A device assists focusing of a camera that is equipped with a manual focus-adjusting unit and that provides digital image contents, such as a smart camera. The device is configured to determine a focus value of the camera depending on an operation of the manual focus-adjusting unit and to display focusing information on the basis of the determined focus value to a user.

The present invention relates to a device for assisting focusing of a camera, equipped with a manual focusing apparatus, for providing digital image contents, more particularly a smart camera, a camera equipped with such a device and a method for providing focusing information.
"Smart cameras" are understood to mean optical systems which are able not only to record images but also to process and/or interpret these independently. By way of example, in addition to an image recording circuit, a smart camera can, as intelligent and autonomous optical system, also filter out and process application-specific information from recorded images and make decisions based thereon.
Smart cameras, which are often utilized within the scope of monitoring objects, generally consist of a camera housing with a video processing unit (video content analysis) and a removable lens. Depending on the application, use can be made of different lenses (wide-angle, telephoto or zoom lenses). After a new lens has been mounted, the latter generally needs to be focused manually. In the case of a smart camera, the latter is, for this purpose, usually connected to a computer (e.g. a notebook) via a network connection, for example via Ethernet or WLAN. The camera image can subsequently be observed on the notebook while the lens is set to have the best focus.
A focusing apparatus, which can be used in such smart cameras, or a recording lens with a changeable focal length is disclosed in e.g. DE 23 61 286 A1. Automatic methods for motorized focusing of a lens (i.e. autofocus methods) are known from DE 692 07 043 T2 and EP 0 508 897 B1, for example. However, in the case of monitoring objects, in which use is made of fixedly installed, static cameras, more cost-effective lenses without autofocus functionality are preferred. Here, manual lenses are therefore particularly advantageous as a result of the fact that the lens is generally only set once during the installation of a camera, and subsequently remains unchanged in terms of the focus position.
When focusing a smart-camera system in which an external display of the camera image, for example on a notebook, is used in order to set a precisely sharp focus, it is necessary to observe the screen continuously in order to obtain the best sharpness result. However, in situations in which the camera is mounted at large distances, for example at great heights on ceilings or other points that are difficult to access, it is hardly possible to appraise the camera image and simultaneously adjust the lens. Such situations often present no option for placing down a computer, e.g. a notebook, within viewing distance of the camera.
There therefore is a need for apparatuses for assisting focusing of corresponding cameras, in particular smart cameras, which apparatuses can be used on cameras which merely have a manual focusing apparatus.

Device for assisting focusing of a camera


A high quality factor resonator (15) including a substrate (110) and a resonator layer (150). The resonator layer includes a first electrode (157). The resonator layer (150) is disposed on a surface of the substrate (110). The first electrode (157) is disposed on a distal surface of the resonator layer (150). A cavity (120) is disposed between the substrate (110) and the resonator layer (150) and a second electrode (159) is disposed on the substrate (110) and on a surface of the cavity (120) remote from the resonator layer (150) and is separated from the resonator layer (150) by a thin gap.

Frequency selective components are important for many electronic products requiring stable frequency signals or ability to discriminate between signals based on frequency diversity. These functions are difficult to reliably and repeatably realize in monolithic form together with other microelectronic components such as transistors, diodes and the like.
One approach to realizing frequency selective functions employs a mass allowed to vibrate in one or more dimensions (e.g., a pendulum). Such a mass is conveniently realized as a thin membrane supported at critical points, for example, peripherally or alternatively along one edge or end, forming a thin resonator structure. Such structures provide clearly defined mechanical resonances having significant utility, for example, as filters and as frequency stabilizing feedback elements in oscillator circuits. These structures have the advantages of being extremely compact and of providing narrow bandwidth (i.e., high quality factor) frequency selection components that are light weight and which do not require adjustment over the life of the component.
Thin film resonators incorporate a thin film, free-standing membrane. Typically, this is effected by forming a sacrificial layer followed by deposition of the membrane. The sacrificial layer is then selectively removed, leaving a self-supporting layer.
An alternative approach involves forming a cantilevered beam capacitively coupled to adjacent structures (e.g., a conductor placed beneath the beam). The beam is free to vibrate and has one or more resonance frequencies. Disadvantages of these approaches include need to form free-standing structures and also a tendency of the beam to "stick" to adjacent structures if or when the beam comes into contact therewith.
Problems encountered with such devices include reduced Q or quality factor due to at least two causes: (i) reduced quality factor of materials employed for the piezoelectric element and (ii) reduced quality factor for the composite resonator owing to the contributions of the metallizations forming the electrodes. Additionally, higher coupling piezoelectric materials (e.g., LiNbO.sub.3, LiTaO.sub.3, lithium tetraborate, AlPO.sub.4, BiGeO.sub.20, BiSiO.sub.20 and the like) are preferred for some applications but tend to be more difficult to realize in thin film form, especially as oriented films exhibiting significant piezoelectricity.
The Q of the material(s) employed in the resonator may preclude providing the required bandwidth and insertion loss in the completed structure. Generally, narrow bandwidths require high Q materials. Deposited thin-film layers of piezoelectric materials tend to have poorer (i.e., lower) quality factors than the same materials prepared by other techniques (e.g., single-crystal materials) and this may limit the achievable bandwidth. Additionally, employing lossy materials for electrodes (e.g., Au, Ag, Pb etc.) reduces the overall Q of the resonator structure while use of low acoustic loss materials (e.g., Al and alloys thereof) has less of an adverse impact on the Q of the resonator structure. Accordingly, the bandwidth requirements for some applications may preclude use of some materials in the resonator and may require the use of other materials or particular material preparation techniques.
Many applications require robust, light-weight devices to be realized in small form factor and to consume as little electrical power as possible while operating over a broad range of temperatures. For example, satellite communications apparatus have stringent power requirements and also must operate over a broad temperature range. This example also places a premium on size, weight and reliability.
What are needed are apparatus and methods for forming apparatus wherein the apparatus provides a small, light-weight and robust resonator having solid mechanical support and including high quality factor, narrow-bandwidth frequency selection characteristics together with low power consumption requirements and low insertion loss.

Method of making an enhanced quality factor resonator


A method for detecting an obstacle in a spatial area is disclosed. The method includes scanning the spatial area, classifying each reflection point in the spatial area as one of an obstacle reflection point and a non-obstacle reflection point, fusing the obstacle reflection points, and generating statistics associated with the obstacle.

The present application is related, generally, to a method and apparatus for detecting obstacles in an outdoor environment. For outdoor environments having a high curvature terrain, reliable identification of an obstacle located therein can be a difficult task. The natural rise and fall of the terrain can easily be misconstrued as an obstacle or even result in an obstacle going undetected.
It is known in the art to use range imagery from stereo vision or radar to detect obstacles in an outdoor environment. Although each approach has certain advantages, each approach also has certain shortcomings and limitations. For example, stereo vision can provide relatively dense range imagery. However, for certain terrain textures and lighting conditions, stereo vision generally can not provide the range resolution necessary to reliably detect small obstacles. Radar is immune to a large range of environmental conditions and works well for detecting relatively large obstacles. However, radar frequently only provides a generalized location for the obstacles that it does detect, and its relatively large beam size can preclude the detection of small obstacles altogether.
It is also known in the art to detect obstacles using laser ranging. Single-axis scanners provide range data from one scan direction in one plane. Although single-axis scanners are relatively inexpensive, the amount of information they provide is limited to information obtained from a single scan direction in one plane. As a result, discontinuities in the range data caused by pitching motion experienced by the single-axis scanner are often misinterpreted as being caused by an obstacle in the spatial area being scanned. In addition, such pitching motion can cause the single-axis scanner to miss an obstacle entirely. Two-axis scanners provide range data from two directions in a cone, and have the range and resolution capability to directly measure the shape of an obstacle. Although two-axis scanners are less susceptible to misinterpreting discontinuities in the range data, they are relatively expensive, difficult to make robust to motion, and require a great amount of processing to handle the data. Thus, it is not generally commercially feasible to use a two-axis scanner for obstacle detection applications.

Apparatus and method for detecting obstacles


A blade angle feedback assembly for an aircraft-bladed rotor, the rotor rotatable about a longitudinal axis and having an adjustable blade pitch angle, is provided. The assembly comprises a feedback device coupled to rotate with the rotor and to move along the longitudinal axis with adjustment of the blade pitch angle, the feedback device comprising a plurality of position markers circumferentially spaced around the feedback device, a plurality of sensors positioned adjacent the feedback device and each configured for producing a sensor signal in response to detecting passage of the position markers as the feedback device rotates about the longitudinal axis, the sensors circumferentially spaced around the feedback device and axially offset along the longitudinal axis, and a control unit communicatively coupled to the sensors and configured to generate a feedback signal indicative of the blade pitch angle in response to the sensor signals received from the sensors.

On featherable aircraft propeller systems, it is desirable to accurately measure the propeller blade pitch (or beta) angle to ensure that the blade angle is controlled according to the engine power set-point requested, such as in reverse and low pitch situations, also known as the beta operating region. For this purpose, some propeller feedback systems use a beta or feedback device, sometimes referred to as a phonic wheel, which rotates with the engine. The feedback device has multiple readable raised markers disposed on an outer surface thereof, and a sensor can be used to measure the rotation of the feedback device via the markers, providing a proxy value for the rotational velocity of the engine, as well as measure blade angle. Existing feedback devices are however vulnerable to a so-called "edge-effect" that leads to an increase in reading error as the sensor approaches the edges of the feedback device.
Therefore, improvements are needed.

Blade angle position feedback system with offset sensors


The present invention provides a purification process of K-252a, which comprises:. treating microorganism cells containing K-252a represented by formula (I): ##STR1## with an alkaline solution to convert K-252a into K-252b represented by formula (II): ##STR2## or alkali salts thereof, which are then released out of the cells, methylating K-252b or alkali salts thereof to convert them into K-252a again, and PA1 isolating and collecting the resulting K-252a.

K-252a is a physiologically active substance produced by microorganisms (Japanese Patent Laid-Open Application No. 41489/1985). It has an inhibition activity for protein kinase C and exhibits various pharmacological effects.
A conventional purification process of K-252a comprises the steps of: a) collecting microorganisms by filtering a culture solution; b) extracting the microorganisms by adding thereto a hydrous or anhydrous organic solvent such as methanol or acetone; c) removing the microorganisms by filtration; d) concentrating the resulting extracted solution; e) further extracting it with an anhydrous organic solvent in high yields; f) separating it by using a column filled with adsorbents such as active carbon or Diaion HP-10 and carriers such as silica gel, silanized silica gel, aluminum oxide or dextran; and g) concentrating it to obtain a crude K-252a crystal. However, the crystal thus obtained will not have sufficient purity. This process therefore further needs a recrystallization step in order to achieve higher purity. Furthermore, this process is not suitable for filtering a large amount of the culture solution because it is considerably difficult to filter the culture solution in this process.
Alternatively, it is also possible to collect an extracted solution by directly extracting a culture solution with an organic solvent and then filtering it. However, this process further needs a column treatment because the organic solvent used for extraction should be added in the same volume as the culture solution or more due to a lower solubility of K-252a in various solvents (5 to 10 g/l, for example 5 g/l in acetone), a liquid volume to be treated is extremely increased and the resulting extracted solution has lower purity.


A window grouping mechanism for creating, organizing and manipulating windows and, more specifically, window groups for display to a user of a computer system is disclosed. The window grouping mechanism preferably includes a series of linked data structures configured to organize information pertaining to all windows defined by an application program executing on the computer system. According to an aspect of the invention, the application program interacts with the window grouping mechanism to further organize the information into any number of window groups each of which contains a different subset of the previously defined windows. These window groups may then be manipulated by the application program to efficiently create various permutations of window groups.

A computer system typically includes a monitor having a display screen for presenting information, such as text and images, to the user. The display screen can be configured into a window environment in which separate areas of the display screen, called windows, are used to present information to the user, to display information entered by the user or to interact with the user. Each window, which is typically rectangular in shape, can present or represent different information or different views of the same information. The window may include decorations such as a title bar, zoom button, etc. Examples of popular software systems that employ window environments are the System 7.RTM. operating system developed by Apple Computer, Inc. and the Microsoft Windows 95.RTM. operating system, which is commercially available from Microsoft Corporation.
Typically, a window manager controls the size and position of each window on the display screen. The window manager is a set of system software routines, located within the computer's operating system, that is responsible for managing the windows that the user views during operation of the computer system. The window manager keeps track of the location and size of each window and the window areas that must be drawn and redrawn in response to commands issued by application programs executing on the computer system. These commands, which may include move windows, change window sizes, etc., are generated and sent by the application program to the window manager via application programming interfaces (APIs). APIs typically include a collection of system calls requesting services from the operating system.
Each application program executing on the computer system defines a set of windows that are associated with that application. For example, a drawing application may define a document window into which a user "draws" images as well as floating or palette windows which contain tools, such as pencil, color, etc., for drawing those images. Similarly, a word processing application may have a document window into which text is entered as well as palette windows containing the tools, such as cut, paste, paragraph numbering, etc., available to manipulate the text. The application program may also define modal windows such as dialog boxes or alert boxes that appear in front of both the document windows and the palette windows, requesting immediate attention and input from the user.
The window manager typically stores these windows in layers defined by and associated with these application programs. A window layer is simply a set of all the windows associated with a single application program. The window manager maintains these window layers in a block of memory.
In addition to controlling the size and position of each window on the display screen, the window manager also controls the front-to-back order of the windows displayed on the display screen. This front-to-back positioning is referred to as the window's "z-order", which is named for the z-axis of a three-dimensional coordinate system, where z is the coordinate extending into the computer screen. In particular, a number is assigned to each layer of windows describing its priority class relative to the other window layers. A window layer's priority class defines where in the z-order the window layer can be displayed. For example, a window layer of priority class "2", e.g. a screen saver, will always appear in front of a window layer of priority class "3", e.g. an application program, while multiple window layers of priority class "3", e.g. a word processing application and a spreadsheet application, can overlie each other in the z-order. The window manager also controls the ordering in which document, floating and modal windows may appear within a specific application layer.
In prior art systems, the window manager draws the entire layer of windows associated with a currently executing application program at the front of the computer screen for display to a user of the computer system. For example, if the user initiates a word processing operation, then the layer of windows associated with a word processing application is brought to the front of the screen. Behind that layer of word processing windows is a layer of windows associated with the last executed application program, such as a drawing application, which is assigned to the same priority class as the word processing layer of windows. Behind the layer of drawing windows is a third layer of windows from the application program used before the drawing application, such as a spreadsheet application.
When a user selects a window that is not displayed on the front of the screen, the window manager brings that window and all of the windows in that layer to the front of the screen, provided that the priority class of the selected window layer is the same as or higher than the priority class of the window layer currently being displayed. If, during a word processing task, for example, the user selects a window from the spreadsheet application, the prior art window manager re-draws the screen so that all of the windows from the spreadsheet application are at the front of the screen. This re-drawing of the windows displayed on the screen also alters the z-ordering of windows by placing the spreadsheet layer of windows ahead of the word processing layer of windows.
Such re-positioning of window layers by application program, however, may result in a cluttered window environment where the user is only interested in a single document window and a limited group of palette windows associated with that particular document window. This often occurs when a user has the window environment configured to display windows from two or more applications simultaneously, such as a word processing application and a spreadsheet application. With the multiplicity of palette windows available with most applications, such a window environment can quickly become incoherent. Moreover, upon selection of the document window, the conventional window managers display all of the windows in the layer associated with that application program. The prior art window managers do not support the creation or display of window groups containing something less than all of the windows in the layer associated with the application program.
In U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/540,010, filed Oct. 6, 1995, entitled Method and Apparatus for Arranging and Displaying Windows on a Display Screen of a Computer System and assigned to the assignee of this application, a system is disclosed for creating and displaying groups of windows associated with an application program. Although the system disclosed in that application is a substantial improvement over the prior art window managers, it has limitations. For example, the system does not permit entire window groups to be added to other window groups and further, does not permit an application program to access the list of windows defined by that application or the windows or window groups contained within a particular window group. These limitations obviate iteration, i.e., scanning or reviewing of the windows defined by the application. Moreover, the system is not easily implemented in an object oriented programming environment.

Window grouping mechanism for creating, manipulating and displaying windows and window groups on a display screen of a computer system


Embodiments of the invention provide a technique for finding anomalous values for fields with temporal autocorrelation, without resorting to complex query writing. When composing an abstract query a query interface may be provided for a user to input a temporal correlation conditions. The temporal correlation conditions may include a type of change, a delta value, and a time frame within which two data values must occur to be identified as an anomalous value. The time correlation conditions are then passed to a query builder configured to generate and execute a database query configured to identify anomalous values based on the time correlation conditions.

1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the invention generally relate to computer database systems. More particularly, the invention relates to techniques for finding anomalous values for fields with temporal autocorrelation.
2. Description of the Related Art
Databases are well known systems for storing, searching, and retrieving information stored in a computer. The most prevalent type of database used today is the relational database, which stores data using a set of tables that may be reorganized and accessed in a number of different ways. Users access information in relational databases using a relational database management system (DBMS).
Each table in a relational database includes a set of one or more columns. Each column typically specifies a name and a data type (e.g., integer, float, string, etc), and may be used to store a common element of data. For example, in a table storing data about patients treated at a hospital, each patient might be referenced using a patient identification number stored in a "patient ID" column. Reading across the rows of such a table would provide data about a particular patient. Tables that share at least one attribute in common are said to be "related." Further, tables without a common attribute may be related through other tables that do share common attributes. A path between two tables is often referred to as a "join," and columns from tables related through a join may be combined to from a new table returned as a set of query results.
Queries of a relational database may specify which columns to retrieve data from, how to join the columns together, and conditions (predicates) that must be satisfied for a particular data item to be included in a query result table. Current relational databases require that queries be composed in complex query languages. Today, the most widely used query language is Structured Query Language (SQL). However, other query languages are also used. An SQL query is composed from one or more clauses set off by a keyword. Well-known SQL keywords include the SELECT, WHERE, FROM, HAVING, ORDER BY, and GROUP BY keywords. Composing a proper SQL query requires that a user understand both the structure and content of the relational database as well as the complex syntax of the SQL query language (or other query language).
The complexity of constructing an SQL statement, however, generally makes it difficult for average users to compose queries of a relational database. In medical research, there are often times when a user would like to analyze changes in data values over a certain time window. The researcher may wish to find data that can be classified as having a "temporal autocorrelation" characteristic, that is, if two measurements of a value occur close in time, then the values of those measurements are often very similar.

Finding anomalous values for logical fields with temporal autocorrelation conditions

International Business Machines Corporation


An apparatus for canceling postage on individual mailpieces of a stack of mixed mail includes an apparatus for separating individual mailpieces from the stack of mixed mail; structure for feeding the separated individual mailpieces along a feed path; a mechanism, positioned along the feed path, for detecting the presence of stamps on individual mailpieces; a printing mechanism having a plurality of digital printheads; a control, in communication with the detecting mechanism, for operating the printing mechanism to print a cancellation mark over stamps on individual mailpieces in response to detection by the detecting mechanism of the presence of stamps on individual mailpieces; and apparatus for determining the number of rows of stamps on individual mailpieces and for selectively energizing only the individual ones of the plurality of digital printheads needed to ensure that the cancellation mark is printed over each of the sensed number of rows of stamps on individual mailpieces. A method is associated with the apparatus.

Postage cancellation machines, such as the one described in the U.S. Pat. No. 3,027,830, have been utilized for many years by postal authorities to print a cancellation mark on top of stamps attached to mailpieces. Typically, the cancellation mark is applied by bringing an inked cancellation die into contact with the stamps. The ink cancellation mark provides a visual indication that the stamps have already been used to pay for postage and thus cannot be used again on a subsequent mailpiece. In operation, the cancellation machine utilizes photoelectric scanning devices to detect postage stamps having phosphorescent material or fluorescent material incorporated therein. That is, the photoelectric scanning devices illuminate the luminescent material in the stamp so that, in turn, the luminescent material emits light back to the photoelectric scanning devices. The presence of stamps is indicated if the photoelectric scanning devices sense the light emitted by the stamp. If a stamp is detected, the mailpiece is transported to the cancellation die where the cancellation mark is applied in a known manner.
In prior art cancellation machines however, the ability to automatically separate, transport, and cancel stamps on individual pieces of mail from a stack of "mixed mail" could not effectively be accomplished. The term "mixed mail" is used herein to mean sets of intermixed mailpieces of varying size (postcards to 9" by 12" flats), thickness, and weight. In addition, the term "mixed mail" also includes stepped mail (i.e. an envelope containing therein an insert which is smaller than the envelope to create a step in the envelope), tab and untabbed mail products, and mailpieces made from different substrates. It was found that when attempting to automatically process sets of mixed mail through the cancellation machine, the mail often stalled in transport or double pieces of mail were transported together instead of individual mailpieces. Thus, it was not possible to effectively and reliably separate the individual pieces of mail on a consistent basis in order to ensure that a cancellation mark was placed on each individual mailpiece. Accordingly, it was typical to process stacks of the same size of mailpieces through the cancellation machine and to print the cancellation mark on these same size mailpieces. Naturally, to cancel mail in this manner required a great deal of human intervention since the incoming mailpieces had to be sorted by size and stacked in the cancellation machine for processing with other mailpieces of the same size.


A method and system for managing business transactions, such as mortgages or other financial transactions. A business transaction between an end user and a financial institution includes sub-transactions between the end user and a vendor. A software system performs functions to complete the business transaction. Automated ordering allows an end user to quickly and easily order a sub-transaction without input from the financial institution or the vendor, and also automatically orders sub-transactions upon satisfaction of a trigger event. Vendor management functionality allows a financial institution to manage the transactions of a vendor. Qualitative performance analysis functionality allows an end user to monitor and evaluate a vendor's price, turn-around time, quality score, and overall score. Vendor distribution functionality distributes sub-transactions among vendors. Vendor management company functionality allows a vendor management company—a vendor that outsources some or all of its sub-transactions to independent service providers—to effectively use the system.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and system for managing business transactions that require goods or services from multiple vendors, and in particular to a method and system for providing a banking transaction to an individual while managing sub-transactions with one or more vendors.
2. Background of the Technology
There exist in the art paper-based methods and systems for completing financial transactions, such as providing mortgages, but these systems are typically slow and costly. Computer-implemented systems to manage financial transactions are also known, but these systems typically do not contain functionality to manage each step in the lifespan of a financial transaction. In particular, they do not provide functionality to initiate or track sub-transactions that are necessary for the completion of a financial transaction.
There is an unmet need in the art for methods and systems for the management of financial transactions, that include functionality to manage sub-transactions. A sub-transaction, also interchangeably referred to herein as an order or a product, relates to goods or services being provided during the life of the transaction, and sub-transactions help to define parameters of the transaction or otherwise bring the transaction to completion. For example, a financial institution or other company (also interchangeably referred to herein as a customer), such as a mortgage company, wishes to make a transaction with an end user. For example, the transaction may be providing a mortgage, and the end user may be an individual or business. The transaction may require the completion of one or more sub-transactions. One example of such a sub-transaction is a home inspection. Sub-transactions include transactions between the end user and a vendor, such as an inspection company, which has a service agreement with the financial institution. Sub-transactions also include, for example, transactions between the end user and the financial institution, between the financial institution and a vendor, or between a vendor and another party, such as an independent service provider.
There is an unmet need in the art for automated vendor distribution functionality that enables a financial institution or another requesting party to automate the distribution of sub-transactions to select vendors. There is a further need to provide order tracking and order management functionality. There is also a need to create a system that is tailored to the needs of a vendor management company. A vendor management company, also interchangeably referred to herein as a network vendor, is a vendor which itself outsources some or all sub-transactions to local independent contractors or service providers.


The device outputs, to a display device, display information on a symbol which is to be moved and displayed; acquires a face image of a subject which has been captured by an image capturing device at a capturing timing while the display device displays the symbol; detects, from the face image, a line-of-sight position; determines that the subject of the face image is a living body when one or more prescribed conditions including a case in which the line-of-sight position matches a display position of the symbol at the image-capturing timing are all satisfied; and outputs an authentication result indicating success of the authentication when the subject is determined to be a living body and the biometric authentication is successful, and outputs an authentication result indicating failure of the authentication when the subject is determined not to be a living body or when the biometric authentication fails.

In order to prevent an unauthorized use such as spoofing when biometric authentication including face authentication is performed, a biometric authentication device needs to determine whether input information is actually biometric information.
As a biometric determination method, there are methods such as a method of blink detection, a method of tilting a face in an instructed order (PTL 1), and a method of changing an expression, for example. However, in these methods, an unauthorized use is possible by preparing a moving image of a user who is blinking, preparing a plurality of pictures of a face and an expression in a direction based on a pattern to be instructed, and the like.
Further, there is a method of preventing an unauthorized use with a picture and a moving image by detecting irregularities of a face by three dimensions (3D) scanning, but special equipment is necessary for scanning.
Further, there is a method of ensuring security by two element authentication using both an integrated circuit (IC) card and a password in addition to face authentication, but storing a password and carrying an IC card are necessary, and thus convenience of a user decreases.
In contrast, methods described in PTLs 2 and 3 detect a line of sight of a user, and perform a biometric determination. In these methods, special equipment is unnecessary for scanning. Further, since the storing and the carrying are unnecessary, convenience of a user can be improved.
For example, the method described in PTL 2 detects a line-of-sight direction of a user, and also displays, on a display unit, an image indicating a type of the line-of-sight direction. Then, whether a user is a living body is determined by whether the detected line-of-sight direction is an authentication permission line-of-sight direction.
Further, the method described in PTL 3 displays, on a presentation information display unit, presentation information to be presented to a user, and also detects information about a time change in line of sight from a face image sequence. Then, a possibility that a face represented in the face image sequence is spoofing is determined based on the information about the time change in line of sight with respect to the presentation information.

Biometric authentication device, method and recording medium


A reaction tube includes a resealable cap containing a lens. The body of the tube is translucent to admit spectrographic analysis light to pass through an internal reactant and to be collected by the lens eliminating the need to open the tube and expose the reactants to contamination from atmospheric agents during spectrographic analysis. The material of the tube is selected to permit necessary heating and centrifuging needed in DNA/RNA/protein reactions synthesis applications and to corral the reactants along a predetermined optical axis.

The present invention relates to lab-ware suitable for containing chemical reactants during processing and in particular to a reaction vessel that may remain sealed during spectroscopic or other optical absorptiometry measurements.
In genetic research, RNA (ribonucleic acid) synthesis reactions may be conducted, during which, it is imperative that the RNA be shielded from the RNA destroying enzyme RNase. The RNase enzyme operates catalytically, that is, it is not consumed in the reaction which destroys the RNA, thus even small amounts of RNase can wreak havoc on the RNA being synthesized. Accordingly, lab-ware used in such experiments must be carefully cleaned to ensure it is free from RNase and the reactants must be shielded from the environment, including the atmosphere, in which naturally occurring RNase abounds.
Typically, during RNA synthesis reactions, it is necessary to sample the reactants to determine whether the desired levels of concentration of RNA have been reached. This may be done by removing a small sample of the reactants and placing it in an ultraviolet spectrometer to measure the absorption of ultraviolet light in wavelengths from 260 to 280 nm. Ideally, a small amount of sample is removed for measurement and then diluted to the necessary volume needed to occlude the spectrometer beam. The dilution and the exposure of the sample to contamination prevents the sample from being returned to the reacting vessel after measurement has been made. The preparation of the sample is time consuming and cumbersome, wastes valuable reactant and exposes the reactants to environmental contamination.


A support device for supporting at least one medical wire adjacent a supporting surface. The support device comprises a plate-shaped holder portion defining a peripheral edge, the holder portion comprising a support slot defining a loading opening made in the peripheral edge of the holder portion, a holder well made transversely in the holder portion spacedly from its peripheral edge, and a channel made transversely in the holder portion and extending between the holder well and the loading opening. The holder well is dimensioned such that it is broader than the medical wire the support device is destined to support. The support device further comprises attachment means connected to the holder portion for attaching the support device to the supporting surface.

Guidewires and catheters are used in a variety of different medical procedures, for example during angiographic, endovascular or surgical procedures. For example, guidewires are used to position catheters in a lumen of a patient body, such as the patient's vasculature for example. When guidewires are used in such medical procedures, a leading end portion of the guidewire is normally introduced into the patient's body through a naturally occurring orifice, or an incision, or the like. After having been introduced into the patient's body, the leading end portion of the guidewire is navigated through body lumens until a leading end of the guidewire is positioned at an area of interest. A catheter can then be slipped around the pre-positioned guidewire, inserted and navigated in the patient's lumens towards the area of interest while sliding around and being guided by the pre-positioned guidewire. Accordingly, support device 10 can be self-standing.
A guidewire positioned in the patient's lumens can be used for positioning more than one catheter in the patient. Indeed, once a given catheter has been utilized to serve its particular function, it can be pulled out of the patient's body, and another catheter having a different function can be slipped around and slid along the pre-positioned guidewire, in order to reach the area of interest in the patient's lumens.
After the catheter-surrounded guidewire is appropriately positioned within the patient's body, a loose trailing end portion thereof typically extends out of the patient's body from its point of entry. It has been found that the loose trailing end portion of the guidewire extending outside the patient's body can be difficult to manage and can disturb the medical staff performing the medical intervention. This is especially true when more than one guidewire is being used during the medical procedure.
Therefore, the use of means for supporting the trailing end of guidewires and catheters during medical procedures is desirable. Devices for supporting the trailing end of guidewires and catheters exist, but lack versatility.

Support device for guidewires and catheters and method of use thereof


A cartridge for a disk drive has a rigid shell with a keying ear and two keying grooves. The keying ear is located on the rounded front at one corner between the top and bottom surfaces of the cartridge shell. The ear cooperates with a projection located in the drive along the drive receiving slot. The keying grooves are along the top and bottom edges of one side of the cartridge. These groves mate with projections on the cartridge receiving slot in the drive. One of the grooves extends deeper into one planar surface of the cartridge than the other grove. Both keys prevent insertion of the cartridge with any other orientation of the cartridge than the correct orientation.

Magnetic disk drives which write and read digital data from flexible magnetic disks have been extensively used. "Floppy disk drives" have been extensively used for small, so-called microcomputer systems, for word processing applications and the like. The flexible disk cartridge includes a relatively thin, flexible jacket which is inserted into the floppy disk drive.
"Bernoulli" disk drives having performance characteristics similar to that of fixed disk drives, but with removable cartridges, have been used. A flexible magnetic disk is enclosed in a rigid box which is normally completely closed. U.S. Pat. No. 4,400,748-Bauck, et al and related patents to the common assignee show such drives using Bernoulli stabilized flexible disks. U.S. Pat. No. 4,901,173-Jones et al and related patents to a common assignee, show improvements which relate to so-called "half height" drives.
Rigid disk drives, such as the IBM 3350, usually have a fixed rigid magnetic media. The magnetic heads do not contact the magnetic surface, but ride on a thin film of air. Because of this, and other features, these disk drives are capable of extremely precise and high speed operation. This type of disk drive is commonly referred to as a "Winchester" drive. Rigid disks enclosed in a rigid, removable cartridge, or shell have also been used. U.S. Pat. No. 4,864,452-Thompson, et al is an example of such a drive.
Winchester drives utilize a rigid magnetic media for recording the desired data. This is different from the flexible media found in Bernoulli drives. The JAZ.TM. drive sold by the assignee of the present invention uses such rigid media and Winchester type heads in data storage drives.
The particular shape of the cartridge visually identifies to the user that it can be inserted into the intended drive. However, this shape allows other similar sized cartridges to be inserted.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,768,074 (Ser. No. 08/752,823) shows a cartridge for use with the JAZ.TM. Drive sold by Iomega Corp., assignee of the present applicant. The JAZ.TM. cartridge shown in this patent has keying slots which prevent improper insertion of the cartridge. Most removable cartridge drives (magnetic and optical) typically use approximately the same form factor cartridges, i.e., 3.5", 5.25", etc. Hence if one of these cartridges is inserted into the cartridge slot of a non-mating drive there is a high probability that either the drive (heads, load mechanism, electronics, etc.) or the data on the disk could be damaged.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,218,503 Martin and 5,280,403-Martin describe a disk drive with a cartridge which has a beveled edge. The beveled edge is compatible with a slanted portion of the disk drive in order to ensure that the cartridge is inserted into the drive in the proper orientation and that the cartridge is properly inserted in the drive, so that the heads can be unloaded onto the disk. U.S. Pat. No. 5,262,918-Tannert shows a cartridge having a door opening groove and a guide groove. The guide groove cooperates with an interlocking recess in the drive to center the position and hold the cartridge in the drive.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,398,141-Tannert and 5,422,775-Martin show hard disk cartridges and drives having 2.5" and 3.5" form factors respectively. These patents, assigned to SyQuest Technology, Inc., show cartridges having a square front. The SyJet cartridge sold by SyQuest.RTM. has a rounded front with "ears" on both sides.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,583,710-Nicklos, shows a disk drive having an automatic spindle motor loading mechanism that for the JAZ.TM. drive sold by Iomega, Corp., assignee of the present applicant. The JAZ.TM. drive shown in this patent as used for writing and reading data to and from a disk contained in a cartridge. The cartridge is inserted through an opening into the disk drive which includes a motor ring ratably mounted in the disk drive and a spindle motor for rotating the disk. The spindle motor is mounted in the motor ring such that rotation of the motor ring moves the spindle motor into and out of engagement with the hub of the disk cartridge. A position transducer provides an output signal indicating the essential position of the motor ring. A load/eject motor controls the rotation of the motor ring in response to the output signal from the position transducer.
A problem arises when the storage capacity of cartridges used in such drives is increased. With this increase, it is desirable that the new data storage drives will accommodate earlier disk cartridges. The new drive is capable of operating on prior cartridges having smaller data capacity. However, the converse is not true, the old data storage drives can not operate on the new data storage cartridges. This "backwards" compatibility is made possible by the present invention.

Data storage cartridge and drive with an interlock


In a process for producing a three-dimensional photohardened object by forming a layer of photocurable resin composition containing a photocurable liquid, a filler and a photoinitiator, photohardening at least a portion of this layer by exposing it to actinic radiation, and thereafter repeating the process of forming thereabove a new layer of photocurable resin composition and photohardening at least a portion of this layer by exposing it to actinic radiation, the property of the photocurable resin composition to become level can be improved by adding phosphoric acid ester of a specified structure at a specified rate.

This invention relates to a method of providing a leveling property to photocurable resin composition layers in a production process of three-dimensional objects by photohardening.
Japanese Patent Publication Tokkai 62-101408 and European Patent Publication EPA 250121 disclosed a method of forming a layer of photocurable resin composition containing a photocurable liquid and a photoinitiator, photohardening at least a portion of this layer by exposing it to actinic radiation such as an ultraviolet laser beam, thereafter repeating the process of forming thereabove a new layer of photocurable resin composition and photohardening at least a portion of this layer by exposing it to actinic radiation, and thereby forming a three-dimensional photohardened single object from continuous layers of photocurable resin composition. As disclosed in Japanese Patent Publications Tokko 6-61848 and 6-61849, photocurable resin compositions containing different kinds of fillers are also used in such a production process of three-dimensional objects for limiting the depth of invasion by the actinic radiation or for improving the physical properties of the obtained three-dimensional photohardened objects.
In such a production process of a three-dimensional photohardened object, it is important to make the surface of the photocurable resin composition layer sufficiently smooth (or to level it) before it is exposed to actinic radiation. It is because, if the layer surface is not sufficiently leveled and hence is uneven, the degree and extent of photohardening cannot be constant, depending on the position of the exposed photocurable resin composition, and this affects significantly the physical properties and shape precision of the three-dimensional object thus formed. Such a leveling process is particularly important when photocurable resin compositions containing fillers are used. The presence of a filler alone affects the leveling property of a photocurable resin composition adversely. In certain cases, the photocurable resin composition may totally lose its leveling or smoothing property.
In the past, mechanical means such as a doctor blade have been used to level the surface of a photocurable resin composition. In the case of a photocurable resin composition containing a filler, however, its layer cannot be smoothed or leveled by such mechanical means alone. It is therefore a common practice at the present time to wait for a long time for natural leveling to take place after a processing by a mechanical means. It now goes without saying that it affects the workability and productivity adversely if one has to wait for such a long time. If an actinic radiation beam is applied after waiting only a short time before the photocurable resin composition layer becomes sufficiently leveled, however, the physical properties and shape precision of the three-dimensional object thus formed become poor, as explained above. In particular, photocurable resin compositions without any leveling property cannot be used for the production of a three-dimensional object at all.
For leveling a photocurable resin composition layer containing a filler, a method of adding a photocurable monomer with a low molecular weight as a constituent photocurable liquid of the photocurable resin composition so as to reduce the overall viscosity, a method of reducing the relative content of the filler and methods of selecting the kinds of filler may be considered, but these methods alone cannot make it possible to obtain three-dimensional objects with required physical properties and shape precision, and the leveling property can be provided only to a limited extent.

Method of providing leveling property to photocurable resin composition layers in production process of three-dimensional objects by photohardening


A window covering comprises an upper rail, a window shade located below the upper rail, a lower rail located below the window shade, a first clamping assembly and a second clamping assembly located at two sides of the lower rail and spaced from each other, and a cord winding assembly located in the lower rail to connect to the first clamping assembly and the second clamping assembly. A first cord and a second cord run through two opposite sides of the window shade to fasten to the cord winding assembly. The lower rail can be moved upwards or downwards by a user to retract or expand the window shade through the first and second cord. Besides, the distal ends of the first and second cords can be hidden in the cord winding assembly in the lower rail, thus can prevent the cords from entangling children to avoid accidents.

There are numerous types of window coverings available on the market, such as Venetian blinds, pleated window shades, Roman shades and the like. They are mainly installed on doors and windows of houses to meet different consumers' requirements such as blocking sunshine and providing decoration function.
The general window covering has cords that can be lifted upwards and downwards to control retraction and extension thereof. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 7,373,965 discloses a window covering 10 that mainly comprises a seat 11, a control switch 12 and a cord assembly 13, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. The cord assembly 13 has cords 131 converged to run through a bottom hole of the seat 11, an aperture on an anchor member of the control switch 12, and an opening of a depressing member 121 of the control switch 12, so that a lower end of each cord 131 are converged below the seat 11 and movements of the cords 131 can be controlled by the control switch 12. During retraction of the window covering 10 a user has to press the depressing member 121 of the control switch 12 with one hand and pull the lower end of each cord 131 with another hand to finish retraction of the window covering 10 (referring to FIG. 3). However, after retraction a lengthy portion of the cords 131 are exposed without a winding or concealing design. They could easily become a playing object of children and result in the risk of strangling the children.


Electronic processing systems and methods for collaborating between vehicular threat detection appliances. One system includes a memory, a transceiver, an electronic processor, and a first vehicular 360-degree threat detection appliance that is physically coupled to a first vehicle. The electronic processor is configured to identify a portion of the first vehicular 360-degree threat detection appliance having an obstructed field-of-view. The electronic processor is also configured to detect a second vehicular 360-degree threat detection appliance that is physically coupled to a second vehicle and has an unobstructed field-of-view of the obstructed field-of-view. The electronic processor is further configured to transmit a request to the second vehicular 360-degree threat detection appliance to provide threat detection coverage for the first vehicle in a direction of the obstructed field-of-view. The electronic processor is also configured to temporarily disable the portion of the first vehicular 360-degree threat detection appliance that has the obstructed field-of-view.

First responders and other types of users, such as private security personnel, may be under a constant threat of physical harm and safety based on their position and function. This is especially true when the first responder is within or nearby his or her vehicle and has his or her attention focused on other activities, such as writing incident reports, researching case or offender information via personal or vehicular electronic devices, or canvassing an incident scene for clues or evidence. As a result, the first responder may not be alert and may be more likely to inadvertently subject himself or herself to an unsafe situation.
Technologies exist to create virtual perimeters and to detect breaches of those perimeters, such as via video imaging and applied analytic techniques to warn of a breach of such a perimeter. For example, a perimeter may be established surrounding a vehicle and a breach of the perimeter detected by a motion sensing analytic operating on one or more imaging cameras positioned around the vehicle.
However, current technical solutions for vehicular threat detection focus on protecting a single vehicle and do not effectively collaborate with other threat detection systems of nearby vehicles to adapt to the dynamic nature of vehicles and the varying environments vehicles and their occupants may be subjected to. Furthermore, in order to be effective, a threat detection system must avoid false positive notifications and notify the first responder of a threat in a determined right way at a determined right time to avoid the feature from simply being turned off. However, current technical solutions are not dynamic enough to avoid such false positives and tend to over-notify or under-notify in various in-opportune contexts, and are not adaptable to varying electronically detectable events that may occur in and around vehicles.
Thus, there exists a need for an improved technical method, device, and system for collaborating between vehicular threat detection systems of multiple nearby vehicles.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the present disclosure.
The apparatus and method components have been represented where appropriate by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments of the present disclosure so as not to obscure the disclosure with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the description herein.

System and method for collaborating between vehicular 360 degree threat detection appliances


An opening and reclosing device for flexible containers, comprising a label having an adhesive face intended to be applied to a wall of the container in correspondence of a die-cut area thereof. The adhesive face is formed with two side-by-side sections the first of which is intended to detachably overlay the wall of the container along the die-cut area, and the second of which is constituted by a bi-adhesive strip which is detachable from the label and intended to permanently adhere to the wall of the container (1) in proximity of the die-cut area.

More particularly, the invention refers to an opening and reclosing device comprising an adhesive flexible member to be applied onto the outer surface of one container wall in correspondence of a die-cut thereof. An opening and reclosing device of this kind is generally known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,874,096 owned by the same Applicant.

Opening and closing device for flexible containers and container provided with such a device


An image forming unit includes an image supporting member for forming a latent image; a developer supporting member for attaching developer to the latent image to develop the latent image; a developer supply member facing the developer supporting member for supplying the developer to the developer supporting member; and a first developer pushing member facing the developer supply member to be freely rotatable for supplying the developer to the developer supply member. The first developer pushing member includes a first rod member disposed substantially in parallel to the developer supply member, so that the rod member moves close to the developer supply member equal to or more than 2.50 times when the developer supply member rotates one rotation.

The present invention relates to an image forming unit and an image forming apparatus.
In a conventional image forming apparatus such as a printer, a copier, and a facsimile, an image is formed through the following process. First, a charge roller uniformly and constantly charges a surface of a photosensitive drum. An exposure device such as an LED head exposes the surface of the photosensitive drum to form a static latent image or a latent image thereon. A developing roller develops the static latent image to form a toner image. A transfer roller transfers the toner image to a sheet. After transferring the toner image, the sheet is transported to a fixing device, so that the fixing device fixes the toner image to the sheet. In the process, after transferring the toner image, part of the toner image may remain on the photosensitive drum, and a cleaning device removes the remaining toner.
A toner image supply roller is disposed to abut against the developing roller for supplying toner to the developing roller. A toner supply paddle is disposed at an upstream side of the developing roller to be freely rotatable in a cycle for supplying toner to the toner supply roller. An image forming unit (developing device) is formed of the photosensitive drum, the charge roller, the developing roller, the toner supply roller, the toner supply paddle, the cleaning device, and the like (refer to Patent Reference).
Patent Reference: Japanese Patent Publication No. 2005-172842
In the conventional image forming apparatus described above, when an image is formed continuously or a continuous printing operation is performed, it is possible to prevent a blurred portion. However, it is difficult to prevent visible fog in a white portion of a sheet, thereby deteriorating print quality.
In view of the problems described above, an object of the present invention is to provide an image forming unit and an image forming apparatus, in which it is possible to solve the problems of the conventional image forming unit and improve print quality.
Further objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the invention.

Developing device with paddle member and image forming apparatus


A method for implementing a layout of an integrated circuit containing an OP (operational amplifier) is disclosed. The method includes constructing an output path connecting an output terminal of the OP to an output pad of the OP; and constructing a feedback path connecting an input terminal of the OP to an element of the OP, the element lying in an area covering the output pad, in which a minimum distance between the element and the output pad is less than a tenth of length of the feedback path. The present invention also provides an integrated circuit device produced through the method.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an integrated circuit layout method, and more particularly to a method for implementing the layout of an integrated circuit containing an operational amplifier.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Operational amplifiers are among the most widely used electronic devices today, being used in a vast number of consumer, industrial, and scientific devices. An operational amplifier (hereinafter OP) is a DC-coupled high-gain electronic voltage amplifier with differential input terminals and, usually, a single output terminal. In its ordinary usage as a unit-gain buffer, the output of the OP is controlled by negative feedback which, because of the amplifier's high gain, almost completely determines the output voltage for any given input.
FIG. 1A shows a plan view illustrating a source driver layout 2. As shown in FIG. 1A, the source driver 10 includes two areas: core area 12 and pad area 14. The core area 12 is the area where some digital/analog circuits located for pixel driving. There are pads 16 disposed on the pad area 14 and used to electrically connect inputs/outputs of the digital/analog circuits in the core area 12 to external circuits.
FIG. 1B shows a plan view illustrating the core area 12 of the source driver in FIG. 1A. As shown in FIG. 1B, there are plural channels 18 and output buffets disposed in the core area 12. Each output buffer is exemplified by OP 20. Each of the channels 18 is electrically connected to the non-inverting input terminal of the OP 20. The inverting input terminal of the OP 20 is connected to the output of the OP 20.
FIG. 1C shows a schematic diagram illustrating a conventional layout pattern 10 of a part of the source driver. The layout pattern 10 includes an OP main body 20, an output pad 16 and an output path 111. The OP main body 20 includes the inverting input terminal 101, the non-inverting input terminal (not shown) and an output terminal 102 connected to the output pad 16 via the output path 111. The output terminal 102 connects to the inverting input terminal 101 via the feedback path 112. Although not explicitly specified in the figure, the OP main body 20 may further contain other elements such as elements for input stage as well as elements for output stage. The OP main body 20, the inverting input terminal 101 and the output terminal 102 are disposed within the core area 12, while the output pad 16 is disposed in the pad area 14. The output path 111 is disposed in the core area 12 and the pad area 14 both, while the feedback path 112 is disposed inside the OP 20.
FIG. 1D shows the equivalent circuit 10E corresponding to the layout pattern 10 in FIG. 1C. The circuit 10E includes an OP 100E, a first resistor R111, a second resistor R112 and the output pad N103. The OP 100E, the inverting input node 101E, the output node N102, the output pad N103, the first resistor R111 and the second resistor R112 in the equivalent circuit 10E are respectively equivalent to the OP main body 20, the inverting input terminal 101, the output terminal 102, the output pad 103, the output path 111 and the feedback path 112 in the layout pattern 10. As shown in FIG. 1D, the input voltage Gin, the feedback voltage Gfd and the output voltage Gout are the voltage respectively disposed at the non-inverting input node 101P, the output node N102 and the output pad N103. Referring to both FIG. 1C and FIG. 1D, it can be noted from the equivalent circuit 10E that the feedback path 112 forms a feedback path for the OP to operate in a feedback mode. As shown in FIG. 1D, the input voltage (Gin) in OP 100E is equal to the voltage (Gfd) in the output node N102. However, the voltage (Gfd) in the output node N102 is not equal to the voltage (Gout) in the output path because of the existence of the first resistor R111. Therefore, the output voltage (Gout) of the OP 100E is not equal to the input voltage (Gin) of the OP 100E. Because the input voltage is not equal to the output voltage in OP 100E, it would affect the display result of the display panel.
An OP typically functions as a voltage follower to drive, i.e., to provide a sufficient current and a steady voltage for, the next stage circuit. Practically, however, any routing path formed in an integrated circuit layout, such as the output path 111 or the feedback path 112 shown in FIG. 1C, possesses more or less resistance. Such resistance generally renders a voltage drop across the routing path and thus results in an output voltage offset or deviation. To a certain extent, the conventional routing scheme shown in FIG. 1C suffers from such output voltage offset problem, since the output path 111 usually runs a long way between the output terminal 102 lying in the OP main body 20 and the output pad 103 such that the resistance thereof is not small enough to be neglected. If the OP 20 in FIG. 1B is designed to provide a current I for the next stage circuit, for example, then a voltage drop V=I*R will arise when the resistance of the first resistor R111 (corresponding to the output path 111) is R. Therefore, the different lengths of the plural output paths 111 of the plural OPs 20 result in different output characteristics at the output pads 16.
A way for resolving the foregoing problem is therefore desired.

Implementing layout of integrated circuit containing operational amplifier


A new Pelargonium plant named ‘PEQZ0007’ particularly distinguished by the large light red-purple flowers with a bold red-purple large-sized splash pattern, fairly large inflorescences, relatively long peduncles, medium green foliage without zonation, good branching and rounded plant habit.

The present invention comprises a new Pelargonium, botanically known as Pelargonium interspecific, and hereinafter referred to by the variety name 'PEQZ0007'.
'PEQZ0007' is a product of a planned breeding program. The new cultivar 'PEQZ0007' has large light red-purple flowers with a bold red-purple large-sized splash pattern, fairly large inflorescences, relatively long peduncles, medium green foliage without zonation, good branching and rounded plant habit.
'PEQZ0007' originates from a hybridization made in September 2007 in a greenhouse in Gilroy, Calif. The female parent was an unpatented, proprietary plant identified as '10536-1' with white flowers with a slight splash pattern and the flower size and splash pattern is smaller when compared to 'PEQZ0007'.
The male parent of 'PEQZ0007' was an unpatented, proprietary plant, identified as '10499-1' with pink flowers with a splash pattern. 'PEQZ0007' is more free flowering and has a more rounded plant habit when compared to '10499-1'. The resultant seed was sown in August 2008.
'PEQZ0007' was selected as one flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross in November 2008 in a greenhouse in Gilroy, Calif.
The first act of asexual reproduction of 'PEQZ0007' was accomplished when vegetative cuttings were propagated from the initial selection in November 2008 in a greenhouse in Gilroy, Calif.


An electrical energy management system (100) for a more electrical vehicle is provided. The electrical energy management system (100) includes a vehicle operation system (120) for controlling operation of the more electrical vehicle; an electrical system (140) for controlling electrical power generation, conversion, distribution and aero system utilities of the more electrical vehicle; a first controller (102); and a second controller (104) redundant to the first controller (102). The second controller (104) is coupled to the first controller (102) via an inter-controller data bus (106). Each of the first and second controllers (102, 104) is coupled to the vehicle operation system (120) via a vehicle data bus (108). Each of the first and second controllers (102, 104) is coupled to the electrical system (140) via a local data bus (110). The first and second controllers (102, 104) process same data in a first operation mode and process different data in a second operation mode.

"More electric" vehicle architectures have been proposed to shift the primary sources used for systems and services from pneumatic (engine bleed) and hydraulic sources to electric sources. Main challenges for supporting MEA ("More Electric Aircrafts") include not only the complexity of the level of electrical system control and coordination necessary to make the MEA workable but also envisioning technologies which meet the safety/reliability requirements of such a complex platform to be certifiable. A main concern is the fact that prior to MEA platforms, electrical power systems have historically used a distributed control scheme using a combination of electronic units and electromechanical logic to carry out the necessary functionality for electrical power distribution, protection and load management. Within this type of control scheme, the bus power controls were simple, with low criticality single channel logical controllers designed to augment existing control between the other federated system control units. The overall interaction between electrical system line replaceable units (LRU's) was limited, with the approach favoring autonomous control units that were indifferent to subtleties occurring elsewhere in the electrical system or the aircraft for that matter.
The advent of the MEA has created a situation whereby the traditional methods of electrical system control lack the sophistication necessary for the MEA. Not only is this due to the complex, critical control and protection functions being performed by the electrical power system but also the fact that the system should be able to communicate between a greater number of LRU's in order to ensure proper coordination of events. These LRU's are not only in the electrical system but also include other ATA chapter LRU's. In order to accommodate this high volume of communications and interactivity, the system design should employ high-speed processor based controls and data bus communications. Furthermore, the design should be highly flexible to account for future requirements that will only become evident as the development process of the MEA continues.
Hardware solutions based upon analog, discrete digital or even FPGA implementations of the past do not likely satisfy the flexibility and response time expected for such MEA platforms. Study of current and future aircraft equipment configurations has demonstrated that most systems on the MEA are linked in some way to the electrical power system. Therefore, as a result of the MEA, the electrical power system has become safety critical or at the very least essential to the proper functioning of systems which have traditionally had no dependency upon electricity. The key functions defining the safety of aircraft flight such as thrust, lift, stability, guidance, communications, life support and others are now significantly affected by the derivation or availability of electric power. The ability for the electrical system to perform complex management, test and reporting functions within a highly integrated aircraft environment will likely surpass any individual technology as the single largest risk factor for establishing the MEA as a viable air vehicle solution.

Electrical energy management system on a more electric vehicle


A precast, concrete building unit which is especially adaptable as a target house formed from concrete pour comprising a horizontal floor adaptable for placement on a subgrade, and vertical walls extending upright from the perimeter of the floor and precast integrally therewith. One or more inserts is imbedded in the concrete pour in the marginal walls of at least two of the opposed, vertical walls, and is adaptable for accepting a removable fastening element for releasable engagement with the embedded insert to facilitate lifting and handling. At least one recess is formed in the marginal walls of at least two opposed vertical walls. A roof is precast as a separate unit from concrete pour, and is provided with a downwardly depending fastening element for registry with the recesses as the roof is positioned over the walls so as to join or attach the roof with the walls to form an integral building unit. The roof is provided with transverse holes for registry with each of the inserts, and to accommodate the removable fastening element extendable through the hole and into engagement with the insert. An opening is provided in one of the walls to allow for access to the interior of the building unit.

Precast concrete structures offer economy, flexibility, and reliability, and today are commonplace. For example, precast concrete applications include wall panels, floor slabs, pilings, columns, tunnel liners, and other structural and architectural components. The advantage with precast structures and components is that the units are produced in plant under close quality control that affect durability and strength. The precast item can be transported to the site and installed with a minimum of labor.
Precast, concrete building components as integrated sub-units are shown in the prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,606,878 shows a precast, concrete building unit with three integrated walls, and the fourth wall is later added to enclose the structure. Also, precast, concrete components of a building or housing are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,560,150 and in German Patent 2322920. It is important, however, that as many of the individual components as possible be precast as an integral unit. This criterion is especially true for a structure that rests directly on or is partially embedded in the ground, such as a target house for target shooting.
Target houses, such as a trap house, are made of cast masonry blocks, or more typically of separate precast, concrete components, namely, a floor slab, wall panels, and roof Each of the concrete components is poured separately at the site. That is, in constructing such a house, which is partially embedded or submerged in the ground and the components poured one at a time, first the floorslab is poured below the ground surface, the walls are then poured upright from the floor and extend above the ground surface, and lastly the roof is poured into the walls. Each component is poured on separate days, and it takes a minimum of three days to complete one unit. The joints between the slabs and panels are caulked, but this caulking is usually temporary. Not only must such structures be durable, but these structures must be resistant to deterioration from weather extremes. Further, the building unit must resist moisture penetration, and fungus, and must be pest and rot resistant. Caulking, weather stripping, flashing, and the like, do not provide a permanent or lasting protection. The problems and attempts to solve them are aggravated with a target house that is partially embedded or submerged in the ground.
This invention has, therefore, as its purpose to provide a precast, concrete target house that has the advantages of factory control, and the advantages of delivery of an integrated building unit to the site which can be installed promptly and with minimum labor.
It is another object of the invention to provide a precast, concrete target house that has no below ground surface joints that are susceptible to deterioration, separation, and damage.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide a precast, concrete target house that includes a precast pedestal, to serve as a mount for the firing machine, formed integrally with the building unit or house.
It is still another object of the invention to provide a precast, concrete target house that overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art houses.


This invention relates to a method and an apparatus of continuously producing a bean curd. A first soybean supply nozzle (21) is positioned on a belt conveyor (10) to supply soymilk up to a half of the thickness of the bean curd to be produced. A hopper unit (41) is provided to place garnishes (G) onto the soymilk being carried on the conveyor belt. Furthermore, a second soymilk supply nozzle is provided to supply additional soymilk over the soymilk with garnishes carried on the belt conveyor till a certain level. A solidifying process and a maturing process of the materials placed over the conveyor (10) progress along with time during the supply stages. Then what is obtained from these steps after solidification is a bean curd with garnish(es) center.

This invention relates to a method of continuously producing bean curd with a garnish placed therein (hereinafter also referred to as bean curd with garnish) and an apparatus to continuously producing the same.
A word "garnish (small amount of food to add flavor)" used throughout this application is little different from the word "garnish" in its ordinary sense as a garnish in its ordinary sense is added for a decoration purpose. However, the word "garnish" used in this specification is not used for a decoration purpose but for a purpose of adding extra flavor and taste.
In the field of bean curd production, it has been generally a common practice to produce the bean curd by a batch processing. More specifically, the method of producing the bean curd follows a steps in the order as follows: a container is filled with soymilk at a certain volume and then a certain amount of coagulant is added to mature and solidify the soymilk in the container. Thereafter, the soymilk in a solidified & matured state is placed in a water filled tank to cool down and subsequently the fully cooled down soybean is cut into pieces of desired shapes such as rectangular solid or cube.
The bean curd made according to the conventional method contains in essence soymilk with a coagulant; therefore, such bean curd does not have much of added value as a market product. In addition, since the conventional method uses a batch process, cutting down the production time of such bean curd has a limit. Consequently, there is room for improvement in terms of quality as a marketable product and a cut down of the production time.

Method for continuously producing bean curd with garnish wrapped therein


A system and method for determining the physical presence, proper electrical coupling and predetermined identifying characteristics and attributes of various computer system elements and components, including both fixed and removable modules such as field replaceable units ("FRUs"), utilizing a minimum number of signal lines per component. In a preferred embodiment, a voltage divider is established between a first resistance in an environmental monitoring unit ("EMU") and a second resistance in an associated FRU wherein a voltage level taken intermediate the first and second resistances is indicative of a particular FRU attribute.

The present invention relates, in general, to the field of computer systems and computer mass storage device controllers and subsystems. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system and method for determining the physical presence, proper electrical coupling and predetermined identifying characteristics and attributes of various computer system elements and components, including removable modules such as field replaceable units ("FRUs"), utilizing a minimum number of signal lines per component.
In a typical computer subsystem consisting of many fixed and removable system components such as FRUs, if a large number of signals and signal lines per device are required in order to obtain the component attributes, the total quantity of signals will ultimately represent a concomitant increase in the system cost. Moreover, a connector of sufficient size to handle such a large number of signal lines may not be either desirable or even possible in a given system.
Typical removable system components, collectively known as FRUs, are power supplies, logic cards, fans, cable interconnect modules, environmental monitoring modules, backplanes, computer mass storage devices such as disk drives and the like. In the past, identification of the various fixed and removable components in a system was done primarily by attaching labels directly to the devices themselves. As can be appreciated, it is not very practical for a system administrator or technician to manually read and record a large number of component labels to identify different types and revisions of the devices in a system. Customers and field service personnel have a real need to know what the system component attributes are as part of managing a system. It is, therefore, highly desirable to have the component information available for presentation to a remote site and to have the various component attributes accurately and automatically updated as the system is reconfigured.
For example, the component information is very useful in identifying all components of a particular revision or type and where they physically are located in the field. This is especially useful when a field recall or Field Change Order ("FCO") is necessary to correct a problem at customer locations with a particular FRU or other component. Moreover, the component attributes are also useful in managing the provision of valid system configurations. For example, if a particular power supply revision is required in order to provide higher power to a new disk drive, then it would be advantageous for the system to automatically identify that it is properly configured or that an invalid configuration exists. Monitoring, tracking and controlling product revision matrices are necessary and desirable attributes of any modern, high performance storage subsystem.
Heretofore, only relatively complex and costly methods have been considered in order to provide system component characteristics and attribute information through the use of a large number of discrete signal lines. An example of such a technique would be that 32 (2.sup.5) possible FRU revisions would require 5 binary encoded digital lines per FRU to present that information to the computer system. Likewise, if there were also 32 possible FRU types, another 5 binary encoded lines would be required per FRU to represent that information as well. To also present information as to whether or not a particular type and revision of FRU is actually physically present would require an additional 2 binary lines. Thus, a total of 12 monitoring lines per FRU would be required to present this information digitally while it is not even practical to provide information regarding whether or not the FRU monitoring lines themselves are fully functional. Moreover, in a typical enclosure having 6 FRUs, 12 monitoring lines per FRU would necessitate a total of 72 monitoring lines per enclosure.

System and method for determining attributes and coupling characteristics of components by comparatively observing provided reference signal


An address generator (10) adapted for use with a first address source (12) and a second address source (14). The inventive generator (10) includes a first circuit (18-36) for selectively applying the address provided by the first (12) or the second (14) address source to a memory (44) during a first clock cycle. A second circuit (46, 48) detects a selection of an address provided by an address source for application during successive clock cycles and provides a control signal in response thereto. A third circuit (38, 40) increments or decrements the address and a fourth circuit (42) applies the output of the third circuit to the memory (44) in response to the control signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to address generators. More specifically, the present invention relates address generators for high speed buffer memories.
2. Description of the Related Art
In certain applications, there is a need to communicate a considerable amount of data at high speed. When the data can not be handled at the transmission rate, it must be buffered or stored for later processing. Conventionally, large memories are used to provide a data buffer and several processors are used to feed data to the buffer memory. A priority scheme is then used to arbitrate access to the shared memory. At one time, each processor had its own pointer to memory. The pointer was implemented as a memory address stored in a register or a section of memory and used for reads or writes of data to memory. Unfortunately, the use of multiple pointers was found to be somewhat expensive. Accordingly, a scheme was developed by which the processors accessed the shared memory using a single pointer. Whether a read pointer or a write pointer is used, the pointer must be incremented to permit subsequent reads or writes.
The single pointer scheme works well so long as one processor is not granted access to the memory during successive clock cycles. When a single processor is granted access during successive read or write cycles, there is no time to increment the pointer due to the fact that the processor is ready for the memory access in a shorter time frame than would be the case if a different processor was granted access.
Hence, there is a need in the art for a system and technique for providing for access to a shared memory by a single processor during successive read or write cycles.


A wearable infusion device comprises a reservoir, an outlet port, and a pump. The device further comprises a medicament level indicator including a non-elastic, non-compressible, elongated web fixed at one end with respect to the reservoir. The web is arranged to move with linear movement as the reservoir is filled and emptied.

The present invention relates to infusion devices and more particularly to such devices that enable liquid medicaments to be conveniently and safely self-administered by a patient.
Tight control over the delivery of insulin in both type I diabetes (usually juvenile onset) and type II diabetes (usually late adult onset), has been shown to improve the quality of life as well as the general health of these patients. Insulin delivery has been dominated by subcutaneous injections of both long acting insulin to cover the basal needs of the patient and by short acting insulin to compensate for meals and snacks. Recently, the development of electronic, external insulin infusion pumps has allowed the continuous infusion of fast acting insulin for the maintenance of the basal needs as well as the compensatory doses (boluses) for meals and snacks. These infusion systems have shown to improve control of blood glucose levels. However, they suffer the drawbacks of size, cost, and complexity. For example, these pumps are electronically controlled and must be programmed to supply the desired amounts of basal and bolus insulin. This prevents many patients from accepting this technology over the standard subcutaneous injections.
Hence, there is a need in the art for a convenient form of insulin treatment which does not require significant programming or technical skills to implement to service both basal and bolus needs. Preferably, such a treatment would be carried out by an infusion device that is simple to use and mechanically driven negating the need for batteries and the like. It would also be preferable if the infusion device could be directly attached to the body and not require any electronics to program the delivery rates. The insulin is preferably delivered through a small, thin-walled tubing (cannula) through the skin into the subcutaneous tissue similar to technologies in the prior art.
While the idea of such a simple insulin delivery device is compelling, many obstacles must be overcome before such a device may become a practical realty. One problem resides in insulin supply. Patients vary greatly on the amount of insulin such a device must carry to provide treatment over a fixed time period of, for example, three days. This is one environment where one size does not fit all. Still further, such devices must be wearable with safety and not subject to possible accidental dosing. Still further, such devices must be capable of delivering an accurately controlled volume of medicament with reliability. While it is preferred that these devices include all of the forgoing features, it would be further preferred if the cost of manufacturing such a device would be economical enough so as to render the device disposable after use. As will be seen subsequently, the devices and methods described herein address these and other issues.

Disposable infusion device with medicament level indicator


Anchors, clutches, and lifting systems are described herein that increase the size of a shear cone within a precast concrete panel without using multiple clutches and without increasing the complexity of the lift system. A shear cone is the volume within the panel that the anchor and clutch pull on when orienting and positioning the precast concrete panel. Anchors described herein encompass a larger volume of the panel in different ways to produce a larger shear cone. Similarly, the clutches described herein have features that allow a clutch to accommodate the improved anchors. As a result, the anchors, clutches, and lifting systems provide a larger shear cone in the panel to increase the load capacity of the lifting system and reduce the likelihood of failure.

Certain pre-installed members for transmitting force and manipulating panels or structures, such as pre-formed concrete panels, are known in the art. Such devices and systems include, for example, the MeadowBurke® Rapid Lift and Super Lift systems. Prior art systems comprise, for example, anchors and lifting clutches as shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,905,063 to Kelly, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. An anchor is provided in the panel and a lifting system with a lifting clutch selectively connects to the anchor for aiding in manipulation of the panel. Such manipulation includes lifting, orienting, and positioning the panel, which is facilitated through features and devices as shown and described herein.
One issue with prior art anchors and lifting clutches is a limited shear cone of the precast concrete panel. The concrete shear cone is the portion of concrete around the insert/anchor that fails due to the concrete's inability to contain the stresses of the applied load. Generally, the shear cone starts at the distal ends of the anchor and expands toward the surface of the precast concrete panel. Another issue is that the solution of multiple anchors and multiple lifting clutches to distribute forces increases the complexity of the precast concrete panel and lifting system, and thus, increases costs and potential sources of failure.