The medication apparatus includes a mobile housing assembly and a plurality of tray members supported therein for rotation on a central mounting assembly. A lockable access door is present in the housing assembly for controlled access to the trays. A tray locking assembly locks and unlocks the trays individually in a plurality of angular positions so that each of the compartments on a particular tray member can be presented before the door. A drive assembly selectively engages and rotates each tray individually when the tray is unlocked. A control system, including a stored program, identifies a compartment associated with a particular patient or associated with particular medications, unlocks the tray associated with the desired compartment, and rotates the tray to present the compartment before the access door, which is then unlocked and openable.

Mobile medication storage and dispensing apparatus, used by a nurse or other medical practitioner at a patient's bedside in a hospital or similar facility, are generally known. Such apparatus, often referred to as a mobile medication cart, delivers patient-specific medications at the patient's bedside, where they are administered by the nurse. These carts have been popular with hospitals and long-term care facilities for storing patient medications in individual patient compartments within the cart.
In addition, stationary medication cabinets are also known, which are typically used in hospitals for secure storage of narcotics and other drug-specific medications, typically widely used medications, in the nursing unit, outside of the pharmacy.
It is desirable to have a medication cart which is mobile, efficient, easily accessible and convenient to use, in addition to conveniently limiting access to a single unit of use present in one pre-selected compartment per dispensing operation in order to prevent errors as well as theft. A compartment can also be used to hold a single narcotic item, multiple doses of the same item, for instance, aspirin or several patient-specific medications that will be used over a given time period, such as four hours.
The problems with mobile medication carts available in the market today include a failure to limit access to one drawer or compartment per dispensing operation and a failure to satisfy narcotic storage regulation. Further, they do not have the required capacity for all of the patient's medication needs, while remaining mobile. Still further, many such known carts are not electronically controlled by medication safety software while in use at the patient's bedside.
Stationary cabinets also have problems, in addition to lack of mobility, in that many such devices do not have medication safety software, and require proprietary access software, which is often slow and problematic to retrieve narcotics and other medications.
There remains a basic need for a mobile cart, which is easy to use and maneuver and which has a significant medication storage and dispensing capability, while at the same time is light and compact, with a minimum footprint.


An air shroud device for use in a blown film extrusion line. The blown film extrusion line is of the type which includes a heated extruder for melting and pressurizing a flow of molten plastic resin, an annular die through which the molten resin extrudes and from which it is pulled away along an axis in the form of an expanding bubble, and at least one air cooling ring mechanism defining a plenum surrounding the base of the bubble and having an annular outlet constructed to direct at least one stream of primary cooling air into cooling contact with the base region of the bubble, to flow along the bubble in the direction of film travel, causing the resin to cool as the film expands until a substantially fixed maximum bubble diameter is achieved at a frost line spaced from the annular die. The air shroud device includes an annular air shroud plenum having an annular air outlet, the air shroud device is constructed and arranged to be disposed at a level below the frost line and adjacent to the level of the air cooling ring. The shroud device is coaxial with the film line axis and of relatively large size so that its outlet mechanism is spaced substantially radially outward from the bubble and from the air cooling ring outlet.

The present invention relates to means to improve the quality of film produced by a blown film extrusion line.
As plastic resin is extruded from a heated extruder having an annular die, the molten plastic resin is pulled away along the die axis in the form of an expanded bubble. After the resin cools to a set diameter as a result of application of cooling air by an air cooling ring, the bubble is collapsed and passes into nip rolls for further manufacturing steps.
As the film is extruded, thickness variations occur about the circumference of the bubble. It is recognized that these variations are caused by the melting, forming and cooling processes which are carried out by the extruder and its screw, the die and the air ring, respectively, as well as by variations in the amount of cooling that the film receives as it expands and is pulled toward the nip rolls.
In general, the thickness variations create problems for subsequent downstream conversion equipment such as printing presses, laminators, or bag machines. In processes where the film is wound onto a roll prior to converting, the thicker areas can build up on top of each other and thereby create hills and valleys on the rolled surface. Uneven rolls can further reduce the effectiveness of the downstream equipment. Any slack or tightness originally associated with gauge variations are magnified.
The tension variation across the film can also create creases in the film which can subsequently affect other processes. For example, in a printing press, ink will not transfer to the film on the inside of a crease and thus the quality of the finished product is degraded. In bag machines, if a crease happens in a location where a seal is placed, the seal will be defective. Further, the seal and perforation quality in the film is highly dependent on film tension and thickness and therefore any unexpected variations can result in poor quality. To avoid these problems, blown film manufacturers have used spreader rolls or other means to eliminate creases. These means complicate and slow down the manufacture of the finished product.
It is generally desired to obtain high quality film during the extrusion process so that the downstream equipment can be run faster and obtain higher quality products. Manufacturing processors have recognized that by eliminating gauge variation (film wall thickness) during the extrusion process, one is able to obtain higher quality film products.
Manufacturing processors primarily rely on equipment suppliers to provide extruders, screw and die design technology to limit gauge variations. This typically yields an average of + or -5 to 10% variations in gauge directly attributable to the processing equipment. These variations take the form of several equally spaced gauge bands or port lines around the circumference of the plastic film tube. The number of bands directly relates to the number of flow channels within the die. The magnitude of variation for each band is related to how well the plastic melt is distributed by its associated flow channel. This varies from channel to channel since the melt viscosity entering the die is typically nonuniform and is a function of the extruder and die design. Another form of die related variation can be caused by non-uniform annular gaps or lips through which the polymer exists. These gaps are usually adjustable and depend on the manufacturing operator's skill and feedback control to minimize associated thickness variations.
The magnitude of port line variation can be modified and reduced by proper application of a cooling system. It is understood that the shape a bubble takes during the cooling process significantly impacts a film property such as gauge variation associated with the melting and forming equipment. There are several cooling systems which serve to shape the bubble to shapes other than that which would occur without any influence.
One such method involves stacking multiple air rings on top of each other which are spaced apart and encompass and shape the bubble. This design has a significant disadvantage in that the stacked air rings seriously narrow the range of bubble diameters and thus film widths that can be produced when compared with a standard single ring process. If sizes outside of the operating range of the stacked air rings are desired, the line must be shut down and the equipment must be changed to accommodate the different size film width. Another disadvantage occurs during start up of the extrusion line when direct access to the die area is required so that the processor can reach the molten film issuing from the lips. Stacked air rings such as discussed above, significantly impair this access.
Another known cooling method involves placing fixed diameter plates or irises a distance above and generally sealed to the air ring. The bubble runs inside a sealed chamber up to an open plate/iris diameter (bubble diameter typically runs approximately two inches smaller). As plate/iris diameter changes are made, the bubble follows it and changes shape. The disadvantage of such plates/irises is that significant turbulence is induced as air flows through the gap between the plate/iris and the bubble which degrades stability especially at diameters that alter the natural shape of the bubble. A further disadvantage of this method is that the plate/iris has limited access to the die lips during line start-up.
Cooling equipment also causes film thickness variations which add to those from the melting and forming equipment. A most significant variation is when non-uniform air is drawn into the cooling air stream from the surrounding atmosphere adjacent the extrusion line. Atmospheric air is non-uniform in many properties including temperature, flow, and humidity, since there are large, high temperature equipment which are used in the process. The heat which discharges from this equipment affects the air surrounding the extruded resin and can cause thickness variations of + or -15%. These variations occur since large volumes of air are aspirated from the atmosphere by high velocity air exiting from the cooling ring adjacent the base of the bubble.
A further cooling problem exists based on the time of day as well as seasonal variations in ambient atmospheric conditions. These significantly impact the operation of a line and especially affect the throughput rate which can change by 10% or more. Presently, manufacturers have had only limited success in controlling ambient air variation. The crudest and most widely practiced attempt at controlling ambient air variation is by the use of fans and barriers placed strategically around the process to compensate for temperature variations. The main problem with this approach is that the ambient conditions are constantly changing requiring barrier and fan repositioning. Additionally, seasonal changes are not compensated at all. The diameter plate/iris chambers also have limited success in controlling atmospheric variation of this type since a portion of the molten film remains outside of the influence of the chamber and ambient air is aspirated into the exiting air stream.
A further method previously employed to control ambient air variation is by physically enclosing the process starting from the top of the air ring and extending upward for several feet. This approach has varying degrees of success since these systems do not seal at the top of the bubble. Ambient air is typically drawn over the top and is aspirated into the cooling air stream. An additional problem is that this approach limits access of personnel to the film during line start-up.
More sophisticated systems actively measure the gauge of the film on-line through closed loop control of localized die lip temperature or the air flow just above the die lips. These systems typically attempt to compensate for film thickness variations. The major drawback of the system is that gauge corrections depend on the accuracy of the on-line gauge sensor, any misreading of the actual thickness will cause an inaccurate correction and hence will result in film of unacceptable quality. These systems are also complex and expensive and require significant training of manufacturing operators and maintenance crews.

Air shroud device for a blown film extrusion line


An electro-optical device with a sound generating body is disclosed, in which an electro-optical device and a sound generating body can be mounted compactly and which can eliminate necessity of acoustic design of the sound generating body for an enclosure of an electronic apparatus for accommodating the electro-optical device. The electro-optical device of the present invention includes a first frame, a second frame opposed to the first frame, a third frame interposed between the first frame and the second frame, an electro-optical panel supported by the first frame, and a sound generating body supported by the second frame and covered by the second frame and the third frame, the sound generating body being arranged so as to be two-dimensionally overlapped the electro-optical panel.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electro-optical device and an electronic apparatus and, more specifically, to a structure of an electro-optical device with a sound generating body suitable for mounting on a mobile-type electronic apparatus.
2. Description of Related Art
In general, an electro-optical device is mounted on various types of electronic apparatus as a display body, and in many cases, it is mounted within the electronic apparatus together with a sound generating body such as a speaker. Generally, in the electronic apparatus in the related art, the electro-optical device (for example, a liquid crystal display device) is stored in an enclosure in a state of being apart from the sound generating body. For example, in the case of a mobile-type electronic apparatus such as a mobile phone, the electro-optical device and the sound generating body are separately mounted to substrates arranged within the enclosure (for example, see JP-A-2001-168963), or the electro-optical device and the sound generating body are directly fixed to separate portions within the enclosure (for example, see JP-A-2002-77346).
However, in recent years, downsizing of the mobile-type electronic apparatus and upsizing of the display surface of the display body are in progress. Therefore, with the structure in the related art, if a display unit and a sound generating unit are disposed one on another, the thickness of the enclosure is inevitably increased and, if attempt is made to avoid increase in thickness of the enclosure, it is necessary to dispose the display unit and the sound generating unit so as to avoid overlapping, and hence upsizing of the apparatus cannot be inevitable.
When installing the sound generating body within the electronic apparatus, since it is necessary to perform acoustic design around the sound generating body for each enclosure, pursuit of enclosure design is limited, and hence reduction in size or thickness of the enclosure cannot be achieved satisfactorily.

Electro-optical device and electronic apparatus


A tabular operation provider is provided for processing a data agnostic business intelligence query with relational operations, herein called a relational query against a multidimensional datasource. The tabular operation provider comprises a query interceptor, a query decomposer and a query replacer. The query interceptor detects and intercepts a relational query that is issued against one or more multidimensional data sources. The query decomposer decomposes expressions of the relational query into one multidimensional expression and one or more relational expressions. The query replacer replaces the relational query with a stack of operations expressed by the decomposed multidimensional expressions and/or the relational expressions.

Many organizations use data stores for storing business data, such as financial data and operational data. In order to assist business users to examine their data, various data analyzing applications are proposed. Those data analyzing applications provide various views or reports of data to users. Those data analyzing applications typically have query engines that access the data stores to obtain desired data. The accessed data stores can be either relational or multidimensional stores, which are based on fundamentally different data storage technologies.
Those data analyzing applications issue requests of data from the data stores. A request may contain data agnostic business intelligence (BI) queries that may express date, arithmetic, string manipulation, and other relational style operations. BI users can make such computations on relational data. There is a need for the ability to do the same computation natively on OLAP or dimensional data. Presently, users have had to extract dimensional data, transform, and load it (ETL) into other systems that provide such computation (MS Excel™ for example). This ETL route is time consuming, requires the interventions of IT departments in large organizations, is error prone, and is inefficient compared to being able to perform such computation in the BI system directly.
Some data analyzing applications have Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) query engines to allow users to analyze multidimensional views of data. This type of OLAP is sometimes called Multidimensional OLAP (MOLAP). A MOLAP engine summarizes business data into multidimensional views in advance, and places the summarized data in a cube structure. When a user request is received, the MOLAP engine accesses the summarized data, and thus the MOLAP engine can provide a response to the query very fast. The user can rotate the cube structured data to see a desired view of the data using the MOLAP engine.
There also exist Relational OLAP (ROLAP) query engines that extract data from traditional relational databases. ROLAP engines are able to create multidimensional views on the fly. In order to extract data, those ROLAP engines typically use complex Structured Query Language (SQL) statements against relational tables in the relational databases. ROLAP engines tend to be used on data that has a large number of attributes, where the data cannot be easily placed into a cube structure. ROLAP engines support multidimensional queries issued against relational databases. Some ROLAP engines translate OLAP queries into SQL queries, and other ROLAP query engines implement the access to relational databases using internal communication between components responsible for OLAP and relational operations.
Both MOLAP and ROLAP approaches to the multidimensional data access, even though they use different data storage technologies, provide only the functionality of the multidimensional query language. This query language has a number of significant limitations when it comes to providing relational style operations, such us date, arithmetic and string manipulation operations.
On the other side is the relational query language, SQL, providing a powerful set of operations that manipulate data in accordance with the relational algebra. This set of operations includes the relational style operations that are not natively supported by the multidimensional technologies, including date, arithmetic, and string manipulations. While SQL is ideal for processing transactional data, it has a number of significant limitations when it comes to data analysis and reporting.

System and method of providing date, arithmetic and other relational functions for OLAP sources

International Business Machines Corporation


A semiconductor package is provided that has a rigid metal substrate and a dielectric layer covering a first portion of the rigid metal substrate, with a second portion of the rigid metal substrate being substantially free of the dielectric layer. A semiconductor device is electrically bonded to the second portion of the rigid metal substrate and metal circuit traces defining electrical paths are formed on the dielectric layer, at least one of which contacts the rigid metal substrate through at least one via in the dielectric layer. Additionally, a method is provided for grounding a semiconductor device and at least one circuit trace on a rigid metal substrate substantially covered by a dielectric layer, which includes creating at least one via in the dielectric layer using a laser and creating circuit traces on the dielectric layer, at least one of which contacts the rigid metal substrate through at least one of the vias. The semiconductor is electrically bonded to the rigid metal substrate in an aperture in the dielectric layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the design and fabrication of packages for semiconductor devices. More particularly, this invention relates to a semiconductor package having a metal ring connected to a rigid metal substrate.
2. Description of Related Art
Recent advances in the design and fabrication of silicon devices provide for gate delays as low as a fraction of a nanosecond, producing operating frequencies in the gigahertz range. The packaging of such devices, however, promises to be problematic. Although packaging is only a part of the overall chip to chip communication system, signal degradation at the package level frequently accounts for a disproportionate share of the degradation in the overall system.
Signal degradation can arise from a variety of factors, including (1) variations in signal line impedance, causing signal reflections which are a major sources of noise; (2) resistive losses in the internal package transmission lines, causing signal attenuation; (3) capacitive coupling between adjacent signal transmission lines, causing crosstalk which is another major source of noise; (4) inductive coupling, particularly in the power and ground connections, causing wave form degradation and crosstalk between the various signals; (5) switching noise, an inductive voltage spike that occurs on a conductive path as the result of a rapid current switching in the conductive path or nearby paths; and (6) crosstalk, the undesirable appearance of a voltage spike in a conductive path as a result of mutual capacitance and inductance between the conductive path and other nearby conductive paths.
Previously, ground and power planes have been used in integrated circuit packages in an attempt to provide uniform ground and power supplies to the integrated circuit and to reduce electrical noise. Such power and ground planes have been disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,457,340 to Templeton, Jr. et al. issued Oct. 10, 1995.
The Templeton patent discloses a leadframe having a plurality of electrically conductive leads and an electrically conductive ring or ring segments formed on the leadframe around the circumference of the die attach pad between the die attach pad and leads. The power and ground planes in Templeton are formed as part of the leadframe.
Another type of ground plane is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,438,478 to Kondo et al. issued Aug. 1, 1995. The Kondo patent discloses a metal heat spreader attached to a semiconductor device partially enclosed in a molding resin. The metallic heat spreader may be connected to either power or ground. The Kondo patent discloses that the heat spreader covers the chip and only a small portion of the inner leadframe.
Still another type of ground plane is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,839,717 to Phy et al. issued Jun. 13, 1989. The Phy patent discloses a ceramic package having a ground ring surrounding the chip, but not over it, and covering the inner leadframe. The Phy patent also discloses a ground ring on the periphery of the chip which is connected to the ground ring surrounding the chip on the ceramic package.
The above-described ground planes suffer from the disadvantage that they fail to provide reduced noise capability on those portions of the leadframe not covered by the ground ring. Therefore, a package design is needed which substantially reduces noise and cross-talk in the circuits for not just the leads near the chip, but the areas surrounding the chip as well.
Furthermore, semiconductor packages are needed which minimize some or all of the degradative factors listed above. In particular, it would be desirable to provide a package which minimizes variations in signal transmission line impedance, minimizes resistive losses in the signal transmission lines, reduces capacitive coupling between adjacent signal transmission lines and reduces inductive coupling in the power and/or ground connections.

Semiconductor package having a ground or power ring and a metal substrate


A method for determining the effects of a fancy yarn by measuring the yarn diameter. The yarn sections between the effect areas are referred to as webs. The effect area is determined in that the beginning of the effect is defined by meeting a first criterion and the end of the effect is defined by meeting a second criterion. A specifiable number of the largest diameters is determined between the beginning and end of the effect, an average is formed from the diameters determined, which is specified as the diameter of the effect, and the effect length is determined from the beginning and end of the effect.

The invention relates to a method for determining the effects of a fancy yarn, sometimes also referred to as a novelty yarn or an effect yarn, by measuring the yarn diameter, wherein the yarn sections between the effect areas are referred to as webs.
When producing yarn, a uniformity of the yarn, which is as high as possible, is generally aimed for within narrow tolerances. On the other hand, the non-uniformity of the yarn is characteristic of fancy yarns. A yarn, in which thick locations with predetermined larger diameters and with predetermined lengths, the so-called effects, are present, are referred to as fancy yarns, also commonly referred to as novelty or effect yarns. The yarn sections located therebetween with a smaller diameter are referred to as webs.
It is known to carry out a diameter average value determination at the beginning of measuring at a spinning station, over the first yarn meter. This so-called reference diameter is the reference diameter for further evaluations. In the case of a fancy yarn, a reference diameter determined in this manner would be indicated to be thicker owing to the presence of effects, in other words thick locations, than the thickness of the web actually is. The recognition of the formation of effects is only possible on this basis of a simple averaging to an inadequate degree.

Method for determining the effects of fancy yarn


In a cutter head, especially for a profile cutter, with a basic body (1) having at least two recesses (3) uniformly distributed around its circumference, cutter (5) can interchangeably be secured in the recesses by means of a clamping device having at least one clamping component (8) and at least one clamping screw acting therewith and with the basic body (1). In the region of its inner end section, each of the clamping components is supported by the basic body (1) to pivot about an axis parallel to the latter's axis of rotation (12) and pivotable and clampable by means of at least one of the clamping screws (10) by a tensile force generated thereby against a bearing surface (4) of the recess (3).

The invention relates to a cutter head, in particular a profile cutter head, with a base body, which is provided with at least two fixtures, which are uniformly distributed over the base body's circumference and in which blades can be fixed interchangeably by means of one clamping device each, which exhibits at least one clamping element each and at least one clamping bolt, which interacts with said clamping element and the base body.
The known cutter heads of this kind are used to machine, for example to produce profiles, of solid wood and derived timber products. The drawback with these known tools is that they can be used usually only as a single and universal cutter head, but cannot be integrated into tool kits. Furthermore, the range in which the diameter and the cutting width can be selected, is frequently not adequately large. Another drawback is that the use of light metal for the base body presents a problem, since the clamping forces can result in nicks in the fixtures. If the clamping elements and the blades are fixed by a pin-hole connection, then profiles that overhang on one side can result in pin deformation, a feature that leads to a change in the position of the clamping elements and blades, thus resulting in surface errors and an increase in the residual unbalance. Furthermore, these known tools do not hold the preliminary dividing cut to a minimum, a process that is necessary for a cleaner surface during the machining of solid wood, since the clamping elements do not exhibit any profile contours below the cutting edge of the blades.
Therefore, the invention is based on the problem of providing an improved cutter head that avoids the problems of conventional devices.

Cutter head, in particular a profile cutter head


The method includes the steps of generating a detonation signal related to the intensity of the vibration on an engine block; wide-band filtering the detonation signal; rectifying the filtered detonation signal; integrating the rectified signal; calculating the logarithm of the integration result; calculating a mean value as a function of the calculated logarithm; calculating the values of a first and second standard-deviation-related quantity as a function of the logarithm value and the mean value; and calculating a detonation coefficient value as a function of the values of the standard-deviation-related quantities.

As is known, in certain operating conditions, internal combustion engines are subject to detonation, i.e. uncontrolled combustion of the mixture, which, when severe and occurring in numerous engine cycles, results in impaired efficiency and serious overheating of the engine, as well as reduced working life and abrupt failure of certain parts of the engine.
For this reason, several systems have been proposed or are currently being developed for detecting detonation conditions or the phenomenon itself, and so reducing the likelihood or consequences of detonation by controlling combustion parameters accordingly.
Such systems are mainly based on monitoring, directly or indirectly, the pressure as a function of piston position inside the cylinder, the cycle graph of which is bell-shaped with the peak close to the top dead center position. Under normal combustion conditions, the peak is typically rounded, whereas, in the event of detonation, it comprises a jagged edge with a large number of indentations (FIGS. 1a and 1b).
Analysis of these indentations provides useful information for the purpose of detonation detection.
Some known methods employ sensors located inside the combustion chamber to detect the amplitude of the indentations directly. Though enabling highly accurate, reliable values to be obtained, such an arrangement of the sensors involves sophisticated high-cost technology, and is therefore restricted to laboratory use or prototypes.
Other methods employ vibration sensors fitted to the engine block, which, though technically simpler and cheaper, involves greater disturbance of the readings as compared with direct direction, due to the vibration measured on the block also being caused by other phenomena in addition to the block-filtered variation in pressure inside the cylinder.
Patent GB-A-2 265 006, filed by Nippondenso Co. Ltd, relates, for example, to a detonation control system employing detonation sensors on the engine block, and which detects detonation by comparing the intensity of the sensor signal with a decision threshold, and eliminates detonation by controlling engine parameters, such as injection advance. More specifically, the system performs a logarithmic conversion of the intensity of the sensor signal, works out its distribution, calculates a value corresponding to the standard deviation of said distribution, and compares said value with a threshold calculated on the basis of the previously calculated value and a mean value of said distribution.
Distribution is determined by processing numeric values representing the amplitude of spectral components obtained by narrow-band filtration of the output signal of the sensors; which signal is composed of numerous harmonics, and is narrow-band filtered to only extract the harmonic with the highest energy content.
In the above patent, the mean value and standard deviation are calculated with reference to one engine cycle at a time, and by adapting the detonation threshold at each cycle.
In certain cases, however, controlling operation of the engine on the basis of one spectrum frequency and one engine cycle at a time is restrictive.
That is, concentrating on one frequency may result in others, also energized by detonation, being disregarded; and controlling the engine by simply eliminating local detonation cycle by cycle may not always be the best solution, in the sense that engine efficiency is at times better promoted by allowing a given number of detonations every so many engine cycles and/or in only certain cylinders. Trace detonation, in fact, by permitting a high degree of efficiency, is a favourable engine operating condition and therefore one to be exploited.
Finally, adapting the decision threshold involves extensive numeric processing, which further complicates implementation of the method.

Detonation detection method for internal combustion engines


An object recognition device 80 includes a scene determination unit 81, a learning-model selection unit 82, and an object recognition unit 83. The scene determination unit 81 determines, based on information obtained during driving of a vehicle, a scene of the vehicle. The learning-model selection unit 82 selects, in accordance with the determined scene, a learning model to be used for object recognition from two or more learning models. The object recognition unit 83 recognizes, using the selected learning model, an object in an image to be photographed during driving of the vehicle.

In recent years, autonomous driving techniques for automating manned driving and hazard prediction techniques for predicting a hazard during driving have attracted attention. In order to perform autonomous driving and hazard prediction, various methods for recognizing an object by photographing images of the outside of a vehicle have been proposed.
For example, PTL 1 discloses an image recognition device that recognizes information required for driving assistance and autonomous driving while reducing the calculation load. The device disclosed in PTL 1 detects, based on three-dimensional map data in which position information on a stationary object outside a vehicle is set and on the relative position and distance between the vehicle and the stationary object, the stationary object as a subject for image recognition processing, and performs the image recognition process by narrowing the range including the detected subject.

Object recognition device, object recognition method, and object recognition program


A sport ball arresting structure may be characterized in one aspect as including an inflatable quadra-pod mounted on a substantially rectangular flexible planar base for placement on the ground. The quadra-pod includes four legs formed, when the quadra-pod is inflated, by two criss-crossed inflatable tubes forming a dome. The tubes are criss-crossed at a vertex of the quadra-pod. Lower ends of the four legs are mounted to the four corners of the base, one lower end per corner. A flexible net is mounted within the dome so as to drape completely across the interior of the dome and parallel to an entrance to the structure defined by a front pair of legs and a front edge of the base.

When one practices the various driving or chipping strokes in the game of golf which elevate the golf ball so that it can travel a fairly long distance, one must generally attend a specialised driving range or similar facility. Such facilities may require some travel time, expense and inconvenience to attend and may not be readily available to all golfers. Due to the danger from the impact of such a driven ball the avid golfer is prohibited from practising at home in a residential back yard.
The desire on the part of players of sports such as golf, baseball, hockey or soccer to improve their ability and thereby increase their enjoyment of their game requires considerable 'full-swing' practice. The inflatable sport ball arresting structure according to the present invention permits such practice to be undertaken at home in a carport or garage or in a residential backyard with convenience and safety. It is an object to provide such a device which is lightweight, compact for home storage and easily assembled, and further which is simple to erect, readily storable without disassembly, and resistant to displacement through sport ball impact or wind gust. Further yet, the device may inhibit ricochet of the sport ball.
In the prior art, applicant is aware of U.S. Pat. No. 6,511,390 which issued Jan. 28, 2003 to Kim for a Sports Ball Net Assembly, which discloses a net supporting structure comprising rigid and flexible pipes.
Applicant is further aware of U.S. Pat. No. 6,135,894 which issued Oct. 24, 2000 to Cho for a Collapsible Golf Net, which discloses a flexible, closed loop shaped net support structure which is supported on stakes positioned in the ground. Additional straps are used to deform the net support structure into a concave shape and to lend stability.
It is one of several objects of the present invention to provide that which is missing in the prior art; namely, a sport ball arresting structure having an inflatable frame and a flexible base to provide a lightweight frame and permitting ease of assembly, deployment and storage after use.

Inflatable sport ball arresting structure


An apparatus for infant pants having knee pads permanently or removably mounted to an inner surface of the pants or to an infant pants inner liner. The infant pants or pants liner have internal pocket panels that extend substantially horizontally from seam to seam and are sewn by vertical, substantially parallel stitching to define generally rectangular pad pockets of desired dimensions with upwardly facing pocket openings. The pockets have retainer panels to secure a replaceable protective pad within the pad pocket. The pants have replaceable protective knee pads that are removably contained within the internal knee pockets to provide protection for crawling infants against bruises and abrasion of the knees during crawling activity.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to clothing and particularly to pants for infants having replaceable knee pads disposed in knee pockets and secured therein with retainer panels, the knee pads designed and arranged to protect the knees of infants when crawling.
2. Description of the Prior Art
During the pre-walking stage of human development, toddlers move about by crawling on their hands and knees. It is desirable to protect the knees and shins of the toddlers, who are on their knees for extended periods of time. It is important to pad the toddlers' knees not only to increase their comfort but also to avoid damage, such as bruises and abrasions to the knees and shins.
Knee pads which are secured to pants are known in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,049,906 issued to Aldridge shows a hazardous duty garment with knee pads that are stitched to the outer surface of the shell material from which the garment is made, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,421,839 issued to Vo et al. shows work pants with pockets containing cushioning pads. The positions of the cushions are adjustable relative to the pockets. However, having knee pads or pockets visible on the other surface of the garment is considered by some consumers to be unsightly.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,289,524 issued to Wright et al. shows a disposable protective garment having internal pockets within which pads are located. However, this garment is limited to a coverall designed to cover a majority of a wearer's skin. Alternatively, U.S. Pat. No. 6,332,224 issued to Walker et al. shows knee pads for infants which are incorporated in long socks or knee covers, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,338,164 issued to Howard shows protective chaps having pockets at the shin and knee areas to receive shin and knee pads.
It would be advantageous to have knee pads contained in the interior portions of infant pants for protection of the infants' knees.
3. Identification of Objects of the Invention
A primary object of the invention is to provide novel infant pants having knee pockets and replaceable knee pads with a thickness that can be varied according to the weight and other physical characteristics of a particular infant, to thus provide knee protection as the infant crawls about on a floor surface.
Another object of the invention is to provide novel infant pants or overalls having internal, washable knee pads that are permanently sewn to the interior surface of infant pants or pants liners to comfort and protect an infant's or toddler's knee area during crawling activity.
Another object of the invention is to provide novel infant pants having knee pockets that are affixed to the inner surface of the infant pants or pants liner and have replaceable knee pads composed of material having desired cushioning capability and being sufficiently flexible to readily bend as the knees of a wearing infant or toddler bend.

Infant pants having knee pockets and replaceable knee pads


Systems and methods are presented for cell simulation and cell state prediction. For example, a cellular biochemical network intrinsic to a phenotype of a cell can be simulated by specifying its components and their interrelationships. The various interrelationships can be represented with one or more mathematical equations which can be solved to simulate a first state of the cell. The simulated network can then be perturbed, and the equations representing the perturbed network can be solved to simulate a second state of the cell which can then be compared to the first state, identifying the effect of such perturbation on the network, and thereby identifying one or more components as targets. Alternatively, components of a cell can be identified as targets for interaction with therapeutic agents based upon an analytical approach, in which a stable phenotype of a cell is specified and correlated to the state of the cell and the role of that cellular state to its operation. A cellular biochemical network believed intrinsic to that phenotype can then be specified, mathematically represented, and perturbed, and the equations representing the perturbed network solved, thereby identifying one or more components as targets.

Drug Discovery
Several methods have been employed to find therapeutic compounds useful in the treatment of disease states. Typically, these methods involve empirical studies of organisms or cells and in some cases the components of cells to identify active therapeutic compounds which themselves, or in modified form, may have a beneficial effect on the organism or cell.
Screening methods have been used to find compounds that have a sought after-effect on a cell, i.e. the up regulation or down regulation of a gene. Screening assays are used to identify compounds and those which are identified may be used in further drug development activity. Using such methods, for example, antibodies that bind to receptors on animal tumor cells may be assayed and identified. In further drug development efforts, these antibodies or their epitopes can be analyzed and their therapeutic activity enhanced by methods known in the art.
A difficulty with such methods is that they are basically brute-force empirical methods that reveal little or nothing about the particular phenomena which take place within the cell when it is contacted with the compound identified in the screen. The actual cellular dynamics may not be understood and this may lead to development of candidate drugs deleteriously, which affect other components in the cell and cause undesirable side effects. This brute-force screening method is also limited by the speed at which assays can be conducted.
Another empirical approach used in drug development is that of screening compounds against a particular component of a cell which has been identified as being involved in a disease condition. Assays are conducted to determine the binding effect, chemical interaction or other modification of certain molecules within the cell such as genes or proteins. While the art has developed powerful, high throughput screening techniques by which tens of thousands of compounds are routinely screened for their interactive effect with one or more targets, such methodologies are still inherently empirical and leave the researcher with no fundamental information about the mechanisms of interaction of a compound identified by such methods. Thus the compound so identified may have detrimental interactions with one or more other components of a cell and may cause more harm than good. In order to determine whether the so identified compound may ultimately be useful as a therapeutic, it must be tested using in vitro studies on cells containing the particular gene or protein with which it interacts, or in vitro animal studies to determine both its beneficial and possible detrimental effects. These additional tests are extremely time-consuming and expensive.
Recently, investigators have sought to make the drug discovery process more rational by exploring the effects of a drug under development on various modifications of cells and cellular components. Friend et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,165,709 describes methods for identifying the cellular targets of a drug by comparing (i) the effects of the drug on a wild-type cell, (ii) the effects on a wild-type cell of modifications to a putative target of the drug, and (iii) the effects of the drug on a wild-type cell which has had the putative target modified. The effect of the drug on the cell can be determined by measuring various aspects of the cell state, including gene expression, concentration of proteins, etc. While the methods described are improved over the brute-force empirical methods described above, multiple "wet" experiments must be conducted in order to determine that a gene or protein component of a cell is in fact a target of a drug and then to determine the effects of the drug on that component, on a modified component and on a wild-type cell.

Methods and systems for the identification of components of mammalian biochemical networks as targets for therapeutic agents


A desired wastegate valve opening degree is set in accordance with a driving condition of an internal combustion engine; based on a detected rotation speed of the internal combustion engine and a set desired wastegate valve opening degree. An ECU determines whether or not supercharging air to the internal combustion engine is required. If the supercharging air is not required and if the opening degree of the wastegate valve becomes a desired valve, a driving current supplied to the wastegate actuator from a wastegate valve driving unit is stopped.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wastegate valve controller provided in an internal combustion engine including a supercharger such as a turbo charger.
2. Description of the Related Art
To date, there has been known a technology in which in order to raise the output of an internal combustion engine, a turbo charger is provided in the intake path of the internal combustion engine and in which intake air in the intake path is supercharged with the turbo charger so as to be supplied to the internal combustion engine. A turbo charger is to rotate a turbine with exhaust gas from an internal combustion engine and apply pressure to air to be supplied to the internal combustion engine; however, when the internal combustion engine is under the condition of a high rotation and a high load, the supercharging pressure may unnecessarily increase, thereby breaking the internal combustion engine.
Accordingly, in general, an exhaust gas bypass for bypassing part of exhaust gas to be supplied to the turbine is provided in an exhaust path, and the amount of bypassed exhaust gas that enters the exhaust gas bypass is controlled with a wastegate valve (also referred to as a W/G valve, hereinafter) so that the inflow amount of the exhaust gas to the turbine is adjusted, thereby controlling the intake air pressure (supercharging pressure) to be at an appropriate level.
In general, a W/G valve is driven by use of a positive-pressure actuator. This actuator is coupled with an intake path of an internal combustion engine, especially, with an intake path at the upstream side of a throttle valve, the pressure in which particularly increases; when the pressure in the intake path of the internal combustion engine becomes higher than the atmospheric pressure, the operation of the actuator is enabled.
In general, the W/G valve is kept off until the operation of the actuator is enabled.
With the configuration of a conventional W/G valve controller formed as described above, the W/G valve cannot be operated unless the pressure in the intake path of the internal combustion engine increases; therefore, when the pressure in the intake path is the same as or lower than a predetermined value, the W/G valve cannot be operated even if there exists a demand for changing the W/G valve opening degree.
Accordingly, in recent years, there has been proposed a system in which there is adopted an electric W/G drive method in which a W/G valve is driven by a motor and, regardless of the pressure in the intake path, the W/G valve is operated when required so that the supercharging by the turbo charger is limited, thereby improving the gasoline mileage (refer to, for example, Patent Document 1). The conventional apparatus makes it possible that when the load on the internal combustion engine is low, the opening degree of the W/G valve is increased to lower the exhaust pressure and to reduce the pump loss of the turbo charger so that the conventional apparatus can contribute to improvement of the gasoline mileage.

Internal combustion engine wastegate valve controller


A knee, elbow or other body part protector includes a playful, fanciful or novelty feature, figure or object that is not related to safety integrated therewith. A protective portion of the protector and the figure or object are integrated into the protector so as to provide protection or safety while also lending enjoyment, satisfaction or entertainment to the wearing of the protector. Such protectors are particularly attractive to young children to induce the children to wear them. The integration into the protector of the protective portion and the figure or object can be one of relative location or one in which part or all of the protective portion forms part of the feature or object, which can be defined graphically, by surface ornamentation and/or by one or more three-dimensional objects. Other parts of the protector, e.g., straps or an elastic sleeve, may be integrated into the figure or object. The figure may be a teddy bear or other animal having a head, front and hind legs all of which are plush and a tummy formed by a protection portion integrated with the head and eyes.

This invention relates to protective gear for elbows, knees or other joints and body parts with an integrated toy or novelty figure or object.
Pads, braces, straps and other protective gear have long been used to protect body parts such as knees, elbows and other joints and extremities that could be harmed by impact during certain activities, for example, play, athletics, exercise and work. Typically, elbow or knee pads have a cushioned, protective pad to which either an elastic sleeve or straps are attached for holding the pad in the desired location with respect to the joint to be protected. The pad is generally resilient in order to cushion an impact and may also have a hard protective shield at the front side of the pad for additional safety. Although the use of such protective gear is encouraged and is widespread, many who should wear such protective gear do not.
Children, adolescents and adults all risk injury when performing certain physical activities, such as skating, and would benefit from wearing protective gear of the type described herein. Despite these benefits, many in each group resist wearing, or do not wear, such protective gear.
In the case of children, they often do not appreciate the inherent danger in many activities and are, therefore, unwilling to wear protective gear for various reasons ranging from physical inconvenience or discomfort to a perception that wearing protective gear is an indication for all to see that they are not proficient at the particular activity involved. Precisely because children do not recognize the risk and believe that they are more accomplished at the particular activity than they in fact are, they may act recklessly. Therefore, it is important that they wear appropriate protective gear while engaged in certain activities. Accordingly, there is a need to induce children to more willingly wear elbow pads, knee pads and other protective gear.
In the case of adolescents and adults, many recognize the benefits of wearing such protective gear during certain activities, yet some refuse to wear the protective gear.
There is therefore a need, which the invention herein satisfies, to induce persons of all ages to wear appropriate protective gear while engaged in certain activities of an athletic nature, as described above.

Integrated knee or elbow protector and plush toy


A two-way wireless personal video/audio communication system comprises a video mode switch for selecting a desired one of X, N, and R modes, and a video signal control circuit for transferring a video signal from a camera circuit to a display circuit in the N mode, a video signal from a remote terminal to the display circuit in the R mode and the video signal from the camera circuit to the display circuit and a video transmission/reception circuit in the X mode. The display circuit applies an output video signal from the video signal control circuit to a display to reproduce an image picked up by a camera. The camera circuit converts an image incident on a camera lens into an electrical video signal and outputs the electrical video signal to the video signal control circuit. The video transmission/reception circuit modulates an amplified video signal from the video signal control circuit into a radio frequency signal at a selected channel frequency, transmits the modulated radio frequency signal to the remote terminal through the antenna, receives a radio frequency signal from the remote terminal through the antenna at the selected channel frequency, demodulates the received radio frequency signal into a video signal, amplifies the demodulated video signal, and transfers the amplified video signal to the video signal control circuit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wireless communication system, and more particularly, to a two-way wireless portable video/audio communication system for transmitting and receiving video and audio signals.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
In conventional communication fields, such as a wireless two-way radio communication system, video transmission and wireless video transmission, there have been provided a variety of devices capable of transmitting and receiving audio and video signals by wireless means or by wire. These video communication devices may be of such a desktop type or cabinet type that they are designed with no restriction in device size and operating power, but they are not suitable for a portable device.
On the other hand, according to the rapid development of computer communication techniques, a wireless portable video communication device capable of overcoming restrictions in space and time has been required by enterprises or persons in various industrial fields.

Camera mounted two-way wireless personal video/audio communication system


An optical isolator including: (a) a support body; (b) an optical fiber assembly disposed in the support body including a first single mode fiber, a first graded index fiber, a coreless fiber, a second graded index fiber, and a second single mode fiber; and (c) an optical isolator element disposed in a groove formed in the support body so as to separate the coreless fiber. The optical isolator element is tilted with respect to the optical axis of the optical fiber assembly, thereby to achieve optical coupling with both the end face of the first graded index fiber on the coreless fiber side and the end face of said the graded index fiber on the coreless fiber side.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical isolator that utilizes nonreciprocity and, more particularly, to a polarization independent optical isolator particularly suitable for optical communications.
2. Description of the Related Art
An optical isolator has directivity in its function so as to allow forward propagation of light but blocks backward propagation of light. A laser diode (hereinafter abbreviated as LD) used in optical communications or optical measurements, when reflected light returning from the outside enters an active layer of the LD, experiences the collapse of internal interference leading to such troubles as wavelength deviation and fluctuation in the output power. In order to prevent the reflected light from returning so that the LD maintains stable oscillation, an optical isolator that prevents light from propagating backward is used. The optical isolator is indispensable in such applications as high-precision measurements, communications with high-speed modulation and high-density communications that require strict control of the wavelength.
FIGS. 2A and 2B show the constitution and operation of a polarization independent optical isolator. The optical isolator comprises an input optical fiber 13, a first birefringent crystal 2, a Faraday rotator 5, a second birefringent crystal 3, a third birefringent crystal 4 and an output optical fiber 14. Although there are lenses provided between the input optical fiber 13 and the first birefringent crystal 2, and between the third birefringent crystal 4 and the output optical fiber 14 in an actual setup, they are omitted here for simplicity.
Drawings (A) through (E) of FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B show the positions of light rays and the directions of polarization at positions of (A) through (E). Drawings (A) through (E) of FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B show the states viewed from the left-hand side of the drawing, where the center of an arrow indicates the position of the light ray and the orientation of the arrow indicates the direction of polarization.
FIG. 2A shows the operation for forward propagation. Light ray emerging from the input optical fiber 13 is in a state of mixed polarization at position (A). This light ray is split into ordinary light ray and extraordinary light ray when passing through the first birefringent crystal 2, with the extraordinary light ray being shifted by birefringence. Consequently, there are two light rays that have been split at position (B). Then the direction of polarization is rotated by 45 degrees when passing through the Faraday rotator 5, thus assuming the state shown in (C). Direction of polarization is further rotated by 45 degrees when passing through the second birefringent crystal 3, thus assuming the state shown in (D). Then, when passing through the third birefringent crystal 4, the light rays are synthesized by birefringence, thus assuming the state shown in (E). The synthesized light ray propagates toward the output optical fiber 14.
FIG. 2B shows the operation for backward propagation. Light ray emerging from the output optical fiber 14 is in a state of mixed polarization at position (E). This light ray is split by birefringence into two light rays when passing through the third birefringent crystal 4 as shown in (D). Then the polarization plane is rotated by 45 degrees when passing through the second birefringent crystal 3. Since this rotation is a reciprocal rotation that is dependent on the direction of light propagation, the polarization plane is rotated in a direction opposite to that of the case of forward propagation shown in FIG. 2A, thus assuming the state shown in (C). Then the polarization plane is rotated by 45 degrees when passing through the Faraday rotator 5. Since this rotation is a nonreciprocal rotation that is independent of the direction of light propagation, the polarization plane is rotated in the same direction as in the case of forward propagation shown in FIG. 2A, thus assuming the state shown in (B). The state of (B) is reverse to the state of forward propagation. As a result, separation of the ordinary light ray and the extraordinary light ray becomes greater when passing through the first birefringent crystal 2, thus assuming the state shown in (A). As a consequence, there is generated a deviation in position from the input optical fiber 13, thus resulting in a reverse propagation loss.
The polarization independent optical isolator that uses the birefringent crystal functions through the use of shifting light ray as described above, and therefore the input optical fiber 13 and the output optical fiber 14 are staggered with respect to each other in the constitution described above.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 8-194130 discloses an example where a compact optical isolator is constituted by using a thermal expansion core fiber instead of lens. In this example, an optical isolator element is tilted so as to correct the shifting of beam to prevent misalignment from occurring between the thermal expansion core fibers on the input and output sides.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 9-54283 discloses an optical isolator that similarly uses a thermal expansion core fiber. In this example, too, in order to prevent misalignment from occurring between the thermal expansion core fibers on the input and output sides, wedge-shaped polarizing beam splitter is used in addition to tilting the optical isolator element.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 8-286150 discloses an example where a rod lens is used instead of the thermal expansion core fiber. This document describes a constitution where the end face of the rod lens is tilted in order to prevent back reflection.

Optical isolator with tilted optical isolator element


Devices and methods are disclosed for selecting an optimal access network in a wireless communications environment, such as when offloading mobile data traffic. In various embodiments disclosed herein, a contributing device comprises processing logic configured to generate a set of communication environment identification data corresponding to the location of the communication device, to generate a set of observed AN availability and communication performance data corresponding to the location of the communication device, and to transmit the set of communication environment identification data and the set of observed communication performance data to a server. In some embodiments, the contributing device is location-aware and in some embodiments, the contributing device is location-unaware.

The use of mobile devices for data applications has become increasingly popular in recent years. This popularity has led to a corresponding increase in mobile data traffic, which is projected to grow 39-fold from 2009 to 2014. Such growth has created the demand for additional network capacity, motivating network operators to acquire new licensed spectrum. At the same time, it has strained existing mobile networks, necessitating upgrades to their associated access, transport and backhaul infrastructures. Offsetting the costs of these upgrades by increasing revenues from higher traffic volume presents other challenges due to the operator's cost structure and their current charging model for data applications. As a result, operators are driven to adopt new paradigms to decrease their per-byte data costs. One such approach, which is currently attractive to operators, is to offload their mobile data traffic to alternative access networks. Taking this approach assists in mitigating the need of costly radio access and backhaul network upgrades while simultaneously alleviating usage loads on licensed spectrum.
To fully realize the benefits of offloading, the mobile device should either switch to a more optimal access method when it becomes available during a communication session, or alternatively, select the most optimal access method available when initiating a new session. More advanced approaches involve the simultaneous use of multiple access technologies and methods to achieve a more seamless transition between accesses, increase throughput, and improve performance metrics through path diversity. Alternative access network technologies for offloading include Wireless Fidelity (WiFi), based on the IEEE 802.11x standards, which is capable of providing high throughput (e.g., hundreds of Mbps with 802.11n). One current example of using WiFi for offloading mobile data traffic from cellular networks is the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). However, 3GPP does not specify all of the steps needed to achieve a seamless heterogeneous, or vertical, handoff between cellular and Wi-Fi.
Another approach is based on collaboration among mobile devices. In this approach, the mobile device discovers what access options are available, determines whether they would provide sufficient performance for the application, and then selects the best one. To do so, the mobile device queries other mobile devices for a variety of information, which it then uses as decision criteria to select an access node (AN) that will provide the best throughput performance. As an example, the information received from the mobile devices may include the received signal strength (RSS) of various ANs. However, an AN's RSS, by itself, may not guarantee that a given AN will provide the best throughput performance, as the throughput performance typically depends on other factors such as interference levels and traffic loads on the AN and its supporting backhaul network. Additionally, the performance metric could be based on other considerations than throughput alone. For example, the performance metric could be based on delay, loss rates, power consumption, etc.
Additionally, certain applications require a short handoff break. But prior to measuring an AN's RSS, the device has to perform scanning operations to discover what ANs are available, which may cause excessive handoff delays. As a result, 3GPP has defined the Access Network Discovery and Selection Function (ANDSF) to help speed up the discovery of available ANs by providing the mobile device with a list of available access. However, the ANDSF database has to be managed by the operator to keep it up to date, which is labor intensive. Furthermore, the ANDSF database can only include ANs known to the network operator. As a result, the mobile device may perform all of the steps necessary to establish a connection with an AN only to find out that it cannot deliver the desired performance. Yet another approach is a handoff from WiFi to cellular, which typically involves setting a communication session on the cellular side, with session setup contributing to the handoff break. However, 3GPP does not specify all of the steps required to accomplish such handoffs.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Collaborative scheme for selection of optimal accesses and seamless transition between accesses


One embodiment of the present invention relates to a method for structuring a debt service reserve fund, comprising: investing at least part of the debt service reserve fund in a tax-exempt investment; and obtaining a liquidity commitment on at least part of the tax-exempt investment. Another embodiment of the present invention relates to a method for providing a liquidity commitment on a debt service reserve fund, comprising: obligating a debt issuer associated with the debt service reserve fund to invest at least part of the debt service reserve fund in a tax-exempt investment; and furnishing a liquidity commitment to the debt issuer on at least part of the tax-exempt investment.

Many municipal issuers are traditionally required to fund a debt service reserve fund ("DSRF") in connection with the issuance of their bonds. In most cases the DSRF for a bond issue represents 7% to 10% of the par amount of the issue and is funded from bond proceeds. The requirement for such reserves is typically defined as maximum or average annual debt service. In contrast, for certain types of issues the DSRF is funded from program equity and may range in size from 33% to 50% of the par amount of the issue. In either case, the DSRF would be used to prevent or delay a bond default in the event that the issuer were to default on its obligation (e.g., to annually provide revenues in an amount sufficient to pay its bonds).
More particularly, in the event that the funds provided by an issuer to pay debt service were insufficient on any payment date, the securities in the DSRF would be liquidated (to the extent required) and the proceeds thereof would be used to pay debt service. If the securities in the DSRF were liquidated at a loss, then funds available in the DSRF to prevent or delay a bond payment default would be less than anticipated (e.g., by creditors and/or rating agencies). Therefore, issuers typically keep their DSRF investments substantially shorter than the term of the bonds either because of legal requirements in their bond indentures or by policy. In either case, the restrictions on investment maturity are principally motivated by credit and rating agency concerns that the issuer limit the market risk it takes on its DSRF investments to assure that the DSRF is available to serve its function (i.e., preventing or delaying a payment default). In other words, since a municipal issuer would likely view the possibility of its own default as close to 0%, the issuer's main motivation for keeping the DSRF investment short would likely be the rating and credit concern.
If a DSRF were in fact liquidated to meet a debt service shortfall, the issuer would likely be required to both: (a) make up the deficiency in the DSRF caused by the withdrawal of funds; and (b) make up the amount of any market loss. The obligation of the issuer to do so would typically be secured by the identical security as the bonds themselves. It is believed that in the municipal market, the use by an issuer of its DSRF would be viewed as essentially tantamount to a bond default. Therefore, an issuer would prefer to avoid relying upon its DSRFs for payment if at all possible. It is believed that even a poorly rated issuer would not consider allowing a draw on its DSRFs.
Of note, a liquidity commitment provided with respect to senior bonds would in effect have priority over the payment of debt service on subordinate bonds because a deficiency in a senior DSRF is typically universally higher in the flow of funds than payments to subordinate bondholders.
Of further note, DSRFs are conventionally invested in taxable securities (such as treasuries or agencies). The yield that may be retained by an issuer on such taxable investments associated with a DSRF are typically restricted by regulation (e.g., by Federal arbitrage regulations) such that the yield may not exceed the yield on the related bonds. As discussed above, issuers generally invest in securities with a much shorter average life than their bonds. Under most market conditions, they can nevertheless earn the bond yield (i.e., the maximum yield that they can retain) on their initial investments. However, they take market risk that they will be able to earn the bond yield on reinvestments of the debt service reserve fund.
In summary, because DSRFs are typically bond funded, the issuer incurs costs to fund a DSRF and, as noted above, the issuer also has the possibility of incurring negative arbitrage when the DSRF investments mature. Accordingly, an increasing number of issuers elect to purchase a surety policy from a bond insurer to fund any required draws from the DSRF (rather than funding any required draws from the DSRF itself) Such a bond insurer surety policy generally costs 1.25% or more of the amount of the DSRF.
On the other hand, some issuers have invested in longer taxable investments and entered into a liquidity agreement for another entity to purchase the DSRF investments at par in the event that the DSRF is required to be liquidated (i.e., in order to make a payment on an issuer's bonds for which the issuer has not provided the required funds). Of note, such an issuer could not have retained earnings in excess of the bond yield. However, by essentially eliminating the possibility of negative arbitrage on the DSRF, the issuer would have fixed its cost of funding the debt service reserve fund at:
(a) the issuance cost relating to the DSRF (such cost would be about 0.5% of the amount of the DSRF) plus;
(b) the cost of the liquidity commitment.
Since, as mentioned above, an issuer's traditional alternative has been to pay about 1.25% of the DSRF for a surety, this approach could be cost effective if the liquidity agreement cost less than about 0.75% of the par amount of the DSRF or if the cost of a surety for a particular issuer would be higher than 1.25% of the DSRF. In contrast, if the liquidity agreement were to cost greater than about 5 basis points per annum, then the issuer might benefit only slightly (if at all) from the use of the taxable investments plus liquidity agreement versus the use of the surety.
In any case, neither such a traditional surety mechanism nor such a traditional taxable investment liquidity commitment mechanism provides for a liquidity commitment in connection with a tax-exempt investment associated with a DSRF, as provided for by the present invention.

Method for obtaining and/or providing a liquidity commitment


Input speech is coded in an encoder (11), the coded speech is decoded in a decoder (12), compensatory speech which compensates the speech of the current frame is generated in a compensatory speech generating part (20) by using past decoded speech, the quality of the compensatory speech is evaluated by using the input speech and the compensatory speech and a duplication level is generated the value of which increases incrementally with decreasing speech quality evaluation value in a speech quality evaluating part (40), and as many identical packets as the number specified by the duplication level is generated for the coded speech in a packet generating part (15), and the packets are transmitted, thereby reducing the possibility that packet loss will occur at the receiving end.

Today, various types of communications such as electronic mail and WWW (World Wide Web) communications are performed on the Internet by using IP (Internet Protocol) (see Non-patent literature 1) packets.
The Internet, widely used today, is a best-effort network, in which delivery of packets are not guaranteed. Therefore, communication that performs retransmission control using the TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) (see Non-Patent literature 2) is often used to ensure more reliable packet transmission. However, if retransmission control is performed to resend a lost packet on occurrence of packet loss in such communications as communication using VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) in which real-time nature is essential, the arrival of packets will be significantly delayed and therefore the number of packets that are stored in a receiving buffer will have to be set to a large value, which spoils the real-time nature. Therefore, such communications as VoIP communications are typically performed by using the UDP (User Datagram Protocol) (see Non-patent literature 3), which does not use retransmission control. However, this has posed the problem that packet loss occurs during network congestion and consequently the speech quality is degraded.
One conventional approach to preventing speech quality degradation without resending packets is to send the duplications of the same packet in accordance with the packet loss rate during the transmission to increase the probability of arrival of packets, thereby preventing speech interruptions (see Patent literature 1). However, packet loss occurs most frequently during network congestion and if excessive duplicated packets are sent in such a state, there arises a problem that the increase in the amount of information sent and the number of sent packets aggravates network congestion and consequently further increases the number of packet losses. Another problem is that, because duplicated packets are being sent constantly while the packet loss rate is high, the network transmission interface is overloaded, resulting in packet transmission delay.
An approach to preventing speech quality degradation due to packet loss without increasing delay is a speech data compensation approach. For example, the method in G.711 Appendix I (see Non-patent literature 4) repeats data in the past pitch period to fill a lost segment. However, this method has a problem that, if speech data in a region such as a speech rising period in which a signal changes drastically is lost, abnormal noise occurs, because the speech data synthesized from the past data has a power and pitch different from those in original speech.
Another approach has been proposed in which the sending end assumes that packet loss will occur at the receiving end and the sending end synthesizes a speech waveform by repeating a speech waveform of the pitch length in the current frame and, if the quality of the synthesized speech waveform with respect to that of the original speech waveform of the next frame is lower than a threshold, then a compressed speech code of the next frame is sent as a sub-frame code along with the speech code of the current frame by using packets (Patent literature 2). With this method, on the occurrence of packet loss of the current frame at the receiving end, if a sub-frame code is not contained in any of the packets of the preceding and succeeding frames, the current frame is synthesized from the waveform of one pitch length in the preceding frame, or if a sub-frame code is contained, the code is decoded and used. In either case, a speech waveform with a lower quality than that of the original speech signal will be generated. This method has the following problem: the method adds the sub-codec information to the preceding and succeeding packets in addition to the current frame on condition that the quality of the compensatory waveform is lower than a specified value, therefore if three or more consecutive packets are lost, both of the coded information of the current frame and the sub-codec coded information which is sent using the preceding and succeeding packets cannot be available and thus the quality of the decoded speech is degraded.
Patent literature 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-177623
Patent literature 2: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-249957
Non-patent literature 1: "Internet Protocol", RFC791, 1981
Non-patent literature 2: "Transmission Control Protocol", RFC793, 1981
Non-patent literature 3: "User Datagram Protocol", RFC768, 1980
Non-patent literature 4: ITU-T Recommendation G.711 Appendix I, "A high quality low-complexity algorithm for packet loss concealment with G.711", pp. 1-18, 1999
Non-patent literature 5: J. Nurminen, A. Heikkinen & J. Saarinen, "Objective evaluation of methods for quantization of variable-dimension spectral vectors in WI speech coding", in Proc. Eurospeech 2001, Aalborg, Denmark, September 2001, pp. 1969-1972

Sound packet transmitting method, sound packet transmitting apparatus, sound packet transmitting program, and recording medium in which that program has been recorded

Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation


An anchor assembly (1) comprises a plate anchor element (2) mounted on an associated dynamic implanting follower (6) to facilitate dynamically embedding the plate anchor element (2) in a mooring bed below a body of water. The plate anchor element (2) has a tubular sleeve (20) which is slidably mounted on a shaft (8) of the implanting follower (6), and locates at an upper end of the implanting follower (6) which has a pointed penetrating tip (9) at a lower end of the shaft (8). Radial flukes (22) are mounted on the sleeve (20) in a cruciform configuration. A through-hole (3) is provided in one of the flukes (22) for attachment of a tether line. For deployment of the plate anchor element (2) the anchor assembly (1) is dropped from a height above the mooring bed, freefalling through the water and penetrating into the mooring bed. The implanting follower (6) is then retrieved leaving the plate anchor element (2) buried in the mooring bed.

Floating facilities require anchors to resist uplift forces due to mooring and environmental loading. Whilst driven piles were initially used to anchor floating installations, difficulties in operating pile hammers precludes this option in deep water. The majority of floating facilities in deep water are moored using either drag anchors, suction caissons, suction embedded plate anchors or dynamically installed "torpedo piles".
Recent innovation means that drag anchors can now withstand the high vertical loads dominant in taut-leg moorings. Furthermore the low mass and size of these anchors mean that an entire anchor suite can be transported to site on a single vessel. However, two major issues remain with the installation of drag embedded vertically loaded anchors.                1. The first issue relates to the drag length of the anchor during installation. This issue is becoming particularly crucial as the industry moves into deeper water as the drag distance increases with water depth, heightening the risk of interference with seabed infrastructure such as pipelines and increasing the need for alternative means of dealing with the excessive amounts of chain and wire required on the anchor handling vessel.        2. The second issue is the sub seabed trajectory of the anchor during installation. This issue is also critical as it dictates the final position and depth of the anchor, and in turn the anchor capacity. As a result, many of the installations involving vertically loaded anchors have necessitated a trial and error approach, resulting in prolonged anchor installation durations and hence costs.
The foregoing difficulties in installing vertically loaded anchors have resulted in renewed interest in the use of suction caissons for deep water installations. They are advantageous as they are capable of withstanding high vertical loads and their position and embedment are readily controlled during installation. However, relative to drag anchors, suction caissons are expensive and of large size and weight, resulting in transportation and deployment problems.
Suction caissons have also been used as a means of installing plate anchors that are similar to the vertically loaded drag anchor referred to previously. In this application, commonly referred to as a Suction Embedded PLate Anchor or SEPLA, the caisson is used to embed an initially vertical plate anchor, located at the caisson base. When the system has reached the design embedment depth, the plate anchor mooring line is disengaged from the caisson, leaving the caisson free to be retrieved and reused for the next installation. At this point the plate anchor is vertically embedded in the seabed. The mooring line attached to the embedded plate anchor is tensioned, causing the plate anchor to rotate or 'key' to an orientation that is perpendicular to the direction of loading. The SEPLA has particular advantages over the suction caisson in that only one caisson is required for the installation process, reducing costs associated with procurement and transportation. However the installation process is still quite involved, requiring the use of pumps to pump water from the interior of the caisson during installation and remotely operated vehicles. These costs are also quite dependent on water depth, making them a less attractive solution for deep water applications.
WO 98/49048 and WO 00/26081 disclose a drag embedment anchor mounted at a lower end of a heavy elongate follower for deployment. The follower with the anchor attached is lowered from a vessel to the seabed. The anchor is then forced into the seabed to a desired depth by the weight of the heavy follower. The follower is then detached and removed leaving the anchor embedded in the seabed.
WO 2004/011327 discloses a method and device for deployment of a sheet anchor. The sheet anchor is mounted at a lower end of a pile which is lowered to the seabed and driven into the seabed by a vibratory hammer, or the like. After deployment of the anchor in the seabed the pile is removed from the sheet anchor.
Dynamically installed anchors, often referred to as torpedo piles, are an economical means of installing anchors in deep water. Dynamically installed anchors are released from a predetermined height above the seabed and rely on their self weight and the kinetic energy gained during freefall to self-bury in the seabed sediments. As no mechanical intervention is required during installation, installation costs are relatively independent of water depth. However these anchors can be extremely large and heavy with overall lengths of up to 22 meters and masses of over 100 tonnes. Hence fabrication and transportation costs can be very high. Furthermore, compared with other anchor types such as plate anchors, they are relatively inefficient at resisting vertical loads and tend to be susceptible to "setup" effects where the anchor capacity can only be realised after a significant period of time after installation has elapsed.
The present invention is directed towards overcoming these problems.


In a preferred embodiment, an apparatus, comprising: a column (42) normally generally vertical when a device (30) of which the column (42) is a part is in an operating position; and a platform (62) operatively connected at one end to the column (42) and normally generally horizontal when the device (30) is in an operating position, the platform (62) being selectively raised or lowered to raise or lower a load placed on the platform (62).

It is a principal object of the present invention to provide a lifting device that can lift and support a load.
It is a further object of the invention to provide such a device that supports a load via a fork, surface, hook, or container.
It is an additional object of the invention to provide such a device that can be used to transport a load over a wide range of obstacles.
It is another object of the invention to provide such a device that can be used as a stable variable height work surface including the means for securing a workpiece to the same.
It is yet a further object of the invention to provide such a device that can be used to replace a hand truck, a lifting table, a portable work bench, a pallet jack, a hoist, a utility cart, and a wheelbarrow.
It is yet an additional object of the invention to provide such a device that is cost effective.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide such a device that requires a minimum number of simple elements to achieve its purpose.
A further object of the invention is to provide such a device that is capable of being folded.
An additional object of the invention is to provide such a device that is structurally efficient and lightweight.
Yet a further object of the invention is to provide such a device that is an efficient means of lifting a load.
Yet an additional object of the invention is to provide such a device that has a self-contained power source with a manual backup.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide such a device that provides a high degree of safety.
It is a further object of the invention to provide such a device that can be folded for storage and transportation.
It is an additional object of the invention to provide such a device that can be used by a consumer with minimal technical background.
Other objects of the present invention, as well as particular features, elements, and advantages thereof, will be elucidated in, or be apparent from, the following description and the accompanying drawing figures.


Disclosed are embodiments for controlling one or more subsystems of an imaging system to manage average power to a fuser.

Among the types of office equipment that consume power, printers have dynamic power use that may depend on a state of the printer (e.g., standby, warm up, scanning and printing). In a laser printer in particular, a fuser typically consumes substantial power from time to time during intervals to maintain fuser temperatures for proper image fusing. These intervals of substantial power consumption may result in the use of more costly power infrastructure installations than would otherwise be used.

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


There is provided a rate responsive pacemaker with the capability of dynamically changing the rate response control algorithm. Periodic measurements of the rate response correlation function provide information for determining any desired adjustment to the correlation function. A learning routine tracks changes in the measurements, and from this history automatically adjusts the interval between measurements to optimize the frequency of such measurements. The pacemaker of this invention further provides for an improved adaptation of the rate response function post-implant, by providing for multiple measurements and rate function adjustments daily in order to more quickly adapt the initially set function to patient conditions.

Rate responsive pacemakers have gained wide acceptance as providing a response which is adaptable to a patient's physiological needs. Normally, as a patient undertakes exercise or becomes involved in a situation which calls for an increased heart rate, the patient's normal feedback mechanisms provide for the increased rate, whereby more blood is delivered by the heart. However, such rate feedback mechanisms may be impaired. Further, even if the heart's natural pacemaker adapts to changing demand, a single chamber pacemaker would be unresponsive to desired rate changes. The rate responsive pacemaker provides a substantially physiologic pacing rate by sensing one or more patient parameters, and correlating desired rate with such one or more parameters to mimic the natural feedback mechanisms. Rate responsive pacemakers can be single chamber, e.g., VVIR; dual chamber, e.g., DDDR; or even multiple chamber.
The first commercially available form of single chamber rate responsive pacemaker was the QT driven rate responsive pacemaker, marketed by the assignee of this invention. See U.S. Pat. No. 4,228,803, Rickards. Subsequently, other pacemakers utilizing other monitored variables have been introduced commercially, e.g., the Activitrax and other activity sensor-based models manufactured by Medtronic, Inc. Whatever the monitored parameter or parameters for indicating desired pacing rate, the general control of the rate responsive pacemaker is common and generic. A rate responsive pacemaker incorporates one or more sensors adapted to sense patients variables which continually indicate, or reflect the patient's cardiac output needs, and from which quantitative information can be derived. For example, in the QT pacemaker, the sensor is the same lead that delivers the pacing pulses. Following delivery of a pacing pulse, it senses the stimulus-evoked T-wave, and provides an electrical signal which can be compared in the time domain to the stimulus pulse, thereby providing the QT time interval information. Dual sensor rate responsive pacemakers use two sensors for monitoring two different parameters, the two parameter signals being combined to advantageously utilize the information from each. Thus, the assignee of this invention makes a dual sensor rate responsive pacemaker which uses both QT interval and activity counts to provide the rate information. Hereafter, the terms "rate responsive parameter", "rate parameter" and "sensor" refer to and incorporate either a single sensor, dual sensor or multiple sensor system.
The general structure of a rate responsive pacemaker also includes a means for carrying out an algorithm by which the pacemaker determines the indicated pacing rate on the basis of information delivered by the sensor. The function of the algorithm is to provide a correlation between the sensed rate parameter and pacing rate, so that the pacemaker is accurately responsive to the monitored information. Using the QT driven rate responsive pacemaker as an example, the algorithm determines, for the current pacing rate, the desired change in pacing rate per ms change in stimulus-T interval, which is defined as slope. In mathematical terms, the algorithm provides the function of rate vs. QT, over a range which is bounded at a lower rate limit (LRL) and an upper rate limit (URL). For an activity-based pacemaker, the algorithm provides the function of rate vs. activity count, for the range between LRL and URL. The algorithm is suitably stored as data in memory, from which the pacemaker can find on a cycle-to-cycle basis what the change in pacing rate should be for a sensed rate parameter change. While the algorithm is initially stored in the pacemaker at implant, or programmed at time of implant, it is known that the correlation between pacing rate and the rate parameter can change for any patient. For this reason, the pacemaker should have the capacity to test and adapt the rate response function, i.e., the algorithm, as a function of patient history. See U.S. Pat. No. 4,972,834, incorporated herein by reference, which provides for dynamic rate responsiveness by automatic adaptation of the algorithm. As set forth in the referenced patent, the slope of QT vs. pacing rate at LRL is measured each night, and the algorithm is adjusted based on this measurement. Likewise, an activity-based rate responsive pacemaker can undergo a similar daily test for the purpose of adapting the algorithm.
A problem with the daily test of the rate responsive algorithm, as provided in the referenced U.S. Pat. No. 4,972,834, is that the test can be upsetting, since it involves pacing at different rates in order to determine the patient's correlation of pacing rate and sensed parameter at one or more rates; such test pacing can be felt by the patient and be unsettling, especially if undertaken at night. Further, for many patients the pacemaker may normally be on standby at night and not be delivering pace pulses, such that the test involves overdrive pacing which takes additional power. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide the pacemaker with the capability of reducing the frequency of testing the algorithm, e.g., provide for longer intervals between tests when the history of the patient indicates that relatively little adjustment is required on an on-going basis.

Pacemaker system with improved learning capability for adapting rate response function