publication for Opposition No. 7-120147.
The second driving system is a sequence addressing system in which a plurality of row electrodes less than all the electrodes in one screen are classified into groups, and each group is sequentially scanned. This driving system enables the circuit size to be smaller, compared with the first driving system. This system is disclosed in T. N. Ruckmongathan et al., Japan Display ""92, Digest, p. 65 and Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 5-46127.
According to the third driving system, one screen is divided into a plurality of blocks in a row direction, and a plurality of row electrodes less than all the electrodes in each block are classified into groups, and each group is sequentially scanned, whereby all the blocks driven (Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 6-291848). This driving system can reduce memory space, and enables the circuit size to be smaller, compared with the second driving system.
As described above, by adopting a multi-line simultaneous selection driving system in a high-response simple matrix-type liquid crystal display device, the frame response phenomenon is suppressed, and a decrease in the contrast ratio can be prevented.
Furthermore, as a gray-scale system of an STN liquid crystal display device, a pulse width modulation system (PWM system) is known, in which an operation between display data and an orthogonal function is performed per bit, and a data signal voltage with a width corresponding to a weight per bit is applied to a column electrode. This is disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 990914.
However, in the conventional pulse width modulation system, the number of signal changes per horizontal scanning period becomes larger than the case where a gray-scale display is not realized. This increases the frequency of a data voltage signal, so that the amount of induced distortion caused by electrode resistance and liquid crystal capacitance becomes large. As a result, an effective voltage value slightly different from the fundamental effective voltage value is applied to liquid crystal, which leads to a decrease in display quality due to, for example, cross-talk. This will be described with reference to the drawings.
As shown in FIG. 8, a display state of pixels is determined on a liquid crystal panel including 6 pixels in the vertical (row) direction and 2 pixels in the horizontal (column) direction. Each of column electrodes X1 and X2 and row electrodes Y1 to Y6 is determined as shown in this figure. FIG. 9 shows driving waveforms C1C and C2C of the column electrodes X1 and X2 and a driving waveform R1C of the row electrode Y1 in the case where the liquid crystal panel in this state is driven in the conventional manner.
As is understood from FIG. 9, according to the conventional driving system, display data on the column electrode X1 is exactly the same as that on the column electrode X2, so that a data signal represented by the waveform C1C applied to the column electrode X1 becomes exactly the same as a data signal represented by the waveform C2C applied to the column electrode X2. Thus, timing of changes in waveforms and the change directions are exactly the same between the two signals. Therefore, waveform distortion of a scanning voltage represented by the waveform R1C induced by a data voltage becomes relatively large as shown in FIG. 9. Accordingly, a waveform of a voltage actually applied to liquid crystal is largely shifted from an ideal waveform without containing any waveform distortion, and an effective voltage value becomes substantially different from an ideal value.
Thus, considering the case where hundreds of column electrodes are provided, the variation in difference between the effective voltage value and the ideal value becomes large per column electrode according to the conventional driving method, which leads to a decrease in display quality due to, for example, cross-talk.
A method for driving a liquid crystal display device is provided. The device includes a plurality of row electrodes to which a scanning signal is applied; a plurality of column electrodes disposed so as to cross the plurality of row electrodes, to which a display data signal is applied; and a liquid crystal layer interposed between one of the plurality of row electrodes and one of the plurality of column electrodes, for performing a display at a crossing portion of one of the plurality of row electrodes and one of the plurality of column electrodes in response to an effective value of a voltage applied across one of the plurality of row electrodes and one of the plurality of column electrodes, wherein gray-scale display data consisting of a plurality of bits is received, and a voltage of a display data signal selected per bit by a scanning signal is applied during a period in which weights are assigned to bits during one horizontal scanning period and a voltage applying timing is made different at at least one column electrode, whereby a gray-scale display is realized.
In one embodiment of the present invention, timing of applying a voltage of a display data signal during a period in which weights are assigned to bits during the one horizontal scanning period, and a voltage applying timing is made different at at least one column electrode is adjusted, and a direction of a waveform change of a first display data signal applied to at least one first column electrode at a first timing is opposite to a direction of a waveform change of a second display data signal applied to at least one second column electrode to which a display data signal is applied at a second timing.
In another embodiment of the present invention, timing of applying a voltage of a display data signal during a period in which weights are assigned to bits in the one horizontal scanning period, and timing at which a voltage is applied is made different at at least one column electrode is adjusted, in such a manner that the voltage applying periods of adjacent horizontal scanning periods are connected.
In another embodiment of the present invention, timing of applying a voltage of a display data signal during a period in which weights are assigned to bits in the one horizontal scanning period, and timing at which a voltage is applied is made different at at least one column electrode is adjusted, in such a manner that the voltage applying periods of adjacent horizontal scanning periods are connected.
A liquid crystal display device of the present invention includes a plurality of row electrodes to which a scanning signal is applied; a plurality of column electrodes disposed so as to cross the plurality of row electrodes, to which a display data signal is applied; and a liquid crystal layer interposed between one of the plurality of row electrodes and one of the plurality of column electrodes, for performing a display at a crossing portion of one of the plurality of row electrodes and one of the plurality of column electrodes in response to an effective value of a voltage applied across one of the plurality of row electrodes and one of the plurality of column electrodes. The device further includes: a pulse control portion for receiving gray-scale display data consisting of a plurality of bits, and determining timing at which a voltage of a display data signal selected per bit by a scanning signal by assigning weights to bits in one horizontal scanning period; and a column driver for applying the voltage of the display data signal to at least one column electrode, based on the timing selected by the pulse width control portion.
Hereinafter, the function of the present invention will be described.
According to the present invention, gray-scale display data consisting of a plurality of bits is received, and a display data signal selected per bit by a scanning signal is applied only during a period in which weights are assigned to bits in one horizontal scanning period, and the timing of applying a voltage is made different at each of the column electrodes or at at least one of the column electrodes. Therefore, as represented by (b) in FIG. 10, even under the condition of the same gray-scale display data and the same scanning signal, waveforms C1K and C2K of display data signals on different column electrodes change at different times during the same horizontal scanning period. Thus, a degree (amplitude) of distortion of a waveform R1K of a scanning signal induced by the display data signals can be suppressed.
Furthermore, timing of applying a display data signal only during a period in which weights are assigned to bits during one horizontal scanning period and timing of applying a signal is made different per column electrode is adjusted. As represented by (c) in FIG. 10, one column electrode to which a display data signal C and another column electrode to which a display data signal C2L is applied are set so as to have opposite directions of waveform change. Thus, when a pulse of one column electrode falls, a pulse of another column electrode rises. Since timing of waveform change and direction of change are different between these two column electrodes, waveform distortion of a scanning signal induced by a data display signal is relatively small and dispersed in terms of time. As a result, a shift of a waveform of a voltage actually applied to liquid crystal from an ideal waveform without any waveform distortion becomes relatively small, and the difference between the effective voltage value and the ideal value does not become so large.
As represented by (c) in FIG. 10, timing of applying a display data signal is made opposite between two column electrodes. However, the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, directions of waveform change may be made opposite between at least two column electrodes to which a display data signal is applied at an identical timing and at least two column electrodes at which a display data signal is applied at another identical timing. Furthermore, the present invention is similarly applicable between one column electrode and a plurality of column electrodes. Furthermore, column electrodes to which a display data signal is applied at an identical timing or at another identical timing may be adjacent to each other or separately disposed. Furthermore, even in the case where a plurality of electrodes are supplied with a display data signal at an identical timing and a plurality of electrodes are supplied with a display data signal at another identical timing, respective column electrodes in each column electrode group may be separately disposed.
Furthermore, when the timing of applying a display data signal only during a period in which weights are assigned to bits during one horizontal scanning period, and-the timing of applying a signal is made different per column electrode is adjusted in such a manner that the signal applying periods of adjacent horizontal scanning periods are connected (see (d) in FIG. 10), a cycle of waveform change becomes long. Therefore, the number of times waveform distortion of a scanning signal is induced by a data display signal is reduced. As a result, a shift of a waveform of a voltage actually applied to liquid crystal from an ideal waveform without any waveform distortion becomes relatively small, and the difference between the effective voltage value and the ideal value does not become so large. Furthermore, according to this method, a waveform blunting of a data display signal itself is reduced, and a voltage of a data display signal becomes closer to an ideal value, compared with the conventional method.
Furthermore, by combining the relationship represented by (c) in FIG. 10 and the relationship represented by (d) in FIG. 10, as represented by (e) in FIG. 10, the number of times waveform distortion of a scanning signal occurs can be reduced, compared with the case of using the relationship represented by (b) in FIG. 10.
Thus, the invention described herein makes possible the advantage of (1) providing a liquid crystal display device in which cross-talk can be decreased; and (2) proving a method for driving the liquid crystal display device.
These and other advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the following detailed description with reference to the accompanying figures.

Liquid crystal display device and method for driving the same


A network security system having a hierarchical configuration is provided. In one embodiment the present invention includes a plurality of subsystems, where each subsystem includes a plurality of distributed software agents configured to collect security events from monitor devices, and a local manager module coupled to the plurality of distributed software agents to generate correlated events by correlating the security events. Each of the subsystems can report the correlated events to a global manager module coupled to the plurality of subsystems, and the global manager module can correlate the correlated events from each manager module.

Computer networks and systems have become indispensable tools for modern business. Today terabits of information on virtually every subject imaginable are stored in and accessed across such networks by users throughout the world. Much of this information is, to some degree, confidential and its protection is required. Not surprisingly then, various network security monitor devices have been developed to help uncover attempts by unauthorized persons and/or devices to gain access to computer networks and the information stored therein.
Network security products largely include Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS's), which can be Network or Host based (NIDS and HIDS respectively). Other network security products include firewalls, router logs, and various other event reporting devices. Due to the size of their networks, many enterprises deploy hundreds, or thousands of these products thoughts their networks. Thus, network security personnel are bombarded alarms representing possible security threats. Most enterprises do not have the resources or the qualified personnel to individually attend to all of the received alarms.
Furthermore, many large organizations deploy these devices locally at each of their sites to distribute computational resources and to limit bandwidth use. Since security events generally concern local attacks, such division is generally helpful. However, localizing network security can have disadvantages, since not all available and relevant information is used during the threat analysis and decision making.

Hierarchical architecture in a network security system


Systems and methods for identifying a location illuminated by an onboard searchlight on a vehicle are presented. A location of interest is illuminated at an illuminated location illuminated by the onboard searchlight, and a vehicle position of the vehicle and the onboard searchlight is determined. A vehicle orientation of the vehicle is determined based on a pitch, roll, and yaw of the vehicle, and an azimuth and an elevation of the onboard searchlight light is recorded to provide a recorded azimuth and elevation data. A pointing coordinate for the onboard searchlight illuminating the illuminated location is computed based on the vehicle orientation, the vehicle position, and the recorded azimuth and the elevation data, and the illuminated location is calculated based on the pointing coordinate.

During normal night time operation of a searchlight on a helicopter, an operator/pilot may not be familiar with a street address of areas he/she is flying over. Even with a Global Positioning System (GPS), an exact location of interest may be unclear. Crude use of moving map technologies and GPS allow pilots to have some knowledge of specific locations, but generally only those directly under them. Pilots may not be allowed to hover directly over a target location, so the moving map technologies may not be sufficiently accurate.


A process of developing a photoresist by contacting the photoresist with a developer is improved by subjecting the photoresist to heat prior to completion of the development process.

Rapid advances have been made in improving the resolution and depth of focus of images formed using photolithographic processes in recent years. These developments have been particularly useful in forming images on wafer type substrates as are used in the fabrication of integrated circuits.
There are several major steps which are common to all integrated circuit imaging processes used to replicate integrated circuit pattern geometries on the wafer surfaces. First the substrate, preferably a wafer, is coated with a photoresist which is usually composed of a phenolic resin known as a Novolak, and a photoactive compound or PAC which makes the resist sensitive to a particular exposure energy such as light, e-beams and X-rays. A photoresist composition, the photoresist and a solvent which dissolves the other components, is dispensed onto the surface of the substrate and is formed into a uniform thin layer of resist across the surface of the substrate, preferably by spinning Thereafter the coated substrate is preferably heated for a short period of time at a low temperature to remove the solvent, a process generally called soft baking. This baking is frequently carried out at a temperature in the neighborhood of 90.degree. C. Thereafter a suitable mask representing the image to be formed in the resist is arranged on or in connection with the coated substrate. The image on the mask is transmitted into the resist by exposure to a suitable source of energy such as light, X-rays or e-beams, depending on the resist used. For example, a chrome relief replica of the desired image can be used which is illuminated by exposing radiation and pattern transfer can be accomplished by contact between the mask and the substrate, proximity printing or projection printing.
The minimum width of the lines and spaces formed in the photoresist determine the resolution. This is influenced by, among other things, the wavelength of the exposing energy. The most commonly used lines of the mercury spectrum are the g-line (436 nm), h-line (405 nm) and i-line (365 nm). Generally, the use of shorter wavelengths results in better resolution and for a given resolution, in a greater depth of focus
In some techniques, the formation of standing waves within the resist is prevented by using a supplemental bake following the exposure to energy and prior to development. This so-called post exposure bake (PEB) is usually carried out at temperatures between 100.degree. and 120.degree. C.
Common to all processes is that the exposed resist is developed in an alkaline solution called a developer which results in the removal of selected, predetermined, areas of the resist Depending on the system and mask employed, the image on the resist can be positive or negative.
The verticality of the developed resist profile impacts the minimum resolution available, that is, the minimum feature sizes which can be delineated. Any scattered light, for instance light scattered within the resist film, results in unwanted erosion from the resist profile during development since those partially exposed areas are slightly attacked by the developer solution. This results in a degradation of the minimum resolution which can be achieved.
A number of techniques have been developed in the prior art to reduce this effect The most successful reported to date are known as the HARD and LENOS processes. Endo et. al., "High Aspect-Ratio Resist Pattern Fabrication by Alkaline Surface Treatment", Digest of Papers 1st MicroProcess Conference, Tokyo, page 164 (1988); Ogawa et. al., "LENOS: Latitude Enhancement Novel Single Layer Lithography", Digest of Papers 1st MicroProcess Conference, Tokyo, page 162 (1988). Both of these processes involve soaking the spun resist film in developer solution prior to exposure, whereupon trace quantities of the base are permitted to become absorbed into the surface. The application of baking cycles follow this treatment and are believe to catalytically enhance a crosslinking reaction between the binder resin and the unexposed photoactive component. As a consequence, an increased degree of surface inhibition is observed at the very top of the developing resist profile, which serves to improve the final profile. However, a disadvantage of these techniques is that the rather extended baking temperatures and times are needed, while only the top of the profile is improved, which is not surprising as the presence of the diffused developer is confined very much to the uppermost layer of the resist.
Moreau et. al., "Contrast and Sensitivity Enhancement of Resists for High Resolution", J. Vac. Sci. Technol B, Vol. 6, 2238, Nov/Dec 1988 have reported a slight improvement in resist profiles when an interrupted development cycle was carried out. Under these conditions, the wafer is rinsed and spun dry midway through development, as opposed to simply continuing with the second development cycle as in a conventional double puddle process. It has also been reported that this technique has been used with multiple interrupted development cycles, with further improvement. However this technique is not universally employable as it is not effective with some resists, most notably those such as KTi 895i where the resin is bound to the photoactive compound
There is therefore still a need for a process of general applicability where the time penalty is not as great. It is accordingly the object of this invention to provide such an improved process and to provide improved resist images resulting therefrom.

Interrupted developing process for a photoresist image

Interuniversitair Micro-Elektronica Centrum VZW


A field-effect transistor (a GaN-based HFET) includes a gate electrode, a gate electrode pad, a first wiring line connecting one end of the gate electrode and the gate electrode pad, a second wiring line connecting the other end of the gate electrode and the gate electrode pad, and a resistance element that is connected to the first wiring line and is capable of adjusting the impedance of the first wiring line.

In the past, as a GaN-based field-effect transistor, there has been a GaN-based field-effect transistor described in PTL 1 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2010-186925). As depicted in FIG. 5, this field-effect transistor includes drain electrodes 51, source electrodes 52, gate electrodes 53, a gate electrode pad 54, a gate wiring line 55, and a resistance element 56. A plurality of gate electrodes 53 are provided like fingers, and the gate wiring line 55 connected to one end side of each gate electrode 53 is connected to the gate electrode pad 54 via the resistance element 56. Then, when the field-effect transistor is used as a switching device, the resistance element 56 suppresses the occurrence of ringing and a surge voltage.
Moreover, in the past, as a field-effect transistor, there has been a field-effect transistor described in PTL 2 (Japanese Examined Patent Application Publication No. 6-87505). As depicted in FIG. 6, this field-effect transistor includes a plurality of gate electrodes 61 formed like fingers, a gate lead-out electrode portion 62 connected to one end side of each gate electrode 61, and a gate electrode pad 63 connected to the gate lead-out electrode portion 62. Into a side of each gate electrode 61 where the gate lead-out electrode portion 62 is located, a stabilizing resistance 64 is inserted. This stabilizing resistance 64 achieves a uniform operation of the field-effect transistor.


A catalytic converter includes a casing connected to the output from an exhaust gas and residue manifold of an engine, in particular an engine of a motor vehicle. The casing contains arrangements for oxidizing the exhaust gases and residues and for trapping the oxidized gases and residues. A central part of the casing houses cooling arrangements for reducing the temperature of the gases and residues upstream of the trapping arrangements below a predetermined threshold.

The polluting exhaust gases and residues are in particular nitrogen monoxide and hydrocarbons that have not been burned in the combustion chamber of the engine.
In prior art catalytic converters the catalyst means require high operating temperatures to operate with good efficiency. The temperature of the exhaust gases and residues is totally appropriate to this. However, the trap means, which are immediately downstream of the catalyst means, are not good at withstanding the high temperatures of the gases and residues, especially when "heavily loaded", for example on a freeway. As a result the efficiency of the trap means is less than optimal if the temperature rises too high and tends to fall rapidly because the materials from which they are made deteriorate.
Also, the trap means have optimal efficiency over a relatively narrow range of temperatures that rarely includes the temperature of the exhaust gases and residues.

Controlled temperature catalytic converter, in particular for a motor vehicle


A system for identifying and associating merchant attributes data of a merchant with transaction data may be integrated with existing payment processing systems to provide for detailed merchant attributes data (e.g., merchant name, merchant ownership data, and merchant address data). The system may receive and modify merchant attributes data retrieved from an external source (e.g., an acquirer computer or third party to a transaction) and store the merchant attributes data in a database. The merchant attributes data may be retrieved and correlated with transaction data and provided to entities (e.g., issuer computers) involved with the transaction for authorization decisioning, fraud analysis, and data analytics.

Transactions typically involve multiple parties, including a user (e.g., consumer), a merchant, an acquirer bank, and an issuer bank. While each user (e.g., a consumer), acquirer bank, and issuer bank may have a unique identifier (e.g., an account number, a bank identification number [BIN]) that may be consistently used, merchants typically do not have a single defined or unique identifier.
For example, a merchant may be identified by a merchant category code (MCC), a merchant name (e.g., "Big Box Store"), a merchant location (e.g., "Big Box Store—San Francisco", "Big Box Store Location #1293"), or a specific location within the merchant location (e.g., "Electronics Counter—Big Box Store Location #1293"). Increasing the difficulty is that in some cases, a merchant name and merchant location (e.g., city, state, zip code) may be free form text fields. The result may be that the merchant name for a single merchant may be different for different entities and systems.
FIG. 2 illustrates the current problem with how different entities and systems may use different designations for a merchant name associated with the same merchant location. Each row represents a merchant name associated with a single transaction, where each column is a different system (e.g., acquirer, issuer, payment processing network). The Raw Merchant Name 202 column illustrates the raw merchant name that may be in the transaction data (e.g., from an acquirer computer). Columns 204, 206, 208, 210, and 212 illustrate how the raw merchant name received in the transaction data may be translated/interpreted by a plurality of different systems.
The problem illustrated in FIG. 2 can make it difficult to accurately correlate related transactions and provide comprehensive analytics for a merchant. Even determining how many transactions were processed for a merchant may be difficult to ascertain because the merchant name data may not be consistent across a plurality of systems. In some situations, even internally, a system (e.g., System 3 208 in FIG. 2) may have different naming conventions for the same overall merchant (e.g., Big Box). For example, if you queried System 2 206 to determine how many transactions involved merchant "Big Box", it may not present the first and third transactions in FIG. 2, while if you sent the same query to System 5 212, all three transactions in FIG. 2 may be presented.
Even where merchant data is consistent, it may be able to provide limited value. For example, presently, merchant location data associated with a transaction is often limited to a zip code for the merchant location, which may provide only limited location information. While in some areas, zip codes may cover a relatively small and defined area (e.g., zip code 11109 covers 0.01 square miles), while other zip codes may cover a large region (e.g., zip code 89049 covers 1740 square miles). In the latter situation, the merchant zip code may not provide significantly valuable location information.
Embodiments of the invention address the above problems, and other problems, individually and collectively.

Enhanced merchant identification using transaction data


A fail-safe system for the detection of water leaks, and for the prevention of damage therefrom. In a home or building which includes a hot-water tank and a water tank for a toilet, e.g., the damage-prevention system comprises valves for shutting off the supply of water to the tanks, and other valves for draining the tanks through discharge lines to the outside of the home or building. At the same time, power to the hot-water tank is shut off. A fail-safe water detector comprises a float with a metal cap, a first pair of electrical probes below the float, and a second pair of electrical probes above the metal cap and separated from the cap by an air gap. A circuit is closed in any of three ways: (1) when water contacts the first pair of probes, (2) when water raises the float and makes contact between the metal cap and the second pair of probes, and (3) when water contacts the second pair of probes.

The present invention relates to the prevention of damage to homes or buildings from water leakage. More particularly, the invention relates to the fail-safe detection and prevention of such damage by independent and iterative means.
The prior art provides a number of systems for the prevention of water damage to the interior of homes and buildings. None of the prior art, however, alone or in combination, provides for (a) drainage of a leaking water tank to the external environment in response to the detection of a water leak from the tank, and (b) iterative and independent means for the detection of the leak. These needs are met and these problems solved by the apparatus and method of the present invention.
If water contained in a leaking tank is not drained to the outside of the building or home, substantial water damage may result even if and when the leak has been stopped by shutting off the supply of water to the tank.
If only one unitary sensor is available for leak detection, the sensor may fail and the leak continue unabated. If only one sensor is available for one tank, and if a second tank springs a leak, the water damage from the second leaking tank could result in considerable water damage. The use of a single sensor for both tanks would not solve this problem, since each tank would require its own sensor in order not to have both tanks emptied in response to a leak from only one of the tanks.

Fail-safe leak detector including independent and repetetive sensing means


The present disclosure relates to obtaining AP information or information on a channel where the AP is positioned from a neighboring mobile terminal that has recently performed AP scanning and re-attempting to scan based on the obtained information. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a method for scanning an access point (AP) in a wireless local area network (LAN) system comprises performing first WLAN scanning by a first mobile terminal, transmitting a request for WLAN AP information to a second mobile terminal that has previously performed WLAN AP scanning, receiving the WLAN AP information from the second mobile terminal, and performing second WLAN scanning based on the WLAN AP information.

In order to meet the demand for wireless data traffic soaring since the 4G communication system came to the market, there are ongoing efforts to develop enhanced 5G communication systems or pre-5G communication systems. For the reasons, the 5G communication system or pre-5G communication system is called the beyond 4G network communication system or post LTE system.
For higher data transmit rates, 5G communication systems are considered to be implemented on ultrahigh frequency bands (mmWave), such as, e.g., 60 GHz. To mitigate path loss on the ultrahigh frequency band and increase the reach of radio waves, the following techniques are taken into account for the 5G communication system: beamforming, massive multi-input multi-output (MIMO), full dimensional MIMO (FD-MIMO), array antenna, analog beamforming, and large scale antenna.
Also being developed are various technologies for the 5G communication system to have an enhanced network, such as evolved or advanced small cell, cloud radio access network (cloud RAN), ultra-dense network, device-to-device (D2D) communication, wireless backhaul, moving network, cooperative communication, coordinated multi-point (CoMP), and interference cancellation.
There are also other various schemes under development for the 5G system including, e.g., hybrid FSK and QAM modulation (FQAM) and sliding window superposition coding (SWSC), which are advanced coding modulation (ACM) schemes, and filter bank multi-carrier (FBMC), non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) and sparse code multiple access (SCMA), which are advanced access schemes.
Meanwhile, a diversity of radio communication techniques is in development by the growing information communication technology. Among others, the wireless local area network (WLAN) system enables wireless access to the Internet in a home, business, or an area offering a particular service through a personal digital assistant (PDA), a laptop computer, a portable multimedia player (PMP), or other portable terminals (hereinafter, referred to as a "WLAN terminal") based on radio frequency technology.
A mobile terminal equipped with a WLAN interface scans ambient accessible WLAN access points (APs) while the WLAN interface stays on.
The scanning comes in two ways.
The first method is passive scanning.
In the passive scanning method, an AP periodically broadcasts beacon frames to the mobile terminal. Passive scanning consumes much more time than active scanning does for hearing and thus passive scanning consumes ten times more power than active scanning. In the case of passive scanning, the AP normally has a beacon period of 100 ms.
The second method is active scanning.
In the active scanning method, when a mobile terminal sends a request, an AP responds to the request. For active scanning, about 10 ms is required to scan one channel.
Such time gap causes passive scanning to consume much more power than active scanning.
As such, the wireless scanning process takes a long time, and the scanning process results in increased power consumption.
The above information is presented as background information only to assist with an understanding of the present disclosure. No determination has been made, and no assertion is made, as to whether any of the above might be applicable as prior art with regard to the present disclosure.

Method and apparatus for scanning access point in wireless LAN system


An object detector including a detector, a setting device, a comparator and a display. The detector outputs a detected quantity based on a presence or absence of an object to be detected. The setting device sets a threshold, The comparator compares the detected quantity obtained by the detector with the threshold set by the setting device and outputs a detected result. The display numerically displays either the detected quantity obtained by the detector or the threshold set by the setting device.

The present invention relates to an object detector, an object detector system, a display device for object detectors, and a setting device for object detectors.
Object detectors such as photoelectric switches, proximity switches, ultrasonic switches have heretofore been used for detecting the presence or absence of a moving object along production lines in plants (or factories). For example, a photoelectric switch determines the presence or absence of an object by projecting light onto the conveying path of an object and detecting the presence or absence of reflected light or transmitted light from the object.
In a photoelectric switch of a transmitting type, in the case where there is no object to be detected in a sensing region, light emitted from the light-emitting section is received by the light-receiving section. In this case, when the level of light received is equal to or smaller than a predetermined threshold, it is judged that the object is present. On the other hand, in a photoelectric switch of a reflecting type, in the case where there is an object to be detected in the sensing region, light emitted from the emitting section is reflected by the object, and the reflected light is received by the light-receiving section. In this case, when the level of light received exceeds a predetermined threshold, it is judged that the object is present. The sensitivity of the photoelectric switch is adjusted by changing the aforementioned threshold (operative level).
The thus operating photoelectric switches may, in some cases, face the problem that the level of light received is reduced due to such causes as displaced optical axis, stained light-emitting or light-receiving surfaces, or deteriorated performance of the light-emitting element of the light-emitting section. In these cases, it is necessary to re-set the sensitivity by changing the threshold of the photoelectric switch.
To overcome this problem, photoelectric switches of an automatic sensitivity setting type which can set the sensitivity automatically are being developed. Automatic sensitivity setting photoelectric switches sample received light quantities by a control input from an external device and set a threshold based on groups of data obtained by causing a microcomputer or the like to calculate the sampled data.
In the aforementioned automatic sensitivity setting type photoelectric switch, a threshold is automatically set within the photoelectric switch so that the sensitivity of the photoelectric switch becomes proper. However, the operator is not informed of a set threshold, nor can he finely adjust the set threshold so as to match a measuring environment.
On the other hand, some conventional photoelectric switches display the level of light received by using a plurality of light-emitting diodes (LED). However, the operator is not informed of a correct quantity of light received, nor can he be informed of a currently set threshold. Thus, a margin of the quantity of light received with respect to the currently set threshold cannot be recognized. As a result, the operator cannot know the timing at which to re-set the sensitivity, either.
Moreover, in a photoelectric switch system having a plurality of photoelectric switches, a respective threshold must be set for each photoelectric switch. In an automatic sensitivity setting type photoelectric switch system in particular, each photoelectric switch has a threshold automatically set. In this case, the operator is not informed of a threshold set for each photoelectric switch, nor can he be informed of the level of light received of each photoelectric switch correctly, either. Further, he cannot make a fine adjustment of the threshold set for each photoelectric switch so as to match a measuring environment, either.
An object of the present invention is to provide an object detector system including an object detector that allows the operator to be informed of a set threshold or a detected quantity correctly.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an object detector system including an object detector that allows the operator to finely adjust a set threshold.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a display device for object detectors that can display the threshold or detected quantity of an object detector correctly.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a setting device for object detectors that can finely adjust the threshold of an object detector.

Object detector and object detector system


An architectural preset rotary and preset slide control device comprising an N-mode latch mechanically coupled to a switch having a pole and a plurality of receiving terminals. The device further comprises a variable control component that is electrically coupled to the switch such that when the latch is activated into one of the N modes, the switch pole is caused to be electrically coupled to one of the receiving terminals allowing electrical energy at the pole to be routed through the switch to one of the receiving terminals. The variable control component controls the amount of electrical energy that is routed through the switch. The device has a modular design in that the switch, latch, variable control component and other parts of the device are single piece parts that facilitate the assembly of the device during its manufacture.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to electromechanical rotary and slide control switches.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electromechanical switches for controlling electrical devices and/or systems such as lighting systems typically comprise many electrical components and mechanical components that are electrically and/or mechanically coupled to each other. Depending on the particular application, the systems and/or devices that are controlled by the switches often require multiple simultaneous application and control of electrical energy in the form of electrical current or voltage. The application of electrical energy is typically implemented with a switch that electrically connects or disconnects the electrical device or system to or from a source of electrical energy. The control of electrical energy is typically implemented with a variable control arrangement such as a variable potentiometer that selectively controls the amount of voltage or current that is supplied to the electrical devices and/or systems. The design of such switches is often complicated by the need to route electrical energy to devices or systems while at the same controlling the amount of energy being provided to these devices or systems. Consequently, these switches often have very awkward control and switching actuators that are difficult to manipulate by an operator. Further, the assembly of these switches during manufacture is also difficult because of the relatively small size of the switch electrical and mechanical components and the intricate interconnections that often exist between these various components.
What is therefore needed is a switch that can be manipulated to operate in one of a plurality of modes in a relatively simple fashion. What is further needed is a switch whose design renders its assembly during manufacturing relatively simple.

Architectural preset rotary and preset slide control and non-preset controls


An elongate switch construction including an elongate base and an elongate flexible working member having a concave inner face and disposed longitudinally of the base with its concavity facing toward the base, an elongate rib or tongue projecting internally of the working member into the hollow thereof toward and terminating short of the base, and a pair of elongate contacts respectively carried by the base and tongue in spaced relation with each other and displaceable into contacting engagement upon deflection of the working member.

As is well known to those versed in the art of door edge switches, and the like, a high degree of versatility and adaptability is required to enable a switch construction to be employed in many different environs, for example as a safety door edge in sensing the presence of an obstacle to door movement, as a safety machinery stop switch to prevent machinery operation with persons in dangerous positions, as in signalling switches for use in public vehicles, door treadles and the like. The lack of versatility and diversity in prior switch constructions has limited usage and increased costs by requiring many different custom made products. Examples of prior art which are known to applicant include U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,051,336; 3,986,577 and 3,118,984.


A lead has a thick part having a thickness of 0.2 mm and a thin part having a thickness of 0.1 mm. The thin part is formed having a greater width than the thick part for preventing the lead from slipping from a resin. A semiconductor chip is fixed on the thin part using a conductive adhesive. A lateral surface of the thick part and a lateral surface of the resin are simultaneously formed by a single cut so that the thick part's lateral surface is located at a lower end area of the resin's lateral surface and these surfaces are exposed forming the same plane. A bottom surface of the thick part projects by from 0.03 mm to 0.05 mm from the resin bottom surface to meet lead stand-off specifications. Thick parts of other leads electrically connected with electrodes on the semiconductor chip with Au wires, are likewise exposed at the resin lateral surface and project from the resin bottom surface. Such arrangements realize high density mounting of electronic components onto a printed board.

The present invention relates generally to electronic components of resin molded package type, and, more particularly, to electronic components suitable for surface mount technology.
Electronic components of the surface mount type are well known. FIG. 22 shows an external view of a conventional electronic component of the surface mount type which incorporates therein a semiconductor chip (an electronic element). Electronic component 70, shown in FIG. 22, has elongated, first to third leads 71-73. 74 is a resin having the form of a rectangular parallelepiped which encapsulates a semiconductor chip. Each lead 71-73 horizontally stretches out from opposite lateral surfaces of resin 74 and has an L-shaped bent. The bottom dimensions of resin 74 is 1.6 mm.times.0.8 mm, and each lead 71-73 projects from resin 74 for from 0.4 mm to 0.6 mm. To prevent poor soldering (i.e., defective soldering in which, when mounting electronic component 70 onto a printed board, a good bond is not produced at a junction between the printed board and each lead 71-73), it is required by lead stand-off specifications that the bottom surface of resin 74 floats 0 mm to 0.1 mm on the printed board surface.
FIG. 23 is a plan view of a conventional lead frame for use in the fabrication of electronic component 70. Lead frame 80 of FIG. 23 is formed of a rectangular metal plate that has a uniform thickness and comprises lead formation part 81 and exterior frame 82 for enclosing lead formation part 81. Bridge part 83 is provided which acts as a bridge to connect together opposite sides of exterior frame 82, and a plurality of sets of lead parts 71-73 extend from the opposite sides of exterior frame 82. These lead parts 71-73 are one-dimensionally placed at pitches ranging from 3.0 mm to 4.0 mm, running in the lengthwise direction of lead frame 80.
The fabrication of electronic component 70, that is, the assembly process thereof, comprises a die bonding process, a wire bonding process, a molding process, a deburring process, a lead finishing process, a trimming process, and a forming process. In the die bonding process, semiconductor chips are fixed on the corresponding leading ends of first lead parts 71 of lead frame 80 of FIG. 23 using a conductive adhesive. In the wire bonding process, two electrodes on each semiconductor chip are electrically connected with the leading ends of second and third lead parts 72 and 73 by fine wires of Au (gold). In the molding process, a mold assembly for transfer mold is used for integral encapsulation of the individual semiconductor chips, the Au wires, the leading ends of lead parts 71-73 with resin 74. In this molding process; a plurality of cavities, defined between an upper mold element and a lower mold element, are one-dimensionally arranged, running in the lengthwise direction of lead frame 80 and being isolated from one another. In other words, a resin is injected, from a common runner through respective gates, into each cavity. FIG. 24 shows lead frame 80 that has undergone a molding process. In the deburring process, burrs, formed by resin escaped from fine gaps defined between the mold assembly and the lead frame 80 onto lead parts 71-73, are removed. In the lead finishing process, lead parts 71-73 extending from each resin 74 are solderplated. Deburring is an indispensable process to smooth solderplating. In the trimming process, lead parts 71-73 are cut such that individual electronic components 70 are separated. In the forming process, bending is performed so that each lead part 71-73 has a bent, as shown in FIG. 22.
The above-described conventional electronic component 70 has elongated leads 71-73 which project from lateral surfaces of resin 74. Therefore, electronic component 70 occupies a considerably larger space in comparison with a semiconductor chip (an electronic element), therefore producing the problem that mounting density on a printed board cannot be increased much. Additionally, leads 71-73 which project from resin 74 are vulnerable, which may result in an unexpected change in the lead form at the time of mounting an electronic component 70 onto a printed board, thereby causing defective soldering.
The above-described fabrication method of electronic component 70 requires both a deburring process and a forming process. It is preferred that deburring is eliminated, since the deburring process produces no additional values to products. In the forming process, unexpected lead deformation and the cut of a lead may occur. Further, in the forming process, there are difficulties in always conforming to lead stand-off specifications and there has been the problem that yields tend to drop.
In the above-described lead frame 80, a plurality of sets of lead parts 71-73 are one-dimensionally arranged at a great pitch, therefore producing the problem that the number of electronic components 70 that a single lead frame 80 can yield is small. Metal material for forming lead frame 80 is used inefficiently.
In the above-described conventional mold assembly, a plurality of cavities, which are one-dimensionally arranged at a great pitch corresponding to lead frame 80, are defined between the upper mold element and the lower mold element, so that the number of electronic components 70 that a single molding process can yield is small, resulting in poor productivity.

Electronic component, method for making the same, and lead frame and mold assembly for use therein


The technology described herein relates to double-stranded ribonucleic acid (dsRNA) compositions targeting the Serpina1 gene, and methods of using such dsRNA compositions to inhibit expression of Serpina1.

Serpina1 (α-1 antitrypsin or AAT) is an inhibitor of neutrophil elastase produced by hepatocytes, mononuclear monocytes, alveolar macrophages, enterocytes, and myeloid cells. Individuals with mutations in one or both copies of the Serpina1 gene can suffer from alpha-1 anti-trypsin deficiency, which presents as a risk of developing pulmonary emphysema or chronic liver disease due to greater than normal elastase activity in the lungs and liver.
In affected individuals, the deficiency in alpha-1 antitrypsin is a deficiency of wildtype, functional alpha-1 antitrypsin. In some cases, the individual is producing significant quantities of alpha-1 antitrypsin, but a proportion of the alpha-1 antitrypsin protein being produced is misfolded or contains mutations that compromise the functioning of the protein. In some cases, the individual is producing misfolded proteins which cannot be properly transported from the site of synthesis to the site of action within the body. Liver disease resulting from alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency can be caused by such misfolded proteins. Mutant forms of alpha-1 antitypsin are produced in liver cells and in the misfolded configuration they are not readily transported out of the cells. This leads to a buildup of misfolded protein in the liver cells and can cause one or more diseases or disorders of the liver including, but not limited to, chronic liver disease, liver inflammation, cirrhosis, liver fibrosis, and/or hepatocellular carcinoma.
There are currently very limited options for the treatment of patients with liver disease arising from alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, including hepatitis vaccination, supportive care, avoidance of injurious agents (e.g. alcohol and NSAIDs). Replacement of alpha-1 antitrypsin has no impact liver disease in these patients but liver transplantation can be effective. Provided herein are methods for treating or preventing chronic liver disease due to Serpina1 deficiency using inhibitory RNAs (iRNAs).
Double-stranded RNA molecules (dsRNA) have been shown to block gene expression in a highly conserved regulatory mechanism known as RNA interference (RNAi). WO 99/32619 (Fire et al.) disclosed the use of a dsRNA of at least 25 nucleotides in length to inhibit the expression of genes in C. elegans. dsRNA has also been shown to degrade target RNA in other organisms, including plants (see, e.g., WO 99/53050, Waterhouse et al.; and WO 99/61631, Heifetz et al.), Drosophila (see, e.g., Yang, D., et al., Curr. Biol. (2000) 10:1191-1200), and mammals (see WO 00/44895, Limmer; and DE 101 00 586.5, Kreutzer et al.). This natural mechanism has now become the focus of a new class of pharmaceutical agents for treating disorders that are caused by the aberrant or unwanted regulation of a gene.

Serpina1 siRNAs: compositions of matter and methods of treatment


The present disclosure provides generally for system and method of authenticating a source of electronic communication. According to the present disclosure, authenticable communications may allow for authentication of a source of the electronic communication, which may limit potential damage caused by fraudulent communications. In some aspects, an authenticable communication may allow the recipient to confirm that the indicated source is the actual source of the authenticable communication. In some embodiments, the authentication may not require an exchange of encrypted communications or an exchange of communications solely within the same communication system. Authenticable communications may provide a separate layer of security that may allow a recipient to review the contents with confidence that the communication is not fraudulent. Further, authenticable communications may provide the additional security without requiring specialized software.

Forgery has perplexed and stymied human trust since writing and the use of paper became pervasive, particularly for financial transactions. One of the first prohibitions against forgery was when the Romans outlawed falsifying documents that transferred land to heirs. Over time the extent of forgery broadened to include tampering, counterfeiting, and misrepresentation. Illegitimate conveyances evolved into falsifying paper notes as well. For example, in England during the early 19th century, 1-pound notes were incredibly easy to replicate, which lead to the mass incarceration of approximately 100,000 people over a 7-year period. Laws continually developed to match the sophistication levels of those committing the forgery, though it was still difficult to identify incredibly convincing forgeries.
With the promulgation of technology, these issues increased a hundredfold. Where technology is meant to improve the quality of life and streamline certain processes, the continued concern of forgery or misrepresentation has denied more sensitive transactions the benefit of technology. Complex financial transactions or something as relatively straightforward as a house closing still rely on traditional methods of approval and confirmation. Certain banks warn consumers not to trust email communications sent from them or not to respond to phone calls where someone claims to be a representative from the bank. As a result, despite all the innovation that has occurred, the old models remain, meaning people still need to appear in person or by proxy for anything involving money transferring hands.
The problem continues even for less sensitive, but still incredibly critical, communications. Employees are now warned that, because of the sophistication of external technologies and techniques like phishing, not to click on certain emails or not to click on links within an email, even when those emails are purportedly from someone within their own company. This is compounded when an employee regularly receives communication from someone like a financial officer who has time constraints on closing a matter that involves money and expects the employee to diligently follow through on their requests. Sometimes the volume is such that it does not make sense for the financial officer to personally appear and make each request to the employee.
As a result, email authentication is used to prevent phishing, spoofing, spamming, and other forms of fraud. Because of the rising sophistication of these techniques, false senders were able to get passwords, account information, personally identifiable information, and financial information. False senders may also manipulate recipients to take certain actions, which could be harmful to themselves or others. Email authentication may help an internet service provider (ISP) properly identify the sender of an email and intercept or prevent these communications from going through. This practice is meant to simplify and automate the process of identifying a sender and is also supposed to improve the likelihood that a legitimate email goes to its intended recipient.
Three major forms of email authentication systems include the sender policy framework (SPF), the DomainKeys identified mail (DKIM) method, and the Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance (DMARC) system. SPF cross-checks the domain in a sender's email against the published record the sender has registered in the Domain Name System (DNS). DKIM is a cryptographic, signature-based form of email authentication, where public/private key pairs are generated and checked against each other to ensure that the message was not altered and was from the original sender. DMARC mixes the SPF and DKIM systems, which allows an administrator to specify which mechanism is used when sending an email from their domain. DMARC does not directly address whether an email is spam or fraudulent. Instead, it requires that a message passes either DKIM or SPF validation as well as a process called alignment.
Despite these current solutions to email communication authentication, it is clear the solutions require extensive integration and technical understanding that may confuse and unnecessarily complicate an everyday email user. Organizations with complex systems may be able to educate employees or customers to these methods, but there is still a steep education curve involved as well as an implementation process. Further, some of these authentication processes still cannot indicate whether an email is fraudulent.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

System and apparatus for providing authenticable electronic communication


A radiotherapy apparatus includes an receiver receiving a first projection image of a calibration object under X-ray imaging; a storing portion storing an ideal projection image of the calibration object, the ideal projection image generated based on design information of an X-ray imaging structure, positional information of the calibration object, and volume data of the calibration object; a calculator calculating a transformation parameter for transforming the first projection image into an ideal projection image; a transformed image generator generating a transformed projection image of the patient by transforming a second projection image of a patient obtained under X-ray imaging with the transformation parameter; a reconstructed image generator generating a reconstructed projection image based on volume data of the patient, positional information of the patient, and the design information; and a matching image generator generating a matching reference image used for matching between the transformed projection image and the reconstructed projection image.

Radiotherapy is a therapeutic technique of destroying a lesion by irradiating the lesion with a therapeutic beam. Thus, unless a therapeutic beam is precisely radiated at the position of the target lesion, there is a possibility that normal tissues around the target lesion are also destroyed.
For this reason, first, CT (computed tomography) imaging is performed on a patient in advance of irradiation of a therapeutic beam in many cases, in order to acquire volume data inside the patient's body and three-dimensionally identify a position of a lesion.
Next, a treatment plan including an irradiation direction and irradiation intensity of a therapeutic beam is determined on the basis of the volume data inside the patient's body so that normal tissues are subjected to as little irradiation as possible.
Then, in an irradiation phase of a therapeutic beam, a bed on which a patient lying is moved and adjusted so that a therapeutic beam is precisely aimed at the lesion position identified with the patient volume data, the lesion position acquired through the treatment plan.
And then, immediately before irradiation of a therapeutic beam, confirmation is performed as to whether the aiming point of a therapeutic beam actually matches or not with the identified lesion position of the patient lying on the bed.
Confirmation of matching between the aiming point of a therapeutic beam and the lesion position is performed on the basis of matching processing between an X-ray projection image obtained by imaging the patient lying on a bed with the use of an X-ray imaging unit permanently mounted on a radiotherapy apparatus and a DRR (Digitally Reconstructed Radiograph) reconstructed as a projection image from the volume data used for the treatment plan. Specifically, confirmation of matching between the aiming point of a therapeutic beam and the lesion position is performed by determining whether the lesion positions of both match each other or not in the above-described matching processing.
Although many methods such as automation are proposed for the above confirmation, ultimately, an inspection engineer visually checks whether the aiming point of a therapeutic beam matches or not with the actual lesion position.
In some cases, irradiation of a therapeutic beam on a patient in radiotherapy is performed for several times to some dozen times over plural days changing a posture of the patient on a bed. Thus, confirmation of matching between an aiming point of a therapeutic beam and a lesion position is performed each time of irradiating the patient with a therapeutic beam, e.g., each day of performing irradiation.
Meanwhile, a position, an angle, and other imaging conditions of an X-ray imaging unit permanently mounted on a radiotherapy apparatus are changing with time. Thus, there is a problem that an X-ray projection image of a patient imaged by an X-ray imaging unit does not necessarily match a projection image reconstructed from volume data each time.
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2014-171763

Radiotherapy apparatus and radiotherapy method

National Institutes for Quantum and Radiological Science and Technology