A method for pneumatically fracturing a soil formation, and thereafter utilizing or maintaining the fracture network thus formed by continuous injection of a gas stream into the fracture network, and introducing into that gas stream dry media which is entrained in the gas stream and thereby dispersed and distributed through the soil formation in substantially predictable or predetermined patterns, is described. The fracture network and/or the dry media contained therein create or enhance usefulness for a given purpose with respect to the soil formation. The method utilizes novel apparatus, especially high velocity nozzles which are substantially planar or directional and can be used in combination with the borehole casing to achieve a variety of fracturing and dry media injection effects.

The magnitude of subsurface contamination in the United States today is such that it poses a serious threat, both in terms of the health of humans and wildlife near it, and with regard to the environment as well. The state of the technology available to clean-up subsurface contamination sites has often lagged far behind environmental regulations; and when such technology has proven effective, it has also usually been too expensive to employ.
Subsurface contamination may occur in a variety of soil formations. The expression "soil formation" as used herein is intended to mean any geologic formation comprising soil, weathered rock, or sound rock, or any combination of these. Soil comprises unconsolidated mineral grains, while sound rock, i.e., bedrock, comprises consolidated or lithified aggregations of mineral grains. Weathered rock is sound rock in the process of becoming soil through the eroding activity of the elements upon it. The methods and apparatus of the present invention are applicable to all such soil formations, including bedrock. Although bedrock may contain natural fractures and voids, the present invention can be used to significantly increase the number and extent of such fractures and voids.
The subsurface soils comprising the contamination sites to be remediated by present invention are generally divided into two major zones, (1) the unsaturated zone, also known as the "vadose zone" and (2) the saturated zone. Perched water zones are also included. The present invention is fully applicable to, and operable in, both of these zones, and is especially suitable for non-cohesive soils such as granular sands and gravels, which do not fracture, in the conventional meaning of the term. The vadose zone extends from the ground surface down to the ground water table. The saturated zone begins at the ground water table and extends to a further depth. The vadose zone may be further divided into additional subzones, but will be treated as a single zone in the present discussion. Since the vadose zone is the uppermost layer of the terrestrial environment, it is more likely to contain pathways for toxic and hazardous chemicals to enter groundwater systems.
Studies have shown that it is less costly to remove volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from the vadose zone than to pump and treat contaminated ground water. That is the reason for the current focus on technology for the in situ removal of VOCs from the vadose zone. Such treatment technologies include vapor extraction, biodegradation, soil washing and thermal treatment. Vapor extraction is a process for the in situ removal of VOCs by mechanically extracting soil gases from the vadose zone through one or more vertically oriented perforated vent wells installed in the contaminated zone. Air is forced to travel through the pore space in the soil, causing volatilization of the liquid and adsorbed volatile organic compounds. The extracted soil gases are then either vented to the atmosphere or into an emission control system, depending on the concentration. The two major embodiments of such vapor extraction processes which have been demonstrated successfully in field use are in situ air stripping and vacuum extraction. In situ air stripping employs a series of interconnected air injector vents which are supplied with forced air by an above ground blower and manifold system that forces the air into the soil through the perforated vent wells. A separate blower or vacuum pump and manifold system is used to apply negative pressure to air extraction vents to withdraw the soil gases. The injection and extraction vents are located alternately within the array of vent wells on the site. This approach functions best with highly permeable soils, e.g., loose, sandy soils and has proven to be much less effective in tightly packed soils and in soils with a high clay content.
Biodegradation is another process which has been used effectively in the treatment of soils contaminated with organic compounds. In biodegradation, or bioremediation, the ecological conditions in the soil are altered to enhance microbial catabolism or to cometabolise the organic contaminant, thus transforming it into a simpler, non-toxic product. Indigenous microorganisms are utilized most often, although seeding of the soil with exogenous microorganisms is also possible. Microorganisms are either aerobic, anaerobic, or facultative anaerobic, which can grow either in the absence or presence of oxygen. The most effective treatment has been the aerobic microbial process. With this process, oxygen and often nutrients are injected or infiltrated into the subsurface environment, using wells or a percolation process. The major factors which affect the rate of biodegradation in the vadose zone include: pH, temperature, water content, carbon content, clay content, oxygen, nutrients, the nature of the microbial population, acclimation and concentration. However, unfavorable reaction kinetics, low substrate concentration and slow degradability of certain compounds remain significant problems.
Another major limiting factor in bioremediation has been the low permeability of the fine-grained soil layers present at many sites. On the other hand, a site contaminated with methylene chloride, n-butyl alcohol, acetone and dimethylaniline, after three years of in situ aerobic biological treatment, has had its contaminant plume reduced by 90%. Reclamation of an aquifer contaminated with benzene, toluene, and xylene using biodegradation has been achieved, with emphasis on the importance of oxygenating the subsurface environment, and in particular obtaining superior rates of biodegradation using hydrogen peroxide as an oxygen donor, compared to using the traditional technique of air sparging.
A method and apparatus for establishing, maintaining and enhancing microorganisms utilized to remediate groundwater or soils contamination through the injection of nutrients and gases, using a cylindrical head with radial apertures and a pointed lower end adapted to penetrate the soil, and through which a fluid can be delivered, is disclosed in Albergo et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,133,625. The fluid, which may be a viable microorganism culture containing nutrients, or may be a gas which permits or enhances the growth of ambient microorganisms, is introduced into a subsurface location under pressure through the apertures in the cylindrical head. The pressure is provided by a pump or other means, and is adjustable. However, Albergo et al. does not suggest the use of dry media in accordance with the particular dictates of the present invention. In Billings et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,277,518 it is suggested that an oxygen-containing gas can be used to provide microorganisms and nutrients to the subsurface, and that injection wells can be connected to an air compressor for this purpose. In Payne et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,945,988, a sparging process and apparatus is modified by placing an oxygen separator along conduit lines leading to an aquifer downstream of an air pump, which permits the delivery of air which is substantially oxygen free to the aquifer, or is oxygen enriched to the vadose zone, thereby preventing growth of aerobic bacteria in the aquifer, while stimulating such growth in the vadose zone. In neither of these disclosures, however, is there any suggestion of pneumatic injection of dry media and the formation of discrete granular lenses in the formation, which are continuous between the injection point and adjacent vent wells in the formation, as is provided by the present invention.
Another approach taken in the art to remediating contaminated soil formations in certain situations, especially where radioactive waste contamination is involved, is to isolate the contaminated waste site by placing around it a vitrified underground structure. This is accomplished by solidification of soil by in situ melting and vitrification using heat generated in the soil itself between spaced electrodes. An improvement in this process is described in Murphy et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,114,277, which places an initially electrically conductive material at the desired location and depth to start up vitrification underground and cause the melt to have a substantially planar shape. However, unlike the methods utilized in the present invention, the initially electrically conductive material is transported as a slurry or in a solution through horizontal boreholes, or by means of conventional hydraulic subsurface fracturing technology well known in the drilling arts.
Paramount among the limitations of the existing and emerging treatment technologies applicable to the vadose zone is the permeability of the soil formation being treated. The efficiency of in situ treatment processes all decrease as the soil permeability decreases. For soils with low permeabilities the existing processes are largely ineffective. Low soil permeability may be caused by a number of factors, including high clay content, high soil density and high fluid viscosity. An advance in this area was made by Schuring et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,032,042, with the discovery that pneumatically fracturing of the contaminated soil formation leads to a significant improvement in the results obtained with a variety of in situ decontamination methods. However, there is no suggestion by Schuring et al. of pneumatic injection of dry media and of the techniques required for doing so, or of the manner in which a variety of such dry media may be used to enhance various remediation technologies.
The method described by Schuring et al. for eliminating subsurface contaminants from soil includes the steps of a) pneumatically fracturing the soil, including the steps of i) inserting a tubular probe partially into a well in the soil such that at least one orifice of a nozzle fluidly connected with the tubular probe is positioned at a predetermined height; ii) providing a sealed area in the well on opposite sides of the orifice; and iii) supplying a pressurized gas to the tubular probe which travels through the orifice into the soil to produce a fractured soil formation; and b) transforming the contaminants into a different state to decontaminate the soil, after creation of the fractured soil formation. There is also described therein in general terms the use of such pneumatic fracturing to provide nutrient seeding, although this is not defined, and there is no disclosure of specific devices and methods which might be used to accomplish this general objective.
For the present invention, on the other hand, there is provided herein ample description of such features as novel directional and plate-type nozzles which are able to focus high flow velocities into the soil formation, creating planar voids of substantially 360.degree. circumference, or of sectional arcs thereof, by a rapid pneumatic intrusion and cutting action, whereafter dry media in a dry carrier gas are injected rapidly to fill the formation, in accordance with the guidelines provided herein. The present invention can be used in a number of ways to obtain increased rates of contaminant reduction, removal, or isolation which are dramatic.

Treating non-naturally occurring subsurface soil contaminants with pneumatic injection of dry media


First, second, and third power supply lines are separate from each other. A power supply circuit receives electric power from the first power supply line, and generates a given power supply voltage from the received electric power and outputs the generated power supply voltage to the third power supply line. An electronic circuit is connected to the third power supply line to be activated by the power supply voltage. The electronic circuit has an input section for receiving an input signal from the second power supply line. A protective circuit provided in the electronic circuit leaks a current from the input section of the electronic circuit toward the third power supply line when a voltage of the input signal exceeds the power supply voltage. A reference voltage generating device serves to generate a first reference voltage in the presence of the electric power fed from the first power supply line to the power supply circuit, and serves to generate a second reference voltage in the absence of the electric power fed from the first power supply line to the power supply circuit. The second reference voltage is lower than the first reference voltage. A voltage limiting device being responsive to the first and second reference voltages serves to limit a voltage of the third power supply line to below a level approximately equal to the first or second reference voltage.

This invention relates to a power supply voltage control apparatus.
Some electronic circuits using C-MOS devices are equipped with a special arrangement for protecting the C-MOS devices. Specifically, when the voltage of an input signal to a C-MOS device exceeds a power supply voltage, the protective arrangement leaks a current from an input signal line to a power supply line to prevent an excessive increase in the voltage of the input signal and thereby to protect the C-MOS device from the high input signal voltage.
Such a leak current tends to cause an unwanted increase in the power supply voltage. It is known to provide a Zener diode at a suitable location within the electronic circuit to prevent the unwanted increase in the power supply voltage.
As will be explained later, an electronic circuit equipped with a protective arrangement and a Zener diode tends to perform unexpected and undesirable operation under certain conditions.

Power supply with overvoltage protection circuit


A neutralization plate includes a main body, a pair of upper arms extending upwards from the main body, and a pair of lower arms extending downward from the main body to form a generally X-shape with the pair of upper arms. In addition, the neutralization plate includes a horizontal channel formed across a rear side of a midsection of the main body, an aperture formed in the main body between the pair of lower arms and contiguous to a bottom edge of the horizontal channel, and a lower chute formed between the aperture and a lower edge of the horizontal channel. The lower chute is configured for ends of a suture looped through a fractured bone to be passed through the aperture and down the lower chute to a front side of the main body to be anchored separately from the fractured bone.

Fractures around the knee and elbow can be difficult to treat due to the limited soft tissue coverage and small size of bone fragments. For example, fractures of the olecranon and patella involve articular surfaces that are treated through anatomic alignment of the joint surface.
These periarticular fractures are traditionally fixed with screw and tension band wiring constructs. The constructs attempt to create a compressive force across the fracture site. For example, in the case of a patella fracture the fragments are loaded in distraction during joint flexion from the pull of the quadriceps and patellar tendons. Accordingly, when affixed with a tension band technique the deep articular surface is loaded in longitudinal compression by the reactive forces across the articular surface and the superficial bone surface is loaded in tension by the pull of a strong muscular insertion such as the quadriceps tendon. As a result, the patella will have a compressive side and a tension side.
A known method of fixation of periarticular fractures includes a technique typically referred to as FIG. 8 tension band wiring. This technique involves driving two stiff stainless steel pins (or screws) longitudinally into bone across the fracture site. A flexible wire is then passed through a drill hole on one side of the fracture site and the two ends of the wire are crossed over the fracture site to the opposite side. One wire is then passed under the ends of the two pins, and the wire twisted and tightened at the other end to develop tension in the wire to produce compression across the fracture site.
The tension band technique holds the tension side of the bone in apposition. This technique results in production of compressive force across the fracture site, resulting in secure fixation, and intended to promote early union of the fracture and early motion of the joint.
At least one shortcoming of the FIG. 8 tension band wiring occurs because standard large pins are used which protrude from the end of the bone at the location where a major tendon inserts. Accordingly, the ends of the pins cause irritation of the soft tissues and require removal. In addition, the tension band wiring can also be uncomfortable as slack in the wire is evident when the joint is extended. The fixation can also be tenuous as advocating early motion can be deleterious to the outcome as the hardware may fail.
Although some improvements to the treatment of periarticular fractures have been developed, there is a need for an improved fixation and neutralization plate.

Neutralization plate and related methods


A calendar includes at least twelve pages of a printing material, with each page being provided with a calendar field filled with a series of numbered spaces arranged to indicate the days of a particular month in the Gregorian calendar, and a title field provided with alphabetical indicia indicative of the month represented in the calendar field. A display field is also provided on each page and includes one or more graphical symbols of an event which occurs within the month represented in the calendar field, as is a plain, original artwork field which covers at least one half of the area of each page within which alphanumeric and graphical symbols may be drawn by an art student.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to art instruction aids and, more particularly, to a calendar that a child art student can complete throughout a calendar year and display on a refrigerator.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
Children frequently prepare drawings and art projects at school or day care, and bring the finished works home to their families in order to receive praise and positive reinforcement for the artistic progress being made at school.
Frequently, these works of art are displayed on the home refrigerator until the child brings home later works to replace the earlier ones. Unfortunately, there is no convenient way to preserve the child's artwork in a manner which enables the child to review the work subsequently in order to gauge his or her own progress over the course of one or more years. In addition, because many works produced by children are made away from the home, it is difficult for a child's parents or family to know what model was used by the child in creating the work. Thus, it is difficult for the child's peers to identify the positive improvements made by the child over previous efforts, or to make suggestions to the child for improvements.


A connection of a coupling collar to the ends of hardened conveying pipes for fluidically conveying solids, such as, sands, gravels and concrete, includes a coupling collar with a connecting piece which is glued in a tension-proof manner to the outer surface of the end of a pipe and at least one wear ring is placed at least in the length portion of a connecting flange of the coupling collar at the end face of the pipe end.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connection of a coupling collar to an end of a hardened conveying pipe.
2. Description of the Related Art
Single-layer pipes for fluidically (hydraulically or pneumatically) conveying solids, such as sands, gravels or concrete, have at least on the inside thereof a hardened surface in order to provide as high a wear resistance as possible to the usually very abrasive solids. As a rule, the higher resistance to wear is produced by flame hardening.
In addition, pipes of composite sheet metal are known, such as pipes of double-layer plated metal.
In order to be able to connect pipes of the above-described type to a pipeline, and to make possible an exchange of individual pipes from the otherwise closed pipeline, it is known in the art to equip the pipes at the ends thereof with coupling collars and to couple the pipes to one another in a releasable manner by means of these coupling collars. In order to ensure that the connection has a high tensile strength, the coupling collars are welded to the ends of the pipes. However, because of the influence of the heat, welding always leads to an unsatisfactory hardness at least at the pipe ends, independently of whether the pipes are hardened prior to welding to the coupling collars or after welding.
If hardening is carried out prior to welding, it is possible initially to achieve a uniform hardening of the pipes through the desired depth thereof. However, this uniform hardening is at least partially eliminated as a result of the influence of heat caused during welding of the coupling collars. If the pipes are hardened after welding the coupling collars to the pipes, the better heat discharge occurring in the areas of the pipe ends produces the result that the hardening is better in the middle portions of the pipes than in the end portions thereof. In both cases, the pipe ends are less resistant to wear than are the middle portions of the pipes. Accordingly, it is always necessary to completely replace the pipes, even though only the pipe ends are worn. The middle portions of the pipes would still have a much longer service life.
British Patent 998 253 and WO 93/16302 disclose glued connections.
The proposal according to British Patent 998 253 deals with a special connection of a coupling collar to an end of a pipe which on the inside thereof is provided with a light reflecting coating. Two of such pipes are to be connected to one another without a gap and in an exact axial alignment. For this purpose, initially the two pipes are exactly machined at the inside and outside thereof and are then coated with a light-reflecting inner coating. Subsequently, after sliding rings of adhesive material onto the pipe ends, the pipe ends are slid into the connecting pieces of two coupling collars whose inner surfaces are also exactly machined. This produces a very precisely defined joining gap. By means of measuring devices, the pipes as well as the coupling collars are now precisely axially aligned relative to each other while maintaining the joining gap having narrow tolerances, and the pipes and the coupling collars are clamped relative to each other in this aligned position. The clamped position is maintained until the adhesive has resulted in a secure connection of the pipe ends to the pipe connecting pieces of the coupling collars.
In this proposal, the service life of the light-conducting pipes is not a concern. The only concern is the precise connection of the coupling collars to the pipe ends in order to ensure a problem-free axial alignment of two successive pipes.
WO 93/16302 discloses a glued connection of gear wheels to one another and to a shaft. The glued connection is produced with a joining material while maintaining transition fits. The purpose is to prevent high residual stresses as they are known in shrunk-on connections.

Connection of a coupling collar to and end of a hardened pipe


The invention is directed to substituted 2-aminoacetamides represented by formula (II):

1. Field of the Invention
This invention is in the field of medicinal chemistry. In particular, the invention relates to substituted 2-aminoacetamides and the discovery that these compounds act as blockers of sodium (Na+) channels.
2. Related Background Art
Several classes of therapeutically useful drugs, including local anesthetics such as lidocaine and bupivacaine, antiarrhythmics such as propafenone and amioclarone, and anticonvulsants such as lamotrigine, phenytoin and carbamazepine, have been shown to share a common mechanism of action by blocking or modulating Na+ channel activity (Catterall, W. A., Trends Pharmacol. Sci. 8:57–65 (1987)). Each of these agents is believed to act by interfering with the rapid influx of Na+ ions.
Recently, other Na+ channel blockers such as BW619C89 and lifarizine have been shown to be neuroprotective in animal models of global and focal ischemia and are presently in clinical trials (Graham et al., J. Pharmacol. Exp. Ther. 269:854–859 (1994); Brown et al., British J. Pharmacol. 115:1425–1432 (1995); SCRIP 1870:8 (1993); SCRIP 1773:14 (1992)).
The neuroprotective activity of Na+ channel blockers is due to their effectiveness in decreasing extracellular glutamate concentration during ischemia by inhibiting the release of this excitotoxic amino acid neurotransmitter. Studies have shown that unlike glutamate receptor antagonists Na− channel blockers prevent hypoxic damage to mammalian white matter (Stys et al., J. Neurosci. 12:430–439 (1992)). Thus, they may offer advantages for treating certain types of strokes or neuronal trauma where damage to white matter tracts is prominent.
Another example of clinical use of a Na+ channel blocker is riluzole. This drug has been shown to prolong survival in a subset of patients with ALS (Bensimm et al., New Engl. J. Med. 330:585–591 (1994)) and has subsequently been approved by the FDA for the treatment of ALS. In addition to the above-mentioned clinical uses, carbamazepine, lidocaine and phenytoin are occasionally used to treat neuropathic pain, such as from trigeminal neurologia, diabetic neuropathy and other forms of nerve damage (Taylor and Meldrum, Trends Pharmacol. Sci. 16:309–316 (1995)), and carbamazepine and lamotrigine have been used for the treatment of manic depression (Denicott et al., J. Clin. Psychiatry 55: 70–76 (1994)).
It has been established that there are at least five to six sites on the voltage-sensitive Na+ channels which bind neurotoxins specifically (Catterall, W. A., Science 242:50–61 (1988)). Studies have further revealed that therapeutic antiarrhythmics, anticonvulsants and local anesthetics whose actions are mediated by Na+ channels, exert their action by interacting with the intracellular side of the Na+ channel and allosterically inhibiting interaction with neurotoxin receptor site 2 (Catterall, W. A., Ann. Rev. Pharmacol. Toxicol. 10:15–43 (1980)).
PCT International Published Application WO 90/14334 and WO 97/05102 disclose 2-(4-substituted)-benzylamino-2-methyl-propanamide derivatives represented by Formula I:
where n is 0–3; X is O, S, CH2 or NH; each of R and R1 independently is hydrogen, C1-6 alkyl, halogen, hydroxy, C1-4 alkoxy, or trifluoromethyl; each of R2, R3 and R4 independently is hydrogen, C1-6 alkyl or C3-7 cycloalkyl. The compounds are disclosed to be useful as antiepileptics, in the treatment of Parkinson's disease and as neuroprotective agents, e.g. preventing or treating neuronal loss associated with stroke, hypoxia, ischemia, CNS trauma, hypoglycemia or surgery, and in treating and preventing neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Down's syndrome, Huntington's disease, dementia caused by acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), infarctual dementia and infections or inflammations in the brain; they can also be used as antidepressants, hypnotics, and antispastic agents and in treating ocular damage and retinopathy. However, their mechanism of action was not disclosed.

Substituted 2-aminoacetamides and the use thereof

Abstract: and to pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof, wherein the substituents are defined herein, for use in the treatment or amelioration of pain.


A sealed bearing module for a tidal turbine that has a rotor having rotor blades disposed on a rotor hub and a rotor shaft carrying the rotor for transmitting a drive torque from the rotor hub to a transmission or a generator in a nacelle which nacelle has a housing. The bearing module includes a first bearing ring and a second bearing ring, the first bearing ring is a split bearing ring having a first bearing ring part and a second bearing ring part, the second bearing ring has at least one axially extending bore for attaching the second bearing ring directly to the nacelle housing, the first bearing ring is configured to be connected to the rotor shaft and/or to the rotor hub, and the split bearing ring is preloaded by a preload element.

In tidal turbines the rotating rotor hub must be supported with a following rotor shaft. To date bearing assemblies are supplied as individual parts and installed and assembled on-site in the tidal turbine. The requirements for such bearing assemblies with respect to reliability, service life, or reduced maintenance intensity are high since such tidal turbines themselves have a long service life. In order to fulfill these requirements, it is desirable to use as few components as possible in order to thus reduce a possible failure of the components.


A D/A conversion circuit is described which comprises a n switching, n capacitors and a coupling circuit. Upper n bit of the digital signal control n switches respectively and control charging and discharging of electric charge into the n capacitors, and the n capacitors are connected to the output line in an upper bit writing period. Lower n bit of the digital signal control the n switches and control charging and discharging of electric charge into the n capacitors, and the capacitors are connected to the output line through the coupling capacitor in a lower bit writing period.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a D/A conversion (Digital/Analog conversion) circuit (DAC). Particularly, the invention relates to a DAC used for a driving circuit of a semiconductor device. Besides, the invention relates to a semiconductor device using this DAC.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, a technique of fabricating a semiconductor device in which a semiconductor thin film is formed on an inexpensive glass substrate, such as a thin film transistor (TFT), has been rapidly developed. This is because the demand for an active matrix type liquid crystal display device has been increased.
In the active matrix type liquid crystal display device, a pixel TFT is disposed for each of several tens to several million pixel regions arranged in matrix form, and an electric charge going in and out of a pixel electrode connected to each pixel TFT is controlled by the switching function of the pixel TFT.
Especially, with the improvement in fineness and picture quality of a display device, attention has been paid on a digital driving system active matrix type liquid crystal display device which can be driven at high speed.
The digital driving system active matrix type liquid crystal display device requires a D/A conversion circuit (DAC) for converting a digital signal inputted from the outside into an analog signal (gray scale voltage). Although there are various kinds of D/A conversion circuits, an example of a DAC used for the active matrix type liquid crystal display device will be described here.
Reference will be made to FIG. 15. FIG. 15 shows an example of a conventional DAC. The conventional DAC shown in FIG. 15 includes n switches (SW0 to SWnxe2x88x922) controlled by respective bits of an n-bit digital signal (D0 to Dnxe2x88x921), capacitors (C, 2C, . . . , 2nxe2x88x921C) connected to the respective switches (SW0 to SWnxe2x88x921), and a reset switch SWR. Besides, a power source H and a power source L are connected to this conventional DAC. A potential Vout, of an analog signal outputted from the DAC is given to a source signal line (output line).
When the applied digital signal (D0 to Dnxe2x88x921) is 0 (Lo), the switches (SW0 to SWnxe2x88x921) are respectively connected to the power source L, and when the applied digital signal (D0 to Dnxe2x88x921) is 1 (Hi), they are respectively connected to the power source H.
The operation of this conventional DAC will be described in sequence. The operation of this conventional DAC is divided into a reset period TR and a writing period TE, and the description will be made on the respective periods.
First, in the reset period TR, the reset switch SWR is closed, and all the bits (D0 to Dnxe2x88x921) of the digital signal become 0 (Lo), so that all the switches (SW0 to SWnxe2x88x921) are connected to the power source L. An equivalent circuit diagram of this conventional DAC in this state is shown in FIG. 16A.
Immediately after the completion of the reset period TR, all the bits (D0 to Dnxe2x88x921) of the digital signal is 0 (Lo). After the completion of the reset period TR, the writing period TE starts, and the digital signal (D0 to Dnxe2x88x921) having arbitrary bit information of 0 (Lo) or 1 (Hi) controls the switches (SW0 to SWnxe2x88x921) Then, an electric charge corresponding to each bit information is charged/discharged, and thereafter, a steady state is attained. An equivalent circuit diagram at this time is shown in FIG. 16B.
A digital signal can be converted into an analog signal by repeating the foregoing operation of the reset period TR and the writing period TE.
In recent years, a liquid crystal panel included in an active matrix type liquid crystal display device is demanded to be made thin and lightweight, and at the same time, high precision, high picture quality, and high luminance have been also demanded. Thus, it is desired that the area of a D/A conversion circuit is made small.
However, a driving circuit including the D/A conversion circuit as described above must include the n switches, n capacitors, and one reset switch in order to convert the n-bit digital signal to the analog signal. Thus, it is difficult to prevent its area from increasing, which is one of the causes of the obstruction to the miniaturization of a semiconductor device, particularly, an active matrix type liquid crystal display device.
Besides, for the purpose of attaining high precision of a semiconductor device, it becomes necessary to increase the number of pixels, that is, the number of source signal lines. However, as described above, if the number of source signal lines is increased, the number of D/A conversion circuits is also increased, and the area of the driving circuit is increased, which prevents the improvement in high precision.
From the reasons described above, a D/A conversion circuit having a small area has been required.
The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and has an object to provide a D/A conversion circuit which can make its area small. The DAC of the invention will be described below.
The present invention relates to a DAC for converting a 2n-bit digital signal into an analog signal, and is characterized in that the 2n-bit digital signal is divided into upper n bits and lower n bits, and after the upper n bits are inputted to the DAC, the lower n bits are inputted to the DAC. When the digital signal of the upper n bits is inputted to the DAC, one electrode of each of n capacitors with capacitance value expressed by 2nxe2x88x921 C (C is a constant) is connected to a power source L or a power source H. A potential Vout1 of an analog signal by upper bit information is given from the DAC to a source signal line connected to the other electrode of each of the n capacitors. Subsequently, the digital signal of the lower n bits is inputted to the DAC, so that the one electrode of each of the n capacitors is connected to the power source L or the power source H. A potential Vout2 of an analog signal by the lower bit information from the DAC is given to the source signal line connected to the other electrode of each of the n capacitors through a coupling capacitor Ck having a constant capacitance value.
Like this, after the analog signal by the upper bit information is written to the source signal line, the analog signal by the lower bit information is further written, so that the analog signal by the upper bit information is combined with the analog signal by the lower bit information to form an analog signal and it can be inputted to the source signal line.
The capacitance value of the coupling capacitor Ck can be suitably set by a designer so that the analog signal outputted from the DAC is linearly changed by changing bit information of the digital signal.
Since the present invention has the foregoing structure, it has become possible to convert the 2n-bit digital signal into the analog signal by the DAC using the n capacitors and one coupling capacitor Ck. Thus, the size of the DAC can be made approximately half of the size of a conventional DAC. As a result, the area of a driving circuit can be made small, and it has become possible to make a liquid crystal panel included in an active matrix type liquid crystal display device thin and lightweight. Besides, even if the number of source signal lines is increased and the number of D/A conversion circuits is increased, since the area of the D/A conversion circuit can be made small, the increase of the area of a driving circuit by higher precision can be made small as compared with the case using the conventional DAC.
Incidentally, the DAC of the present invention is not limited to only an active matrix type liquid crystal display device, but can also be used for a display device having, for example, an EL (electroluminescence) element.
The structure of the DAC of the present invention is described below.
According to an aspect of the present invention, a D/A conversion circuit for converting a 2n-bit digital signal (n is a natural number) into an analog signal includes n n switches, n capacitors, and a coupling capacitor, wherein
in an upper bit writing period, upper n bits of the digital signal respectively control the n switches to control charging and discharging of electric charges to the n capacitors, and the n capacitors are connected to an output line, and
in a lower bit writing period, lower n bits of the digital signal respectively control the n switches to control charging and discharging of electric charges to the n capacitors, and the n capacitors are connected to the output line through the coupling capacitor.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a D/A conversion circuit for converting a 2n-bit digital signal (n is a natural number) into an analog signal includes n switches, n capacitors, and a coupling capacitor, wherein
in a first period, one of two electrodes of each of the n capacitors is connected to a first power source, and the other electrode is connected to a third power source;
in a second period, upper n bits of the digital signal respectively control the n switches, the one electrode is connected to the first power source or a second power source, and the other electrode is connected to an output line;
in a third period, the one electrode is connected to the first power source, and the other electrode becomes floating; and
in a fourth period, lower n bits of the digital signal respectively control the n switches, the one electrode is connected to the first power source or the second power source, and the other electrode is connected to the output line.
According to still another aspect of the present invention, a semiconductor device comprising a source signal line driving circuit, a gate signal line driving circuit, and a pixel portion,
wherein the source signal line driving circuit includes a D/A conversion circuit for converting a 2n-bit digital signal (n is a natural number) into an analog signal,
wherein the D/A conversion circuit comprises n switches, n capacitors, and a coupling capacitor, and
wherein in an upper bit writing period, upper n bits of the digital signal respectively control the n switches to control charging and discharging of electric charges to the n capacitors, and the n capacitors are connected to an output line, and
in a lower bit writing period, lower n bits of the digital signal respectively control the n switches to control charging and discharging of electric charges to the n capacitors, and the n capacitors are connected to the output line through the coupling capacitor.
According to still another aspect of the present invention, a semiconductor device which comprises a source signal line driving circuit, a gate signal line driving circuit, and a pixel portion,
wherein the source signal line driving circuit includes a D/A conversion circuit for converting a 2-bit digital signal (n is a natural number) into an analog signal,
wherein the D-A conversion circuit comprises n switches, n capacitors, and a coupling capacitance, and
wherein in a first period, one of two electrodes of each of the n capacitors is connected to a first power source, and the other electrode is connected to a third power source;
in a second period, upper n bits of the digital signal respectively control the n switches, the one electrode is connected to the first power source or a second power source, and the other electrode is connected to an output line;
in a third period, the one electrode is connected to the first power source, and the other electrode becomes floating; and
in a fourth period, lower n bits of the digital signal respectively control the n switches, the one electrode is connected to the first power source or the second power source, and the other electrode is connected to the output line.
Power source potential VL of the first power source may be lower than power source potential VH of the second power source.
The switch may include a thin film transistor.
Besides, there is provided a rear projector, a front projector, a goggle display, a mobile computer, a notebook personal computer, a video camera, a DVD player, or a game machine each including the D/A conversion circuit.

D/A conversion circuit having n switches, n capacitors and a coupling capacitor

Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.


Systems for automatically warning at least one nearby vehicle of a potential safety hazard in or near a roadway, including one or more sensors configured to detect a potential safety hazard in or near a roadway; a memory containing computer-readable instructions for generating a message including at least one of a location of the one or more sensors and a location of the potential safety hazard; a processor configured to read the computer-readable instructions from the memory and generate the message; and a transmitter configured to wirelessly transmit the message to at least one nearby vehicle. Systems for coordinating actions of a first vehicle and a second vehicle upon detection of a potential safety hazard in or near a roadway, including in part evaluating whether the actions conflict and, if so, requesting that the first vehicle execute alternative actions for avoiding or mitigating risk of collision. Corresponding methods are disclosed.

Hazards in the roadway can pose significant safety risks to nearby vehicles. Oftentimes, it is difficult or impossible to detect a hazard until it is too late to safely avoid the hazard, especially when another vehicle, contours in the road, or infrastructure block or obstruct a line of sight to the hazard. The issue is compounded due to the increased risk of colliding with surrounding vehicles, especially as multiple vehicles attempt to avoid the hazard. Therefore, there is a need for improved ways for warning vehicles of potential safety hazards in or near the roadway to improve safety.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Systems and methods for automatically warning nearby vehicles of potential hazards


An error voltage which includes serious fluctuation due to noise is applied to a LPF, and high frequency component due to noise is removed. The error voltage supplied through the LPF and a reference level, for example, 0-level voltage are supplied to a comparator. The comparator compares magnitude of theses two voltage each other, and outputs a signal which indicates polarity corresponding to the comparison result. As described herein above, by removing high frequency component included in the error voltage to be supplied to the comparator with the LPF, the polarity signal with reduced fluctuation due to noise and good quality can be obtained. Thus the polarity of an error voltage for controlling rotation of a disc can be judged correctly.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an apparatus for recording/reproducing and a method for controlling rotation of a recording medium, and more particularly relates to an apparatus for recording/reproducing a method for controlling rotation of a recording medium which are capable of reducing polarity fluctuation of error signals due to noise and performing accurately rotation control.
2. Description of Related Art
Heretofore, as the method for controlling rotation of a disc, two methods, which include a method that a rotation control signal is generated using a synchronizing signal of a signal recorded in a disc as data, and another method that a rotation control signal is generated using a reproducing signal from an address information recorded by wobbling of a track on a disc with a certain period, have been known.
In these rotation control methods, speed term data and phase term data at the irradiated position are generated based on the light reflected from a disc, and these data are synthesized to obtain an error voltage used for rotation control.
Polarity of the error voltage for indicating the rotation direction (acceleration or deceleration) of a disc and magnitude of the error voltage (absolute value) are obtained, and the signals of polarity and absolute value are synthesized and supplied to a certain spindle motor.
FIG. 9 shows an exemplary structure of a conventional polarity judgment circuit for judging polarity of an error voltage. In detail, an error voltage and a predetermined reference voltage are supplied to a comparator 1, and these two voltages are compared. A signal which indicates positive polarity (acceleration) is outputted if the error voltage is higher than the reference voltage, and a signal which indicates negative polarity (deceleration) is outputted if the error voltage is lower than the reference voltage.
FIG. 10 shows an error voltage for rotation control generated from a record signal on a disc. An error voltage is composed of a rotation variation voltage component which varies periodically every rotation, a certain constant loss voltage, and noise voltage having small amplitude.
On the other hand, FIG. 11 shows an error voltage generated from a wobble signal. Also in this case, though the error voltage is composed of rotation variation voltage, loss voltage, and noise components, fluctuation due to noise is more significant in comparison with the error voltage generated from a record signal shown in FIG. 10.
As it is apparent from FIG. 10 and FIG. 11, an error voltage includes always positive polarity (polarity of the direction which accelerates rotation). In detail, assuming that the reference voltage in FIG. 9 is 0, then the output from the comparator 1 shows always positive polarity corresponding to the error voltage input shown in FIG. 10 and FIG. 11.
In order to perform higher speed recording/reproducing processing of data, it is considered that rotation speed of a disc is increased to increase transfer speed of data.
FIG. 12A shows an error voltage generated from a record signal on a disc in the case that rotation speed is increased more faster than the case shown in FIG. 10. FIG. 12B shows polarity of the error voltage in such case. As shown in FIG. 12B, the increased rotation speed results in negative polarity, namely, generation of a voltage for deceleration.
FIG. 13A shows an error voltage generated from a wobble signal in the case of increased rotation speed. FIG. 13B shows polarity of the error voltage in such case. Inversion between positive polarity and negative polarity occurs more often in the case of FIG. 13B than in the case of FIG. 12B. The often inversion is attributed to error voltage fluctuation due to noise more significant in the case of FIG. 13 than in the case of FIG. 12.
Therefore, in the case that transfer speed is intended to be increased by rotating a disc faster, often inversion of polarity which arises along with judgment of polarity of the error voltage generated from a wobble signal results in loud deceleration noise and increased power consumption when decelerating, such noise and power consumption are problems.

Recording/reproducing apparatus and recording medium rotation control method


A communication method of a base station and a terminal based on interference alignment in a multi-cell multi-user multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) interference channel and a method and apparatus of communication using interference alignment and block successive interference pre-cancellation in a multi-user MIMO interference channel. The base station may determine a precoding matrix to maximize a signal to interference and noise ratio (SINR) and a signal to leakage and noise ratio (SLNR) in the interference channel, and a terminal communicating with the base station may determine a decoding matrix to align interference. The transmitter including a multicell interference channel may calculate a rotation matrix for interference alignment, identify effective symbol vectors using the rotation matrix, and generate a transmit signal of a target transmitter to pre-cancel interference corresponding to a transmit signal of a neighboring transmitter.

1. Field of the Invention
Exemplary embodiments relate to a communication method of a base station and a terminal based on interference alignment in a multi-cell multi-user multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) interference channel.
Also, exemplary embodiments relate to a method and apparatus for communication using interference alignment and block successive interference pre-cancellation in a multi-user MIMO interference channel.
2. Description of the Related Art
With an increase in data communication services, more interference signals are being transmitted from a plurality of terminals and access points (APs). Accordingly, the data communication services are faced with limitations in increasing communication capacity and communication quality deterioration.
Conventionally, an increased number of APs is employed to deal with poor communication areas or increase communication capacity. However, as a number of APs reaches a threshold or greater and a size of a cell is reduced, an influence of interference signals transmitted from adjacent APs increases remarkably. Recently, extensive studies are being conducted on wireless communication in a small cell such as a micro-cell or a femto-cell.
However, a cell planning technique to reuse an existing frequency or a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) scheme using multiple antennas, both of which are directed to decreasing interference, has a limitation in terms of controlling the interference.
In addition, although an interference alignment technique using multiple antennas to increase cell capacity has been suggested, the interference alignment technique involves a great amount of channel information to calculate an interference alignment weight and a substantial amount of calculation.
Conversely, with an increase in data communication service users, more interference signals between multiple transmitters and multiple receivers are being generated. Thus, the communication capacity limit is reached and the communication quality deteriorates because of these interference signals.
To resolve these issues, an increased number of APs is conventionally employed to deal with poor communication areas or increase the communication capacity. However, as a number of APs reaches a threshold or greater, and a size of a cell is reduced, an influence of interference signals transmitted from adjacent APs increases remarkably.
Recently, an interference alignment technique using multiple antennas has been suggested to increase the cell capacity. However, the interference alignment technique remains unknown as to solutions of precoding/decoding for perfect interference alignment with any number of general antennas and terminals.
Accordingly, the present disclosure proposes to introduce pre-cancellation to an interference alignment technique to obtain a higher multiplexing gain or more degrees of freedom (DOF) than conventional interference alignment.

Method of communicating between base station and terminal based on interference alignment in multi-cell multi-user multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) interference channel and method and apparatus of communication using interference alignment and block successive interference pre-cancellation in multi-user multiple-input multiple-output interference channel

ELECTRONICS AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS RESEARCH INSTITUTE


A method and software program for creating an image product having at least one image provided thereon. The method includes providing a digital template for use in creating the image product. The digital template has at least one digital container for placement of digital content. The digital container has at least one designated image parameter. The method also includes searching a data base of digital content using at least one designated image parameter and providing at least one image content candidate for placement in at least one digital container.

Digital image products that contain one or more images or that are made using digital images are well known. An example of one image product that can be made using digital images are album pages such as illustrated by U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,791,692; 5,957,502; and 6,004,061 to Manico et al. Similarly, methods of composing album page image products have been commercialized with software such as Kodak's Memory Album desktop software. In this application, users must tediously look through each folder on their computer to find the images that they wish to include in their image product. If the images are stored in multiple folders, the user must spend more time navigating to the folder and previewing the desired images. Additionally, the user must learn the specific nuances of the Kodak Memory Album software or equivalent to create and produce the page once the desired images have been located. Templates are a much easier, albeit less creative, approach to an imaging product, but image product templates don't suggest the type of images to use, nor do they automatically search for and rank potential image candidates.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,223,190 to Aihara et al., a digital camera discloses receiving a script for capturing images and producing an HTML web page. The user is prompted to take a series of pictures that subsequently form a web page. However, the user can't specify an image to a particular location or choose from a plurality of ranked image candidates to place in a specific location. Also Aihara et al. doesn't automatically search for or suggest images to fill a predetermined location on a template that has predetermined locations and criteria, which create an image product such as an album page. Furthermore, Aihara et al. doesn't permit a user to automatically fill some, but not all, containers of an image product while producing a script for uploading to the camera to capture the partial list of desired images associated with the predetermined criteria.

Method software program for creating an image product having predefined criteria


This invention relates to retroreflective sheeting that has an image, such as a validation image. In one embodiment, the image is directional having varying appearance at different angles of view.

The present invention relates to retroreflective sheeting with an image and more specifically a validation image.
Validation images have been used for years for authentication and security purposes. A watermark is an identifying pattern or legend either on or in a material to provide validation of the material. Retroreflective sheeting with directional and non-directional watermarks have been used as a validation means for documents, phonographs, cassette tapes, compact disk containers, traffic signage and license plates.
One problem with watermarks on retroreflective material is providing the watermark in a manner which provides the needed authentication but which provides some subtlety or inconspicuousness, such as being discernable in only a few angles of viewing. Expensive processing steps and equipment are often required to provide such a watermark. Additionally, there is generally little processing control over the conspicuousness or intensity of the watermark.
It is desirable to have an image that is distinct and viewable for authenticating purposes. Further, it is desirable to have a processing means to provide the desired intensity of the image. It is also desirable to have an image that is subtle and directional.
This invention relates to retroreflective sheeting that has an image, such as a validation image. In one embodiment, the image is directional having varying appearance at different angles of view.
The retroreflective sheeting comprises a layer of transparent microsphere lenses, a transparent polymeric spacing layer having a front surface and a back surface wherein the spacing layer is underlying, contacting, and substantially conforming to the bottom of the lenses, and the spacing layer comprises one or more segments having a refractive index different from the refractive index of the remainder of the spacing layer, a reflective layer having a top surface and a bottom surface wherein the top surface is in contact with the back surface of the spacing layer, and a topcoat cover sheet overlying and conforming to the top surfaces of the lenses and having a flat top surface or face. In another embodiment, the retroreflective sheeting includes a pressure sensitive or thermally activated adhesive layer underling and in contact with the bottom surface of the reflective layer. The retroreflective sheeting has an image whose proportions are determined by the variation of refractive index of the one or more segments from the refractive index of the remainder of the spacing layer, and by its conformation to the bottom of the lenses. The image of the present invention can range from conspicuous to inconspicuous and directional to non-directional.

Retroreflective sheeting containing a validation image and methods of making the same


The present invention provides a method of inkjet printing comprising the following steps, in order: (i) providing a hybrid inkjet ink comprising an organic solvent, a radiation-curable material, a photoinitiator and optionally a colorant; (ii) printing the ink on to a substrate; (iii) pinning the ink by exposing the ink to actinic radiation at a dose of 1-200 mJ/cm2; (iv) evaporating at least a portion of the solvent from the ink; and (v) exposing the ink to additional actinic radiation to cure the ink.

Digital inkjet printing is becoming an increasingly popular method for the production of fine graphic images for advertising, due to its low implementation cost and versatility in comparison with traditional techniques such as lithographic and screen printing. Inkjet printers comprise one or more printheads that include a series of nozzles through which ink is ejected onto a substrate. The printheads are typically provided on a printer carriage that traverses the print width (moves back and forth across the substrate) during the printing process.
Two main ink chemistries are used: inks that dry by solvent evaporation and inks that dry by exposure to actinic radiation (typically UV radiation). Wide-format solvent-based inkjet printers are an economic route into the industry as they are a relatively low-cost option compared to the more complex machines employed for UV curing. Solvent-based inkjet printing also has other advantages. As well as the lower cost, the ink films produced are thinner (and therefore flexible) and yield a good quality natural looking image with a gloss finish. Furthermore, it is difficult to achieve very high pigment loadings in UV curable inks due to the high viscosity of the ink: if too much pigment is added, the ink becomes too viscous and cannot be jetted. In contrast, solvent-based inks include a high proportion of solvent and therefore have a lower viscosity, which means that higher pigment loadings can be tolerated. In addition, the printed film produced from solvent-based inkjet inks is formed predominantly of pigment along with comparatively few other solids that are included in the ink. The pigment is therefore largely unobscured, resulting in intense, vivid and vibrant colours and a large colour gamut.
However, there are some limitations to solvent-based inkjet technology. In particular, solvent-based inks may not adhere to certain types of substrate, particularly non-porous substrates such as plastics, and the cured films have poor resistance to solvents. However, the printing of high-quality low-intercolour-bleed inkjet images with good mechanical and chemical resistance properties onto less receptive substrates is a requirement in many industrial printing applications. Such substrates include rigid PVCs, polyester and polycarbonate.
In addition, inkjet inks capable of being printed at small drop sizes and hence producing the required high image quality have a number of formulation constraints, including the requirement for low viscosity in order to be printed through these low drop volume printheads. This is easily achievable with solvent-based ink compositions due the inherent low viscosity of the organic solvents used. However, these types of ink often have poor chemical and scratch resistance and can have difficulty in drying on these less receptive materials.
To give adequate head stability, solvent-based inkjet inks are typically formulated with relatively low evaporation rate solvents and the inks rely on both evaporation and imbibition into the substrate to give adequate pinning of the ink droplets to fix the image quality (the term "pinning" is used in the art to mean arresting the flow of the ink by treating the ink droplets quickly after they have impacted onto the substrate surface). If the solvent is not able to penetrate into the substrate after deposition of the ink droplet, the rate of viscosity increase is too slow resulting in excessive bleed. If faster evaporating solvents are used in an attempt to overcome this problem head stability can be compromised through solvent loss leading to build up of dried ink deposits on the head face plate. In addition the use of faster solvent blends can also give rise to undesirable Marangoni effects, where faster evaporation at the edge of the ink deposit gives rise to a surface tension gradient which drives a bulk flow to the print edges (the so-called "coffee stain effect").
Conventional UV-curable inkjet inks have excellent head stability and typically have better mechanical and chemical resistance properties than solvent-based inks. Image quality is less affected by the nature of the substrate as the droplet is cured or partially pinned by exposure to ultraviolet light immediately after deposition. However, the inherently higher viscosity of the radiation-curable materials greatly restricts the formulation latitude and in practice inks with suitably low viscosities have poor mechanical and chemical resistance properties.
Hybrid radiation-curable/solvent-containing inkjet inks (see, for example, international patent application no. PCT/GB2010/051384) can overcome most of the above limitations and allow UV-curable inks to be formulated to meet the low viscosity requirements (previously met by purely solvent-based inks) whilst still maintaining the chemical resistance and mechanical properties (as previously provided mainly by UV-curable inks) required for these industrial applications. However, in common with purely solvent-based inks, there are limitations to the substrate types that can be used. This is because, like solvent-based inks, hybrid inks also fix image quality by solvent loss and imbibition; this means that image quality is reduced on non solvent receptive substrates and so presents a problem. Accordingly, there remains a need in the art for approaches which address these problems.


An imaging device includes an imaging-lens, an image-sensor, a lens-moving-mechanism, a ROM, and an intersection-point-position-control-section. The lens-moving-mechanism moves an intersection point on the image-sensor by moving a second lens in a plane perpendicular to an optical axis. The ROM stores, in advance, a LUT that stores the intersection point and an image quality evaluation value of an image, which is obtained through image capturing performed at the intersection point, in association with each other. The intersection-point-position-control-section acquires the current intersection point, calculates distances between the current intersection point and the plurality of intersection points stored in the LUT, and selects an intersection point for imaging, at which a ratio of the image quality evaluation value to the distance from the current intersection point is at the maximum, among the positions of the plurality of intersection points stored in the LUT.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an imaging device, an imaging device drive method, and a recording medium storing an imaging device control program. The imaging device is provided such that an imaging lens or an image sensor is relatively movable in a plane perpendicular to an optical axis of the imaging lens.
2. Description of the Related Art
Imaging devices such as camera modules mounted on digital cameras, video cameras, smartphones, and tablet terminals have spread. The imaging device includes: an imaging lens that forms an image of a subject; and an image sensor that captures the image of the subject, which is formed by the imaging lens, by performing photoelectric conversion for each pixel.
If an imaging device is manufactured, various manufacturing errors occur. For example, in the imaging lens, there are errors such as deviation in a position of a surface and a surface shape. If the imaging lens is formed of a plurality of lenses, there are assembly errors such as errors in positions, intervals, and tilts of the lenses. Further, there are also errors in determining positions of the imaging lens and the image sensor. As might be expected, it is considered that such various manufacturing errors are minimized. For example, if the plurality of lenses is constituted to form the imaging lens, by performing the assembly and regulation while photographing a test chart, the assembly errors are reduced (JP2006-208932A). In a manner similar to the above, errors in determining the positions of the imaging lens and the image sensor and the like are reduced.
In contrast, if various manufacturing errors are intended to be completely eliminated, a yield ratio deteriorates, and this leads to an increase in cost. Therefore, some manufacturing errors should be tolerated. However, if the above-mentioned various manufacturing errors cumulatively occur, this may seriously affect image quality of a photographed image. For example, there may be occurrence of low resolution at some locations on a photographed image or occurrence of distribution in resolution. For example, the distribution in resolution means that resolution is high on one side of a photographed image and resolution is low on the other side thereof.
Hence, recently, there is a known technology of correcting lowering in image quality of a photographed image, which is caused by cumulative manufacturing errors, at a photography step. For example, there is a known method of obtaining a photographed image with uniform resolution on the entire screen by automatically photographing a subject at a plurality of focal positions in response to a photography instruction and synthesizing high-resolution parts of the respective images through image processing (JP2012-222431A).
In an imaging device having a hand shaking correction function, image quality of a photographed image may be improved using a lens (hereinafter referred to as a correction lens) which is movable in a direction perpendicular to the optical axis in order to correct hand shaking. For example, there is a known imaging device that moves the correction lens on the basis of an optically optimal position of the correction lens when the optimal position is calculated in advance by photographing a test chart so as to perform hand shaking correction and that makes the correction lens stationary at the optimal position when hand shaking correction is not performed (JP2006-086586A). There is also an imaging device that corrects lateral chromatic aberration through a correction lens (JP2012-044498A). Further, there is also a known imaging device that improves image quality of a photographed image by moving an eccentric lens group which is movable in a direction perpendicular to the optical axis in a manner similar to that of the correction lens (JP2010-237250A).

Imaging device, imaging device drive method, and imaging device control program


Openings are created between a wellbore and a formation by firing a perforating gun adjacent to a zone in the formation and the production fluids are produced along with any formation debris. A tubing string extending to the formation is pressurized to actuate the perforating gun and simultaneously to actuate a downhole injection port. Substantially immediately thereafter fluids are injected into the wellbore near the openings and circulated to the surface for the removal of debris and the production of the formation fluids. An optional and uphole injection port can be used to adjust the hydrostatic head above the perforating gun with the removal or addition of fluid prior to actuation. The tubing string extends sufficiently above the wellbore at surface to enable lowering of the downhole injection port below the openings during fluid circulation for enhanced removal of debris.

To recover hydrocarbons such as oil and natural gas from subterranean formations through a wellbore penetrating the earth to the hydrocarbon-bearing formation, it is common to perform a completion, including perforating, and in some circumstances to perform some type of stimulation procedure in order to enhance the recovery of the valuable hydrocarbons.
In order to recover the hydrocarbons, a well is drilled from the surface to the formation. Following drilling, the well is generally completed by installing a tubular well casing in the open borehole and cementing the casing in place. Because the casing and cement forms a continuous hollow column, no wellbore fluids are able to enter the well, to be transported to, and to be recovered at the surface.
For this reason, it is common to provide openings through the casing and cement annulus in the zone of interest; by perforating the casing and cement into the surrounding formation to provide access from the formation into the wellbore for recovery of the formation fluids. In situations where existing perforations are deemed inadequate the formation can be stimulated using a variety of other techniques such as acidizing, fracturing, flushing, or re-perforating, any of which can result in debris.
Forms of debris include drilling or perforation debris, debris from cementing operations, and/or mud solids. Naturally occurring debris such as sand, silts or clays can also be present. In some formations shales and shale chunks, pyrites coal and other fragmented sections of formations can be produced. This debris should be quickly removed from the wellbore or formation in order to prevent it from causing a blockage, eroding or damaging production equipment. In some instances the removal of increased volume of debris can substantially enhance production.
Completion or stimulation methods include a method described in U.S. Pat. No. Re. 34,451 to Donovan et al wherein a perforating gun with an external auger is mounted to a tubing string to both aid in clean-up of the debris from the perforations as well as to facilitate the movement of the gun out of the debris. The auger flights create a tortuous path increasing the velocity of produced formation fluids and improves the ability of those fluids to carry debris. Hydrostatic kill fluid is circulated to remove debris and produced hydrocarbons. Thereafter, proppent is pumped down tubing and into the formation. The auger facilitates the removal of the gun packed in the sand.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,560,000 to Upchurch a well perforating technique actuates a firing mechanism of a tubing-conveyed perforating gun using a pressure difference between at different points in the borehole. The technique obtains the benefit of underbalanced conditions to aid in creating a localized cleansing effect as the formation fluids enter the well casing.
Further, Applicant was part of the development of an aggressive perforating-while-foaming (PWF) production process to increase the production capability of a well. This process has gained wide usage over the last 4 years within the heavy oil industry, specifically wells drilled into unconsolidated sandstone formations. This method produced more sand in a shorter period of time than other more traditional methods. It is strongly suspected that this immediate removal of sand is linked to the superior performance of these wells. A perforating gun is tubing-conveyed down an underbalanced well. The gun is detonated using a drop bar and remote trigger. Foam is almost simultaneously injected and continuously circulated through the wellbore, carrying with it debris from the formation.
Although continuous circulation of foam effectively removes debris from the wellbore in the prior art process, the remote trigger can create un-safe work practices as a result. As well, drop-bars are not considered practical in highly deviated wells since the bar may not reach the bottom. Upchurch relies solely on formation pressure to clean out the wellbore, which can be insufficient in low pressurized formations and can prevent comprehensive elimination of debris from the wellbore. Donovan's method is also dependent on formation pressure to clean out the perforation debris from the wellbore, but is aided by the auger blades. Removal of wellbore debris is not a controlled factor in either case. If debris is not completely removed from the wellbore, it may block perforations, limit production, damage production equipment, or plug the outside or the inside of the production tubing reducing, partially or totally restricting production. In such instances, well clean-out procedures would be repeatedly required at a large expense.

Pressure-actuated perforation with automatic fluid circulation for immediate production and removal of debris


A scroll wheel device for computer mouse is disclosed, which comprises: a scroll wheel, having a scraggly structure formed in the interior thereof; and an adjusting unit. In an exemplary embodiment, the scraggly structure can be a sawtooth-like structure patterned on a circumferential area of a hollowed portion formed inside the scroll wheel; and an adjusting unit is further comprised of an adjusting rod and a braking part, in which the braking part, being made of an elastic material, can be an elastic strip; and the adjusting rod is formed with screw thread. Thereby, by rotating the adjusting rod, the braking part is driven to move along the adjusting rod in response to the rotation of screw thread so that the relative position of the braking part with respect to the scraggly structure is changed accordingly and thus the braking mode of the scroll wheel device is changed. Therefore, simply by rotating the adjusting rod, the braking mode of the scroll wheel device can be adjusted for customizing the scroll wheel device to cope with varying preferences of different users.

With the rapid advance of technology and the improvement of our quality of life, there are more and more computers being used in all kinds of applications such as transportation system, business related transaction, word processing, computer graphics and video entertainment, etc. Consequently, there can be various demands with respect to the shape of the computer mouse as well as the way the computer mouse is used for controlling the movement of a cursor.
When a user uses a computer mouse configured with a conventional scroll wheel device for web browsing, he/she will usually places his/her index finger on the scroll wheel at a position near the front end of the mouse, and then by the movement of the index finger to bring along the scroll wheel to rotate forward or backward, the web page or frame displayed on the screen can be scroll up or down. However, as the stopper fitted inside the scroll wheel for stopping the wheel is designed with a specific friction, it might require the user to spend quite some effort to rotate the scroll wheel just for reaching the web page containing the information that he/she wants. Such effort might be strenuous for those with less finger strength, such as children, young girls and elders. In addition, it might cause injury to finger in a long-run perspective.

Scroll wheel device for a computer mouse having a breaking mechanism


Disclosed is a new use for water soluble cellulosic paper, which is triangular, planar, foldable, biodegradable, and non-toxic to the user and environment. It has been found that water soluble paper is effective as a substitute for foil in the hair color-highlighting process. Numerous benefits have been found with this invention, among them: it is eco-friendly, more comfortable to the user than foil, leaves hair conditioned and shiny, and does not damage hair as foil tends to.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the process for applying hair treatment, in particular color or highlights to hair.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is widely appreciated that both men and women wish to change their hair color from time to time, and for different underlying motivations. Professional services that provide hair coloring treatments and commercial off-the-shelf products that may be purchased and applied by the consumer are commonly provided throughout the United States and most communities internationally.
The process for applying a hair color treatment is well-established. However, the tools and products used in the hair color treatment process offer substantial room for improvement in their performance and their alignment with other values or priorities the user may hold, particularly environmental concerns and/or comfort during the hair color process.
Therefore, there continues to exist a need to replace incumbent products with new ones that offer additional dimensions of value to the user. In particular, the current trend or tool employed during the highlighting of hair is foil, which is well suited for improvement. Aluminum foil strips are employed to wrap sections of dyed hair within the foil. A hair stylist will typically isolate a portion of hair, place it on a foil strip, add hair treatment, i.e., color or hair dye to the hair and thereafter, wrap the hair within the foil so as the dye remains inside the now formed pocket of the foil. Upon completion of adding color and wrapping all desired hair strands in the foil strips, the user is placed under a dryer for a sufficient period of time to set the treatment or dye on the hair. This often is termed "cook" the color or treatment into the hair. Treatment herein is referred to any type of hair solution resulting in a modification to the hair such as a deep conditioner, cleanser, color or highlight, bleaching, straightening, curling, relaxing, or the like. The present invention has been found to be particular suited for highlighting hair, but other applications will be apparent to the user.
(The Problem) It has been found that during the hair dryer portion of the color treatment, the foil, as well as the hair, is heated and the foil transfers additional heat to the hair exacerbating the drying and damage to the hair. In addition, the aluminum or metallic foils currently in use are not environmentally friendly, and cannot be easily recycled in view of the chemical additive (ie., the hair color) present on the metallic foil. Disposal for current foil is through traditional trash-to-landfill procedures. Further, using foil in the coloring process often is uncomfortable for the user since it tends to pull the hair during use.
Various US and EP patents have published or issued relating to various techniques for coloring and treating hair, or for tools and kits utilized for hair coloring or hair highlighting. Patents include: U.S. Pat. No. 5,349,970 (method of foiling hair), U.S. Pat. No. 5,287,864 (frosting foils), U.S. Pat. No. 5,056,539 (process and product for highlighting hair using foil), U.S. Pat. No. 5,816,268 (hair highlighting method and apparatus using foil), U.S. Pat. No. 7,628,160 (tool and apparatus for use in hair coloring and other treatment foiling method), EP 1,562,454 (method and system for hair coloring and highlighting using a hair care kit), EP 2,005,854 (system for highlighting hair using device having 2 movably joined portions), EP 1,179,986 (application device for highlighting hair employing hair dye container).
Also existing are patents on the use of plastic sheets as alternatives to foil for highlighting hair. Patents include: U.S. Pat. No. 4,658,840 (flexible elastic plastic material having openings thereon and used during hair coloring), U.S. Pat. No. 5,146,937 (method of hair highlighting using polystyrene sheet), U.S. Pat. No. 4,672,983 (hair coloring using polyvinyl chloride, polyethylene, and polyproplylene).
It has been found that use of the plastic materials are not as efficient as foil and provide the stability of the color on the hair. Plastic is too flimsy to keep the hair stable. Plastic is used more for covering the head of hair to keep body heat in. Cling wrap can be used but, it is not ideal. It is too flimsy to work for highlighting. It is also messy and does not contain the color within its folds, causing color to be everywhere.
In view of the problems associated with use of foil, and the continuous issues associated with plastic, there exists a need for an alternative, or replacement for foil in the hair color/highlighting process.

System and method for dividing hair using water soluble dividers during the process of hair coloring or highlighting treatment


Methods and systems for mutating a network topology on which various containers run. The system includes a host controller to assign each of a plurality of hosts an unchanging public virtual IP address that maps to changing real IP address, a threat detection module to detect a mutation stimuli, and a management module configured to receive a mutation policy and execute the mutation policy to enact a container mutation upon the threat detection module detecting the mutation stimuli.

The task of defending cyber networks is stacked against defenders as they are required to protect against all potential types of attacks over all attack surfaces. The attacker(s) can quickly gain the upper hand by finding just one vulnerable spot on the applied defenses.
To this end, sophisticated attackers employ a variety of techniques to gain insight about the layout of a network. For example, attackers may study a network to determine which nodes promise to be easy targets and where valuable information can be found. These surveillance and attack efforts often lead to success as evidenced by the number of successful corporate and government cyber-crime cases.
The success of these attack efforts is due in part to the static nature of networks and their defenses. Operating systems, installed applications, and their associated IP addresses seldom change between the times when they are started and shut-down. This static nature allows attackers to choose attack techniques that are tailored to the network they have studied and thus have the highest chance of success.
Although automated cyber-attack efforts such as worms and viruses are effective against a large number of targets, their successful target penetration is often hit-or-miss, and require attackers to try specific exploits until a vulnerable computer on the network is discovered. When more sophisticated attackers have chosen specific machines to compromise (e.g. in the hopes of obtaining government or company secrets), they have to perform cyber reconnaissance tasks prior to successful attacks in order to identify the environment and defense weaknesses of a network or individual computers.
An attacker can gain a large amount of helpful information by querying information that is readily and publicly available on the target network(s). Attackers may use techniques such as ping sweeping, fingerprinting, port scanning, and even social engineering. These techniques can identify, for example, IP addresses that are in use on the network, ports that are open on the hosts, services that are listening on the open ports, and the type of operating system running on the network hosts. If any of these techniques identify a vulnerability, an attacker can immediately apply an exploit. If the exploit is successful, the attacker has gained a foothold on the network.
Once the attacker establishes a presence on a network computer, they can start surveying the files on the machine and apply techniques to escalate their level of privilege (thereby gaining access to more files). At this point, the attacker is beyond the firewall that protects against outside infiltration and therefore faces fewer obstacles.
A need exists, therefore, for systems and methods for resilient polymorphic system architectures and methods that overcome the above disadvantages of existing techniques.

Resilient polymorphic network architectures


An apparatus for switch control of the slave SPS (switching power supply) in a SPS system is provided, with minimized number of the isolation devices, to trigger OFF state of slave SPS DC output signal free from residual voltage. In addition, the inventive apparatus for controlling the slave SPS switching is implemented on the secondary side of the slave SPS only, which eliminates the difficulty and unsatisfactory adjustments associated with the PCB layout process when implementing the invention.

A multiple switching power supply (SPS) system is useful in the applications that need more than one SPS. For example, in a thermal printer, a multiple SPS system includes a master SPS supplying a main power supply, and a slave SPS supplying a power for thermal process.
FIG. 1 shows a conventional current mode dual SPS system which is one possible candidate of the SPS system. The dual SPS system includes two current mode controller ICs, CON1 and CON2, in the primary side of the master SPS and the slave SPS, respectively. As a preferred embodiment, commercially available IC UC3842A made by Motorola Semiconductor Company is selected as the current mode controller. The external circuit to the CON1 or CON2 mainly includes the shown first external circuit and second external circuit. An output terminal (pin# 6) of CON2 is connected to the second external circuit 4. A supply voltage V.sub.cc terminal (pin# 7) of CON2 is connected to a circuit (not shown in FIG. 1) generating a supply voltage required for the operation of CON2. A reference voltage V.sub.ref terminal (pin# 8) of CON2 is connected to a collector terminal of the photo-transistor 33 of the isolation device 20. A compensation terminal (pin# 1) of CON2 is connected to a collector terminal of the photo-transistor 32 of the isolation device 15. A voltage feedback terminal (pin# 2) of CON2 is connected to an emitter terminal of the photo-transistor 33 of the isolation device 20. Both a base terminal of the photo-transistor 32 and a base terminal of the photo-transistor 33 are connected to the common ground. As the slave SPS is powered ON, voltage level of pin# 7 of CON2 is lifted up to 16 volts gradually. Afterwards, pin# 6 of the CON2 generates a slave SPS output signal 111 to activate the power supply shown in FIG. 5. Pin# 8 of CON2 outputs a reference voltage V.sub.ref of 5 volts. Either asserting a LOW compensation signal (pin# 1) or a HIGH feedback signal (pin# 2) can turn the slave SPS OFF. Further understanding of the operation of the IC UC3842A can be realized with reference to the description of the corresponding data book.
Basically, control circuit 2 in the secondary side circuit of slave SPS is provided for stabilizing the slave SPS output signal 111 outputted from pin# 6 of CON2. The slave SPS DC output signal 200 is inputted to the secondary side circuit of the slave SPS to stabilize the slave SPS output signal 111 through a negative feedback process described below. Depending on a variation of slave SPS DC output signal 200, a corresponding voltage across the resistor 30 is established and, in turn, adjusts the current flowing through the adjustable Zener diode 25. Moreover, the current flowing into the isolation device 20 depends on the variation of slave SPS DC output signal 200. This leads to a variation of the current flowing through pin# 2 and pin# 8 of the current mode controller CON2. Thus, the duty cycle of the slave SPS output signal 111 is varied, and the stabilization effect is reflected to the secondary side circuit of slave SPS. Through such negative feedback operation, the slave SPS output signal 111 is stabilized gradually, and finally approaches a steady state. In steady state, the slave SPS DC output has value around 14.5 volts. Above descriptions regarding negative feedback operation of the slave SPS is also applicable to that of the master SPS.
Conventionally, switch control of the slave SPS is realized by inputting the slave SPS DC output signal 100 to drive the LED 31 inside the isolation device 15, as illustrated in FIG. 1. The switch control of the slave SPS is implemented via first control circuit 1 in the secondary side circuit of the slave SPS described below. As a switching (ON/OFF) signal 101 is LOW, the isolation device 15 is disabled since the NPN transistor 10 is OFF. Then, the slave SPS keeps ON. On the contrary, as the switching (ON/OFF) signal 101 is turned to HIGH of around 5 volts, the NPN transistor 10 is ON. When the slave SPS DC output signal 100 and switching (ON/OFF) signal 101 both are HIGH, the LED 31 inside the isolation device 15 is ON and, in turns, the photo-transistor 32 is ON. Hence, pin# 1 of the current mode controller CON2 is grounded and the current mode controller CON2 is disabled. Therefore, the slave SPS output signal 111 is disabled. The voltage level of slave SPS DC output signal 100 starts to drop. When the voltage level of slave SPS DC output signal 100 drops to a voltage level of around 2.5 volts, the LED 31 becomes OFF and, in turn, disables the isolation device 15. However, this leads to an increasing voltage level of pin# 1 of CON2. As the voltage level of pin# 1 goes up to a certain level, the restart operation of CON2 is activated automatically. Therefore, the slave SPS is ON again and the voltage level of the slave SPS DC output signal 100 starts to increase which is not desired during OFF operation of slave SPS. As the voltage level of slave SPS DC output signal 100 goes up to a voltage level of around 8.6 volts, the LED 31 is turned ON again. Thus, pin# 1 of the current mode controller CON2 is grounded and the current mode controller CON2 is disabled. Therefore, the slave SPS output signal 111 is disabled again. Going through above stages repeatedly, the slave SPS DC output signal 100 of the conventional approach shows a residual voltage during OFF operation, as shown in FIG. 2.
Therefore, the slave SPS DC output signal 100 shows severe unexpected ripple, e.g. the residual voltage during OFF operation. In other words, a variation on the magnitude of the residual voltage at the DC output terminal of the slave SPS is detected as illustrated in FIG. 2. Such phenomenon exhibits instability in switching OFF the slave SPS of the dual SPS system when the slave SPS DC output signal 100 is employed as an activation signal. Moreover, in this conventional approach, more than one isolation device in the slave SPS are required, and this requirement means more space are needed and also introduces a certain level of difficulty during PCB layout process.
Therefore, it is desirable to eliminate the above-mentioned residual voltage generated during OFF operation of the slave SPS by another approach.
The main object of the present invention is to provide a cost effective solution to eliminate the residual voltage mentioned above with minimized number of the isolation devices.
The inventive apparatus for controlling the switching of slave SPS is implemented on the secondary side circuit of the slave SPS only, and this approach eliminates difficulties in the PCB layout process.

Switch control of a master-slave power supply for preventing residual slave voltage when a slave is off


The present invention is directed to a stringed, musical instrument where the instrument strings are grounded by a string ground circuit, and wherein the string ground circuit includes a circuit breaker having a current path that defines a portion of the string ground circuit between the strings and a ground.

Professional and amateur musicians often employ stringed instruments that are fitted with pickups, i.e., devices that allow the instruments to be electrically connected to an amplifier. However, the use of electric amplifiers and other peripheral equipment, such as microphones, creates a risk of electrical shock, which in some cases may be lethal.
The threat of electrical shock may arise through various types of electrical malfunction such as: 1) an electrical failure in the musician's equipment; 2) improper wiring of the power circuit to which the musician's equipment is attached; and/or 3) an electrical failure of peripheral equipment. One example of the first type of malfunction occurs when a guitarist's amplifier induces a high voltage to the ground side of the guitar output jack. An example of the second type of malfunction is improper wiring of a three-pronged electrical wall socket such as where the "earth" ground is not connected and the "neutral" and "hot" sides of the outlet are reversed, thereby resulting in a high voltage being applied to the "neutral" lead. An example of the third type of malfunction occurs when the musician's equipment is functioning properly while connected to properly wired wall sockets, but other equipment, such as a microphone, is improperly grounded.
Often in electric instruments, an earth ground is provided, such as through an amplifier. The earth ground reduces the amount of audible noise by providing a pathway for any induced noise to drain from the instruments circuitry. However, in some cases the earth ground is not present or is insufficient. A common way to provide noise reduction in instruments where the earth ground is lacking has been to provide the "grounded effect" by including a "string" ground.
String grounds are commonly used in electric guitar circuitry. A string ground generally includes a conductive path between the strings to the ground output or ground plane of the guitar circuitry. In the most common string ground configuration, the metal guitar strings touch a metal bridge and a wire that is connected between the metal bridge and the outside casing of a volume potentiometer or shielding inside the guitar. Although such a design provides a reduction in noise it also creates the mechanism, which in conjunction with any one of the previously mentioned malfunctions, may result in the musician being electrically shocked.
Suggestions for minimizing the risk of electrical shock have included checking the power outlets to which all of the musician's equipment, as well as any peripheral equipment, is connected with an outlet tester. However, such a practice may not always be feasible. Testing every outlet may be extremely time consuming and it may not be allowed where the sockets are used to power equipment not controlled by the musician.
The use of Ground Fault Circuit Interruptor (GFCI) extension cords has also been suggested as a practice that can reduce the risk of electrical shock. The practice includes plugging electrical equipment into a GFCI extension cord and plugging the extension cord into a wall socket. Such a circuit will trip, or open, if a certain threshold leakage current is detected. However, such a practice has various disadvantages. First, any GFCI extension cord must be tested prior to each use to assure that it is functioning properly. Next, a large number of the devices may be required for productions utilizing many pieces of equipment, which may result in the technique being prohibitively expensive. Additionally, to thoroughly utilize the technique a GFCI device must be used with any equipment that the musician will contact, including peripheral equipment not owned by the musician.
Various alterations to electrical musical instrument, such as guitars, have also been suggested to reduce the risk of electrical shock. For example, removing the string ground has been recommended. However, such an alteration also removes the noise reduction benefits provided by the ground.
Another suggested alteration requires placing a capacitor and a resistor in parallel within the string ground path. However, the alteration does not prevent a shock from occurring, but it may, if the capacitance and resistance are sufficient, prevent the shock from being lethal. In fact, the alteration does not provide a strict maximum current limit, but rather reduces the current level. As a result, even after the current has been reduced by such a device, the reduced current may still be lethal.
In view of the above, there exists a need for a musical instrument featuring a string ground path that is configured to reduce the risk of electrical shock.

Musical instrument string ground circuit breaker