If the energy service enterprise is responsible for paying costs for applying energy-saving measures to the object facilities, measures the energy consumption after taking the energy-saving measures, calculates the amount of curtailed energy cost by comparing the measured value with the energy consumption before taking the energy-saving measures previously stored in the database, and receives at least a part of the curtailed amount, the customer is not required to plan equipment investment in energy-saving measures and collection thereof. Introduction of the energy-saving measures is thus made easier.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to energy service business method and system.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is an increasing interest in the world in global warming and environmental preservation, and efforts for improvement are internationally made. For example, it is demanded to take energy-saving measures to business enterprises of plants and buildings, major energy consumers, to determine energy-saving target values, and achieve such target values within a certain period of time.
Research and development efforts of energy-saving techniques are made in various fields under these circumstances, including, for example, research and development of energy-saving equipment and facilities for curtailing the energy consumption, and energy-saving measures based on specific operating method or controlling method of energy-saving object facilities. In this specification, all these energy-saving equipments, energy-saving facilities, energy-saving operation and control will be called generically energy-saving facilities or measures.
In general, business enterprises demand to collect the investment cost for taking energy-saving measures by means of an energy cost capable of being curtailed through energy conservation. In addition, if the investment cost can be collected within the shortest possible period of time, it would largely promote energy-saving measures.
However, while a reference of about three years is generally believed to be desirable for collection of invested funds to be examined when an enterprise makes an equipment investment, achievement of a high energy conservation target value would require five to six years for collecting the invested funds. If the amount of curtailment of energy costs through energy conservation is smaller than initially expected, furthermore, investment collection would require more years, resulting in a problem of difficulty to adopt measures for achieving a high energy-saving target value.

Energy service business method and system


Exemplary embodiments provide systems, devices and methods for computer-based categorization and moderation of user-generated content for publication of the content in an online environment. Exemplary embodiments determine a likelihood that the user-generated content falls into a first selected category unsuitable for publication. The likelihood is compared to a first set of threshold values and then, in this embodiment, it is determined whether to electronically publish the content in the online environment based on the comparison.

Many types of Internet websites, such as blogs and forums, allow for publication of user-generated content. Also, such websites frequently allow for moderation of user-generated content. For example, such systems may assess the nature of the content and moderate publication of such content based upon the unsuitability of the content. User-generated content may be assessed, for example, to determine whether the content is of an abusive or otherwise unsuitable nature for publication on the website. User-generated content found to be unsuitable for publication may be prevented from an initial publication or may be removed from the website after an initial publication.
Some conventional moderation systems use supervisor-based (i.e., human) moderation, whereby one or more persons with special privileges enforces moderation policies. Other systems use user moderation, whereby users moderate content generated by other users. Still further moderation systems use a combination of supervisor and user moderation. However, the reliance on human moderators in existing systems tends to make the moderation process time-consuming and error-prone. Human moderators of highly popular websites, for example, may be unable to keep pace with a fast influx of content generated by users, which may result in long delays in publication of the user-generated content or in inadequate or error-prone moderation.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Systems and methods for categorizing and moderating user-generated content in an online environment


A method of manufacturing a lens module including following is provided. A first lens plate having a plurality of first lens sections, a second lens plate having a plurality of second lens sections and a third lens plate having a plurality of third lens sections are provided. The first lens sections of the first lens plate are separated to form a plurality of first lens units. The second and third lens plates are connected. A relative position between each of the first lens units and one of the second lens sections corresponding to the first lens unit is adjusted. Each of the first lens units and the second lens section corresponding to the first lens unit are connected. The second and third lens sections are separated to form a plurality of second lens units and a plurality of third lens units connected to the second lens units.

With the trends of microminiaturization and cost reduction of electronic products, the wafer level module (WLM) technology has drawn the attention. The WLM technology mainly applies the wafer level manufacturing technology to electronic products, so as to microminiaturize the electronic products. For example, applying the WLM technology to the manufacture of lenses renders the size of the lenses so manufactured significantly smaller than the size of the conventional lenses. Therefore, the manufactured lenses are further applicable to the camera modules in electronic devices such as laptops, tablets, and cell phones.
The conventional wafer level lens is manufactured by cutting two lens plates. Each of the lens plates has a plurality of lens portions. In the manufacture process of the wafer level lens, the lens portions of the two different lens plates need to be precisely aligned to ensure the optical quality of the wafer level lens. Recently, due to the demands on the image quality of the consumers, the wafer level lens manufactured by cutting two lens plates cannot satisfy the consumers' demands on imaging quality. Therefore, the manufacturers need to align three lens plates and cut them for obtaining the wafer level lens with a preferable quality. However, aligning the lens portions of three different lens plates is a challenge in the manufacture process.

Lens module and manufacturing method thereof


An image forming apparatus includes a printing unit, a reversing unit, a writing unit, and a control unit. The printing unit forms an image on a sheet-like medium to which a wireless tag is attached. The reversing unit reverses a front and back of the medium. The writing unit writes data on the wireless tag. The control unit controls the reversing unit so that the medium is reversed twice upon the writing of data on the wireless tag failing and controls the printing unit so that an image indicating that the writing of data fails is formed on the medium reversed twice.

There is an image forming medium in which printing paper having a wireless tag attached thereto is used and data is written on the wireless tag together with printing on the printing paper. On such an image forming medium, if the writing of data on the wireless tag fails, an image for notifying a user of this failure is printed. The user, however, may not recognize the image.

Image forming apparatus and image forming method


An image forming apparatus which makes it possible to perform image forming processing and post-processing efficiently. A job controller divides a single print job into a plurality of print jobs according to the processing capability of a post-processing apparatus. A print controller causes a printer section to perform sequential operations according to the split print jobs, to form a plurality of sets of printed sheet bundles. The sets of sheet bundles formed in association with the respective print jobs and stacked on a stacker by the operation of the print controller are sequentially brought to the post-processing apparatus, and the post-processing apparatus sequentially performs post-processing on the supplied sets of sheet bundles.

Conventionally, there has been known a printing system comprised of an image forming apparatus, such as a printer, a facsimile machine, or a copying machine, and a post-processing apparatus, such as a finisher or a bookbinding machine. A post-processing apparatus performs post-processing, such as bookbinding, stapling, and so forth, on a sheet bundle output from an image forming apparatus. Post-processing apparatuses include an off-line post-processing apparatus, wherein a sheet bundle output from an image forming apparatus is temporarily stacked on a stacking device, such as a sheet discharge tray or a stacker, without being directly transferred to the post-processing apparatus, and then an operator brings the sheet material to the post-processing apparatus and causes the post-processing apparatus to perform processing.
On the other hand, a printing method called on-demand printing for performing printing of various kinds in small lots has been widely employed in image forming apparatuses, such as digital copying machines. This on-demand printing enables an image forming apparatus to meet the demand for printing of various kinds in small lots, and change print contents with ease. Therefore, the on-demand printing is suitable for printing product manuals, catalogs, booklets for individual users, prints for distribution in offices, and the like.
Further, there are various kinds of post-processing apparatuses each of which makes sheet bundles output from an associated image forming apparatus into booklets, such as catalogs or manuals. The post-processing apparatuses include, for example, a case binding machine that applies glue to a sheet bundle, bonds a cover sheet to the sheet bundle, and then performs cut-off processing on the same, a saddle stitching bookbinding machine that performs stapling in the center of a sheet bundle and then folds the same in two, and a ring binding machine that punches holes in a sheet bundle and binds the sheet bundle into a book using a special-purpose helical member.
By the way, when a comparison is made between a time period required for an image forming apparatus to complete printing and a time period required for a post-processing apparatus to complete post-processing so as to produce a booklet, the latter is generally longer than the former, though an exceptional case can occur depending on the number of pages of a booklet. This is because it is required to manually set sheet bundles one by one in the post-processing apparatus off-line and then start processing by the post-processing apparatus, though processing time taken by the off-line post-processing apparatus is shorter.
For this reason, in on-demand printing, as the number of booklets to be produced increases, in addition to time which it takes for the image forming apparatus to output sheet bundles, it takes a longer time for the post-processing apparatus to complete post-processing, and hence it takes a long time to obtain the booklets after the start of the printing.
Further, an operator, who handles the post-processing apparatus operating off-line and carries out other work while checking the operating state of the image forming apparatus, cannot always fetch a sheet bundle output from the image forming apparatus upon completion of the operation of the image forming apparatus. In such a case, the sheet bundle is left stacked on a stacking tray of the image forming apparatus. At this time, if there is no empty stacking tray, the image forming apparatus is not permitted to start a next print job, which results in an inefficient state of the apparatus.
To solve this problem, there have conventionally been disclosed the following techniques:
A first device configured to prevent generation of wait time due to interruption of a print job, by comparing the number of sheets that can be stacked on a sheet stacker with the number of sheets to be output in the print job and giving a warning when it is impossible to stack all the sheets to be output in the print job on the sheet stacker (see e.g. Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. H09-240197); and
A second device configured to prevent generation of wait time due to interruption of a print job, by adding the number of sheets to be output in a subsequent print job to the number of sheets currently stacked on a sheet stacker, to thereby obtain a total value and then comparing the total value with an upper limit of the number of sheets that can be stacked on the sheet stacker, and inhibiting the start of the subsequent print job when the total value has exceeded the upper limit (see e.g. Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. H10-029755).
In the above first and second devices, when interruption of a print job is predicted at the start of the print job, a warning that the print job will be interrupted is issued in advance, or the start of the print job is inhibited. Therefore, it is impossible to start post-processing to be performed on a sheet bundle immediately after completion of printout thereof from the image forming apparatus, and consequently a wait state occurs.

Image forming apparatus, print job processing method, and program


A backlight module including a light guide plate is disclosed. The light guide plate has a light emitting plane, a bottom plane opposite to the light emitting plane and a light incident plane connecting the light emitting plane and the bottom plane, a plurality of arc protrusions disposed on the first light incident plane; and a transparent layer disposed upon each of the arc-protrusions. In the backlight module, an LED bar is disposed near to the light incident plane of the light guide plate, and the LED bar has a plurality of LED light sources corresponding to the arc-protrusions of the light guide plate, respectively.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a backlight module of a liquid crystal display (LCD), and more particularly, to a light guide plate with a plurality of arc-protrusions on a light incident plane.
2. Description of Prior Art
The design of an LED's backlight is improved along with the improvement of LED's efficiency, from the earliest four-side type into a two-side type, and then into a one-side type, the present technology and the direction of future development focus on a single-short-side type.
With the development of 3D technology, a TV with a 3D display function is also gradually becoming a mainstream. Currently the 3D display modes include shutter (Shutter Glass), polarized FPR (Film-type Patterned Retarder) and other manners.
Shutter-style 3D needs to be achieved by the scanning backlight with a panel pixel scanning. Backlight sources are usually partitioned. LEDs of an edge back-lit style LED light bar are divided into sets to correspond to a plurality of subsections of a screen. When the first frame signal scans the first subsection, the LEDs corresponding to the first subsection are lighted up, and the rest of the LEDs are turned off. When the signal scans the second subsection, only the LEDs corresponding to the second subsection are lighted up. The rest can be deduced accordingly. Such operations are necessary to be conducted for every frame. The display performance of the shutter-style 3D depends on a crosstalk between the subsections and timing setting.
The crosstalk between the subsections related to the backlight mainly comes from the effect of the brightnesses of the different subsections. In the best situation, when the LEDs correspond to one subsection are lighted up, the backlight sources of the other subsections all present a dark mode. FIG. 1 is a side-view of a light guide plate with microstructures of a prior art. It is a common design to dispose saw-shaped microstructures 13 on the light emitting plane 11 of the light guide plate 10. The microstructures 13 on the light guide plate 10 destroy the condition of light total reflection with different geometric shapes. FIG. 2 is a light distribution diagram of a flat light guide plate of a prior art and a light guide plate with wave-shaped micro structures of a prior art. It is clearly observed that the light guide plate with wave-shaped micro structures has a more convergent light distribution than the flat light guide plate, but in practice, it is impossible to restrain the divergence of light with only micro structures.
Further refer to FIG. 3, which is a vertical direction brightness distribution diagram when a common light guide plate with micro structures is lighted up in one LED light source. The width corresponds to the light source (100% brightness) is a point, the width of FWHM (Full Width at Half Maximum; 50% brightness) apparently increases. With further refer to FIG. 4, which is a diagram showing the width of FWHM at different distances from the light source. In a single-short-side edge-lit manner, as the distance increases, the FWHM increases accordingly, which means the crosstalk is more serious at a far side than a light incident side of the single-short-side edge-lit light guide plate.
The prior art prevents the divergence of light by forming microstructures as convex lens with the material of light guide plate per se. However, when improving the convergence of light, the increase of width and height of the light guide plate due to the microstructures is disadvantageous to the backlight structure design.

SHENZHEN CHINA STAR OPTOELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


A method includes displaying a cursor on a display device with a computer system, and concurrently receiving first and second user inputs associated with movement of the cursor on the display device via the computer system. The method also includes moving display of the cursor on the display device in a vector defined by the first and second user inputs. The first user input defines a direction in which the cursor is moved on the display device and the second user input defines a speed at which the cursor is moved on the display device.

Computer systems generate image data representative of imaged bodies. The imaged bodies may be displayed on a display device of the computer system. Some types of computer systems can generate multi-dimensional image data. For example, some ultrasound computer systems can generate both two-dimensional image slices and three (or four) dimensional images or videos for viewing by operators of the computer systems.
The images displayed by the display device may be manipulated by an operator in multiple ways to change display of one or more components of the images. The user may activate a user interface or an input device, such as an electronic mouse or a track ball, to manipulate the images. As one example, the user may activate the input device to move a cursor to a target location on the screen of the display device. The cursor is linked to the input motion by a predefined constant distance ratio of the computer system such that the cursor moves across the display device at a predefined speed. When the user moves a distance A, the cursor on the display device moves a distance B. However, this constant distance ratio is often not suitable for different applications and the operation becomes cumbersome. If the ratio A/B is too low, then the cursor moves erratically over the display device. If the ratio A/B is too high, the user has to roll the electronic mouse or track ball multiple times to reach the target on the screen.
As another example, the user may manipulate the images by activating a slider control on the display device to change the value of a parameter. For example, the slider control may be used to change the magnification of the image, to change the speed of rotation of a multi-dimensional image, to move to a different page of a document or file, to change a ratio between a magnification of a first image and a magnification of a second image, to change a position of a displayed object on the display device, to change the speed of movement of a cursor on the display device, or to change the scale of the slider control. Using the input device or an appendage of the user touching the display device, the user moves an indicator element along the slider control. However, the size of the display device is often limited and the user cannot accurately adjust the indicator element on the slider control with a finger. For example, minimal movement with the finger may result in a change of the value of the slider control that is greater than intended.

Computer system and method for changing display of components shown on a display device


Methods and systems are provided for a lubricant detection device. In one example, a system comprises one or more sensors arranged in an oil flow path for detecting if a particle is in an oil flow. Engine operating parameters are adjusted in response to sensing the particle, wherein the engine operating parameter adjustments are different in response to only a first sensor detecting the particle or to both the first sensor and a second sensor detecting the particle.

Lubricants, such as oil, are used to lubricate various moving parts of a vehicle, including the engine and transmission. Foreign particles may enter the oil due to ageing of vehicle components or lack of lubrication thereof as some examples. An oil filter may be shaped to capture these particles and block their flow to engine and transmission components.
After a duration of time, it may be desired to replace the oil and the oil filter. However, this may be cumbersome for some vehicle operators and the oil and oil filter may be replaced less often than desired. In such instances, the oil filter may become filled with particles, such that oil flow is adversely affected or particles may no longer be captured by the filter.
Other examples of addressing degraded oil and/or oil filters include arranging sensors in an oil flow path to detect large particles. One example approach is shown by Liu in U.S. Pat. No. 7,321,117. Therein, a plurality of photo-detectors and a plurality of light-emitting devices are arranged in an oil flow path. A portion of the photo-detectors and the light-emitting devices may be sensitive to small-particles and a remaining portion may be sensitive to large-particles. However, the inventors have identified some issues with this approach.
For example, vehicle operators prone to extending use of the oil and the oil filter beyond its replacement date may also be prone to ignoring feedback regarding particles in the oil. Additionally, arrangement of the photo-detectors and the light-emitting devices may be difficult during a manufacturing process, resulting in an increased manufacturing costs and replacement costs.
In one example, the issues described above may be at least partially addressed by a system comprising a lubricant passage comprising a particle capturing device arranged between a first sensor and a second sensor. The system further comprising a controller with instructions stored on non-transitory memory thereof that when executed enable the controller to adjust engine operating parameters in response to feedback from the first and second sensors. In this way, if particles are detected in the oil, engine operating parameters may be adjusted to mitigate degradation to lubricated components during the time between the detection and the oil being replaced.
As one example, the engine operating parameters are adjusted to activate an indicator lamp in response to one or more particles being detected in a lubricant flow. As such, the vehicle operator may be notified of the at least one particle and able to replace the lubricant before the particle is able to reach the engine. The instructions may further enable the controller to adjust engine operating parameters to decrease an engine power output in response to the second sensor detecting particles in the lubricant flow. In such a condition, the particle is detected by the first sensor, and flows around or through the particle capturing device and past the second sensor, where the particle may reach moving engine, transmission, or other powertrain components. The second sensor may detect the particle if the vehicle operator does not replace the oil, if an oil filter is degraded, and/or if a powertrain component is degraded. By decreasing the engine power output, degradation caused by the particle may be mitigated.
It should be understood that the summary above is provided to introduce in simplified form a selection of concepts that are further described in the detailed description. It is not meant to identify key or essential features of the claimed subject matter, the scope of which is defined uniquely by the claims that follow the detailed description. Furthermore, the claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solve any disadvantages noted above or in any part of this disclosure.

Methods and systems for detection of particles in lubricant


Provided is an image forming apparatus which includes a photosensitive body on which an electrostatic latent image is formed, a developing unit including toner to develop the electrostatic latent image formed on the photosensitive body, a temperature sensor installed in the developing unit to measure temperature around the toner, a memory unit having information regarding the toner and installed in the developing unit to receive signals from the temperature sensor, and a controller electrically connected to the memory unit to control developing operations based on the temperature measured by the temperature sensor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present general inventive concept relates to a developer in an image forming apparatus and a method of controlling the developer.
2. Description of the Related Art
A developer, which develops images using a developing agent, for example, a toner, may be detachably installed in image forming apparatuses, such as printers, copying machines, and facsimile machines. When the supply of toner in a developer is exhausted due to repeated developing operations, the exhausted developer is replaced with a new developer. Generally, a developer installed in an image forming apparatus when the image forming apparatus is first assembled is referred to as an initial developer, and developers that are installed as replacements to the initial developer are referred to as regular developers. Generally, an initial developer includes a supply of toner having a capacity which is about half that of regular developers.
Additionally, when toner is repeatedly exposed to high temperatures for a long time, toner characteristics may degrade, for example the toner may harden or the toner may have altered charging properties. A temperature in the image forming apparatus may rise due to repeated developing and fusing operations when printing operation is performed, and thus, changes in toner characteristics should be considered. In particular, since regular developers have much more toner than that of initial developers, toners in regular developers are repeatedly exposed to high temperatures for a longer period of time, and thus, the possibility that toner characteristics in a regular developer are changed is substantially increased. Therefore, changes in toner characteristics according to exposure to high temperatures should be applied to the developing operation in order to print images stably.

Image forming apparatus including temperature sensor embedded developers and method of controlling the image forming apparatus


A liquid crystal device comprises a first and second cell wall structure; at least one liquid crystal material disposed within a space between the first and second cell wall structures; and polymer micro-structures, wherein the micro-structures are formed by polymerizing a prepolymer, and wherein said micro-structures have a shape and spatial location determined by said liquid crystal material. Permanent polymer micro-structures are formed from a liquid crystal with a non-uniform spatially modulated director field. The polymer structures have the shape and spatial location dictated by the non-uniform director field of the liquid crystal. The micro-structures are a backbone that restores the liquid crystal director field that existed during the polymerization process even when other factors, such as electric field, temperature, or surface anchoring, do not favor this restoration. The polymer micro-structures can be used in optical devices, such as diffraction gratings and deflecting and beam steering devices, and in micro-mechanical and micro-fluidic devices.

The present invention relates to polymer-liquid crystal mixtures, and more specifically to forming of polymer architectures such as polymer micro-walls using polymerization in the liquid crystalline matrix with spatially distorted director fields.
The electro-optic properties of polymer-liquid crystal mixtures have made them useful as elements of various optical devices. Depending on the relative polymer concentration in the mixture, different types of devices have been demonstrated. When the concentration of polymer significantly exceeds that of the liquid crystal (LC), a polymer dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) type of device is realized, where the LC is suspended in the form of small droplets in a surrounding polymer matrix. Light, heat, or solvent evaporation can be utilized to induce the desired phase separation. Light scattering characteristics of the device are dependent upon the orientation of molecules within the LC. In a second type of device, the concentration of polymer is significantly lower than that of the LC. In this case, a polymer stabilized type of device is realized. The LC is mixed with a pre-polymer (monomer), which is then polymerized. Polymerization of the monomer creates a polymer network which stabilizes the LC structure, enabling, e.g., creation of bistable LC displays.
When concentrations of the polymer and the LC are roughly of the same order of magnitude, it is possible, by implementing a holographic two-beam recording technique, to form an inhomogeneous periodic morphology which consists of a cross-linked polymer network with embedded LC droplets. This is described by Pogue et al. in SPIE, 3475, pp. 2-11 (1998). Large droplet size contributes significantly to unwanted light-scattering, and it is therefore desirable to reduce the size of the droplets as much as possible. As shown by Kim et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 72(18), pp. 2252-2253 (1998), it is possible to directionally phase-separate the LC and polymer components in a high-voltage electric field using lithographic patterning of electrodes on a confining substrate. A difference in dielectric permittivity of the components plays a role in the phase separation.
A technique for the design of switchable diffractive elements with a memorized structure is needed. Shorter switching times and less light-scattering are desired. Reliable techniques for producing polymer architectures such as walls at micron scales would be advantageous for stabilizing the LC structure, reducing the light scattering and switching times. The polymer architectures can be used by themselves (by washing the LC out of the sample, e.g., in micro-mechanical and in micro-optical devices).

Non-lithographic photo-induced patterning of polymers from liquid crystal solvents with spatially modulated director fields


In response to a request from a host device using an initial protocol, capability information including information indicative of a plurality of communication protocols is returned to the host device, and a communication protocol, designated by the host device based on the capability information, is set, and print data is received from the host device by the set communication protocol. In a system using an interface connected to various types of devices, e.g., an IEEE 1394 serial bus, a communication protocol, which is used when a host device transfers print data to a printer, is not limited to that unique to the manufacturer of the device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to data communication apparatus and method and, more particularly to data communication apparatus and method which performs data communication such that the communication protocol for data communication between a host device and a target device is not limited on the target device.
Further, the present invention relates to a data communication apparatus and method in a network where devices having a plurality of protocols are connected via a serial bus.
2. Description of Related Art
Various types of systems which transfer data to a printer via a bus are known. For example, a known technique is to output data from a computer to the printer by using a defacto standard interface such as a SCSI (Small Computer System Interface) or Centronics interface.
However, printer manufacturers respectively provide a printer protocol unique to their printer for transferring data to the printer via these interfaces, thus lacking versatility.
Particularly, upon outputting print data by using a serial interface connecting various types of devices, such as an IEEE 1394 interface, it is desirable to solve the above problem of the lack of versatility.

Data communication apparatus and method of a device that supports plural communication methods


Systems, devices, and techniques described herein are directed to network based personal number blocking. In particular, the systems, devices, and techniques can be implemented in networks including user equipment (UE) associated with native numbers and alias numbers, and can include blocking native numbers or alias numbers. Further, users can access a user profile or an application via a UE to assign personal number blocking (PNB) preferences to the various native numbers and alias numbers. Indications of such PNB can be transmitted from a UE to a network device to update a user profile in a central repository or database. If a user activates another UE or otherwise associates additional native numbers or alias numbers, the PNB can be seamlessly applied to the new device or numbers.

Modern phones provide myriad conveniences but provide many opportunities for unwanted or unsolicited communications. For example, telemarketers and robocalls can originate unwanted calls. Call blocking, call screening, or call rejection have been used to block incoming calls from specific telephone numbers. For example, some prior art call blocking techniques have included external call blockers that plug into existing phones allowing user to send a message to such unwanted callers. Other prior art techniques have implemented call blocking by storing blocked numbers in a SIM (subscriber identity module) installed in a phone. However, when a user changes phones, the call blocking may not transfer to any such new devices. Further, it can be cumbersome to track and block numbers individually to cover all cases of unwanted numbers.


The invention relates to a method of recovering precious metals from oxidic or refractory or semi-refractory ore material containing precious metal. This recovery of precious metal takes place with optimal comminution work and with more efficient and more reliable leaching also of non-oxidic ore material in such a way that the ore material is subjected to material bed comminution in the grinding gap between two rollers which are pressed against one another under high pressure and revolve in opposite directions and afterwards the comminuted ore material is preferably leached using a stirring movement in a container.

The invention relates to a method of recovering precious metals from ore material containing such metals.
In this specification the expression "ore material" is intended to include any corresponding naturally occurring ore or ore material, any residues in ore mining and also any industrial residues which contain precious metal. Moreover, the expression "precious metal" encompasses gold, silver and platinum.
For the recovery of precious metals it has long been known to use so-called "heap leaching", which is regarded as an economical method of recovering precious metals from oxidic precious metal ores. In this recovery of precious metals a type of pile or heap consisting of broken and ground ore particles, in which all ore particles are in close surface contact with neighbouring ore particles, is treated with a leaching agent or leaching fluid, such as for example a cyanide solution, which is intended to dissolve the contained precious metal. Before the ore is placed on the heap it is comminuted in order to reduce the particle size and to increase the surfaces of all the ore particles. The comminution is normally carried out in at least one comminution stage or zone or can also be carried out in a roller crushing arrangement, as is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,960,461. After this, oxidic ore is comminuted in a high-pressure roller press, a binding agent having previously been added to it so that proportions of fine material from the comminution process can be bound to coarser particles in order to make the heap permeable to the leaching fluid. In this known method for this leaching the comminuted product coming out of the high-pressure roller press is delivered directly to the heap without further treatment.
In order to achieve the maximum efficiency for the recovery of precious metal in this heap leaching or in order to ensure the most economical recovery possible, the heap is normally very large and is exposed directly to the atmosphere. The leaching fluid is poured or sprayed directly onto the heap and penetrates the heap, so that it dissolves compounds containing precious metal with which it comes into contact. This charged leaching fluid is collected for further processing.
Such a heap leaching is used only for the treatment of oxidic ores and has not proved effective for the efficient recovery of precious metals from non-oxidic, refractory and semi-refractory precious metal ores.
Since the supply of directly leachable oxidic ores containing precious metal is becoming smaller, the commercial recovery of precious metals from semi-refractory and refractory ores is becoming increasingly important. Precious metal which is contained in non-oxidic ores is normally in the form of sulphides and natural precious metal, and/or it is completely encapsulated in an impermeable gangue matrix. Ores of this type normally require fine comminution (fine grinding) as well as a concentration of material and/or oxidative treatment in order to make them more accessible to leaching.


Methods wherein a blood cell concentration gradient is formed in a pooling unit in which blood is pooled before or after introducing the blood into a filter for eliminating leukocytes followed by the filtration are disclosed. By the first method comprising forming a blood cell concentration gradient in the pooling unit before introducing blood into the filter for eliminating leukocytes followed by the filtration, leukocytes can be efficiently eliminated from a whole blood preparation or a high platelet collection ratio can be established while maintaining a high leukocyte elimination ratio. By the second method comprising forming a blood cell concentration gradient in the pooling unit after introducing blood into the filter for eliminating leukocytes followed by the filtration, leukocytes can be efficiently eliminated from a whole blood preparation or a platelet preparation and platelets can be collected at a high ratio.

Because of recent progress in the blood transfusion medical science, blood component transfusion that transfuses only components necessary for a recipient is mainly employed in the present blood transfusion medical treatment. Advantages such as a relieved burden on a recipient and an increased curing effect are given as the reasons for wide acceptance of the blood component transfusion. Blood component products, which are used for the transfusion, such as a concentrated erythrocyte product, concentrated platelet product, and blood plasma product, are prepared by centrifuging a whole blood product obtained by blood donation. A large amount of leukocytes is contained in blood products prepared in this manner. It has been discovered that such contained leukocytes induce comparatively slight side effects, such as headache, nausea, chills, and an non-hemolytic febrile transfusion reaction, as well as serious side effects, such as alloantigen sensitization, virus infection, and post-blood transfusion GVHD that seriously affect a recipient. For this reason, leukocyte-removing filters packed with a filter material such as a fiber material or porous material containing continuous pores has been widely used.
Removal of leukocytes using a leukocyte-removing filter includes the case where the leukocytes are removed from a whole blood product and the case where the leukocytes are removed from each blood component product that has been prepared. In the latter case, a filter is required for each blood component product. On the other hand, the former case is regarded to be more preferable, since leukocytes are removed from a whole blood product and the whole blood product from which the leukocytes have been removed is centrifuged to produce different and several kinds of blood component products not containing leukocytes.
Particularly, in recent years, a closed system prepared by integrating a bag for whole blood products, filters, bags for various blood component products that are obtained after centrifugal separation, and the like, to produce blood component products from which leukocytes have been aseptically removed has attracted attention and is used at blood centers and the like (Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 320064/1989, etc.).
In the method for preparing blood free from leukocytes using a filter such as a closed system commonly employed in blood centers and the like, a system in which bags for blood containing a large amount of leukocytes, a filter, and bags for collecting filtered blood, and the like are connected with each other via soft tubes made from vinyl chloride or the like may be used. More specifically, bags containing blood still containing un-removed leukocytes are hung on a rack with hooks and the like for a head drop of about 0.5–2 m, where the blood containing un-removed leukocytes is thoroughly mixed to homogenize. Thereafter, a clamp or a breakable seal in the tube is manually released to collect blood from which leukocytes have been removed in the recovery bag through a filter. The operation is substantially continuously conducted to minimize a burden on filtration operators.
A currently commercially available closed system for filtering a whole blood product removes leukocytes and plasma. Therefore, two blood component products from which leukocytes have been removed, a concentrated erythrocyte product and a plasma product, can be eventually obtained.
Since a whole blood product contains a large amount of leukocytes, a large capacity is required for the filter to remove leukocytes to the same degree as that achieved when removing leukocytes from each blood component product. However, an increase in the filter capacity results in an increase in the amount of blood that remains in the filter. Since the remaining blood is discarded together with the filter after filtration, an increased filter capacity has a problem of an increase in the loss of precious blood.
In addition, usually only a fresh whole blood product within three days at most and in many cases within several hours after collection is filtered for separation. Leukocytes removing capability of a filter is known to decrease when filtering a whole blood product that is very fresh and has a high temperature, in particular, within one hour after collection.
In view of these problems remaining still to be solved for efficiently removing leukocytes from a whole blood product, establishment of a blood filtering method that can remove leukocytes efficiently and at a high rate has been strongly desired.
In addition, a functional filter that can selectively remove only leukocytes from a whole blood product and recover platelets together with erythrocyte and plasma is being developed in recent years (Transfusion vol. 39 (1999), No. 10S, Supplement, S541-040K, S542-040K).
Three blood component products from which leukocytes have been removed, a concentrated leukocyte-free erythrocyte product, concentrated platelet product, and plasma product, can be eventually obtained by filtrating a whole blood product using such a filter. However, since platelets included in a fresh whole blood product are slightly activated due to a stress or the like during blood collection and are caused to easily to adhere to a filter, the technology cannot attain the level to ensure a high platelet recovery rate in a stable manner at the present time.
Japanese Patent No. 2521090 discloses a filter in which the filter material is maintained under wet conditions of saturated water content or more with an aqueous solution of a water-soluble substance harmless to water or living bodies. This technology reduces adhesion of platelets by wetting the filter material with an aqueous solution such as a physiological saline solution and increases the platelet recovery rate. However, according to investigations by the inventors of the present invention, a satisfactory increase in the platelet recovery rate was not achieved while maintaining high leukocyte removal capability. In addition, since the above disclosed filter is previously wetted with a physiological saline solution or the like, air that may be accidentally introduced in the filter not only can be discharged to outside the apparatus only with difficulty, but also may decrease or suspend the blood flow.
A method of fractionating a whole blood product into blood component products by centrifugation and filtering each blood component product is also known. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2000-334034 discloses a method of subjecting a whole blood product to a very strong centrifugation of 3,520×g to separate the blood into three components, plasma, a buffy coat with a large platelet content, and concentrated erythrocytes, and sequentially filtering the buffy coat and concentrated erythrocytes using one filter. Two component blood products from which leukocytes have been removed, one a concentrated platelet product and the other a concentrated erythrocyte product, and a plasma product from which leukocytes have not been removed can be ultimately prepared using this method. However, according to investigations of the present inventors, such strong centrifugation activates platelets making it difficult to recover platelets at a satisfactory yield. In addition, the plasma product has a problem not to be removed leukocytes.
WO 92/07656 discloses a method and system of separating a whole blood obtained by blood collection into a concentrated erythrocyte product and platelet-rich plasma by weak centrifugation and filtering these separated fractions through different filters. Although leukocytes can be removed from all ultimately obtained blood component products according to the method, this method requires a complicated procedure of inserting two filters together with a plurality of bags into a centrifuge cup. In addition, use of two filters increases the cost.
A filter for selectively removing leukocytes from a whole blood product or a platelet product, such as platelet-rich plasma product or a concentrated platelet product prepared by a blood component collection apparatus, is commercially available and used in blood centers or clinical work front. Although some portion of platelets having high adhesion can be recovered by using this filter, the platelet recovery rate varies depending on individual difference of bloods and the like. Therefore, stability of the platelet recovery rate is still to be improved.
In this manner, there are many subjects to be improved in the existing technology for removing leukocytes from a whole blood product or the technology for recovering platelets from a whole blood product or a platelet product originating from a whole blood product or blood component collection while removing leukocytes. Development of a blood filtration method having an improved leukocytes removing capability so that a need for increasing filter capacity may not be required, exhibiting an increased recovery rate of platelets if the platelets are recovered, and being easily operated has been desired.
Since leukocytes removal has been recognized to be effective for safe transfusion, the amount of blood processed for removing leukocytes in blood centers and the like is increasing year by year. Automatic blood filtration has been desired to relieve burden loaded on operators processing a large amount of blood. Development to satisfy this requirement is ongoing.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 10-212237 discloses an apparatus for automatic filtration in which blood is filtered at a constant flow rate by using a pump. The apparatus maintains an appropriate flow rate of the filtered blood while monitoring pressure near the filter inlet port and controlling operation of the pump according to the pressure.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 09-108334 discloses an apparatus that can detect the fact that a predetermined amount of blood has been processed using a timer, a sensor to optically detect the blood surface or the gas/blood interface, a weight sensor to detect the amount of blood, a pressure sensor to detect the pressure of a tube, and the like, to automatically suspend filtration.
An automatic filtration apparatus in which not only is the blood filtration process automated, but also the blood filtration data (filtration time, temperature, flow rate, etc.) can be recoded by a computer has been developed to satisfy the requirements for quality control of blood products that has become more stringent than ever (Vox Sanguinis Vol. 78 (Supplement 1), 2000, P517, P518). An excellent feature of the apparatus is its capability of simultaneously automatically filtering 40 bloods while automatically homogenizing the bloods before or even during filtration by a mechanical means, and the capability of automatically recording filtration data, and the like.
The above automatic apparatuses have been developed with an objective of automatically filtering blood in a homogeneous state, automatically filtering at a constant flow rate of blood, and automatically suspending filtration operation. The blood filtration apparatus of the present invention is an automatic filtration initiate equipment suitable for implementing a blood filtration method for improving performance of the filter of the present invention and differs from the above-described automatic filtration apparatuses.
The features of the blood filtration method and automatic filtration apparatus of present invention will be described in more detail.


An information terminal device including: a display section; an operation section receiving enlargement operation of enlarging one of a plurality of divided regions displayed on a display screen of the display section; a remaining region specification section specifying a remaining region on the display screen excluding the one divided region enlarged through the enlargement operation; an arrangement region determination section determining an arrangement region for arranging all the divided regions other than the one enlarged divided region in the remaining region; a reduced arrangement section arranging each of the other divided regions on a reduced scale in the arrangement region; and a display control section displaying, on an enlarged scale, an image of the one enlarged divided region and displaying, on an enlarged scale within the other divided regions arranged on a reduced scale by the reduced arrangement section, an image of a specific portion of the other divided regions.

This disclosure relates to an information terminal device, an information processing system, and a computer-readable non-transitory recording medium storing a display control program, and more specifically to a technology for switching a plurality of divided displays on a display screen.
In recent years, there has appeared an information processing system capable of viewing, on a web browser of a personal computer, respective monitored images photographed by a plurality of monitoring cameras. The web browser is application software for viewing a web page. Application software for receiving provision of a service of viewing a monitored image by an application server is one example.
A typical image processing system includes: a plurality of (for example, four) monitoring cameras; an application server providing a service of viewing a monitored image; and a portable terminal into which a web browser provided by the application server is installed. In a case where a request for viewing has been provided to the application server from the portable terminal, screen information which permits the monitored images photographed with the four monitoring cameras to be displayed on the web browser is provided, and the monitored images of the four monitoring cameras can be displayed on a display screen of the portable terminal. This portable terminal is capable of four-screen display including one main screen with a large display region and three sub-screens with a small display region vertically arranged on a right side of the main screen. Then upon detection of operation of sliding the main screen touched by a user's finger towards the sub-screen on a touch panel provided on the display screen (that is, operation of enlarging the main screen), the main screen is displayed on an enlarged scale on the entire display screen.


A laminated coil component 1 includes an element body 2, a coil 8 disposed in the element body 2, and a first external electrode 4 and a second external electrode 5, and at least a part of the coil 8 is disposed in a first region A1 and a second region A2 when seen in a facing direction of the pair of side surfaces 2e and 2f, and the coil 8 is not disposed in a third region A3 and a fourth region A4 when seen in the facing direction of the pair of side surfaces 2e and 2f.

As a conventional coil component, for example, one described in Patent Document 1 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2017-5087) is known. The coil component disclosed in Patent Document 1 includes an element body having a pair of end surfaces facing each other, a pair of main surfaces facing each other, a pair of side surfaces facing each other, a coil disposed in the element body, and a pair of external electrodes disposed on the sides of the pair of end surfaces of the element body. In the coil component described in Patent Document 1, a coil axis of the coil extends in a direction opposite to the pair of side surfaces.


In a communications network, a system and method for fault notification and correlation. The system includes a notification collector that serves as an intermediary for processing fault notifications. If the fault notification volume exceeds a defined threshold, such that in the prior art could involve dropped notifications, the notification collector processes the critical fault notifications. The notification collector may also assign a higher priority to processing the fault notifications than the faulty components do for generating the fault notifications. In this manner, the need for a fault correlation subsystem is reduced.

The present invention relates generally to networking systems and specifically to a system and method for reporting and correlating network faults for network fault management.
Telecommunications networks often consist of a large number of distinct components and sub-systems, referred to as managed entities, that require configuration and monitoring. The state of a particular managed entity often depends on, and is partially driven by, the states of other managed entities.
When each of the managed entities change state, they often have to notify a management system of the state change. The state change is communicated to the management system by a Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) notification, for example. Since managed entities often depend on the state of other managed entities to determine their current state, a state change in one managed entity could cause state changes in tens of other managed entities, and could therefore trigger a cascade of tens or hundreds of notifications to the management system.
As a result, such a large number of notifications can potentially create a broadcast storm and flood the management system. In the case of an external management system, the communication channel between a node in the telecommunication network and management system can become severely congested due to the high number of notifications, thus reducing the overall throughput of the telecommunication network. Furthermore, a flood of notifications may cause one or more of the notifications to be dropped. In such a case, the management system will be unaware of the problems at the nodes corresponding to the dropped notifications.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to obviate or mitigate the above-mentioned disadvantages.

System and method for fault notification and correlation


A manual seat adjuster with easy entry mode and position memory has an improved means to hold the spring loaded lock bar out of engagement with the locking teeth during the return trip of the front seat. At the beginning of the easy entry mode, as a rear seat entering passenger begins to slide the front seat forward, the lock bar initially rotates open, while the memory marker remains fixed in place. A window on a carrier arm rotatable with the lock bar circumferentially aligns itself with a keeper on a stationary latch, but the latch keeper is temporarily pushed to the side and out of the aligned window by engagement with a stop member on the stationary memory marker. As the seat begins to move forward, the latch moves away from the stop member and the keeper moves into the carrier window, where it can catch and hold the carrier arm to hold the lock bar open during the return trip of the front seat.

In two door cars with rear seating capacity, it is desirable to allow the front seats to be released from their adjusted, locked positions and slide forward freely by passengers entering the rear seats. Such an "easy entry" front seat release is most convenient if it is activated by a simple button or lever, or even by the mere action of pushing on the front seat's back rest by the entering rear passenger. However, an easy entry front seat release and slide mechanism is inconvenient for the front passenger if its use disturbs the fore and aft position to which the front seat occupant had already adjusted the front seat. Therefore, several designs exist for so called "memory mechanisms" which will maintain or "recall" the adjusted position of the front seat as it slides forward, and automatically re latch it in that original position as the front seat slides back again.
One such memory mechanism, for which the instant invention provides an improvement, is disclosed in co-assigned U.S. Pat. No. 4,852,846 issued Aug. 1, 1989 to Weier, which is incorporated herein by reference. Briefly summarized, a pair of parallel, outboard and inboard seat tracks mount the seat to the vehicle for fore and aft movement. Each track assembly has a lower channel fixed to the vehicle body floor, and a relatively movable upper channel fixed to the seat frame. A row of locking teeth on each lower channel is releasably engaged by a spring biased lock bar that freely pivots s on the upper channel, thereby latching the upper channels (and seat) to the lower channels (and floor) in any desired fore-aft position. The spring biased lock bars can be opened or unlatched either directly, by a front seat occupant while adjusting the front seat, or indirectly, by an entering rear seat occupant while pushing the front seat forward for clearance. The front seat occupant directly releases the lock bars by manually twisting a rod that is journaled to outboard upper channel, to which a direct actuator for a main lock bar, that is, the lock bar on the outboard upper channel, is keyed. The main lock bar, as it is lifted, in turn contacts and rotates a crank that is freely pivoted on the same rod to which the lock bar actuator is keyed. The crank pulls on a so called slave cable, which pulls and rotates the other lock bar out of engagement with the teeth on the other, inboard lower channel. The same crank is also independently rotatable by an easy entry cable, which is pulled by the bending forward of the front seat back or the like, and which can rotate the crank without affecting or moving the main lock bar actuator or the rod to which it is keyed. Then, instead of being lifted by the inoperative lock bar actuator, the crank catches and rotates the main lock bar, while simultaneously opening the other lock bar with the slave cable.
To assure that the front seat is returned exactly to ("remembers") its original adjusted position after the entering rear passenger allows the front seat to slide back, a memory mechanism is activated by the same seat adjuster handle. The memory mechanism consists of a releasable quick connect plate slidable along the outboard lower channel. The quick connect plate has an elongated, wear resistant slider that covers and blocks the teeth in front of the main lock bar. A memory marker pivoted to the plate and normally locked to the lower channel is released and picked up by the main lock bar actuator to move the plate along with it and drop it at the new position when the front seat position is adjusted.
When the easy entry mode is used, the plate and memory marker remain locked to the lower channel in their original position as the seat moves forward. On the forward trip of the front seat, the main lock bar is held out of the lower channel teeth and slightly away from the quick connect plate's slider by the tension in the easy entry cable and its pull on the crank. The other lock bar is held out of engagement with its lower channel teeth by tension in the slave cable. On the return trip of the front seat, when the tension in the easy entry cable and crank has been deactivated and released, the main lock bar can no longer be held out of tooth engagement by the crank. Instead, the main lock bar rotates down slightly under the force of its return spring, hitting and dragging along the slider of the now stationary quick connect plate, which provides the hold open feature. Tension remains in the slave cable to hold the other lock bar out of engagement with its lower channel teeth. When the main lock bar finally reaches the end of the quick connect plate slider, its return spring can then rotate it down and back into engagement with the outboard lower channel's teeth at the original adjusted position. The other lock bar does the same through the slave cable. A feature of the existing memory marker system that could potentially be improved is the hold open means, considering the friction and noise caused by the main lock bar dragging back along the slider.

Easy entry seat adjuster assembly with position memory and improved seat return hold open means


A variable-length encoder using a code table having a symbol/code-word re-association feature, which includes a first storing portion for storing previously generated code table information, a first re-associating portion for generating re-associated code table information and re-association information indicative of the relation between a symbol and a corresponding code word from a previously generated code table information stored in the first storing portion, based on the frequency of occurrence of externally applied symbols during a predetermined time period, a delay for delaying and outputting the same symbols as those input to the first re-associating portion during the predetermined time period, a re-association information storing portion for storing the re-associated code table information and re-association information and sequentially outputting the re-association information, a variable-length encoder for receiving the symbols stored in the delay and generating and sequentially outputting code words according to the re-associated code table information stored in the re-association information storing portion, and a multiplexer which outputs the re-association information from the re-association information storing portion and the code words output from the variable-length encoder, to thereby reduce the code length of code words generated by variable-length encoding even when the frequency of occurrence of symbols used in forming a previously generated code table is different from that of the symbols applied during the predetermined time period.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a variable-length encoding/decoding system for video data. More particularly, it relates to a variable-length encoding/decoding system which re-associates a predetermined relation between a symbol and a code-word based on the frequency of occurrence of symbols to be variable-length coded (VLC), to thereby increase encoding efficiency.
2. Description of the Prior Art Recently, video and audio equipment employing digital signal processing methods have increased, and have been briskly developed. Therefore, many studies have been initiated relating to encoding a video and audio signal into a digital signal. Since an encoded video signal requires a large amount of digital data, various methods have been suggested to compress the encoded digital data prior to storing it on a recording medium. Among the various compression methods are a transform coding method, vector-quantization method, differential pulse coded modulation (DPCM), and variable-length coding method. Such coding methods are used to remove redundant data contained in a digital signal and, thus, reduce the total amount of transmitted or recorded data.
The VLC method is a technique to convert symbols in the form of [run,level], obtained through discrete cosine transform (DCT), quantization and zigzag scan operations, into corresponding code words by using a VLC table.
FIG. 1 shows one example of a VLC table. According to the [run,level] data of the symbols shown in FIG. 1 at the right-hand side of the table, code words having different lengths are associated with the respective symbols. Huffman coding is a method of associating symbols and code words based on the frequency of occurrence of the symbols. That is, Huffman coding is a data compression method in which, considering the frequency of occurrence of a symbol, a code word having a short length is associated with a symbol having a high frequency of occurrence, while a code word having a longer length is associated with a symbol having a lower frequency of occurrence. A typical example of an apparatus implementing the above method is illustrated in FIG. 2.
FIG. 2 shows a conventional variable-length encoder, and FIG. 3 depicting a conventional variable-length decoder. The variable-length encoder of FIG. 2 comprises an encoder 1 and VLC table 2. The variable-length decoder of FIG. 3 comprises a decoder 3 and variable length decode (VLD) table 4 which is the same as to VLC table 2. When a symbol is input, encoder 1 locates a code word corresponding to the input symbol among the code words input from VLC table 2, and outputs the corresponding code word. Decoder 3 locates a symbol corresponding to the input code word from VLD table 4, and outputs the corresponding symbol, to thereby restore the original symbol input to the variable-length encoder.
However, if there is difference between the frequency of occurrence of symbols used in constructing VLC table 2 and the corresponding VLD table 4, and that of symbols currently used in VLC coding, optimum variable-length coding can not be achieved. In other words, if the characteristics of an image to be currently variable-length coded are different from those of an image used when a code table is designed, a previously generated VLC table 2 and VLD table 4 cannot be changed to accommodate the differing characteristics. Thus, such an encoder/decoder and method do not fully accomplish the object of compressing the entire amount of data to be stored or transmitted.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a variable-length encoder in which, even though the symbol/code-word association of a previously generated code table is used, the frequency of occurrence of the currently input symbols is measured in order to re-associate the symbols to the appropriate code words. Such a re-association provides that the amount of data to be consumed is minimized even when symbols are input that have a different frequency of occurrence from that of symbols considered when the code table is generated.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a variable-length decoder for restoring the original symbols represented by the code words obtained by variable-length coding, in which a symbol corresponding to an input code word is searched for in a previously generated decode table according to symbol/code-word re-association control information, to thereby decode the corresponding symbol.
To accomplish the first object of the present invention, there is provided a variable-length encoder using symbol/code-word re-association of a code table comprising a first storing means for storing previously generated code table, a first re-associating means for generating re-associated code table and re-association information indicative of the relation between a symbol and a corresponding code word from the previously generated code table stored in the first storing means, based on the frequency of occurrence of externally applied symbols during a predetermined time period, a delay for delaying and outputting the same symbols as those input to the first re-associating means during the predetermined time period, a re-association information storing means for storing the re-associated code table and re-association information and sequentially outputting the re-association information, variable-length coding means for receiving the delayed symbols and generating the sequentially outputting code words according to the re-associated code table stored in the re-association information storing means, and means for multiplexing and outputting the re-association information from the re-association information storing means and outputting the code words output from the variable-length coding means.
To accomplish the second object of the present invention, there is provided a variable length decoder using symbol/code-word re-association of a code table comprising a second storing means for storing the same code table as that previously generated and stored in the first storing means, demultiplexing means for receiving data output from the means for multiplexing, dividing and outputting re-association information and code words, a second re-association means for receiving the re-association information from the demultiplexing means, re-associating a corresponding symbol/code-word relation, and storing re-associated code table, and variable-length decoding means for decoding an input code word based on the code table information stored in the second re-associating means to thereby generate a symbol.

Variable-length encoder and decoder using symbol/code-word re-association of a coding table


A read data path circuit for use in the semiconductor memory device includes a bit line sense amplifier, a local input/output line sense amplifier, a column selection unit operationally coupling a bit line pair with the local input/output line pair in response to a column selection signal, where the bit line pair is coupled to the bit line sense amplifier and the local input/output line pair is coupled to the local input/output line sense amplifier, and a bit line disturbance preventing unit configured to equalize signal levels of the local input/output line pair before the column selection signal is activated, and configured to sense and amplify signal levels of bit line data transferred to the local input/output line pair after the column selection signal is activated.

1. Field
Example embodiments relate to a semiconductor memory device, for example, to a read data path circuit for use in a semiconductor memory device, such as a dynamic random access memory.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, the semiconductor memory device, e.g., a dynamic random access memory, is increasingly operating at relatively higher speeds and becoming relatively more integrated due to user requirements. A dynamic random access memory device including one access transistor and one storage capacitor as a unit memory cell is generally employed as a main memory of an electronic system.
As illustrated in FIG. 1, a dynamic random access memory device 10 (hereinafter, referred to as 'DRAM') employed in a conventional data processing system is coupled to a micro processing unit 2 through a system bus B1 and functions as a main memory. For example, the micro processing unit 2 of the data processing system is coupled to a flash memory 4 through a system bus B5, and controls a drive unit 6 through a control bus B2 by performing a processing operation determined by a program stored in the flash memory 4. In controlling the drive unit 6, the micro processing unit 2 may perform a data access operation of writing data to a memory cell of the DRAM 10 and reading the written data from the memory cell, in order to perform the processing operation.
In the read operation of DRAM 10, data stored in the memory cell is sensed and amplified on a bit line pair by a bit line sense amplifier (hereinafter, referred to as "BLSA"), and then is transferred to a local input/output line pair when a column selection line (hereinafter, referred to as 'CSL') is activated. In an example of a method to transfer bit line data to the local input/output line pair, a precharge operation for the local input/output line pair may be performed and a potential difference may develop.
In this case, before the CSL is activated, the local input/output line pair is precharged to a given voltage level. At this time, when the CSL is activated, the precharged-charge escapes from one line of the local input/output line pair to one bit line of the bit line pair. Accordingly, a potential difference between a complementary local input/output line and a local input/output line constituting the local input/output line pair is developed, and an amplitude of the potential difference may increase as time lapses.
In a read data path circuit of DRAM performing an operation of applying data provided from the memory cell to an output buffer in a read operation and in employing the scheme of precharging the local input/output line, a bit line disturbance may occur, thus a measurement thereto may be required.

Semiconductor memory device having bit line disturbance preventing unit


An apparatus and method to elongate and extend outward and downward a surgically transected forward section of the mandible with small daily adjustments to stretch the filamentary connective tissue between the divided sections of bone to correct severe malocclusion. The apparatus maintains a narrow gap between the separated sections of the mandible as the connective tissue is lengthened and mineralized forming new bone. The slowly widened gap has a chance to create new bone forming tissue to bridge the gap. By containing the apparatus within the oral cavity, advantages over cumbersome external apparatus become apparent. Infection and inflammation are easier to control within the oral environment. By clamping the apparatus to the ramus under the masseter muscles, no external facial scars result from externally applied surgical pins. Separate adjustments independently move the transected section of the mandible outward and downward.

To correct severe malocclusion, severe underbite or overbite, congenital micrognathia or mandibular defects from trauma or disease the applicant has devised an osteogenic mandibular distention apparatus and method that are contained within the oral cavity. An adjustable mechanism is clamped to the lateral aspect of at least one ramus under the masseter muscles and attached by surgical pins to the anterior portion of the mandible and the mandible is then transected. Daily adjustments are made to distend the anterior transected portion of the mandible while maintaining viable bone forming tissue in the transected gap.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,540,687 Fairley et al. describes a fully sub-cutaneous device for the distraction of bones in the craniofacial region. He crafts no claims but incidentally notes: "
A further application of this device according to the invention is its use in the distraction of the mandible." Fairley et al. relies upon piercing the skin by means of a "stab incision" to reach the distraction adjustment means or "the device might include an electrical motor being activated by remote control (radio signals) in order to provide the forces required." He relies upon a single threaded spindle and mini-screw mounted plates to accomplish distraction in a single direction.

Osteogenic mandibular distention apparatus and method


Ion-implanted protein-coated occlusion coils are described which have essentially the same dimensions as untreated coils and exhibit altered surface properties, e.g., thrombogenicity, endothelial cellular migration and adhesion, relative to untreated coils thus making them particularly useful in treating wide-necked brain aneurysms.

Occlusion coils are used to occlude a site within a body lumen, such as a blood vessel or Fallopian tube, within the human body. The coil(s) is typically placed at the desired site within the lumen by means of a microcatheter. The coils are normally made of a radio opaque, biocompatible metal such as platinum, gold, or tungsten. In treating brain aneurysms it is common to place a plurality, typically 4 to 12, of coils within the aneurysm. The coils occlude the aneurysm by posing a physical barrier to blood flow and promoting thrombus formation. Ultimately, through healing of the aneurysm sac and re-endothelialization at the neck of the aneurysm a permanent cure of this condition is achieved.
Stents are members, typically tubular shaped, that are placed within body lumens, such as blood vessels, to expand the lumen, provide structural support to the tissue defining the lumen or otherwise repair a segment of the vessel defined by the lumen. Stents may also be placed within vessels by means of microcatheters.
Synthetic polymer or protein coatings have been applied to occlusion coils to enhance their thrombogenicity and wounds healing properties. Ahuja A. A., et al., AJNR Am J. Neuroradiol 14:794-798 (1993) and Dawson, R. C. et al., J. Neurosurgery 36:133 (1995). However, as indicated above, endovascular occlusion techniques generally use small diameter microcatheters to deliver these coils to the occlusion site. Simple polymeric coatings, therefore, result in the problem of increasing the diameter of the coils, which, in turn, may cause them to stick within the microcatheter lumen as they are being delivered. Also, once delivered the coating is subjected to fluid flow within the vessel. If the coating is not solidly fixed to the coil surface it may be dislodged and thus become a potential source of distal thromboemboli.
Ion implantation is a process by which ions are accelerated to a target at energies high enough to bury them below the target's surface. Ion implantation has been applied to the surface of a silicone polymers to alter the thrombogenic properties of the polymer. U.S. Pat. No. 5,152,783. It has also been applied to the surface of polymers such as polystyrene, polyurethane, and extracellular matrix proteins to alter the cellular adhesion properties of the polymer surface. U.S. Pat. No. 5,308,704 and Suzuki, Y. et al., Nucl. Instr. Meth. B. 91:588-592 (1994).

Ion-implanted protein-coated intralumenal implants

The Regents of the University of California


A self closing cap for dispensing fluids that is composed of a cap (10) with a rotating-lid (40) on top. The cap (10) having a cylindrical shape with holes (16) and channels (12) (14) on top to direct the fluids and an opening on the bottom to be mounted on a container (FIG. 1). Also the cap has a rotating lid (40) on top that works as a diaphragm (44), opening and closing according with the pressure of the fluid behind it and not allowing any substances to enter inside the cap (10). The rotating-lid (40) also has a plurality of pads (48) able to block and open the holes (16) on the cap (10) to permit the fluid to exit as the user desires (FIG. 8A).

1. Field of Invention
This invention generally relates to a cap for fluids that will act as a check valve to let the fluid inside a container exit without difficulty, but at the same time will impede the entrance of other substances like air, water and dirt into the container.
2. Prior Art
Previously all caps were made just to open and close, leaving the fluid inside the container open to any kind of contamination. Later, inventors started to solve this problem, adding a closeable lid that the user must close to prevent any extraneous fluids or particle(s) from entering inside the container (e.g., flip-top caps). Sometimes this works well enough. However, in some cases, such as creams that can easily get oxidized with air and reduce their potency, this situation becomes critical. At the same time, some fluids used in medical applications need to stay clean and free of contaminants to be safe to use for human applications. All the plastic caps heretofore known in the market suffer from a number of disadvantages:                (a) All caps currently available in the market allow air to enter in the container. This can result in oxidation of the substance inside the container, it will get damaged or change its properties over time. An example would be an anti-age cream with certain vitamins that in contact with air will change color, thicken and oxidize, losing their anti-aging properties. Another example is a cream that helps to heal scars, but is not effective if put into contact with oxygen. These creams are usually very expensive.        (b) On a normal cap, any contaminants coming from the exterior can enter the container through the cap contaminating and damaging the formula of a medical product. This is especially critical in medical applications where bacteria or other microorganism can enter the container and grow inside. Later the patient who is taking this formula can get infected by the bacteria or other microorganism. This can happen to patients with a low immune system, who can die from an airborne disease coming from the container that has the medicine that is supposed to cure them, rather than infecting them.        (c) The cap needs to have the lid closed to prevent any contaminant from entering the container. Sometimes people do not like to close the lid, forget or do not have time to do it. For example, when dispensing a diaper rash cream, if the baby moves around all the time, there is not time to close the cream while putting a diaper on the baby after using the cream.        (d) The cap also needs to be closed to prevent any fluid inside the container from spilling


A memory system tightly couples to a high performance microprocessor through a synchronous bus. The logic circuits included in the memory system generate a blipper pulse signal using successive transitions of clock pulse signals other than the edges used to synchronize microprocessor and memory operations. The blipper pulse signal is logically combined with the memory's column address strobe timing signal which is derived from the synchronizing edges of clock pulse signals which defines the duration of the column address interval required for accessing of a pair of DRAM memories during successive memory cycles for providing sequences of four memory read responses with no wait state.

1. Field of Use
This invention relates to memory systems and more particularly to transfers of multiple words of data by a memory system to a requesting unit (i.e., burst mode).
2. Prior Art
It is well known to construct memory systems from a number of modules. In certain systems, memory modules are paired together to provide a double word fetch access capability (i.e., access a pair of words at a time during a memory cycle of operation).
Such systems are designed to include a burst mode transfer capability wherein a memory controller, which connects in common to a system bus, can deliver groups of multiple words accessed simultaneously over a series of bus cycles without incurring communication delays. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,366,539 and 4,370,712 describe this type of system.
This capability has been incorporated into high performance microprocessors, such as the Intel 80486 microprocessor. Such burst mode operations are carried out on the microprocessor's synchronous local bus according to a predetermined bus protocol and requires only a single clock cycle per word transfer. To take advantage of this high speed burst mode, it has been proposed to have the microprocessor's main memory structured to be 64 bits wide. In this case, the initial access to memory would require wait state while the subsequent accesses are already present. The third and fourth accesses of the burst each then utilize the clocked page mode mechanism to achieve zero wait states. This proposal is discussed in an article entitled, "The 80486: A Hardware Perspective", by Ron Santore, Byte Magazine, Fall 1989.
While in theory this seems possible, it has been found that at higher speeds, such as 33 MHz, when the memory normally is clocked on the same edges of the system clock signal as the microprocessor, it still requires at least one wait state to occur between successive double word fetches, in order to generate the minimum precharge times required for reliable memory operation. This is due to the necessity to regenerate successive synchronously generated column address strobe (CAS) timing signals for meeting this requirement. Hence, an additional clock time is required. Also, the arrangement proposed in the article specifies the use of very high speed components, such as 60 nanosecond memory chip parts which were not commercially available at the time and today are not commercially available in large quantities.
Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to enable the execution of a burst read operation by a memory unit at a rate which does not reduce system performance.

High performance burst read data transfer operation


Reliable ink jet print head, ink jet head cartridge, ink container, and the manufacture method thereof are provided. Specifically, an ink supply opening of an ink container includes a beam member crossing the ink supply opening. The beam member is shaped so that filler material included therein is oriented in a direction along which the beam member extends. By providing the beam member in the ink supply opening of the ink container, the deformation of the ink container due to a temperature change is prevented by the beam member having a smaller linear expansion coefficient that extends in a direction orthogonal to the nozzle arrangement direction. Thus, a more reliable ink jet print head can be provided. In addition, higher strength can be achieved in a direction orthogonal to the nozzle arrangement direction of the ink container.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ink jet head cartridge in which a print head and an ink container for supplying ink to the print head are integrated, a print head, and an ink container. In particular, the present invention relates to stress between an ink container and a printing element substrate caused due to a temperature change. The present invention also relates to a method for manufacturing the ink jet head cartridge.
2. Description of the Related Art
An ink jet printing apparatus is a printing apparatus based on a so-called non-impact printing method and is characterized in that this apparatus causes very small noise during a printing operation. This apparatus also can be used to perform a high-speed printing to various printing media. By the above characteristics, the ink jet printing apparatus has been widely used as an apparatus for providing a printing mechanism for a printer, a copier, a facsimile, a word processor or the like.
Print head provided in the ink jet printing apparatus as described above include the one that uses an electrothermal conversion element having a heat generation resistance member to heat ink to use a film boiling to eject ink droplets. An ink jet print head using the electrothermal conversion element as described above is structured so that an electrothermal conversion element is provided in a printing liquid chamber. When a printing operation is performed, an electric pulse is supplied to the electrothermal conversion element based on a printing signal to generate heat to apply thermal energy to ink. Then, a bubble pressure of bubble formation (boiling) in ink due to a phase change of printing liquid is used to eject ink droplets through minute ejection openings. In this manner, ink droplets are ejected from a print head to print ink on a printing medium.
The ink jet print head ejects ink in a relatively small size and requires liquid droplets to be adhered to a paper with a high accuracy. Thus, when a printing element substrate is deformed, a significant influence is caused on the performance of the printing apparatus. Thus, such deformation is desirably minimized.
On the other hand, ink jet print heads in recent years tend to have been required to have a smaller size and a low profile. In order to satisfy such a demand, a print head integrated with an ink container for storing ink has been suggested.
This integrated ink jet head cartridge type ink jet print head has an ink container that is generally manufactured by molding resin because of its easy manufacture and cost for example. By using resin molding, a complicated shape can be manufactured. Furthermore, a part of this ink container has a joint area having a flat surface with a high degree of accuracy so that this part can be directly joined with a printing element substrate. This joint area also can use resin molding to secure a flat surface with a high degree of accuracy.
By adhering a printing element substrate to this joint area by adhesive agent for example, an ink jet print head can be assembled with a simple structure. Furthermore, an ink jet print head with a low cost and a high performance can be manufactured in the manner as described above.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-342994 describes an example of this integrated-type ink jet head cartridge and describes the structure of the ink jet head cartridge and the manufacture method thereof. According to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-342994, a printing element substrate is adhered and fixed to an ink container by adhesive agent or the like. FIGS. 9A and 9B show an example of an ink jet head cartridge to which a printing element substrate is adhered.
By the way, the conventional ink jet head cartridge as shown in FIGS. 9A and 9B is structured so that container-side ink supply opening H5201, H5202, and H5203 are arranged in parallel with one another in a direction along which nozzles are arranged. A substrate-side ink supply opening H5102a, H5102b, and H5102c have communication with the container-side ink supply openings H5201, H5202, and H5203. The substrate-side ink supply openings H5102a, H5102b, and H5102c are also arranged in parallel with one another in a direction along which nozzles are arranged. However, in this case, a problem is caused in which the ink container H5501 manufactured by resin as described above and the joint area of the printing element substrate H5101 manufactured by silicon connect with each other and cause the deformation of the printing element substrate H5101. Specifically, when the ink container H5501 is manufactured by die forming, resin flows in a nozzle arrangement direction among the ink supply openings H5201, H5202, and H5203 in the side of ink container H5501. Thus, after the molding, glass filler included in resin tends to be in a direction in parallel with the nozzle arrangement direction. In this case, a linear expansion coefficient of resin in a direction orthogonal to a direction along which glass filler is oriented is higher than that of resin in a direction along which the glass filler is oriented. On the other hand, the printing element substrate H5101 formed by silicon is adhered to the ink container H5501. Then, silicon and resin basically have different linear expansion coefficients and a direction orthogonal to a direction along which glass filler is included in resin has a relatively high linear expansion coefficient as described above. This causes a large difference in the linear expansion coefficient between silicon and resin at the joint area of the ink container H5501 and the printing element substrate H5101. Thus, when environmental temperature of the ink jet head cartridge changes, the large difference in the linear expansion coefficient causes the deformation of the printing element substrate and the ink container. As a consequence, an influence is caused on the ink ejecting performance of the print head.
For example, the ink jet head cartridge having the structure and material characteristic as described above must be maintained at a high temperature in order to cure thermoset-type adhesive agent in an assembly step. This step heats the ink jet head cartridge to a temperature of 100 deg C. or more. Thus, adhesive agent cured at 100 deg C. causes a difference in the linear expansion coefficient between silicon and resin, and thus causes stress between the materials due to the shrinkage for Δ75 deg C. Furthermore, when a physical distribution status is considered to consider a low temperature environment of −30 deg C., the stress between the materials for Δ55 deg C. is caused additionally. The larger the difference in the linear expansion coefficient is, the higher the stress caused between materials is. Thus, a risk is caused where the product may deform due to the residual stress due to the difference in the linear expansion coefficient.
In particular, when an ink jet head cartridge can eject a plurality of colors of ink (e.g., when a printing element substrate has an integrated structure of three colors of C, M, and Y), the respective ink supply openings for supplying the respective colors of ink are arranged in parallel with the nozzle arrangement direction. The characters C, M, and Y represent the colors of cyan, magenta, and yellow. When nozzle arrays of the respective colors have a narrow distance thereamong, a member constituting the part has an elongated shape. Thus, strengths of an ink container and a printing element substrate for a direction orthogonal to the nozzle arrangement direction are lower in this structure, and cause the ink container and the printing element substrate to easily deform, respectively.

Ink jet head cartridge, print head, ink container, and method for manufacturing ink jet head cartridge


A slot machine gaming device and method which targets a monetary ticket to operate in selected gaming devices. A video poker game can also provide a player with an improved paytable. The slot machine can also pay a player using a special ticket instead of cash.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a method, device, and computer readable storage medium for implementing a cashless casino promotional system. More particularly, the present invention allows for a monetary ticket to be targeted to a particular casino game, games, or categories or selections of games.
2. Description of the Related Art
Cashless wagering (also known as "ticket in ticket out") has become very popular in modern casinos. Monetary tickets can replace the traditional coins used to pay and get paid when playing slot machines.
A player can insert cash into a cash reader, a slot machine credits the player with an appropriate amount of credits, and the player can play using the credits. If the player wishes to cash out (a "ticket out" request), the player can press a button and the machine will dispense a ticket with a cash value corresponding to the amount of coins the player is entitled to. The player can then go to a cashier (or cash out machine) and cash in the ticket for cash, or insert the monetary ticket into another slot machine for continued play.
Casinos offer various types of promotions. For example, a casino may issue vouchers, whereupon a player can cash the voucher in at a casino for real coins. However, this system is inflexible in that the player may use the coin in any manner the player wishes.
What is needed is a new promotional method in which casinos can offer promotional monetary amounts to players with a more targeted approach to the use of the credits.

Cashless slot machine and/or amusement device with special features