A method for improving ground movement capability and enhancing stealth in unmanned aerial vehicles is provided. The present method comprises providing, in an unmanned aerial vehicle equipped with wheels, one or more onboard drive means capable of translating torque through the vehicle wheels and controllable to move the unmanned aerial vehicle on the ground without reliance on the unmanned aerial vehicle main motive power source. The onboard drive means is controllably powered by a power source with substantially no acoustic signature to move the unmanned aerial vehicle quietly on the ground with only a minimal audible or visible footprint. This method provides a significant expansion of ground movement capability and expands the potential ground uses of unmanned aerial vehicles, particularly in military applications. The present method can also be applied to move any manned aerial vehicle or aircraft on the ground with only minimal audible or visible footprints.

The use of unmanned aerial vehicles, commonly identified as UAVs, and identified by the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and international authorities as unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), has increased significantly in the last decade. A UAV is a powered aerial vehicle that does not carry a human operator, but may carry a wide range of a variety of sensing and communication devices, weapons of many kinds, cargo, and, rarely, people. There are, at present, many different available and proposed designs of UAVs. Some are programmed to fly autonomously, while others are piloted remotely. There are UAVs that are recovered for reuse and UAVs that are used for only a single operation, as well as UAVs that carry lethal or nonlethal payloads. Payloads can include everything from munitions to aerial surveillance equipment and the like. UAVs can range in size from the Micro Air Vehicles that weigh less than a pound to large aircraft that weigh more than 40,000 pounds and in cost from a few thousand U.S. dollars to tens of millions of U.S. dollars.
Although military applications account for the greatest usage of UAVs, an increasing number of civilian applications, such as, for example, conducting commercial aerial surveillance, performing geochemical, geophysical and geomagnetic surveys in connection with oil, gas, and mineral exploration and production, search and rescue missions, and remote environmental sensing, can also be conducted with the use of UAVs. A UAV may be used effectively and is increasingly preferred for both civilian and military missions or operations deemed too dangerous for humans to undertake in more conventional aerial vehicles, such as the attack and reconnaissance missions currently conducted by military UAVs. Single use UAVs, common in military applications, can also be useful for civilian applications.
Unlike a missile, a UAV is capable of controlled, sustained level flight and is powered by an engine, typically a jet engine, a reciprocating engine, or another type of propulsion system. While most UAVs are fixed wing aircraft, some employ rotors, or are hybrids with both fixed wings and rotors. The ability to take off and land vertically can increase the usefulness of a UAV. The range, altitude, speed, and endurance capabilities can vary widely for different types of UAVs, as can the degree of autonomous operation. UAVs are no longer likely to be only remotely controlled or remotely piloted, but, in addition, have sophisticated automated built-in control and/or guidance systems. Such systems are able to perform functions like speed and flight path stabilization and navigation. These control and/or guidance systems may also perform one or all of such functions as combining information from different sensors, coordinating communication in the presence of incomplete or imperfect information, determining an optimal path in accordance with objectives and/or constraints, and other required control strategies. An unmanned aerial system (UAS) that includes at least one UAV will also include one or more ground control stations, specialized data control links, and other related support equipment, such as, for example, the same control systems used in aerial and space applications.
Most unmanned aerial vehicles are provided with landing structures that may or may not include wheels capable of moving the UAV on the ground. Vertical take off and landing (VTOL) UAVs may be less likely to move on the ground between landing and take off and, therefore, are less likely to have wheels, but some VTOL UAVs do have wheels. Fixed wing UAVs, which are more likely to have wheels, presently require some kind of flat runway surface for wheeled take offs and landings. Currently neither VTOL nor fixed wing UAVs equipped with wheels are expected to move for very long distances on the ground and, as a result are capable of only very limited ground movement or ground transit. When wheeled UAVs must move on the ground, their movement is typically powered by the UAV's motive power source, which is usually some type of internal combustion engine that uses a standard aircraft or hybrid type of fuel. A conceptual VTOL type of UAV designed to conform to U.S. Air Force Special Operations Transport requirements that is capable of ground transit has been proposed by AirShip Technologies Group (www.AirShipTG.org). This proposed UAV will use an electric motor in-wheel drive train employing lithium-ion electric battery driven motors and a drive-by-wire system that will enable the driver to maneuver the wheels during ground movement. This system, which has not been built, appears intended to move a UAV only short distances on the ground, and its ability to improve UAV ground movement has not been demonstrated. The description of this vehicle, moreover, does not suggest how the improvements in ground travel and stealth achieved by the present invention could be produced.
A ram wing ground effect vehicle capable of limited flight that includes an undercarriage with wheels and an internal combustion engine driving a generator used to power electric motors at each wheel and a ducted fan to enable ground movement is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,860,620 to Wainfan et al. This arrangement allows the vehicle to move on the ground under battery power for short distances and gives the vehicle low acoustic and infrared (IR) signatures. Neither of the aforementioned vehicles, however, has been designed to travel in contact with a ground surface for an extended time period. Ground travel capability in these vehicles is significantly limited by available battery power, and it is not suggested either how or whether ground travel capability could or should be improved or enhanced in any way.
Moving a commercial aircraft on the ground during taxi by means other than the aircraft's main engines or turbines has been described in the art. In U.S. Pat. No. 7,445,178 to McCoskey et al and U.S. Pat. No. 7,226,018 to Sullivan, for example, systems able to move aircraft on the ground during taxi using wheel motors are described. U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,975,960 and 8,220,740 to Cox et al, owned in common with the present application, describe a nose wheel control apparatus capable of driving a taxiing aircraft independently on the ground. None of the foregoing art, however, suggests employing the devices or systems described therein in connection with an unmanned aerial vehicle to enhance the independent ground travel capability of a UAV or to enhance stealth in a UAV or any other type of aircraft.
The prior art, therefore, has not provided a method or system for improving ground travel capability in unmanned aerial vehicles or for enhancing stealth in UAVs and other aircraft.

Method for improving ground travel capability and enhancing stealth in unmanned aerial vehicles


Network interface circuitry for a secure one-way data transfer from a sender's computer (“Send Node”) to a receiver's computer (“Receive Node”) over a data link, such as an optical fiber or shielded twisted pair copper wire communication cable, comprising send-only network interface circuitry for transmitting data from the Send Node to the data link, and receive-only network interface circuitry for receiving the data from the data link and transmitting the received data to the Receive Node, wherein the send-only network interface circuitry is configured not to receive any data from the data link, and the receive-only network interface circuitry is configured not to send any data to the data link. The network interface circuitry may use various interface means such as PCI interface, USB connection, FireWire connection, or serial port connection for coupling to the Send Node and the Receive Node.

Protection of a computer or data network from undesired and unauthorized data disclosure, interception or alteration has been a perennial concern in the field of computer and network security. For example, firewall and anti-spyware software have been developed to address security concerns for computers and networks connected to the Internet and to protect them from possible cyberattacks such as Trojan horse-type viruses or worms that may trigger undesired and unauthorized data disclosure by these computers and networks. However, for high security computer networks such as those used by government agencies and intelligence communities and certain commercial applications, conventional network security devices such as firewalls may not provide sufficiently reliable protection from undesired data disclosure.
Alternative network security methods and devices have been devised to address the network security concern. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,703,562 to Nilsen ("the '562 patent"), the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety, provides an alternative way to address the network security concern. The '562 patent discloses a method of transferring data from an unsecured computer to a secured computer over a one-way optical data link comprising an optical transmitter on the sending side and an optical receiver on the receiving side. By providing such an inherently unidirectional data link to a computer/data network to be protected, one can eliminate any possibility of unintended data leakage out of the computer/data network over the same link.
One-way data transfer systems based on such one-way data links provide network security to data networks by isolating the networks from potential security breaches (i.e., undesired and unauthorized data flow out of the secure network) while still allowing them to import data from the external source in a controlled fashion. FIG. 1 schematically illustrates an example of one such one-way data transfer system. In the one-way data transfer system shown in FIG. 1, two computing platforms (or nodes) 1 and 2 (respectively, "the Send Node" and "the Receive Node") are connected to the unsecured external network 4 ("the source network") and the secure network 5 ("the destination network"), respectively. The Send Node is connected to the Receive Node by a one-way optical data link 3, which may comprise, for example, a high-bandwidth optical fiber. This one-way optical data link 3 may be configured to operate as a unidirectional data gateway from the source network 4 to the secure destination network 5 by having its ends connected to an optical transmitter on the Send Node and to an optical receiver on the Receive Node.
This configuration physically enforces one-way data transfer at both ends of the optical fiber connecting the Send Node to the Receive Node, thereby creating a truly unidirectional one-way data link between the source network 4 and the destination network 5 shown in FIG. 1. Unlike the conventional firewalls, one-way data transfer systems based on a one-way optical data link are designed to transfer data or information only in one direction and it is physically impossible to transfer data or information of any kind in the reverse direction. No information or data of any kind, including handshaking protocols such as those used in transfer protocols such as TCP/IP, SCSI, USB, Serial/Parallel Ports, etc., can travel in the reverse direction from the Receive Node back to the Send Node across the one-way data link. Such physically imposed unidirectionality in data flow cannot be hacked by a programmer, as is often done with firewalls. Accordingly, the one-way data transfer system based on a one-way optical data link ensures that data residing on the isolated secure computer or network is maximally protected from any undesired and unauthorized disclosure.
Typically, the computing platforms connected to a data network are personal computers or workstations. To implement a one-way data transfer system such as those discussed above, to achieve and maintain the unidirectionality of data flow over a one-way optical data link, the personal computer at the Send Node must be configured so that only the optical transmitter coupled to the Send Node interfaces one end of the one-way optical data link and, on the other hand, the personal computer at the Receive Node must be configured so that only the optical receiver coupled to the Receive Node interfaces the other end of the one-way optical data link.
However, constructing special purpose, "send-only" or "receive-only" computers with optical emitters or detectors permanently installed and hardwired therein may not be the most efficient and flexible way to construct and operate a one-way data transfer system. Such a system would require, for example, that one has to designate in advance which computers are going to be used permanently or semi-permanently as the Send Node and which ones as the Receiving Node. Once so configured, it would be difficult to upgrade or re-configure the computer host system without replacing the Send Node or the Receive Node. In other words, one does not have the desired flexibility in configuring and upgrading the integrated system with the special-purpose send-only and receive-only computers. Network administrators and users often need flexibility and may want to speedily configure any network computers with readily available off-the-shelf components, without having to order and wait for the special purpose Send-Only or Receive-Only computers.
It is an object of the present invention to overcome the above described and other shortcomings in permanent installation of optical transmitter/receivers in a Send/Receive Node by providing a more efficient and flexible interface means between a data link and computers for a Send Node and a Receive Node in a secure one-way data transfer system.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a secure one-way data transfer system based on an interface means between a data link and computing platforms for a Send Node and a Receive Node that is easy to install and configure.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a secure one-way data transfer system based on an interface means between a data link and computing platforms for a Send Node and a Receive Node that allows the computing platforms to easily switch the Send/Receive functionality.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a secure one-way data transfer system based on an interface means between a data link and computing platforms for a Send Node and a Receive Node that is portable.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an interface means between a data link and computers for a Send Node and a Receive Node that is compatible with various standard data formats.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an interface means between a data link and computers for a Send Node and a Receive Node that is compatible with multiple computer operating systems and computing platform types.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an interface means between a data link and computers for a Send Node and a Receive Node that can be constructed using commercial off-the-shelf components that are easily configurable.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a means for easily identifying the Send or Receive-Only functionality of the interface means between a data link and computers for a Send Node and a Receive Node for a secure one-way data transfer system.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide specially configured network interface circuitry for a Send Node and a Receive Node, respectively, that is to be coupled to the ends of a data link to enforce unidirectionality of data flow across the data link.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a secure one-way data transfer system based on specially configured network interface cards for connecting between a data link and computing platforms for a Send Node and a Receive Node.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a specially configured network interface circuitry for enforcing unidirectionality of data flow across a data link that is respectively coupled to computers for a Send Node and a Receive Node using standard interface connections.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a specially configured network interface circuits for enforcing unidirectionality of data flow across a data link that is respectively coupled to computers for a Send Node and a Receive Node based on PCI interface.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide specially configured network interface circuits for enforcing unidirectionality of data flow across a data link that are respectively coupled to computers for a Send Node and a Receive Node based on a USB connection.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an interface means between an optical fiber, and computers for a Send Node and a Receive Node that enforces unidirectional data flow across the optical fiber data link.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an interface means between a shielded twisted pair copper wire communication cable, and computers for a Send Node and a Receive Node that enforces unidirectional data flow across the STP copper wire communication cable.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description.

Secure one-way data transfer using communication interface circuitry


Special tools and materials are provided for the fitting and placement of artificial crowns and inlays in a patient's mouth. One version of the kit comprises test ribbons, ribbon gripping forceps, crown gripping forceps, a crown placement tool, an adhesive dispenser, expendable adhesive, an adhesive dispenser stand, an inlay/veneer placement tool, and a number of plastic or metal shims.. The inlay placement tool is fitted with hot-melt adhesive on its tip for fixed attachment of an inlay or veneer for placement in the mouth. The crown placement tool is adhered with hot melt adhesive to the biting surface of a posterior crown to be used as a crown placing device.. The ribbon forceps is used to grip a thin precut test ribbon and hold the ribbon in the patient's mouth vertically on either the front or back side of an artificial crown being placed. The crown placement tool is used to position an artificial crown in the patient's mouth onto the prepared tooth alongside the test-ribbon, whereby withdrawing the test ribbon with the ribbon forceps tests and marks the area of interproximal contact of the crown or inlay as well as the amount of pressure of the contact.. The crown gripping forceps is also used to place an artificial crown for final cementation. The adhesive is not only used to place and remove an artificial crown or inlay for fitting, but is also used for the patient to bite on during cementation to keep the crown or inlay seated.

Artificial dental crowns cover portions of a tooth surface and are normally fabricated away from the patient's mouth, in a lab, and then installed in the mouth. Full crowns form the entire occlusal surface of a tooth and the sides to the gum line. Partial crowns include onlays which cover the occlusal surface and sometimes portions of the sides, inlays which mainly cover central portions of the occlusal surface and may extend partially onto the sides, and veneers which mainly cover only a side surface of a tooth. For simplicity, all of these artificial elements for covering tooth surfaces will often be referred to as crowns in this document, but it should be recognized that each procedure discussed herein does not necessarily apply to all artificial crowns.
In the field of fixed prosthodontics, the proper placement and adjustment of artificial crowns has always been a cumbersome process at best because it has necessitated placing several fingers of a dentist's hand within the patient's mouth during the process. This is because as practiced now, the placement and fitting of an artificial tooth crown normally entails the dentist holding onto the crown with fingers of one hand, and then manipulating the crown in the patient's mouth to place, mark, fit and cement the crown. Often, the marking, fitting and cementing requires fingers of the other hand to be placed into the patient's mouth as well.
Often an artificial crown is fashioned with the interproximal contacts somewhat tighter than necessary and then fitted by grinding and polishing it so that it will fit in proper contact with the adjacent teeth. Even if a crown is not made intentionally in the oversized manner, the crown may fit too tightly or too loosely because of accumulative errors due to impression materials and techniques, errors in stone dies and molds, changes in the dimension of the wax patterns, investing, casting, changes during porcelain firing, and other factors. Other causes of improper contacts are because the crown was incorrectly manufactured, or because the patient's teeth have moved slightly after the impression for the crown was made.
The interproximal contacts between an artificial crown must not be too tight or the adjacent teeth, which are attached flexibly to the jaw bone by the periodontal ligament, may spread apart and move out of alignment with the other teeth, including the artificially crowned tooth. Further, too tight of an interproximal contact may prevent the patient from being able to floss between the crowned tooth and the adjacent teeth, which could lead to gum disease and tooth decay. The contact fit must also not be too loose or the ensuing space between the artificially crowned tooth and the adjacent teeth will allow food and particulate matter to collect. The ideal fit is somewhere between a tight and loose fit, with light contact between the artificial crown or inlay and the surrounding teeth desired.
Many dentists use only dental floss to check whether interproximal crown contacts are too loose or too tight. This procedure is not accurate because of the thickness of floss, which is quite gross at best. The floss may also wedge the teeth apart and make it appear that the contact is proper.
Another method of checking the interproximal contact is by placing a non-marking thin plastic strip between the interproximal contact of the artificial crown and adjacent tooth and then seating the crown and pulling on the plastic ribbon to determine if the contact is too loose or too tight. This method is more precise than using floss, but is still very subjective, difficult to accomplish, and does not mark the contact point. This method also does not tell the operator precisely how strong the pressure is on each side of the crown.
Currently, the best method for checking the interproximal crown contact involves adjusting the contact fit of the artificial crown before its final cementing. This is done by holding the crown with two fingers, one on each side, reaching into the patient's mouth, and pressing the artificial crown onto the prepared tooth. While the crown is being placed on the tooth, a piece of thin marking ribbon is slipped with tweezers between the artificial crown and the adjacent tooth in front or behind the crown being placed. The dentist seats the crown fully onto the prepared tooth and pulls on the ribbon to remove it. An estimation of the tightness of the interproximal fit is made by estimating the pulling force necessary to remove the ribbon. This estimation is very subjective and not very accurate. Further, if the contact is too great, the ribbon will often tear when being removed. When the marking ribbon is removed, it will leave a small residue on the crown at any contact point between the adjacent tooth and the artificial crown being placed.
The artificial crown is then removed with the fingers or some dental tool such as extraction forceps or a sharp probe placed under a finish line margin of the crown. Use of these tools risks great damage to the crown. After the crown has been removed it can be ground and polished down at any heavy contact point for a more precise fit. As stated above, when using this process to estimate contact, the dentist must estimate the contact pressure. The dentist may therefore grind or polish the crown incorrectly on one or more of the sides, resulting in a finished crown which still fits improperly. This fitting method is problematic in that if there is excessive crown contact on one side of the crown only, the tooth to be crowned will shift and make the crown also contact the tooth on the opposite side. The dentist cannot always tell that this is occurring and will then grind both sides of the crown, only to find that when the large side is ground down and the tooth moves back, that the other side of the crown is no longer in contact.
If the crown is too small and there is a lack of contact, the dentist must send the crown back to the laboratory to have its size increased. The lab technician does not know how much too small the crown was and will thus greatly oversize the crown. The dentist will then later have to spend significant time resizing the crown.
This process of placing, checking, and adjusting is done repeatedly until the crown or inlay is fitted to the best of the dentist's abilities. The internal fit of the crown is then checked using a standard indicator paste or powder. Once the internal fit has been adjusted and deemed satisfactory, the occluding (biting) surface is then checked and adjusted. The crown is then cemented permanently onto the prepared tooth.
Patients often experience discomfort resulting from the introduction of multiple fingers into their mouth during the process of fitting an artificial crown. The dentist often has two fingers of one hand holding the crown and two fingers of the other hand holding and placing the ribbon, all in the mouth of the patient at the same time. Further, the fitting process is made difficult because of the tight quarters and the necessity of having so many fingers in the patient's mouth. The dentist not only has a difficult time maneuvering the crown and ribbon into place, especially when the tooth being crowned is in the rear of the mouth, but the dentist's view of the mouth is often blocked. Tweezers have been used to hold the testing ribbons, however, the tweezer jaws are at the wrong angle and are not designed for holding the ribbon flat. Further, tweezers do not readily aid the dentist in estimating the contact force when pulling the ribbon from the teeth.
The process of marking an artificial crown has been further complicated by the fact that past testing ribbons have not been designed for easy use. Previously, ribbons of paper or cloth have been used, but these are very thick and difficult to fit in between the adjacent teeth and the artificial crown being placed. Paper and cloth ribbons also loose their integrity when they encounter saliva. Further, paper, cloth, and even thin-plastic ribbons often come in large sheets or rolls from which the dentist or assistant must cut or tear small individual pieces, and then grip with fingers or tweezers for placement in the mouth.
These ribbon designs are very wasteful and cumbersome. When a dentist or assistant must hold a large ribbon sheet or roll and tear or cut it, the carbon or dye on the ribbon often becomes smeared and the ribbon crumpled. The possibility of contaminating the entire sheet or roll during the cutting and marking process often dictates that the remaining ribbon on the entire sheet or roll discarded. Hand cutting of the ribbon also leads to inconsistently sized ribbons. Further, because of electrostatic forces, small pieces of the cut ribbon often cling to each other, and gloves and tools, making them difficult to handle. Lastly, cut ribbons, especially those from rolls, often tend to curl, making them difficult to place.
Another problem which arises when the crowns are fitted by hand is contamination of the crown cement by substances on the dentist's latex gloves. Materials on the gloves such as zinc stearate, talc, corn starch and other substances which the manufacturers place on the gloves to keep them from sticking to each other act as contaminants in the cement.
Further, phosphoric acid and other chemicals such as eugenol in the cementing agent can dissolve or weaken latex gloves which come into contact with them. This creates a greater risk that a breach in the gloves will occur, possibly resulting in exposure of contaminants between the dentist and patient.
Lastly, the placement of an artificial crown for cementing or fitting has been tried in another fashion. Sometimes wax, clay, or clay-like materials have been used to adhere the artificial crown to a wooden, plastic or metal stick. The artificial crown is then set onto the tooth as directed by the stick. This method is troublesome, because the wax or clay material is often very soft and not always very sticky, which makes it difficult to adjust, place, and release the crown. Often the crown prematurely releases from the material. The clay or wax material is also a contaminant and may leave deposits which can get on the internal surfaces of the crown and interfere with subsequent placements or the permanent cementing of the artificial crown.
There is a need for an effective, yet less cumbersome, means for placing and fitting artificial tooth crowns in a patient's mouth. There is also a need for testing ribbon which can be easily accessed with little waste or contamination. Lastly, there is a need for a marking, fitting and placing method which will not contaminate the artificial tooth crown or inlay cementing process.

Fixed prosthodontic tool kit and method for placing and fitting crowns and inlays


A light guide element and a light source device using the same are provided. The light guide element has a main body. The main body has a hollow portion with a cone shape and a microstructure pattern formed on the main body. The cone-shaped hollow portion has a bottom portion and a top portion. The bottom portion is located on the bottom surface of the main body, and has a first hollow cross section area. The top portion is opposite to the bottom surface, and has a second cross section area smaller than the first cross section area. The microstructure pattern includes high-density areas and low-density areas to improve a light distribution caused by the cone-shaped hollow portion. The light source device includes the light guide element and a ht emitting diode (LED). The LED is used to emit light into the cone-shape hollow portion through the bottom portion.

Light source devices play an important role in human life, and may be applied in various areas such as in a building, in a vehicle, or on a decoration article. Light source device is not only an illumination tool but has great impact human daily life.
General light source devices include an incandescent lamp, a fluorescent lamp, and a light emitting diode (LED) lamp, etc. In a conventional incandescent lamp, electricity is conducted through tungsten filaments to generate light by high heat for illumination. However, such an incandescent lamp consumes a lot of power, and hence being gradually substituted by fluorescent lamps.
A fluorescent lamp generally applies high voltage on electrodes to emit electrons hitting mercury vapor atoms for generating ionization and excitation phenomena. When the mercury vapor atoms return to an original state from an excitation state, an invisible electromagnetic wave of 253.7 nm in wavelength is emitted. Thereafter various fluorescent materials can be used to absorb and convert the electromagnetic wave into visible lights, such that the fluorescent lamp may emit various colors of light in accordance with the fluorescent materials.
Although the lighting efficiency of the fluorescent lamp is better than that of the incandescent lamp, yet in the society advocating energy saving and environmental protection, people still continue to develop new lighting devices which can meet requirements of energy saving and environmental protection for substituting the fluorescent lamp, because of the mercury vapor contained the fluorescent lamp. Therefore, a light-emitting diode (LED) lighting module is developed and greatly expected. When a LED is under a proper forward bias voltage, electrons and electron holes are respectively injected to N and P terminals. Then, the electrons and electron holes are combined at a P/N junction, thereby enabling the LED to emit light caused by the energy released in the form of light when the electrons drop to a basic state from an excited state to combine with the electron holes.
The lighting efficiency of the LED is better than that of the fluorescent lamp, and hence the LED has better energy saving performance than the fluorescent lamp. However, the light source device using the LED has poor light uniformity since the LED has a high directivity.
Therefore, there is a need to develop a novel light guide element and a light source device using the light guide element for providing uniform light.

Light guide element and light source device using the light guide element


A method of rendering a computer generated 3D scene integrated with a base image, the method comprising loading a base image, such as a photograph, and a computer generated 3D scene or model. The base image is displayed on a monitor, and in one embodiment the calibration of the camera which generated the base image is determined. The 3D model is rendered as an overlay of the base image responsive thereto. In another embodiment, the camera calibration of the 3D scene is made consonant with the base image by selecting corresponding points. The base image is then additionally displayed at a predetermined transparency as an overlay of the 3D model. A user then selects pixels of the base image overlay for placement in the foreground. The selected pixels are then displayed without transparency and the balance of the base image overlay removed rendering the integrated image.

The invention relates generally to the field of computer graphics, and in particular to a system and method of integrating a base image, such as a photograph, and a computer generated 3D scene.
The use of interactive and dynamic 3D computer graphics is becoming prevalent in the computing world. Typically, 3D visualization applications provide photo-realistic results using techniques such as ray tracing, radiosity, global illumination and other shading, shadowing and light reflection techniques. Such 3D visualization applications provide a 3D generated model, without relationship to the existing environment.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/538,103 to Elsberg et al, entitled "Method and Apparatus for Virtual Reality Presentation of Civil Engineering, Land Planning and Infrastructure", published as US 2007/0078636 A1, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference, is addressed to a computer implemented method of visualizing an infrastructure. Such a method allows for evaluating large scale designs in a virtual reality environment.
In the real world, designs such as civil engineering or architectural projects are developed within an existing landscape, which will be impacted by the project. In order to properly visualize the appearance and impact of these designs, preferably any 3D generated model should allow for integration within the existing landscape. Unfortunately, existing modeling programs are not designed to integrate with existing landscape imaging.
An article by Roger Y. Tsai entitled "A Versatile Camera Calibration Technique for High-Accuracy 3D Machine Vision Metrology Using off-the Shelf TV Cameras and Lenses", published by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), New York, in the IEEE Journal of Robotics and Automation, Vol. 3, NO. 4, pp. 323-344, 1987, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference, teaches a method for camera calibration, i.e. the recovery of the principle distance and the principle point in the image plane. Tsai's method for camera calibration is cited as recovering the interior orientation, the exterior orientation, the power series coefficients for distortion, and an image scale factor that best fits the measured image coordinates corresponding to known target point coordinates. Thus, from an image or photograph in which the precise location of a number of points is known, the position, orientation and optical information of the camera can be determined.
There is thus a long felt need for an integrated system for rendering a computer generated 3D scene integrated with a base image.

Method and apparatus for creating a composite image


A process for high expression of protein of interest using an expression vector. The process comprises at least the following regulatory elements:                a) a CMV promoter, or a functional variant thereof,        b) an intron,        c) TPL or a functional variant thereof,        d) VA gene or a functional variant thereof, and        e) a bovine growth hormone polyadenylation sequence or a functional variant thereof.

According to IMS health, the biopharmaceuticals' share of the total pharmaceutical market is forecast to grow from 6 percent in 1999 to 14 percent ($90 billion) in 2009. This increased demand of biologicals is primarily due to their generally highly specific target of action which results in significantly reduced and well-defined risk of toxicity compared to small molecule based drugs. Further, by employing recombinant techniques to produce these biologicals in contrast with older techniques of purifying them from tissue extracts or body fluids, products of very high purity, and well-defined safety and physicochemical characteristics, can be easily produced. Despite having all these patient-friendly qualities, most recombinant biologics remain inaccessible to most people in the world because they continue to remain prohibitively expensive. Therefore, life saving drugs like erythropoietin, drugs like etanercept that significantly improve quality of life, and many anti-cancer drugs like rituximab, trastuzumab and all other monoclonal antibodies etc., are afforded only by a very small percentage of people while a vast majority of sick people around the world cannot use them enough. There is therefore an urgent need to bring down the cost of these drugs. A large component of this high cost is that associated with manufacturing them. This invention provides a solution to this problem by providing expression vectors than can give high expression of protein in mammalian host cells transfected with them.
In recent years, recombinant DNA technology has advanced to a stage where, in general, it is readily possible to obtain a desired gene encoding a desired protein product, also called a biological when the protein is subsequently used as a therapeutic. Once the gene is obtained, a variety of hosts can be employed for its expression by first cloning the gene into any one of a number of available host-specific expression vectors, followed by introducing the gene-carrying vector into the specific host by using a variety of transformation or transfection methods. In order to get protein production from these gene-transformed host cells a variety of conditions of fermentation are also available. Selection of the host and the subsequent interdependent selections such as that of expression vectors, transformation and transfection techniques and fermentation methodologies, depend upon many factors such as, characteristics of the protein to be produced, ultimate use of the protein, amount of the protein required, purification methods available, overall cost and available technology etc. For example, relevant to the interest of this invention where the recombinant protein produced is meant for therapeutic applications, the primary, secondary and tertiary structure of the protein, degree and quality of its glycosylation, purity of the final product, the amount of protein produced, cost at which the drug can be sold, all contribute to the above process of selecting the expression host and making other interdependent selections.
One possible solution for addressing the above described problem of high cost of production of biologicals is to express them in bacterial host cells, such as E. coli [Marino, M. H., BioPharm, 2:18-33 (1989); Georgiou G., Protein engineering: Principles and practice, Wiley Liss, New York, 101-127 (1996); Gold, L. Methods Enzymol, 185:11-14 (1990); Hodgson, J., Bio/Technology, 11:887-893 (1993); Nicaud et al, J. Biotechnol. 3:255-270 (1986); Olins, P. O., and S. C. Lee., Curr. Opin. Biotechnol. 4:520-525 (1993); Shatzman, A. R., Curr. Opin. Biotechnol, 6:491-493 (1995)]. A commonly used bacterial host, Escherichia coli, is an important host organism for the production of recombinant proteins and is widely used in industrial production. Its many advantages include easy cultivation, low cost, and high production potential [Shuhua Tan et al, Protein Expression and Purification, 25:430-436 (2002); Cornelia Rossmann et al, Protein expression and Purification 7:335-342 (1996)]. However, bacterial hosts are generally not ideal for the production of biologicals because they do not have the necessary machinery to glycosylate proteins [Old R W, and Primrose S. B., Principles of Gene Manipulations, An introduction to genetic Engineering, Blackwell science, United Kingdom. (1994)], and most mammalian therapeutic proteins are not fully functional without proper glycosylation. Additionally, the lack of a secretion mechanism for the efficient release of protein into the culture medium, the limited ability to facilitate extensive disulfide bond formation, improper folding, degradation of the protein by host cell proteases, significant differences in codon usage, other modifications such as glycations etc., together make bacterial systems much less attractive than mammalian systems [Fuh, G. et al., J. Biol. Chem, 265:3111-3115 (1990); Liang et al., Biochem. J., 229:429-439 (1985); Sarmientos et al., Bio/Technology, 7:495-501 (1989); Savvas C. Makrides, Microbiological Reviews, September 1996. 512-538; N. Jenkins and E. M. Curling, Enzyme Microb. Technol., 16:354-364 (1994)]. Therefore, it is not usually possible to express therapeutic proteins in bacteria and most biologicals utilize eukaryotic host cells for expression even though this means higher cost of production, due to lower expression levels of recombinant protein, more stringent requirements for culturing, slower growth rates etc (Cornelia Rossmann, Protein Expression and Purification, 7:335-342 (1996); Geoff T. Yarranton, Current Opinion in Biotechnology, 1:133-140 (1990)].
Since mammalian host systems are highly advantageous in therapeutic protein production, it is highly important to address this issue of high cost of production associated with them. Since cost of manufacturing can be brought down by increasing productivity, a considerable effort has been expended on increasing the amount of product which can be produced by these host cells. The factors which normally control the amount of product produced by a host cell, include factors which are external to the cell such as the culture conditions, and those which are internal to the cells majority of which include factors that regulate the efficiency and quality of transcription [Foecking and Hofstetter, Gene, 45:101-105 (1986); Kaufman et al, Journal of molecular Biology, 159:601-621 (1985); Wurm et al, PNAS, 1983:5414-5418 (1986); Reiser and Hauser, Drug Research, 37:482-485 (1987); Zettlmeissl et al, Biotechnology, 5:720-725 (1987)] and translation [(R. Grabherr and K. Bayer, Food Technol. Biotechnol. 39 (4) 265-269 (2001); Randal J. Kaufman et al. Molecular Biotechnology, 16 (2), 151-160, (2000); Juraj Hlavaty et al., Virology 341, 1-11, (2005); C. M. Stenstrom et al., Gene. 273(2), 259-65, (2001). M. Ibba and D. Soll, Science, 186, 1893, (1999)] and are predominantly dependent upon the design of the expression vector itself. Even though, literature reports many efforts to increase host cell productivity by improving the culturing conditions [Palermo D. P. et al., Journal of Biotechnology, 19:35-48 (1991); Birch and Froud, Biologicals, 22:127-133 (1994); Osman et al, Biotechnology and Bioengineering, 77:398-407 (2003); Dezengotita et al, Biotechnology and Bioengineering, 77:369-380 (2002); Schmelzer & Miller, Biotechnology Prog., 18:346-353 (2002); Dezengotita et al., Biotechnology and Bioengineering, 78:741-752 (2002); and Sun et al, Biotechnology Prog., 20:576-589 (2004)], improvements in these external factors can increase the expression to a limited extent only and are commercially ineffective unless the expression vector has been optimized first to get an ideal basal level of expression.
A vast number of studies have been reported in the prior art that address the internal factors for improving gene expression. The internal factors described below are also known as regulatory elements that regulate gene expression in many ways. It is well known in the prior art that for a gene of interest to get expressed from an expression vector it has to be placed under the control of appropriate 5′ and 3′ flanking sequences which allow the gene to be transcribed into mRNA and then accurately translated into protein. Many important 5′ and 3′ flanking sequences, such as TATA boxes [Boshart, M. et al., Cell, 41:521-530 (1985); Browning, K. S. et al. J. Biol. Chem., 263:9630-9634 (1998); Dorsch-Hasler, K. et al., PNAS, 82:8325-8329 (1985)], promoters such as viral promoters like the CMV immediate early promoter, SV40 early or late promoters, the adenovirus major late promoter [Luigi R., Gene, 168:195-198 (1996); Pizzorno, M. C. et al., J. Virol., 62:1167-1179 (1988); Okayama and Berg, Mol. Cell. Biol., 2:161-171 (1982); Wong et al., Science, 228:810-815 (1985); Foecking and Hofsteffer, Gene, 45:101-105 (1986)], and mammalian promoters such as the mouse metallothionin promoter, the chicken β-actin promoter [Nicole Israel et al., Gene, 51:197-204 (1987); Karin, M. and Richards, Nature, 299:797-802 (1982); Miyazaki et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 83:9537-9541 (1986)], enhancers such as CMV immediate early enhancer [Cockett, M. I. et al., Nucleic Acids Research, 19:319-325 (1996)], translation start and stop codons [Lehninger et al, Principles of Biochemistry—3rd edition, Worth Publishers, Chapter 27, p 1025], and polyadenylation sites such as bovine growth hormone (BGH) and SV40 polyadenylation sites [Carswell, S. and Alwine, J. C, Mol. Cell. Biol. 9:4248-4258 (1989)] have been reported. Introns are another internal factor that normally form an integral part of eukaryotic genes as intervening sequences between exons and that are precisely deleted from the primary transcript by a process known as RNA splicing to form mature mRNA. RNA splicing has been widely demonstrated to be responsible for mRNA stability [Buchman et al, Mol. Cell Biol. 8:4395-404 (1988); Peterson et al, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 83:8883-87 (1986)], and regulation of gene expression [Brinster et al, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 85:836-40 (1988); Dynan, W. S. and Tjian, R., Nature, 316:774-778 (1985)]. Synthetic chimeric introns have also been developed such as the one reported by Huang et al that consists of 5′ donor site of the adenovirus major late transcript and the 3′ splice site of an mouse immunoglobulin [Huang et al, Nucleic Acids Res., 18:937-47 (1990)]. Such chimeric introns support heterologous gene expression better than other commonly used introns [Huang et al, Nucleic Acids Res., 18:937-47 (1990); Ted Choi et al, Molecular and Cellular Biology, 11 (6): 3070-3074 (1991)]
A commonly utilized source for highly efficient internal factors is viruses. Viruses are well known to be the most efficient parasites in nature that use their own internal factors to manipulate host and viral gene expression in favor of their propagation and survival. These have also been studied extensively for their role in the design of expression vectors to ultimately improve protein production. Some of the most efficient promoters known in the art of molecular biology are derived from viruses [Luigi R., Gene, 168:195-198 (1996); Pizzorno, M. C. et al., J. Virol., 62:1167-1179 (1988); Okayama and Berg, Mol. Cell. Biol., 2:161-171 (1982); Wong et al., Science, 228:810-815 (1985); Foecking and Hofsteffer, Gene, 45:01-105 (1986)]. Many viruses have been studied extensively at the genetic level and individual sequences have been identified which can alter the nuclear and cytoplasmic metabolism of mRNA in the host cells. Adenovirus tripartite leader element (TPL) (GI: 209811) [Akusjarvi G. et al, J Mol Biol., 134(1):143-58 (1979)] is one of such elements known to enhance the translation of even a non-viral RNA in the virus-infected cells when directly appended to it [Berkner K. L. et al, Nucleic Acids Res., 13(3):841-57 (1985)]. All the mRNAs encoded by adenovirus major late transcription unit share this common 5′ non-coding region. This element can reduce the nuclear half-life of the transcripts [Huang et al, J Virol., 2(1):225-35 (1998)]. This element is also known to enhance the translation of the mRNAs [Kaufman R. J. et al, Proc Natl Acad Sci USA., 82(3):689-93 (1985)]. Another element is the Adenoviral Virus Associated RNA genes I & II (GI:209811) or its functional variants. The VA RNA genes I & II (VA genes) have been shown to increase the translation efficiency of the gene containing the TPL sequence [Kaufman R. J. et al, Proc Natl Acad Sci USA., 82(3):689-93 (1985)]. The VA RNA I gene is involved in the dephosphorylation of EIF2a and thus increases the protein synthesis rates [O'Malley et al, Cell, 44:391-400 (1986); Thimmapayya B., et al, Cell, 31:543-551 (1982)].
Another commonly utilized internal factor is the gene copy number which is a favored approach for increasing gene expression [Kaufman and Sharp, Journal of molecular Biology, 159:601-602 (1982); Pendse G. J. et al, Biotechnology and Bioengineering, 40:119-129 (1992); Schimke, R. T. (Ed.), Gene Amplification. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y., 1982]. The most common method used to increase gene copy number is to select cells for gene amplification. In this approach—for instance as described in EP0045809 or U.S. Pat. No. 4,634,665—a host cell is transformed with a pair of genes. The first gene in the pair is encoding a desired protein and the second gene is encoding a selectable marker, e.g., dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) [Alt, F. W. et al., J. Biol. Chem., 253:1337-1370 (1978)]. These two genes are either present on a single expression vector or on two separate expression vectors. After transfecting cells with this pair of genes, they are cultured in increasing concentrations of a toxic agent, such as methotrexate in the case of the method utilizing DHFR gene as a selection marker, the effect of which is nullified by the product of the selectable marker gene. It has been found that those cell lines, which survive in the higher concentrations of the toxic agent, have an increased copy number of both the selectable marker gene and the desired product gene. The selected host cell that has an amplified number of relevant gene copies can now produce a larger amount of the desired protein than the original cell line. A similar strategy for gene amplification has been utilized using other selection markers such as, adenosine deaminase (ADA), ornithine decarboxylase (ODC), asparagine synthetase (AS) [Chiang, T. and McConlogue, Mol. Cell. Biol. 764-769 (1988); Cartier, M. et al., Mol. Cell. Biol., 7:1623-1628 (1987); Germann, U. A. et al., J. Biol. Chem. 264:7418-7424 (1989); Mkeille Cartier and Clifford P. Stanners, Gene, 95:223-230 (1990); Wood C. R. et al., J Immunol, 145:3011-3016 (1990); Kellems R. E. et al., In Genetics and Molecular Biology of Industrial Microorganisms, American Society for Microbiology, Washington, 215-225 (1989)], and glutamine synthetase (GS) [Catherine W-H. et al., J. Biol. Chem., 276:43, 39577-39585 (2001); Bebbington, et al., Biotechnology, 10:169-175 (1992); Bebbington, C. R., Monoclonal antibodies: the next generation, Zola, H., (ed). Bios Scientific, Oxford, 65-181 (1995); Wilson, R. H., In "Gene Amplification in Mammalian Cells" ed Kellens, R. E., Marcel Dekker Inc., New York, 301-311 (1993)] also.
These above described regulatory elements or internal factors are independently, generally incapable of giving gene expression and must be used in combinations. However, while the elements themselves have been well understood the efficiency of their combinations is not absolutely predictable for high expression. Some combinations give very poor expression in comparison with others. For example, Jang et al using an expression vector consisting of a combination of SR α promoter, AMV RNA leader sequence and DHFR could get an erythropoietin (EPO) expression of only 45 IU/ml (equivalent to 0.346 μg/ml) [Jang H P et al, Biotechnol. Appl. Biochem, 32:167-172, (2000)], while U.S. Pat. No. 5,955,422, reports levels of EPO of 750 to 1470 U/million cells/48 Hrs (or 375 to 735 U/million cells/24 Hrs) using an expression vector consisting of another combination of elements namely, SV40 promoter and poly A sequence, and DIIFR. Still another expression vector reported in U.S. Pat. No. 5,888,774, and consisting of a combination of EF1 promoter and apoB SAR elements reports an expression of 1500 to 1700 IU of EPO/million cells/24 Hrs. For other recombinant proteins such as TNFR-IgGFc (Enbrel) an expression vector containing a combination of CMV promoter, TPL, VA I & II, and DHFR has been reported [U.S. Pat. No. 5,605,690, Cindy A Jacobs and Craig A Smith].
Despite all the advances described above, the high cost of manufacturing of recombinant biologics, especially those utilizing mammalian expression systems, still remains a major concern. Therefore, even though prior art reports a large number of methods to increase protein expression by modulating the expression vector, it is still desirable to develop novel expression vectors for further increasing the productivity of eukaryotic host cells. Surprisingly, despite the tremendous amount of knowledge generated in this area over the last two decades even today a person skilled in the art cannot simply pick and choose a combination of internal factors or regulatory elements to design an expression vector that would give guaranteed high expression. A particular element when added to a combination may not provide any significant additive or synergistic effect to the expression potential of the vector. Therefore the process of developing a novel expression vector that would give high level of protein expression still requires empirically testing many possibilities. We have invented a novel expression vector that upon stable transfection in CHO-DHFR− cells gives an expression of 11,830 IU/ml (91 μg/ml) in a 168 hrs culture, which is equivalent to 2366 to 3549 IU/106 cells/24 Hrs or 18.2 to 27.3 μg/106 cells/24 Hrs. Surprisingly, this level of expression for EPO is 80-100% higher than some of the best vectors reported in the literature. This novel expression vector will significantly bring down the cost of production of EPO and other recombinant biologicals.

Expression vector and methods of producing high levels of proteins


A computer-implemented method and system for pre-fetching label and place page data from a remote, backend mapping system, and subsequently displaying the pre-fetched data, is disclosed. User activity data generated by execution of an application on the mobile device may be analyzed to determine geographic locations that indicate places the user is likely to be in the future. The user activity data may be analyzed at either the frontend or the backend to determine these geographic locations. Label and place page data corresponding to the geographic locations may then be retrieved from the mapping system and stored in a cache memory of the mobile computing device. The label and place page data may describe map features and include plain text, a data feed, or a URL. During periods of reduced connectivity to the mapping system, the mobile device may retrieve the stored label and place page data from the cache memory.

The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.
Many mobile computing devices such as cellular phones, tablet computers, notebooks, etc., incorporate global positioning system (GPS) applications and related hardware. When actuated on the device, the GPS applications may communicate with a GPS transmitter or other GPS hardware on the device and a backend application server to provide a digital map of an area around the device's current position to a user, as well as label data and place page data that describes features illustrated within the map.
However there may be circumstances when the mobile computing device is in an area with limited network, cellular, or other communication access with the backend application server. Intermittent communication with backend components of the mapping system may limit or otherwise precludes, immediate, real time access to such data, potentially adversely affecting the user's experience.

Method and apparatus for pre-fetching place page data based upon analysis of user activities


An apparatus for controlling a vehicle capable of performing autonomous driving is provided. The apparatus includes an autonomous driving device that executes the autonomous driving and generates a transition demand when it is impossible to execute the autonomous driving. A driving controller performs a minimum risk maneuver (MRM) of applying a deceleration pattern differently depending on a driving environment of the vehicle, when the transition demand is generated, but when driving manipulation by a driver does not occur. A subsequent safety ensuring function is performed according to the MRM for the driver to recognize the MRM, and a drive mode of the vehicle is changed to a drive mode with a rapid response speed to acceleration or steering.

In general, an autonomous vehicle (also known as a driverless car) refers to a vehicle capable of autonomously monitoring external information and identifying road situations without vehicle manipulation from the driver and performing autonomous driving to a set destination. In autonomous driving, an autonomous driving level may be varied according to a specific condition, for example, the precision of the map the driver refers to for driving the vehicle.
In other words, as the precision of the map increases, an autonomous drivable level and an available autonomous driving function may increase. For example, according to autonomous vehicle classification criteria of National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in the United States, a level where the driver should completely operate the vehicle may be set to Level 0 as a stage where the driver actively turns the steering wheel, brakes, or looks in front or in the driving direction. A level where the driver actively looks forward without performing another task and leaves (e.g., removes hands from) the steering wheel may be set to Level 1 as a stage where the driver may fail to perform one of left and right driving or forward and backward driving.
Further, a level where the driver actively looks forward and does not perform another task but leaves the steering wheel may be set to Level 2 as a stage where the driver may fail to perform both of left and right driving and forward and backward driving. A level where the driver may perform another task or depart from the driver's seat in the zone converted into a partially safe autonomous mode may be set to Level 3 as a stage where the driver hands over vehicle control to the autonomous vehicle such that the driver may inactively pay attention to the vehicle operation. A level in which the vehicle operates in a complete autonomous mode and where the driver is able to perform another task or depart from the driver's seat after initially entering the destination may be set to Level 4.
Meanwhile, in an autonomous vehicle of Level 3 and higher levels, although the system requests the driver to perform control authority transition, when there is no reaction or response from the driver, or when a severe breakdown occurs, that is, when a critical situation where the autonomous driving system should not continue operating occurs, there is a need for a method capable of predicting the critical situation and suitably corresponding to the critical situation.

Apparatus for controlling vehicle and method thereof


Systems and methods for providing a wider FOV for a telescope system are disclosed. In one embodiment, a telescope includes a primary mirror having an orifice, where an optical path originates from an object positioned in front of the primary mirror and reflects off the primary mirror. A secondary mirror is disposed adjacent to the primary mirror, where the optical path reflects off the secondary mirror and passes through the orifice in the primary mirror. The telescope includes a set of extended field corrector optics disposed along the optical path, the extended field corrector optics positioned to reflect light incident from the secondary mirror, where the set of extended field corrector optics includes two corrector mirrors. A tertiary mirror is disposed along the optical path and adjacent to the extended field corrector optics, the tertiary mirror positioned to reflect the light incident from the extended field corrector optics.

Space-based telescopes are utilized by a variety of industries, such as the defense industry and the commercial space industry. Space-based telescopes orbit around the Earth as they observe and/or measure the Earth's surface.
Despite the progress made in space-based telescopes, there is a need in the art for improved methods and systems related to telescopes with a wide field of view.

Reflective telescope with wide field of view